Touring the Textile Factory

As Fang Zheng walked, he said, "Many of you probably don't know why this official invited everyone here."

"So this official will speak frankly. Today I'm bringing everyone to tour this textile factory because I want to cooperate with you all."

"Our Banshan Textile Factory has a factory but no shops. To sell goods to the market, we naturally still need to rely on everyone."

Before Fang Zheng finished speaking, a merchant immediately bowed and said, "Master Fang, why trouble yourself with this trip? Just sending us word would have been enough. If you need help, through fire and water! This humble person will definitely handle it wholeheartedly!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the other merchants all chimed in with agreement.

But in their hearts, they all cursed silently.

What a damn brown-noser! You really showed off this time, didn't you?

Isn't it just helping him sell goods? Just give his stuff some space on the counter later! What's with the act!

But what if he really produces a pile of garbage?

We can't put a bunch of inferior goods on our counters, can we? He wouldn't make us buy inventory at high prices, would he?

Thinking this way, the merchants began to feel uneasy, and some were already regretting making this trip.

Fang Zheng laughed heartily and looked approvingly at the "brown-noser."

What a talent, so skilled at handling matters. He would increase the wholesale price for him later!

The other merchants' eyes clearly harbored unease, apparently afraid he would force them to buy and sell.

Seeing this, Fang Zheng called out loudly, "Everyone will understand after seeing for themselves. Since this official said we're here to cooperate, success or failure is all reasonable! Don't feel burdened."

The merchants nodded in agreement.

Since Fang Zheng put it this way, everyone still believed him. After all, this gentleman had no history of "harming" merchants.

While speaking, Fang Zheng had already led everyone into the interior of the textile factory.

At this moment, hundreds of foot-pedal five-spindle spinning machines were working together inside the textile factory.

The mechanical sounds of the textile machines working echoed throughout the factory.

The merchants craned their necks behind Fang Zheng, looking around with quite curious expressions.

To be honest, they had never seen such a scene.

They did not have such formal and large-scale factory buildings.

Even the largest cloth shops worked in dispersed small workshops that supplied goods collectively.

"Everyone, you can now tour freely. This official will wait for you at the back. Look slowly, look carefully!"

With that, Fang Zheng stepped away from the textile area.

Seeing him leave, the merchants were no longer so restrained and swarmed like bees to different textile machines.

Seeing the five-spindle textile machines before them, their eyes were greatly shocked.

Looking at the female workers working seriously beside them, they stammered, "This... this is a spinning machine? How much can it spin at once?"

Chen Xiaoman was originally startled by the merchants rushing over!

But she quickly came to her senses.

This past month, she could say she was completely satisfied.

Getting up early meant breakfast was ready, and the female workers around her were all like-minded women with endless common topics to chat about.

At noon she could eat food with oil, and every single day! The child was taken care of too.

Because of the long overtime hours, working six hours daily, the factory actually added dinner, making it equivalent to having three meals a day.

Three meals a day! In all her years, she had never eaten so luxuriously.

Most importantly, wages were paid every half month. The first thing she did when wages came down was buy her husband a pair of factory-made overalls.

Watching her husband wear the newly bought overalls, happy as a child singing and dancing, she felt an indescribable satisfaction.

She would buy the child a pair of overalls too in the future!

If only life could continue like this forever!

Through constant effort, she was now the leader of the seventh group, and soon there would be model worker selection at month's end.

Selection was based on output, and having just been delayed by strangers, Chen Xiaoman felt deeply pained, afraid her output would be surpassed by other groups.

So she began frantically speeding up her movements.

Seeing she ignored him, the merchant asked again, "I was invited by Master Fang! What kind of textile machine is this? How much can it spin at once?"

Hearing him ask this way, Chen Xiaoman slowly replied, "This is called a five-spindle spinning machine. It can spin five spindles at once."

"The cloth weaving speed is about twenty times faster than ordinary looms."

Twenty times!?

The merchant was dumbfounded, staring motionlessly at where the cloth emerged.

Watching cloth being woven bit by bit, he swallowed hard.

He'd seen plenty of looms, but never such speed!

With hundreds of such machines in this factory, wouldn't that equal thousands upon thousands of people weaving cloth here?!

My God, then all the cloth shops in the capital might as well close! Your one textile factory could handle everything!

"Finished cloth, where's the finished cloth?" the merchant immediately asked.

Chen Xiaoman felt extremely irritated.

Why did this person talk so much, disrupting production!

But since he was Master Fang's guest, she couldn't not answer. She could only raise her head and point with her chin in a direction.

The merchant looked in the direction she pointed. In the corner of the factory building were piles of fabric.

People were constantly using small carts to transport them away.

The merchant hurried to the corner where several others had also run to the finished fabric storage area.

One person picked up a bolt of cloth, examining it from all angles.

He made sounds of admiration, "Good cloth! Good cloth! Although the material is ordinary, the weaving is excellent with tight and even stitching."

"Dye it with a nice pattern, and this bolt should sell for one tael!"

"If Master Fang wants to sell this kind of cloth, there's absolutely no problem! Just don't know what the wholesale price is?"

Someone looked back at the still-spinning female workers and said, "It shouldn't be too expensive! This textile efficiency is terrifyingly high!"

"Master Fang actually didn't hide such good things from us. Do you think there's a possibility he'd sell these looms?"

One person smiled with a somewhat mysterious expression, leaning into the crowd and saying mysteriously, "It's not impossible."

"Some of you probably don't know, but this kind of loom actually already exists in the south!"

"I heard it was auctioned by Master Fang in Jianjiang."

"Friends of mine sent word from there saying the auction average price was about three thousand taels per machine!"

Those quick to react immediately asked, "Three thousand taels! That's too expensive! These looms aren't made of gold, are they?"

"Since they already exist in the market, hasn't anyone tried to copy them?"

The man shook his head. "With such good things, even if copied, they wouldn't be circulated. Who would bring them out so openly!"

Everyone fell silent.

Indeed, anyone with such things would hide them away.

As long as they had it and enough time, they could basically remain undefeated in the market.

All competitors would seem insignificant under such efficiency!

So... why did Fang Zheng call us here? To show off his strength?