In the 17th century, the cotton cloth market belonged to the world of the East, and this more breathable, light and easy to print and dye embossed cloth won the favor of Europeans from the beginning.

Even though all kinds of malicious slander against Oriental cotton cloth spread throughout the European textile industry, only the import channel of Oriental cotton cloth of the English East India Company alone was 50,000 cotton cloth shipped to Europe every year at the beginning of the 17th century, and it increased to more than 1 million horses per year at the end of the 17th century! The low price of Indian and Ming cotton cloth was only 1 to 2 shillings per horse (note) and made all European weavers have a headache.

These have to prompt the textile industry throughout Europe to desperately improve production technology, expand the supply of raw materials and production scale, reduce costs by means of a single means, and often the latest industrial power technology is also first applied to the textile industry. It was not until the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century that the industrial production of cotton textiles in Europe completely defeated the cotton cloth of the East, and like other industrial products, the dumping of textiles also completely turned backward countries into raw material suppliers and consumer markets.

The historical evolution of the cotton cloth market has also become one of the commercial labels of European colonialism all the way to the peak.

Wednesday, June 12, 1624.

To the north of the Outer Islands of Mangar City, adjacent to the Temporary Settlement and Quarantine Area for Migrants, is a newly planned Outer Islands Industrial Park last year.

NORINCO's new metal smelter, Standard Oil's second-phase shale oil refining and processing plant, and Xinhua Chemical's third-phase acid-alkali chemical plant are all in the intense construction phase. As far as the eye can see, a large number of building materials and engineering personnel are busy in it.

The copper-lead-zinc-silver mine in the northern part of Manchu, in the later town of Ossining, has entered the initial stage of mining, and since last year, more than 700 Mohok prisoners of war have been subjected to endless labor. The iron mines, coal mines, and oil shale mines around West Point were also replenished last year with more than 1,000 Mohok prisoners of war and a number of newly annexed Nanagances. As for the rest of the women and children, they had long since been divided among the Pekters, Mohicans, or Delaware tribes.

In the old industrial area of Changdao New Area, it belongs to the textile factory of "Yang Wenwen New Life Investment Group". It has become a new factory in terms of land area second only to NORINCO.

After Yang Wenwen owned the production line of ready-to-wear and leather products, she turned her attention to the large-scale operation of cotton and wool textile fabrics.

After nearly a year of research, along with the silk engineers of General Industries, they used textile craftsmen of Chinese descent and Europe from the Ming Dynasty. Modeled after European textile equipment, the famous steam-powered versions of the Whitney gin, Jenny spinning and Cartwright power looms were copied and improved.

He used a loan of $180,000 from the North American Development Bank, the country's first private commercial bank, plus his own capital income last year. After ordering a large number of spinning machines and looms from General Industries Company in one go, Yang Wenwen finally realized her dream of being the boss of the textile industry.

Imported Central and South American cotton and European wool raw materials have been piled up, and now they are entering the various processing workshops of the factory in batches, and they have become cotton yarn, wool yarn and cloth like an assembly line in the roar of the power unit.

Yang Wenwen, who already belongs to half of the proprietress of COSCO International Trade Company, is wearing a simple and elegant Victorian high-end dress, accompanied by Ren Changle, proudly walking in the spinning workshop. On both sides of the passage, dozens of European or Chinese spinning women who have undergone two months of technical training are nervously guarding the spinning machines back and forth, countless spindles are rotating, and countless cotton yarns are forming.

In the workshop next door. Nearly 100 looms are running in an orderly manner, and there are only a few dozen female textile workers supervising the machines, and under the dazzling mechanical movement of the power looms, inch by inch of snow-white cotton cloth is growing at a speed visible to the naked eye. …,

"Wenwen, do you think we'll get married next month? I have already greeted President Chen Changchang and his wife in advance. They are our wedding witnesses! ”

Ren Changle ran back and forth left and right with a smile, fanning a small fan for Yang Wenwen to drive away the wet and stuffy air in the spinning workshop.

"I estimate that the production in June will reach 20,000 horses! As long as the raw materials are sufficient, it will easily reach 30,000 horses in July! When all the machines are in place in August, the output can reach 50,000 horses per month! We will strive to expand our production capacity next year. Reach a monthly output of 100,000 horses. Our fabrics are wider in standard, better in quality, wholesale to Europe at a price of 20 cents per horse for 1 dollar, both in terms of quality and price, the advantages are too obvious, and there can be a profit of 40 cents! ”

Yang Wenwen ignored Ren Changle's question, just looked at the two rows of cotton yarn in the channel seriously, and calculated the benefits in her mouth.

"Uh......" Ren Changle coughed slightly, thrust the small fan into the back of his neck, and quickly took out a piece of paper from his pocket, "Look, I have designed the new house, and I will repair it in the best area of the South District!" 300 square meters of Western-style villa, with 500 square meters of Chinese garden! I heard that there will be a kindergarten planned nearby, so it will be convenient for children to enter the kindergarten in the future! ”

"Our production is not enough to feed a Portugal. Therefore, Ren Changle, textile raw materials are the key, in the future we also want to make woolen fabrics, to make full use of the purchase channels of Spain and Portugal, it is best to sign a long-term contract, grasp the pricing power of raw materials...... Hey? Didn't you hear you clearly! Raw material contract! ”

Yang Wenwen frowned, calculating the problem of output and raw material supply, turned her head, and saw Ren Changle being stupidly comparing and drawing on a piece of paper, and immediately became furious, and pulled the paper in the other party's hand, crumpled it into a ball and threw it on the ground, and then stepped on it with a high heel.

"I ......" Ren Changle looked at the design plan of the warm nest that Yang Wenwen stepped on on the ground, and suddenly felt aggrieved, and his nose was sore.

"You never pay attention when I speak!" Yang Wenwen snatched the other party's fan inserted in the back of her neck, fanned it on her chest angrily, and stared at Ren Changle who was about to cry with a pair of big eyes, "What's wrong, I look like a ghost in the water." I said, don't go to Brazil yourself. It's far away and dangerous, and those boys should be allowed to go through the experience, you know? It's really not good, dig up Adelaide, and give him some shares to run Brazilian trade for you! ”

Hearing that the other party cared about his own safety, Ren Changle's eyes were red with emotion: "It's nothing." I'm familiar with the Portuguese, and I know the price market best. ”

"Well, so you have to concentrate on the import and export business on the European side now. Settle on good terms with the Portuguese and Dutch, and underwrite our cloth and other goods to them, and they just need to ship them to Europe and turn them over. Cotton alone can make a lot of money per horse! In terms of ready-to-wear and leather, I have already signed a contract with Tong Guò Anna, a trade agent of the Marquis de Santa Cruz in Spain, and I would like you to see it in the future. ”

His nose was sour again, and Ren Changle finally didn't say anything, so he obediently followed behind Yang Wenwen and continued to inspect the textile factory workshop.

The latest batch of Ming immigrants is already preparing for sea transportation on Bermuda, and Li Xiang's immigration department has reached the busiest stage of the year. After getting off work at noon, Li Xiang returned home for dinner with a large number of work materials, and continued to handle official business at the dining table.

"Dad. Hug ......"

His son Li Yinlin is two and a half years old, and now he is sitting in his stroller, eating the food fed by his mother, while stretching out his hands to his father.

His wife, Nada, is two months pregnant and is feeding her son milk and porridge. He also muttered in a low voice: "Husband, Dad said that he wants to expand the cement factory." ”…,

Li Xiang was looking at the table on the workbook, and when he heard his wife's words, he turned his head curiously: "Expand the scale of production?" Isn't the income very good now? ”

The father-in-law, Kenraton, has devoted his later life to the operation of his daughter's company. A cement factory, a brick factory, and hundreds of Delaware workers have made Kenraton the name of the first capitalist of the Delaware tribe. On the contrary, Nada, the real legal person of the company, is not as famous as her father.

Coupled with the fact that as a shareholder of West Point Tobacco, Kenraton has been thoroughly integrated into the life of his daughter and son-in-law.

Li Xiang, who is the behind-the-scenes investor of Delaware Building Materials Company, naturally fully supports the career of his wife and father-in-law. The combined output of cement and bricks and tiles of a small building materials company is only about 6,000 tons per month, which is not enough to supply the local people compared with a large building materials company owned by a Taiwanese Yankee.

Aside from the bricks and tiles, the domestic price of cement per ton is only 2 US dollars, the profit is at least 50 cents, and the export price to Europe is more than 5 US dollars per ton.

"Mr. Huo Qian from the state-owned import and export group came to me a few days ago and said that he had signed a long-term contract with the Dutch to supply cement, and the domestic cement production was insufficient, so he hoped that my father could expand the production capacity, and he quoted us at 2 US dollars and 30 cents per ton." Na Da took her son into her arms and leaned over to Li Xiang's side, "Dad plans to double the output, do you think it's appropriate?" ”

"Even if the production capacity is doubled, the supply will exceed the demand, let Dad double the capacity!" Li Xiang didn't look up, and marked the workbook with a pencil.

"That's going to cost at least 30,000." Nada was startled and said carefully, for fear that she had misheard.

"30,000?" Li Xiang put down his pen and looked indifferent, "Last year's income minus the shareholder dividends of the cement plant, there are at least more than 20,000 yuan, right?" If it's not enough, go for a loan. ”

Seeing that her husband was more generous than her father, Nada happily hugged her son and went out.

Like the episode that happened in Li Xiang's family, since June, capitalists from all walks of life from West Point, Silver Valley to Manchester City have been thinking of ways to rapidly expand their enterprises.

Beginning in 1623, most of the "original goods" of modern machine tools that were "carried" during the Great Catastrophe were reproduced by self-upgrading and copying of parts many times. Nowadays, various domestic enterprises have used a new generation of machine tools manufactured by General Industries, and most of them have completed the transformation of steam power.

The industrial popularization of steam power, standardized production management, the emergence of more skilled workers, and the large-scale supply of cheaper raw materials continued to reduce the production costs of enterprises, so that domestic industrial production finally reached a peak in June 1624.

At the dock of the democracy movement in the Changdao New Area, the short shirt and light cavalry flying shear merchant ships are loading.

Boxes of goods were sent to the deck by steam cranes and then entered the holds, which included tens of thousands of cotton cloths newly produced by Yang Wenwen's textile factory, hundreds of tons of cement from the Delaware Building Materials Company, hundreds of boxes of iron products from the General Industry Company, hundreds of boxes of soap from the Xinhua Chemical Company, hundreds of boxes of cigarettes from the West Point Tobacco Company, hundreds of boxes of matches from the Huamei Wood Company, and thousands of 21B flintlock rifles from the North Industries Company......

Excluding the arms trade in a purely seller's market, according to the 1624 European Trade Plan jointly initiated by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry, the state will launch a trade dumping strategy against Europe several times higher than in previous years from this year onwards.

Financial support for related industries is even more generous, and the deposit interest rates offered by commercial banks have made people including Chinese immigrants in the Ming Dynasty excited, and the lower loan interest rates have attracted many enterprises with insufficient funds. Since its establishment in April last year, the North American Development Bank, which was founded with the lead financing led by UnionPay funds, has absorbed more than $200,000 in deposits from residents alone, and as much as $2.2 million in deposits from capitalists and enterprises. …,