Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

She went on to say, "Actually, this price is a bit high, because there are few people in Liuyang Prefecture who grow cotton, so of this twenty cents price, at least fifteen cents are for the cost of transporting it back."

Yu Zhengqing nodded in agreement. He had recently looked into the price of cotton, and just as Shen Zheng had said, cotton was not expensive; what was expensive was the cost of transporting it.

But it is not cost-effective to let the residents of the prefecture or county grow cotton, which is not as good as growing grains. What's more, now they have high-yield rice. Who would be willing to grow cotton and other grains?

So, they have to talk about purchasing cotton!

Whether it is the cost price of cotton in the producing area or the cost of transporting the cotton back to Liuyang Prefecture, there is still room for negotiation.

This is not a one-time deal for them. They will not buy once and will not continue to buy. As time goes by, the demand for cotton will only increase.

And Shen Zheng had another idea in his mind.

That is, when they can purchase cotton stably, they can also start making winter cotton-padded clothes and quilts.

Nowadays, some people have animal furs passed down from their ancestors to help them get through the winter, so they can take turns wearing them when several people go out.

But those who had no money or fur clothes at home had to put on clothes from previous seasons in three layers inside and three layers outside to keep warm.

Of course they know that cotton can keep you warm, but there is no way they can buy it!

The cotton that could be transported back was all high-priced cotton. Shen Zheng was able to get cotton at 20 cents per pound, firstly because of the way Hu Li opened up, and secondly because of her title as the county magistrate.

Who dares to make too much money from her?

But if ordinary people buy it, then the price will be different. It is not cost-effective by this calculation. It is better to wrap it in three layers inside and three layers outside!

At this time, Yu Zhengqing also had an idea in his mind.

As the prefect, he possesses much more power than Shen Zheng, and has more advantages in purchasing cotton.

Therefore, it would be most cost-effective and worry-free if the matter of purchasing cotton were handed over to the government office.

But after all, this textile machine was made in Tongan County, so we have to discuss it with Shen Zheng no matter what.

He said, "In fact, even if you buy this cotton at 20 wen per pound, you can still make money after weaving it into cloth, right?"

Although Shen Zheng told him in the letter at that time that the cotton cloth was only for the benefit of the people, Tongan County had gone to great lengths to build the textile machine, and the subsequent weaving and clothing production also required capital, so it was impossible for them to make no profit at all.

Shen Zheng pondered for a moment after hearing this. In fact, she had already calculated this in her mind.

She looked at the cotton being woven bit by bit on the loom and replied, "Your Excellency knows that the price of fine linen in the market is about two hundred coins per piece, and the cotton we are weaving now is more comfortable and durable than fine linen."

Yu Zhengqing nodded, otherwise the craftsmen of his Great Zhou would not be so obsessed with textile machines that could weave cotton cloth.

Shen Zheng continued, "But I have already told you that my humble servant's original intention in building the textile machine was to benefit the people, so the price of cotton cloth must be much lower than that of linen cloth. Otherwise, how could I benefit the people?"

"So what do you mean, how much does a piece of cotton cloth cost?"

Yu Zhengqing thought that the price of this cotton cloth should not be too high, but he did not expect that Shen Zheng would directly promise that the price of cotton cloth would be much lower than that of fine linen.

Shen Zheng shook her head. "I don't know yet. I'll discuss this with you after Master Qiao finishes weaving this piece of cloth."

Only then did Yu Zhengqing realize that he was too impatient. The first piece of cotton cloth had not yet been woven. Who could know how much cotton cloth could be woven from one pound of cotton?

He stopped talking and watched Master Qiao and his apprentice weaving cloth attentively.

The four people present all focused their thoughts on the loom. As the loom sang, the cotton cloth gradually took shape.

One, two, three times, the warp thread on the bamboo strip was used up.

After pulling the last few racks, Joe stopped.

He looked at the piece of woven cotton cloth on the loom, suppressed the joy in his heart, turned around and nodded to Shen Zheng and the others.

The first roll of cotton! Made in just one go by Old Joe!

Shen Zheng and Yu Zhengqing looked at each other, their breathing quickened, and there was unstoppable joy in their eyes.

Yu Zhengqing felt like he was dreaming, and this became...

This gave him the illusion that weaving cotton cloth was not difficult, but if it was really not difficult, how could his Great Zhou craftsmen have made no progress for many years.

He took the lead and walked forward, stretched out the back of his hand, and gently rubbed the cotton cloth. Feeling the touch of the cotton cloth, Yu Zhengqing was stunned and murmured, "It's as soft as cotton."

Shen Zheng looked at his reaction and walked forward and stretched out the back of her hand to try.

When she touched it, her brows slightly frowned.

If she was a native of the Great Zhou Dynasty and had never seen real cotton, she would be impressed by the soft touch of the cotton cloth, just like Yu Zhengqing.

After all, this soft skin-friendly feeling is much better than linen.

But she was not a native of the Great Zhou, and she had seen real cotton cloth a long time ago.

Really good cotton is just as good as ordinary silk, and feels as soft as a baby's skin.

But she also knew that they were just starting out, the cotton thread was thicker and had not been starched, so it was normal for it to feel a little stiff. If there were any problems, they could just improve it step by step.

Everyone worked hard to make this first piece of cotton cloth, so she shouldn't be too harsh on him.

Shen Zheng thought about it and smiled, and said to Yu Zhengqing: "Sir, just now Old Qiao also said that the cotton thread for weaving cloth has not been starched and washed. If it can be starched and aired before being used for weaving cloth, it will feel even better on the skin."

Old Qiao also agreed and said, "What the girl said is right. If we do the previous process more carefully, the woven cotton cloth will be better!"

After he finished speaking, he stood up and took down the woven cotton cloth with Cheng Yu.

When he built the textile loom before, he had already adjusted the loom so that a piece of cotton cloth woven by this loom was the same size as the linen on the market.

He handed the cotton cloth to Shen Zheng and said, "One piece of cotton cloth uses about two kilograms of cotton."

Shen Zheng handed the cotton cloth in her hand to Yu Zhengqing and said to him, "Two kilograms of cotton, if we weave one piece of cotton cloth now, the cost of the material alone is forty coins."

Yu Zhengqing seemed not to hear her words, and his whole body was immersed in the touch of the cotton cloth in his hands.

Instead, when Mr. Qiao heard Shen Zheng's words, he quickly reached out and covered his ears.

Can he hear this?

Shen Zheng saw his reaction and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She reached out and pulled his hand down. "In the future, we will have to rely on you to make textile machines. You should listen to what I say!"

After hearing this, Mr. Qiao felt so happy that his face was full of wrinkles when he smiled.

After more than a month in Tongan County, he has long regarded this place as his second home.

He couldn't help but think, since he still had to build textile machines in the future, why not just... stay?

In short, he had nothing in Liuyang Mansion except a house, so he might as well stay in Tongan County.

I don't know whether the girl is willing or not.