Chapter 184: Gaochang Baidie

When the first ray of sunlight in the morning shone on the grassland, Li Qing'an's team set off again. He rode on his horse and followed the carriage slowly. Last night, he had not slept all night, but was still energetic and had no fatigue on his face. He was dancing in the carriage and holding his cheeks, sitting a little lazy in front of the car window, looking at his beloved man gently, she had just become a wife, and the nourishment of love made her shine a dazzling spirit. With her beautiful appearance, the pretty poetic and picturesque sisters were eclipsed. The two of them touched each other from time to time, and when they smiled, thousands of words melted in their smiles.

"Encourt, General Lifei is here."

From afar, the soldier shouted, Li Qing'an smiled at Wuyi and urged the horse to run towards the team, "Li Lang!" Wuyi shouted softly, Li Qing'an held the horse and turned to look at her. Wuyi smiled sweetly, waved her hand gently, and slowly pulled the curtain up.

The yellow dust rolled in front of the team, and the Tianshan Army envoy Li Fei Shouyu led more than a thousand soldiers to welcome him. After Zhao Tingyu was killed, the Xizhou Army underwent a major change. Li Fei Shouyu served as the military envoy, and Bai Xiaode was appointed as the deputy envoy. All the other officers above the lieutenant were replaced by Hanhai soldiers. Through Li Fei Shouyu, Li Qing'an controlled the army firmly in his hands. After a moment, the team came up. Li Fei Shouyu bowed and smiled from a distance, "Qilang, didn't you say you would come to Xizhou next month?"

"I went out for a walk and took my family to relax and did not conduct formal inspections."

Li Qingan also asked curiously: "This place is quite far from the Tianshan Army, why are you here?"

"I happened to be organizing military affairs in the nearby military camp. When I heard that you were coming, I came to welcome the envoy to inspect the military camp."

Li Qingan smiled and punched him on the shoulder, "I feel relieved to have you in Xizhou. Tianshan Army. I am here this time, not for military affairs."

"That's Qilang's trip"

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said, "For the sake of red wine, white folds."

Li Fei Shouyu was stunned and then laughed, "It turned out to be for Jiaohe wine and Gaochang white cloth. It's just right. Puchang County is rich in white cloth and there are also wines. I took Qilang to see it."

Li Qingan was overjoyed and asked quickly: "Is there a scattered field?"

"Yes! Yes! Thirty miles ahead, you can see a large area of ​​fields."

"Everyone keep up and speed up."

Li Qing'an turned around and waved his hand. The team accelerated the speed. White cloth is today's cotton cloth. The fields are cotton fields. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Xizhou area has begun to plant grass cotton from Dashi. The Xizhou area is hot and suitable for cotton growth. In addition, the growth period is short, so it is more common in Xizhou. The white cloth produced is mainly purchased specifically by Hu merchants and transported back to Persia and Dashi areas. Only scattered white cloth is sold to Chang'an, Luoyang and other metropolises. Of course, grass cotton is occasionally planted in the Central Plains, but they are flowers that are admired by wealthy families. Therefore, its growth period is longer and its textile is more troublesome. It cannot replace the traditional silk thread. It was not until the Song and Yuan dynasties that it was widely promoted.

"Why is Qilang suddenly interested in red wine white folds?"

"There are ten thousand military households to move to Beiting soon. I think that the income from all relying on growing grain seems to be relatively small. If we can increase the side job, such as opening a factory in the government, making wine, weaving, mining, smelting, recruiting the children of military households to work in the workshop, increasing the income of the family, and the merchants then transporting the wine and cloth from the workshop to the mainland to sell it. In this way, the increase in the income of military households will be very beneficial to stabilizing the morale of the military and attracting more Han people to Beiting."

Li Fei Shouyu nodded and smiled, "Last year, I went to Yangzhou to train troops. I went to several Jiangdu Silk Weaving Factory, and there were 3000 people. Most of them were poor girls. They earned 30 to 40 cents a day, and they could earn 50 to 6 cents a month. I heard that some people could earn 10 cents, which is more money than growing grain. But I guess brewing wine is OK. Weaving white stacked cloth may not make money. After all, the mainland uses silk thread."

"It's rare to be expensive! Last year, I saw a white stack of cloth in a silk satin shop in Dongshi. We sold it here for 400 mins, but when we arrived in Chang'an, we had to sell it for three mins of money, which was more expensive than ordinary silk satin, and it was only enjoyed by wealthy families. If we ship it to Chang'an in large quantities, even if it's two mins of money, it would be profitable. I encourage the emperor and the empress to take the lead in wearing it, why worry that it won't be popular? Furthermore, this white stack of cloth is much warmer than linen, and is also extremely important to our Beiting army."

The two of them walked while talking. There were more pedestrians on the road and walked dozens of miles. The grassland seemed to have reached its end and began to enter the agricultural area. A large area of ​​yellow wheat fields were everywhere along the way. Some fixed adobe houses could be seen by chance. The climate in Xizhou was hot and rice could be ripened. Therefore, another round of rice could be planted after harvesting wheat in June. Therefore, the Xizhou area has always been one of the important grain-producing areas in Beiting, but there were not many Han people, most of them were natives in Gaochang, with low agricultural technology and not as good as Tingzhou where the Han people gathered. So Li Qing'an planned to resettle 10,000 military households mainly in Xizhou, and gradually turned Xizhou into an agricultural area, while the animal husbandry was transferred to the north of Tingzhou or to Yizhou.

At noon, they saw Puchang County from afar.

"Qilang, look over there, the fields!" Li Fei Shouyu shouted at a field on the side of the road.

Li Qing'an looked at him and saw a field on the roadside full of cotton, about five acres, with lush green leaves. The word "cotton" did not appear in the Tang Dynasty. The locals have always called it "阿" or according to the pronunciation of the Dashi side, it is called "阿" but it is also called "阿" in the mainland of the Tang Dynasty. Li Qing'an was extremely excited and turned over and dismounted and ran towards the "阿" field. Dozens of soldiers hurriedly followed behind.

The owner of the five-acre field is an elderly Gaochang couple. They were busy in the fields. Suddenly, they saw a large group of soldiers running towards their fields and shouting, and were shocked.

After a moment, the male owner was brought over. Li Qing'an was looking at a vegetation. When he saw the owner coming, he stood up and smiled and said, "Does there anyone left last year?"

The old man knew a little Chinese. When he saw Li Qingan was young, he thought he was just a little officer, so he nodded and smiled, "Yes, please follow me."

Everyone came with him to a small courtyard. The courtyard was very simple, with three mud houses, and the walls were rammed in the walls, less than one person tall. The gate of the courtyard was very dilapidated and cracked. There was an old willow in the yard. The other side of the courtyard was filled with grape trellis. It was May, and the green grape branches were covered with vine trellis. The courtyard was very cool and comfortable. The old man quickly took out more than a dozen stools and called everyone to sit down. He asked his wife to pour a few bowls of herbal tea. Wuyi and Rushi Ruhua also entered the courtyard and sat down under the grape trellis to rest. It was obvious that they also liked the grape trellis very much. They gathered together and pointed at the grape vines and whispered something.

Li Qing'an also sat down. At this time, the old man brought out a pile of flowers and placed them in front of Li Qing'an. "Mr. Please see, this is the point left last year. The rest are woven into white cloth and sold."

Li Qing'an picked up one and looked at it. The buds were smaller, like a silkworm cocoon. It was not the big cotton seen in later generations. The fibers were slightly shorter and grayish white. This cotton was first introduced from Egypt to Dashi, and then from Dashi to the Western Regions. It was African cotton. The cotton seen in later generations was indeed produced in Meizhou cotton in the United States. Although it was not the kind of cotton seen in later generations, Li Qing'an was very happy. He actually wanted the cotton itself, not the same.

He knew in his heart that white buns could only take the high-end route, and it was unrealistic to promote them on a large scale in the Tang Dynasty. After all, linen was difficult to replace until hundreds of years later. It was only when Zhu Yuanzhang forced the promotion in the Ming Dynasty that cotton cloth really replaced linen. Rich and noble families used silk, while poor families used cheaper linen. White buns were expensive in Beiting. If they were transported to the mainland for a long distance, it was much more expensive than linen. In this way, who would use it?

The old man peeled off the seeds inside with his hands. Although he was very skillful, it still seemed very laborious. He smiled and said, "This thing is troublesome to peel seeds. After harvesting, I have to peel until late at night. It would be great if I could get 60 kilograms of real food for 100 kilograms."

Li Qingan smiled and asked again, "I wonder if there is no white cloth at home yet?"

"I knitted one end myself, I'll look for it."

The old man ran into the house to get the cloth. At this time, there was a noise outside the courtyard. A soldier came in to report: "Envoy, the magistrate of Puxian County, asked for a visit."

"Let him in."

Footsteps sounded, and five or six officials hurriedly walked in outside. The four officials of Puchang County, the county magistrate, the county magistrate, the county magistrate, and the chief clerk, all arrived. The county magistrate of Puchang County was surnamed Wu, a native of Tingzhou, and was over 40 years old. He seemed very smart and capable. When he was hunting in Beiting, he had taken his children from the county to Jinman County, so he knew Li Qing'an. He led everyone to bow and said, "See the envoy!"

Li Qingan waved his hand and smiled, "You don't have to be polite to the magistrate of Wu County. I'm not formally inspecting. I'm sorry, I'll disturb you."

"Mr. Jun, I found it."

The old man smiled and hugged a bundle of bundles of cloth, but saw the county master at first sight. He was so scared that he threw down the white cloth and knelt down: "Grass people pay homage to the county master."

"I'm welcome to get up quickly, old man!" The magistrate of Wu quickly helped him up and actually knelt down in front of the Jiedushi, which made him feel a little embarrassed.

When the old man saw Li Qingan still sitting upright, he shouted: "Mr. Jun, this is our county master. Get up quickly and give him the seat."

The magistrate of Wu County was stunned and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Old man, this is our Beiting Jiedushi, don't you know?"

The old man was stunned. In his eyes, the governor of Beiting was the emperor. This young military master was actually the emperor of Beiting. He knelt down and kowtowed to confess his guilt, "Master, I'm blind. You are a lot of people, please spare me!"

Li Qingan glared at the Wu County Magistrate, and he quickly helped the old man up and comforted him, "My father-in-law treats me well! I'm very grateful to sit on a stool and pour me tea."

The old man stood up tremblingly, "Thank you, Master, this is a white stack of cloth."

He hurriedly wanted to pick up the white cloth, but because he was too nervous, he almost fell down. The personal soldiers next to him hurriedly took the cloth and placed it on the table. There was one end of the white cloth, five zhang, mainly used for measuring cloth, while the other was four zhang, but used for measuring silk. Li Qing'an asked the two soldiers to slowly spread the cloth, and Wuyi and Rusi Liuhua surrounded him curiously, "Li Lang, what kind of cloth is this?" This was the first time Wuyi saw this kind of cloth.

Ruhua has seen it before and smiled and said, "Sister Wuyi, this is a white stack of cloth, which is slightly better than linen cloth, but much more expensive."

Li Qing'an looked carefully and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The white cloth was woven quite roughly, not as good as the cheesecloth of later generations. It was as picturesque, only slightly better than linen cloth. He smiled and said, "I have seen white cloth in Dashi before. They woven very finely, but although this cloth is a little thicker, it is very warm."

Wuyi was born with a special liking for white things. She pulled Li Qing'an for a moment and whispered to him: "Li Lang, I like this cloth. Can I buy it for me, okay?"

Li Qing'an nodded and smiled at the old man, "Brother-in-law, sell this cloth to me!"

The old man was so scared that he waved his hand quickly, "If the master wants it, take it, but he doesn't dare to collect the money."

Seeing that the old man's family was very poor, Li Qing'an said to his personal soldiers: "Leave ten coins of money!"

He said to the Wu County Magistrate again: "Now go to Puchang County to have a look."

After saying that, they took Wuyi and the others out of the yard. The group walked up the avenue from the field path. The old couple rushed out, hugged them beside the yard wall, and stared blankly at the large group of people walking away.

Puchang County is located at the easternmost part of the Xizhou Basin and is the only way to Anxi. The county is not big, but it is very prosperous. It can be seen that merchants leading camels everywhere. There is only one street in the county. Inns, restaurants and other shops for resting are the most dense. The most conspicuous are several brothels run by Hu people. There are more than a dozen charming and fat Hu women standing at the door, squeezing at the door, summoning guests with the sound of warblers. When they see single men, they will rise up and lift their skirts, revealing their bare lower bodies, and seducing the men into the yard. More than a dozen holiday soldiers come together. Hu prostitutes rushed up and coaxed and pulled the soldiers into the brothel.

The brigade of soldiers was stationed outside the city. Li Qing'an only brought more than 100 personal soldiers into the city. He looked at the commerce in the city. This time he visited Xizhou, Puchang County was also one of the stops. He turned around and asked the magistrate of Wu County with a smile: "Where is the factory of the three brothers of the Ma family?"

The magistrate of Wu County was very surprised. The Jiedushi actually knew the workshop of the three brothers of the Ma family. He hurriedly said: "Just west of the city, the largest shop you walk over is."

Puchang County's economy ranks behind the five counties in Xizhou, but there are also hidden dragons and tigers here. The largest textile factory in Beiting and even Anxi is in Puchang County. It was opened by the three brothers of the Ma family. It has 200 looms and 400 workers, mainly weaving silk and white stacked cloth, and all products are sold to Lingxi.

Ma's Factory is close to the west gate, and a great avenue outside the city gate leads to Anxi. In today's words, Ma's Factory is an export-oriented factory with two hundred looms. In Datang, there are many such factories, such as He Mingyuan, Dingzhou, who has 500 silk machines and recruits 1,000 workers. This is an export factory for the Hu people in the north, and all products are sold abroad.

It is precisely because of the superior geographical location of Puchang County that a family-owned enterprise like Ma's Factory appeared. Soon, under the leadership of the magistrate of Wu County, Li Qing'an found the first Beiting factory.

Like traditional workshops, Ma's Factory also has a front shop and back shop. The door is very small. After entering, there is a large hall. It is now dusk. The hall is deserted and there is no goods. There is only a long counter. You can imagine the scene of merchants surging in front of the counter during the day. But now, there is only one guy sitting behind the counter dozing off.

"Is anyone?"

The magistrate Wu knocked heavily on the counter, and the guy jumped up in fear, "Yes! Yes! What do customers want to buy?"

When he saw clearly that the person coming was actually the county magistrate, he was so scared that he immediately stuttered, "County, the county master waited, I'll go find the boss."

He ran backwards, and the magistrate of Wu County smiled bitterly and said to Li Qing'an: "Eunuch, this Ma family factory was established in the second year of Kaiyuan, Ma Deyu, a big merchant in this county. At first, there were only twenty looms. In the 23rd year of Kaiyuan, his three sons took over the workshop and grew step by step. Now there are two hundred looms, and the silk and textiles of Puchang County and Gaochang County are monopolized by them."

Li Qing'an pondered for a moment and asked, "Is there any other factory in Puchang County besides this factory?"

"There are also several winemaking workshops, with a maximum of more than a dozen workers, and there are only ones who hire 400 workers like them."

As he was speaking, a burst of rapid footsteps came from behind the lobby. A middle-aged man walked out quickly and bowed and smiled from a distance: "How can the magistrate of Wu County have time to visit the shop?"

"This is Ma Lingfeng, the eldest brother of the three brothers, who is responsible for selling goods and dealing with the outside world. The second brother is in charge of the workshop, and the third brother collects raw materials, and the division of labor is very clear."

The magistrate of Wu County bowed his hand and introduced Li Qing'an to him: "Ma Dongzhu, this is Li Envoy, our Beiting Jiedushi, and we are here to visit your factory."

The Lord Ma was shocked and hurriedly stepped forward, bowed to Li Qing'an to the ground, "Little Minor Ma Lingfeng, please see Li Envoy."

Unlike the mainland, the Western Regions have a high status, especially the Ma family with a huge wealth of 10,000 yuan, which is widely admired. Li Qing'an learned that the Ma Textile Factory was a workplace when he was looking through Beiting's commercial materials. After thirty years of entrepreneurship, two generations have developed into the largest factory in Anxi. To a certain extent, this is the germination of Beiting's capitalism.

Li Qingan bowed and smiled, "You don't have to be polite, I have also been to the Ma family factory for a long time, so I came from Tingzhou to take a look at the largest factory in our Beiting."

Master Ma was a little flattered. He would not take this from the county magistrate to heart, but he would be a little moved when he said it from the governor of Xizhou. However, the meaning of it from the highest military and political chief of Beiting is extraordinary.

He hurriedly pushed open the door and asked, "Please follow me, I will take the envoy to visit."

When the group walked into the backyard, they heard a sound of "Click! Click!" looms. From the gate, the Ma's factory was not very conspicuous, but it occupied a very deep and wide area. The factory was composed of two rows of long bungalows, and two hundred silk machines were placed in two rows of houses. It was the peak season now, and almost all the looms were running, hundreds of people were crowded with the house, and most of them were young ladies. There were dozens of hand-crank spinning wheels in a corner of the house. This was the tool used to weave white stacks, with only more than thirty people.

Ma Dongzhu introduced to Li Qing'an: "Eunuch, it is the off-season for white cloth. After October, many Hu merchants will come to buy cloth, and everyone will be very busy at that time."

At this time, a middle-aged man came, who looked quite similar to Ma Dongzhu, but his mouth was clumsy and could not say a word for a long time.

"This is my second brother, Ma Xiaofeng, who is in charge of the factory. He is very skillful in his hand. He will repair these looms if they break down."

Li Qing'an saw that although the white stacked cloth was not enough, there were still a lot of fine fluff floating in the air. It can be imagined how bad the air in the room would be if all the spinning wheels were running together.

At this time, the Wu County Magistrate's nasal cavity sucked in fine hair and sneezed five or six times in a row. Ma Dongzhu hurriedly said, "Mr. Wu County Magistrate, I'm so sorry!"

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said to the second boss: "I will teach you a simple way."

He picked up a piece of white cloth from the loom next to him, folded it a few times, covering it on his mouth and nose, and smiled and said, "It is best to use five layers of gauze, sew it finely on all sides, put on thin ropes on both sides, and hang it on his ears, so that he will not breathe in fine hair."

Although the second boss Ma Xiaofeng was not good at socializing, his technical matters were clear at once. He immediately understood and couldn't help but say happily: "This is a good idea, hey! Why didn't I think of it before?"

Seeing that he was quick to react, Li Qingan liked it, so he smiled at their brothers and said, "Have you ever considered expanding the factory?"

The Ma brothers looked at each other, and Ma Lingfeng smiled bitterly and said, "Of course, we want to do silk, white stacked cloth, linen and blankets. In fact, the wages we give are not low. There are too few Han people in Xizhou and Hu people are unwilling to work. We really can't recruit so many workers. We want to open another factory in Tingzhou, textile carpets, and sell them to the Central Plains."

"Don't have to go to Tingzhou to open a factory."

Li Qing'an smiled and said, "I might as well reveal a piece of information to you. The court is about to move 10,000 military households to Beiting. I am going to place most of the people in Xizhou. You can expand the workshop at that time, but I have made suggestions to you."

The two brothers were overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Please tell me."

"Don't sell the white cloth to Hu Shang for the time being. This year, the Beiting military will buy it all. You can make one for me and I will leave a pattern for you. If you do it well, I will order 30,000 sets from you."

As he said that, he took the paper and pen, carefully drew a sleeping bag from later generations, marked the size, and handed it to their brothers and smiled: "This is called a sleeping bag. Use a white stack of cloth to save face, and it is filled with wool and cashmere. You can make ten samples for me first. If it is done well, I will not only let you make 30,000 sets, but I will also hand it over to you in the future."

At this moment, a sudden sound of running came from outside the door, and two personal soldiers rushed in and shouted: "Empress, the imperial edict has arrived!"

Li Qingan was stunned and walked out of the workshop quickly. He saw several officials from Chang'an standing at the gate. When the leading officials saw Li Qingan, they immediately raised a volume of imperial edicts and said loudly: "The imperial edict is here, Li Qingan receives the imperial edict!"

Li Qing'an knelt down, and the official proclaimed the imperial edict launched the imperial edict and said loudly: "Li Qing'an, deputy envoy of Beiting Jiedu, has made contributions to pacifying Beiting and expanding the territory. He was specially appointed as Beiting Jiedu, and was also the governor of Xizhou. He was given a royal honor to this!"

"My minister Li Qing'an thanks His Majesty for his kindness!"
Chapter completed!