Moma Liangshan

Chapter 134 Exposing Wealth, Inspecting the Workshop

Zhu Heng and Feng Gu acted swiftly; within half a month, news of Jiaozhou Academy's free room and board spread throughout the entire Jingdong East Circuit. Jingdong East Circuit comprised one prefecture, seven sub-prefectures, and Huaiyang Army. The prefecture was Jinan Prefecture, and the seven sub-prefectures were Qingzhou, Yizhou, Weizhou, Zizhou, Mizhou, Dengzhou, and Laizhou. Huaiyang Army was a military prefecture, governing the counties of Xiapi and Suqian. Among these regions, Jinan Prefecture was the most prosperous, possessing nearly half of the arable land in Jingdong East Circuit; Qingzhou, Yizhou, Zizhou, and Huaiyang Army possessed 80% of the remaining half; in other words, Dengzhou, Laizhou, Mizhou, and Weizhou, located on the Jiaodong Peninsula, possessed only 10% of all the arable land in Jingdong East Circuit. Jinan and Qingzhou were prosperous, with well-established official educational systems, so the news of Jiaozhou Academy's free room and board didn't cause much of a stir, merely becoming a topic of conversation among some displaced beggars. The four sub-prefectures of Jiaodong were quite different; arable land was scarce, the people were fierce and brave, and many built fortified villages for survival. When villagers formed strongholds, there was always a strongman as their leader. Under the leadership of these strongmen, they would either go to sea to trade, sell smuggled salt, or rob and plunder. Poverty led to turmoil, and turmoil in turn exacerbated poverty. After hearing the news that Jiaozhou College offered free room and board, many people in the four prefectures of Jiaodong even conceived the idea of ​​"eating the widowed's property." The phenomenon of "eating the widowed's property" was widespread in rural areas of the old society. It meant that after the death of a male member of a family, the widowed wife would not only receive no care from her relatives and neighbors, but would also be taken advantage of by these people to forcibly divide up the property. As for the widowed wives, they were either driven to death or reduced to beggars.

As news of Jiaozhou College spread throughout the Jiaodong Peninsula, Wang Hao's rise to wealth was also unearthed by those with ulterior motives. In the eyes of these powerful figures, Wang Hao was merely a county magistrate with a fortune of hundreds of millions. If they could tear a piece of the fat from this young magistrate, that would be ideal. Thus, a storm was rapidly brewing around Jiaozhou, while Wang Hao, the person directly involved, remained completely unaware.

With Jiaozhou College successfully commencing classes, the immediate challenge for Wang Hao was how to deliver six hundred woolen looms to Tong Guan and his team on time. Based on the current production efficiency of the Jiaozhou workshops, Wang Hao could only produce a maximum of nine hundred looms within six months, leaving him with only three hundred for his own use. Furthermore, Tong Guan, having guarded the Northwest for many years and recently successfully recaptured the Hengshan defense line, would likely not refuse the wool trade proposed by Tong Guan, whether due to the power of the Song Dynasty or for his own immediate interests. However, Wang Hao's trade with Liao was still in the planning stages. It would take at least six months to officially open the trade route and successfully deliver the first batch of wool to Jiaozhou. Wang Hao needed to leverage Tong Guan's influence to expand trade between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia and Liao Dynasties in the shortest possible time. Only by demonstrating the benefits of trade with the Song Dynasty could he instill in them the pain of a trade route being severed in the future. Moreover, the greater the profits gained from trade, the deeper the suffering they would endure when the trade route was cut off. However, Wang Hao was unwilling to give up his voice in the wool textile industry, and he also wanted to gain diplomatic initiative with the Jin, Liao, and Western Xia dynasties in the future. In order to achieve this goal, Jiaozhou had to significantly improve its existing production clusters and production system.

Technological innovation requires persistent research and years of accumulation, while the system can be drastically reformed in a short period of time thanks to Wang Hao's political connections. Wang Hao clearly remembered: "Last year in Qingzhou, Di Qinyang said that Di Qizhong was good at stabilizing morale and inspiring fighting spirit." Wang Hao believed that when the Jin army invaded, the only way to win in Jiaozhou was for the entire population to be mobilized and to fight to the death.

This simple loom workshop was merely Wang Hao's first foray into building an industrial chain in Jiaozhou. Wang Hao's goal was to establish an industrial park imbued with the characteristics of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Wang Hao inspected the loom workshop, accompanied by Di Chunqiu, Di Qizhong, Qin Guanhai, Di Gongkao, Chen Song, Ma Cao, Zhang Ju, and others. Upon entering the workshop, Wang Hao found it spacious and bright, and asked, "Who designed and built this workshop?" Di Chunqiu, responsible for coordinating various affairs in Jiaozhou, stepped forward and replied, "Qin Guanhai was in charge of both the design and construction of the workshop!" Wang Hao was very satisfied and said, "Mr. Qin has indeed lived up to expectations, completing such a massive project in just a few months!" Qin Guanhai smiled sheepishly and said, "Young master's initial requirements were very clear: three hundred paces long, one hundred paces wide, and two zhang high; not requiring exquisite craftsmanship, just sturdiness. With such a clear goal, it was naturally easy for me to prescribe the right solution." Wang Hao didn't continue praising, but said, "Please tell us about the general layout of this factory." Qin Guanhai pointed to a stone pillar made entirely of bluestone and said, "This bluestone is locally sourced, inexpensive, sturdy, and durable. Simply fill the gaps between the stones with lime, and it will hold together firmly. The pillars are spaced ten steps apart in all directions, so there are a total of 341 pillars. Each pillar is half a zhang underground, with two zhang to two zhang and three chi protruding above the surface." Hearing this, Wang Hao looked up at the roof and indeed saw that it was higher in the north and lower in the south. Wang Hao asked, "Mr. Qin, is this design to allow sunlight to better penetrate the skylights?" Qin Guanhai looked pleased and said, "The factory roof is wide, and Jiaozhou is a coastal city with frequent rain, so the roof must be sloped for drainage. The interior is too deep; the windows on the walls alone are insufficient for lighting, so three hundred skylights were added to the roof." Wang Hao smiled and said, "Mr. Qin, your thinking is meticulous; you truly are a master craftsman!"

The factory did not stop working because of Wang Hao and his group's visit; everyone continued to perform their duties diligently. Wang Hao looked at Di Qizhong and said, "Now that you are in charge of the loom workshop, if I asked you to double the output of the looms within a month, could you do it?" Di Qizhong was surprised by Wang Hao's sudden unreasonable request and said, "Each loom is composed of dozens of parts, and each part must fit perfectly; otherwise, assembly will be impossible. Such a complex process means that even the most skilled craftsman cannot master the entire production process within a month. The craftsmen in the workshop are already working from dawn till dusk; if we continue to increase their working hours, it might harm your reputation!" Wang Hao smiled slightly and said, "Have you ever considered that in a war, cavalry, infantry, artillery battalions, scout battalions, and supply battalions can cooperate in battle? Why can't a loom composed of dozens of precision parts be completed by multiple people working together?"