In the imperial garden, a group of sheep was eating grass. Yang Ji stood outside the sheep pen and looked at the sheep, feeling a little strange. The sheep in front of him looked a little different from the common sheep. They should be species of foreign sheep, and he was a little curious about the magic of these sheep.

Yuwen Wen was in a good mood when he looked at the sheep in front of him, so he began to ask Yang Ji: Why do tribes on the grassland like to go south to rob?

Yang Ji's answer was very direct: Life on the grassland is not easy, and the products are poor. When there are natural disasters, countless casualties will occur in people and animals. However, the Central Plains are rich and the tribes on the grassland cannot survive, so they will naturally go south to rob.

That is, the poor who cannot live a life, ride a horse and hold a spear to grab the rich.

Yuwen Wen was very satisfied with this answer and asked the second question: So if we find a way to make the tribes on the grassland rich, will the border problems that have lasted for thousands of years be solved?

Yang Ji wanted to say this question but stopped. He wanted to answer "yes", but he felt it was unrealistic. Saying "no" would probably ruin the emperor's interest.

Yuwen Wen looked at the flock of sheep in front of him and sighed: "I have spent so much time and time on collecting this kind of sheep."

After hearing this, Yang Ji seemed to have some insight and asked: "Your Majesty, the so-called 'haired sheep' means that these sheep are prone to growing hair instead of growing... meat?"

"Yes, I have purchased several kinds of sheep, all from Persia or Fuhua. Compared with the sheep in the Central Plains, these sheep have thin and long wool, and a sheep produces more wool. What is the name? I don't know what the birds say, so I just named it a new name..."

"There are many wools, but the name "wool sheep" is not nice, so I think it is more appropriate to call this type of sheep "fine wool sheep".

Yuwen Wen said, turning the topic back: "I hope that all tribes on the grassland will raise these fine wool sheep, and then vigorously develop the wool textile industry, so that all the grassland tribes can make a fortune by raising sheep."

"With a good income, each department can buy all kinds of daily necessities, have enough food and clothing, and will not be worried about going south to rob. This is the solution to the root cause, what do you think?"

"Uh..." Yang Ji was hesitant. He was not sure whether Yu Wen Wen was putting a trap or was really asking for advice. After thinking about it, he decided to tell the truth: "Your Majesty, it sounds good to raise sheep and get rich, but it is not worth robbing."

Yang Ji specially emphasized: "Robbery is a business without capital. If you successfully break a village, you can grab money, grain, utensils, and women. If this is converted into copper coins, how many sheep do you have to raise to earn it?"

Yuwen Wen nodded after hearing this: "That's right, robbery is so convenient, what should I do to raise sheep?"

After saying that, he touched the railing of the sheep pen, picked up a cube of cashmere, rubbed it, put it to his mouth and blew it gently, blowing the cashmere without a trace.

Yang Ji remained silent and listened to Yuwen Wen's words: "Wool textile sounds good, but it is difficult to do. I ordered someone to carefully calculate the account. This account shows one thing, that is, it is really difficult to make a fortune by wool textile at present."

"So, instead of making some money by raising sheep, it is better to ride a horse, hold a spear, bow and arrow to rob. But I still vigorously develop the wool textile industry, with the purpose of not making others rich, but to make money by our own people."

Yuwen Wen's idea was to develop the wool textile industry, turn the grassland into a "positive asset" of the Central Plains court and make the grassland "profitable".

As for grassland, there are many grasses, it is suitable for the development of animal husbandry, sheeping, and developing wool textile industry.

In this way, the major "animal herds groups" in the Central Plains earn a lot of profits through the wool textile industry, so they have the motivation to raise sheep on the grassland on a large scale. In order to ensure the safety of the pastures, the armed forces of various "animal herds groups" and their partners will "clear" the unstable factors on the grassland on their own.

Then the imperial court did not need to maintain a huge garrison on the grassland, but civil groups "bring their own dry food" to maintain the order of the grassland. The border problems that have plagued the Central Plains for thousands of years have been successfully solved.

Ideals are beautiful, reality is cruel, and the wool textile industry in reality cannot afford such high expectations.

What's the problem?

The first is the wool textile technology.

The wool cut from the sheep cannot be used directly. It needs to be rinsed with water and washed away a lot of grease from the wool before it can be used to make the simplest wool product: wool felt.

Felt does not require textile, it only needs to knead a large amount of wool and press it together. If you want to knit a wool blanket, you must first spun the wool into wool. This requires further degreasing of the wool. It is not possible to rely solely on water to degreasate it.

The wool textile industry first consumes a lot of water, so the water source is very important.

Secondly, the quality of degreasing process determines whether the wool products can be sold at a good price.

These two problems are actually not a big problem. The water source can be adapted to local conditions, and the best way to degreasate is to use alkali. As long as cheap alkali can be made in large quantities, degreasing will not be difficult.

Two problems have been solved, but there are still problems: wool type and yield.

Just as humans are different, sheep and sheep are different, and wool and wool are also different.

The account in Yuwen Wen's hand illustrates a very realistic problem: only large quantities and high-quality wool can support the prosperous wool textile industry.

Only when wool textile workshops have finer, softer and cheaper wool, can weave more exquisite wool products at lower cost, not only felt, blankets, but also wool fabric clothing. Only then can this high-value wool textile bring rich profits to practitioners.

Only the huge profits will make the owner of the wool textile factory go crazy for this, and become so crazy that "sheep eat people" become a reality.

The "local sheep" in the Central Plains and grasslands are mostly thicker and harder in wool, and are only suitable for making felt and blankets. It is troublesome to make more exquisite textiles and the cost remains high.

This is the conclusion drawn by Yuwen Wen sent people to investigate after careful investigation. Therefore, if he wanted to vigorously develop the wool textile industry and turn the grassland into a "right asset" of the Central Plains court, he had to find a way to introduce "foreign sheep".

The most famous sheep for hair is of course the famous "merino" sheep. However, it is not known whether there are "merino" sheep in this era, so Yuwen Wen can only settle for the second best.

He chose to let the "middlemen make a difference", "place orders" with the Sogdian caravan, and invested heavily in purchasing "foreign sheep" with high gross production.

This "foreign sheep" is now named "fine-wool sheep". It comes from Persia and Fufeng in the extreme west. There is now a group of fine-wool sheep eating grass in the imperial garden. Compared with "local sheep", the hair production of this fine-wool sheep is obviously advantageous.

The wool of fine wool is soft and slender, which can sprinkle better quality wool, weave more exquisite and softer fabrics, sell them at a better price, and bring higher profits to practitioners.

Yuwen Wen was quite satisfied with his small achievements and began to brag: "The fine wool sheep I bought for a lot of money have now flourished. The Longyou area has started to raise it. In recent years, the scale of feeding has gradually expanded, and the area of ​​Bingshuo has also started to raise it."

"Now, if you want to manage western Liaoning, you can bring these fine wool sheep to breed in large quantities locally, and strive to increase the scale of feeding year by year to lay the foundation for the development of western Liaoning's wool textile industry."

Yang Ji looked at these fine-wool sheep and sighed at the emperor's behavior of buying sheep for a lot of money to develop people's livelihood: "I understand Your Majesty's wishes, I thank Your Majesty for giving the sheep."

Yuwen Wen felt inexplicably surprised when he heard this: "Give sheep? The sheep here is a breeding sheep, and no one is allowed to be taken away."

"ah?"

"Ah? I just asked you to come here to see what the fine wool sheep is, so as not to be deceived when picking up the goods..." Yuwen Wen looked warded, "You, take the goods list to get the fine wool sheep, pretend to buy it, be more high-profile, let everyone know."

Yang Ji couldn't figure out what this meant. Yuwen Wen's thinking was too tempting, so he couldn't keep up, so he could only ask for instructions honestly: "I am stupid, please let Your Majesty make it clear."
Chapter completed!