Now is the time when cotton seedlings grow rapidly, and the endless green seedlings in the cotton fields are full of green seedlings.

"Shi Ming, I heard that half of the people in your Shijia Village have come to Saibei to plant cotton? How about it, has the planting area increased this year?"

Chu Suiliang rode a horse and walked slowly along the newly built cement road.

The road is basically lined with cotton fields from the nobles of Chang'an City.

Every five or six miles away, you can see a small village. This is a village formed by the spontaneous gathering of helpers responsible for taking care of cotton fields.

Unlike the villages in Guanzhong, there are people with any surname in this village.

In other words, a few villages will have a certain or two surnames concentrated, just like Shijia Village.

The northern border of the pass is adjacent to the grassland, and there may be Hu people attacking at any time, so although everyone does not have the same surname, they are very united.

"Zhu Zhubo, the harvest of cotton planting here can be as good as corn or rice that has been planted in Guanzhong for three to five years. At the beginning, everyone had various concerns. Now they have seen the ability to make money in growing cotton, so they naturally increased their yields."

As a student of Guanshishan Academy, Shi Ming is now Chu Suiliang's right-hand assistant.

After this year, Chu Suiliang is still planning to operate him and let him serve as the magistrate of a county in northern Shuozhou.

"Last year, the price of cotton purchases dropped significantly compared with the previous year, and the price of cotton cloth also dropped very significantly. People are not worried?"

Chu Suiliang is actually quite confused this year.

On the one hand, he hoped that the cotton planting area near Shuozhou would continue to expand; but on the other hand, the cotton produced by the continuous expansion of the cotton planting area has exceeded the demand of the Tang Dynasty.

It’s not that the Tang Dynasty did not need so much cotton, but that the people who could afford cotton cloth in the Tang Dynasty did not need so much cotton.

So last year, the price of cotton cloth dropped sharply.

By making the price of cotton cloth close to the price of linen cloth, you can imagine how much the price has dropped.

You know, a few years ago, cotton coats were still luxury goods.

The nobles of Chang'an City are definitely more respectful to wear a large cotton coat in winter than to wear a mink coat.

"Although the prices of cotton and cotton cloth are both falling, the cost of growing cotton is too low in Shuozhou. The court basically gave you land for you to plant for free, and all kinds of taxes are exempted. Therefore, the benefits of growing cotton are still much higher than that of growing grain in Guanzhong.

Although the people are not very smart, they are actually the most sensitive to these things. Cotton can make them earn more money. They have now formed this impression and will continue to expand the planting area until they suffer a great loss!"

Shi Ming is a child of a farmer and has a relatively sufficient grasp of the psychological changes of farmers.

"You are right. Fortunately, His Highness of the King of Chu has prepared for the future and has begun to promote cotton as a major maritime trade product to various countries. I don't know what the final effect will be. Can it consume the increased cotton production this year?"

Chu Suiliang could only hope that the Tang Dynasty cotton cloth would be popular overseas.
Chapter completed!