On Huai River, a fleet left the dock outside Zhongli City and sailed down the river in a mighty manner. It was about to arrive in Guangling, Yangzhou at the end of the agreed date. Li Hui was convening a meeting of entourage on a large ship in the fleet.

The content of the meeting is to summarize the cotton planting situation on both sides of the Huai River. As the cotton cloth picker of the Trade Institute, Li Hui's opening remarks are very direct:

"The Supreme inspects Jingxiang, and then goes downstream to inspect the Yangtze River, and finally arrives at Guangling. A summary report on the development of Lianghuai cotton industry will definitely be the one to be viewed by the time."

"We must sort out the cotton planting and textile situation in the Lianghuai area, and we must report the truth and not hide it at all!"

"If there are shortcomings, we don't know and we don't point them out, it is a problem of ability; if there are shortcomings, we know, but we don't report good news but not bad news, it is a problem of attitude, and it will be a big problem!"

"It is a bad habit in the officialdom to report good news but not bad news. However, if the imperial court wants to promote cotton planting, it needs to know the most real situation so that it can make targeted adjustments. If we report good news but not bad news, no one can bear this responsibility in the future!"

"Okay, the meeting begins now, speak in order!"

Li Hui, who is "a businessman who is good at business", has achieved the transformation of "a dog turns into a human being" like his father Li Fang and became a court official. Now he speaks with great authority, but he himself is the authority of the cotton industry, so he speaks with great confidence.

Cotton, whose original name is Jibei, has always been planted as an ornamental plant, so it has the name "flower".

Cotton tidbits (cotton tidbits) can actually be spinned and then woven into cloth, which is called Jibeibu, now called cotton cloth, and the word "cotton" is a character created for this.

The quality of cotton cloth is very good. In order to develop the cotton textile industry, cotton must be planted on a large scale. However, because this plant was not planted on a large scale in the Central Plains like hemp for thousands of years, many people are confused about the cultivation of cotton.

I don’t know how to breed, select seeds, fertilize, prevent waterlogging, drought and insect control.

Therefore, it takes time to familiarize farmers with how to grow cotton. This time can be long or short, but no matter how fast it is, it is always inevitable for several years.

Therefore, the Trade Institute and various weaving departments are organizing people to promote cotton planting in various places, and the Lianghuai area is one of them. In recent years, relevant personnel have been constantly summarizing experiences and lessons, and then exchanged with each other to promote the development of cotton planting technology.

Countless people are working hard for that grand goal, and Li Hui is one of them, and that goal was actually proposed by him and several companions.

Ten years ago, the emperor (at that time, King Xiyang) led his army to attack Lingbiao. The children of merchants in Huangzhou followed him like shadows, and Li Hui was one of them. He and many of his companions walked around in the rumored smoky land Lingbiao, which was very eye-opening.

After careful field investigation, Li Hui and several young Huangzhou merchants believed that Jibei (cotton) textile industry had a good prospect, so they came up with a bold idea in the face of the inquiry from "that person".

Concentrate efforts to "touch the key points", master cotton planting and cotton textile technology, and then use this as a new industry to achieve unprecedented breakthroughs in the textile industry.

This idea has received strong support from "that person", and Li Hui and others have been working hard for this until now.

The cultivation and textile of cotton have already reached a certain scale in Lingbing. The natives in Qiongzhou have mature textile technology for cotton. In order to learn from their masters, Li Hui and others have spent a lot of effort. In order to choose cotton suitable for large-scale planting in the Central Plains, they have also spent a lot of effort.

After years of hard work, the cotton industry conceived by Li Hui and others finally achieved initial results in the Central Plains, with a group of skilled cotton textile workers, and the cotton planting area is also expanding.

But this is not enough, because if there is not enough cotton, even if there is enough textile workers, it is only a situation where "a clever woman can't cook without rice".

It also takes a certain amount of time to train more cotton textile workers and improve cotton textile machinery.

The imperial court attached great importance to the development of the cotton textile industry. It not only promoted cotton planting in Henan, Lianghuai and Jiangnan, but also in Longyou area. The climate in Longyou is different from that in Jiangnan, and has different requirements for cotton planting technology.

Many problems need to be solved by Li Hui in Cotton, and his few companions at that time also became the winner. The winners kept running around in Longyou, southeast, and Lingbiao, and worked hard for their ambitions.

No matter what difficulties they encounter, their confidence in cotton spinning has always been unwavering.

They judged that cotton spinning would be a rising star in the textile industry, with an unlimited future and would inevitably replace linen spinning in the future, and cotton cloth would definitely become the most popular daily textile.

Lingbiao's cotton textile industry has already reached a scale, and the cotton fabric produced is in short supply in the Central Plains. Although the cotton fabrics woven from various parts of the southeast have small output, they are also sold out.

The purpose of cotton can not only weave cloth, but also protects against cold.

Cold clothes and bedding filled with enough cotton wool can be very effective in keeping cold, not worse than cold clothes filled with cotton wool. The prices of cotton wool and cotton wool are very different.

"Cotton Clothes", "Quilts", "Cotton Shoes" and "Cotton Hats" made of cotton wool have been promoted and used in Liaodong and western Liaoning. The military and civilians praised the cold-proof effect of this kind of clothing.

After the future development of Liaodong, cotton fabrics will inevitably be necessary.

Not only that, people all over the world must also need new clothes made of cotton to keep warm.

So after the cotton planting in Henan, Lianghuai, Jiangnan and Longyou areas has reached a scale, you can imagine how quickly the "market share" of cotton cloth will increase rapidly. At that time, the hemp spinning that lasts for thousands of years will probably gradually become marginalized.

Li Hui was very excited when she thought that she would be lucky enough to participate in the opening of a new era, so even if she was busy for a year, she was full of energy.

Not only did the few people mention this, but also their subordinates. In order to promote the development of industry and commerce, the Commercial Bureau has formulated many very popular regulations, allowing hard-working officials of all sizes to have "benefits" that others do not have.

These benefits give everyone the opportunity to get a share of the rapidly developing industry and commerce, and have both career paths and "money paths", so officials of all sizes are also very motivated to do things.

The meeting lasted for nearly an hour, the first topic ended, and then the second topic began, with the content of the incoming materials for cotton.

Cotton (Jibei) is not a crop native to the Central Plains, but enters the Central Plains from two directions. One direction is the west, that is, from the Western Regions, which is land; the other direction is the south, which is from the Nanyang, which is sea route.

The south road, specifically, comes from the countries of India.

In other words, the origin of cotton is from the countries of India, which is the same as Buddhism, and enters the Central Plains by land (Western Regions) and sea (South Ocean).

So what is the cotton production in the Indian countries?

Investigators sent by Nanyang Trading Company went to the countries of Tianzhu in person for investigation and found that as Fanbang Haishang said, the cotton textile industry there was very developed, the cotton planting area was not small, and the yield was not low.

The sea route from Tianzhu to Central Plains (Longbian and Fanyu Port in Lingbiao Jiaoguang area) has been open for hundreds of years, and a large number of sea ships travel to and from east to west, so this means another business opportunity has emerged.

The cotton planting area in the Central Plains is currently not large and the cotton yield is limited. So you can purchase cotton from the countries of India and transport it back for a "incoming material processing".

First of all, cotton is made into cold clothes, bedding and other clothes for winter, and the profits from selling it are very considerable.

Secondly, woven cotton into cloth and then selling it can also make a considerable profit.

Cotton imported from abroad is used as raw materials and processed and sold, which is called "incoming material processing".

So why not buy cotton cloth directly from cotton textile industrymen in India?

The reason is very simple. The other party's textile technology is still limited to manpower. The cotton cloth woven is "coarse". If it was not a problem in the past, the problem is that the hemp spinning in the Central Plains can now weave very "fine" cloth, and if the hydraulic hemp textile machine is modified, the same "fine" cotton cloth can be textile.

That's why we have to do the processing of incoming materials. During this "blank period" when the output of cotton in the Central Plains cannot increase, we use imported cotton to "add meals" to cotton textile workshops and practice our skills at the same time.

Nanyang Trading Company has contacted overseas merchants. On the way to Central Plains, the other party will purchase cotton from the countries of India and bring it along the way.

Such a novel trade model is the first time this year. Now the southeast wind is gradually rising. If nothing unexpected happens, the merchant ships loaded with Indian cotton should have almost entered Southeast Asia.

Some of these cotton from India will be transported to Guangling, Yangzhou by the Nanyang Trading Company fleet. At that time, the emperor who inspected the Yangtze River should be in Guangling.

Speaking of this, Li Hui knocked on the book case and solemnly stated: "At that time, the cotton textile factory in Guangling will use Tianzhu cotton to weave the best cotton textiles for Supreme Textiles, and demonstrate the feasibility of processing incoming materials!"
Chapter completed!