Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 383: Arrangement

Su Zi Ji looked surprised.
Before he could say anything, Lian Fang Zhou smiled at him: “I don’t plan on using this cotton for spinning and weaving this yar.
At least, not in large amounts.
The main focus is using it as cotton lining for quilts.

The reason was simple: it was more convenient to deal with.

She looked at Su Zi Ji: “So as soon as possible, you should make three quilts with the cotton on hand.
Each one should be twelve catties.
One will be given to Master Ding, one for my cousin, and the third I have a plan for.
In addition, teach the new girls how to play with the cotton to make quilts.

She didn’t need to elaborate on what her plan was.

Qin Feng was relieved to hear this.
It seemed that the sales would go through the Su family.
This would save a lot of time and effort for them as well as reduce the possibility of trouble.
At the least, ordinary family would not dare to covet them.

Su Zi Ji nodded.
In addition to the cotton, he would be responsible for the production of the various tools, such as the cotton gin, carders, spinning wheels, and weaving frames.

To make these things, each blueprint drawing would need to be broken down into each part.
Some of the parts would be made by Su Zi Ji and others would be made by local carpenters, like Carpenter Zhang and the carpenters in the city.
Afterwards, Su Zi Ji would assemble the parts himself.

The reason why it took so much time and effort was for one purpose: confidentiality!

Lian Fang Zhou smiled: “Tomorrow, Steward Qin will go into town with me to buy people.
There is also the shop I’ve bought that needs to be renovated…”

Qin Feng nodded: “Miss, this cotton is very important.
It’s too much for only Miss to pick, I will need to supervise.
Decorating the shop will also—”

This was true.
When the amount of mature cotton finally reached its peak, not to mention Qin Feng, all the workers would be very busy.
There was picking, spreading, removing seeds, and moving goods.
He needed to battle each day as the manager, commanding and dispatching workers, and keep everyone on task.
He didn’t have time to go to the city.

Lian Ze looked at his sister and said: “Eldest Sister, if you can trust me, let me handle the shop renovations.”

His hands twisted nervously.
He was fourteen now, old enough to be considered an adult.
Third Brother was spending more time at school and was becoming more and more mature.
Even the little girl Qing’er was successfully managing the chicken farm.
As an older brother, shouldn’t he be shouldering more responsibility?

Isn’t comparing himself to a little girl a joke?

Seeing the longing in his eyes, Lian Fang Zhou was naturally assured.
Smiling, she said: “Then let me ask you, how are you going to do this?”

Although Lian Ze was not too old, he had spent a lot of time by Lian Fang Zhou’s side this year and was no longer an ignorant child.

Hearing her willingness, his spirits were refreshed.
“I don’t understand these matters, but I can visit Brother Zhao Liu and ask him to introduce reliable people.
I only need to supervise.
If there is something that is too difficult to resolve, I will come back and ask my sister.”

Ah Jian added: “I will accompany Ah Ze to visit Brother Liu and wait until he has hired someone back.”

Lian Fang Zhou nodded: “That’s fine, let’s do it like this.
Ah Ze, in fact, you don’t need to ask me if you have a problem.
You can solve it with your own ideas.
I believe my brother is not someone with no brains or opinions!”

“Okay, Eldest Sister!” Lian Ze was so happy, his eyebrows were raised to his hair.

After discussing some trivial matters, Lian Fang Zhou turned to Qin Feng and said: “I’m afraid that Steward Qin will have to be very attentive these next few days.
None of the workers have a better temperament than Steward Qin, who understands who should be assigned to what.
Steward Qin should be careful to teach them a little bit, so as to save time in the future and prevent trouble!”

Qin Feng answered with a smile.

After this, things were almost settled and they separated to start the intensive preparations.

The next day, Lian Fang Zhou and Qin Feng returned with seven fourteen- to fifteen-year-old girls.
Each one was named after the character for purple: Zi Rong, Zi Lan, Zi Yan, Zi Rou, Zi Juan, Zi Lian, and Zi Wei.

In fact, Lian Fang Zhou really wanted to call them Zi Yi an Zi Er, and so on, but considering that girls were often named this way, it didn’t sound very good.
That string of names was really confusing to remember.

These girls would follow Su Jin and the others to learn spinning and weaving.
When newcomers were brought in next year, they would teach the new workers as masters.

She also bought six more people for Su Zi Ji, bringing his total of workers to twelve.
These people would help with preparation work, which was barely enough.

This year was dedicated to playing with the cotton and innovation.
One person should be able to process about three quilts a day, after the technology matured.

The weather had been very good this year and the output of the cotton fields was more than Lian Fang Zhou had estimated.

The yield per mu was about 300 catties, which gave them 82.3 million catties total.
This was cotton still had the cotton seeds, commonly referred to as raw cotton.

After a catty of seeds were removed from the cotton, there would be about 290,000 to 300,000 catties of pure cotton!

In the process of harvesting and processing, there was also a loss of about 2-3% and the amount of cotton that could be sold in the end, was about 280,000 to 290,000 catties.

This would all be made into quilts and with a standard of seven catties per blanket, they could make 41,000 quilts.

Between Su Zi Ji and his twelve workers, one person would need to make about 3,100 beds each.
At the rate of three beds a day, it would take them two and half years to finish it!

So, of course it was not realistic to rely on them alone.

Lian Fang Zhou had already planned for this.
She has the skilled experts and the cooperation with the Su family.
With the Su family’s financial resources, no amount of cotton would be left unused.
As for the manpower, with their amount of silver, who would be afraid of a lack of workers?

This is what she had long ago concluded.
It was impossible for her to swallow such a big business by herself.
Although she liked to make money and open a golden path to wealth, she had not lost her mind.
She knew how many catties she had.

This was merely a beautiful blueprint for a beautiful future.

As for the quilt covers, this did not need any technically expertise.
The rich had entire teams of servants who specialized in needlework in their house and the poor could do it themselves after buying some fabric and needles.

Working quickly, Su Zi Ji and his workers finished three quilts.

It was possible to feel how warm they were just by touching them with your hand!

Thinking of the felt blankets he used during the winter, Su Zi Ji was so excited that he wished winter would arrive early and he could try out these cotton quilts himself.

With so much cotton produced under his own hands, could he, the chief technician, have no cotton quilt of his own?

And this was not to mention the cotton-padded clothes, shoes, and hats that would also be made!