Yang Zhi only smiled bitterly, Wang Laozhi accepted himself as an apprentice, on the one hand, for the convenience of the two, both of them have too many secrets to cover up, and when they are combined, they just verify a legend with each other; Yang Zhi said in a low voice: "Master, don't worry, the disciples in the door will definitely do a good job." ”

Wang Laozhi shook his head and said: "I have never doubted this, sometimes I put myself in your shoes, if I am in your position, I may not be able to do better than you, but if you are in my position, I feel that you can go to the next level." I've seen your "Journey to the West", our master and apprentice are not Tang Seng and Sun Wukong, and some people are not Rulai and Guanyin, Wuzhi Mountain can't trap us, let's talk about your plans for that cotton cloth. ”

Yang Zhi smiled and said: "Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu three famous government-run brocade institutes, each has hundreds of looms, thousands of craftsmen, large scale, meticulous division of labor, a wide variety of weaving; I plan to learn this model, I believe, with the promotion of cotton planting, the cotton textile industry will gradually become popular, the kapok in the south of the Yangtze River and the cotton cloth in Gaochang have the process of cutting, springing, spinning, weaving, and getting the iron collar, slingshot, spinning wheel, loom and so on from Shaanxi are being tested, and the results are good at present. However, the proportion of high-quality cotton cloth is small, and my other idea is to use cotton yarn to weave blankets, mainly for the army and ordinary people. ”

Wang Laozhi was stunned, whether it is the kapok cloth in the south of the Yangtze River or the cotton cloth in Gaochang, it is now a scarce product, and the users are either rich or expensive, but Yang Zhi wants to use it for the common people, what kind of feelings and confidence this is; after a while, Wang Laozhi said: "I have rarely been so surprised, do you know that your idea will make this industry chaotic, and even affect the rules of the imperial court." ”

Yang Zhi said proudly in his heart: "The value and rarity of any commodity depends on the ratio of the quantity of production and the quantity of demand, as long as cotton is all over the ground, it is more than enough to meet the rich class, and the market for cotton cloth will not be restricted, after all, cotton cloth is easier to rot and discolor than hemp." ”

"I see. Wang Laozhi immediately reacted, if the cotton cloth really has the two drawbacks that Yang Zhi said, the rich people will not press the cotton cloth in the bottom of the box, but will only select the fine products in the cotton cloth to use, and the poor quality cotton cloth will be given to the poor people; Wang Laozhi suddenly thought of a question: "You kid will not deliberately not make fine products for this purpose, right?"

"Master, you have really wronged me. Yang Zhi shouted: "This thing is made by craftsmen, what ideas I have has has nothing to do with the overall situation, but any craft has a gradual process, at most I make cotton cloth the same as linen, so that the people can believe that the government can have a little savings at the same time, and they can have a bite to eat in times of disaster and economic collapse, so as not to take risks." If the Great Song Dynasty can defeat the Jin State, it will also win in terms of money. ”

In the event of a disaster, the common people believed in the government at first, but with the suffering day after day, life could not go on, and the common people had to find a way to live by themselves, first petty theft, and finally rebellion and other things. Yang Zhi can't expect the officials of the Great Song Dynasty to be able to control the fire, even Di Qing and Wang Shao can be wronged in the prosperous era, not to mention that at the moment of the troubled times, those officials also have their own difficulties, after all, in front of the local squire and wealthy families, they will also be powerless. Love Me eBook

Similarly, in history, the Northern Song Dynasty was able to compete with the Liao State, and the Southern Song Dynasty was able to drag on until decades after the fall of the Jin Xia, and the two biggest dependencies were the people's will and wealth, and the people's hearts did not admit defeat, coupled with sufficient financial support, so that the two Song Dynasty regrouped after defeats again and again;

Therefore, Yang Zhi believed that the accumulation of wealth was a matter recognized by all parties in this era, and with money, it would be possible to stabilize the morale of the army and consume it with the Western Xia; cotton cloth was just a means that Yang Zhi took out to popularize, and the other means was to explore minerals. In Yang Zhi's memory, Gansu was a mine-rich area, and the territory of Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road was the area of Gansu in later generations; Yang Zhi did not know where the mining area was, and Ye Mengde could only choose Longxi, Minzhou, and Jiezhou according to the records of the locals and historical books.

Longxi County is located between the edge of the Loess Plateau and the hilly area of the Qinling Mountains, because the Wei River has become a loess beam and river valley terrain; Minzhou is the Song Dynasty Emperor Xining six years Wang Shao recovered from the hands of Tubo, the seat of governance is in Xihe County, Minzhou Li County has gold rumors. Jiezhou inherited the Tang system, the state governed Fujin, and the two counties of Fujin and Jiangli, and the Bailongjiang River at the junction of Gansu, Shaanxi and Sichuan in later generations, there has always been a discovery of gold.

Shen Chong helped a lot, he was sure that there should be placer gold in Fujin, and it should be rock gold in Minzhou, the so-called placer gold is obtained in the sand and gravel in the water, most of which are as fine as sand; This saved Ye Mengde a lot of things, and Ye Mengde simply ordered Shen Chong to be in charge of mining, not only gold mines, but also iron ore and salt mines to Shen Chong to be responsible.

However, these things will not be said to Wang Laozhi, after all, who these minerals belong to in the end, so far there is still no whereabouts; Yang Zhi believes that Ye Mengde has reported these news to Taiyuan, and it is estimated that Zhao Kai, like himself, is waiting for the final result.

Wang Laozhi glanced at Yang Zhi and said, "Have you ever thought that one day, you will build Shaanxi into a rich land, and then be transferred to the Hetao?"

Yang Zhi said seriously: "Of course I have thought about it, especially after the loss of Datong, but I think that in the current situation, King Yun will not do anything, Xixia is a hundred-legged insect that dies but does not stiffen, even if he loses several games in a row, it is not that he has no ability to fight back; ”

Wang Laozhi nodded in agreement, the most important thing Yang Zhi did not say, that is, the current Shaanxi is ostensibly the victory of the Dingbei Army, but in fact, the crisis is everywhere, and the replenishment of grain has been intermittent, without Yang Zhi's prestige and the support of merchants such as the North and South Travel, it will not be able to hold on at all. Even if Taiyuan wants to move Yang Zhi, it must wait until the spring flowers bloom and everything is on the right track, and then it will be gradually adjusted. Combined with the past practices of Zhao Kai, the king of Yun, without a strong person to Shaanxi, Zhao Kai will not take risks, originally Ye Mengde was a suitable candidate after all, but Ye Mengde had no friendship with the envoys of the Five Routes, without the support of these five people, Ye Mengde could not sit firmly in this position.