Since ancient times, there had been a saying that there was heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below. This meant that Suzhou and Hangzhou were beautiful, prosperous, and rich. It was a good place to live and work in peace and contentment. It was neither cold nor hot, and the rain was abundant. It was very suitable for the growth of rice and other crops. The developed water network terrain made the transportation of goods very convenient, and the transportation cost was relatively low. This led to the development of commerce here, and in any area with developed commerce, the lives of the people would be relatively rich.
No matter from the perspective of climate, farmland, transportation, resources, and other aspects, Suzhou and Hangzhou had all the advantages. Therefore, if this was not heaven, how could it be called heaven?
The people living in Suzhou and Hangzhou were happy, not only because the climate here was more pleasant, but also because the chances of famine were very low. Unlike Guanzhong and the Central Plains, where drought and locust plague happened frequently, the weather here had always been relatively smooth, and the chances of natural disasters were very low. The output of grain had always been higher than their consumption. Therefore, since ancient times, Suzhou and Hangzhou had to use their own grain to supplement the capital in the north. Most of the grain in the capital was supplemented by Suzhou and Hangzhou in Jiangnan.
The Tang dynasty had many granaries. Among them, the most important one was the granaries in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Suzhou and Hangzhou. Once there was a rebellion or it was occupied by hostile forces, it would be a very serious crisis for any dynasty. Any dynasty had to control Suzhou and Hangzhou in Jiangnan. Otherwise, their own financial and food sources would be very limited, which was very disadvantageous for the ruling class to rule the whole country.
Suzhou and Hangzhou were granaries and a very good place for retirement and leisure. However, this was not the administrative center of the empire, nor was it the most developed commercial center. If one wanted to earn more money and have better development, they had to go to the capital to establish themselves. The capital had the most population and administrative resources. Opening a shop in the capital would definitely be better than opening a shop in Suzhou and Hangzhou.
Therefore, the Su family, who had been operating in Suzhou for hundreds of years, opened their business in the capital a few decades ago. In recent years, the population in the capital had skyrocketed, and business was unusually prosperous. Therefore, they seized the opportunity and directly moved part of the granaries to the capital, and set up a rice husking workshop near the granaries in the capital. In the past, their granaries and rice husking workshops were all in Suzhou. After the rice was processed in Suzhou, it was transported to the capital for sale. The rice was also directly sold in the capital, and there was no need to process it in the capital.
After all, if they still used the previous method, they would miss out on a lot of opportunities to make money. If they transported too much, they would be worried that they wouldn't be able to sell out in a short period of time. It might even cause the rice to be spoiled by worms. If they transported too little, it would cause the rice to be sold out very quickly and the store would suffer losses. Moreover, this still required the continuous transportation of rice throughout the year. The cost of transportation in batches was obviously higher. During the rainy season, the loss of transportation wasn't small. If there were strong winds and torrential rain, it would be even worse. It might even cause the ship to capsize. Only by directly placing the warehouse in the capital could they avoid these bad results. Compared to this, the high manpower in the capital seemed to be not worth mentioning. Of course, if they could use machines to peel the rice, it would be even more cost-effective.
"There are a lot of people working in this workshop!"
Ang Lee took a look and said.
The Su family's housekeeper already knew of Ang Lee's identity and hurriedly said, "Assistant Minister Li, our workshop has a total of 150 people, 120 donkeys, and 100 rotary mills. At most, we can produce 500 kernels of rice a day. Although this is not the best in the capital, it is definitely in the top ten."
"En, 500 kernels. Not bad, this output is not bad."
Ang Lee praised, but in his heart, he did not think so. This workshop used 150 people and 120 donkeys. At most, they could produce this much rice a day. It was really not enough. If they used machines, the amount of rice processed would far exceed this.
The main reason Ang Lee praised them was that they had already used the best method. In this place where water power could not be used, using a combination of livestock and manpower to shell the rice was already the best method they could think of. This was the best method they could think of.
In this workshop, the 150 people were constantly busy. The 100 millstones were all rotating. Only the 120 donkeys were resting and eating grass in the shed. These donkeys were substitutes and needed to be rotated. Otherwise, the donkeys would be tired to death. After all, the donkeys were the source of power to move the millstones and were also the most tired. The manual labor was relatively light work. They had to lower their heads from time to time to clean the rice chaff and whip the donkeys that could not walk. They even had to take the donkeys away and replace them with a well-rested donkey to continue working.
One worker corresponded to one donkey and one millstone. As for the extra 50 people, they were also very busy. Some of them were adding grass and water to the donkey shed, some were pushing carts to the rice warehouse to get rice, some were transporting the rice that had just been processed to the place where the rice was stored, and some were cleaning the rice chaff and piling it to a fixed place in the yard. The rice chaff was also useful. There would be specialized personnel who would come to buy it. Naturally, the price was very low. Basically, it could not be sold for much money, but it was still a source of income. It was better than nothing.
The daily salary of these 150 workers should not be a small amount. The consumption of the 120 donkeys was also not small. However, they could process 500 kernels of rice every day. Compared to the profit from selling the rice, this expenditure was still affordable. It was just that the profit would be greatly reduced. If they used machines, they could really save a lot of money.
Ang Lee walked in step by step. Although the smell inside was not very good, it was still bearable. In order to prevent the food from being dirty, all the donkeys had a cloth bag on their buttocks. In this way, when the donkeys pooped, they could directly fall into the cloth bag and not fall into the shelled rice, ensuring the quality of the rice.
The donkeys liked to swing their tails habitually, so Ang Lee had to be a little further away from the donkeys. Otherwise, it would be easy for him to be swung. The ponytail was very dirty. If it was swung, the clothes would have to be washed.
These donkeys walked slowly under the manual drive. They seemed to have completely understood what the best speed was, so their speed of pulling the millstone was not fast or slow. They always maintained a relatively fixed speed. A hundred donkeys walked at almost the same speed. If these donkeys were taken to a military parade, they would be able to walk very neatly with a little training.
The weight of the millstone was at least 100 jin. Moreover, it was relatively wide. The greater the weight, the greater the pressure. The wider the bottom was to distribute the pressure evenly. If the bottom was narrow, it would not be threshing the rice, but directly crushing the rice into powder. In this way, there would be no rice, only rice husks.
The weight of these millstones, the contact area between the bottom of the millstone and the groove, the thickness of the connecting rod, and the thickness of the central rod were all finally determined after many tests. Not only did they have to consider the resistance of the rice husk, the resistance of the rice inside the rice husk, but they also had to consider the bearing capacity of the wood, the continuous pulling of the donkey, and how to achieve the maximum processing volume. After balancing all factors, the final result was the best result.
These small millstones were really amazing. They could actually process rice husk into rice. The most important thing was that they did not destroy the rice husk. After breaking the husk, the rice was still intact. This was very commendable. Also, the control of strength was better. If it was too light, it would not break the husk, but if it was too heavy, it would crush the rice inside. It was neither too light nor too heavy, it was just right.
A worker who was working gently squatted down and quickly pulled open the rice husk in the groove. He grabbed a handful of rice and carefully observed it for a moment. Then, he pulled the reins and let the donkey stop.
Seeing that the donkey had stopped, another person immediately pushed a small cart over. This small cart was not big. It was a single-wheeled cart. It was very nimble, and its load was estimated to be at most two kilos. After the cart stopped, the two of them began to use the most primitive small tools to load the crushed rice in the groove into the small single-wheeled cart. After loading, the rice was transported outside, and then to the large transport cart. The large transport cart could transport a total of 20 kilos. Its transport capacity was ten times that of the small single-wheeled cart. It was mainly responsible for transporting the full amount of rice to the rice warehouse.
"Has the rice husk been completely removed? How is the removal effect? "
Ang Lee opened his mouth and asked.
This was because it was impossible to accurately crush every single rice husk into rice. There would always be some that were not completely crushed. There were also some that had part of the husk removed, but there were still some husks stuck to the rice husk. Of course, there were also some that were broken rice. In other words, the rice husk was crushed.
The quality of rice processing naturally had a corresponding standard. The purer the rice, the less rice husk and the less broken rice, the higher the quality of the rice. If there was too much rice husk and a lot of broken rice, then it would be classified as low quality rice. When it was sold, the price would definitely be different.
For example, if the work was done quickly, the rice husk might not be processed cleanly, and the rice would be mixed with more rice husk and broken rice. If the quality was maintained and the rice husk and broken rice were reduced, then the crushing time would have to be increased. The efficiency of the rice husk processing would also decrease imperceptibly. There was an optimal balance point, and this balance point needed to be explored and tried. It was very difficult to grasp, and it had to be adjusted according to the market situation. For example, if the price difference between high quality rice and low quality rice was higher, then the efficiency would be reduced correspondingly to maintain the quality. If the price difference between high quality and low quality rice was not big, then the efficiency would have to be prioritized to ensure the greatest benefits.
"Replying to Assistant Minister Li, there will definitely be some rice husk and broken rice. When it is transported to the rice shop to be sold, someone will use a sieve to sift out the fine broken rice. If there is time, the rice husk will also be cleaned. If it can be cleaned out, then it will be sold as high quality rice. If it is not cleaned, then it will be lowered by a grade. The broken rice will be even cheaper."
The Su family's housekeeper opened his mouth and said.
"En, let me take a look."
Ang Lee said as he walked to the side of a small cart. He reached his hand in and grabbed a handful of rice. After careful inspection, the effect of the husk removal was not bad. There were only three to five rice husks that were not completely removed, and the proportion of broken rice was also very small. Basically, it did not affect anything. This could be considered as a relatively good husk removal.
In Ang Lee's impression, when he was a child, there would always be rice husk in the rice that he ate, but the proportion was not much. Sometimes, he would eat grains of sand, mung beans, and other hard foreign objects. He would always inadvertently knock his teeth and hurt them. This was enough to show that there would always be some accidents during the husk removal process, and the rice would not be so clean. When the rice grew up, with the advancement of processing machinery, there would be no rice husk, grains of sand, mung beans, and other debris in the rice. Even broken rice was almost impossible to see. Every grain of rice was so smooth and complete. After steaming, it looked very appetizing.
"Not bad, not bad. It is already very clean, haha!"
Li An smiled and continued to weave through the crowd of people working. He looked at these people who were working.
As the most physically exhausting work was replaced by the donkey, these people were not too tired. In addition, the weather was cold, so people who were sweating profusely could not be seen. However, there were still a lot of people who were sweating slightly. Even if the weather was cold, when doing some work, the body would still sweat slightly. This was unavoidable.
"Hey, isn't this Shuang 'er's father? Why are you doing this? Aren't you planting trees for people?"
Ang Lee walked around and saw an acquaintance. It was also the father of Shuang 'er whom he had met some time ago. The foolish man who was cheated by the foreman and helped the foreman count the money. He did not expect that after not seeing him for a few days, he would actually go to work in the rice husk workshop.
When the man saw Ang Lee, he was quite excited and did not know what to say. After laughing foolishly for a long time, he stuttered and said, "The foreman left, and the people planting trees also dispersed. Many of the people planting trees have changed careers. This place is recruiting people, so I came. The monthly salary is not a lie."
"En, do well, do well, haha!"
Ang Lee replied with a smile. He turned his head and saw Little Butler Su's proud face. Their processing workshop never bullied the workers. As long as they worked well, their wages would not be reduced. They were doing big business, so they did not care about this small amount of money.
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