Work Prophet
Chapter 316 - 74 Open Source

Chapter 316: Chapter 74 Open Source

Li Yu was well aware of the intentions of the villagers, but it did not concern him, or rather, this was exactly what he had hoped for.

Recruiting adults for full-time study was too wasteful of labor resources; it was better to train children, as it had a lesser impact on development.

Moreover, once the children were trained, they could be of use for a longer period.

If it were only the elderly attending school, Li Yu would really have a headache, and he could not refuse them, after all, the spirit of learning until old age was quite positive, but the problem was after putting in a lot of effort to teach them, they would only be able to work for a few years, and Li Yu would likely have to conduct funeral services for many of them.

That would be a little bit of a loss.

However, not many people could see Li Yu’s thoughts, and Miss Rabbit was quite worried for him.

Previously, when Li Yu propagated the egg-missionary, Ireya had calculated the costs for him, and although it wasn’t her own money, it still hurt to think about the expenses.

And when Li Yu stirred up this whole upgrade system, throwing task after task, the money spent flowed like water.

Ireya was no longer just heartbroken, but began to feel a bit scared watching it.

Although the followers of the Double Rest Sect seemed very happy, all smiles, enjoying their tasks immensely, and even forming mutual aid groups to help each other with tasks,

Li Yu even dubbed these groups as the "grassroots strategy teams." The promotion of new agricultural tools also became smoother, and the newly cultivated wasteland was countless times more than before, but the problem was that all this was achieved by spending money!

Li Yu’s Pinduoduo style of widespread subsidies, not to mention Ireya, a rural Lady Noble could be baffled, but even in his own universe, pushing just four to five years back, most people would be amazed.

They felt this strategy was simply unsustainable, yet now Pinduoduo was still doing well, even better than before, turning losses into profits, and even made Temu a huge success in the United States.

Of course, Miss Rabbit’s concerns were not unfounded; Li Yu’s Double Rest Sect couldn’t be listed on the stock market, nor could it go out to raise funds.

And his funds were limited; merely continuing to deplete resources without replenishment could indeed not last long.

At this stage, Li Yu was unwilling to cut spending, hence increasing income became especially important.

This was also the reason Li Yu established the Wealth Association.

This department’s main responsibility would be to make money for him and the Double Rest Sect, supporting all activities of the sect, especially the operation of the upgrade system.

"So how do you plan to make money?" Ireya asked, "Continue to sell giant dragon blood, or more pepper?"

"Giant dragon blood will definitely be sold."

This product had now become somewhat of a marquee product of the Double Rest Sect, not only bringing immense economic benefits but also increasing the awareness of the Double Rest Sect.

Now, even people far in the Royal Capital knew that the Divine Medicine bestowed on Saturdays could rejuvenate men.

If it weren’t too far away, based just on this alone, many would likely want to join the Double Rest Sect.

Moreover, the blue pills were light and easy to carry, so Li Yu certainly would not give up on them; he planned to bring another two hundred pills soon.

However, relying on selling items from another universe to subsidize the Double Rest Sect was not a long-term solution.

For the Double Rest Sect to develop healthily, it needed its own armed force and strong economic support, and both were indispensable.

Li Yu said to the Lady, "Besides giant dragon blood, I also plan to start dealing in textiles next."

"Textiles?" Miss Rabbit was taken aback again.

It wasn’t because the answer was too bizarre, but because it was too common.

The more common textiles in the west were linen and wool fabrics, with the former being the predominant type usually worn by ordinary people.

Wool fabrics were relatively rare, usually only affordable by the wealthier individuals; in addition, the nobles would wear cotton and silk robes.

Cotton had been introduced to the Bratis Continent only in the last two to three hundred years, and clothes woven from it were much more comfortable than those made from linen.

However, cotton demands high agricultural conditions, needing to be grown in well-lit, water-abundant, and warm areas, conditions which only the lands of the nobles in Golden Valley could satisfy.

They also made a lot of money from this magical white plant. As for silk, it wasn’t indigenous to the Bratis Continent at all; it had to be brought over by merchants from the East, thus it was very expensive.

It was an absolute luxury.

Ireya thought for a moment, "Do you plan to weave cotton or silk?"

"I cannot weave," Li Yu shook his head.

To be exact, Li Yu knew how to weave cotton or silk, especially the latter. The secret of silk had perplexed Europeans for centuries; throughout these years, many Europeans had believed that silk grew on trees.

But as a modern person, and moreover a Chinese, how could Li Yu not know where silk came from.

However, even with this knowledge, it was useless, as due to the rules, he couldn’t bring living creatures from another universe to this one, otherwise he wouldn’t need to laboriously work on things like the moldboard plow or wheel hoe, or the four-field system.

If he could bring modern wheat and rice over, and maybe add some potatoes and sweet potatoes, he could just wait for a population explosion.

But even if raw materials were hard to come by, it didn’t hinder the development of his processing industry.

This time, Li Yu planned to unleash one of the transmigrator’s ultimate weapons: the foot-operated spinning machine.

This device was prominent in transmigration novels, probably because the jump from spinning wheel to foot-operated spinning machine truly was a leap in efficiency, and from a manufacturing technology perspective, replicating it wasn’t too difficult either.

The only problem was that ordinary people generally didn’t memorize the structure and working principle of a spinning machine.

After all, if Li Yu suddenly traveled back to ancient times, it would basically be impossible for him to make a spinning machine.

He had Zhang Yanlin help him find the structural diagrams online, breaking down each part, and also annotating the assembly process thoroughly before handing the design drawings over to Fitzwilliam.

The latter, putting in as much effort as if he were building ships, studied hard for four to five days, and then spent about ten days to complete the first spinning machine.

However, the beginning is always the hardest. After the first one, making more became much faster, and the raw materials were also very cheap. Li Yu had Fitzwilliam make a hundred machines first, then recruit some female workers for a brief training before starting production.

The main product was linen, as the demand for linen fabric was high and linen was plentiful in the west, which allowed the workers to build their expertise.

Miss Rabbit saw the Double Rest Sect bustling with activity, yet she felt somewhat unenthusiastic because linen was too ordinary, and she always felt it wouldn’t make much money.

However, Li Yu soon began another new venture, and this business was surprisingly still related to linen; he even used the damaged fabric, not wasting a bit of it.