Gemonodo.

The carpenter and weaver stood quietly beside them, and Huang E, Yan Song, Du Jin, Bao Chaozhen, Zhong An and others, as well as a few scholars who skipped class and came over, all stood there to watch the new invention.

It is said to be a new invention, but in fact, on the basis of the original pedal loom, a simple device has been added.

In the past, weaving cloth needed to be thrown by hand. With the addition of this device, the weaver's hands do not need to toss back and forth, but only pull the rope in front of them.

That's right, this is the shuttle loom.

The "shuttle" can't even be said to be a machine, it's just an extra device, and elementary school students with strong hands-on ability can make it!

Two looms work at the same time, one with a shuttle and one without a shuttle.

A quarter of an hour later, the results are checked.

The cotton cloth woven by the shuttle directly doubles the output, because it eliminates the tedious process of throwing the shuttle.

"Small improvements can benefit the world!" Huang E clapped his hands in admiration.

Yan Song smiled, stroked his beard and said, "Today, I know why Bachelor Wang respects physics, it is for the people's livelihood!" ”

Wang Yuan was not too happy, the loom he wanted was ten times more efficient, not a mere double.

However, inventions come step by step.

Wang Yuan said to the craftsman: "Double the length and width of the loom and make a new machine." ”

Traditional looms need to be hand-thrown, so the length and width have to be within the reach of both hands. But the shuttle is pulled by a rope through a pulley, and the machine can be greatly widened, but the rope is made a little longer.

A few days later, a brand new machine was in front of everyone, about four times the size of a traditional loom.

The weaver sat down and began to work, at first a little uncomfortable, but soon became proficient.

According to estimates, this large shuttle loom is more than three times the working efficiency of traditional looms. In addition, the width of the woven cloth has been doubled, and if the machine is made wider, it can be used to make bed sheets and quilt covers, and there is no need to sew again.

There are also large traditional looms that can weave such wide cloth, but it requires at least three people to operate, and two people have to cooperate with the shuttle throwing step alone.

……

The richest man in Jiangyin is for the Xu family.

As early as the era of Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Xu family was promoted to the chief of grain, and since then he has started the road of family development.

By the early years of Hongzhi, the Xu family had become rich in Jiangnan. Although the family has been divided several times, the wealth has been divided more and more, and even the capable concubine can have a huge amount of money.

At present, the head of the Xu family is a widow named Yang, that is, Xu Xiake's great-great-grandmother!

The Xu family in the hands of the Yang family has reached its peak, and it is time for it to decline.

Yang was a widow at the helm of the family for five years, but she was only in her early thirties. There are three sons and two daughters under their knees, all of whom are minors, and the brothers of the family bully their orphans and widows, and they have already broken up the family once.

No matter how you can't do it, each room is very fierce.

After the separation, the wealth of the head of the Xu family plummeted, and only these industries remained: more than 370 acres of fertile land, 10 acres of Guanshan, 50 acres of Minshan, 86 acres of tidal flats, 43 acres of reed farms, 32 acres of grassland, and 6 fish ponds. In addition, he left some for his daughter as a future dowry, totaling 12 tilts of fertile land. In addition, there is a family sacrifice to Tian Santian.

Workshops, shops, and so on are not counted, because these belong to floating wealth and floating wealth.

"Madam, the third master is here again." The butler came in to report.

Yang frowned and said, "What is he doing again?" ”

The housekeeper sighed and said, "The third master insisted that the pawnshop in the east of the city was left to him by the old lady before his death. At this moment, there are more than a dozen scoundrels, who have blocked the door of the pawnshop. The third master came to the house to make trouble, saying that if he didn't give him the pawnshop, his pawnshop wouldn't want to open. ”

"Bastard!"

Yang slammed the table case and scolded: "He divided the property, and it was all lost in a few years, and now he actually comes to fight the idea of the main sect!" ”

"But it's not," the butler said bitterly, "today is the third master, tomorrow is the second master, and the day after tomorrow it is the fifth master." If you continue like this, the shop at home will be robbed, and when will it be a head? ”

Yang held his breath in his heart: "Gather them all together, ask the county lord to be a witness, and one person will divide them into a shop." You need to sign and draw a pledge, and after you get the shop, you must not make trouble in the future, otherwise I will go to the capital to knock on the drum and sue the emperor! ”

"Yes!" The butler shook his head and stepped back.

The housekeeper is the scholar of the head of the family, Xu Jing, who is like a brother and loyal. After Xu Jing's death, he has been assisting the Yang family, but it is okay to manage the inner house, but it is beyond his power to manage the outside industry.

Yang sat alone in the room and cried, and after crying, he went to the home school to observe.

The three sons and two daughters are all studying seriously, which makes Yang feel a little relieved.

When the school ended, Yang thanked Mr. Xixi, and called his three sons and said, "You must remember that you must work hard to learn." Qia'er, Zhan'er, Mr. said that the two of you are the seeds of study, and if you can get an official and a half-position in the future, our mother and son will not be bullied again. ”

Although Xu Qia and Xu Zhan were young, they were very sensible, and they kowtowed one after another, saying that they would try their best to study. Among them, Xu Qia is Xu Xiake's great-grandfather.

Yang said to his eldest son: "Zhi'er, you are the elder brother, and you have no talent in the imperial examination, so you should study arithmetic as a good student." In another year, when you reach the age of fifteen, you will learn to run a business with the shopkeepers, and then manage the family business for your younger brothers. ”

Xu Zhi kowtowed and said, "Mother, the child must work hard." My husband gave me a copy of the book "Mathematics", and the child has made rapid progress, and he will definitely be able to manage the industry for his younger brothers in the future, so that they can go more smoothly in their careers! ”

These three children, since their father's death, have been bullied by their family brothers since they were young. I didn't even go to the clan study, and directly asked the teacher to teach at home, just to be able to concentrate on reading.

Historically, by the time all three of them reached adulthood, more than half of the family business had been swallowed up. Fortunately, the three brothers worked together to avoid the scandal of fighting for family property.

The Xu family is quite unlucky in their careers.

Xu Xiake's great-great-grandfather Xu Jing was a close friend of Tang Bohu and Wen Zhengming, and was involved in the imperial examination fraud case with Tang Bohu, and died of depression after being deprived of his fame.

Xu Xiake's great-grandfather, Xu Qia, was easily admitted to the lift, but he failed seven times. The most nonsense time was that he had already been admitted, but because the number of inmates who participated in the examination exceeded the proportion, Xu Qia was inexplicably brushed down, and finally relied on donating officials to slowly be promoted to the chief secretary of Honglu Temple.

The three sons are so well-behaved and filial, which makes Yang's mood much better. After another reprimand, she told her sons to go to schoolwork.

After a while, the shopkeeper of the spinning workshop came to ask for a meeting and said: "Madam, the cotton yarn on the market has been exhausted, and we can't receive cotton yarn spinning, so we can only stop production in the next year." ”

"Why can't I get cotton yarn?" Yang wondered.

The shopkeeper explained in detail: "In the land of cotton production in the world, Huguang cotton is of the best quality, and the cotton production of Beizhili and Shandong is the largest, followed by our Jiangnan." There are too many weavers in the south of the Yangtze River, and there is not enough local cotton, so they often go to Beizhili, Shandong and Huguang to buy. There are also many weavers in Huguang, and they have to sell to Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, where there is not much cotton left every year. Therefore, Jiangnan businessmen all went to the north to buy cotton, but the north repeatedly encountered military disasters, and cotton production fell sharply last year and this year. ”

"It's not like you can't buy cotton yarn, is it?" Yang was incomprehensible.

The shopkeeper complained bitterly: "I don't know when, there was a giant in Zhigu (Tianjin), and he actually came to our Jiangnan to collect cotton yarn at a high price. At that time, the price was too high, and there were many buyers, I thought it was maliciously speculated, and I wanted to slow down for the time being, but I didn't expect that it was delayed for a month, and the cotton yarn was actually collected! Up to now, the yarn can only be collected from the weaver women of small households, but it is too troublesome to put it away, and it can only be stopped when it cannot be harvested. ”

Yang thought about it carefully and said, "Next year, I will take out a thousand acres of land to grow cotton. When the time comes, we will open another spinning workshop, and we will produce cotton, spin and spin cloth by ourselves! ”

The shopkeeper reminded: "Madam, this year is a special case. Next year, cotton production will definitely increase significantly, and if we also increase production, I am afraid that the market will not be good, and the price will not go up. ”

"People always have to wear clothes, and they are afraid of producing too much cotton?" Yang instructed, "You send someone to Tianjin to investigate, how can there suddenly be an extra textile giant over there." ”

"Yes!" The shopkeeper bowed and retired.

Not only did the Xu family send people to Tianjin to investigate, but many large textile manufacturers in the south of the Yangtze River also sent people to Tianjin, because the situation there was too abnormal.