Since Xiang Ao took up the post of Taishou, he ordered Jiao Jing to leave for Baokang County to pick up several people in Baokang before the cold winter completely arrived, and then Xiang Ao fell into a boring and busy day. During this period of time, Cai Yong is the most seen, is it impossible, Xiang Ao thinks he is smart, not to mention the rich and rich, but he is also a person with some ability among the pedantic, but the busy government affairs make Xiang Ao big, so he has to often run to Cai Yong for help.

The first is how to get the money in the county, Wang Taishou originally explained the entire process of his transactions with people outside the Saiwai to Xiang Ao, and Xiang Ao also remembered it. But Xiang Ao wants to trade with Xianbei people, and Xiang Ao should panic in his heart. Xiang Ao also knows that there are good and evil among all ethnic groups, not to mention dealing with political affairs, even if he interacts with foreign races on weekdays because reason comes first and emotion comes last, but Xiang Ao is difficult to accept.

After the winter, most of the surrounding areas of Shuofang County are covered with heavy snow, and it is impossible to go out for a long time, of course, there are very few people who come, and there is still time to think about the habits of communicating with foreigners. The cold winter in the north is not short, and the matter of farming is not too urgent.

Of course, it is extremely easy to deal with people's disputes or theft and robbery on a daily basis. However, how to help the people of Shuofang County survive such a cold winter really made Xiang Ao anxious. The people of Shuofang were already poor, and coupled with the early southward plundering of Xianbei, many people had no clothes and food for the winter, let alone charcoal and other items for heating.

Xiang Ao spent his days exploring in and around Shuofang County, hoping to find easily mined coal. There is also coal that is easy to mine, but the quantity is too small, if it is found before winter, you can send people to speed up the collection. But the current weather Xiang Ao feels extremely difficult when he has been away for too long, not to mention the people who have little food and clothing. No, Xiang Ao came up with the idea of how to use coal more effectively.

When Xiang Ao racked his brains and had no way to take the charcoal, Linrong City ushered in a lovely person that Xiang Ao had never expected.

"I also hope that Engong will not give up and take Jun in. There is nothing to repay, and I am willing to serve the work of dogs and horses! ”

Looking at Ma Jun, who was kneeling on the ground and making a big salute, Xiang Ao sighed. I followed the old Taoist priest to visit before, and met Ma Jun on the way. Seeing his kindness and having another pair of skillful hands, he couldn't bear to try to cure his stuttering, and he never wanted to insert willows unintentionally.

"Deheng doesn't have to be polite, if Deheng doesn't dislike it, staying in Shuofang, it is also a good thing to benefit the people!" Xiang Ao picked up Ma Jun and said with emotion, he was also extremely happy in his heart, being able to get such a skillful craftsman would be a good thing for the people of Shuofang in the future.

With the unanimous consent of Ma Jun and his parents, the family came to Xiang Ao to repay the grace of reconstruction. On the way, after learning that Xiang Ao had to be appointed as Shuo Fang's guard, Ma Jun was even more anxious. Although Ma Jun didn't learn much when he was young because of his stuttering, Ma Jun is also a person with great ambitions. Especially after learning a good craft, he wanted to prove his value with what he created, so after learning that Xiang Ao was appointed as a guard, he began to plan how to seek an official position and realize his ambitions.

Xiang Ao was originally very optimistic about Ma Jun's craftsmanship, but now when Xiang Ao was distressed, Ma Jun, who came to Xiang Ao, made Xiang Ao happy, and immediately appointed Ma Jun as a worker, responsible for all people's livelihood or military equipment manufacturing in Shuofang County. Originally, officials such as salt, iron, engineering, and capital water were sent to the local government in turn by the imperial court, and they did not belong to the local county officials.

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty began to sell officials when he changed the name of the year to Guanghe, because Shuofang was remote and barren, and was invaded by the nomadic Xianbei in the north all the year round, and no one cared about the official positions in Shuofang County, Emperor Ling of Han took advantage of Xiang Ao to attack Xianbei to rescue the people, and proposed to appoint and remove Shuofang County from official positions to Xiang Ao.

It was that no one in the court objected, although Emperor Han Ling was extremely strange, he didn't ask much, after all, although Xiang Ao's actions were not a big deal, but it happened when he changed the name of the era. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty thought: Since no one cares about the official position in Shuofang, doesn't Xiang Ao's actions on this trip just show the wisdom of changing the era name?

In this way, although Xiang Ao was too guarded in Shuofang County at the time, his rights in Shuofang County were only higher than those of the royal princes and princesses assigned by the Han Dynasty. Although in the eyes of some well-intentioned people, Xiang Ao has been tied to death in a remote place in Shuofang and has no day to return to Beijing, but who can say for sure?

Ma Jun's first task after taking office was to find a way to improve the efficiency of the use of charcoal with Xiang Ao, and the two did not have much to say hello, and after Xiang Ao arranged the residence of Ma Jun's parents, he took Ma Jun to the workshop in the county town. Ma Junzhi is really talented, and within three days, he got along.

Ma Jun proposed to knead the charcoal chips into a dough after living water, with some sawdust bamboo strips in the middle, and then put some holes on the surface to dry, and then put it in the furnace for use. The effect is excellent, but the production process makes the wood chips and bamboo strips soak and burn when they are smoky. After the charcoal mass is burned, only a small part of the coal ash that has been pried open is still unused.

Xiang Ao felt that although this production could improve the efficiency of combustion, it was too wasteful of charcoal, and it was not beneficial to the body to use too much smoke and dust at home, so he suggested adding a little sand ash to it. After adding sand ash, the charcoal mass is more stable and not easy to deform, and through comparison, the same size and the same method of making the charcoal ball, adding sand ash can burn longer.

Although the firepower is a little smaller, the daily use of the people and the heating of the family in winter are indeed enough. Ma Jun didn't know where to get the news, and learned that only adding a very small amount of edible salt, alkali, alum and lime powder to the carbon ash can improve the efficiency of charcoal burning, burn longer and reduce soot.

In order to achieve mass production, Ma Jun found a way to make a palm-sized half-melon-shaped mold, which only needs to mix the charcoal chips and sand ash according to the matching ratio, and then the mold can be formed one by one. After finding a way, Xiang Ao arranged a large number of people to rush to make it, after all, on such a day of heavy snowfall, it is very easy to freeze to death.

"Teacher, the charcoal group is not worth a few dollars, why can't you give it away for free?"

"To govern Shuofang well, no matter what ethnic group, we must let them know that there is a hard work to earn, so that it can be long-term! Laziness is in nature! Cai Yong drank tea and said: "Besides, others don't know that charcoal balls are cheap. In the future, the land of Shuofang will have a lot of money needed for the people's livelihood, and the help of the imperial court is extremely limited. ”

Xiang Ao suddenly realized when he heard this, and immediately bid farewell to Cai Yong, and formulated a system for obtaining charcoal according to Shuofang's current situation.

The people under the rule could sell it at a low price, or even for free, with a few government decrees. But there are so many counties in the north, and the charcoal group can make a lot of money from the nobles to fund the people's livelihood and military development. There is also a need for Xianbei in the north, if this cheap charcoal ball is only exchanged for Xianbei horses and even iron ore, won't it be able to weaken the Xianbei alien race in the north in disguise? Thinking of this, Xiang Ao was even more difficult to himself, and after discussing with Cai Yong roughly, he was ready to implement the plan.

In order to keep it secret, Xiang Ao paid a high salary to recruit those people who were rescued by Xiang Ao and had no relatives at home. The detachment transported a certain amount of coal ash, transported an appropriate amount of sand ash and sulfur and other additives, and then ordered people to mix and mold them, and all the processes were coordinated by Ma Jun alone, and others were not allowed to participate.

In this way, the possibility of making charcoal balls being explored by external forces is greatly reduced. Xiang Ao still had a lot of money and property that he had robbed outside the Saiwai, except for a small amount that was distributed to the people for emergency relief, and there was a lot left. After arranging, Xiang Ao began to make a large number of productions.

A few days later, Xiang Ao issued a decree: between October and February every year, if someone in the family serves in the army, he can receive a charcoal regiment free of charge in the yamen every month, the number is ten; Later, if there is a demand, it can be purchased at the price of four coins in the official office, and the amount of income of each household in the month shall not exceed thirty, and one of the officials shall be treated the same as that of a soldier.

If the Shuofang people who have served or intend to serve in the future part of the official conscription of Shuofang County in the future can buy it at a price of four yuan, and the number purchased by each household in the current month shall not exceed 40, and the people who are serving are treated like non-commissioned soldiers and officials, and there is another income from unofficial compulsory conscription in the future; A person who has settled within the boundaries of Shuofang County for more than one year may purchase charcoal balls for six yuan, and the number of charcoal balls per household shall not exceed forty per month. More than 40 must be purchased at the original price of 14 coins, and the total number of purchases shall not exceed 100.

Moreover, because Shuofang was harmed by Xianbei this year, many families had no money, where could they get the money to buy charcoal groups, Xiang Ao allowed the people to buy them on credit, and then return them to the government or replace them with military service in the coming year. Of course, the people who can buy on credit need to send someone to verify that it is really difficult to release it, and the person who can buy it on credit must also write an IOU or write a deed that will be replaced by forced labor in the next year.

Xiang Ao's decision was also based on the fact that after the charcoal balls were sold to other states and counties at a high price and even to foreign tribes, they could also earn a little surplus money for the people who dared to engage in business for their families, and the limit on the number was to prevent too many people from engaging in reselling and resulting in no one cultivating.

On the day the charcoal group began to be sold, Xiang Ao issued a decree at the same time, and those who met the decree needed to be registered with the yamen to receive it. At first, the people were skeptical about this, but after some of the soldiers and relatives received it for free and went home for trial, they spread the benefits of the charcoal ball. Xiang Ao in the county was not worried, there were not many people, and he ordered the number of people to be sent to other counties within a few days.

In order to avoid the misdeeds of bad officials and make profits from them, Xiang Ao also sent two people from his own personal guard cavalry to supervise them. In order to sell the charcoal group to other states and counties as soon as possible, Xiang Ao had no choice but to order Jiang Yan to accompany the Jin Cao officials in the county to sell it. Shuofang County was originally small in people, and the officials were also not fully prepared, and Xiang Ao himself had no one who knew how to trade, so he had to let the officials in charge of the gold and silver affairs in the county temporarily act as agents.

Originally, Xiang Ao wanted to go to other states and counties by himself, but he needed to prepare for farming affairs in the spring of next year. Besides, although Xiang Ao is smart, he is not omnipotent, it is one thing to be able to settle accounts, and it is another thing to be able to sell charcoal balls to other states and counties at a good price.

After Jiang Yan left Shuofang with dozens of people, Xiang Ao invited Ma Jun to the fertile area of Woye County in Shuofang, asking him to find a way to optimize the irrigation system for the land suitable for cultivation in Woye County, and ordered people to explore the crops suitable for cultivation inside and outside the county, so as to increase crop production as much as possible.

Before Ma Jun arrived, he had already begun to study the optimization of waterwheels used for agricultural irrigation, with a view to temporarily using less manpower to transport a large amount of water to higher places for convenient irrigation, which has already taken shape. In addition, Xiang Ao not only funded himself, but also gathered a few craftsmen in the county to help Ma Jun solve the details of the problem.