The data provided by Butler Su was similar to what Ang Lee had guessed. The rice processed by the rice shelling workshop in front of him could feed 50,000 to 100,000 people in a day. There were millions of people in the capital, so at least 50 such large processing workshops were needed to meet the needs of the capital. It was obvious that most of the processing workshops were not as large as the Su Family's processing workshop. Naturally, the number of rice shelling workshops needed to be larger. There were still 100 rice shelling workshops, and it was even possible to reach 200.
As for how many rice shelling workshops there were in the capital, he only needed to go to the relevant government offices to ask. They should have statistics, but it didn't seem to be very meaningful. He only needed to know the approximate number.
Research and development and production of machines would inevitably require a lot of manpower, but after the machines were successfully developed, a lot of manpower could be saved. This would allow the released manpower to enter new workshops, thus alleviating the shortage of manpower in the capital. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with developing more machines. The advantages would always outweigh the disadvantages.
There were now one to two hundred rice shelling workshops in the capital. Such a large scale had at least provided employment for more than 10,000 people, which contributed greatly to the prosperity of the capital. In addition to rice shelling workshops in the capital, there were also corn and other crops shelling workshops in the capital. For example, corn shelling workshops were also not small in scale, and the number of people employed might not be lower than rice shelling workshops.
Corn was a new crop planted in the Tang Dynasty in recent years. It was imported from America and was also one of the most affordable crops brought to the Tang Dynasty after Ang Lee opened up the New World.
Sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes were very popular in the Tang Dynasty because they were all high-yielding crops. Moreover, they had low requirements for the fertility of the land and excellent drought tolerance, which was better than many of the native crops in the Tang Dynasty.
Sweet potatoes and potatoes were mainly stored in the cellar, or sliced and dried in the sun. Corn was stored directly in the sun. However, corn was stored in two ways: corn kernels and corn cobs. Corn cobs were stored in the way they looked when they were harvested, while corn kernels were the product after corn cobs were processed.
Compared to storing corn kernels, storing corn kernels was naturally more effective. After all, the granary also had a capacity. Storing corn kernels could be stored more, but storing corn cobs would take up too much space in the warehouse, resulting in a limited number of corn kernels stored in the warehouse.
At this time, the people in the capital were busy with work and didn't have much time to peel corn kernels, so they were more willing to buy corn kernels, or even corn flour or corn kernels after corn kernels were processed.
When cooking, corn kernels were not easy to boil, so it was better to sell them after cutting them into pieces.... and corn flour could be used to cook corn porridge. In short, the people liked to directly buy ready-made products instead of buying corn cobs..... Merchants and grain farmers had to first process the harvested corn kernels into products that could be directly used for cooking......
Grinding corn flour could be done with a stone mill, but the efficiency was relatively low, far less than the speed of a machine. To turn corn cobs into corn kernels, it was also manually rubbed off, which was very labor-intensive. Of course, compared to small grain crops like rice, the yield of corn kernels was naturally higher.
However, processing corn kernels couldn't rely on the power of livestock. It could only be done manually, which consumed a lot of people's physical strength. Doing this work was tiring, especially the two hands, which were the most tired. It was simply tired and painful. If people with delicate skin were to peel corn kernels, it wouldn't take long for their palms to be worn out.
In addition to the palms, the second was the arms. Because when the palms were rubbing hard, the arms were the most powerful. After rubbing for a long time, the arms would naturally be sore. Both the palms and the arms would be sore. These were the two biggest problems that one had to face when peeling corn kernels. If one didn't work for a long time, they wouldn't be able to bear it.
As for how the people peeling corn in the capital worked, one could only know by going to such a workshop in person. Ang Lee wanted to go and see how hard it was to peel corn kernels.
"Butler Su, does your Su family have any other food besides rice and rice?"
Ang Lee asked.
Butler Su shook his head and said, "Assistant Minister Li, our Su family specializes in rice and rice. We don't care about any other food."
Ang Lee nodded and continued to walk forward. He felt that if the Su family was in the business of corn, he could just go and have a look. But after thinking about it carefully, the possibility of the Su family being in the business of corn was too small. Jiangnan was a landscape with a water network, which was very suitable for the growth of aquatic plants like rice. It would be too wasteful to plant corn in Jiangnan because corn had strong drought resistance. In an area with a water network, corn's advantages couldn't be reflected. Moreover, the price of rice was much more expensive than that of corn.
It would be a loss for them. But Guanzhong was different. The water system here was far less developed than that of Jiangnan. The dry land without water was rich in resources. It was impossible to grow rice on such dry land, but it was very suitable to grow corn, a very drought-resistant plant. It could maximize the use of the dry land resources in Guanzhong and increase the grain output of the Tang Empire.
Nowadays, many regions in the world were short of food, but the Tang Empire was not only not short of food, but also had a large surplus. With enough storage, many merchants of the Tang Empire turned their eyes to the distant western market. The main reason for the shortage of food in the western region was the continuous conflict. In the western region of the Western Region of the Tang Empire, due to the strong interference of the Tang Empire, this region had always been in a relatively loose and balanced state. In this way, there was no possibility of unifying this region and forming a unified empire. Although these small forces could basically maintain peace on the surface, it was inevitable that there would be some contradictions and frictions among so many small countries, especially disputes over territory and interests. These disputes could easily lead to armed conflicts, which was to say, frequent wars.
Because the strength of each country was limited and they did not want to lose all their capital, and because the Tang Empire was mediating and maintaining the peace, these wars were relatively short and would not last too long. Even after fighting for less than a month, they withdrew their troops under the mediation of the officials of the Tang Empire.
Although armed conflicts would be suppressed quickly, frequent short-term wars would consume a lot of the country's strength. Moreover, since the Tang Empire could mediate every time, wouldn't they collect some benefits? This benefit was collected from both sides, which was also a kind of loss to the national strength of these small countries. Once a war broke out, the production of the common people would definitely be affected. For example, during a conflict, a kingdom set a fire and burned all the grain that the opposing force had just matured and had not had time to harvest. The loss could be imagined. If the resident officials of the Tang Empire did not send the news back to the capital and let the merchants in the capital transport the grain to sell, it was estimated that more than half of the common people in this small country would have starved to death.
Of course, the merchants were able to transport the grain to the small countries in the west to sell it because of the convenience of railway transportation. Without the railway, the merchants would never transport the grain to such a far place. After all, the cost of ordinary transportation was too expensive. Even if they sold the grain at ten times the price, they would not be able to recoup the cost. However, if they transported the grain by railway, they could make a profit by selling it at three times the price. As long as they could sell it at five times the price, they would make a big profit. In an area with a food crisis, even if they sold it at ten times the price, their business would still be prosperous. For the common people, nothing was more important than filling their stomachs. Only by filling their stomachs could they survive.
Since the Su family did not deal in corn, Ang Lee could only ask the low-ranking official beside him, "Where is the corn threshing workshop?"
The low-ranking official said, "Assistant Minister Li, there is one nearby. It's only two miles away, but it's not big. There are only 30 to 50 people there."
"Okay, let's go there."
Ang Lee left the rice shelling workshop of the Su family and went to the corn threshing workshop not too far away.
Two li was too close. They arrived almost as soon as they got on the carriage. This workshop was obviously much smaller, and there were fewer people working inside. There were only a few donkeys as livestock. These donkeys were not used for processing, but were used to pull carts. These donkeys would pull carts filled with corn kernels to the shops where corn kernels could be sold.
"Assistant Minister Li, this is the corn threshing workshop. The one at the door is Steward Zhao. This workshop belongs to the Zhao family in Guanzhong. The Zhao family is in Xianyang, not too far from the capital. They have ten thousand mu of dry land. In addition, in addition to selling the corn produced by their own family, they also buy the grain of ordinary small farmers at a low price to make a profit."
The low-ranking official said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "The Zhao family is indeed not far from Xianyang. With ten thousand mu of dry land, they can harvest at least 50,000 kernels of corn a year. Maybe more than 100,000 kernels."
The official hurriedly explained, "Assistant Minister Li, the son of the Zhao family is a good friend of mine. I'm aware of their family's situation. Out of the ten thousand mu of dry land, only thirty percent is corn. They can't harvest so many corn kernels."
"Oh, then what else do they grow?"
Ang Lee asked.
The low-ranking official replied, "In addition to corn, 30% of their land is sweet potatoes. They only have one thousand mu of sweet potatoes. The remaining grain is even less, but there are many varieties. In addition, they have one thousand mu of vegetable land. They grow various kinds of green vegetables, at least dozens of varieties."
"Oh, this Zhao family is interesting! They grow so many varieties of grain. It's quite comprehensive! "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
After getting off the train, the steward of the Zhao family hurriedly came up to them. When he heard of Ang Lee's identity, he was so scared that he knelt down.
"I'm just here to take a look at the kernels processed here."
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Steward Zhao hurriedly led the way when he heard this.
"Where are the people working? Why are there only five or six people? "
Ang Lee asked when he saw that there were only five or six people working in the workshop.
Steward Zhao replied, "Assistant Minister Li, the people working are all above this room. They need to go up the stairs."
Ang Lee heard this and walked into the room that Steward Zhao mentioned. He immediately saw the scene that couldn't be seen from the outside. At the same time, he understood why the people working were above.
In this room, there were a large number of sacks. Five or six people were working nervously. They divided up the work and placed the sacks under the hole in the roof. There was a relatively thick flexible pipe under the hole in the roof. This pipe could accommodate kernels sliding down from above. As long as the other end of the pipe was stuffed into the sack, the kernels could smoothly fall into the sack. Then, they would tie the opening and change the sack. This way, the work was easier and more efficient. Basically, they could fill up a sack in a short while.
What, if you're worried that kernels will fall to the ground when you change the sack? Then you're worrying too much. This pipe is flexible. You only need to bend it slightly and the pipe will be temporarily blocked. Not a single kernel will fall to the ground.
If you don't use this method, the kernels would need to be manually loaded and unloaded bit by bit. That would be troublesome. Not only would it be inefficient, but it would also be a great test of one's physical strength.
Seeing the situation in the room, Ang Lee could already guess what the scene above was. But since he was already here, it was good to go up and take a look.
The Zhao family's young butler led the way in front. Li An and a few of his attendants followed him and soon arrived at the room on the upper floor.
There were about thirty people in this room. They were divided into two circles, each with about fifteen people. Most of them were sitting on stools and peeling corn with their hands, while the rest of the people were going to fetch corn from a distance and put it in front of the people who were peeling corn. This way, the people who were peeling corn would not be too lazy to work. In the middle of the circle formed by more than ten people, there was naturally a hole. The corn that they peeled would fall directly on the hole and around the hole. The people next to them only needed to push a few times, and the corn would fall into the hole. Naturally, there was a sack waiting for them below.
Although the people who peeled kernels used their hands, they didn't completely use their fingers to pick the kernels. That would be too tiring, and there was no guarantee of efficiency. However, the people who did the work quickly found a very ingenious way, which was to use the discarded kernels to rub the kernels. This way, the efficiency would be higher. The most difficult part of rubbing the kernels was at the beginning, because all the kernels were fully distributed. It was very difficult to rub the kernels. As long as the kernels at the beginning were rubbed off, it was relatively easy to rub the kernels.
In the Tang dynasty, before pesticides were popularized, any crop would be infested with insects. Naturally, corn was no exception. The infested kernels had no appearance and had to be removed before they were sold. However, this was the problem of the peddlers. They worked very quickly and really didn't have the time to remove the small number of bad kernels among the kernels.
In addition to the bad kernels that were damaged by the insects, there were also some small kernels that were not fully developed, which would also affect the appearance. These could be sifted out with a sieve to ensure the purity of the corn, so that the kernels could be sold at a higher price.
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