There are more and more people in Yingtian, especially on the 27th, 28th, and 29th days of March every year, which coincides with the temple fair in the city.

Qiu Ju and the lame father carried two pieces of cloth on their backs and walked slowly in the crowd, and when they arrived at a cloth village, they stopped, wiped the sweat on their foreheads and looked back and smiled: "Daddy has arrived!" ”

"It's here, otherwise my legs will be broken!"

The father and daughter helped each other into the store, and many of the people in the store were buying fabrics, most of them were flat-headed people, and they were lying on the counter one by one and bargaining with the guys.

The shopkeeper saw the father and daughter and said with a smile: "Isn't this Lao Yang?" The body is not bad, and I have survived another winter! ”

Father Yang smiled and said: "Winter is better, spring is difficult, this is not to send the shopkeeper here to fight the autumn wind." ”

He gently put the two pieces of cloth on the transparent glass counter, for fear of breaking the glass, and subconsciously touched it lightly when he put it away.

"Bother the shopkeeper Song to inspect the quality, it's not that I'm boasting, my family's Qiu Ju's craftsmanship is getting better and better, better than her mother's, you have to give a good price."

The shopkeeper is connoisseur only glanced at it and said: "It's good material, so let's do it, I'll give you a piece of cloth for 210 Wen!" ”

When Father Yang heard this, he immediately exploded and jumped to his feet: "Shopkeeper Song, you are really black-hearted, you only give 210 wen for such good material, but last year it was 320 wen." My daughter has been weaving a shuttle since a few years ago, and her eyes are almost blind! ”

"I knew you had to say that!" The shopkeeper smiled helplessly, took out a piece of material from the counter, and put it on the counter, "Let me tell you that this year is not the market it used to be, how much do you guess this cloth is worth?" ”

"It's not as good as my daughter's weaving, at least two hundred and fifty wen!"

"Hey...... It's not bad, I won't tell you that as long as I enter more than 50 horses at a time, it is 180 yuan a horse, and if it is more than 200 horses, the price can be cheaper! ”

Father Yang pouted, "Which one are you cheating, one hundred and eighty wen is not enough for hard work!" As soon as he finished speaking, his tone softened, "Shopkeeper Song is an old friend, when my mother-in-law is still alive, I have to come to you every year to sell cloth, I came all the way from the east of the city to buy a few more money, and I point to these pieces of cloth every spring to live." ”

"Lao Yang, it's because of this friendship, I only bought your cloth for 210 yuan and then sold it at the original price, it won't make money at all, and now Yingtian is such a market, not only me. Unless you go all the way to the nearby Changzhou and Zhenjiang, you may still be able to sell for 2780 Wen, but it will only be this year, and I estimate that the price of the whole Jiangnan will be this next year. ”

Seeing that Shopkeeper Song said it sincerely, he didn't seem to be coaxing himself, Father Yang asked with a bitter face: "Shopkeeper Song gave me a word of truth, what the hell is going on, why has this market fallen so much?" ”

"Where did you know in the countryside that the imperial court set up a weaving bureau, and the cotton cloth sold out was at this price."

"The Imperial Court? Oh my God! Emperor Lao'er, this is a lot of money, and doing loss-making business will ruin the life of our ordinary people......" Father Yang wailed, and was covered by the shopkeeper Song in the middle of his words.

"This is talking in the city, pay attention, don't implicate me if you die yourself!" The shopkeeper scolded in a low voice, turned his head to look at Qiu Ju behind Father Yang, and said with a mysterious smile: "Actually, this is a good time for your family to get ahead, and I have a clear way to point out to you!" ”

The girl worked hard to weave the cloth, but Father Yang was reluctant to sell it, he still didn't believe that this fine cloth had fallen to such a price, but he asked a few shops in a row, which was less than what the shopkeeper of Song gave.

In desperation, I had to walk towards the clear road pointed out by the shopkeeper Song, and walked a few streets with my daughter, and I saw a few pillars of smoke rising in front of me, which must be the weaving bureau that the shopkeeper Song said.

He moved his limp and quickened his pace, and saw from a distance that it was a huge courtyard, from which black smoke came out, and there were no less than a hundred and ten people in front of the door, most of them were women, and almost all of them carried cloth, and it was estimated that they had come from the countryside to sell cloth in the city like their father and daughter.

Father Yang took his daughter over and was about to inquire, when he saw a man in palace clothes coming out of the door, waved the dust in his hand, and said in a sharp voice: "Our family name is Wu, and we are the young eunuch of this weaving bureau, you folks can call me Gonggong Wu." Looks like you're all from the cloth village. ”

A woman standing in front said: "No, I heard that you have pressed the good cloth to 180 yuan, how can we sell it, this is to cut off our way of life!" ”

This woman's voice was very loud and rushing, and a girl next to her poked her with her finger, "Mother, he is from the yamen, beware of catching us and killing our heads!" ”

The woman said with a crying voice: "Anyway, it is a death, it is better to kill the head than to starve to death, God, I am a widow pulling a son and a daughter, all relying on weaving cloth to supplement the family, this is forcing our whole family to die!" ”

Young Eunuch Wu was not surprised, covered his mouth and said with a smile: "This eldest sister, what's the use of shouting at your throat, don't you come to our house to find something to eat?" ”

The woman immediately stopped screaming, "Yes, I heard that the shopkeeper of Xinglong Cloth Village said that you recruit people to work here, and you have 500 yuan a month, but is it true?" ”

As soon as these words came out, others also asked, obviously all for this, and looked at Young Eunuch Wu with anticipation on their faces.

Wu Shaojian said: "Wrong! Wrong! The shopkeeper didn't make it clear, not five hundred wen. Without waiting for everyone to be disappointed, he continued: "Whoever is far away from home needs to eat and live here, and the salary is 500 yuan, and if he is close to home and does not eat and live here, the salary is 700 yuan." ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone cheered, although 500 wen is not a lot, it is guaranteed by drought and flood, and the servants in the yamen may not be able to get these wages.

The spicy woman just now became soft-voiced at this moment, "Grandpa Wu, the little woman wants to bring her daughter to work here, I don't know if it's okay!" It is estimated that this person doesn't know what "father-in-law" means, and he even flattered Young Eunuch Wu.

Young Eunuch Wu was really immune to her flattering eyes, and said with a smile: "As long as there is no serious hidden disease, anyone who can spin and weave can do it." I work here for four hours a day, and the rest of the time is up to you, and you can take a day off on the tenth day, where can you find such a good livelihood. Hehe......"

Father Yang limped forward two steps forward and said: "What the official said is right, this is a rare and good livelihood, but my family Qiuju is still a yellow flower girl, and I am afraid that this will affect the reputation and festival, and it will not be easy to marry in the future." ”

Young Eunuch Wu sneered disdainfully, "As far as your daughters care about the reputation, we have more yellow flower girls here, but none of them are innocent and looking for death and life, and my brother is afraid that he doesn't know that we are not an ordinary workshop here." Except for the women, the rest of us here are eunuchs, eunuchs! ”

"Eunuch! How can there be eunuchs! ”

Seeing that everyone was puzzled, he pinched the orchid finger and pointed to the door plaque above his head, "I'm afraid you don't know what the weaving bureau means, to put it bluntly, this is the business in the palace, the person in charge is the queen's mother, her old man is like a bodhisattva, and the most important thing is the woman's name." Let's leave the words here, as long as you wear a handle in the crotch, don't even think about entering this door! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a young man with a tall figure come over to him and said: "Wu Liang don't just brush his mouth, take them to the factory, canteen, and dormitory to see it, if there are still people who don't want to come, it's useless to say more." The young man swaggered into the courtyard.

Father Yang pointed to the man's back and asked, "That's also a bad one?" ”

The words that came out were the water that was spilled, Wu Liang couldn't slap himself in the face, nodded and said, "No!" ”

Father Yang obviously didn't know that eunuchs didn't grow beards, so he shook his head and said, "It's a pity to be a talent." ”

Wu Liang did what he said, and really didn't let a man in, so Father Yang was naturally turned away and followed everyone into the courtyard.

This yard is really big, I'm afraid it will occupy two or three hectares of land, the house doesn't know what to build it with, in short, it's very big, and the rich man on the Zhuangzi can't afford to live in such a house, Qiu Ju is a little convinced that this is a royal deal.

What shocked him even more was that such a big house was not inhabited, and there were strange things in it, if she guessed correctly, the one in front of her should be a spinning machine.

However, at the same time, the spinning machine Qiu Ju, which can spin twenty or thirty spinning yarns, is the first time to see it, and it is not troublesome to operate, only one person is required to easily shake the handwheel next to it, and the whole roving is rolled into the roller, and I don't know how to turn into a spinning yarn, which falls neatly on the spindle, and it is a thick layer after a while.

If there is such a machine, Qiu Ju feels that she will be able to weave more cloth, and she is obviously not the only one who thinks so, the spicy woman just now can't wait to get started, and while shaking the wheel, she said that this job is very light.

Qiu Ju also felt that there didn't seem to be anything difficult, but she didn't expect that a lighter one was still to come. Weaving has always been a hard job, and I often sit with my hands and feet for most of the day, and I will be tired and have a sore back.

But right now, as long as you need to stand on the side, those shuttles seem to be alive and tireless, and Qiu Ju is dazzled to see it, but a cup of tea can be woven more than a foot long. The woman next to her only needs to quickly connect the thread when the yarn breaks.

God, is this haunted or does it have fairy power, looking at the white smoke that keeps spewing out from time to time next to her, Qiu Ju feels scared in her heart......

About an hour after the visit had been going on, the women came out of the courtyard, burping and chattering about the new things they had seen inside.

Qiu Ju took a steamed bun from her sleeve and handed it to Daddy Yang, "Dad, it's leftover from my canteen, it's still hot." ”

"What the hell is going on inside?"

"Dad, I decided to work here, I won't go back today, you can sell these pieces of cloth to Shopkeeper Song, and use the money first." The steward said that he would be paid on the 10th day of the next month, so remember to come to me to get it. ”

Father Yang sighed, "It's all because I don't have the ability to support my family, and I want you to show your face." ”

Qiu Ju said with a smile: "Daddy doesn't know, the work here is lighter than that at home, and the food and accommodation are better than at home, and the girl is blessed to come here, and there are really no men here, all of them are eunuchs with sharp voices......"

The more she said this, the more Daddy Yang felt that his daughter was lying to him, and tears fell in his heart. As soon as he cried like this, Qiu Ju, who was originally quite happy, also shed tears, I don't know if I thought he was selling his daughter into the kiln.

There is a small building in the weaving bureau, the situation on the street can be seen clearly through the glass window, looking at the father and daughter who hugged their heads and cried, Ma Dajia didn't know if he remembered the scene of his and Ma Ergong's separation, and couldn't help but have tears in his eyes, and said to himself: "It's really pitiful." ”

Ma Du smiled disapprehantly, what is so pitiful about this, it is a lucky thing for her that a girl from the countryside can become an employee of a state-owned enterprise in Daming, and she can straighten her waist in her mother-in-law's house when she marries in the future.

In fact, he really didn't plan to get a state-owned enterprise out of the feudal dynasty, which seems to be a bit perverted. Considering the impact of the new spinning machines and looms on the fragile market, he simply told the imperial court in advance to prepare for the weavers who might not have anything to eat this spring.

Who knew that Lao Zhu, a top feudal element, hated bourgeois liberalization, and Ma Dajia did not support him at first, and the two were even ready to strangle the seedlings of the industrial revolution in the cradle.

Until I saw the unmanned automatic loom, especially when I heard that the cost of weaving was not stopped, the cost of a piece of cloth was reduced by nearly half, although someone was damaged, and naturally there would be more benefits.

The matter of farming is not a trivial matter, in order to be able to use such a double-edged sword, Lao Zhu and his family decided to hold it in their own hands, in order to stop the loss of the weaver, even recruiting workers with obvious goals. At this time, the weaving bureaus of Songjiang, Suzhou and Hangzhou have been preparing, and most of the Daming textile industry is in a corner of the south of the Yangtze River, and there is no need to open factories all over the world.

Enterprises born for politics are destined to be freaks, and although they can be brilliant for a while, sooner or later they will be compared to the capitalists who have blood in their pores.

Ma Dajiao stretched out his hand and twisted Ma Du's arm, "What are you laughing at, or didn't you poke the basket and ask Sister Ah to clean it up for you, speaking of which, I am also the mother of a country, and now I am willing to degenerate and run the business." ”

"Don't say that, Niangniang, you are building a foundation for the Ming Dynasty for the benefit of the people, and there will always be people who remember your kindness." Ma Du looked at Wu Liang who was passing downstairs, "Niangniang, these eunuchs had better be greedy for money and power, Niangniang should be careful, so as not to ruin your reputation." ”

"My father has also read a lot of books, and I don't know what kind of virtue a eunuch is!" Ma Dajia looked at the west sun, "It's not early, I guess the emperor is about to return to the palace, I should leave too, you should go back early." ”

"The emperor went for a private visit again?"

"I went to the temple fair, speaking of which, the last time I visited the temple fair in this palace was my daughter's house, if Song Shuang had nothing to do at home, I asked her to take me around, I heard that she was the best at shopping."

"This mother-in-law is indeed the most likely loser! By the way, Niangniang, it's been almost a year since Bi Lin went to the north, so hurry up and let King Yan send it back. ”

"I don't think it's necessary, what can I learn from you two. I heard that the girl studied with the fourth child in Beiping for a long time, and the fourth child also sent her schoolwork back a few days ago, and she did a good job, and she will show it to you another day. ”

Madu grinned, "Hehe...... It's incredible! ”