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Whether Liu Hanyi captured Batavia or Zhang Huangyan changed Mindoro Island to Mayi County, Zhao Han has not received any news about these matters yet.

The first thing Zhao Han received was the memorial from Xu Ying from Jiangsu.

Xu Ying said in the memorial that the leader of the Jiangnan Textile Guild, entrusted by the textile merchants, asked him to forward a joint letter from the textile industry. Due to a major breakthrough in the steam spinning machine, cotton raw materials are seriously in short supply, so they request to open up the Indian market and obtain Indian cotton as spinning raw materials.

If the imperial court is willing to send troops, textile merchants from all over the south of the Yangtze River and shipping merchants in Guangdong are willing to jointly raise 30,000 taels of silver and donate it to the imperial court for military funds free of charge.

In addition, they are also willing to subscribe for low-interest military bonds, which will be gradually deducted from taxes in the future.

Zhao Han was not surprised by any donations or bond purchases. This operation has been done by the imperial court before, especially when it attacked Luzon, military expenses and food and grass were all raised in this way. It is normal for merchants to taste the sweetness and want to do it again.

What Zhao Han really paid attention to was the major breakthrough in the spinning machine!

Xu Ying's memorabilia attached a blueprint, which is a small device with a very simple principle - the flyer.

A high school graduate named Li Min, due to his poor family, did not enter university at his own expense, nor did he choose to be a county official, but was hired by a textile factory as a senior employee. It took four years for Li Min to invent the flyer, which has been put into production after repeated improvements.

To weave cotton cloth, it must first be spun into cotton yarn.

Whether it is a hydraulic spinning machine or a steam spinning machine, there is a serious problem. That is, the strength of cotton fiber is not enough, and it is easy to be broken when twisted. There have been many related inventions before, and even a roller device appeared, but the sliver still frequently breaks during the spinning process, and someone must guard the artificially assisted twisting.

And this high school graduate named Li Min invented the "flyer" device, which can be perfectly matched with the "roller" device, and can complete the two steps of twisting and winding at the same time.

Spinning efficiency doubled!

Moreover, both hydraulic spinning machines and steam spinning machines can add this device for production.

After seeing the drawings and instructions, Zhao Han's first reaction was: family-style spinning activities will gradually become history, and peasant women will lose a major source of income.

This dying process may last for ten or twenty years. As steam spinning machines continue to improve, and as steam spinning machines become more common, hand spinning must become a thing of the past.

At present, there is still room for it. The most exquisite cotton cloth can only be made by manual spinning. The cotton yarn spun by the steam engine can only be used to weave middle and low-end cotton cloth due to insufficient technology. Historically, the cotton yarn worsted machine was invented a few years later than Watt's first improved steam engine.

The high school graduate named Li Min opened Pandora's box and opened a new era at the same time.

Xu Ying also said in the memorandum that due to the "flyer" device being put into use, the demand for cotton surged rapidly. As early as the beginning of this year, the textile merchants in the south of the Yangtze River traveled from village to village to sign contracts with farmers, crazily raising the purchase price of cotton, and luring farmers to change their grain fields into cotton fields.

As long as farmers grow cotton, they don't have to worry about selling it at all, and they can sell it at a high price. The increased profits can completely offset the heavy tax imposed by the imperial court on cotton fields.

A bumper harvest of grain may also hurt farmers due to low grain prices.

But for cotton planting, the contract is signed in advance, and the price has been set long ago. The bigger the harvest, the more profitable it will be.

Farmers are not stupid, of course they can grow whatever makes money!

The current textile industry is facing two problems, one is insufficient cotton raw materials, and the other is that weaving technology cannot keep up with the development of spinning technology, and more advanced looms are urgently needed.

This year's cotton yarn producers are very likely to lose money.

They added advanced devices one after another and blindly expanded production regardless of the market. They signed contracts with farmers in advance and blindly increased the purchase price of cotton.

But today's weaving technology can't digest so much cotton yarn at all, and it will be 100% unsalable at that time, so we can only choose to export the excess cotton yarn overseas directly. However, the overseas cotton cloth market is huge, but the cotton yarn market is small. If it cannot be sold, the price will have to be reduced.

Maybe, they will sell cotton yarn to farmers at a low price. Farmers can buy cheap cotton yarn and be able to weave and wear it by themselves.

In addition, cotton yarn producers in Mexico will be the biggest victims.

The Spanish colonists built textile and silk factories in Mexico, and purchased cotton yarn and raw silk from China every year. In order to protect the interests of cotton yarn and raw silk producers, the King of Spain ordered many times to prohibit the purchase of raw materials from China. However, repeated prohibitions have been repeated, the Mexican market has been impacted by China, and few people have produced silk.

Now, China is exporting a large amount of cheap cotton yarn, and Mexico's spinning industry may be wiped out immediately, and it will be completely dependent on China's supply in the future.

With the crazy price reduction of cotton yarn, the manufacturing cost of cotton cloth in China will also plummet. The cotton textile industry is India's largest industry, and a large amount of cheaper cotton cloth is shipped over. The cotton textile merchants in the middle and lower reaches of the Ganges are estimated to be in danger.

Regarding Xu Ying's memorial, the cabinet has different opinions.

Calling the cabinet ministers to discuss, Song Yingxing took the lead and said: "It is a good thing to have new machines, but this kind of new machines will leave women with no yarn to spin. Nowadays, there are a large number of women spinning yarn no matter in the city or in the countryside. In exchange for money. Once the flyer is widely used in factories, the income of Shengdou Xiaomin’s family will definitely drop sharply. I really don’t know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.”

Chen Maosheng said: "I don't know how to look at this matter. The spinning machine has been improved several times, which is far better than women's hand spinning. This time, the new machine has doubled the efficiency, which has made countless weavers How does the woman respond?"

Zhu Shunshui said: "Suppression cannot be suppressed. With better machines, it is impossible to prevent merchants from using them."

When the other cabinet ministers spoke, they were all discussing new machines, and they didn't talk about sending troops to India at all.

From their point of view, soldiers are important matters of the country, and the imperial court is very cautious in using soldiers. How can they be instigated by a few merchants to fight across the sea?

Zhao Han said: "Everything should not be abandoned because of choking. Since there are better machines, let the merchants use them. As for the women who can no longer make money by spinning, they can only find other livelihoods. The women in the city, You can work as domestic servants, and women in the countryside can raise a few more chickens. When there are more factories, more women can also work as weavers in factories.”

I can only think so, otherwise what else can I do?

The only good thing is that the collapse of the small-scale peasant economy is a long-term process, and it will not end immediately because of the development of the cotton textile industry (in modern China, the small-scale peasant economy collapsed rapidly, which was impacted by mature Western industries). Moreover, farmers generally divide their fields, so they can make do with less income from spinning. As the city became more prosperous, women in the city could not spin yarn and could do other jobs.

Chen Maosheng said suddenly: "Your Majesty, instead of thinking about further issues, it is better to deal with the immediate issues first. Last year, Jiangsu Tianzheng was cleaned up, and two major cases occurred in Wu County, both of which were caused by coal mines. Salt and iron are average, and the imperial court has designated them as monopolies, and must impose a heavy tax on coal.”

"It must be so." Zhao Han nodded.

China's textile industry is concentrated in the south of the Yangtze River, and the textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River is concentrated in the area around Taihu Lake.

Coincidentally, a large number of coal mines were discovered on Xishan Island in the center of Taihu Lake. Coal mines have also been discovered one after another in some places on the edge of Taihu Lake. The coal produced in these places can be quickly transported to textile factories in various places in the south of the Yangtze River through convenient waterways.

Even in Jiangyin (Zhangjiagang), coal mines have been discovered, and the mine site is not far from the Yangtze River.

Fei Chun said: "I have heard that people in Beijing in the former dynasty relied on coal for heating and cooking. If coal is heavily taxed, people in some places may not even be able to afford coal for cooking."

Yuan Yunlong said: "Beijing is a special case. At that time, Beijing had a population of over one million, and the surrounding trees were all cut down. We had to go to Xishan to dig coal and transport it to the city to replace firewood. Today, there are not many people left in the entire Beiping Prefecture. The trees have already grown, and even the people in Beijing are buying firewood cut by woodcutters."

Fei Chun shook his head: "Not only in Beijing, but all over the country, many people cook with coal fires, and they also rely on coal fires to keep warm in winter."

This is the truth. In the "New Coal Mine" in the Jiajing period, there is "there are few vegetation, so coal is used for fire in the north".

The major iron factories in the north almost all use coal mines to smelt iron. As a result, the firecrackers manufactured by the northern ironworks often have a large number of air holes, and the barrels of the firecrackers explode when they are hit.

In the south, under the guidance of some practical officials, many urban residents also use coal.

The main content of "Newly Opened Coal Mine" is to record that in Mahu Prefecture (Pingshan) in Sichuan, the prefect Wansu led the people to explore the coal mines and taught the people how to use coal stoves. The residents in the city switched to coal for fire.

This is a major issue related to people's livelihood, and heavy taxes on coal cannot be imposed across the board.

After thinking carefully, Zhao Han said, "Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang, these five provinces impose heavy taxes on coal, and the rest of the provinces remain the same."

Due to backward transportation technology, it is difficult to transport coal from the north to the south, and even if it is transported, the loss outweighs the gain.

Shandong is the most important cotton-producing province, and the cotton in Shandong is of the highest quality.

In recent years, the cotton textile industry in Shandong has also developed, especially after the steam engine appeared. Not only did Shandong's cotton spinning industry develop rapidly, but Xuzhou also prospered. Because there are large coal mines in Xuzhou, and it is close to Shandong, after buying cotton from Shandong and transporting it to Xuzhou, the local coal can be used to drive the machines.

By the way, Datong China's silver dollar casting was changed from water power to steam power several years ago.

The monarchs and ministers discussed repeatedly, but they never talked about sending troops to India.

Even if you really want to send troops, let it wait for a year or so before talking, and you can't be arrogant to the temper of those merchants!