"Oh, oh, oh."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Brother Ansel too, why keep fussing about so much cultural papermaking?"
Only then did the mountain folks suddenly understand. But though they understood, the enthusiastic response Ansel envisioned was absent; instead, they began to converse quietly among themselves.
After privately discussing for a long while, one person was finally pushed forward.
He stood up hesitantly: "You're spending money to buy wool, giving us yarn to spin for free, and then collecting it for free after it's done—how can we accept this?"
For these mountain folks, the transportation fees of purchasing wool from afar was already a hefty sum, and selling the spun yarn posed another significant problem.
In every transaction, whether buying or selling, traders would bleed them dry. Ansel's approach, with clear pricing and no cost risks, seed sowhat unbalanced.
However, with autumn upon them and winter looming, they indeed needed an extra inco, making it difficult to lower prices or refuse insincerely.
Ansel quickly waved his hand: "There's no need to be embarrassed; this is what I should do, after all, it counts as my policy achievent."
Speaking of this, Ansel also felt a little embarrassed because, according to the calculations of the Gospel Court's Trade Bureau, the cost of wool should account for about 35% of the total cost of manufacturing woolen fabric.
The price Ansel received for buying wool was 1.1 Dinar per pound, aning the cost to convert each pound of wool into fabric should be around 3.1 Dinars.
Ansel only took out 0.5-0.75 Dinar from the cost as processing fees, aning there's still 1.2-1.3 to cover transportation and loss, leaving only 0.05 Dinar for workers at the ry Court Barracks's sacred looms.
The problem is, due to the high efficiency of the ry Court Barracks loom, a rural spinner could spin 9 pounds of yarn in 10 days, and the spinning machine would weave it in just an hour.
The capstan engine-powered machine's efficiency is 40 tis that of a manual loom.
A rural weaver earns an inco of 0.5 Dinar a day, whereas a worker at the ry Court Barracks earns 0.5 Dinar in just an hour (their actual daily wage is 3 Dinars).
A piece of cloth 12 yards long and 1 yard wide costs 27 Dinars, using 7.2 pounds of wool and totaling a cost of 22.3 Dinars.
Horn directly places it in the market. Deducting various expenses, each piece guarantees at least a 4 Dinar net inco.
However, Horn doesn't plan to do this because a piece of cloth uses 2-3 yards of material, costing 6.75 Dinars, yet sells for 12-14 Dinars.
Based on Jeska's wife and businesswoman Isolde's experience supplying ready-made military uniforms to the army, Horn has established several assembly line garnt workshops in the Joan of Arc Castle factory district.
He's confident he can reduce the production cost of each garnt to 1 Dinar and lower each garnt's price to under 10 Dinars, thus each piece of cloth could generate a 10 Dinar net inco upfront.
As for the Joan of Arc Castle Guild, sorry, the city's artisans are under your control, but the industrial area outside belongs to the Salvation Army.
He spent 4000 gold pounds to purchase 4000 loads of wool, spinning them into yarn at South Mande County's Hundred Households District, transporting them to North County, and then delivering them to the ry Court Barracks to weave into cloth, eventually converting them to garnts at Joan of Arc Castle along the river.
These garnts would then be transported along the Nao'an River in all directions.
4000 loads of wool equate to 56,000 pieces of fabric, and after processing into garnts and hats for sale, the expected revenue is around 4660 gold pounds.
In fact, if the canal in South Mangde County could be opened, transportation and loss costs would further reduce, increasing profits if Horn transferred yarn spinning to ry Court Barracks's machinery.
However, Horn does not intend to take this approach. Profit is not the goal; it's a ans. The goal is to rejuvenate the Thousand River Valley economy.
Through spinning yarn, mountain folks in South Mangde County could obtain an extra inco of about 15 Dinars per month, alleviating hardships during the painful period of the four-field rotation reform.
No matter how many tis Ansel preached the Holy Path's freedom and equality, earning trust couldn't compare to practically increasing inco.
The result is even better than Horn's mission work.
Moreover, a significant advantage is that when Horn announces the rehabilitation of the river and construction of the canal in the future, he only needs to say, "Once the canal is open, processing fees will rise another 20%—who's in favor and who's against?"
Not even Henderson or any County Governor could oppose.
When recruiting labor then, enthusiasm for work and public opposition would undoubtedly decrease, as they aren't just working for Horn—it's for themselves too.
Just like the harvest in Langsande County last year, it was because each Hundred Households District built and repaired a large number of irrigation facilities at extrely low labor costs, and collective labor efficiency improved.
Unfortunately, Ansel's explanations were not understood by the mountain folks, and had to rely on Bryson to translate: "The wool was bought by His Majesty Saint Sun, with not enough city artisans, you help out, and if you do well, Brother Ansel gets recognition and becos an Archbishop—understood?"
With that explanation, the mountain folks got it—forego so profit for achievent, and imdiately beat their chests promising: "Rest assured, you're a good man, you're way better suited as Archbishop than Urisen."
Sitting on the ground or on low stools, the mountain folks rubbed their hands eagerly, their eyes' enthusiasm nearly setting the piled wool in the corner afla.
This group of farrs was the poorest batch in the manor, with barely a few Dinars left over annually.
Their hand-spinning wheels were left to gather dust, and they mostly collected hemp and flax, making their own clothes.
But now, their agricultural inco remained unaffected, and wives and daughters not suited for heavy labor at ho could spin yarn.
One person could spin 0.9 pounds of yarn a day; in 30 days, they'd earn an additional inco of around 15 Dinars. Over a year, it's more than 1 gold pound—who wouldn't be thrilled?
"But Brother Ansel," a villager stood up, "we still have other ho duties, such as threshing, harvesting, repairing houses, wolf hunting, and housework—seems like we have no ti."
As the villager spoke, Bryson, who had been nodding and smiling, was left stunned.
Indeed, these villagers had plenty to do throughout the year: planting and winemaking in spring, plowing and harvesting in sumr, threshing, woodcutting, and wolf hunting in autumn, with only winter offering downti.
It's no wonder the mountain folks' per capita overconsumption and gambling soared; in the long, gloomy winter, their cheapest and most numbing entertainnt choice was alcohol.
These agricultural activities often demanded the entire family to pitch in, leaving no one idle for yarn spinning.
In the midst of the worried and heavy-hearted looks, Ansel laughed: "Why say there's no ti? If there's none, how do we have ti for this gathering?"
Surveying the gathering, Ansel spread his hands wide: "Don't we have our mutual aid group? So tell , shouldn't our farr mutual aid team have a more fitting na than just 'the team'?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers