Chapter 3: The Five-Year Plan (Part 3)

“As long as the system is established, in theory, any equipment can be made,” Wang Luobin said.

“That’s too idealistic,” Wen Desi said. “Let’s first talk about what enterprises we currently need, and then see what the machinery factory can support.”

“Light industry hasn’t really developed yet, but I think light industry will be a major part of foreign trade in the future, and it’s also necessary to improve our own living conditions and those of our subjects,” said Mo Xiao’an, the new minister of the Ministry of Light Industry.

Mo Xiao’an’s appointment as the Minister of Light Industry was a rather unexpected event. This person had been an unknown basic laborer after D-Day. Because of his good physical strength and his long-term military enthusiasm, he had always been a core militiaman of the transmigrators. After his appointment was announced, the masses generally speculated that his bachelor’s degree in administrative management and his master’s degree in law had confused the Executive Committee.

In any case, like a large number of cadres promoted after the institutional adjustment, he was very enthusiastic about his new position. In preparation for this meeting, he proposed a huge five-year plan for light industry.

First is the sewing needle. This product certainly existed in ancient times. The advantage of the transmigrators was that they could use machines for mass production, and their advantages in raw materials and processing accuracy were incomparable to the craftsmen of this time and space. Although the unit price of sewing needles was extremely low, the cost was small and the profit was large. Moreover, it was widely used and shipped in large quantities. After being dumped in large quantities to the mainland, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, the profit would also be very considerable after forming a scale effect. In time, it could even be re-exported to Europe.

“Is it difficult to make sewing needles?”

“Hehe, sewing needles are so simple that they can be made by hand,” Wang Luobin said. “But I know that in enterprises, they are all made with automatic machine tools.”

Modern sewing needles are made from wire rods produced by rolling mills. First, they are drawn to the required diameter, then cut to the length of two needles, and then the two ends are sharpened. The next step, the eye-making process, punches one rod into two needles. The process involves straightening the steel wire, stamping—punching the eye of the needle into a round cake shape with a diameter of about 4mm, then punching out the eyelet, then stamping the characters and the thread groove—trimming to remove excess parts—sharpening (in several steps)—deburring—grinding—polishing, and finally polishing again, before being packaged and shipped.

“That’s right, it’s an electromechanical controlled automatic machine tool production line. This equipment even has a patent.”

“Can it be copied? I think the design drawings should be available. The patent law doesn’t apply here.”

Zhan Wuya shook his head. “It’s definitely impossible to completely copy an automatic machine tool, but it’s possible to manufacture special equipment.”

“That’s also acceptable. The production efficiency will just be a little lower. But no matter how low it is, it can’t be lower than the craftsmen who hammer and grind by hand.”

“Then there’s the textile industry. It shouldn’t be difficult to copy 19th-century textile machinery like the spinning jenny, right? We can purchase local raw cotton for processing. Once we have high-quality cotton yarn, besides producing ordinary cotton cloth, we should also see if there are any breakthroughs in color and texture. Therefore, we need to establish both a weaving and a dyeing factory—”

“Let me interrupt,” Wen Desi interjected. “I have a different opinion. In my view, the textile industry should not be on too large a scale.”

“But cloth is a basic necessity of life,” someone immediately objected. “It’s also very popular for export.”

“Let me finish.”

Wen Desi first drew their attention to the fact that since their landing, at least in Lingao County, they had not found any large-scale cotton cultivation. The local cotton cloth was mostly made from the flowers collected from woody, perennial wild cotton plants. Although the quality was not bad, this kind of raw material supply could only adapt to small-scale household handicraft production.

Hainan Island itself was not suitable for large-scale cultivation of upland cotton. Although this was the birthplace of the Chinese cotton textile industry, for a long time, the cotton textile industry was basically just a small-scale sideline of the Li people and had not formed a large-scale cotton textile industry. The production technology of Songjiang cloth in the Ming Dynasty was first introduced from Hainan Island, but the cotton textile industry formed an industry in Songjiang—”clothing the world,” while Hainan’s Qiong cloth had long been just a “local specialty.”

Once the transmigrators established a large-scale textile industry, in order to ensure the supply of raw materials, they would have to plant cotton in this place that was not very suitable for large-scale cotton cultivation.

“And the cotton textile industry itself faces very fierce competition,” Wen Desi added.

From the perspective of the Ming Dynasty itself, there was the behemoth of Songjiang cloth. The pervasiveness of Songjiang cloth could be seen from the gifts the transmigrators had received more than once: the high-grade cloth was almost all from Songjiang.

Looking at the whole of East Asia and Southeast Asia, there was the strong competitor of Indian cotton cloth transported by the East India Company. Indian cotton cloth was not only of good quality, but its dyeing and printing technology also had its own unique features. It was very popular all over the world at that time and was one of the main trade goods of the East India Company.

Finally, there were all kinds of locally produced cotton cloths, which were coarse cloths handmade by farmers themselves. This kind of thing had always been the strongest fortress against foreign goods. Even the cheap and high-quality Indian cotton cloth never opened up the market in China. From the 17th century, the various textiles transported and sold by the East India Company to China never opened up a market, and some goods even had to be sold on credit for two or three years before they could be sold out.

“If we establish a huge cotton textile industry, who are we going to sell the cloth to?” Wen Desi asked forcefully.

“The local people will also have a great demand in the future—”

Xiao Zishan said, “That will be in the very late stage. Expanding domestic demand is not something that can be done in a day or two. The current light industry production can only pay attention to two points: self-use and export.”

“That’s right, so the scale of our cotton textile industry can only be limited to meeting our own needs.”

“Supplying the transmigrators, the army, the laborers… these people?”

“Why not outsource the processing!” Wang Luobin said. “We can sell some new-style manual cotton textile machinery on credit to the textile farm households, help them improve the quality of their products, increase the variety, and then purchase the homespun cloth from them for our own use.”

“This can also circulate the coupons!” Yan Ming, the newly appointed head of the “Delong Grain Company,” was in favor. This person was in favor of anything that would expand the use of the coupons.

“We can also import Indian cotton cloth and Songjiang cotton cloth. This can achieve a balance of trade. Otherwise, what’s the use of exchanging all our export goods for gold and silver?”

“Agreed!”

Li Haiping objected, “No, no.” He reminded everyone, “The navy’s canvas hasn’t been solved yet. Can your industrial department solve the ship’s prime mover within a year? If you can solve this, it doesn’t matter. Otherwise, what will Chief Wen use to make the sails for those Western-style sailing ships he wants to build?”

“We can import it.”

“Canvas is a strategic material. The Ming Dynasty doesn’t produce this stuff. What if we go to war with the Europeans and they impose a canvas embargo on us?” Li Haiping continued.

Wen Desi nodded. “That’s true. I was negligent. It seems that a textile factory is still needed.”

Indeed, canvas has too many uses. It’s not as simple as just being used for sails. Its texture is strong, wear-resistant, dense, and thick, and it also has a certain waterproof performance. The ancient Romans used it extensively to make military tents. The first modern parachute was also made of canvas. Because of its strong and wear-resistant properties, it is also widely used to make labor protection clothing, to replace leather to make military equipment, and comfortable and durable canvas shoes…

Mo Xiao’an sorted out his thoughts. “Like this: spinning will adopt the putting-out system. We will sell the machines on credit to the processing households, and we will collect the cotton yarn. Then we will set up a small special products textile factory to produce canvas, towels, and knitted goods.” The latter two were urgently needed by the transmigrators, and towels would also be of great use in improving the sanitary conditions of the transmigrators’ subjects.

“We also need a printing and dyeing factory,” Wang Luobin added.

“Hehe, not just a printing and dyeing factory,” Wen Desi said. “Actually, it’s best for us to control the processing of raw cotton ourselves, not for monopoly. If we let the common people process the raw cotton themselves, it’s difficult to guarantee the quality of the cotton yarn produced. It’s necessary to set up a carding factory to clean and grade the raw cotton, and then subcontract it to the processing households.”

“The machines for weaving towels and knitted goods are very simple. I’ve helped people with that before,” Zhan Wuya said. “But I don’t know anything about carding machines. I don’t even know what kind of machine to use to weave canvas.”

“Carding machines are easy. The structure is very simple. I’ll draw it out later,” Wang Luobin said confidently. “Theoretically, making canvas should be the same as other cotton textiles, but the warp and weft yarns are all multi-stranded.”

“Let’s recruit some craftsmen from Europe. Besides canvas makers, we also need professional workers who can sew canvas. These are all not to be found in China,” Wen Desi said.

“I just don’t know if the local raw cotton production is enough.”

“For small-scale use, it should be enough. If not, we can import cotton yarn from Songjiang,” Wen Desi said. “Or let the British provide it.”

The technology of the printing and dyeing industry is relatively simple and does not require too complicated machinery and equipment. The transmigrators did not intend to use cotton cloth as a commodity, so they did not need to invest too much in this area.

With the cotton textile industry, the establishment of a unified clothing factory was also put on the agenda.

The main purpose of the clothing factory was for self-use. The local common people would not buy ready-made clothes, shoes, and hats unless the price was cheap enough or they were silk clothes that they could not make themselves. The fact that there was only one tailor in the county town proved this point.

At present, there is a clothing factory in Bairen Commune, which is composed of women recruited by Wu De from the commune. Several female transmigrators who can use sewing machines serve as technical instructors. They can make cloth shoes, straw sandals, uniforms, hats, work clothes, underwear, quilts, and cotton socks, but the scale is very small. In addition, there is a leather craftsman who specializes in making various leather equipment for the army.

In Mo Xiao’an’s plan, the scale of the clothing factory was to be expanded. In the future, as the scale of the army and laborers continued to expand, and with the influx of a large number of immigrants from other places, the clothing of these people would need to be updated. The transmigrator group’s demand for clothing would grow exponentially.