[Second Update.] Starting from January 30th, it can only be one more a day, and it will try to keep changing continuously throughout the Spring Festival, so please forgive me. 】

In just one place, you can reach the level of clothing in the world, which is by no means comparable to the Northwest Roads. It is absolutely impossible to rely on the scale advantage brought by the same advance and retreat within the cotton industry as in the past, and the opponents who are weak will be weak.

Jiangnan is rich, the land is rich, the yield of grain per mu is often three or four times that of the northwest, and the number of acres of fields in the south of the Yangtze River is far from being comparable to that of Longxi, which is full of hills and valleys.

High-grade Longxi cotton cloth, now in the capital market, is about the level of Shu brocade with every inch of cloth, and ordinary cotton cloth is also quite the same as high-grade silk.

Even if there are cotton cloths produced in other places on the market today, they are far inferior to Longxi cotton cloth in terms of scale, quality, type and reputation. Therefore, Longxi cotton cloth can maintain a high position.

Compared with the high price brought by the brand advantage, cotton cloth is far lower than silk, and even because the semi-manual and semi-mechanized production is lower than the production cost of linen, it is not worth mentioning at all.

However, once Jiangnan began to produce cotton cloth on a large scale, it would soon form an overwhelming advantage due to the amount of land and the cultivation conditions.

When cotton cloth no longer becomes a luxury product in short supply, and the scale of linen cloth is comparable, the good days of cotton cloth in Longxi will come to an end.

It is because of the understanding of the lack of objective conditions in the production of Longxi, as early as the beginning of the establishment of the cotton store, on the one hand, the unique weaving technology in the guild is strictly guarded, strictly prevent leakage, and continue to invest a huge amount of money to develop and improve the looms, textile machines, ginning machines and other machinery related to cotton cloth production, so that the leakage of the technology can not be traced, on the other hand, it began to monitor all the areas in the world that may grow cotton.

The Kansai cotton merchants who transported the specialties of the northwest to all roads in the world would pass on what they had seen and heard from all over the world back to their hometowns, especially the life-and-death events such as the emergence of competitors, which immediately aroused great concern within the guild.

The reason why Han Gang can keep abreast of the planting of cotton in various places, and even the changes in commodity prices in various places, comes from the notification of the cotton industry.

Jiangnan began to grow cotton a few years ago, but cotton production began to scale up last year, when at the end of last year, Jiangnan's self-produced cotton cloth hit the scale of 100,000 horses, Hangang here continued to receive requests from within the cotton industry.

Many people hope that Han Gang can strangle the enemy in the cradle, but Han Gang himself knows best. All he can do for the cotton textile industry in Jiangnan is to delay, and it is impossible to strangle it. The emperor can't do anything happy, let alone Han Gang, who participates in political affairs.

With Han Gang's status, he wants to suppress cotton production in Jiangnan, and there is indeed a high-sounding reason - this is what the cotton industry wants him to do - that is, grain.

Cotton grows from the ground, unlike mulberry trees that can grow on hillsides that are not suitable for farming, so it is natural to compete with staple foods for land.

The grain from the southeast Zhulu is related to the food security of Beijing. Now it is close to seven million stone of grain every year, and if there is a mistake, the capital will be in chaos.

If the grain production in the south of the Yangtze River is insufficient, there may be a shortage of grain, and the regular positions in the southeast will not be able to make up for the shortfall. In the event of a large-scale natural disaster, the southeastern roads will become powder kegs.

Under the circumstance that millions of soldiers and civilians in Beijing are all dependent on the southeast, the imperial court will certainly not allow too many fields in the southeast to be converted to cotton.

In Han Gang's eyes, food security was naturally more important than cotton, but under the lure of high profits, even if the imperial court issued a ban, it could not stop the profit-oriented heart of the Jiangnan landowners.

Not to mention those officials from Jiangnan who are bound to desperately prevent the promulgation and enforcement of the ban for their own interests, and the local officials who enforce the practice will certainly not be able to do their work.

It is impossible for cotton planting techniques not to flow out, and there is also the possibility of rice and cotton rotation in the south of the Yangtze River. It's just that in terms of arable land, Jiangnan does not have as many livestock as the northwest, but it can be completely replaced by manpower.

Political means, especially those lacking in execution, are simply no match for the laws of economics. From various points of view, it is a foregone conclusion that Jiangnan will begin mass production of cotton cloth.

At this stage, only the threat of the imperial court's means of buying and buying can slightly delay the pace of developing the cotton textile industry in Jiangnan for a few years.

Another obstacle to the development of the cotton spinning industry in Jiangnan is the problem of cotton seeds. Today's cotton varieties are not sure whether they can quickly adapt to the local climate in Jiangnan. According to the investigation of many merchants who went to the south of the Yangtze River, the yield per mu of local cotton is now generally a little lower than the average level in Longxi.

With the natural conditions of Jiangnan, the yield of cotton per mu is not as good as that of Longxi, which shows that the problem of cotton seeds has not been solved This speculation is not untargeted-but since the Jiangnan region can become the cotton cloth production center in China and even the world in history, the cotton seed problem cannot be troubled by Jiangnan for too long.

Under the deterrence of the imperial court and buying, before the problem of cotton seeds was solved, the cotton merchants from the northwest had a few years to prepare for them.

In Han Gang's view, if you want to compete with the Jiangnan cotton industry, you must do two things, one is to reduce costs, and the other is to expand the scale. Then you can compete with Jiangnan.

To expand the scale, the first thing is to expand the planting area of cotton.

Due to the popularity of cotton cloth in the world, the influence of the regional guild of cotton has long expanded to the whole country.

The Yongqin Chamber of Commerce, which is centered on cotton, has a very heavy weight in Xiangzhou and the business circle from Xiangzhou to the capital, especially warehousing and transshipment, which is an exclusive transaction in Xiangzhou. In the past two years, from the two central nodes of Beijing and Xiangzhou, the potential has also been extended to the whole country.

However, the cotton production area is still limited to the northwest. Among them, Xihe Road is the best developed, followed by Qinfeng, Ganliang and Ningxia are just starting, and in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, there are even more places suitable for planting cotton, and there is still a lot of room for development in the northwest in terms of planting scale. It's just that due to the vast area, the transportation of cotton and cotton cloth has to take up a lot of cost space.

This makes it necessary for cotton shops to simultaneously advance advanced weaving processes to overwhelm competitors in manufacturing costs.

With new cotton weaving techniques, various machines, and even steam engines, Han Gang invested a large part of his annual income in research and development, and under his guidance, and because of the sweetness, the members of the cotton store did not skimp on the income earned through cotton cloth.

With the machine, now in the cotton spinning factory, the weaving efficiency can be improved dozens of times or nearly 100 times.

The ginning of cotton, the spinning of cotton yarn, and the weaving of cotton cloth have been using machines in the northwest, which has reduced a lot of labor, adapted to the lack of population in the northwest, and also reduced a lot of cost and time.

These textile machines, centered in Gongzhou, have been continuously improving their technical level from the outside to the inside. The machines used in several cotton textile factories in Gongzhou are no longer at the level where spies can steal their skills after a while.

Even if you get the prototype and want to imitate it exactly the same, it is not something that a family in Jiangnan can do. As for whether the landlords in Jiangnan will unite, this is not something to worry about. Large households set up loom factories, and small people planted cotton spinning, such division of labor and cooperation, in line with the characteristics of the fragmented fields in the south of the Yangtze River, and the fields of the landlord's family are all in the east and west, but compared with the Xihe Road, where a family can have hundreds of acres of contiguous fields, and the large households are connected to Xihe Road, it lacks the source power of industrialization.

As long as these machines continue to be improved, the cotton industry in the northwest will only be far ahead of competitors from all walks of life.

Now the problem of power is the problem that plagues the further development of the loom, and water power and animal power are the main force of machine power. As for the steam engine, Han Gang did not expect to see results in ten years.

In addition, in addition to the research and development and modification of weaving machinery, the cotton industry is also raising funds to experiment in planting various kinds of cotton, trying to cultivate better varieties from it. In advance, it was agreed that the seeds produced would only be supplied to all members of the guild.

This is also one of the advantages of the cotton textile industry in the northwest.

However, the opponent is not only Jiangnan, but also has problems in the direction of Hebei.

There is great hope for cotton planting in Hebei, especially in Cangzhou.

Cangzhou is close to the sea, with a large area, and it is basically a plain. It is only because the land is saline that not many people come to settle down.

Moreover, in Hebei, not only Cangzhou, but also in the coastal states of Hebei East Road, there is a large wasteland, which is the result of the dual factors of flooding and coastal water.

But cotton is resistant to salinity and is the best crop to grow locally.

With the simultaneous promotion of cotton cloth in various places, which replaced silk and became the mainstream fabric in China, Han Gang's idea may become a reality within ten years.

……………………

The wind in the capital is warm, and it is completely spring.

Han Gang's proposal in the palace has been approved by the Queen Mother. And there were several who guessed what he meant, and after Zhang Dian came out, he shook his head at Han Gang for a while. Wang Anshi also cast a cold glance.

On the road, there are more people with flowers on their heads. Among the Jingshi, both men and women, young and old, have the habit of holding flowers as headwear.

Han Gang didn't like such a custom in the capital, it didn't look pleasing to the eye, and he remembered that he had to make hairpins, and he became more and more resistant.

However, the hairpin flower of the new branch is a custom that began in the Tang Dynasty, and the name of Tanhualang also comes from this. There is a world of envy of the Jinshi leading, want to change the custom of hairpins, but it is very rare.

Han Gang has brought flowers himself, so how can he interfere with his habits for many years.?

Riding a tall horse, Han Gang swaggered through the street and went in the direction of his home.

Along the way, Han Gang saw many scholars avoiding the side of the road.

It's close to the time for the Ministry of Rites to release the trial list.