Yan Chengjin's heart moved slightly, and he carefully thought about Emperor Hongzhi's intentions.

Mentougou, Xiangshan, and Hunhe are all wastelands with towering hills, and the rocks are knotted, which cannot be cultivated, and it is useless to stay in the hands of the imperial court.

But if you make money, it's different.

The imperial court will definitely think of taking it back, and Yan Chengjin has to think of a way to keep it in his hands.

"If the minister solves the urgency of Liaodong, he does not ask for the royal pendant, but only wants the wasteland of Shanxi to benefit the people." Yan Chengjin raised his head slightly.

No one knows that there are a large number of coal mines hidden underground in Shanxi, and if anthracite coal comes out, it will set off a wave of gold nuggets.

The hundred officials were a little surprised, what did Yan Chengjin want to do in the barren mountain.

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Xiao Jing: "Check how much wasteland there is in Shanxi and report it to me." ”

Shanxi is not suitable for farming, and it is not a good land, so many salt merchants will be born.

What he considered was that if the wasteland exceeded a thousand hectares, the land given to Yan Chengjin would have to wait until he died before he could take it back.

If this son really has a plan, it is not easy for him to open his mouth to come back, after all, he is an emperor who does what he says.

Yan Chengjin said: "The minister is not in a hurry. ”

Emperor Hongzhi looked at the criminal department and said, "Send someone to investigate, who is the one who is raising the price of charcoal!" ”

It's your grandma's brother-in-law! Yan Chengjin muttered to himself.

Before Wei Shen could reply, Mu Bin looked embarrassed: "Your Majesty, according to Wu Jian, the commander of Wanping County, it is Changning Bo." ”

Emperor Hongzhi suddenly realized that the only person who could do this was Chang Ningbo.

I haven't looked for him for a long time, and he is making waves in the market again! However, this matter needs to be punished by himself.

"Retreat!"

The officials don't know why, but it can be seen that His Majesty wants to deal with it as a family matter, and he has withdrawn from the hall one after another.

Xiao Jing knew that Emperor Hongzhi was worried about the Queen Mother: "The slave maid heard that the eunuch of Renshou Palace said that the Queen Mother has a great appetite for two days, do you want to invite Wang Ji into the palace to have a look?" ”

Xiao Jing sent away several batches of masters, the first emperor and Wan Guifei were sent away by him, and the grandfather of Emperor Hongzhi, the first emperor, also went to the Bliss of the Dead Life through his hands.

When I get older, my appetite suddenly improves, and I must be ready to leave.

Emperor Hongzhi didn't want the Queen Mother to know about Changningbo.

Everyone in the palace knew that the Queen Mother's time was running out, so he turned around and instructed Xiao Jing: "Summoning Zhou Yu into the palace." ”

……

Metropolitan Inspectorate, duty room

Yan Chengjin estimated that the wasteland allocated to him by His Majesty should not exceed 1,000 acres, otherwise, the vassal king and the hundred officials would not be satisfied.

However, this is the best way, if anthracite can be profitable, he cannot hold it in his hands alone, and will be framed and impeached by the gentry.

Half of the imperial court is the best balance.

At this moment, the door soap rushed in to report: "My lord, Chang Ningbo is here." ”

Zhou Yu broke into the duty room, and as soon as he stepped into one foot, he piled up a flattering smile on his face: "Virtuous nephew, the old man heard that you want to buy a million catties of charcoal and send it to Liaodong?" The old man sold it to you cheaply, two hundred yuan a catty, how about it? ”

There is no coal in the capital, so he can only buy him, he wants to shout 200 Wen, it is really cheap Yan Chengjin, a dog official!

Are you stupid to be an official? Yan Chengjin stretched out five fingers.

Zhou Yu's eyes lit up: "The virtuous nephew came up with five hundred texts?" The old man knows that you have the most money in the whole capital! ”

"Five pennies."

It's still for the sake of the Queen Mother, if it weren't for the sake of the Queen Mother, I would have to give him it for nothing.

Zhou Yu was dumbfounded, and was angry: "You take the old man as a flower!" ”

"Charcoal will soon drop to five cents, and if the uncle doesn't believe it, there won't be more than one penny." Yan Chengjin said.

Zhou Yu thought to himself that it would be transported outside the city and burned, and it would not be cheap Yan Chengjin, a dog official!

Look what he does! He flicked his sleeves and left.

Fang Xue saw that Yan Chengjin left Zhou Yu angrily: "My lord, Wuwen money, is it too low?" If Your Majesty agrees to grant land, what will your lord use to make a difference? ”

Although some charcoal can be collected from retail investors, it is far less than one million catties.

The five cents are too low, and there is more than this money in the summer, and besides, it is winter.

"It's a lot, and the official doesn't plan to give the silver." Yan Chengjin didn't care, Zhou Yu would come to him soon.

……

Liangxiang,

Song Jing tossed for two days, crushed the coal hammer and washed it, and after refining, some of them still had a strange taste.

Coal is broadly divided into three types, open coal, crushed coal, and final coal.

Open coal is the best to use, without bellows, with a little charcoal can be ignited, followed by crushed coal, mostly used for metallurgy, the end of the coal is the second, with yellow mud and water, barely burned.

Song Jing used open coal as raw material, and sifted out a small amount of coal, which was the size of a thumb.

The rest of the engineers stood aside, their faces a little numb: "Master Song, how can coal be smokeless, I have tried it thirty times." ”

"Lord Yan said yes, then there must be such a thing in the world." Song Jing said firmly.

He took the freshly made coal and stone with tongs and threw it into the furnace.

Smokeless?

The eyes widened and everyone looked at the brazier in unison, but there was no smoke coming out, but a faint smell of sulfur could be smelled.

Xie Pi flashed a flash of inspiration in his mind, and looked at Song Jing: "Little Master Song, the process is the same, the reason should be on the coal!" ”

"Not bad!" Song Jing also figured it out, and hurriedly looked at the master who pulled coal: "Where did you get this cart of coal?" ”

"Room...... Fangshan. ”

Yan Chengjin is in a good mood, and people who have been mining coal for a long time can distinguish whether there is coal underground from the surface of the soil.

Digging about five zhang deep, I really dug coal in Fangshan.

Listening to Song Jingyu's report, this kind of coal can be easily made into anthracite, and the news was blocked in Liangxiang, and after two days of testing, some were transported to Fuzhong, so that He could continue to test.

The next day, he planned to send a car to Li Qing'e's house first, the woman was cold and easy to get sick.

At this time, the Lee Mansion.

Li Dongyang leaned on the stove to read, and the house was reluctant to burn charcoal, and the people wanted to squeeze into the main hall to get warm.

On the stove, the copper kettle boiled and made a gurgling and tumbling sound.

Li Qing'e carefully picked up the copper kettle, but Li Dongyang shouted distressedly: "Let the next person come, hey!" Be careful, don't burn yourself. ”

The fat maid rushed in and whispered, "Miss, my uncle is here." ”

Li Qing'e's cheeks were slightly red, afraid of being noticed by her father, so she hurriedly lowered her head to make tea.

Li Dongyang had already heard the word uncle, which was very harsh, "I said that I will punish you for not eating today!" ”

I don't know what's going on, but from childhood to adulthood, this girl is not allowed to eat, but she is getting fatter and fatter.

The door soap trotted in: "Master, Lord Yan is here, outside the house." ”

Li Dongyang was categorical: "No! ”

"Yes...... But Lord Yan said that he was here to deliver coal, and as soon as this thing came out, the price of charcoal dropped. Menzi said according to Yan Chengjin's instructions.

Li Dongyang's eyes lit up, and he put down the book: "Let him in." ”

Yan Chengjin stepped into the house, and the subordinates followed behind with anthracite.

When he arrived at the main hall, he could add coal to the brazier excitedly, and his movements were skillful, and Li Dongyang did not stop him, but looked at it curiously.

He naturally burned the coal, but this coal was very strange, it was smokeless, and it burned very slowly.

Li Dongyang knew that the people in the whole capital were waiting for charcoal for the winter.

"What kind of coal is this?"