"This is what cotton is made of?"

Zhang Bin and several other cabinet ministers were full of doubts and took a quilt from Xiao Dengzi's hand, gently stroked it, the touch was light, and the feeling was so soft, everyone couldn't help but widen their eyes, and looked up at Sima Shu on the dragon chair in disbelief. If everyone has this kind of warm quilt in winter, how can they still feel cold?

"Yes, this is cotton, also known as white stacks, some people may have seen it before, but most Chinese people always think of it as a flower. In fact, its function is similar to that of hemp, and its appearance is similar to that of a cocoon, all of which are white and soft silky sticky. The difference is that the cocoon is out of the silkworm, and it is easy to record after boiling; However, the white stacks come out of the vegetation, and the silk is mixed. And there are grains, which are difficult to spin and difficult to weave, and Gentiles often use it to fill their clothes and brocade quilts. ”

Zhang Bin and the others were also very shocked, originally they were summoned into the palace by the emperor today, saying that it was to solve the wool crisis, but they didn't expect the emperor to let them appreciate a quilt first. At first, everyone was a little unimpressed, thinking that Sima Shu was making a big fuss, but now, the quilt they saw and touched in front of them was fluffy and soft, light in texture, and extremely comfortable.

"Your Majesty, it's also filled with cotton...... Cotton? ”

"Pei Aiqing is right, what is filled here is cotton." Sima Shu was very satisfied with everyone's performance, and he asked the cabinet ministers present with a smile, "What do you think of this quilt?" ”

"It's not ingenious, but it's a wonder! Moreover, the minister just tore it lightly, and found that it was very strong, and if cotton cloth was used instead of silk to make clothes, we would be able to save a lot of silk for overseas trade every year. At the same time, this kind of cotton cloth is warmer than linen cloth, and if it can be popularized in large quantities to achieve large-scale industrial production, it is definitely a great merit. ”

"That's it, that's it, Lord Sheep is right, this thing is very good!"

"Our dynasty will have one more thing to keep out the cold, and the people will have another way to make money."

Although only a year has passed since the Central Plains reconstruction project, the people present have made great profits from it, and they have long since stopped rejecting craftsmen and factories as before, but are eager to expand the existing scale. Many people have seen that cotton is not only one more cash crop for Dajin, but more importantly, a number of industries will be derived around cotton, so that there will be many more factories.

"Hehe, it seems that everyone Aiqing is very optimistic about this thing, so the sales prospects of cotton products in the future must be very good!"

"Your Majesty, the minister still has a question." Just when everyone was looking forward to the bright future of cotton, Shoufu Zhang Bin suddenly asked softly.

"Oh, what questions does Aiqing have?"

"Your Majesty, if cotton is popularized on a large scale, will it have an impact on the silk industry of our dynasty? Are the silkworm farmers who make a living from it going to suffer huge losses? ”

"Shhh

The people present gasped at the same time, and they calmed down the moment they were poured cold water by Zhang Bin. Yes, while cotton has a good future, it will be too much at the cost of the shrinking silk industry!

Sima Shu pondered for a moment and said, "Meng Sun's concern is not unreasonable, but I think that this loss can be minimized. I don't know if you have noticed it, but the silk of our dynasty is limited to the problem of production, and a small part of it is used as currency, but this article has been repealed when the new currency is issued this year. ”

"The biggest use of silk is to make clothes, but only the upper class can wear silk clothes, and the people at the bottom cannot afford silk at all. However, cotton is different, because cotton production is large, it can be processed on a large scale, so the price will be very low, and a large number of ordinary people can use cotton. ”

"Although cotton will also have a little impact on silk sales, we can completely transfer this loss to foreign trade, which is currently in full swing, and this loss is nothing compared to the huge demand overseas."

"From now on, the cabinet will change its business strategy, and we will sell silk and fine cotton cloth as luxury goods to other countries and regions. The sericulture industry and the silk industry must be adjusted, and fist products must be formed! ”

"Your Majesty is high, and the ministers admire!"

"In addition to allowing the people of the world to have better things to keep out the cold for the winter, Your Majesty has also opened up another way for the farmers in the world to support their families, and with this one, Your Majesty is comparable to the ancient Shennong!" As the ancestor of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Great Jin Dynasty, he should know better than anyone how difficult and important it is to introduce a new agricultural product to the people of the world......

As a descendant, Sima Shu is of course also very aware of the meaning of it, Huaxia has always been very single, every year is planted so many crops, at the beginning of the OK, the yield is not high, farmers still have the best to operate. But after a few years, the production will increase year by year.

When the yield of a certain crop swells sharply, the price of agricultural products also begins to decrease year by year, and some have even fallen to the point where farmers cannot make ends meet every season of the year.

Let's not talk about anything else, let's take the most important and indispensable food in the common degree. For example, in the late Wenjing Dynasty of the Han Dynasty, the grain per stone has dropped from the consistent left and right in the early Han Dynasty to less than 100 Wen.

Although from one aspect, this is an indication that the Han Dynasty is rich and strong, and the surplus grain is sufficient. However, from the farmer's point of view, this is a big blow to the farmer who works hard in the field every day. In addition, the increase in grain output in the later period was not obvious, while the price was said to be lower.

Just imagine, a farmer who has worked hard for a year to earn can't take care of the food and clothing of a few mouthfuls of a family, in case of another natural disaster [***], wouldn't he force people to death? This is also an important reason why the Central Plains Dynasty always declined rapidly after reaching its peak.

Agriculture is the foundation of the country, the people are the foundation of agriculture, if this is basically out of the situation - the people strike the ploughing, the farmers strike the production, then the country is in danger!

Therefore, in order to maintain the stability of agriculture, in addition to finding ways to increase the yield per mu of cultivated land, the most important thing is to get a few more new crops to adjust and stimulate it, especially agricultural products such as cotton, which obviously have huge economic uses, and the effect will be better.

Thinking of this, Shang Shuzu of the Ministry of Agriculture couldn't help but be excited, and then thinking about the rapid promotion of breeding and horse farming technology in the territory of the Great Jin Dynasty, he was confident that in the next few years, the agriculture of the Great Jin Dynasty would surpass that of all dynasties.

Sima Shu nodded and smiled at Zu Cai: "Zu Aiqing, I have already made the cabinet rule the Liangzhou Thorn Shi Mansion, and instructed him to immediately increase the purchase of cotton seeds, and your Ministry of Agriculture should coordinate the issue of planting land before the seeds arrive." By the way, this cotton also has the advantage that it can be grown on saline soil. ”

"Wow! This...... It's true? "Everyone can't believe it's true, this cotton is too strong, and it has such an extremely perverted advantage. As a cabinet minister, how could people not know the damage caused by the saline land.

There is a large amount of idle saline-alkali land on both sides of the Yellow River, if all of it is used to grow cotton, it can not only be used for waste, but also greatly generate income, which is simply killing two birds with one stone!

Sima Shu looked at the people in the Taiji Hall with excitement on their faces, and couldn't help but remind: "Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that when you promote cotton, you must adapt measures to local conditions, and you must not make a swarm because of your political achievements. Zhongshu Province, the Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple should strengthen the supervision of local political axes and prevent some people from taking advantage of opportunism! ”

He vaccinated everyone so much in advance, completely because this happened too much in later generations. In later generations, the administrative order from above was issued, and officials from all over the country below could do anything for the sake of political achievements. In later generations, there are definitely a lot of citrus counties in the so-called hometown of apples, and the officials have a hot head, regardless of the actual situation, and work hard, how many peasant brothers have been miserable? !

Of course, Sima Shu didn't want this to happen under his rule, so he warned him in advance. There was some chaos in the province, and even if the officials who committed the crime were chopped alive afterwards, it would not be able to make up for the losses of the victims.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the ministers will never dare to relax."

"Your Majesty, how is the yield of this cotton?" Since the cotton was said by the emperor to be so good, everyone was interested, this year, winter silk is too expensive, it is not good to keep warm, fur is even more expensive, and the common people can't afford to wear it, and it is not breathable, and it is uncomfortable to stick to the body after sweating.

"This is related to the climatic conditions of various places, it is said that one acre of land in the Western Regions is about five or six hundred catties. As for how much we can have in our dynasty, we will not know until we have planted it. However, I expect that it should not be much different from the Western Regions, and the minimum is one hundred and ten catties! ”

Sima Shu tried his best to keep the yield low, after all, in ancient times, due to the lack of various chemical fertilizers, irrigation techniques, and insect control methods, the yield of cotton would be greatly reduced.

"Whew, this is much better than kapok and hemp." Zhang Bin nodded, "This cotton is indeed worth promoting, please rest assured, our cabinet will allocate capable forces to cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture to take charge of the promotion of cotton, and there will never be any problems." ”

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the Dali Temple, the General Procuratorate and the Metropolitan Procuratorate will organize a supervision and inspection team to follow up on this project from time to time, and will definitely ensure that all kinds of problems will be strangled in the cradle."

After the cabinet meeting, the imperial court soon began to look for cotton planting sites in Guanzhong, Shuzhong, and the Central Plains. At this time, with the strong support of the imperial court, Liangzhou began to buy cotton seeds on a large scale. Since the cotton planting period has been missed this year, cotton seeds will only enter the cotton plantations in March and April next year.

In addition, the imperial court also purchased large quantities of cotton from merchants from the Western Regions, and the addition of this cotton greatly alleviated the crisis caused by the shortage of wool, although the shortage of raw materials in the textile industry was still serious. (To be continued.) )