But the bankruptcy of the Shen family was not because of the bad market for raw silk, but because of silkworm disease.

"Last year, the small silkworms were not infected with silkworm disease, and the harvest was out of the year" man sad "so he folded the book. I want to ask the lord to take it in. ”

Most of the silkworm diseases are caused by viruses, the local environment of silkworms is closed, and the density of silkworms is very large, if you can't do a good job of cleaning and disinfection, it is easy to break out of various silkworm diseases. Traditional sericulture also has its own set of methods for dealing with silkworm disease, but there was still a lack of disinfection concept at that time, so it is not uncommon for similar outbreaks of silkworm disease to cause a reduction or even no harvest.

Once there is a large-scale disease, there is a danger of losing all money for silkworm farmers.

It seems that silkworm farming is also a "high risk and high reward" for farmers, and it is not so simple as I think. Zhao Yinggong was interested. Since you want to do this business, of course, you must inquire as clearly as possible.

At the moment, he asked him to talk about the specific process of raising silkworms, but silkworm raising in the countryside is the patent of fù women. Girls begin to learn to raise silkworms from the age of twelve or thirteen. From the wax moon, the "seed protection", to the incubation of Yichun, the "spread bird" to the silkworm "three sleeps", "out of the fire", "up the mountain" and even cocooning, silk reeling, all by the fù female agent. Although he knew, he was afraid that he wouldn't understand it, or even say it wrong, so he asked his wife to say it.

"The slave has seen the master. "The woman is born delicate, and she speaks a dialect of Hangzhou with both the sound of the north and the south, and the difference between the modern Hangzhou dialect is not very big, Zhao Yinggong listened to it and immediately smiled and said, "Get up, what is your name?" ”

, "The country woman has no name, the slave's maid's family name is Wang, Xingsi, everyone originally called me Wang Siniang." If the master wants to call a slave or a maid, he will call it a slave or a maid. The woman speaks very smartly, and the peasant women in the south of the Yangtze River not only have to farm and raise silkworms, but also "go to the street" from time to time to hawk, so the knowledge of speaking is not bad.

Wang Siniang first talked about the process of raising silkworms, from silkworm hatching to cocooning, it takes 28 to 40 days before and after. There is a time to feed silkworms, and mulberry leaves must be added in time, even if it is late at night, you have to get up to feed, and you can't delay for a moment. Silkworm sand and the remaining mulberry leaf residue should be cleaned up at all times, otherwise it is easy to contract silkworm disease. Silkworm breeding is very harsh on temperature, that is, to keep warm, but not too hot, and can not be ventilated, so the place where silkworms are raised is always closed doors and windows. When the silkworm "goes up the mountain", a brazier should be made under the silkworm foil, which can accelerate the silkworm's spinning, and make the spit silk as dry as possible, which is conducive to improving the quality of the silkworm cocoon. However, fires are frequent, and candles must be very careful, because it was not uncommon for silkworms to make fires at that time.

Zhao Yinggong is very familiar with the allusion of the "silkworm room", and it seems that this set of silkworm raising methods has been very mature in the Qin and Han dynasties.

Throughout March and April, the silkworm house was largely inactive, there were very few pedestrians in the village, and neighbors and relatives stopped walking around each other. Even the government would not have come to the countryside during this period.

Most of the silkworm cocoons received are sold by silkworm farmers themselves, and some directly sell cocoons to "cocoon line." However, this is all due to understaffing or some other reason.

"Weishenme wants to make her own raw silk?" Zhao Yinggong asked.

"Go to the cocoon shop to sell silkworm cocoons" huātou, too much, and the countrymen always suffer. Wang Siniang said that the cocoon line must have the tooth post of the government, so the monopoly is very strong, and there is a special one in the same industry, the "public office" new cocoon is listed, and the peers discuss which day to open the scale, which day to end. The price of the purchase is also negotiable, and it is not allowed to raise the price yourself. The annual bargaining is always low.

Not to mention the low price, there are all kinds of "huā" when collecting cocoons, which are not cocoons, and "wet" is hard to deduct the weight. The worst thing is that in order to further reduce the price, the cocoon shop will suddenly close the cocoon stack for a few days and stop collecting the cocoons at the joints of the cocoons on the market in large quantities.

, "Weishenme wants to stop collecting? ”

Wang Siniang said: "I can't afford to wait after the cocoon is collected, if I don't reel the silk and don't sell it, I put it there, and the chrysalis in it will be worthless if the day passes." The countryman can only sell it at a low price. ”

I see! Zhao Yinggong thought that this was actually artificial, and that "it was difficult to sell cocoons" caused the purchase price to plummet, and there were many such huās in the old time and space.

Zhao Yinggong asked again, "Cocoon Xing bought cocoons, how to make a move?" ”

"I made silk and sold it to the silk company." In and outside the city of Hangzhou, there are many people who do not raise silkworms themselves, but they make pots and reels for others. "The cocoons can get the cocoons, and they are outsourced to reel the silk, and the processing fee is settled according to two.

As long as conditions permit, silkworm farmers try their best to reel silk and sell raw silk. This is more profitable. The work of silk reeling is handled by the fù woman of the silkworm farmer's family, which is an important brother industry in the countryside, and the Shen family is Wang Siniang who takes her daughter to hand-pot and reel silk.

The Shen family's daughter-in-law fù compared to 1 stroke 1 roughly explained how to make a pot of reeling silk, use a large pot to reel silk, boil water, pour ten to twenty cocoons each time, and stir the cocoons with bamboo sticks. When it boils, use a bamboo skewer to pull the water surface, and the silk head will naturally float out, and lift the silk head with your hand. Penetrate the eye of the bamboo needle, go around the pulley used for the guide, and then hook it up with a wire shifter.

Send the pedal to rotate the filament, "Daguan car" while operating, while pedaling the filament, you can continuously extract the filament.

Silk reeling is hard work. As soon as the silkworm forms a cocoon, it has to race against time. If you don't reel out the silk quickly, the chrysalis inside will be feathered and bite off its head. In this way, the cocoon is useless, so when the silk is reeled, the whole family does it, and the man also has to help to lay the hand, and work day and night. A skilled labor force can reel silk for about thirty taels a day. If it is particularly fine, the daily output of "Baotou Silk" is only 20 taels.

Zhao Yingong has not read the professional books of sericulture, but with half knowledge also knows that this kind of handmade products are low efficiency and poor quality, in the late Qing Dynasty of the old time and space, the soil silk met the silkworm reeling silk according to the modern way of raising silkworms and silk after the failure in the international market.

"Where is the most haode silk in the local area?" Zhao Yinggong asked.

, "Back to the master, of course, the local area is Renhe County. Wang Siniang said cautiously, "If Zhejiang is concerned, the most haode is the lake silk." The Qili silk of Nanxun, Huzhou Prefecture, is a well-known good silk. Gui'an, Deqing, Chongde, and Tongxiang counties all produce good silk, and then the raw silk of local benevolence. ”

"Most of the people here in Renhe County are "fat silk" Huzhou. Jiaxing is out of "filament" Wang Siniang explained that if you want to make silk with huā min, warp silk must be used, "filament". Because the weaving silk lifting machine has certain requirements for the strength of the warp silk, and the raw silk produced in the two places is tough and not easy to break. Other raw silk machines are basically useless.

"It is the local weaving house and weaving and dyeing bureau in Hangzhou, and the silk used in weaving must also be specially purchased from Huzhou and Jiaxing. The raw silk of local Renhe and Qiantang is not used much. ”

Zhao Yingong listened carefully. Obviously, the sericulture industry, like the sugar industry in Leizhou, is currently in a state of small production. Manual production and small usury are indeed common forms in local time and space industry and commerce. There are so many places to meddle in it and make a profit. There were seven or eight thoughts circling in his mind at the same time, and it seemed that every link could be interjected, and he shook his head, quieted himself, and sorted out a little bit before resuming the topic he had left off.

"Where do you sell your silk out?"

"There are special silk rows for reeling. As soon as the raw silk came out, the "silk customers" who bought the raw silk came to the town. Wang Siniang said that the market of raw silk is on the market, but ordinary raw silk is more than thirty or forty taels of silver per load all year round. Since the beginning of the Wanli years, a large number of raw silk and silk fabrics have been exported, and the market of raw silk has been rising, although some years have been sluggish, most years the silk industry is still a profitable industry.

"Oh" Zhao Yinggong nodded, "You can talk about the silk line, and you also have to get a tooth post, and there is also a peer office?" ”

"It's the same when I hear it. However, the slave and maid usually only meet the "silk guests" from Pingxiang, so I don't know much about the specific situation. ”

Wang Siniang said: Some of the "silk guests" of the silk shop also lend money, and silkworm farmers can borrow from them, and then use raw silk to repay debts after the new silk comes out. It seems that the procedures are simple, but in fact, the valuation of raw silk is very low when the debt is repaid, and the silkworm farmers suffer a lot.

In the inventory of silkworm farmers, "silk guests" are not more benevolent or faithful than cocoons. But once the silkworm cocoon is reeled into new silk there is also a time limit, the raw silk is easy to yellow after a long time, if the silk guest deliberately delays the time, although the price of the silkworm farmer can be killed, but the raw silk is received after leaving him with his own sales time is also short. Therefore, it is rare to deliberately delay the bargain. Silkworm farmers can get some benefits.

"Where is the raw silk zuihou of the silk line sold?" ”

"Most of them are sold to various weaving workshops, and some are sold to customers from other places. ”

"Is there much cloth of the local weaving?" ”

, "Back to the master, why not much?" Wang Siniang said with a smile, "Don't say it, just the east and west mansions in this city, plus two weaving and dyeing bureaus, will cost thousands of robes and clothing every year. And that's not counting anything else. Taken together, tens of thousands of horses of silk are paid every year. ”

The name of the East and West Mansions caught his attention, and Cai Shi saw that he was suspicious, and quickly explained, "It is the weaving mansion set up by the imperial court in Hangzhou. It's just east of Puji Bridge. The silk woven in it is supplied for internal use. "The two dyeing and weaving bureaus are also large government-run workshops, and they are very large.

Zhao Yinggong asked, "Can you weave silk?" ”

"Slaves and maids can't, the exclusive craftsman who weaves silk and satin, not a father and son but also a master and apprentice, not a countryman like a slave and a maid." ”

"Go down first. and in some days it will be useful to you. Zhao Yingong said and said to Bei Wangcai, "These children are enrolled in Yi Sī to study together. ”@。