Chapter 48: Theory of industry

Li Xian blinked, feeling quite wronged. “I really do have time right now; after the New Year, there will be a lot of things to be busy with.”  

He added to himself, perhaps even a marriage.

Before the Prime Minister could speak again, Wang Chuan chimed in. Wang Shangshu smiled happily, “Nephew, you did the right thing. Things should be handled this way. There’s nothing that can’t be said; if the Prime Minister has something to say, he can say it now, and His Majesty can offer his opinions as well.”

Unsurprisingly, Wang Chuan’s words made Prime Minister Ouyang Wubing’s expression even worse. He finally glared at Li Xian in anger, “Li Xian, since you want to speak here, let me ask you a few questions.

First, the loom is quite expensive, isn’t it? I later calculated it carefully. If we don’t consider the loom, the price of weaving can indeed drop to 70%, but if we include the loom, the price doesn’t seem to decrease much at all!

How do you respond to this?”

One must admit, the Prime Minister is indeed the Prime Minister; he hit the nail on the head with a single question. Both the officials and the emperor turned their attention to Li Xian.

Li Xian realized that he had seemingly angered this “upright and incorruptible” Prime Minister by asking such a question right from the start. He straightened his posture and became serious.

“Prime Minister, may I ask how you calculated this before asking the question? To be precise, how did you arrive at this conclusion?”

“That’s simple. I’ve seen the selling price of your loom; it’s actually 500 taels of gold, which is equivalent to 5,000 taels of silver.

Taking a piece of low-grade silk as an example, the market price is about one tael of silver. A skilled weaver can weave one piece of cloth in a day, and in a year, they can weave about 200 pieces (it’s impossible to work all year round). After accounting for related costs, the annual profit is around 20 taels of silver.

However, a loom can weave 10 pieces of cloth a day, and it can’t work all year either. Let’s say it works for 300 days a year; that’s 3,000 pieces of cloth, with profits not exceeding 300 taels of silver. With a low-margin, high-volume strategy, having a profit of 200 taels of silver would be quite good.

Thus, just to recover the 5,000 taels of silver in costs would take 25 years. Including other expenses, there would be no profit within 30 years.

And this loom, it probably won’t last five years.”

Li Xian was dumbfounded. Prime Minister, is this how you calculate? Wow, this is the level of a national Prime Minister? I’m terrified!

Not to mention Li Xian being dumbfounded, even some officials who learned the specific situation were also taken aback. The next moment, Wang Ping was the first to laugh, spraying his drink, “Prime Minister, you… haha, the loom at the exhibition wasn’t just a loom; it was an opportunity.”

“The loom is quite easy to replicate. To be honest, our Wang family also bought a loom and took it apart for study. If we only engrave the array to make a loom, the cost of a single loom would not exceed 4 taels of gold. The only downside is that such a loom would be quite heavy.

Moreover, the looms sold by Li Xian are models, not real looms. With slight modifications, they can weave about 15 pieces of cloth a day; after all, a loom isn’t a person and can run continuously all year long as long as the personnel are properly scheduled.

Within just six months, the cost of the loom could be recouped.

The cost of large-scale weaving has been reduced to an unimaginable level for a Prime Minister.”

Ouyang Wubing was momentarily speechless, realizing that he had made a mistake—it’s not the loom that was worth 500 taels of gold, but the “opportunity” worth that much.

This time, Wang Chuan took the initiative to ask, “Prime Minister, you just mentioned the first point; what about the second?”

“The second point…” The Prime Minister hesitated noticeably, and after what seemed like a long pause, he finally said, “If looms are adopted on such a large scale, how will the common people survive? They will lose their income! Weaving income accounts for at least 30% of a household’s earnings.”

Li Xian was furious upon hearing this; he despised stubborn traditionalists—how many problems have been caused by conservatives who only think about “stability” instead of “solutions”? His tone became a bit impolite. “Prime Minister, do you only see the present and the past, unable to look forward?  

If there are numerous weaving factories established, have you calculated how many people would be needed to work?

Besides weaving, there’s agriculture!  

Apart from farming, we can encourage the people to engage in trade and earn money from abroad.  

Why is it that without weaving, there’s no livelihood? Beyond weaving, there can be livestock—raising chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep, and pigs. We can also encourage the establishment of lantern workshops, weaving workshops, and various cooperative organizations to develop together.  

Especially for planting cotton and sericulture, these are crucial raw materials for weaving. This way, society will shift towards an industrial and commercial model. People will become wealthier and more driven. What a beautiful picture that is!”

Li Xian was so engrossed in his own rhetoric that even the emperor seemed captivated.

But the Prime Minister’s stubbornness was formidable. He pointed at Li Xian and said, “You are encouraging people to commit crimes. Since ancient times, commerce has been seen as a lowly profession, and handicrafts are considered base trades. Cultivation is fundamental.

Moreover, if everyone is out making money, it will inevitably lead to crime. Robbery and theft will become rampant.”

“Robbers rampant? Then let the laws deal with them! If we handle it decisively two or three times, I don’t believe they will continue to emerge endlessly!”

The Prime Minister was so enraged by Young Master Li that he was blowing his mustache and glaring, “That’s not what I mean! What I’m saying is that with profit, crime will arise. Don’t think I don’t know about all the tricks and scams in commerce!”

Li Xian retorted, “Then may I ask, is there any less deceit and trickery in society now?”

“But at least it’s within a controllable range! If we follow your approach, it will become uncontrollable.”

“Alright, then tell me, Prime Minister, how can we eliminate these issues?”

“Return to the state of ancient times when the country was just born, with people living in villages, rarely interacting between villages. Doors were left unlocked at night, and no one picked up lost items; the sounds of roosters and dogs could be heard, farming was the main livelihood, and cultivation was paramount.”

Li Xian finally burst into laughter, unable to contain himself. “Prime Minister, let me ask, can we really go back?”

“This… we can’t.” Even the Prime Minister, no matter how unreasonable, had to admit that returning to that state was impossible.

Li Xian then smirked, “Prime Minister, I can clearly tell you that doors were left unlocked at night because people were too poor to have anything worth stealing! Items weren’t picked up off the road because there was nothing to drop; they would even pick up cow dung to use as firewood.

Go ask the common people if they would like to live such a miserable life!”

“I… you… I… I…” The Prime Minister was rendered speechless by Li Xian’s words; yet, what Li Xian said was correct, and many people nodded in agreement.

Li Xian stood up, addressing the officials for the first time formally. “Everyone, this society is developing, and it can only develop. The past has become the past because it was eliminated. There’s no way to move backward; the future needs to be actively and positively pursued.

The fire of industry has already been ignited and cannot be extinguished. We’ve all seen the capabilities of mechanical looms; one loom is like a money tree. If you had ten thousand, or even a hundred thousand looms, what kind of scene would that be? I don’t need to explain it, do I?

Moreover, what does cultivation emphasize? Wealth, partners, law, and land—wealth is the first priority!

Therefore, I believe that to strengthen our country, we must vigorously develop industry and commerce.”

Seizing this opportunity, Li Xian shouted out the slogan “Develop Industry and Commerce to Strengthen the Nation.” So, what was the reaction of the crowd?

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