On August 18, the Red Star Spinning Factory was officially opened, and the first phase of 20 bamboo spinning machines and 20 skilled female spinning women were all in place, and these spinners signed contracts with the Red Star Spinning Factory, as long as the number of spindles specified by the factory was completed every day, the monthly remuneration was not less than eight yuan of silver. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

In the grand opening ceremony of the Red Star Spinning Factory, there was no Zhu Youzhen, he had already left Suzhou and went to Songjiang Mansion.

From Suzhou Mansion to Songjiang Mansion, but two hundred miles, Zhu Youzhen and his party have fast horses, if you are in a hurry, but one day, but Zhu Youzhen in order to inspect the textile industry of Songjiang Mansion, stop and go along the way, it took three days, when he arrived at Songjiang Mansion, it was already after noon.

Wang Mujiu was stationed outside the city as usual, and Zhu Youzhen only took Fu Xiaojian and a group of guards into Songjiang City, and ordered food in a medium-sized restaurant called "Haibin".

Zhu Youjian found that this restaurant has a lot of fish and shrimp in stock, including squid, scallops and other seafood.

Shanghai County is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and its fishery resources are particularly abundant, and the fish and shrimp delivered to restaurants are basically live creatures, which are quite fresh.

Along the way, Zhu Youzhen felt the deepest about the textile industry in Songjiang Prefecture, which is very similar to Suzhou Mansion, and it is also "every family has a textile machine", and spinning has become the most important and common income of the urban and rural people in Songjiang Prefecture.

Zhu Youzhen only stayed in Songjiang Mansion for a day and a half, and before leaving, he handed Fu Xiaojian a document and asked him to go to the local Jinyiwei secret agent, "Xiaojian, give this imperial order to Jinyiwei, and let him send it to Nanjing City ten days later, and hand it over to Tian Mingda, the governor of Jiangnan Province, and tell him that he has been here!" ”

"Master," Fu Xiaojian was used to carrying out Zhu Youzhen's will, but this time he couldn't help it, "Lord came to Jiangnan Province, but he didn't summon Tian Mingda......"

"Xiaojian, you don't understand," Zhu Youzhen smiled slightly, "Ye didn't summon him, but to tell him that the propaganda of the new deal in Jiangnan Province is seriously lagging behind, and Ye is not satisfied, and he Tian Mingda is obviously waiting!" ”

"Master, will Tian Mingda ......?"

"Xiaojian rest assured, now that the new army has taken over the defense of the entire Jiangnan Province, he is not so bold," Zhu Youzhen put his hands behind his back and said to Xiaojian: "The master did not summon him, but ordered the Jinyi guard to go and pass the order, plus the decree sent to Nanjing by the imperial court a few days ago, that is to tell him that the master knows everything that happened in Jiangnan Province, and the reason why he did not dismiss his post and investigate it is to let him make meritorious contributions, Tian Mingda is a shrewd person, he will definitely understand." ”

"Master warned him like this, he is more wise than Tian Mingda!" Fu Xiaojian stood beside Zhu Youzhen with his hands down, "But the master's southern tour this time is a micro-service, and he is still in Jiangnan, if Tian Mingda knows, will he reveal the whereabouts of the master?" ”

"No, the master let Jinyiwei rush to Nanjing ten days later, ten days later, I'm afraid no one knows where the master is," Zhu Youzhen smiled mysteriously, "Let's go, Xiaojian, find Jinyiwei first, explain the documents, and we will go out of the city immediately!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

Outside the south gate of Songjiang Mansion, Wang Mujiu and other personal soldiers had already prepared horses, and Zhu Youzhen stepped on the "snow and fire", raised his horse whip, and ran towards the southwest.

"Master, are we going to Hangzhou?" Fu Xiaojian followed closely behind Zhu Youzhen, but his horses were ordinary war horses, and his foot strength was not as good as the "snow and fire" under Zhu Youzhen's crotch, so he could only keep beating the war horse, barely keeping up with Zhu Youzhen's pace.

"Leave Songjiang first, go to the boundary of Zhejiang, and then take a look along the way!" Zhu Youzhen kept moving, but slowed down the speed of the horse slightly, so as not to keep up with the guards.

Zhu Youzhen felt a little strange in his heart, a good Taihu Lake basin, the north belongs to Changzhou, Suzhou, and Songjiang in Jiangnan Province, while Jiaxing and Huzhou in the south belong to Zhejiang Province.

The people along the coast, although they drink the clear water of Taihu Lake and eat whitebait together, but they belong to the two provinces of Jiangnan and Zhejiang, and the governing strategies are different, and the prestige of the governor of a province is even different.

When Zhu You checked out Songjiang, he galloped all the way, and when he reached the boundary of Jiaxing, he reined in the horse's reins, handed over the war horse to Wang Mujiu, and asked him to take his own soldiers and horses to the south along the official road, while he took Fu Xiaojian and other guards on foot, pretending to be merchants going south, and went deep into the farmers' homes on both sides of the official road.

Walking all the way to Jiaxing Mansion, Zhu Youzhen was surprised to find that in addition to the stone tablet with the word "Jiaxing" in the middle, there is almost no difference between Jiaxing and Songjiang, and there is even farmland across this boundary monument, and it is not clear whether it belongs to Songjiang Mansion in Jiangnan Province or Jiaxing Mansion in Zhejiang Province.

What makes Zhu Youzhen most pleased is that, as Liu Bingzhong said, Jiaxing Mansion, like Songjiang Mansion and Suzhou Mansion, also has a large number of spinning machines among the people.

Zhu Youzhen detoured to Huzhou, has not yet arrived in Hangzhou City, he has been convinced that the Taihu Lake basin is already the textile base of the Ming Dynasty, as long as he uses the experience of later generations, management and guidance properly, it is entirely possible to become the birthplace of the Ming Dynasty's textile leather # life.

At present, the Taihu Lake basin has a sufficient reserve of textile workers, who are quite skilled in technology, and there are a large number of wealthy businessmen, and the capital is also quite rich.

The only deficiency is the scientific and technological awareness of industrial and commercial owners.

The Hongxing Spinning Factory in Suzhou is the first seed planted by Zhu Youzhen in the Taihu Lake Basin, and the patent office of Suzhou Prefecture is Zhu Youzhen watering and fertilizing in order to speed up the germination of seeds.

However, Zhu Youzhen is now mainly researching, and once he returns to Beijing, he can take some necessary measures to promote the implementation of the new policy in the five central and southern provinces, build a "textile industrial zone" around Taihu Lake, and speed up the feathering of the entire Ming Dynasty.

The target of his southern tour this time was not this ancient continent, but the Nanyang newly recovered by the Ming Dynasty.

As in Jiangnan Province, Zhu Youzhen did not alarm the officials of Zhejiang Province, but only sent Wang Mujiu as the commander of the First Imperial Army to visit Zuo Fu, the commander of the 33rd Army stationed in Zhejiang.

After leaving Hangzhou, Zhu Youzhen did not stop in the southern part of Zhejiang Province, but went straight to Fujian along the official road.

From the south of Zhejiang Province into Fujian Province, the first piece of land is Jianning Mansion, there is an official road here, but the official road is narrow and curved, the highlands are uneven, and the official road of Zhejiang Province is simply two heavens of ice and fire, Zhejiang and Fujian, clearly displayed in front of Zhu Youzhen's eyes.

If you don't ride a horse, but ride a bicycle, when you get to Fujian, there is basically no road.

This is still the eastern hills, if you enter the Wuyi Mountains in the west, I don't know what it looks like, no wonder the people of Fujian often flee overseas, if you stay in Fujian, you will either die of poverty or starvation, and you are more likely to starve to death due to poverty.

Zhu Youzhen kept frowning and walked along the official road to Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, the official road in the northern part of Fuzhou was slightly wider and straighter, but as far as the eye could see, although the fields were green, they were neither wheat nor rice, but a large number of unknown weeds.

The harvest season is about to enter the south, but there are few farmers in the fields tending to the crops. Are there no farmers in Fujian Province? ”

"Master, it's all mountainous?" Fu Xiaojian jumped off the horse and picked up two green vines, "This kind of land, I'm afraid it won't grow crops, right?" ”

"Mountains?" Zhu Youzhen took a closer look, and the nearby area was indeed hills and mountains, although the altitude was not high, but the mountains were connected to the hills, and the hills were connected to the hills, and there was not even a flat piece of land, no wonder the official roads in Fujian were difficult to repair!

"Let's go, let's see in the distance!"

Zhu Youzhen galloped for more than 30 miles, everywhere is the same terrain, this is to understand the meaning of the word "Lingnan", the Han people usually call the area south of Fujian "Lingnan", containing the meaning of uncivilized, now it seems that Lingnan is not only difficult to understand the language, and the Central Plains is very different, the terrain is a wild place.

It turns out that Daming not only has Beijing, Taihu Lake, but also Lingnan, I don't know what Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi look like, that is, Sichuan, at this moment, I am afraid that it is also mountains and mountains, and it is difficult for Shu Road to go to the sky, right?

However, the cement road from Chengdu in Sichuan to Fengxiang in Shaanxi has been opened, and Sichuan will soon be connected with the Central Plains, and the most difficult is the five southern provinces.

Zhu Youzhen grabbed the reins of the horse, turned over and dismounted, "Xiaojian, let's camp here!" ”

"Master, aren't we going to enter Fuzhou City?" Fu Xiaojian asked curiously, Zhu Youjian's southern tour, every time he passed through a mansion, he went into the city to hang out, so that he could not only see the people in the farmland outside the city, but also see the commercial development in the city, why did he go to Fuzhou City, but he had to camp outside the city?

"Don't enter the city!" Zhu Youzhen handed over the reins of the horse to the guards beside him, stepped on a raised rock, and his eyes scanned in all directions, the current Fujian is almost the same as the uncivilized land, and he has no intention of entering the city at all.

"Master, why don't you go to the barracks to live, the army in Fujian is a new army that has been reorganized, and it is directly managed by Lord and the National Defense Yuan." Wang Mujiu also got off the horse and came to Zhu Youzhen's side.

Zhu Youzhen shook his head, "Let's set up camp!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Wang Mujiu immediately summoned his own soldiers, "Hurry up and set up camp!" ”

Zhu Youzhen's big tent had just been set up, and the soldiers and guards were still cooking, so Zhu Youzhen took out the pen and paper he carried with him and wrote an edict to Xiong Wencan, the governor of Fujian: immediately survey the roads running through the north and south of Fujian, and connect with Zhejiang in the north and Guangdong in the south; Register the people who have lost their land, especially military households, and prepare to emigrate to the South Seas; New crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn are grown on the land of Fujian.

Because he did not carry the jade seal with him, Zhu Youzhen asked Fu Xiaojian to hand over this edict to the local Jinyi Guard, and after Zhu Youzhen left Fujian for ten days, he would send it to Fuzhou Mansion and hand it over to the governor Xiong Wencan in person.

Leaving Fuzhou, Zhu Youzhen did not stay any longer, and went straight to Xiamen.

Xiamen is the home port of the South China Sea Fleet, and Wang Mujiu took out the holy decree signed by Zhu Youzhen in Beijing to cover the jade seal, and asked the South China Sea Fleet for ships in the capacity of a messenger, preparing to enter the South China Sea from the sea.

From the mainland of Daming to Nanyang, there are now two routes, one is to take the west route, starting from Leizhou in Guangdong, crossing the Qiongzhou Strait, stopping at Qiongzhou Mansion, and then along the east coast of Annam, sailing to Malacca; The other takes the eastern route, starting from Xiamen, passing through Taiwan's Tamsui and Dayuan Prefectures, entering Luzon Province, and then along Lanzhu Province and entering Malacca.

The current Annan and Daming are friends and foes, and Zhu Youzhen naturally will not risk taking the western front.