Hu Chuyuan can't be regarded as a really smart person, he didn't expect that Xu Run's words that sounded very vicious actually contained a deep mystery, but he didn't hear it himself.

……

After buying the same bookstore from Xu Run, Hu Chuyuan had already preliminarily completed his preparations for the Jiangnan West Academy.

After leaving Yuyuan, he went directly to the Tongshu Bureau, negotiated with Mr. Xu Honghai, the editor-in-chief of the bookstore, and made a discussion to change the name of the Tongshu Bureau to Jiangnan Bookstore, which consisted of Jiangnan Printing House and Jiangnan Newspaper Company.

On the other hand, he gave Xu Shou a sum of money to expand Jiangnan West College on the basis of Gezhi Academy, and set up a foreign language school and a translation club.

……

The west warehouse of the Hu Mansion was originally used to stack sundries, and after Hu Chuyuan returned, he rebuilt it into a very clean weaving mill, which contained seven Ruoguard French looms, one each for the 100-hole and 200-hole type of wood, and one for each of the 100-hole, 200-hole, 300-hole, 600-hole, and 1200-hole iron type.

Liu Chengxiang personally came from Hangzhou to take charge of this matter, and selected more than 20 skilled young weavers in Hangzhou and Suzhou, where he learned weaving from two craftsmen.

Pan Limei both worked as a translator and studied with them.

On the other side, Xu Shou, Hua Hengfang, and several of the most well-known loom carpenters in Suzhou and Hangzhou were studying the wooden Ruoguade.

Some people weave silk and some people buy looms, then there are people who specialize in making looms, Suzhou and Hangzhou, there are many masters who specialize in making looms, Liu Chengxiang invited the best craftsmen in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and everyone worked together to ponder.

Although the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the Fuzhou Shipyard in China have small iron factories, and even steam engines can be built, it is not difficult to reproduce the mold according to the model of Ruoguade, but it is rare that the price is not necessarily cheaper than the imported one, and the quality is not guaranteed.

Therefore, Hu Chuyuan decided to start with the wood machine first.

Xu Shou and these people have been studying for more than ten days, imitating a 200-hole wooden machine, and are currently working hard to imitate a 300-hole one.

As soon as Hu Chuyuan entered the door, he hurriedly walked over, and saw that Master Qian in Suzhou and Master Zhao in Hangzhou were taking a few apprentices to do their own work, the drawings were drawn by Xu Shou, exactly the same drawings, who can do it well, it depends on whose ability.

Seeing that Master Qian's 300-hole foreign loom had been completed for more than half of the time, Hu Chuyuan asked him: "Can it be imitated?" ”

Master Qian smiled: "Master Hu, you also look down on me and Master Zhao, don't say it's 300 holes, I talked to Master Zhao, you can do 600 holes, the key is that the wood is not cheap." To say that the 200-hole wooden loom I made is also horizontal enough, but his wood is all birch, this material is hard and cheap, but it can't be baked thoroughly, and the toughness is not enough. Let's use pineapple wood to build a shelf, use jujube wood as a burden, and there are a few places where we have to choose softer wood. The price is a bit more expensive, and 300 holes is definitely no problem. ”

Hearing this, Hu Chuyuan was also relieved.

These two masters have also made thousands of looms, and they know better than him how to build them.

Xu Shou and Hua Hengfang also walked over, nodded to Hu Chuyuan, and said hello.

Hua Hengfang said: "Captain Hu, Xu Lao and I don't know much about the silk weaving industry, that is, we have only started to contact in the past few days, and when it comes to improvement, I'm afraid we are not good at it." These things still have to be done by Master Qian, but we have seen that once too many improvements are made, the original French drawing paper is meaningless and cannot be universal, you have to redesign the drawing paper. Exactly how to design the drawing paper is a difficult problem. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded silently and asked, "Then do you have a way, otherwise, we will ask a few people to help in France?" ”

Hua Hengfang said: "That's not necessary, I estimate that there must be relevant drawing paper books in France, and I have asked a familiar French priest to buy them." The key to this paper painting technique is two parts, one is to have a good arithmetic foundation, and the second is to be very proficient in the use of this loom, to be able to calculate in the head, to guess in the heart, and to know a little bit of Western painting foundation. When the three are combined, this person can design the drawing paper. ”

Hu Chuyuan asked, "Then do you have a suitable candidate?" ”

Hua Hengfang said: "There are a few people in our Gezhi College who are proficient in mathematics, some have learned Western painting, and some are silk weavers at home, but there is only one person named Shen Maocai, who has good arithmetic skills, and his family is an old weaver in Suzhou, so he should know a little bit about silk weaving, but he has definitely not been exposed to this kind of Western-style loom." ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "It doesn't matter, invite him to come, the salary is good, arrange for him to learn to use this new loom first, and be familiar with all kinds of painted paper." Slowly, let's get him to think about designing a new drawing paper. ”

Hua Hengfang said: "That's okay, I'll talk to him when I go back, see if he wants to come!" ”

Imitating Ruoguad is the most urgent matter for Hu Chuyuan at the moment, and for this reason, he personally invited Hua Hengfang and Xu Shou to study this manual machinery together.

Hu Chuyuan thought about it, it was definitely not enough to paint paper alone, so he asked Hua Hengfang to find a few more people with good mathematical skills, who would come and learn now, and then find a teacher to train them in the foundation of Western painting, and ask two more French translators to help translate French materials.

Salary, definitely not a problem.

With his words, anyone can be invited.

Hua Hengfang urgently returned to Gezhi Academy, and soon brought those students over, all of whom were only seventeen or eighteen years old, a total of four people, among whom only Shen Mao knew how to use a loom, but it was the first time he had seen this kind of foreign loom.

Hu Chuyuan arranged for them to learn and practice first, including food and housing, and a monthly salary of five foreign yuan, and after completing their studies, the monthly salary could rise to twenty foreign yuan.

In addition, Hu Chuyuan has more headaches, that is, the problem of silk reeling machine and silk dyeing machine, these two sets of equipment can not be used, he can only use the soil method of silk reeling and dyeing, even if the problem of the loom is solved, the process effect is not very good.

If you buy dyed cooked silk with foreigners, the price is even higher and outrageous, and there is not much profit margin.

If you buy a machine with a foreigner, the price of the machine is also amazingly high, and the dye must always be purchased exclusively from a foreign company, and the profit will be cut down, and if you don't do it, you will lose money.

He had already sent Liu Chengxiang to negotiate with seven foreign companies before and after, and each of them was a group, and the prices were all ridiculously high, and he didn't want others to have a chance to make money at all.

Silk reeling and dyeing are the most successful and profitable industries for foreigners in Shanghai, how can they give it to the Chinese lightly?

Hu Chuyuan only has two choices at this time, either not to enter this industry, or to let foreigners slaughter him, even if he squeezes in, don't expect to make money.