freenovelworld Chapter 238 One woman can't stir up any trouble
Chapter 238 One woman can't stir up any trouble
The first water-powered automatic textile machine was successfully built, and Jiang Chexun and Huangfu Qian's subordinates worked together to build twenty water-powered automatic textile machines.
After the hydraulic automatic textile machine was developed, the next issue was the availability of large quantities of materials.
A textile machine can weave quickly, but if the materials can't keep up, it's all for nothing.
Xia Mo and Huangfu Qian joined forces to create a water-powered automatic spinning wheel. The most difficult step was manually twisting the yarn into the spinning wheel.
Clearly, this difficulty was not difficult for Xia Mo and Huangfu Qian.
With the ship blueprints obtained from the live streaming system as a base, they quickly found a representative plant material with soft fibers.
The water-powered automatic spinning wheel was developed faster than expected.
Next, we come to one of the materials: cotton, or soft, fine linen extracted from plants.
After scanning the entire embroidery and textile industry of Haozhou Prefecture with his divine sense, Xia Mo suggested, "Cotton-based fabrics are too expensive and prone to problems in the market. How about we use 50% cotton and 50% linen thread? This would reduce material costs and labor costs, and naturally lower the value, allowing more people to afford cotton and linen clothing."
Huangfu Qian was the Prince of Jiang, and his heart was with the country. He had no reason to refuse something that was good for the people.
"Notify Yin Rou to send ten ships each of cotton and hemp!" Xia Mo's lips curled up.
Huangfu Qian nodded.
Ten days later—
On the lake outside Haozhou Prefecture, cargo ships began to arrive and dock at the piers built along the lake.
Large sacks of cotton and hemp, packed in hemp cloth bags, were carried off the ship.
The arrival of twenty boatloads of textile materials shook the entire city of Haozhou.
Naturally, the head of the You family also received the news.
Inside the study of the You family patriarch—
"Where did all that cotton and hemp go?" The head of the You family's heart jumped. When he heard that it was the renamed Xia Family Embroidery Shop that wanted it, he scoffed disdainfully.
"A woman, without even deciding on the market, is already eager to buy so many raw materials," the head of the You family said, his face serious even when he was being disdainful, as if he were discussing a serious matter.
Aunt Fen nodded: "Sir, there's no need to worry. A woman can't cause any trouble. Besides, our embroidery shop mainly focuses on embroidery."
“Yes,” the head of the You family nodded.
Inside the manor, which was renamed Xia Family Embroidery Shop—
Xia Mo withdrew her divine sense from its probing purpose and looked at Huangfu Qian, who was busy assembling a textile machine, and said, "We are indeed at a disadvantage in embroidery. The patterns on his side were given by a special mission, which we did not have."
Huangfu Qian paused for a moment while assembling the textile machine, then continued.
This is the twentieth textile machine that Huangfuqian has assembled in the past ten days.
“Indeed, when it comes to embroidery, if I were to search for embroiderers, I wouldn’t necessarily be able to find anyone better than the You family,” Xia Mo said, looking at Huangfu Qian and then at herself, pondering how to solve this problem.
Twenty textile machines were organized, and forty spinning wheels were also organized.
The material is first placed into the spinning wheel.
To spin sand, the material needs to be rolled up first, then added to the spinning wheel, and the spinning wheel is rotated.
At this point, manual intervention is required.
Xia Mo looked at Huangfu Qian.
Huangfu Qian had long thought of using manpower, and Jiang Che had already made arrangements for it.
On that day, twenty female workers appeared in the large room where the spinning wheels were placed, sat down in front of the raw materials, and began spinning.
Twenty female workers stared blankly at the automatically rotating spinning wheel.
A representative of the twenty female workers stepped forward and said, "Miss Xia, if we don't need to operate the spinning wheel, how are we supposed to make silk thread?"
Xia Mo nodded and said, "You guys start by rolling the dough into round strips."
Soon, the twenty female workers learned how to use the water-powered automatic spinning wheel. They were so excited that they were like they had been injected with chicken blood, and they worked hard to twist cotton and linen into round strips and put them into the spinning wheel.
Fine silk threads are not made overnight. After the first pass through the spinning wheel, the thread is still a bit thick. It needs to be repeatedly pulled and twisted by the spinning wheel to make it finer and stronger.
Even if it required repeated processing, with the water-powered automatic spinning wheel, a warehouse full of cotton and linen filaments could still be produced in a single day.
Next, the fine cotton and linen fibers are put into a water-powered automatic textile machine to weave the fabric.
Twenty machines used up a whole warehouse of cotton and linen fibers in just one day!
The key point is that the cloth, even after being woven by hand, must be dense and airtight!
The twenty female workers were all shocked by what they saw.
If we were to work by hand, this warehouse of materials would have taken at least a month to weave, right?! And it's all finished in just one day?!
When the three hundred bolts of cotton and linen cloth were piled up in the warehouse, the twenty female workers were all shocked.
Huangfu Qian maintained a blank expression, but in his heart, he was also shocked.
Jiang Che's face clearly showed his shock.
"The cloth shop arranged in Haozhou Prefecture is ready to open," Xia Mo said to Huangfu Qianxiao.
* * *
Early the next morning—
The Xia Family Cloth Shop opens for business in Haozhou Prefecture!
Some people watched out of curiosity, but they only glanced at it and left without any expectations.
until……
The shop assistants carried out a rack, draped a cloth over it, and displayed it at the shop entrance.
Although the shop assistant's behavior was somewhat unusual, those who saw the Xia family's cloth shop opening at that time still didn't sense anything was wrong, until...
"Cotton and linen cloth, three hundred coins a bolt, finely woven and strong," a loud-voiced shop assistant stood in front of the cloth on display and shouted at the top of his lungs toward the street.
The man shouting the message was doing the same thing, pulling on the cloth to demonstrate its strength; even when he pulled hard, it didn't break easily.
Cotton is fragile, but with the addition of linen, it becomes less prone to tearing.
"A bolt of cloth, only three hundred coins? This..."
Upon hearing the value of a bolt of cloth, passersby stopped and gathered in front of the Xia Family Cloth Shop.
They could hardly believe the price they heard.
Based on current prices, a bolt of low-grade fine cotton cloth would cost at least 700 wen, and the worst linen cloth would cost 400 wen. But this cloth, which is both cotton and linen, only costs 300 wen per bolt!
Why did they feel a sense of unreality when they listened?
"Are you sure this is the price? There's no mistake?" A person gathered in front of the store couldn't help but ask the shop assistant.
The man nodded vigorously; he had actually been shocked when he first heard the value.
"Would you like to come up and take a look? This cotton-linen blend is much stronger than cotton cloth, and it's just as comfortable to wear as cotton," the waiter beckoned to the customer who asked the question.
The guest stepped forward and tugged hard, sweat pouring from his forehead. The cotton-linen cloth remained intact; at most, the force he used left a few creases on it.
As soon as the first customer tried it, a second customer quickly followed suit.
Next, I couldn't wait to buy the fabric.
"I want one!"
"Give me one!"
They're afraid they'll miss out if they don't buy it now, because if they miss it today, it'll be gone yesterday.