Daqin: Compared with his sons, Ying Zheng is jealous

"wool?"

"Yarn?"

"A third type of thread besides silk and hemp?"

"Is it really possible to use wool for weaving?"

"Can wool really be used to make clothes?"......

The people of Qianshou all over the world are talking about it.

Since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, the threads they have used for weaving for thousands of years have all been silk or hemp threads. They have never heard that wool can be woven into threads for use.

But this is also normal. If you want to weave wool into threads, then the minimum prerequisite is that you have to have sheep, right?

At least you have to raise a large number of sheep so that you can have a lot of wool.

After having a lot of wool, it is possible to further think about how to weave wool into wool for use.

But are there sheep in the Central Plains?

Yes!

But are there a large number of sheep raised in the Central Plains?

No!

Since ancient times, the people of Qianshou in the Central Plains have rarely raised sheep!

Even in the future generations thousands of years later, the number of cattle raised in the Central Plains is far more than that of sheep!

And at its root, there are probably three reasons.

The first reason is the difference in national concepts.

The Chinese nation in the Central Plains belongs to an agricultural nation, so if the people of Qianshou in the Central Plains of Huaxia find a place with good water and soil environment.

Then the first idea of the people of the Central Plains, who are farming people, is to reclaim this place into farmland.

As for keeping this land to raise sheep?

Most of the people of the Central Plains would not have such an idea.

For the people of the Central Plains, the importance of farming is far greater than that of raising sheep.

Without strong external intervention, such as the state administration forcing the people to raise sheep.

If you want the people of the Central Plains to raise sheep on their own initiative, unless one day the people of the Central Plains feel that they have enough land.

Even if they do not continue to reclaim new land, the output of the land that has been reclaimed is enough to feed their family.

Then they may leave the extra land empty and use it to raise sheep.

Unfortunately, the people of the Central Plains who live on this land.

Even after hundreds and thousands of years, there is no time to feel that their fields are so many that they can be used to raise sheep.

The second reason is that there is not much demand for sheep, and the people of the Central Plains are not very interested in raising sheep.

Before it was discovered that wool could be woven into wool yarn, the greatest significance and function of sheep was to be used as one of the six domestic animals for sacrifice and eating meat.

And activities such as sacrifices can be said to be very rare.

Generally speaking, except for the victory of the monarch of the country in foreign wars.

Or some great event such as the wedding of princes and nobles, a temporary special sacrifice is required.

Normal regular and fixed sacrificial activities are only two or three times a year.

And the fewer the number of sacrifices, the fewer the number of sheep needed.

And the fewer the number of sheep needed, it means that only three or two sheep raised by a very small number of ordinary people are enough to meet the needs of sacrifices throughout the year.

There is no need to raise a large number of sheep for sacrifices.

Compared with the needs of sacrifices, there is more demand for sheep to be eaten directly for mutton. However, when ordinary people in Guizhou can't even get enough food, mutton is basically something that ordinary people in Guizhou can't afford to eat on a daily basis.

If ordinary people cannot afford to eat mutton on a daily basis, then it means that only a small group of people, the princes and nobles, can afford to eat mutton.

However, the scarcity of the princes and nobles means that the demand for mutton will not be too much.

After all, the princes and nobles only have one mouth and one stomach. Even if they want to eat more mutton, they can't eat it.

In addition, no matter how delicious mutton is, the princes and nobles can't eat it every day.

After all, for the princes and nobles, there are foods that are as delicious as mutton, or even more delicious than mutton.

So even the princes and nobles only eat mutton once every few days, or even once every ten days.

This greatly reduces the demand for mutton, which was originally not large.

In the end, even if the demand for mutton is added up by all the people in the princes and nobles group, it will not be too large. If the demand for mutton is not large, it means that the mutton market is small.

If the mutton market is small, it means that the profit that can be obtained by raising a large number of sheep is small.

The profit from raising a large number of sheep is small, so naturally no one will raise a large number of sheep in order to obtain more profits.

So in the end, either only a very small number of ordinary people raise three or two sheep, or only a few large livestock merchants may raise hundreds or thousands of sheep.

The third reason is that compared with cattle and horses, sheep are not very important.

Cattle, sheep, and horses all use grass as their main source of food. In other words, there is a food competition relationship between cattle, sheep, and horses.

When food cannot be fully supplied to the common needs of cattle, sheep, and horses, which of the three livestock is less important will be kicked out of the breeding range.

Among cattle, sheep, and horses, cattle are one of the six domestic animals, among which beef can be eaten, and cattle can also assist the people in farming, greatly improving the efficiency of farming, and can also carry loads to pull carts, etc.

Horses are also one of the six domestic animals, among which horse meat can also be eaten, and horses can also go to the battlefield to accompany soldiers to charge and kill the enemy, win battlefield victories for the country, and can also carry loads to pull carts, etc.

Before sheep discovered that wool could be spun into wool yarn and woven into clothes, they were just one of the six domestic animals, and mutton could be eaten when needed.

As for farming, going to the battlefield, carrying loads and pulling carts, etc., these are not jobs that sheep can do.

In other words, cattle and horses have at least four functions.

Before sheep discovered that wool could be spun into wool yarn, they only had two functions.

So when faced with insufficient fodder, when only one of cattle, sheep, and horses can be chosen.

Ordinary people often choose to raise cattle and give up horses and sheep.

The state will choose to raise horses and give up cattle and sheep.

In the end, under the influence of the concept of the farming nation, the small demand for sheep, the inability to create more profits, and the inability to attract more people to raise them, and the importance of sheep is not as great as that of cattle and horses. The people of Qianshou on the land of the Central Plains, in the past Xia, Shang, and Zhou, and now the Spring and Autumn and Warring States, and even hundreds and thousands of years in the future.

There have been a large number of cattle and horses that have been widely promoted.

Even the breeding of cattle and horses was incorporated into the farming system of the Chinese nation, making it an indispensable existence.

However, there has never been a large-scale and widespread promotion of raising sheep, let alone incorporating sheep into the farming system of the Chinese nation.

Even for the Chinese nation, if there are no sheep among the six domestic animals.

Then the biggest impact on the Chinese nation is that there will be no sheep as a livestock during the sacrifice, and there will be no more edible meat, and there will be no other adverse effects.

Therefore, almost for thousands of years during the entire feudal period of China, sheep as a livestock have not been truly promoted and raised in large quantities.

In addition, the farming peoples of the Central Plains are mostly in a state of defense and counterattack against the nomadic peoples in the border areas.

Only during the founding and heyday of the dynasties, will they actively expand outward and conquer the nomadic peoples in the border areas.

However, among the cattle, sheep, horses and other materials seized from the nomadic peoples in the border areas, sheep are often used as a kind of meat and are directly slaughtered and eaten.

Or after raising them for a period of time, they are directly slaughtered and eaten.

In short, under normal circumstances, the Central Plains will not raise sheep in large quantities for a long time.

If sheep are not raised for a long time and in large quantities, then there will naturally not be a lot of wool to test and use, and it will also be more difficult to find a way to turn wool into wool yarn. Even if a way to turn wool into wool yarn is found by chance, it is difficult to develop wool textiles when the raw material, wool, is lacking.

Therefore, before the Ming Dynasty, the textiles that were truly commonly used in China were either silk textiles or linen textiles.

After the Ming Dynasty, China officially added a third type of thread, cotton thread, in addition to silk and linen, and only then did it have a third type of textile, cotton textiles.

As for wool textiles, they only began to develop gradually after entering the new era.

Now, under the words of Prince Fusu on the sky, all the monarchs, ministers and people in Qin State at this moment have all turned their attention to the sheep.

Well, to be more precise, it is the wool on the sheep!

If wool, or wool yarn, can be woven into clothes like silk and linen, and popularized.

Then it can be said without hesitation that this is definitely a huge era change in the aspect of"clothing" since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties for thousands of years!

Even the most ignorant people in Guizhou could vaguely realize the importance of wool yarn.

So at this moment, the Guizhou women who were originally surrounding the carpenters and other craftsmen were no longer anxious to ask the craftsmen to help them make foot-operated looms. Anyway, the craftsmen and others lived around them, and they could come back to block the doors of the craftsmen and others at any time. What they wanted to know more urgently now was whether wool could really be woven into wool yarn, and whether wool yarn could really be woven into clothes.

This involved whether they should raise sheep at home in the future, and whether the whole family could have an extra new kind of clothes to wear in addition to linen clothes.

So the Guizhou women who did not raise sheep shouted loudly in the crowd:

"Sheep! Does anyone have sheep?"

"Yes! If you have sheep, shear some wool and give it a try!"

"Let’s see if it can really be woven into wool yarn as His Royal Highness Crown Prince Fusu said!"

"That’s right, if anyone has sheep, just take them out and give it a try. If a sheep accidentally dies while being sheared, we will all pool our money together to compensate you!".........

Amid the shouting of the Guizhou women, a few Guizhou women who raised a few sheep responded loudly:

"Me! My family has two sheep!"

"And me, my family also has three sheep!"

"I also have a sheep at home!"

"My family has five sheep!"......

Seeing that some people were raising sheep, other women in Guizhou who did not raise sheep also shouted excitedly:

"Let's go, let's go, the wool from a few sheep may not be enough, let's gather all the sheep together and then shear their wool and try."

"You are right. Only when you have more wool can you test whether it can really be woven into yarn and made into clothes."

"Sisters, let’s go!"......

As they called out to each other, the women from Guizhou who had come in large numbers, swarmed away again.

Seeing this scene, the carpenters and other craftsmen who were surrounded breathed a sigh of relief.

When they were surrounded before, the psychological pressure was really great.

In addition to the women from Guizhou all over the world who spontaneously prepared to test whether wool could be spun into wool yarn according to the method mentioned by Prince Fusu.

Emperor Qin Ying Zheng in the Xianyang Palace also had the same idea. He looked at Zhao Gao on the side and ordered:

"Go, bring me all the sheep that can be found nearby!"

Zhao Gao bowed and said:

""Yes, Your Majesty!"

Then, Zhao Gao hurried to the direction of the Minister of Food of the Shaofu.

As one of the common meats of the six domestic animals, sheep may not always be available in the kitchens of other princes and nobles.

However, the Minister of Food of the Shaofu, who was responsible for the diet of the First Emperor, must always have sheep, or raise a small number of sheep at any time.

After all, if the First Emperor said he wanted to eat mutton, then as the Minister of Food, he must not say that there is no mutton for the First Emperor.

If this situation really happens, then the Minister of Food might die.

Looking at the background of Zhao Gao looking for sheep, Qin Emperor Ying Zheng looked up at Prince Fusu on the sky again.

If wool can really be spun into wool and woven into clothes as Prince Fusu said.

Then the huge profits contained in wool are really enough for the Qin Dynasty to start a war for it..