Near noon, at the intersection of the main entrance of Nanhua First Women's College, groups of young women stepped on broken steps and walked out of different textile factories, in groups of three or five, covering their mouths and chuckling softly as they walked.

"Lord Sun, are they female spinners from the Suchangsong region?"

Zhang Zhenxun stood at the entrance of the street, looking at a few young women walking in front with small feet.

"Not exactly."

Sun Bin moved his gaze forward and explained, "The Suchangsong area is the base of the textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River, and the government allocates a part of the annual immigration funds to recruit female textile workers, but the Manchu government attaches great importance to the fiscal and tax revenues of the south of the Yangtze River and prohibits the outflow of female textile workers in the Susong area to other countries, so there are only one or two thousand textile women workers who immigrate to South America every year, which is far from meeting the needs of the development of the textile industry."

And Mr. Zhang, you have just seen, some of the female weavers from medium-sized families have been bound their feet since childhood, although they have gone to South America, under the strict orders of the government, the textile women have let go of their feet, but the harm left by the young foot binding to the feet is still there, nearly one-third of the textile women workers let go of the foot binding, the feet can not recover naturally, and they can only find the local Langzhong or apply to the government, and the government will issue a certificate to seek treatment in person to the medical university. ”

After Sun Bin finished speaking, he pointed to the direction of a few small-footed textile workers with his right hand and said, "Look, the building on the right side in front of you is the medical treatment station set up by the Medical University in Xicheng District. ”

Following the direction of Sun Bin's right hand, Zhang Zhenxun turned his head to look, and sure enough, he saw several young women going back and forth in and out of the small building, and there were two garrison soldiers standing on both sides of the door of the small building.

"Your Excellency's public heart is for the people, which should be a blessing for us and other overseas travelers."

"As an overseas Chinese, Mr. Zhang doesn't have to be so high-minded." ……

The textile industry is the most basic primary industry, in the early development process of the textile industry in the Han Kingdom, all the machinery and equipment were purchased from Germany, France and other European countries, and in 1879, the industrial base of the Han Kingdom was initially established, and some simple textile machines and dyeing machines can achieve independent production, therefore, the textile industry market in South America also appeared by the local machinery and equipment to produce garment products.

At the beginning of 1870, the textile industry mainly existed in the form of a small family workshop, after the occupation of northern Argentina, Nanyang overseas Chinese capital gradually imported, and the small textile mills represented by mechanical production replaced the traditional family handicraft workshops, becoming the mainstream of the textile market, and developed rapidly.

At this stage, the textile industry because the government adheres to the development idea of grasping the big and letting go of the small, mainly developing heavy industry, showing a barbaric growth posture, a batch after batch of overseas Chinese businessmen will invest funds in the textile industry with small principal and fast returns, in order to obtain higher profits, reduce the cost of raw material procurement, suppress competitors, and squeeze the bottom Chinese female workers, the textile owners who lack limited supervision gradually reveal the nature of capital, and greedily expand the market share of products.

In 1875, Li Mingyuan assigned a commissioner to investigate the actual situation of the textile industry.

About one sixth of the workers in private textile mills are underage women workers with no training or education, and the majority of women workers usually work 12 to 14 hours a day, with two days off a month

And after the female worker starts working, the textile mill owner deducts from the female worker's salary every month the settling-in allowance that was previously paid to the female worker's family.

Wage deductions and poor accommodation for female workers made it impossible for the government to sit idly by and watch the textile industry continue to grow wildly.

In November 1875, the government promulgated and implemented the "Law on Business Administration", which clearly stipulates that: 1. Female workers shall not work more than 10 hours a day, and factory owners shall not use coercive means to force female workers to work overtime.

2. It is forbidden to employ women under the age of 15 and to prohibit women from working late at night.

3. Female workers and other workers are entitled to one statutory rest day per week. ……

Immediately following the promulgation of the "Business Administration Law", the Han government immediately began to sort out the chaos in the textile industry, and batches of textile factories that did not meet the production requirements were strictly ordered to close within a time limit.

The state-owned textile mills introduced a seven-day work cycle in Europe, with one day off every Sunday, ten days off at the end of the year and the beginning of the year and nine hours a day in the summer, and the state-owned textile mills provided free meals, dormitory fees, medical expenses and uniforms.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, the state-owned textile factories set aside two hours of work time to arrange for women textile workers to study at night schools.

In the early years, the construction of state-owned textile mills was financed by the government, and the textile mills were deficit public utilities that were left out of accounting. Therefore, it is more appropriate for a state-owned textile factory to be a residential women's textile industry college than a factory that produces raw silk and cloth in large quantities.

Led by the two state-owned enterprises, after three years of integration and development, Susong Textile Factory and Jiangnan Textile Factory have successively turned losses into profits, and no longer need government financial subsidies.

Soon after the female workers of Susong Textile Factory got off work, the gate of Nanhua No. 1 Women's College also slowly opened, because Nanhua No. 1 Women's College had not yet been completed, so after the gate was opened, there were only less than 100 people sparsely walking out inside.

"Master Sun, under the big camphor tree at the main entrance, the one wearing a light cyan mattress skirt is the little girl."

About twenty or thirty meters away, Zhang Zhenxun pointed to the front and introduced.

"Gentle and elegant, with a natural appearance, your daughter and Your Majesty are really a good match."

Sun Bin looked at the young woman standing under the camphor tree and sighed.

"Hehe, Zhang thanked Master Sun for his praise for the little girl."

Zhang Zhenxun smiled and thanked him. ……

"Sister Youlan, we're here." Zhang Zhenxun and Sun Bin were talking happily, and at the entrance of the women's college, Wu Lingxuan saw a young woman coming from Susong Textile Factory and shouted.

"Miss Wu." The young woman walked over, saw Zhang Baoyi beside Wu Lingxuan, and greeted with a smile, "Miss Zhang, you are also here." ”

"Originally, I stayed in the backyard to help my father take care of the chores at home, but Miss Wu heard that Nanhua No. 1 Women's College was holding a preparatory event today, so she invited me to come out and accompany her."

"Hehe, I pulled Bao Yi over, if it weren't for my hard persuasion, she wouldn't have come."

Wu Lingxuan was smiling, still with the look of a little girl on her face.

"Hehehehe, I'm not ashamed, I'm going to be a princess soon, and I'm still like a child."

"What a child, he is already sixteen years old, and Brother Han Wang said that he likes my simple character, so I'm not afraid."

Wu Lingxuan didn't care at all and said proudly.

Although Zhang Baoyi is as old as Wu Lingxuan, she usually treats the other party as a sister and does not care about her naïve behavior.

"Sister Youlan, when did you get to South America? I remember that half a year ago you were still with Uncle Huang in Selangor? ”

Seeing that Huang Youlan, the daughter of Huang Ping, the head of the Taiping Society's branch hall, was also here, Zhang Baoyi asked curiously.

"Kuala Lumpur Kapitan Yah Lai did not give up and wanted to seize the tin mines in Selangor, but my father was worried about the danger of staying there, so he sent my mother, my brother and me to the mainland."

"The situation in the South Seas is not very good, the English have blocked the sea traffic in South America and the South Seas, and there has been no news from the South Seas for two months."

"It's not good, the foreigners have blocked sea transportation for several months, not only the connection between the mainland and overseas places has been cut off, but also many locally produced products cannot be sold, and they have been piled up in the warehouse, and I don't know when the blockade will end."

Huang Youlan and Zhang Baoyi are both descendants of officials and businessmen who have a relationship with the Han government, and they have some understanding of the current situation in the Han Kingdom under the long-term dazzle of the family.

"Ah, you two are talking about something you don't understand again, let's go, don't talk about it yet, let's go over there for dinner."

Wu Lingxuan couldn't understand what the two were saying, so she forcibly pulled away from the topic.

"Okay, well, everyone who listens to you today will accompany you to dinner."

Zhang Baoyi smiled and made fun of the other party, and then the three of them walked towards a nearby inn together. ……

"Hey, where are the Baoyi people?"

Zhang Zhenxun and Sun Bin chatted for only three or two sentences, turned their heads and looked at the crowd again, but they didn't find their daughter.

"Mr. Zhang, don't be in a hurry to find your daughter, I have already seen Miss Zhang from afar just now, and His Royal Highness also has a good impression of Miss Zhang, after Mr. Zhang goes back to see your daughter, he only needs to explain, there is no need to rush for a while, and he has to spend a lot of time looking for Miss Zhang in the street."

"What Mr. Zhang said is reasonable, wait for the little girl to return home, and Zhang will explain to her."

…………