Yang Xieqiang endured the soreness of his muscles and came to the middle court of the prison hall to see Lin Fu.

  In the courtyard, two strings of wind lanterns were hung on the four corners, and the dim firelight made the shadows in the sky well float. Zhou Pu and Zhao Hu were practicing boxing in the courtyard, Wu Qi was squatting irregularly on the railing under the eaves of the hall, watching them, seeing Yang Shi coming over, they stopped and returned to the corridor.

  Yang Yi saw Zhao Hu not stopping to finish six hundred sets of full squats, still having the energy to fight with Zhou Pu, feeling a bit embarrassed. He used to look down on Zhao Hu when he was just messing around in the countryside for two years and roughly learning boxing. Today, however, he knew that he didn't have the qualifications to look down on others. He rubbed his nose and asked Zhao Hu: "Is Master Lin inside?"

  "The master said so, Yang Dianwei will come over and go in directly." Zhao Hu helped Yang Shi push open the front hall door.

  Yang Shiyu looked inside and saw Lin Xie, Lin Mengde, and Lin Jingzhong sitting at the table discussing something, with Sun Gong, the head of the bookkeeping department, also seated beside them.

  "You've come, don't stand there, come in and sit down first." Lin Fu invited Yang Shi to take a seat, not hurrying to discuss matters with him, but continuing to confer with Lin Mengde, Lin Jingzhong, and Zhang Sun'geng.

  Yang Shi sat beside and listened for a while, only to know that Lin Xie had found Lin Mengde, Lin Jingzhong and Shu Banchang Sun Geng to discuss the purchase of cotton spinning machines.

  Yang Ye was no stranger to spinning wheels. When his family and the Gu family were in the Northern Expeditionary Army, they were so poor that his mother and Mrs. Gu, being women of good families, could not show their faces outside, so they asked a skilled craftsman to make two hand-cranked spinning wheels to spin cotton and hemp to supplement their household income. Except for eating and sleeping, the two women could spin two catties of cotton in one day without stopping, and after a day's hard work, they could exchange it for two or three catties of coarse rice.

  Yang Xie thought that there were nearly fifty female prisoners in the prison, and he added fifty spinning wheels to make them work. Every day, they could earn about two or three hundred coins, which was enough to offset their food expenses in prison. In his heart, Yang Xie thought that this way of making money was safe but a bit clumsy; no wonder the former prison warden Ge Zuixin and others had secretly colluded with outsiders to force the female prisoners into prostitution. Those with good looks were forced to sell themselves in brothels, and one night could earn two or three hundred coins. For those seeking wealth, this method was despicable but more effective. If others knew that Lin Xie was making money by forcing female prisoners to spin yarn, they would probably laugh at him for being foolish and stupid.

  Lin Xie didn't know that Yang Shi was sitting beside him, lost in thought. In fact, Yang Shi had only heard a part of their conversation.

  On Lin's desk was a "Nong Shu Zhu" written by Zhang Shi-Zhen, the Minister of Works during the Yongzheng Emperor period. Lin Xie asked Lin Mengde about the situation and learned that many farmers around Jiangning used hand-cranked single-spindle spinning wheels, and a peasant woman could spin only one catty of cotton yarn after working day and night. However, in Zhang Shi-Zhen's "Nong Shu Zhu", it was introduced that more than 40 years ago, someone in Pingjiang Prefecture had improved the techniques of ginning, carding and spinning, making it possible for women to spin more than three catties of cotton yarn per day.

  All of this made Lin Xie despair at the speed of technological advancement in this world. Pingjiang Prefecture was adjacent to Jiangning Prefecture, and more than 40 years ago, someone in Pingjiang Prefecture had greatly improved cotton spinning technology, increasing the efficiency of cotton spinning by more than three times. How could it be that after such a long time, it still hadn't been promoted to Jiangning Prefecture?

  Zhang Shizhen is also a literary temperament, and the writing style of "Nongshu Annotation" is very concise. A few introductory sentences that show off his writing skills make it impossible to see where the Pingjiang Prefecture's spinning industry is more advanced than Jiangning Prefecture.

  There is a female prisoner from Pingjiang Prefecture who was originally a weaver. Lin Xian just sent someone to bring the female prisoner out of prison for questioning, and only then did they learn that Pingjiang Prefecture not only has foot-powered spinning wheels but also workshops and even uses a type of large spinning wheel that requires two or three people to work together at the same time.

  Ji Yun She didn't have enough manpower, Lin Xie wanted to ask Lin Mengde to send someone to help and go to Pingjiang Prefecture to understand the situation. It would be best if they could hire two masters to come over. If not, buy two spinning wheels as physical objects and bring them back to find Jiangning's woodwork to imitate.

  Lin Jingzhong calculated the accounts on the side, thinking that if it was true what the female prisoner from a weaving household said, one large spinning wheel with three people working together could spin 20 kilograms of yarn per day. On average, one person's hard work would produce an output seven times higher than that of ordinary farmers in the suburbs of Jiangning City. The fifty female prisoners in prison could earn two thousand coins per day by spinning cotton yarn, and they could make more than seven hundred silver coins in a year. Goodness gracious, even if you opened a thriving wine shop in the city, you might not have such a good income.

  Besides, who says that only women can be used to spin yarn? Those men outside can put on a show and not do women's chores. In this prison, they can still make their own choices. More than 200 prisoners are used to spin cotton yarn, and it is said that two thousand taels of silver are taken from them each year.

  Thinking of Ji Yun She, through Gu Wu Chen's relationship, monopolized the sales of Gu's tea goods, and at most could only make a net profit of 2,000 taels of silver per year. Who would have thought that such a large source of wealth was hidden in prison? Lin Jing Zhong only now understood why Lin Xuan had previously attached so much importance to miscellaneous skills and craftsmanship. For merchants, money can come entirely from miscellaneous skills and craftsmanship.

  Lin Xuan sighed in his heart, and learned from the female prisoner that even such a convenient spinning wheel was not widely used in Pingjiang Prefecture. During this period, Lin Xuan also had a deep understanding of the world around him, and could understand the reasons behind it.

  The spinning jenny was still a relatively complex device in the world at that time. The current artisanal system, the exploitation of workshop owners by officialdom, and the traditional small household business practices all severely restricted the promotion of this complex device. Even if there were people or forces with the ability to promote such advanced production equipment, they would be reluctant to do so because it was too slow to make money.

  Lin Xuan knew that the mainstream of the world viewed miscellaneous studies and craftsmanship as strange and clever techniques, with contempt and disdain, while later generations only revered productive force theory, forming a huge gap between the two. Lin Jingzhong and Lin Mengde were somewhat better off, but Zhang Sun'geng had many doubts in his eyes, and Yang Shi's gaze was also somewhat disdainful. Lin Xuan didn't bother to explain anything to them at length; he just did what he thought was right, and others could see it clearly for themselves - if they couldn't understand it in their hearts, no amount of explanation would be able to change their stubborn ideas.

  After finishing the spinning wheel, he talked about the vegetable garden and animal shed. The weather is about to warm up, and these things need to be done soon. On the island, there's no shortage of labor, but materials like bamboo, wood, bricks, and stones for building the vegetable garden and animal shed, as well as seeds, seedlings, chickens, ducks, sheep, and pigs, all need to be provided from the mainland. The Ji Yun Society doesn't have many hands, so they need Lin's warehouse to send people to help with these miscellaneous tasks first. Lin Xian said to Lin Mengde: "Uncle Mengde, all of these things will be settled at market price. You're representing the Lin family in Jiangning, and I'm just a member of the Lin family after all... Whatever benefits there are on the island, we can't shortchange the Lin family by even a single share..." He said these words without avoiding Yang Jie, and after finishing, Lin Xian didn't ask Zhang Sun'geng and the others to withdraw. Turning his body, he spoke to Yang Jie: "Today at the Wu Du Yuan, you selected five martial arts experts among the Wu Du. I want them to report to Zhou Pu in my residence tomorrow morning, as I plan to use them as guards..."

  Yang Shi's face turned slightly red. He had just selected five martial arts experts to be inspected by Lin Fu, but one of them was defeated by Zhao Hu, and it seemed that even Zhou Pu, who was by Lin Fu's side, was no match for him. According to convention, Lin Fu, as a ninth-rank official, could have at most two bodyguards with him. However, conventions and rules were always broken and trampled on by those in power. Lin Fu had asked for five martial arts experts to serve as his bodyguards, and Yang Shi felt only slightly embarrassed, not thinking there was anything wrong with it. He nodded and said, "Alright, from now on, these five men will take orders only from you, sir."

  Lin tied up a stack of manuscripts from the case, pushed them in front of Yang Shi and said: "Regarding the method of training soldiers, I have written some texts, I hope you can take a look..."

  Yang Jie took over the manuscript and roughly flipped through a few pages. He sat up straight and said, "I will definitely carefully comprehend it."

  "It may be very different from what you learned in the military camp, and you may not be able to accept it," Lin Xuan said, disregarding Yang's words. "How about this? Except for the guards who will protect me, divide the others into two teams. You take charge of training one team, and Zhao Hu takes charge of the other. The deadline is three months. Let's see whose method is more effective then."

  Yang Shi felt a belly full of grievances, Lin Xuan was clearly dividing his military power in half by doing this. Although he only had 50 or 60 soldiers under him, the military power wasn't worth fighting over, but it made him feel stifled. However, there were still more than ten soldiers in the barracks who couldn't get up due to waist and back pain, so even if Yang Shi was full of grievances, he couldn't complain. Moreover, Lin Xuan didn't keep secrets from him, and when discussing matters with Changsun Gong, Lin Mengde, and Lin Jingzhong, they didn't avoid him either. They also gave him a copy of the military training manual to look at. In Yang Shi's heart, there was only one thought: that was to use the three months' time to train a team of soldiers stronger and more powerful than Zhao Hu's, so he could hold his head high.

  Yang Shi and Chang Sun Geng left, Zhao Hu entered the Wu post, at night to go on duty in the monitoring room, Zhou Pu and Wu Qi in the name of a family servant, Lin Mengde and Lin Jingzhong were guests, all tied up by Lin in the middle courtyard.

  Lin Mengde only truly felt the power of Lin Xie after arriving on the island, where he was the only one who could cover the sky with his hand. Not to mention Bookkeeper Zhangsun Gong, even Yang Shi, who was considered a nephew by Gu Wudu, couldn't show any sharpness in front of Lin Xie.

  *********

  The next morning, Lin Xie put on his clothes and pushed open the door to find the five soldiers who had been beaten by Zhao Hu yesterday standing in the courtyard waiting for instructions. Their physical fitness was considered strong among this batch of soldiers, and their movements were quite agile. Otherwise, Yang Shi would not have picked them out last night. However, real combat skills could not be trained in an ordinary military camp.

  Lin Xie did not want to let Yang Shi take control of the martial arts practitioners on Prison Island. On the one hand, Lin Xie himself did not know when he would part ways with the Gu family. On the other hand, Yang Shi was not a suitable candidate to lead the martial arts practitioners on Prison Island. However, at this time, it was not possible to exclude Yang Shi, who was considered as a nephew by Gu Wu Chen, so Lin Xie had to quietly divide the martial arts practitioners into several parts without making any noise. In addition to the guard troops, the prison guards were also divided into two teams, each led by Yang Shi and Zhao Hu respectively for training. Later on, when there was an opportunity, Lin Xie would add more personnel around him.

  "I'll use you as my guards, not because you're strong, but because you have the potential to become stronger. I don't care if you can stomach this bitterness or not, while working by my side, you'd better endure it even if your heart is bitter," Lin Xie sternly instructed, then turned his head and ordered Zhou Pu, "Help me get a few wooden knives, these people temporarily have no other use, but using them to practice knife skills is useful. Before they help me practice with the knives, you'll explain the key points of knife skills to them..."