GBP Chapter 216 Unraveling the mystery is a skill in itself.
Chapter 216 Unraveling the mystery is a skill in itself.
For the "gentry" whose core interests included both land ownership and maritime trade, the harvester was definitely something they both loved and hated.
The reason for saying "love" is that these gentry also owned a large amount of land. Even though Emperor Zhu issued an edict to cancel various preferential treatments for scholars and no longer recognized their status as "local gentry and worthies," the appearance of harvesters was only beneficial to them and had no disadvantages.
The reason for their hatred was that after Zhu Chongba, the emperor, touched upon the core interests of the land, he almost touched upon their core interests in maritime trade as well. These gentry and officials had long hated Zhu Chongba and the emperor, and even hated the harvester that the emperor wanted to promote.
This led to a situation where scholars vehemently criticized harvesters, while gentry from non-coastal areas lavishly praised them. Meanwhile, coastal gentry remained ambiguous and wavered, sometimes condemning harvesters against their conscience one day and then praising them the next, despite their disgust.
This incredible scene completely baffled Emperor Zhu.
No, we tried so many ways to target them back then but failed. Now, because of a harvester, the scholars and gentry who have always been in cahoots have started to dislike each other, and there are even hints that they are about to start a fight.
However, since you two are both ready to start arguing, then I, Zhu Chongba, will just stand on the dry bank and watch your performance.
Hey, when are you guys finally going to start arguing?
Do you want Old Zhu to help you hand over a knife?
What greatly displeased Emperor Zhu was that these scholars and gentry never actually took action; at most, they just talked a lot. Today they would say that I do not cherish the people, and tomorrow they would say that I am cruel and harm the people. In short, none of them dared to actually pick up a knife.
……
Just as Emperor Zhu Chongba was about to stand on the dry bank to watch the play and hand over the knife, Magistrate Yang was deeply impressed by the wisdom of the people.
Because he had never seen how to extract silk from a cocoon, Magistrate Yang always thought that the silkworm pupae could be naturally hatched into moths and then extracted into silk. He had no idea that the cocoons had to be boiled in water before extraction, which would kill the silkworm pupae and prevent them from ever turning into moths again.
If you wait for the silkworm pupa to hatch naturally into a moth, the moth will bite a hole in the cocoon, and the silk will break off in many places, making it impossible to extract a complete silk thread.
Of course, this is not absolute, because out of ten cocoons, there may be one exception where the silkworm pupa hatches while the silkworm silk remains intact. Although the probability is low, it is still a certain probability.
For silkworm farmers, the probability of one silkworm pupa hatching out of ten cocoons with intact silk is practically a joke. No silkworm farmer can accept the scenario of working hard to raise silkworms for a season only to be unable to produce more than a few intact silk threads.
So, after the silkworms spin their cocoons, the silkworm farmers carefully observe them, find the top of the cocoon, and then gently cut it open with scissors. As long as the operation is gentle, accurate, and steady enough, the silkworm pupa can be removed while ensuring the silk is intact. The remaining cocoons can then be kept for refining silk.
However, this method of trying to keep both the silkworm pupae and the cocoons for silk reeling is not something that just anyone can succeed at.
If someone is inexperienced or clumsy when cutting open the cocoon, they can easily damage it, and the silk on the cocoon will not remain intact. It is definitely a skilled job.
The subsequent process of drawing out the silk threads is also a technical task, and it's also physically demanding.
Before you start drawing the silk threads, you need to set up a pot and start boiling water, but the water should not be boiled. It should be kept at a state of bubbling but not boiling, which is what the ancients called "the soup like crab eyes".
Next, all the silkworm cocoons after the pupae have been removed are thrown into water to boil. During this process, the cocoons will float on the surface of the water. In order to conduct heat evenly, tools are needed to repeatedly press them into the water. The most common method used by silkworm farmers is to take a small broom and stir it vigorously in a certain direction in the pot. The more times you stir, the greater the chance that the silk threads inside the cocoons will separate. When the stirring reaches a certain level, the ends of the silk threads will emerge one after another.
This step is called "suoxu" (索绪), which is also the origin of the saying "to sort out a clue" (乱出个头绪).
After finding the "thread", wrap it around the winding board to start winding the silk thread. However, the winding here does not refer to the silk from a single cocoon. Usually, it is made by combining several cocoon threads into one thread and then winding it. What is obtained in this way is "raw silk", and this process is also called "silk reeling".
Magistrate Yang watched as Liu Sanshier's wife first cut open the silkworm cocoon to take out the silkworm pupa, then busied herself boiling the cocoon in a pot, making thread, and reeling the silk. Finally, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Sister-in-law Liu is truly skilled, and she has really worked hard."
The Song Dynasty poet Dai Fuguo wrote a poem titled "The Weaver's Lament," which describes the hardships of silkworm weavers: "Spring silkworms spin silk and then become brocade; summer silkworms are raised and then shed from their cocoons again. Before the brocade is unwound, it's to be given to the officials; before the silk is rolled off the cart, it's to be redeemed from the pawnshop. Spring and summer are spent busy with silkworms; the weaver's clothes remain simple. Having cloth to wear is still manageable; this year, the lack of hemp is a great worry."
However, Liu Zhao, Liu Sanshi's wife, smiled dismissively and said, "The master has to worry about all the big and small things in Ningyang County, while I, a humble woman, am just boiling silkworm cocoons and spinning silk. How can that be considered hard work?"
Liu Thirty-Two chimed in, "That's right, the master is the one who's really working hard. We're nothing compared to him."
Yang Shaofeng didn't want to continue the discussion about which was harder, being an official or raising silkworms. He laughed and changed the subject, asking, "Once the silk is finished being extracted, can we use it to dye clothes?"
Liu Zhao smiled and shook her head, saying, "No, the silk drawn out like this needs to be soaked to distinguish different varieties and qualities of silk before it is dyed and made into clothes."
Magistrate Yang nodded as if he understood, "That's really troublesome."
Liu Zhaoshi said, "It is a bit troublesome, but it is much better now than it was back in Hu Yuan's time. The more silkworms you raise, the heavier the summer tax on raw silk you have to pay. Sometimes a perfectly good family can be ruined because of this. Compared to that time, it is much better now."
At this point, Liu Zhao sighed softly and said, "It's a pity that the emperor only exempted taxes for three years. If only he could exempt taxes for a few more years."
Magistrate Yang smiled but said nothing more. He then bid farewell to Liu Thirty-Two and Liu Zhaoshi and left.
According to Magistrate Yang's recollection, Emperor Zhu Chongba did not only exempt taxes for three years, but would issue decrees to exempt taxes from time to time, and the tax rate was reduced again and again, eventually from about one-tenth of the tax rate to one-thirtieth of the tax rate.
From this perspective, Magistrate Yang felt that Emperor Zhu Chongba was alright; at least this old emperor was genuinely good to the people and was truly reducing their burdens.