When the first rays of the morning light on the grassland, Li Qing'an's team set off again, he rode on a horse and followed the carriage slowly, last night he almost didn't sleep all night, but he was still energetic, his face was not tired, the carriage was dancing with his cheeks, he seemed a little lazy sitting in front of the window, his eyes looked at his lover gently, she had become a wife for the first time, the moisture of love made her glow with a dazzling look, and her beautiful and wonderful appearance, so that the pretty picturesque sisters were eclipsed, the two looked at each other from time to time, and smiled, A thousand words melt into a smile.

"Envoy, General Lifei is here."

In the distance, the soldiers shouted, Li Qingan smiled at the dance clothes, and urged the horse to run forward to the team, "Li Lang! Wuyi shouted in a low voice, Li Qingan reined in the horse, looked back at her, Wuyi smiled, waved her hand gently, and slowly closed the curtain.

The yellow dust in front of the team is rolling, the soldiers and horses of the Tianshan Army make Li Fei Shouyu lead more than 1,000 soldiers to greet him, after Zhao Tingyu was killed, the Xizhou Army carried out a big blood change, Li Fei Shouyu served as the soldier and horse envoy, the deputy envoy was served by Bai Xiaode, and all the other officers above the captain were replaced by Han Navy people, through Li Fei Shouyu, Li Qingan firmly controlled this army in his hands, and after a while, the team came up, Li Fei Shouyu smiled from afar: "Qilang, didn't you say that you will come to Xizhou next month?" ”

"I'm out for a walk, take my family to relax, and don't inspect informally."

Li Qingan also asked curiously: "This place is quite far away from the Tianshan Army, why are you here?" ”

"I happened to sort out military affairs in the military camp near here, and when I heard that you were coming, I came to welcome the envoy to inspect the military camp."

Li Qingan smiled and punched him in the shoulder, "With you in Xizhou, I am very relieved to be in the Tianshan Army, I am not here for military affairs,"

"That's Shichiro's trip...."

Li Qingan smiled slightly: "For the sake of red wine and white stacks." ”

Lifei Shouyu was stunned for a moment, and then laughed, "It turned out to be for Jiaohe wine and Gaochang white cloth, just right, Puchang County is rich in white cloth in front, and there is also wine, I took Qilang to have a look,"

Li Qingan was overjoyed, and hurriedly asked, "Can there be a field?" ”

"Yes! Yes! Thirty miles ahead, you can see a large field of fields. ”

"Everybody keep up, speed up."

Li Qing'an turned around and waved his hand, the team sped up, the white cloth is today's cotton cloth, the field is the cotton field, from the Wei and Jin dynasties, the Xizhou area began to plant grass cotton from the big food, the climate in Xizhou is hot, suitable for the growth of cotton, and the growth period is shorter, so the planting in Xizhou is more common, the white cloth produced is mainly purchased by Hu merchants, transported back to Persia and the big food area, only sporadic white cloth is sold to Chang'an, Luoyang and other metropolises, of course, grass cotton is also occasionally planted in the Central Plains, It's just that they are all flowers appreciated by large families, so it has a long growth period, and the textile is more troublesome, and it cannot replace the traditional silk and linen, and it was not until the Song and Yuan dynasties that it was promoted on a large scale.

"Why is Shichiro suddenly interested in red wine and white stacks?"

"Soon 10,000 military households are going to move to Beiting, I am thinking, all by growing grain seems to have a relatively small income, if we can add a little side business, such as the government to open a workshop, winemaking, weaving, mining, smelting, recruit the children of military households to work in the factory, increase the income of the family, and then the businessmen will transport the wine and cloth from the factory to the mainland to sell, so that the income of the military household will increase, it will also be very good for stabilizing the morale of the army, and it can also attract more Han people to come to Beiting."

Li Fei Shouyu nodded and said with a smile: "Last year, I went to Yangzhou for military training, I went to several Jiangdu silk weaving workshops, there are three or five hundred people, most of them are girls from poor families, they cut silk brocade, and their daily income is also thirty or forty yuan, and they can also earn five or six yuan a month, I heard that there are still people who can earn ten yuan, which is more profitable than growing grain, but I estimate that winemaking is okay, weaving white cloth may not be able to make money, after all, the mainland is made of silk and linen. ”

"Scarcity is expensive! Last year, I saw white cloth in a silk shop in Dongshi, we sell four hundred wen at one end, but when we arrived in Chang'an, we had to sell it at one end of three times, which was more expensive than ordinary silk satin, and they were all enjoyed by rich and noble people. Moreover, this white cloth is much warmer than linen, and it is also extremely important to our Beiting army. ”

The two talked and walked, the pedestrians on the road gradually increased, and walked dozens of miles, the grassland seemed to come to an end, began to enter the agricultural area, along the way a large area of yellow and clear wheat fields can be seen everywhere, and occasionally can see some fixed adobe houses, Xizhou has a hot climate, can do rice and wheat double cropping, so in June after the wheat harvest can also plant another round of rice, so the Xizhou area has always been one of the important grain production areas in Beiting, but the Han people are not many correspondingly, most of them are Gaochang natives, agricultural technology is not high, The agricultural output was not as good as that of Tingzhou, where the Han people gathered, so Li Qing'an prepared to settle 10,000 military households mainly in Xizhou, and gradually turned Xizhou into an agricultural area, while animal husbandry was transferred to the north of Tingzhou, or to Yizhou.

At noon, they saw the county seat of Puchang County from a distance.

"Shichiro, look over there, Tsunada!" Li Fei Shouyu pointed to a field on the side of the road and shouted.

Li Qing'an looked at his fingers, and sure enough, he saw a field on the side of the road planted with cotton, about five acres, with lush green leaves, the word 'cotton' had not appeared in the Tang Dynasty, and the locals had always called it '緤', or according to the pronunciation of the big food, it was called white cloth, but it was also called 'Mian' in the interior of the Tang Dynasty, Li Qing'an was extremely excited, turned over and dismounted, and ran towards the field, dozens of soldiers hurriedly followed.

The owners of these five acres of fields were a pair of elderly Gaochang old men, who were busy in the fields, when they suddenly saw a large group of soldiers running towards their fields, shouting and screaming, and they couldn't help but be stunned.

After a while, the man was brought over, Li Qingan was looking at a vegetation, and when he saw the master coming, he stood up and said with a smile: "Is there anything left over from last year?" ”

The old man knew a little Chinese, and when he saw that Li Qing'an was young, he thought he was just a junior officer, so he nodded and smiled: "Yes, please come with me." ”

Everyone followed him to a small courtyard, the courtyard is very simple, three mud houses, the wall is also rammed with mud, less than one person high, the courtyard door is very dilapidated, cracked a large gap, there is an old willow in the yard, the other side of the courtyard is full of grape trellises, it is May, the tender green grape branches and vines are crawling all over the vine trellises, the small courtyard is very cool and comfortable, the old man hurriedly took out more than a dozen stools, beckoned everyone to sit down, and let the wife pour a few bowls of herbal tea, dance clothes and picturesque also entered the small courtyard, sat down under the grape trellis to rest, It was evident that they also liked the trellis, and gathered together to point to the vines and whisper something.

Li Qing'an also sat down, and at this time, the old man took out a bunch of flowers and put them in front of Li Qing'an, "Master Jun, please look, this is the little left over from last year, and the rest are woven into white cloth and sold." ”

Li Qing'an picked one up and looked at it, the cotton bud is smaller, like a silkworm cocoon, not the kind of big cotton seen in later generations, the fiber appears slightly shorter, gray-white, this cotton is the first from Egypt to the Great Food, and then from the Great Food to the Western Regions, it is African cotton, and the kind of cotton seen in later generations is indeed produced in the United States American cotton, although it is not the kind of cotton seen in later generations, but it still makes Li Qingan very happy, he actually wants the cotton itself, not necessarily cotton, he knows in his heart that white cloth can only take the high-end route, It is unrealistic to promote a large area in the Tang Dynasty, after all, linen cloth is difficult to replace until hundreds of years later, only to the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang forcibly promoted, cotton cloth really replaced linen, rich people use silk, poor people use cheaper linen, white cloth in the north court price is expensive, and then long-distance transportation to the mainland, it is much more expensive than linen, so, who will use the poor people.

The old man peeled the seeds inside with his hands, although he peeled them very skillfully, but it still looked very laborious, he smiled: "This thing is the trouble of peeling seeds, after the harvest I have to peel until late at night every day, and it would be good to get sixty catties of solid silk for one hundred catties." ”

Li Qingan smiled and asked, "I don't know if you don't have a white cloth at home?" ”

"I'm knitting one end myself, I'm going to look for it."

The old man ran into the house to get the cloth, and at this time, there was a noise outside the small courtyard, and a soldier came in and reported: "Envoy, the county order of Puxian County asks to see you." ”

"Let him in."

Footsteps sounded, five or six officials hurriedly walked in outside, the county magistrate, the county magistrate, the county lieutenant, and the four major members of the main book of Puchang County have arrived, the county magistrate of Puchang County is surnamed Wu, a native of Tingzhou, more than forty years old, he seems to be very shrewd and capable, he has taken the children of the county to Jinman County during the spring hunting in Beiting, so he knows Li Qing'an, he led everyone to salute together: "See the envoy!" ”

Li Qingan waved his hand and said with a smile: "Wu County Order is not polite, I didn't inspect it officially, I'm sorry to disturb you." ”

"Master Jun, I found it."

The old man smiled and took out a bundle of hundred stacks of cloth, but when he saw the county lord at a glance, he was so frightened that he dropped the white stacked cloth and knelt down: "The grass people visit the county lord." ”

"Old man, please get up!" Wu Xian Ling hurriedly helped him up, and actually knelt down to worship himself in front of the Jiedu envoy, and he felt a little embarrassed.

When the old man saw that Li Qingan was still sitting there, he hurriedly shouted: "Master Jun, this is our county master, you get up quickly and give him a seat." ”

Wu Xian Ling was stunned, and couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "Old man, this is our Beiting Festival envoy, don't you know?" ”

The old man was stunned, in his eyes, the envoy of the Beiting Festival was the emperor, and this young military master was actually the emperor of the Beiting, he 'pounced!' knelt down, kowtowed and confessed, "Master, I'm blind, you have a lot, spare me!" ”

Li Qing'an glared at Wu Xianling, and he hurriedly helped the old man to comfort him: "My husband treats me very well!" Give me a stool to sit on and pour me tea, I'm grateful. ”

The old man stood up tremblingly, "Thank you, sir, this is a white cloth." ”

He hurriedly wanted to pick up the white cloth, but because he was too nervous, he almost fell, and the soldiers next to him hurriedly took the cloth and put it on the table, the white cloth had one end, one end was five zhang, mainly used to measure the cloth, and one horse was four zhang, but it was used to measure the silk, Li Qingan asked the two soldiers to slowly unfold the cloth, and the dance clothes and picturesque pictures also curiously surrounded them, "Li Lang, what kind of cloth is this?" "It's the first time I've seen this kind of cloth in a dance dress.

Picturesque but have seen it, and said with a smile: "Sister Wuyi, this is white cloth, which is slightly better than linen, but much more expensive." ”

Li Qingan took a closer look, and couldn't help but be a little disappointed, this white cloth is quite rough weaving, not as good as the cheesecloth of later generations, it is really like a picture, only slightly better than linen, he smiled and said: "I have also seen white cloth in Dashi before, they are very finely woven there, but although this cloth is a little thicker, it is very warm." ”

Wuyi was born with a soft spot for white things, she pulled Li Qing'an and whispered to him: "Li Lang, I like this cloth, buy it for me, okay?" ”

Li Qingan nodded and smiled at the old man: "Uncle, sell me this cloth!" ”

The old man was so frightened that he hurriedly waved his hand, "The old man can take it if he wants, but he doesn't dare to collect the money." ”

Li Qing'an saw that the old man's family was very poor, so he said to his soldiers: "Leave ten pieces of money!" ”

He ordered Wu County again: "Now go to Puchang County to have a look." ”

After speaking, they walked out of the courtyard with their dance clothes, and the group walked up to the avenue from the field road, and the old couple rushed out, hugged the courtyard wall, and watched the team of people and horses go away in a daze.

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Puchang County is located in the easternmost part of the Xizhou Basin, is the only way to go to Anxi, the county seat is not big, but very prosperous, everywhere you can see the merchants who lead camels to and fro, there is only one street in the county, the street is the most dense with inns, wine shops and other restaurants to eat and rest, the most conspicuous is a few Hu people to open the courtyard, each of the courtyard at the door of the more than a dozen bewitching and fat Hu women, crowded at the door of the warbler swallow to call guests, see a single man, they will go up to lift the skirt, revealing the slippery lower body, hook the man into the courtyard, More than a dozen soldiers on vacation came together, and Hu Ji rushed up, coaxed and pulled, and pulled the soldiers into the Ji Yuan.

The soldiers of the brigade were stationed outside the city, Li Qingan only brought more than 100 personal soldiers into the city, he looked at the commerce and trade in the city all the way, this time he inspected Xizhou, Puchang County was also one of the stops, he turned back to Wu County Ling smiled and asked: "Where is the workshop of the three Ma brothers?" ”

Wu Xianling was very surprised, the Jiedu envoy actually knew the workshop of the three Ma brothers, and he hurriedly said: "It's in the west of the city, and the largest shop in the past is." ”

The economy of Puchang County ranks behind in the five counties of Xizhou, but there is also a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger here, and the largest textile factory in the entire Beiting and even Anxi is in Puchang County, which was opened by the three Ma brothers, with 200 looms and 400 workers, mainly weaving silk and white fabrics, and all the products are sold to Lingxi.

Ma's factory is close to the west gate, a road outside the city gate is leading to Anxi, in today's words, Ma's factory is a special export-oriented workshop, there are two hundred looms, in Datang, there are many such workshops, such as Dingzhou He Mingyuan, there are 500 silk machines, 1,000 workers, is for the northern Hu people export workshop, all the products are sold abroad.

It is precisely because of the superior geographical location of Puchang County that there will be a large family business such as Ma's Factory, and soon, Li Qing'an found this Beiting No. 1 Factory under the leadership of Wu County Order.

Like the traditional workshop, Ma's workshop is also the implementation of the front shop and the back of the shop, the door is very small, after entering is a wide hall, now it is dusk, the hall is deserted, there is no goods, only a long counter, you can imagine the scene of merchants in front of the counter during the day, but now, only one guy sits behind the counter and dozes off.

"Anyone?"

Wu Xian Ling knocked the counter, and the guy jumped up in fright, "Yes!" Yes! What do guests want to buy? ”

When he saw that the person who came was actually the county order, he was so frightened that he immediately stammered, "The county, the county lord waits, I'll go find the proprietor." ”

He slipped away and ran to the back, Wu Xianling smiled bitterly, and said to Li Qing'an: "Envoy, this Ma factory is the second year of Kaiyuan, established by Ma Deyu, a big businessman in this county, at the beginning there were only twenty looms, and in the twenty-third year of Kaiyuan, after his three sons took over the handicraft field, they became bigger step by step, and now there are two hundred looms, and the silk and satin weaving in Puchang County and Gaochang County are monopolized by them. ”

Li Qing'an pondered for a moment and asked, "In addition to this factory, is there any other workshop in Puchang County?" ”

"There are also a few wine-making workshops that employ up to a dozen workers, and there is no one like them that employs 400 workers."

As he was talking, there was a rush of footsteps behind the lobby, and a middle-aged man walked out quickly, and he smiled and said, "How can Wu Xianling have time to come to the shop?" ”

"This is Ma Lingfeng, the eldest brother of the three brothers, who is responsible for selling goods and dealing with foreign countries, the second is in charge of the workshop, and the third is collecting raw materials, and the division of labor is very clear."

Wu Xian Ling returned the salute with his hand, and introduced Li Qing'an to him: "Master Ma, this is our Beiting Festival envoy Li Yuanjun, who made a special trip to see your workshop. ”

Ma Dongzhu was taken aback, hurriedly stepped forward, and bowed to Li Qing'an, "Xiaomin Ma Lingfeng, see Li Yuanjun." ”

The Western Regions is different from the mainland, the status of businessmen is quite high, especially like the Ma family, a big businessman with a huge fortune is widely admired, Li Qing'an is in the Beiting business materials when he learned that the Ma textile factory, two generations after 30 years of entrepreneurship, it has developed into the largest factory in Anxi, to a certain extent, this is the budding capitalism of Beiting.

Li Qingan bowed his hand and said with a smile: "Master Ma doesn't have to be polite, I have also admired Ma's workshop for a long time, so I specially came from Tingzhou to take a look at the largest factory in our North Garden." ”

Ma Dongzhu was a little flattered, when this came out of the mouth of the county commander, he would not take it to heart, and when it came out of the mouth of the governor of Xizhou, he would be a little moved, but from the mouth of the highest military and political magistrate of Beiting, the meaning was extraordinary.

He hurriedly pushed open the door and asked, "Please come with me, and I will take you to visit." ”

When the group walked into the backyard, they heard a 'click! Click! The sound of the machine came, from the gate, Ma's workshop is not very conspicuous, but covers an area of very deep and wide, the workshop is composed of two rows of long bungalows, two hundred silk machines are placed in two rows of houses, it is the peak season, almost all the looms are running, hundreds of people crowded the house, most of them are young women, in the corner of the house, there are dozens of hand-spinning wheels, this is the tool used to weave white folded cloth, only more than 30 people.

Ma Dongzhu introduced to Li Qing'an: "Envoy, now is the off-season for white cloth, and after October, many Hu merchants will come to buy cloth, and everyone will be very busy at that time." ”

At this time, a middle-aged man walked in, who looked quite similar to Ma Dongzhu, but his tongue was very clumsy, and he couldn't say a word for a long time.

"This is my second brother, Ma Xiaofeng, in charge of the workshop, his hands are very skillful, and he repairs these looms when they are broken."

Li Qing'an saw that although the white cloth was not enough, there were still a lot of fine fluff floating in the air, and it was conceivable that if all the spinning wheels were started together, the air in the room would be bad.

At this time, Wu Xianling's nose inhaled fine hair, and he sneezed five or six times in a row, and Ma Dongzhu hurriedly said: "Wu Xianling, I'm really sorry!" ”

Li Qingan smiled slightly, and said to the second proprietor: "I'll teach you a simple way." ”

He picked up a piece of white cloth from the loom next to him, folded it a few times, covered it on his mouth and nose, and said with a smile: "It is better to use five layers of gauze, sew it on all sides, put a thin rope on both sides, and hang it on your ears, so that you will not breathe into the fine hair." ”

Although the second proprietor, Ma Xiaofeng, is not good at communicating, but the technical things are a little clear, he immediately understood, and couldn't help but be overjoyed: "This is a good way, hey!" Why didn't I think of that before? ”

Li Qing'an saw that he reacted quickly, and he liked it too, so he smiled at their brother and said, "Have you ever considered expanding the factory?" ”

The Ma brothers glanced at each other, Ma Lingfeng smiled bitterly and said: "Of course I want to, silk, white cloth, linen and blankets, we all want to do it, in fact, the wages we give are not low, but there are too few Han people in Xizhou, and the Hu people are unwilling to come to work, we really can't recruit so many workers, we want to go to Tingzhou to open another factory, weave carpets, and sell them to the Central Plains." ”

"You don't have to go to Tingzhou to start the construction site."

Li Qingan said with a smile: "I might as well reveal a piece of news to you, the imperial court is about to move 10,000 military households to Beiting, and I am ready to settle most of the people in Xizhou, and you can expand the factory at that time, but I have made suggestions to you." ”

The two brothers were overjoyed, and hurriedly said, "Please speak." ”

"Don't sell the white cloth to Hu Shang for the time being, this year the Beiting military will buy all of them, you make me a thing, I will leave you a pattern, if you do well, I will order 30,000 sets from you."

As he spoke, he took the pen and paper, carefully drew a sleeping bag for the next generation, marked the size, handed it to their brother and said with a smile: "This is called a sleeping bag, made of white folded cloth to make face, filled with wool and cashmere, you first make me ten samples, if you do it well, I will not only let you make 30,000 sets, but I will also give you military blankets and uniforms in the future." ”

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At this time, there was a sudden sound of running outside the door, and two personal soldiers rushed in and shouted: "Envoy, the holy decree has arrived!" ”

Li Qing'an was stunned, and walked out of the workshop quickly, only to see several proclamation officials from Chang'an standing at the gate, and when the leading officials saw Li Qing'an, they immediately held up a volume of holy decree and said loudly: "The holy decree has arrived, Li Qing'an takes the decree!" ”

Li Qing'an knelt down, and the proclamation officer unfolded the holy decree and said loudly: "Li Qing'an, the deputy envoy of the Beiting Festival, has made meritorious contributions to pacifying the Beiting and opening up the territory, and is specially appointed as the envoy of the Beiting Festival, and the governor of Xizhou, and gives him the festival, Qin this!" ”

"Minister Li Qing'an, thank Your Majesty Longen!"

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(To be continued)