On the day of the Lantern Festival, after sending off all the visitors, the Shen family was finally able to find some time to make some remarks with their family.

Shen Shuren also used his last night in Suzhou to accompany Dong Xiaowan, who was about to leave, the kind of pure family affection that did not have the affection between men and women at all.

Chen Yuanyuan didn't come to pester him, anyway, Chen Yuanyuan wanted to follow, and the future would be long.

Previously, Shen Shuren hadn't seen Dong Xiaowan much for seven or eight days, on the one hand, she wanted to raise a baby, on the other hand, it was also since the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Dong Xiaowan asked to go back to the ancestral house in Kunshan to relax, live alone and recuperate, and only returned to Taicang the day before the Lantern Festival.

After all, Dong Xiaowan has made a lot of contributions to the Shen family's business, and when she invented the shuttle loom with Fang Yizhi, even if she was originally bought back by Shen Shuren in bankruptcy, the Shen family has long since stopped treating her as a maid.

Therefore, the Dong Family Embroidery Village in Kunshan, after changing the signboard of the Shen family for more than a year in the middle, has now changed it back, which can be regarded as leaving some thoughts for Dong Xiaowan and saving some face for her deceased parents. She wants to revisit the old place and nostalgia, and the Shen family is also up to her.

At this moment, sitting in the study, open the window and lean on the desk, enjoying the moonlight of the Lantern Festival. Shen Shuren quietly hugged Dong Xiaowan without any desire, let the girl sit quietly in his arms, and chanted a few sentences in response to the occasion, "In January last year, the flower market was as light as day."

A year has passed, and people can continue to make appointments after dusk, spend a full moon, and what more can the husband ask for.

"I'll take Yuanyuan away tomorrow, I remember that last year was also the day after the Lantern Festival, this year, you have to take care of yourself, it's really hard for you. If you have any difficulties, tell your mother, don't see outside. ”

Shen Shuren comforted him warmly, and also sighed that he had worked hard for this family.

In fact, he is not a person with a strong desire for power, so why not live a life of peace and prosperity for a lifetime.

But if he doesn't do it, the original fate of the Shen family will be exterminated by Dolgon in 1647, and there are only six years left.

"What is the suffering of the slave family, being able to conceive this child for the son first is a blessing that the slave family has cultivated for many lifetimes. Gongzi is a dragon and phoenix among people, capable of literature and martial arts, outstanding meritorious service, and talented in the world, and will inevitably be a great minister in the future, and I don't know how many women will envy the slave family in the future. ”

Dong Xiaowan is also very self-aware, and she is very relieved to lean on his arms.

The two sat quietly for a long time, without saying anything, just feeling each other's hearts. Shen Shuren had nothing to do, so he flipped through Dong Xiaowan's desk a few times, and suddenly saw a few drawings, and he was a little curious.

"What's this painting again? Back to Kunshan these days, haven't you taken care of it? Don't do anything this year. Shen Shuren asked while looking at it, and seemed to recognize a few points, and said tentatively,

"This ...... It seems to be another kind of textile-related machine, but I can't see it before I finish drawing. ”

Dong Xiaowan changed her posture to make herself more comfortable in her son's arms, and explained with a smile:

"You can't do nothing to raise a baby, I don't read and write for more than an hour and a half every day, so I should be distracted. Besides, I don't want to do anything else, this is my family's old business, my interest since childhood, and I don't bother.

I was wondering if I could make some machines that were also faster to spin. The year before last, I listened to your son's order, and let people see the clouds, and suddenly discovered that the skill of craftsmanship can save so much effort for the weaver girls in the world.

After returning to Kunshan on the sixth day of junior high school, I also went out for a few walks, and by the way, I went to my own weaving workshop to have a look and asked the female owner over there. I learned that the price of cotton yarn has risen by two or three percent compared with two years ago, and the reeled raw silk has also risen by one percent.

It is said that after there are more shuttle looms, the weaving of Susong Workshop is two or three times faster, but the cotton yarn and raw silk are not enough, and the raw materials of the previous ring have risen.

On the contrary, the recent sericulture production is not low, the son of this year and a half to engage in mulberry fish ponds, I heard that the local mulberry garden out of silkworm cocoons is also a few percent, silk reeling people into the silkworm cocoons are slightly cheaper than usual, birth silk is more expensive, Li are piled up on the spinning and reeling silk.

I wondered if it would be a good thing to tinker with the machine in this ring again. When I was making a shuttle loom last year, I watched "Heavenly Creations", and I remembered that there was also a talk about spinning and reeling silk on it, so I first learned from it to restore it. ”

Dong Xiaowan's words are also in line with the logic of economic development-

Historically, before the Yin Kingdom Industry sang its fate, it was indeed in 1733 that John Kaye invented the shuttle, and in the following thirty years, the cost of weaving fell, the demand for cotton yarn rose sharply, and the price of cotton yarn rose two or three times.

It was only after the cost collapse that Hargreaves invented the Jenny spinning machine in 1764.

Historically, it took 30 years for the West to go from weaving automation to spinning automation. But that's because John Kaye was just a watchmaker, and he didn't have enough capital to quickly expand production investment after inventing the shuttle, and there were not many sources of financing at the time.

The current situation in Suzhou is completely different. The Shen family, who invented the shuttle loom, is the richest man in Suzhou and the hub of Daming's textile industry. Combined with the hometown of Shangsongjiang Xu Ge, a silk giant and a cotton giant, to invest in the promotion of new machines, this is not just two years, and the Susong weaving market has felt the pressure of rising upstream raw material costs.

Not to mention that two years have completed the road of the West in 30 years, but at least it is equivalent to more than ten years.

Shen Shuren looked carefully for a while, and found that Dong Xiaowan's current thinking is quite clear, although things have not yet been made, but the general idea of "one spinner/silk reeler dragging multiple spindles/silk reeling wheels" can already be seen.

The rest, there are mainly two difficulties.

The first is the optimization of the mechanical structure, how to integrate more spindles on a limited and complex machine, and spin more cotton yarns at the same time.

Secondly, and the most critical, is the driving power, the traditional spindle spinning is directly twisted and wound, if you want to drag more, you have to find a way to convert the force of the mechanical runner into the force of dragging the twisting yarn.

Finally, the force that drives this mechanical runner can be replaced and compatible, whether it is pedaled and rotated like a bicycle, or directly dragged by a windmill or waterwheel, or even by a steam engine. It is only that the power is large, and more robust transmission structure raw materials are needed.

Shen Shuren carefully read the drawings, thought for a long time, and asked, "So, when I look at your drawing, I plan to draw a machine with eight spindles per spinning wheel?" On "Heavenly Creation", I haven't had time to take a closer look at this part, how many spindles can I drag towards the original spindle at most? ”

Unexpectedly, Dong Xiaowan's next sentence opened Shen Shuren's eyes again: "I remember that a few months ago, the son of "Heavenly Creation" was also rotten, why didn't you look at this part carefully?" Are you busy reading the chapters of iron farming?

I haven't changed the eight spindles at all. I've only been studying it for a few days, and I'm just copying it, and there are already big spinning wheels that drag more spindles in this dynasty. According to the book, it was already in Dujiangyan, Sichuan at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and it was driven by a water wheel.

It's a pity that the water potential in Susong Land is gentle, not more mountainous than Sichuan, and the river flow is steep, so it is impossible to repair Dujiangyan, a water conservancy that makes the water flow uniform and turbulent throughout the year. Therefore, this kind of spinning wheel, which needs to be dragged by huge force, is difficult to popularize.

What I want now is to change it to a smaller size and make it a style of human pedaling wheels, and it is estimated that if the new machine can be built, Su Song's spinners will also have to be replaced by strong men with strong bodies in the future, and they can no longer spin with weak female workers. ”

Shen Shuren listened very carefully, and couldn't help but sigh a little "There must be my teacher in the threesome". Dong Xiaowan was born in a family that runs an embroidery village, has been exposed to it for more than ten years, and has read books, and his understanding of these industries is really far deeper than that of him, a man who travels through it. As long as you give her the right direction, there are really infinite possibilities.

Shen Shuren was originally limited by the stereotype of industrial songs, and always felt that things like Jenny's spinning machine were difficult to do in ancient China. Now after listening to the analysis and breaking down the problem, I realize that it is only the power source that is difficult to solve.

In areas with complete hydro energy and water conservancy facilities, the Chinese have long built machines that drag a lot of spindles.

In contrast, the Jenny machine was only eight in the early stage, which was not much stronger than ancient China, and no matter how much manpower there was, it couldn't turn it.

The key to making Western textiles truly explosive surpass the East was the later creation of the steam engine, which further evolved the Jenny machine to 32 spindles, or even 80 spindles.

After thinking it thoroughly, Shen Shuren was relieved and warmly encouraged:

"Then you work hard, or pay attention to rest. You can't read calligraphy and painting for more than an hour and a half every day, and remember to take a little walk every day to keep it for half an hour, and keep it quiet for the remaining ten hours.

Let's not be in a hurry, just let the price of cotton yarn and silk reeling rise again, delay it for another year or two, and wait for those small businessmen to stand the price of raw materials, and then we will come up with new machines, and they will rush to buy. ”

It took Westerners thirty years to spin from flying shuttle to Jenny, and Shen Shuren decided to use three or four years. At that time, the loom and spinning machine alone, each of which is estimated to bring nearly one million taels of wealth to the Shen family every year, adding up to at least one hundred and sixty or seven hundred thousand taels per year.

Shen Shuren's goal for Dong Xiaowan is to study and play, and when the child is raised for 100 days in the future, Dong Xiaowan will also finish confinement, and it will not be too late to sprint to production.

……

On the night of the Lantern Festival, Shen Shuren accompanied Dong Xiaowan, and Qiu slept together without any offense, the two gossiped and fell asleep unconsciously.

When she got up the next day, Dong Xiaowan's eyes were still a little red, which was also the normal feeling of parting people.

Before leaving, Dong Xiaowan still pulled Chen Yuanyuan and told him: "Sister Yuanyuan, when I am not there, I have to rely on you to take care of my son." You also have to take care of your body more, and watch not to let your son get into danger. If you have a minor illness, there will be no one to serve your son. I wish you a little more in your stomach, and we can all get a name in the future. ”

These words were originally not malicious, but hearing them in Chen Yuanyuan's ears together also made Chen Yuanyuan a little uneasy.

Childe is the only one to serve by her side, how can her stomach be angry? If you are angry, who will serve the son, and go back to find those maids who have a room, I hope I can still survive this year and then fight for it.

Chen Yuanyuan didn't reveal it, but just said some blessings to raise the fetus with peace of mind, put on a hat, and followed Shen Shuren on the boat and set sail.

Four days later, the group finally arrived in Nanjing.

Shen Shuren can be regarded as having finished the New Year and entered the state of work. As soon as he arrived in Nanjing, his purpose was very clear, and he directly handed a letter of worship to Zhang Guowei of the household department in Nanjing, asking to see him if he had something.