On this day, Liu Yuan got up very early, more than half an hour earlier than the usual fifth watch.

Even in summer, when the fourth watch is over, it is still dark. It's not just Liu Yuan, Hu Qianli and others who are old generals get up early and send their own children to Zhuangzi to find out the news.

After the Battle of Hezhou, Liu Yuan and other officers and men of the Guangrui Army had spent more than a year of peace on the banks of the Weishui River. For more than a year, although the martial arts have not been put down, they have done more work in the soil. The farming in the field was taught by Han Qianliu himself, and wheat, cotton, vegetables and vegetables were all taught by hand.

Relying on the post-war rewards of the year before last and last year, the food and clothing of these Guangrui generals are not bad. Relying on the wheat harvested in May alone, after leaving the family for a year's use, the remaining wheat can't be sold for much money. No matter which one you are, you need a better source of money, and cotton is one of the most important.

Two days ago, they had received a private notice from the Han family, saying that SF Express and other big businesses in Qinzhou City had come to Cheng'en Village to discuss the price of cotton purchased this year. Although I don't know what Lu Dao is for, they will come before the harvest season, but the cotton buyer is not easy to offend, not to mention the Han family's SF Express, how to give Han Gang and his son a face.

In this way, from the fourth watch to the beginning of the hour. When each is waiting for impatience. Liu Yuan's eldest son rode a horse and ran into Zhuangzi. Following him, there were several boys from various families who were sent out at the same time, shouting one after another:

"It's coming! Here it comes! ”

Unswervingly, Feng Congyi led the merchants and their entourage, a group of more than 30 people, to the front of Cheng'en Village.

After the meeting, a polite one. A group of businessmen were led around the cotton fields and then sat down to discuss this year's purchase price.

Liu Yuan originally had the intention of bargaining, but what the generals of Guangrui Army did not expect was that after going around the cotton fields outside the village, the merchants came up with a contract on the spot - a contract that they could not refuse.

According to the plan that the merchants came up with, as long as they signed the agreement when the cotton field was sprouting, they could get a deposit of 20% on the spot, which could be used to spend the spring when the crops were not harvested. After the autumn harvest, the harvested cotton will be delivered in accordance with the contract, and the remaining eighty percent of the balance will be obtained.

The number of supplies set in this contract shall be based on the average yield per mu of cotton fields in the previous two years - after next year, it will be changed to three years, and as for the harvest after the harvest, as long as it is more than 70%, then the full amount will be paid, and the amount of payment shall be determined in proportion to the agreed amount. If the harvest is more than 30% more than the estimated amount, the additional amount will also be paid according to the corresponding proportion of the agreed price.

"Even if the harvest is lost, only half of the deposit will be returned, which means that no matter how bad the situation is, there is still 10% of the money to take." Feng Congyi explained to Liu Yuan and them in detail from beginning to end.

Liu Yuan and others have never seen or heard of such a contract. In their minds, selling cotton is just like selling grain, and the selling price depends on the market price at that time, as well as the conscience of the merchants. However, Feng Congyi's inadvertent few words revealed that Han Gang had said a lot about this. Let the generals of Guangrui be more sure that Han Guanren is indeed his own family.

Cheng Xuan was not surprised by Liu Yuan and the others' surprise, after all, such agreements generally only appeared in orchards in the south. Separated by thousands of miles, how can the military men in the northwest know the way? Han Gang understood so deeply, and directly instructed them to follow it, which had already surprised Cheng Xuan and the others, and then thought about it, it should be because Feng Congyi explained it to him—although Feng Congyi himself did not admit it.

Liu Yuan couldn't be more satisfied with this contract, and if he bargained, it would seem that they were not sincere. The men who fought on the battlefield didn't talk much nonsense, and directly slapped the board. Each household inspected the area of the field and drew a fingerprint on the contract.

signed an agreement with Cheng'en Village, where the generals of Guangrui Army lived, and there are dozens of villages below, but they can all be handled by their own friends. With Cheng'en Village as an example, there is no need for them, the shopkeepers and owners, to run errands anymore. Next, it should be the banquet after the contract is signed, and Liu Yuan did ask people to kill sheep and drink wine to prepare for a treat.

It's just that Feng Congyi looked at the sky, turned around and said: "At this time, the sky is still good, first go to the family village to see the spinning workshop, and it is not too late to come back to Liu Baozheng's banquet." ”

"That's very good."

Cheng Xuan and the others nodded busily, they had long been looking forward to going to the Han family's spinning workshop to see what was going on.

Twenty miles away from Longxi City, on a high ground two miles away from the south bank of Weishui, there is a Zhuangzi surrounded by high walls. This Zhuangzi belongs to the Han family, and the people in it are all Zhuang guests who have taken refuge in Han Gang, most of them are disabled soldiers in the battle, and after leaving the army, they were taken in by Han Gang. But if they really want to fight, ordinary people with sound limbs can rarely defeat them. And the cotton yarn workshop is inside Hanjiazhuang.

Last year's cotton peaches have long been processed, and this year's ones have not yet been harvested, and the Han family's spinning workshop has finished its work and closed its doors. Because he had been notified in advance, a veteran soldier who was the head of the village saw Feng Congyi bringing people over, and without waiting for orders, he asked people to open the workshop.

In the workshop, you can see the four big characters 'No Fireworks' everywhere, and each of the four characters has a pattern attached to it, and a black cross is drawn on the red flame. Whether literate or illiterate, you can see what the prohibition is in the weaving workshop.

There are many places in the northwest, and this workshop covers a wide area, with two factories, two warehouses, and a small courtyard where the steward lives, each of which is far away. There are three wells in the workshop, and large tanks containing water are placed everywhere, which is extremely good for fire prevention.

However, no one cares about the layout here, and the things in the factory are what Cheng Xuan and they care about this time.

Looking at the factory built by the loess, Liu Guanghan asked: "Is the sixteen-spindle spinning machine inside?" ”

"Of course." Feng Congyi nodded and smiled, and asked Zhuang Tou to open the door, "Since the brothers have agreed to participate in the grand event, naturally there will be no concealment and concealment. ”

The door of the factory opened, and Feng Congyi stretched out his hand, "Please!" ”

Rush in.

Feng Congyi smiled and followed him into the factory.

This time, Han Gang was able to reunite these merchants in Longxi, and Han Gang's agreement to announce to them the promise of a new spinning machine played a key role.

In other places, the spinning work is actually done by the farmer's family in the cotton field. That is to say, from planting, to picking, to taking cotton, spinning, all the way down, the weaving workshop only needs to buy spindles, then there is no need to come here to divide the cotton field by realizing the decision.

But it is different here in Longxi, the establishment of the spinning workshop was completed almost at the same time as the promotion and planting of cotton fields. In the workshop below SF Express alone, there are 30 16-spindle spinning machines.

Previously, in Feng Congyi's view, before the cotton field expanded the planting area, the use of manpower was more than enough, and blindly using these machinery was just a waste. The two things of agriculture and mulberry have always been one family, and now they are replaced by cotton, the essence is still the same, what is wrong with male farmers and female weaving? It's just that Han Gang's insistence made him dare not disobey.

From the very beginning, Han Gang did not plan to turn the process of spinning into a single-door business. Even the simplest Jenny spinning machine is a radical step further in efficiency than the old one-man spinning wheel. If the cotton farmers in Longxi are allowed to form a small peasant economic interest group of male farmers and female weavers, and then want to improve in this regard, it will inevitably cause a strong backlash from them. The loss of profit can make people hate any efficiency improvement. Han Gang has no intention of leaving troubles in the future, and it is his consistent habit to take precautions.

The biggest difference between mechanized spinning and manual spinning is that the spindle is erected at a different angle, but how to 'stand', Han Gang can only shake his head and spread his hands. His old memories are completely useless. But when Han Gang found a few craftsmen who would be camping, he only mentioned a few words, and it only took two days for the craftsmen to transform a single-spindle spinning machine into a spinning machine with eight spindles.

Han Gang was not only happy, but also surprised by the simplicity of the transformation. Looking at the comparison between the new textile machine and the old one, the difference is simply a layer of window paper, as long as it is pointed through, there is no difficulty in transforming it at all - the difficulty is in that layer of window paper. At the same time, the new spinning machines were easily improved, and now a year later, the spinning machines used in the workshop have been reduced to 16 spindles. More spindles are also feasible, but the source of power cannot rely on manpower, and the next improvement measures should be considered in the direction of water power or animal power.

It's just that the success is only the spinning machine, and the improvement of the loom has not made a breakthrough. The term "flying shuttle" must be remembered by all students who have studied history, but what kind of 'flying' Han Gang does not know, and he can't explain it clearly to the craftsman through this simple word. I can only tell them the word and let them figure it out for themselves.

However, what surprised him was that the ginning machine used to process cotton peaches had already been made without his command. He is not a craftsman, but a farmer who began to learn to grow cotton in the second year. Two jagged wooden poles driven by human power, the cotton peach is rolled through the wooden poles, the outer skin of the cotton and the cotton seeds inside are rolled out, and the cotton wool is stained on the wooden poles. This is a rare invention.

In Cheng'en Village, which is located in Longxi City alone, more than 200 households have planted twenty or thirty acres of cotton fields, totaling as many as forty or fifty hectares. In the villages further down the Wei River, cotton fields are planted more or less, but the total is about 50,000 or 60,000 mu. This year, tens of thousands of quintals of seed cotton can be harvested at once, and there is no means of rapid processing, but it will be dry and staring.