Watching the back of Butler Zhou as he left, Yan Liqiang sat on a chair in the flower hall, quietly thinking and planning what to do next - some things, once started, can never be stopped.
Yan Liqiang asked people to collect the wool. Of course, the wool was not collected to be looked at, but to be used.
It is a very strange thing to say, because Yan Liqiang has discovered a phenomenon since he came to this world, that is, there seems to be no wool textile technology in this world. There are almost no wool textiles in the entire Han Empire. The raw materials of the clothes people wear include coarse cloth, linen, satin, silk, various yarns, various brocades, and even animal skins, various cottons, various linens, and various silk fabrics. They are varied and meet the needs of people from different classes. Only wool textiles, even the most common wool textiles, have never appeared.
Yan Liqiang had seen many people wearing sheepskin, but he had hardly ever seen anyone wearing woolen textiles.
At the beginning, Yan Liqiang thought that only the Han Empire was like this, but later he discovered that it was not only the Han Empire that was like this, but the people of this world, at least so far, did not master the simple and effective technology for wool processing. If wool is to be turned into textiles, the first step it must go through, which is also the most technically demanding one, is the degreasing of the wool. This step has become an insurmountable mountain, blocking wool from the door of textile raw materials.
Yan Liqiang had also heard that some nomadic tribes had woolen textiles, but such woolen textiles of nomadic peoples were rare and rarely worn. They were not popularized or promoted at all. Yan Liqiang had seen such woolen textiles once before. Let alone other things, such textiles, when worn in the form of a jacket or a waistcoat, could be smelled from a few meters away, which was enough to make people faint. This was the result of forcibly making the wool without completely degreasing it. Moreover, such clothes were very ugly, and the processing process must have been very rough. They looked dirty and gray, with the wool on them all condensed into clumps, not as good as the lowest grade coarse cloth. Even wearing sheepskin directly was better than that.
Degreasing wool is an impossible task for others, but for Yan Liqiang, thanks to the knowledge reserves from his previous life retained in his brain, degreasing wool is an extremely simple matter for him.
Wool without degreasing is just a bunch of unusable garbage, but after degreasing, wool can be turned into yarn after simple treatment. With spinning, exquisite and warm wool cloth and various blended cloths of wool, cotton and linen can be easily produced, and the wool textile industry can also develop - just from the development level and profit of the cotton cloth industry, if a little technical means are added to improve the production efficiency, the wool textile industry can completely develop into a highly profitable industry. This is not an arbitrary judgment of Yan Liqiang, but something that has been confirmed in the history of Yan Liqiang's previous life.
The Han Empire is a huge market! If you take the lead and try it out first, the wool degreasing technology will spread in no time.
There are actually not many places in Ganzhou and the northwestern states where sheep can be raised. Many places are wilderness with no grass, and the number of sheep that can be raised is limited. However, the Gulang grassland near the northwest is a large natural pasture!
On one side are huge profits and scarce wool resources, while on the other side is the Gulang grassland occupied by the seven Shatu tribes, where many sheep can be raised and which theoretically belongs to the territory of the Han Empire. This is the contradiction!
—Capital avoids turmoil and strife, and its nature is timid. This is true, but it is not the whole truth. Capital fears no profit or too little profit, just as nature fears a vacuum. Once there is a proper profit, capital becomes bold. If there is a 10% profit, it is guaranteed to be used everywhere; with a 20% profit, it becomes active; with a 50% profit, it takes risks; for a 100% profit, it dares to trample on all human laws; with a 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime, even at the risk of being hanged. If turmoil and strife can bring profits, it will encourage turmoil and strife.
This is what Marx said. What drives capital is actually human nature. Human nature will make the most suitable decision when contradictions arise!
All you need to do is get ready, press the start button, and then step on the accelerator, and the train of history will rumble forward with great inertia...
This kind of perspective and vision is something that no one else in the world has, and this is also Yan Liqiang's real killer weapon.
Just when Yan Liqiang was sorting out the thoughts in his head, the little girl Yu Qing had already tiptoed into the flower hall and stood in front of Yan Liqiang, looking a little shy and nervous.
"Ahem... What's wrong? You don't look well. Is there anyone in the Yan family who dares to bully my Qing'er?" Yan Liqiang originally wanted to pinch the little girl's face, but when he was about to reach out his hand, he saw the little girl's rapidly developing figure and her pretty face that already had a hint of peach color. He felt that the action of pinching her face was too ambiguous, so he held back, coughed twice, and asked with a smile.
"Sir, are you... are you going to marry the young lady of the Lu family..." Yu Qing lowered her head, rubbed the corner of her clothes, and asked in a mosquito-like voice.
"Haha, who told you that?"
"Everyone in the family knows about it, even Aunt Wu knows about it. They all said that the young master went to the Lu family two days ago to finalize the marriage!"
"Yes, the Lu family and I have indeed finalized the marriage. Just wait three years. After I come of age, I will marry the young lady of the Lu family!" Yan Liqiang said frankly.
"Then, young master...will you still want me after you marry Miss Lu? Will you chase me away?" Yu Qing raised her little face and looked into Yan Liqiang's eyes with worry.
"Yes, of course. Who said I don't want you? Unless you want to get married in the future, I will prepare a generous dowry for you and marry you off in style like my younger sister!"
Yu Qing quickly shook her head and said, "I won't marry... I will never marry in my life. I just like to stay by your side and serve you for the rest of my life!"
Yan Liqiang thought it was just a joke from the little girl, so he nodded, "Okay, as long as you like me, you can follow me forever. I will never chase you away!"
"Are you serious, sir?"
"How dare you, little girl, question the words of this young master, who is the number one archery expert in the northwest of the Han Empire, the governor of Qi Yun appointed by the emperor himself, and one of the four outstanding young men in Liuhe Town, Qinghe County, Pingxi County?" Yan Liqiang pretended to have a stern face and said to Yu Qing in a threatening manner, "How can what I say be false!"
Yu Qing was stunned for two seconds before she realized what Yan Liqiang had just said. In just a moment, the little girl smiled like a flower, "I knew that the young master was the best!" After saying this, the little girl ran away. After running out of the door, she showed her pretty face again, "Oh, by the way, I almost forgot, Aunt Wu asked me to ask what the young master wanted to eat in the evening. Aunt Wu wants to teach me to cook for the young master..."
"Haha, I haven't eaten the food cooked by Wu Ma for a long time. Then tell Wu Ma to give me a taro meatball and a braised pork!"
"Okay..." The little girl ran away with a laugh like a string of silver bells.
In the evening, Yan Dechang came back with a big smile on his face. It was obvious that the opening of the Water and Fire Machine Mill today made him very happy. When the father and son were having dinner together, Yan Dechang suddenly remembered something, "By the way, Li Qiang, there is something I want to discuss with you!"
"What's up?"
"Today, Sixth Grandpa and several elders in the town came to me and said that according to the customs of Ganzhou and the Northwest, our family built the fortress wall of Liuhe Town to protect the safety of all the villagers in the town. Liuhe Town will be renamed. From now on, Liuhe Town will be named Yan, so that people will know at a glance that this is the territory of the Yan family!"
"Ah, there is such a rule!" Yan Liqiang looked at Yan Dechang in surprise, but when he thought of Lujiazhuang, he was relieved. It is estimated that the Lu family's position in Lujiazhuang was stabilized after the construction of the fortress for Lujiazhuang. He thought for a while, "Changing the name of the town is a big deal. What do the villagers in the town think?"
Yan Dechang smiled. "They all agree. Sixth Grandpa and the others came to me on behalf of the villagers in the town. Sixth Grandpa said that you are so famous now, Li Qiang. If Liuhe Town changes its name to Yan, the villagers in the town will be able to get some fame when they talk about where they came from. No one dares to bully them! Several elders in the town want you to give the town a new name..."
Yan Liqiang thought about it and said, "Then let's call it Yan'an Fort. Our Yan family is here to protect the safety of the folks in the town..."
Yan Dechang smacked his lips and nodded, "Yan Anbao, this is a good name, this is a good name..."
(End of this chapter)