Seeing the rows of workers moving forward slowly like waves, Cai Qi said to Li Zi: "It's amazing, how many people can pick them in a day when they move so slowly?"

Li Zi asked Xu Ping beside him: "Xu Buy, picking cotton is a lot of labor. I wonder how many acres can a person pick a day? I don't think most of the thousands of acres of cotton in your farm have not been picked. Are you going to go after autumn?"

"Where can I pick a few acres? One person can pick one or two acres of land a day. Fortunately, the cotton will not rot in the field. As long as the weather is sunny, I can pick it for a month or two, and I don't rush to pick it in a few days."

Cai Qi and Li Zi nodded. They could pick them slowly over a long period of time, which was almost the same. They had experienced prefectures and counties in person, and knew that when the farming season was in the busy season, harvesting and planting was like putting out a fire. If it was like rice and wheat, it had to be harvested within a few days. The harvest speed was unbearable and there was no such a lot of manpower in any place.

Seeing the people in the field picking cotton and weighing each basket, I was still a little interested at first, but after a long time, I felt very bored. Some young officials took advantage of the excuse of going to the field to watch and wandered around the cotton fields in groups of three or three, just thinking that they were relaxing when they came here to see the scenery.

Li Zi is older and has a sore legs after standing in the ground for a long time. Although there is a chair next to him that Xu Ping ordered the patrol guest to set up, it is difficult for him to do it if Cai Qi doesn't sit. After all, the Privy Council is lower than the subordinate of the Secretariat. The Privy Council is the same level as the Chief Secretary, and is ranked first among all the Chief Secretary, and the Deputy Envoy is one level worse than the Chief Secretary.

The weather was hot and my legs were numb. Li Zi was really unable to stand and said to Xu Ping: "Xu Waijian had long said that picking cotton requires so much manpower. I transferred some wing troops from several nearby counties, and it will be finished in one or two days."

Xu Ping said: "My husband is kind, so the subordinate has to accept it. After all, this is the cotton field in my village. The army is transferred to the wings and it is a waste of time. I don't know what anyone wants to arrange at that time."

"Who dares to say it randomly? The cotton in your farm is sold to the Sansi, regardless of price, but only after selling the cloth, and is dedicated to doing things for the court! That's it. Mr. Li, you will transfer a few hundred wings tomorrow and collect all the cotton in this area in two or three days. After collecting it early, we will take a closer look, which is what the court means!"

Cai Qi was also impatient, but it was hard to say it out. When Li Zi mentioned it, he decided on the spot. Xu Ping's village was located between the Huimin River and the Jinshui River, not far from the Bian River. He didn't know how many soldiers were there just patrolling the river. In addition to various other names, the two priests were the leader, and one or two thousand people could be transferred casually.

Xu Ping also made a favor, but he was thinking in his heart that it was Cai Qi and Li Zi who were the leader of this matter. Don’t put the shit on his head after a while.

After he decided to ask Xiangjun to help pick cotton, Cai Qi and Li Zi no longer stood stupidly in the field and took the people back early. He only waited for the next two days, and after all the people arrived, he would go to the field to watch.

The two prime ministers, Yan Shu and Li Shu, turned around to rest. When the others saw that Xu Ping did not leave, they were not good enough to disperse, so they had to continue wandering around the cotton field.

Xu Ping really couldn't leave. Xiangjun came to pick cotton, but the group of people couldn't say it. I don't know what they would do at that time. Lu Song had finally found such people, and of course he could use it for one day.

Seeing that the officials dispersed in groups of three or three, they were completely out for an outing. Xu Ping asked Sun Qilang to come and asked him to take a few shopkeepers and take a hunting dog, so he simply went with these people to play.

Once those people returned, Xu Ping had the highest status here. Even if Xu Ping spoke, few of these people would really leave. It would be better to just do this, just let them come to the village to relax.

Until the sun sets westward and Xu Ping saw that nothing was wrong, he called on the officials to return.

Liu Han and Zeng Gongliang walked together with a smile, and arrived at Xu Ping's side, raised the hand hidden behind him, shook the pair of pheasants in his hand, and said, "Good luck, stew some chicken soup tonight!"

Xu Ping smiled and said, "Just just tell the people in the village to have a small meal!"

This season, there are more pheasants and hares in the fields. After autumn, the fields will be everywhere.

Animals also have to prepare for winter in autumn, and they have figured out their temperaments. They know that in autumn, people who farm are busy at day and night, so they can swagger to find food in the fields. Even if they run along with people's heels, no one can care about them.

I drank as usual at night and said nothing all night.

The next day, Li Zi sent his entourage, and took his handbook to the surrounding counties of Zhongmu and Weishi to dispatch the Xiang army. The deputy envoy of the Privy Council wanted to transfer people to use it, but who dared not to obey? Including the Hequdu Dashijus, and two county governments, the Xiang army and the servants sent over, nearly 500 people arrived in a day.

Xu Ping's farm killed pigs and sheep, and had good wine and meat to entertain these people, so he went to the ground to pick cotton the next day.

They are all newbies, so their efficiency is naturally not high, but they cannot withstand many people. In a day, the cotton in the yard is piled up like a hill, which looks spectacular.

On the third day, another batch came, and the staff originally hired in Xuping Village were nearly 1,000.

Xu Ping stopped waiting and decided to start processing cotton.

Cai Qi and Li Zi walked in front of Xu Ping and walked into the yard where cotton processing was once again.

Looking at the pile of cotton in front of him, as white as snow, Cai Qi couldn't help but exclaim: "It's only been two days, and I don't expect there is so much cotton here! I heard Xu Wai-chi said that a man only picks one acre a day, and he still felt that it was a bit too slow to collect it. It seems that he was thinking badly! This cotton is not as good as sericulture, and one acre can weave many cloths!"

Xu Ping nodded: "My husband said it well. If we calculate it by planting mulberry trees and grass cotton, the yield of cotton cloth is more than dozens of times more than silk. Even if it is several times more than linen cloth."

"Good stuff, good stuff! This cotton saves land very much!"

Cai Qi said as he followed Xu Ping into the room where the machine was placed next to him.

Li Zi put on reading glasses, looked around the cotton gin with Cai Qi, and asked Xu Ping: "Xu Waijian, how should this machine be used? Is it hand-crank or foot-pedal? Why can't people use force?"

"My husband, these machines do not use manpower, they all use donkeys and mules. In my farm, we have all kinds of livestock, and there are no manpower in places where we can use animal power."

After hearing this, Li Shu looked around and asked Xu Ping strangely: "Where is the donkey and mule? Haven't you brought it in yet? But you didn't see the donkey and mule's forceful winch wheel."

Xu Ping pointed to several thick chains connected to the rolling mill and said, "The senators, donkeys and mules are all outside the wall. The winch they brought uses these iron chains to drive the equipment. This is the place for work, and it requires cleaning. The animals are not human in their nature. They will inevitably make the place dirty and messy here, so they are separated by the wall."

Everyone found it strange and surrounded them to watch. Unexpectedly, Xu Ping had this idea, and put the animals used as power outside, and even thought about using iron chains to transmit the power in.

In his daily life in his previous life, most of the chains used were required to be high-speed and precise, generally roller chains or tooth-shaped chains. However, in the agricultural machinery he was most familiar with, some rough chains were often used, such as the ring chains used now. The ring chains were basically similar to the common iron chains, with one ring wrapped around an iron ring, which was very different from the chains familiar to people in daily life. The ring chains were not precise, but they transmitted far away power and had a large load.

This set of textile machinery relies on the connection of the working equipment. Apart from the final worsted spinning and weaving, it does not require much stability in the power. Livestock cannot be used as power, and it just applies to the circular chain to transmit power.

Seeing that everyone had already arrived at the place, Xu Ping asked Cai Qi: "My husband, I'm ready, I wonder if I can start?"

"Okay, start!" Cai Qi turned to the other officials, "Look at them all, don't come in vain!"

Xu Ping ordered Sun Qilang who was guarding next to him and asked him to greet people and officially start.

Sun Qilang promised to invite the staff who were working here to be in place. He walked to the wall and reached out to pull a thin rope.

I heard the crisp sound of "Ding Lingling". It turned out that the bell was connected to the rope, which was a signal to people outside the wall.

I heard the sound of scolding animals from outside. After a while, the big iron chain on the ground suddenly struggled and tightened, and then I slowly started to move.

With the power of the iron chain, the cotton gin also began to rotate slowly.

Sun Qilang looked carefully while watching the machine rotate smoothly, and waved his hand suddenly: "Start!"

The shopkeeper who was guarding the machine received the instructions to feed the cotton next to it and continuously feed it to the cotton gin.

Cotton ginning is to separate the cotton seeds from the seed cotton, and at the same time separate the broken short lint cotton to form the lint used for combing. According to his own understanding in his previous life, Xu Ping used a snail roller to peel off and clean it with a brush. These are all commonly used structures in agricultural machinery. There is nothing strange about it, and it happens to be roughly the same as the actual cotton ginning principle.

Seeing the cotton stuffed into it, the relatively neat cotton fibers came out there. As long as people kept adding materials to it, the two priests and officials were amazed.

The separated lint was taken aside. After reaching a certain amount, it was placed on a press with a large screw and pressed into bundles of tightly packed cotton.

Cai Qi looked strange and couldn't help asking Xu Ping: "Why are the use of pressing up those cottons that have been desewed? "

"I went back to my husband, after these cottons were rolled like this, they could be sent to the spinning place and spinned into yarn. I couldn't spin much yarn or weaving much cloth. In the future, I would still have to send them to the Sansi Farm. After pressing them into bundles, it would be easy to move and save a lot of effort."

Cai Qi pointed out the pass, and it turned out that it was the same as baleting the grass in Xu Pingzhuang.

It is really troublesome to make a screw. Xu Ping first asked someone to polish a set of steel and then put it directly on the brass rod. With this set of steel nuts and screws, it would be much easier to make these things.
Chapter completed!