For a backward country in the contemporary industrial revolution, it is quite difficult to keep up with the pace of the industrial revolution, in which countries take different approaches, but they have one thing in common, that is, the large-scale popularization of steam engines in all walks of life.

The most obvious sign of the industrial revolution in Britain, as it is known to the world, is the steam power of their textile industry, followed by the rapid development of coal and steel.

Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, Britain began to dominate the world in the 18th century, and was unrivaled until the end of the 19th century.

The textile industry is also a shortcut to early industrialization in backward countries, such as the Meiji Restoration era in Japan, the reason why it can rise is that its textile industry has developed rapidly in half a century, and its raw silk industry is needless to say, basically a model with China's raw silk industry, through a large number of exports of raw silk in exchange for foreign exchange and then purchase machinery and equipment for industrial upgrading.

In the case of the cotton industry, the entire industrial chain is to import cotton from Britain and India, and then spin, weave, print and dye and other processes in Japan, and then sell it to its domestic market and the Chinese market.

Not only Japan's, in fact, the Westernization Movement at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the so-called golden decade of the Republic of China, the core of its industrialization development is also the textile industry, the history of China's raw silk industry in the international market and Japan's raw silk has carried out extensive and fierce competition, and the cotton industry is also trying its best to compete with Oriental cloth and foreign cloth for the domestic market.

It is a pity that due to the weakness of the country, especially the customs tariffs are controlled by outsiders. So much so that it failed in the competition, thus cutting off the avenue of industrialization.

And now Lin Zhe led the industrialization process of the Chinese Empire. In fact, it has also embarked on the old road in history, that is, to take the textile industry as the guide. In addition to exchanging traditional export commodities such as tea and porcelain to increase the country's fiscal revenue, it also uses the benefits obtained from the primary processing industry of these agricultural products to purchase more machinery and equipment, introduce technology, and then develop other industries, such as steel, coal, machinery, shipbuilding, etc.

The Industrial Revolution in Britain, the Meiji Restoration in Japan and the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty have all fully demonstrated the importance of the contemporary textile industry.

In the nineteenth century, the textile industry was no less important than the information industry in later generations.

It is precisely because of the importance of the textile industry that Lin Zhe will repeatedly support the development of the textile industry, and in the past few years, the support for the raw silk industry of the textile industry can be said to have spared no effort, and the domestic raw silk merchants have not disappointed his expectations. In just a few years, the most basic steam power-powered upgrade of the raw silk industry has been completed, and in the surrounding areas of contemporary Shanghai, the traditional backward and inefficient handicraft workshops have basically withdrawn from the market, and a large number of brand-new steam-powered silk reeling factories have appeared in the surrounding areas of Shanghai like bamboo shoots after spring.

Due to the higher quality and lower cost of new silk, these two alone are enough to add tens of millions of dollars to the raw silk industry in the surrounding areas of Shanghai, and open up a broader international market, and the amount of raw silk exported through the customs of Shanghai, Ningbo and other places is increasing year by year.

After several years of support, the raw silk industry has undoubtedly become a pillar industry of the Chinese Empire. An important boost for the future industrial upgrading and development.

However, it is obviously very difficult to complete a complete industrial revolution by relying on the raw silk industry, so it is bound to find more growth points, and this point can have several directions in Lin Zhe's view, one is the steel and coal industries. But the steel and coal industries in these years are still relatively tall to be honest.

The large-scale development of steel and coal is based on market demand, and what is the greatest demand for steel and coal in modern times?

In terms of steel, it is railways and shipbuilding. Only railways and shipbuilding can drive the rapid development of the contemporary steel industry.

Railways and steel shipbuilding. It is still too far away for the industrial system of the Chinese Empire, which is now just starting, and it will be very difficult, at least for a short time. Because the development of these industries needs to be supported by other industries.

Needless to say, coal is based on the development of the steel industry.

In addition to steel and coal, the rest is nothing more than the processing industry of agricultural products, such as the historical Northeast soybean, and the cotton industry.

Northeast soybeans are still too far away, let's not talk about it, then the only thing left is the cotton industry.

In fact, whether it is raw silk or cotton, it belongs to the category of the textile industry, and it is no wonder why Lin Zhe has raised these issues many times at major conferences.

China now wants to develop the textile industry on a large scale, and in the environment where the raw silk industry has risen and matured, it has to find several other new growth points.

After the current Qi Xuanhao flashed some recent discussions about the textile industry within the empire in his mind, he couldn't help but look at this He Feitu a few more times.

He knows that the domestic textile industry is now the most important, and the wool and leather in the textile industry in the Chinese Empire are subject to market and raw material problems, so it is very difficult to develop on a large scale, so it is not mentioned for the time being, and the raw silk industry has nothing to say, now only need to continue to expand production, increase exports, but the cotton industry, especially the woven fabric industry is an emerging industry, at least for the domestic emerging industry.

If it can be developed, I am afraid that the contribution to the empire's tax revenue will not be much worse than that of the silk industry, so if he is interested, he will stay longer, listening to He Feitu continue.

"Now the quality of the fabric produced by our company's woven fabrics is not inferior to the imported foreign cloth, but because the cost of our plant is too large, the cost is slightly higher, and the tax rate we bear is as high as more than ten points, and the customs tariff of those foreign fabrics is only four or five points, even if the foreign cloth bears the cost of freight, but in general the price is still a little cheaper than the cloth of our factory!"

In order to compete with foreign fabrics, Huisheng Textile Factory, which originally had to bear higher taxes and construction costs, had to lower prices and adopt a small profit but quick turnover model to compete, but even how to compete is quite difficult

This investment is comparable to that of a medium-sized silk reeling factory, and the textile mill is far inferior to the silk reeling factory in terms of sales, gross profit and net profit.

And this is the embarrassment of the domestic woven fabric industry, in fact, this is not the embarrassment of domestic woven fabrics, but also the embarrassment of handicraft homespun cloth.

Compared with woven fabrics, the homespun cloth of the handicraft workshop has no advantage in quality and price, and a large number of hand-woven workshops in various treaty ports have closed down, bankrupt and bankrupt, at least in the current Shanghai area, the market is basically the world of foreign cloth and domestic woven fabrics, and there is basically no living space for homespun cloth.

Of course, in the non-treaty port areas, especially in the inland areas, homespun cloth is still rampant, and it is still difficult for woven fabrics to penetrate into these inland markets, especially rural markets.

After hearing what He Feitu said, the thoughtful Qi Xuanhao did not drive him away, but said: "Go, I'll take you to see Lao Lai, he is in charge of this matter, maybe it can help you!" ”

He Feitu's face was overjoyed when he heard this, and the old man in Qi Xuanhao's mouth was none other than Lai Changying, Minister of Industry and Commerce, a big man that all the wealthy people engaged in business in the empire had to look up to.

He Feitu tried to see him the last time he came to Nanjing, but Lai Changying's gate was more difficult to enter than the gates of other pavilion elders, and He Feitu had many connections and didn't see anyone.

Now there is Qi Xuanhao, the Minister of Finance, personally introduced, compared to his opportunity to talk freely in front of Lai Changying, he does not ask for much, only need to say the prospects of domestic woven fabrics and the difficulties currently faced, then it is enough, if it can arouse the imperial attention to domestic woven fabrics, well, generally speaking, it should be the attention of the cotton industry, then it is a big opportunity for the domestic cotton industry.

As long as the empire attaches importance to the cotton industry, then there will naturally be relevant policies in the future, such as lowering the relevant taxes, giving some policy support, and reducing the tax on imported cotton, reducing the production cost of enterprises, well, and more importantly, raising the tariff on foreign cloth, as long as these are done, He Feitu believes that he will be able to build a huge cotton industry empire in a few years.

Even as the leader of this line, he had ambitions to one day make this woven fabric the economic pillar of the empire as much as raw silk.

Under Qi Xuanhao, Lai Changying listened carefully to He Feitu's expositions and worries about woven fabrics and even the entire cotton industry, and couldn't help but look at this He Feitu twice.

This person's vision is not bad, where did he know that the empire is now preparing to vigorously develop the textile industry and take the cotton industry as a new economic growth point, you must know that he only received instructions from His Majesty last month to start preparing for the relevant plans of the cotton industry, which should not be disclosed to the outside world!

At the same time, this person has a good vision, but he is also bold enough, and he began to invest in the cotton industry two years ago, establishing a Huisheng textile company integrating spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing, and just now he actually said that in the next few years, he is preparing to raise millions of dollars to expand production.

If you don't have the guts to do this, most people wouldn't dare to do that.

There are a lot of rich people in contemporary China, and those worth millions are nothing in southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang, and a few can be caught in the Bund Avenue in the Shanghai Business Zone, but only a handful of people dare to take out millions of cash to invest in an emerging industry. (To be continued......)