There are two stewards in the weaving workshop, both women, technical talents dug back from Qingzhou City by Bai Shan, one weaver with the best weaving skills, and the other with the best embroidery. But quite a few, they also promised to give them a pension in the future.
It's not difficult at all, the current weaving workshop belongs to the Beihai County Government, and their deeds are in his hands. In the future, if they want, he can take them away, or buy a property in Beihai County, and let them live in Beihai County. The old-age care in the shop is that they have the ability, which is not difficult.
They also knew that there was a nobleman coming over today, and they wanted to go to the alley to pick him up, but they got stuck early in the morning. In order to satisfy the nobleman, they took care of things first, so they didn't have time to go to the front to pick up the person.
The door was wide open, and seeing Master Zhou and the princess coming together, although it was not the first time they had seen the two of them, they were still a little excited.
The two immediately led their people to meet them quickly, bowed their knees and saluted, "Greetings, Princess, and Master Zhou."
Mingda slightly raised his hand and said, "There's no need to be too polite, let's go to the weaving workshop first."
She looked around curiously, and asked, "Is there a weaving workshop on the left and right?"
"Yes." Jiang Zhiniang introduced: "In the beginning, County Magistrate Bai only rented two courtyards for us, both at the end of the alley facing the river. One side is for looms, and the other side is for embroiderers. clothes."
In fact, because the long-term workers were in urgent need of clothes, at first they needed a large number of embroiderers who could cut and mend clothes, and there were very few people following Jiang Zhiniang.
Even now, "The three courtyards on this side are all owned by weavers, and there is another one on this side. Only those two are the learning places for our weavers."
She said: "Many people who come here don't know how to weave. It can't be learned in a day or two, so the output is extremely low. Now the fabrics used by embroiderers to cut clothes are still bought from outside."
Zhou Man and Ming Da nodded, and went in to watch the weavers weaving on their looms.
Zhou Man took it very seriously. Her family also had a loom, but it was very different from the one here.
The loom is in the third sister-in-law's room, and she weaves the best cloth at home, so every year they hand over the linen that she weaves.
Sometimes the extra fabric is used to make clothes for everyone. In her memory, she can make a new dress every year.
There is still a big difference between the two, Zhou Man said with a smile: "I also have one at home, but it's not like this, it's a hand-cranked one, where people sit like this, and then hold the heald rod to pull and push..."
Zhiniang was stunned for a moment and then said: "That's a waist machine. Now there are many folks who have it in their homes, but the speed of the waist machine is not as fast as that of the treadmill. As far as I know, the weaving workshops all over the world have already replaced the pedals."
Zhou Man nodded slightly, "What you are doing now is much faster than what I have ever seen."
Her third sister-in-law's weaving speed is considered fast in the village, but now the weaver who is not very skilled uses a pedal machine, and the speed seems to be about the same.
Not to mention the skilled weavers, there were weavers dug from Qingzhou beside them, who moved their hands and feet together, doing it very fast.
Zhou Man looked at the loom thoughtfully, but she didn't say anything, and began to ask about the life of the female workers.
They lived well here, not only the new female workers who came to work, but also the weavers who were poached from Qingzhou felt that they were doing well.
Here, they not only have high wages, but also get red envelopes every month. The amount of red envelopes is determined according to the number and quality of apprentices they teach.
Also because of this red envelope, they are very dedicated to these students.
After watching the weaving workshop, they went to see the embroidery workshop opposite.
The people inside are one person and one table, sitting and cutting clothes.
Yue Xiuniang said: "They are making the simplest clothes now, without embroidery patterns, and using the most common blue linen..."
It is also because the clothes they make are provided to long-term workers, and there is no need for embroidery. The embroiderers also want them to master the magic of needlework first, and then embroider when they are proficient.
But embroidery is actually different from making clothes.
Those who can embroider must be able to make clothes, but those who can make clothes do not necessarily know how to embroider.
With so many people, Xiu Niang can only teach them the basics. If you want to go further, you need not only more efforts, but also their elite teaching.
But that is mostly one-to-one teaching, and there is no such condition at present.
Yue Xiuniang took them to see the clothes made by the new embroiderers.
Both Zhou Man and Ming Da are not very good at making girls, but they can still read, and there are some very powerful court ladies and western cakes by their side.
They will.
So they picked up the clothes and checked them. Zhou Man and Ming Da felt that they were not bad, and they nodded repeatedly. At least they didn't see the clothes with long sleeves and short sleeves that Bai Shan said before.
The maids frowned and whispered, "The stitches are a bit loose..."
"The needle technique is not very good, it is easy to break..."
Yue Xiuniang on the side heard it, her face was a little embarrassed, she nodded and said: "Yes, they are all beginners, so the stitches are all basic. By the way, this is the first batch of embroiderers, and the clothes they made are not bad. .”
Zhou Man simply took out the clothes from the basket and showed it to the court lady, but she, a layman, didn't want to read it, just listen.
The maids checked the stitches and nodded reluctantly. Although there are still many problems, the quality is indeed better than the batch just now, and they can barely be worn.
Mingda looked at their faces, smiled slightly after a while, and said to them: "If I am inconvenient, you can take care of this weaving workshop for me."
The maids immediately shrugged off, "The slaves still have to take care of the princess."
Mingda said, "Why do I need so many people to take care of me? You should also learn more skills. If you are released in the future, you will be able to support yourself if you have skills."
The maids who were about to shirk immediately stopped talking, but bowed their knees after glancing at Zhou Man, and responded respectfully: "Yes, I will follow the princess' instruction."
Zhou Man said: "You female knitters are all good. I don't think there is much to learn in this area. But to run a weaving workshop well, in addition to the female knitters, you must also be able to keep accounts and deal with people to negotiate business."
Zhou Man had a good relationship with the maids, and when it was her turn to be on duty in the palace, she often chatted with the maids.
There is a lot of talk about the future.
The empress is kind, and the court ladies can be released when they reach a certain age, but they are not young when they are released from the palace. Most of them are over twenty-five years old. Some are more useful and will be kept for a long time.
For example, Aunt Shang, she is now nearly forty years old, and normally, she will always be with the queen, and when the queen goes west, she also has a few choices.
One is burial;
But the queen probably won't like it, so no one will ask for it. Unless Aunt Shang has a will to die, there is a high probability that she will not choose this option.
The second is that the next empress will honor her, but the honors are also divided into levels. One is to directly seal an imperial order, granting a house and servants, so that she can take care of her for the rest of her life; the other is to send her to Zhuangzi for honor, There are also servants to take care of them, but they are not as comfortable and dignified as before;
The third is that the next emperor can't remember her, or even doesn't have a good relationship with her, then she has to find a way to release her, otherwise staying in the palace will only lead to death.
With Aunt Shang's qualifications, after she is released, if she does not return to her natal family, she will be transferred to a noble family to be a nurturing nurse and earn some money to support the family;
Or find other jobs, such as picking up some knitters, and rely on some of their previous savings to live. Basically, most court ladies choose this option.
It's okay when you're young, but the older you get, the harder life becomes.
Therefore, the maids, like the servants, also like to save money. If they can't save money for retirement, then they have to find a way to get married.
It's just that even if they can go out of the palace at the age of twenty-five, this age is too old outside, it is difficult to find a suitable man, most of them are widowers, and even have children, life is even more difficult.
Especially the maids who have seen all kinds of men in the palace, they would rather work hard alone than marry themselves in a muddleheaded way and fall into a deeper quagmire.
So Mingda and Zhou Man's words moved them very much.