Agriculture as the foundation

  "On a sunny spring day, the warm sunlight enters the room, and I lie idly on my bed, having a clear and peaceful dream. The swallows in the rafters chirp softly, like an old woman chatting about everyday things. My master's eyes are half-closed in sleep, his mouth sucking on a pipe, filling the whole room with a misty haze, like leftover clouds. He calls out to his servant to lower the curtains, afraid that it will disappear. Why must one go far into the deep mountains to have such a scene of mist and cloud?"

  Lin Xiao did not expect that the small paper cigarette would bring him a substantial profit, and his own Shanghai-based cigarette factory, which was not particularly large in scale, had a monthly profit of 50,000 to 60,000 silver taels.

  After investing in a cigarette factory, he discovered that although tobacco had been introduced to China since the Ming Dynasty, especially in Fujian and Taiwan where tobacco cultivation was quite common, this thing could provide farmers with much higher income than grain. However, most of the domestic tobacco is not suitable for making cigarettes, so Lin Xiang hurriedly introduced the latest flue-cured tobacco varieties from the United States.

  Lin Qiu invited his fellow Fujian native Chen Yiru, who had translated "The Method of Flue-cured Tobacco Cultivation", to introduce flue-cured tobacco in Lin's charitable estates in Fujian and southern Anhui.

  Unexpectedly, the new-style roasted tobacco was successfully introduced and used to make "Red Double Happiness" cigarettes with Jianyan and Songyan tobacco. The taste is excellent, even better than the "Pirate" brand cigarettes produced by British American Tobacco, and it has become a best-selling product since its launch.

  Lin Qiu was busy setting up new factories in Hankou, Tianjin, Xiamen and other places, while fantasizing about how to take down the famous cigarette brands "Zhonghua", "Panda", "Su Yan", "Dahongying" and "Dafengmen" all at once.

  Lin Chao has been promoting a management approach similar to modern farm management in the silk, tea and forestry industries. He established Lin's Charity Estates in various places, where workers were employed with guaranteed minimum living wages. After that, they could also receive corresponding commissions based on the harvest of the farmland they managed. As a result, the employees of the charity estates have always been relatively stable. In those days, it was enviable to get a job that could make a family live without worries.

  This gives most of the Lin family's farm workers a strong sense of belonging, and at least here everyone can be guaranteed to have food on the table.

  Large-scale intensive management enables Lin's Yizhuang to have a stronger risk defense capability. For example, in the past two years, the sericulture market has been sluggish, and most silkworm farmers have worked hard for a year but sometimes even lost money, but Lin's Yizhuang can maintain a slight profit. Moreover, through continuous improvement of mulberry and silkworm varieties, plus its own silk reeling factory gradually started operation, Lin's Yizhuang's profitability is getting stronger and stronger.

  The country's wealth and power depend on agriculture as its foundation.

  But Lin Zexu's emphasis on agriculture was far removed from the slogans put forward by the feudal rulers. In fact, most of the products produced by Lin's charity estate were cash crops, and grain production could not even sustain itself.

  Lin Xiang was very depressed, his own heavily invested factories were not seeing any returns, the Hudong Shipyard was barely holding on, the coal and iron mines were far from being successfully transformed, and the silk factory's business had been poor for two years. On the other hand, buying agricultural products such as raw silk, tung oil, and camphor had always been a good business. No wonder the government was actively promoting it this year, but still not many people were willing to invest their funds in industry.

  It's still easier to make money by being a buyer.

  The main difficulty in running a factory is still the lack of talent. It's hard to find management talent, technical talent, and even skilled technical workers.

  The Jiangsu coast, due to the large amount of silt deposited by the ancient Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, extends its beaches at a speed of 30-50 meters or even higher every year, forming vast coastal or riverine wastelands. Zhang Jian had considered reclaiming these wastelands during the First Sino-Japanese War when he was in charge of local militia training and saw the large tracts of wasteland in Haimen, but at that time due to lack of funds, he had to give up.

  Zhang Zhidong now had the funds in hand, and also had Lin Shu as a major backer supporting him from behind. With Liu Kunyi's support, the court agreed to his proposal to reclaim land around Tonghai in the autumn of 1900.

  With Lin Shou's support, Zhang Ze invested 1 million taels of silver to establish the "Tonghai Reclamation and Pastoral Company". This time, Lin Shou unexpectedly went against his usual practice and invested 600,000 taels, holding a controlling stake in the reclamation company. After more than a year of clearing property rights, Tonghai Reclamation and Pastoral Company obtained the ownership of 90,000 hectares of wasteland along the Yangtze River in Tonghai and about 20,000 mu of tidal flats on Chongming Island.

  Lin Xiao and Jiang Daoqian, who was in charge of the survey, rode their horses around Chongming Island. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chongming was about half the size it is today, with an area of approximately 400 square kilometers. As they rode, they found that the sandy beaches along the riverbank were about three or four miles away from the shore, and the soil was relatively fertile, but reeds grew everywhere.

  To turn these beaches into good fields, a lot of manpower is needed to build dikes and create farmland. In this era, all of this had to be done by hand digging and shoulder lifting.

  Lin Xiang knew that, with just Chongming Island alone, the population in later generations would be six or seven million, not just the over one million people currently on the island. Including Tongzhou, Haimen and Qidong, it could support a population of tens of millions. If these populations were effectively organized, this would be a very powerful cohesive group. If used properly, it would be enough to dominate the world.

  Hundreds of thousands of pioneers, enough to provide 200,000 qualified soldiers. Lin Xiu rode on horseback, a surge of heroic emotions rising from the bottom of his heart. Perhaps the road ahead would start from this land.

  From Lüsi to Tongzhou, Lin Xuan had been transferred for more than a month before returning to the Dajinsuo factory in Tangjiakou.

  After meeting Zhang Jie, they immediately discussed the matter of garrisoning and tilling. The two had some differences in their views on the method of garrisoning and tilling, but after Lin Xuan's detailed explanation, Zhang Jie quickly understood the advantages of this method, which was similar to the military colonies of later generations. With unified management and allocation of personnel, they could concentrate manpower and resources to achieve greater things.

  Later, when it comes to specific implementation, I feel that there are many threads. First of all, we need to recruit settlers, fortunately, there are many vagrants in the Qing Dynasty now, this is not a big worry. Following the example of Lin's charity house, providing food and accommodation and giving out pocket money every month, I'm afraid that many starving people will try to squeeze in. However, there is still much preparatory work to be done in advance, such as tools for opening up wasteland and building dikes, stone materials needed for building dikes, etc. The most headache-inducing thing is the tens of thousands of hectares of wasteland, which requires a large number of cattle, horses, and other livestock.

  Another aspect is the training of agricultural technology and management personnel. Zhang Jian established Tongzhou Normal School, which has a department of agriculture. Lin Xiang also promised to donate 200,000 silver yuan every year to expand the scale of Tongzhou Normal School by half, and also set up an industrial technical school within the school.

  A hundred years' plan is rooted in education; it's unacceptable to be stingy with spending on this aspect.

  The first decade of the 20th century was destined to be a difficult start for China, from April of the Gengzi year, the north began to riot with "Boxer Rebellion", soon the Boxers swept across the north, brewing into a great chaos.

  In the south, apart from occasional local disturbances, overall it was relatively stable.

  It's the peak season for buying cocoons, but silk shops everywhere are closed. The news that the imperial court is going to war with foreigners has caused all the big foreign firms to suspend business temporarily, and some of their bosses have even left Shanghai for good.

  All the big silk houses have stopped purchasing, and the spring cocoons cannot be sold in various places. The good cocoons have fallen to twenty-seven taels of white silver per dan, and the sericulturists can't even get back their capital, suffering heavy losses.

  The market is still stagnant due to lack of transactions as nobody dares to take action at this time.

  Lin Xiao knew that the war would happen soon, but the chaos would only be limited to North China, and most areas of the country were just watching the excitement from the sidelines. He opened his Golden Finger, enabling cheat mode.

  He found Jiang Xikun, one of the shareholders of Dasheng Cotton Mill, "Is Mr. Jiang from Huzhou?"

  "Hmm, what's up?" Jiang Xike was the son-in-law of Liu Dang, the richest man in Nanxun, and his hometown was also in Nanxun. He was a bit surprised to see Lin Chong coming to the silk factory.

  "This year's new cocoons are priced so low that it's almost ridiculous. I think I'll make a big profit!" Lin Xiao said straightforwardly.

  Jiang Xike looked at Lin Chou for a while, thought for a moment, and then slowly said: "The white tiger eats people, Lin Dongjia must be prepared! Think of Hu Xueyan's big family business, which also fell on this. Besides, I haven't been in this line for a long time, and the market is not very accurate."

  "I've already made up my mind on this matter. I just want to ask you, sir, to help facilitate the connection. As for the funding, I've already prepared it, so there's no need to worry about that."

  "Alright, considering the market is so low, there shouldn't be any huge risks, it's just that I'm worried the foreign firms won't accept the goods and we can't afford to hold on to them. Since you're being so resolute, I'll help out this one time." Jiang Xike said, "In today's chaotic world, you have to prepare for the possibility of holding onto your goods for a year or two!"

  Lin Xiu sent out all the personnel from various business firms under his command, utilizing Jiang Xikun's connections in the silk industry. During the entire spring cocoon procurement period, they hoarded nearly 500,000 dan of live cocoons, which was almost half of the total spring cocoon production in the two provinces.

  By mid-June, Britain and the United States reached an agreement with the governors of southern provinces on the "Nine Articles of Southeastern Protection", which stipulated that the governors of various places in the Yangtze River region and Suzhou and Hangzhou were responsible for maintaining law and order, and prohibited the Boxers from spreading to the south.

  In late June, Cixi issued an edict declaring war on the eleven foreign powers. The governors of the southern provinces refused to obey the decree, and in mid-August, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. The Empress Dowager fled in disarray. After this, Cixi changed her tune, issuing a decree to suppress the Boxer uprising throughout the country. The "righteous people" suddenly became rioters, and the Boxer movement was quickly put down.

  Lin Xue accumulated more than 200,000 dan of summer cocoons and a large amount of raw silk during this period.

  By early September, the foreign firms that had fled Shanghai in fear of the Boxers returned and resumed their annual business, only to find that there were hardly any cocoons left on the market.

  Due to the impact of the Boxer Rebellion and European sericulture diseases, there was a shortage of raw silk supply in the international market, causing high prices. The price per picul of raw silk rose from an average of over 600 taels of silver to nearly 1,100 taels, while cocoon prices also rose from a normal 60 taels of silver to over 100 taels of silver per picul. These prices continued until the new cocoons were released in the year of Xin Chou, when they gradually began to fall.

  Lin Xiao had been slowly shipping out his goods, not allowing the foreign trading companies to easily collect them, but also not letting them run out of stock. He was busy until just before the Spring Festival, when he finally sold off all the remaining goods in his hands. After tallying up the accounts and deducting expenses, Lin Xiao found that he had made a profit of over 60 taels of silver per picul of silkworm cocoons. In this year's speculation, he had unexpectedly made a total profit of over 43 million taels of silver, which even shocked himself.

  No wonder so many rich buyers are unwilling to invest in real industries, the exorbitant profits of speculative businesses are so tempting.

  In the sales of raw silk, he discovered another terrible problem. The raw silk produced in China was inferior to Japanese Oriental silk in both quality and price on the international market, and Japan's raw silk exports had gradually caught up with China.

  Starting from the Meiji Restoration, Japan began to focus on exporting raw silk and tea, achieving remarkable results around 1890. The average quality of raw silk surpassed that of Chinese raw silk, and the tea industry adopted mechanized production, gradually becoming the world's second-largest raw silk exporter and fifth-largest tea exporter. By 1910, Japan had become the world's largest raw silk exporter, with an annual output of 12,460 tons and exports totaling 9,462 tons, accounting for 75% of global exports.

  The four major zaibatsu in Japan at that time almost all relied on the profits from raw silk exports to maintain their other industries, support heavy industry, and slowly transition into an industrial power. The development of Japan's sericulture industry was able to gradually develop and defeat the Qing dynasty's sericulture industry, with half the credit going to the First Sino-Japanese War and the other half belonging to Kyoto Prefecture. In 1868, Kyoto Prefecture established the Nishijin Material Company, which was responsible for relieving poor silk farmers and weavers. In Meiji 3 (1870), the Shimei Bureau and Jotokusho were established, equivalent to a chemical research institute and a technology promotion office.

  In 1870, a sericulture farm was established to promote new silkworm breeds and techniques; in 1871, a livestock farm was set up to promote new cattle and sheep breeds, and people were sent to France to study new silk weaving and Western dyeing techniques, and new machines were purchased... Within seven years, a weaving factory was established to promote new manual silk looms and techniques. These "factories" concentrated on collecting, researching, improving, and promoting technologies, quickly turning Kyoto's silk industry from decline to prosperity, and spreading successful experiences throughout Japan. Although the Kyoto prefectural government also took many detours, compared to the Qing court's policy of "inaction is no mistake", it was indeed very proactive.

  Due to the convergence of the warm Pacific current and the cold East Asian current, Japan has abundant rainfall, making its mulberry leaf resources exceptionally rich. This is the key to the rise of Japan's sericulture industry. To develop the silk industry, the Japanese cut down a large number of trees and planted mulberry forests. As Kyoto's silk industry developed, Japan's more powerful financial groups quickly used this as a template, using government support and their own financial resources to promote it throughout Japan.

  In 1878, Japan's raw silk export volume was 726 tons, and the total output was 1226 tons of Qing Dynasty 2.05 million catties, which is still less than one-third of the annual output of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

  In 1883, Japan's raw silk exports were 1,347 tons and total production was 1,682 tons.

  In 1903, in just fifteen years, Japan's total silk exports reached 6,750 tons, formally surpassing Qing China in both quantity and average quality.

  In 1910, Japan's raw silk export volume was 10,462 tons, accounting for 3/4 of the world's total raw silk exports, six times that of the Qing dynasty. This was Japan's most important export commodity, earning a large amount of foreign exchange and gold, supporting Japan's march towards becoming a modern industrialized nation.

  To defeat Japan, we must first increase our competitiveness in the trade of raw silk and tea to suppress its driving force for development.

  Lin Xiao didn't know if he could succeed, but as long as he gave it his all, there would be some results.

  There is still great resistance to the promotion of machine reeling in China. Most domestic sericulture households are self-sufficient, and unless there are special circumstances, they generally raise their own silkworms and reel their own silk. This requires a lot of manpower to support the whole family, as the process of making silk is complex, from cooking the cocoons to reeling, twisting, washing, dyeing, and then weaving.

  Once the mechanized silk reeling factories emerged, cocoons went in one end and silk came out the other, causing many rural manual laborers to lose their livelihood. What's more serious is that in vast rural areas, almost every household had a spinning wheel for reeling silk, and women of all ages relied on it as a sideline. If machine reeling became prevalent, everyone would lose their means of living.

  Lin Chao chose a compromise approach, dispersing over 1,000 reeling machines in centralized locations for sericulture farmers. Each processing point had several to dozens of machines, and during the reeling period, he hired farm women for training, who then operated the machines. This way, farm households also had a certain income, and to some extent reduced the resistance of sericulture farmers to machine reeling.

  On the other hand, he vigorously recruited and trained talents, cultivated and promoted high-quality silkworm breeding, and signed supply contracts with households to guarantee the output of high-quality silkworms and gave appropriate discounts on the purchase price.

  Lin Xiang worked hard to promote good silkworm breeding and scientific sericulture in the form of primary cooperatives, gradually achieving certain results. Another incidental benefit was that he also gradually controlled the source of cocoons in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

  This approach is also being gradually adopted in tea production.

  After years of efforts, China's silk and tea trade volume, which had been declining for a long time, has slowly seen some improvement.

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