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Chapter 45: The Fangs of the Industrial Revolution
Although the second generation was slightly surprised by Pang Tong's appearance, they were young after all, and the topic was quickly steered away.
"By the way, since you've come here today at my invitation, I have a good thing here that I'm sure you won't lose out!" Gu Yong said confidently.
To be honest, this was also due to Lin Yang's administrative order. Otherwise, why would a township head of the seventh rank be doing this, acting like a pimp and personally promoting business here?
Prior to this, Lin Yang had stated that all township heads could attract investment. Population was the best asset, followed by money, and then various resources! As long as a business deal could be made, that was fine!
If you encounter a big business deal that you can't decide on your own, contact Guo Jia and let him handle it!
Finally, the three townships that attracted the most investment can directly change their names, replacing their township names with their own. Furthermore, if they have already changed their names, they will be given priority consideration when being promoted to county magistrate in the future.
In truth, Lin Yang issued this order because of the influence of his previous life. Although many of the Rabbit Kingdom's policies were criticized by the people, they were still quite effective.
Why did later mayors focus so much on attracting investment? On one hand, it's because once the people are wealthier, it's easier to manipulate things. On the other hand, it's simply because a strong economy leads to promotions!
Therefore, if attracting investment is included in administrative orders and those who perform well are given a promotion bonus, these 120 township heads will take the initiative to call on their friends and relatives, just like Gu Yong at this moment!
"Hehe, let's get this straight first. Although 100,000 people isn't a lot, I'm only the young master of the family right now. Within my capabilities, I can only help you get two or three thousand people at most, consider that a friendly donation. Any more than that, and that won't do." Before Gu Yong could speak, Cai Mao spoke up first.
“Yes, yes, Yuan Tan, don’t overthink it. We can certainly sponsor some money, but as for the population, that’s really limited,” Huang Zu immediately added.
Upon hearing this, the rest of the people followed suit. The gist of it was that money and resources were negotiable, but populations of one or two thousand, or even three or five thousand, were negotiable; however, anything over ten thousand or eight thousand was best left undiscussed.
"Cough cough cough, what are you all thinking? Huh? What kind of person do you take me, Gu Yuantan, for? Don't worry, I'll definitely make you hand over the people willingly in a moment. If you're not willing, I won't even want them!" Gu Yong said very seriously.
"Really? Yuan Tan, saying that has cut off your own escape route?"
"Of course it's true. Do you think I'm joking? It would be truly strange if you weren't tempted after seeing this!" Gu Yong said confidently.
"Come, let's go take a look!"
With that, he got up and left. Seeing this, the second-generation rich looked at each other and then followed him.
"Our Yuantan Township, in the beginning, only had six villages and three thousand people. Only ten thousand mu of land had been cultivated. Now, there are ten villages and ten thousand people. The cultivated land alone is a full forty thousand mu. This year's harvest..."
As they walked, Gu Yong continued to describe the scene before them. Sometimes, he would suddenly stop, point to a certain place, and recount what had happened there.
Most of these matters were trivial. Some were disputes among villagers, and Gu Yong came to mediate. Others were lost dogs or pigs. Still others were…
Although they were all trivial matters, it was these trivial matters that gradually changed the views of the second generation and subtly influenced them.
After all, in the past, their eyes were always on their foreheads, so how could they have noticed such trivial matters? But now, it was as if they had suddenly discovered a whole new world, so they were naturally very interested.
At the same time, they all decided in their hearts that as long as it wasn't too embarrassing and could be explained away, they would invest more. Looking at everyone's expressions, Gu Yong smiled smugly.
My friends, although they are all highly intelligent, have never really experienced anything in real life, and they were easily fooled by me.
Seeing them was like seeing himself from months ago. Just as naive, just as innocent. Back then, after listening to a few words from the Duke of Wu, he'd eagerly gone to work at the grassroots level. Truly, those were days he didn't want to recall.
Soon, they arrived at their destination. After all, it was just a small town!
This was a courtyard, a very large one, over thirty zhang long and over thirty zhang wide. Inside the courtyard were rows of instruments, and in front of each instrument was a woman.
These unique instruments appear to be used for weaving. A shuttle on one end flies back and forth constantly. With each movement of the shuttle, fine threads are transformed into cloth, very quickly. Really quickly; in just a short while, a large piece of cloth has been woven.
A careful count reveals that there are nine hundred uniquely shaped looms in this courtyard, each thirty by thirty.
"Huh, this is a loom, isn't it? But it's so fast! This speed is way too fast! A normal loom has only one spindle, but yours has at least thirty spindles. Could it be that the speed is thirty times faster?" Huang Yueying asked curiously.
After all, he was the legendary God of Crafts, the one who possessed the legendary wooden ox and horse, so he was quite interested in these machines.
"A bolt of the most ordinary, unpatterned, and undyed cloth costs thirty copper coins. Once dyed, it's worth at least fifty copper coins. In other words, assuming sufficient raw materials, the amount of cloth that can be produced in a day and night is..."
"It's one hundred bolts of cloth, but that's only the theoretical result! In reality, considering the issues of machine damage and worker efficiency, a single loom can only produce eighty bolts of cloth in a day and night," Gu Yong said with a smile.
In an era where cloth was equivalent to money, cloth itself was quite valuable. Therefore, many second-generation rich kids' eyes lit up after a quick calculation.
"Based on the amount of raw materials, in my opinion, the cloth produced by this loom will have much smaller gaps between the threads and will be much softer. The overall quality will also be at least half as good! As for the price, it can be sold even for sixty or seventy coins!" Huang Zu said hurriedly.
I originally came here just to help out, but who knew that there would actually be a chance to make money? How could I not be happy?
"Well, each woman's working hours are four hours. Actually, it's only three and a half hours. The other half hour is for checking and repairing the machines. There are three shifts a day. Each woman's daily wage is thirty copper coins, and the price of these raw materials is..."
"In other words, on average, the cost of each bolt of cloth is only ten copper coins. If it is sold at fifty copper coins, and eighty bolts are sold every day, that would be three taels and two mace of silver. In a month, that would be ninety-six taels of silver!"
"By the way, once you're skilled enough, you can further improve your weaving speed. At that point, earning a hundred taels of silver a month will be a piece of cake!" Gu Yong said happily.
This is real silver, no deception whatsoever. Even the imperial court acknowledges that these bolts of cloth can be used directly as gold and silver.
Moreover, don't underestimate the profit of a mere hundred taels. Keep in mind that even a state soldier whose strength has reached the peak of the Acquired Realm, also known as the peak of the first rank, only earns a mere ten taels of silver per month.
"So, what is the price of this loom?" Pang Tong asked directly, his eyes wide.
If the price is cheap, then I'll definitely have to buy it. After all, this so-called loom is practically highway robbery!
It should be noted that Pang Tong, as the most outstanding talent of the Pang family in this generation, only had an annual expenditure of 50,000 taels of silver after entering the Xiantian realm.
After deducting the money needed for cultivation and daily social expenses, the amount of silver that can be freely spent each year is only 20,000 taels.
“Yes, Yuan Tan, what exactly is the price of this loom? If it’s under a thousand taels, I’ll buy a few dozen to try it out,” Huang Zu asked with concern.
Upon hearing this, Gu Yong couldn't help but laugh, and then, after looking at his concerned companions around him, he finally spoke.
"This thing isn't expensive; on the contrary, it's quite cheap. You can buy one for just one hundred taels of silver!"