There is a reason why cotton can replace linen and wool. Cotton cloth is not only soft and comfortable, but also easy to clean, making it a good material for underwear. It is said that after the introduction of Indian cotton cloth, the level of personal hygiene of Europeans has improved considerably.

Of course, Marlin did not want to replace silk and wool with cotton. Why? It's not in his interest! If cotton is popular in Europe, then silk and wool will fall out of favor. And the silk trade of the Ming Dynasty was precisely an important interest for Marin. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to replace silk and wool with cotton cloth.

However, cotton cloth can be used to make underwear!

Marin's plan is to make Europeans accustomed to wearing cotton underwear and woolen sweaters in the future. As for the outside, the nobles and the rich wore silk coats, and the common people wore woolen and linen coats......

In this way, the three types of textiles have their own living space and do not interfere with each other. And Marin also guaranteed the interests of his own silk.

In fact, this distribution model is very similar to that of later generations. In modern times, people are accustomed to wearing cotton underwear and sweaters over underwear to keep out the cold. Then, it's casual outside, depending on personal preferences and financial resources......

Under the impetus of Marin, some women in the North Sea Country have learned to knit sweaters, and can knit sweaters and woolen pants that are very effective against the cold. These sweaters are tight-fitting and don't look cumbersome when worn, and silk robes can also be worn outside, which is very convenient and fashionable. Before the introduction of sweaters in Marin, the cold-proof clothes in Europeans were mainly jackets made of sheepskin, the kind with hair. However, the cold protection is not very effective. In particular, the arm area is not taken care of. Or, simply clothes made of woolen cloth, worn in multiple layers, but heavy. Unlike hand-knitted sweaters, knitted sweaters are lightweight, warm, and breathable if the craftsmanship and materials are good.

In addition, the most important point is that hand-knitted sweaters have no space restrictions and no machinery and equipment, which is very suitable for women who are idle. Just go to the store and buy a few balls of yarn and a few wooden needles, and you'll be fine knitting.

Marin clearly remembers that in his previous life, his mother and the women in the neighborhood would gather together to gossip during the slack time before the winter came, and the women in the neighborhood would gather together to gossip and knit sweaters in their hands.

Knitting sweaters can produce benefits, women with good craftsmanship can not only knit sweaters for their families, but even Marin will arrange for the shops under the Beihai Society to place orders to women with good craftsmanship during the slack time, so that they can help knit high-quality sweaters, and then buy them and sell them intensively. In this way, those women who are skillful also have an extra income in the spare time of farming, which can subsidize the family. This is definitely a great thing for ordinary people, and it can make the family's economic conditions much better.

In addition, because knitting sweaters can consume a lot of wool, it is also a good stimulus for the sheep industry. After all, even low-quality coarse wool, after being spun into velvet, can be used to weave sweaters, and it is cheap.

In this way, Beihai has formed a complete industrial chain of "sheep raising, sheep shearing, wool acquisition, spinning thread, knitting sweaters", which has fed many people and made the life of ordinary families much better. At the same time, it can also generate a lot of tax revenue.

Ma Lin even ordered that a woman with the highest level of knitting sweaters in a certain place be hired to organize local young women and girls to learn the skills of knitting sweaters from them during the slack time. As a result, knitting sweaters became an important job for ordinary women in Beihai in their spare time. Not only can it pass the time, but it can also bring income to the family. Of course, the premise is that your craft is not too trendy. Otherwise, the acquisition store is rejected......

At present, due to limited funds and social traditions, the government-run craftsman school in Beihai State currently only admits boys. As for the girls, they are not currently able to attend school normally.

But Marin had already decided to take advantage of the opportunity to concentrate on knitting sweaters and teach the girls to recognize some words as well. It doesn't require a high level of proficiency, you can at least read and write, and then, you can learn the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division at the elementary school level. In this way, in the future, in daily life, you will not be deceived because of your lack of calculation ability.

Even, Marin did not plan to spend money on the establishment of a special girls' school, but planned to borrow churches directly from various places. Anyway, except for Sundays, churches are idle. In the spare time, it is completely possible to gather the women in the church in the name of holding a "sweater weaving class", and while knitting sweaters, they can find nuns to teach the girls literacy and the simplest addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

The equipment for teaching is also simple - the nuns use blackboards and chalk for teaching, while the girls use the cheapest sand tables and branches. In this way, without a venue and without spending much money, the girls of Beihai can have the most basic writing and arithmetic skills. It doesn't need to be very high, it is enough to have a second-grade elementary school level. Moreover, the time is also set at ten points of the farm, and it does not delay the girl's usual work at home......

As for the name, it will be implemented under the name of the "Sweater Knitting Training Course". Anyway, the Beihai Church is under Marin's control, and the people in those churches don't dare to say anything. It doesn't cost anything to borrow the church site. As for teaching the little girl to read, nuns must be used, so as not to have any strange priests. Although nuns are not available everywhere, it is not difficult to arrange a nun for a church. Big deal, the official arranged for a carriage to go to the convent to pick up the nuns and go to various churches to teach.

Of course, for some particularly smart girls, Marin doesn't want to bury waste. Once the nun found out that the little girl was very smart, Marin would let the financial allocation give her free admission to Marin's special girls' school for further training. Then, according to their strengths and interests, they will be trained to become suitable talents.

As a time-traveler in later generations, Marin does not discriminate against women. Even, in his previous life, Marin did not dare to discriminate against women. Otherwise, you will be warned by the female boxer......

Therefore, Marin agrees that if women shift their attention from love, entertainment industry, makeup and luxury to business, they will not be much worse than men in other aspects except for physical work.

Of course, in this era, limited by social values, it is impossible for Marin to provide too many employment opportunities for women. However, there are some industries where women are unavoidable. For example, gynaecologists, especially obstetricians and gynaecologists and nurses, must be women. At present, those midwives in Beihai Country have no culture and low professional quality, which is a potential safety hazard.

It is important to know that the production of women is related to the overall plan of population growth. Therefore, most of the smart girls selected from the "knitting training class" will be trained to become professional gynecologists and nurses in the future.

Of course, it depends on personal interests and strengths. For girls who don't like to be doctors, Marin will arrange for them to learn how to cut and design clothes, as well as art and other professions that are suitable for girls. There are also some people who will stay and serve as teachers in girls' schools to train more intelligent women.

And if there is a very rare scientific research woman, Marin will not refuse. On the contrary, they are especially encouraged and protected. After all, there are more scientific researchers, which is also what Marin is looking forward to.

And the basis of all this is the basic education and selection of the "knitting training course". Marin has long been familiar with this kind of black-box operation method of "selling dog meat on the head of a sheep". Just like the "craftsman school" that is very popular in Beihai now, it is actually a very popular primary and secondary school in later generations. It's just that it's aimed at the common people and focuses on science. After all, Marin wanted to protect the interests of the nobility. However, it does not prevent the children of ordinary people from standing out through the science and engineering industry and changing their own destiny.

And this "sweater knitting training class" of "selling dog meat on the head of a sheep" is to give the intelligent women of this era a chance and a chance to get out of poverty. If they become female doctors, nurses, fashion designers, artists, or scientific researchers, they will definitely be paid a higher salary than ordinary people, and they will be protected by Marin. When the time comes, Marin will not only give these powerful women higher salaries, but also deliberately inflate their social status to attract more girls.