Chapter 243 Textile Industry Planning
What troubles the Executive Committee is not just the supply of canvas. In fact, all kinds of textile products are materials needed by the Travel Group. Gauze used by the medical department, cotton cloth needed by the people for making clothes, silk cloth used for wrapping gunpowder packets, and canvas that is most urgently needed right now but has never found a suitable source. Adding these textiles together, the amount required is actually quite large, but However, there is no merchant on Qiongzhou Island who can stably supply goods to the Crossing Group.
The reason for this is actually very simple, because there are very few textiles produced locally on Qiongzhou Island. Fabrics like Yazhou Jibei cloth, which are made of kapok, have always been in short supply because of their low output. The Chuanchuan Group uses a huge amount of fabrics, and relying solely on local production is completely unable to meet its needs.
Regarding this situation, it is not that no one has expressed doubts to the Ministry of Agriculture - why don't we grow our own cotton? An insider even pointed out that the materials prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture before crossing over included high-quality cotton seeds. Since its own development requires a large amount of textiles and cotton seeds have been prepared, why has there been no plan to open up cotton fields?
Regarding these questions, Mr. Yuan Ruoxiu, the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, personally came forward to explain. Cotton is a heat-loving crop. The sunshine hours and average temperatures in Hainan allow cotton to be grown, but cotton avoids water during the flowering and harvest periods. Hainan is located in a tropical monsoon climate with more rain and high air humidity. From this perspective, cotton is a heat-loving crop. It is not suitable for cotton cultivation. The most terrible thing is that the cotton harvest season almost coincides with the rainy season in Hainan. This alone almost blocks the way to grow cotton. The reason why the Ministry of Agriculture prepared cotton seeds before crossing was not to grow cotton on Hainan Island—it would wait until the crossing group occupies an area suitable for cotton cultivation in the future to put this good thing to use.
Mr. Yuan's specialty is the study of cash crops. Since old experts have said that Hainan Island is not suitable for growing cotton, everyone can only look outside the island. It seems that all kinds of textiles needed by the Crossing Group can only rely on imports from outside at this stage. However, at this time, Mr. Yuan gave the frustrated executive committee members a small surprise: Although Hainan Island is not suitable for growing cotton, the agricultural development experience of later generations shows that the environment in some areas of Hainan Island is suitable for growing mulberry trees. silkworm.
Some people have also expressed doubts about Mr. Yuan's statement - why haven't I heard about silk produced in Hainan before traveling?
Yuan Ruoxiu explained that Hainan has a small temperature difference between the four seasons and the annual sericulture time is almost twice as long as inland, making it very suitable for large-scale sericulture industry. In fact, large-scale mulberry planting and sericulture in Hainan only started in the early 21st century, and it was less than ten years before the time of crossing. Although the feasibility has been verified, the scale of promotion in Hainan's rural areas is not very large. So I don't have much fame yet. However, according to the 12th Five-Year Development Plan formulated by the country before crossing, the mulberry planting area in Hainan Province will reach 600,000 acres by 2020, and the number of people engaged in this industry will also exceed one million, and it will become the national sericulture and silk industry. One of the origins with the most complete industrial chain. Since the country has such a big plan for Hainan's sericulture industry, it means that it is feasible to grow mulberry and raise sericulture here.
This has completely aroused the interest of the Executive Committee. Raw silk is completely soft gold in this era. Businessmen from Western countries travel across the oceans to China every year with real gold and silver and queue up to buy it. According to information provided by Ning Qi, a lay historian, Fujian maritime merchant Xu Xinsu sold raw silk to the Dutch East India Company at a price as high as over 140 taels of silver per quintal during the same period. The later production data provided by Yuan Ruoxiu show that in 2006, the mulberry planting area in Qiongzhong, Hainan, reached more than 30,000 acres, with an annual output of 30,000 dans of fresh cocoons, which converted into about 4,000 dans of raw silk. According to the current foreign trade of raw silk The price is a fortune! If it is woven into silk and sold, the price can at least double. If it is done well, the money you can earn from this business will not be less than the arms trade.
Yuan Ruoxiu further pointed out that the benefits of developing the sericulture industry are not only the production of silk, but also the development of a series of industries such as fruit mulberries, tea mulberries, vegetable mulberries, bamboo weaving, textiles, import and export trade, etc., which will promote regional economic development. There will be a very positive impact. Even in the future, as long as a product like silk can reach a certain scale, it will be enough to transfer part of the trade center of the entire East Asia region to Hainan Island.
Of course, with so many benefits, developing this project is not without its difficulties. Before the executive committee members were about to clamor for the immediate promotion of mulberry planting, Yuan Ruoxiu explained to everyone several major difficulties in developing this industry.
The first is the rainy season problem in Hainan. July to October every year is the rainy season in Hainan Island. The high temperature and high humidity environment will accelerate the reproduction of bacteria and fungi. If there are no reasonable measures, it is easy to cause a large-scale outbreak of silkworms. The second problem is that there are many local wild insects in Hainan. Some species also use mulberry leaves as food and can spread silkworm diseases, which is also one of the hidden dangers. The third problem is that the local people have no experience in raising silkworms, and agriculture The ministry also seriously lacks relevant technical personnel, and it is almost impossible to do large-scale promotion in a short period of time; the last reason is that there is no high-quality silkworm seed locally, because this thing cannot be preserved for a long time, so it is difficult to cross the pre-agriculture The ministry did not bring silkworm seeds, but only a few mulberry trees adapted to Hainan's climate and geographical conditions. To develop this industry, we must try to introduce silkworm seeds from other places, and it will take time to re-cultivate them locally to withstand high temperatures and humidity. New silkworm species for the environment will do.
By the time Yuan Ruoxiu explained all the details clearly, most of the initial energy of the executive committee members had dissipated. Whether it is introducing silkworm seeds from the mainland, conducting scientific research and breeding locally, training technical personnel, or large-scale promotion in rural areas, no link can be completed in a short time. The entire industry takes less than two or three years from planning to production. I'm afraid it won't work. This industry is good, but it can only be included in the development plan of the Ministry of Agriculture first, and it can be done slowly step by step.
All these situations at the base camp have been informed to the General Office of the People's Republic of China through telegrams and letters. The Office in Guangdong believes that it will not be too difficult to introduce silkworm breeds, because Fujian, which is close to Guangdong, has been an important sericulture production area since ancient times. The local area has had a certain scale of sericulture industry since the Northern and Southern Dynasties. By the Song Dynasty, the scale of the silk weaving industry had already become one of the three major silk textile centers in the country along with Sichuan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Quanzhou, known as the "Citron City", was famous for its silk weaving industry. In the Middle Ages, Europeans who did not know the truth directly used "Erythrina" as a synonym for "satin". Marco Polo once compared the prosperity of Quanzhou Port with Alexandria Port in his travel notes.
It can be said that Fujian has very rich resources in terms of excellent silkworm seeds, skilled workers in the silk weaving industry, and even all aspects of the sericulture industry chain. And this era also follows the rule that if you have money, you can do things easily. As long as the Guangdong Office in Guangdong is willing to pay, it is not a problem to complete this task for the base camp. What is missing is the right opportunity and channels.
The emergence of this "Yongfeng Clothing Company" just caters to the current actual needs of the General Office of the People's Republic of China. Schneider immediately asked He Xi to write a reply to the meeting, and then called Yu Xiaobao in and asked him to send the reply to the other party.
On the evening of the next day, the Guangzhou shopkeeper of "Yongfeng Buhang" took a sedan and came to the Guangdong Office located outside Guangzhou to visit. Schneider and others also considered the reason why they chose the Guangzhou Liaison Office instead of choosing a restaurant in Guangzhou city. This is to adhere to the principle of promoting the "Haihan advanced lifestyle" and to make it as accessible as possible to merchants. Directly exposed to the various products that the Guangdong Office wants to promote in the mainland, such as glass tableware, stationery, bathroom equipment, chemical products, and even the various special spices of Victory Port added to the dishes, etc., everything is highlighted The Haihan lifestyle was different from that of the Ming Dynasty, and the superiority of the Haihan reflected in these differences was enough to attract the Ming gentry to imitate, thereby achieving the purpose of exporting commodities and culture.
Secondly, meeting guests in the General Office can also avoid the suspicion of being separated by walls. After the big opening of the bookstore yesterday, the name "Haihan" became popular in Guangzhou almost overnight. People discovered that a variety of out-of-print novel Haihan books had been sold in the Guangzhou market in the past few months. The goods come from "Haihan", a new business name that has never been heard of before. Yes, most people in Guangzhou just regard the emergence of Haihan people as a new business bank settling in the local area. In addition to having many Apart from selling novel and valuable gadgets, there seems to be no fundamental difference from other trading houses. As a result, merchants from all walks of life have mobilized, hoping to contact Haihan so that they can join the sales channels of Haihan products.
Thirdly, this was also done for safety reasons and with reference to the opinions of two members of the military and police department, Xiao Liang and Yu Yao. Although the Guangzhou Guangdong Office now has more than a dozen armed personnel stationed in addition to the militia, if members need to enter the city, they must be followed by military and police personnel - although Schneider and He Xi disagreed with this. Before the arrival of the echelon, he often ran around alone in Guangzhou. But Xiao Liang and Yu Yao still insisted on acting in accordance with the rules and regulations. Especially if they want to stay overnight in Guangzhou at night, they must be accompanied by at least two security personnel, and as the first and second leaders, Schneider and He Xi cannot be in Guangzhou at the same time. If you stay overnight, at least one person must be left at the Guangdong Office in case of emergency.
Therefore, out of various considerations, the General Office in Guangzhou finally took on the main task of external reception. Fortunately, the renovation project of the Guangdong Office in Guangzhou has been completed, and visitors will not see any mess.
After receiving the notification, Schneider and He Xi went to the courtyard gate to greet the shopkeeper of "Yongfeng Clothing". In addition to the people from "Fu Ruifeng", this is also the first businessman to visit us after the establishment of the Guangdong Office in Guangdong. Although it had only been one day since he received the call from the other party, He Xi still managed to get some information about this cloth shop and the shopkeeper from some channels.
"Yongfeng Cloth Shop" is based in Hangzhou, and is said to be one of the top five local cloth merchants. Of course, the business scope of cloth merchants in this era also included other textiles, not just cotton. In fact, according to the gossip He Xi received, these large cloth merchants all own a considerable area of mulberry fields and hired silkworm farmers in the local area. In other words, what they control is not only sales channels, but a one-stop process from production to sales. A complete industrial chain, and this is what the Guangdong Office is interested in.
The shopkeeper named Ma is over 40 years old. Although he is not from the same family as the boss of Buhang, it is said that he is somewhat related to the big boss. Chain businesses in this era will basically never get rid of the family-run model, especially those who are sent to other places to sit in the store. If you are not related to the big boss by blood, it will be difficult to gain enough trust to sit in this position. .
"Yongfeng Cloth Shop" runs a large shop in Guangzhou city, mainly selling Songjiang cloth and silk and satin products produced in Hangzhou and Quanzhou. Its target customers are basically the middle and upper class of society. Prior to this, a considerable part of the bulk goods purchased by "Furuifeng" for the Chuanchuan Group, including textiles, especially silk and satin products, came from "Yongfeng Cloth Co., Ltd." - after these silks and satins were shipped back to Victory Port , are basically used in making fixed gunpowder bags for artillery.
The business negotiation method pursued by the Executive Committee has always been conducted at the wine table-several Executive Committee members responsible for external affairs are all time-tested veterans of the wine shop, and they all like to make their opponents half drunk before negotiating. This can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Schneider was one of them. When Li Nai first came to Victory Port, Schneider was one of the main players at the wine table. This also indirectly caused a lot of confusion about "Fruifeng" in the cooperation agreement signed by the two parties. "Unfavorable terms.
After the Guangzhou Liquor Office was established, the Executive Committee also specially approved dozens of kilograms of liquor from the inventory to them. But when they came to Guangzhou, they found that there were also several delicious local wines, even better than the blended wines they specially brought from later generations.
Distilled liquor was not a rare thing in this era. Shajue had already been invented in the Tang Dynasty. There were records of distilled liquor and stills in the Yuan Dynasty documents, and there were even more records in the Ming Dynasty's "Compendium of Materia Medica". The preparation method and medicinal value of soju are explained in detail. Therefore, hard liquor has always been sold in wine shops in the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the wine brought out by the Guangdong Office looks much more upscale than ordinary restaurants, because they use glass wine bottles that are rarely seen in the Ming Dynasty market. This is also one of the new industries that the General Office of the People's Republic of China in Guangdong Province has declared to Shengli Port. Glass wine bottles are produced in Shengli Port and shipped to Guangzhou. The Office in Guangdong Province organizes local liquor sources and workers to fill them, and then affixes nameplates. Then sell it for more than ten times the original price. The feasibility of this business is extremely high, and it is difficult for merchants in Ming Dynasty to imitate it because of packaging constraints. However, after this plan was returned to Victory Port, it was temporarily shelved by the executive committee - the existing glass product production capacity is really limited. It is still difficult to even complete the order at hand, let alone the glass bottle with a relatively complicated production process. This thing is only manually blown by the current pure manual process. It is difficult to talk about the production volume. At least we have to wait for the Ministry of Industry Let’s talk about developing a simple production line for extrusion molding.
But even the ordinary liquor bottles brought by later generations are now enough to suffocate this shopkeeper Ma who once thought he was well-informed - not only the bottles, but also the bowls, plates, cups, and cups on the table, except for the chopsticks. Everything outside, even the small holder for chopsticks, is made of crystal clear glass. This kind of luxury is something that Shopkeeper Ma has never seen in his past life. Even the family banquet of a certain magistrate that he had the honor to attend before only took out two single-handled melon-shaped glass bottles to hold wine, and the shape of the glassware on the table in front of him was all on the market. What he had never seen before must be high-end goods for the Haihan people's own use. Shopkeeper Ma quickly estimated the price in his mind. It should be at least five hundred taels.
Of course, these things are not for sale, because they are industrial products from later generations, with regular sizes and advanced craftsmanship, rather than crude products made by hand in the glass workshops of Victory Port. After a small amount of these items were sold to the outside world in the early stages of time travel, these items were listed as prohibited items for sale by the Executive Committee. Currently, they are only used as display items in social or other special occasions, and will no longer be easily sold in large quantities to the outside world.
After seeing these things, Shopkeeper Ma was basically convinced that the rumors on the market were true. The glass products that were so popular in Guangzhou a few days ago were indeed supplied by Haihan people, and this also made him even more convinced that he would It's a worthwhile trip - the Haihan people who have mastered this advanced technology are undoubtedly equivalent to mastering a huge amount of wealth. The rest depends on how capable they are of taking money out of the Haihan people's pockets.
After three drinks, Shopkeeper Ma began to inquire about the roots of the Haihan people, intentionally or unintentionally. Schneider did not hide this, claiming that his property was located in a seaport in Yazhou, and invited Shopkeeper Ma to visit him at a convenient time. You can go and experience it yourself. Of course, the focus of Schneider's promotion is not how beautiful the local natural scenery is, but the rich variety of Haihan products and the free tax-free policy of Victory Port.
Shopkeeper Ma is obviously someone who has been out and about for a long time. His eyes lit up when he heard "tax-free": "Mr. Shi, are you saying that there is no need to pay taxes on goods when trading in Victory Port?"
Schneider laughed and said: "You don't even have to pay a copper plate!"
Shopkeeper Ma rolled his eyes and asked: "Will the fee be charged according to the size of the ship or the size of the cargo hold?" This is not a new thing. The rates levied by the Guangzhou Shipping Department are based on the size of the ship. Collect, as long as you want to collect money, the competent authority can always think of a way.
Schneider explained: "There is no tax levied in any name on foreign merchant ships in Victory Port. Of course, if your company wants to open a store to sell goods in Victory Port, it will be a different matter."
(End of chapter)