Seeing this, Guo Kang threw out the prepared topic.

"If you really want to do something, I have an errand here, can you take it?" He asked.

"Huh? What errand? Guo Ponu immediately became curious and asked.

Guo Kang then told her again about the situation of the textile order discussed by the church before, and told her that he was preparing to recruit people.

"We don't really have a shortage of participants right now, but we don't have people who can manage and interact with other parties at the same time." "Although the church is organizing, the industry is so large that it can't be run by the church all the time," he said. When the time comes, there will definitely be a need for an institution that can function independently. ”

"How many people do you have to manage?" Guo Ponu said in surprise.

"It's definitely indispensable." Guo Kang said truthfully: "Such a huge production organization needs to be managed very well. You know, once it's up and running, it's going to have to deal with a whole bunch of different industries – after all, it's the beginning of industry, and then you'll know how complex its system is. ”

"And, in the future, it's going to be a cross-regional organization that needs to coordinate production with people from different regions. We have to set a series of standards. Whether it is the supporting machine or the cloth produced, there must be common specifications. After the completion of this system, the traditional Legion Farm was a small organization compared to it. At that time, it may be necessary to adjust the various industries in the farm to match it. ”

"Is that an exaggeration?" Guo Ponu was a little weak-hearted.

"It certainly won't be like this all at once." Guo Kang said: "However, I am very confident in its prospects. ”

"I'm actually going to shoot a gun and play with a stick." Guo Ponu had no choice but to admit: "Let me do this, I don't know if I can do it myself." When the time comes, I won't hold them back and lose our family's face......"

"You can also use a dancing gun and a stick. And as I said, on the one hand, this work requires contact with a large number of women and in-depth communication with them, and on the other hand, it also has to deal with a lot of outsiders. Guo Kang explained: "Whether it is a foreign businessman, or a domestic craftsman, farm, or official, they must be in constant contact. ”

"My mother said before that you always like to run around. She has never had stage fright when she comes into contact with people from all walks of life, so she can take you out with confidence. I think it's best for someone like you who has a certain status and doesn't have stage fright in front of strangers to be in charge of this kind of thing. ”

"I was going to look for Theodora at first, but she was too busy." He shook his head: "This kind of work, especially in the early days, must be a lot of work. Let her take care of it, and I guess I can't take care of other things......"

"Oh, it's okay, she doesn't have time, so I'll just help." Guo Ponu nodded hurriedly.

"I didn't mean I wanted to trouble you at first." Guo Kang continued to explain: "It's really not good, I can do it myself." But the people in the church said that the rules of different nuns are not the same, and I don't know if they are happy to let me be a resident guide. ”

"And in the early days of our work, we definitely had to go to the various religious orders often to collect their feedback and make improvements in time. It's not that I don't want to deal with the nuns, but I can't take care of anything else when I wander around them every day......"

"Don't worry." Guo Ponu immediately assured: "What is so good about the nun!" My sister takes care of them for you. ”

Guo Kang didn't expect her attitude to change so quickly, he was stunned, and said, "That's good." Then I'll go back and talk to Master Wang, and when I turn back to the two grandmothers to hand over the work, you can follow them around and understand the situation. If there's something they don't want to say, don't be polite - if there is, it's not easy for people to mention it publicly, but it's okay if you say it. ”

"Yes." Guo Ponu responded directly: "But how long can you do this job?" ”

"If you succeed, you can do it for hundreds of years." Guo Kang said with a smile.

"Huh?" Guo Ponu was very surprised: "You have a lot of confidence in it." ”

"Of course." Guo Kang said: "This is not only for you, but also for many women in Rome to find work. So far, it's the best I can find. This is a job that can be regarded as a 'profession' like joining the army, plowing the fields, working, and being an official. ”

"That's it......" Guo Ponu didn't understand.

"Don't worry." Guo Kang comforted.

He is very confident in this matter. Because this work is not only efficient and well-paid, but also very tenacious. Therefore, the continuous use time will not be short, and there is no problem in holding it up to full industrialization.

Moreover, the Purple Horde can actually also consider obtaining cotton from overseas. In the future, foreign expansion and domestic women's participation in production can complement each other and can play a role in promoting each other.

Historically, the Qing Dynasty relied heavily on imports of cotton. A simple comparison of data can be seen.

Since the country is not suitable for growing cotton, the raw materials of cotton in the UK are basically imported. By 1801, it had reached 56 million pounds per year. However, most of them are from the United States. The other major producing area, that is, the cotton of India, was mainly exported to the Qing Dynasty.

From the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century, Guangdong Customs imported an average of about 27 million catties (about 36 million pounds) of cotton from India every year. By 1831-1833, the total amount of Indian cotton imported each year had risen to 43 million catties (more than 57 million pounds). For a period of time, the volume of cotton trade from India to Guangdong even exceeded the volume of cotton trade between Britain and the United States. It's just that cotton is grown in the United States...... Probably a racial talent. That's why it overtook India in the end.

After the First Opium War, due to the forced relaxation of customs controls, some machine-made cotton yarn was sold to China, providing a cheap alternative and driving down the cost of cotton cloth. Some female workers engaged in spinning in the Jiangnan area also began to turn to weaving, which led to the further development of the industry, and the import of cotton cloth was also hit.

In the 10 years from 1845 to 1855, British cotton yarn exports to China rose from 2.6 million pounds to 2.9 million pounds, an increase of less than 10%, while imports of British cotton cloth fell from 3.1 million to 2 million, a decrease of 30%

Thanks to improved technology and abundant raw materials, the work of women in Jiangnan has become more professional. By 1860, the average number of weaving women working in the countryside had increased to 265 days a year – also in contrast to later generations, when rural women worked in the fields during the Commune and the Great Leap Forward, about 250 days a year.

From this time, we can see the degree of development of "professionalism".

After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the textile industry was hit by repeated massacres in the Jiangnan region. But until the 1880s~1890s, there was still a strong vitality. At this time, high-end fabrics were still exported to the UK, and folk textiles were still being carried out.

At the end of the 19th century, the average annual weaving time of rural weavers in Changshu was still 168 days; At the beginning of the 20th century, the average working hours of weavers in rural areas south of the Yangtze River reached 180 days per year; In the more prosperous suburbs of Shanghai, it can still reach 200 days per year.

Therefore, in the ancient environment, there is no need to consider whether it will hit the upper limit at all. It's still early......

(End of chapter)