When the other craftsman saw Li Feibai hearing this, he was not angry with his smile, and he also dared to say: "Yes, the most!" At most, only one household in a hundred households will buy coal to burn, and the amount used is too small, is it possible that the shopkeeper Li Da expects all the people to buy coal to burn? If coal could be sold, it would have been sold long ago. It was impossible to sell it before, so the shopkeeper Li beat the coal into a spherical shape, and all the people came to buy coal to burn. ”

Li Feibai said: "Why can't you?" ”

The craftsman said: "Ordinary people, the time required for cooking is very short, go and collect two handfuls of firewood or directly use two handfuls of wheat stalks, and a meal will be made." If you can cook without spending money, why buy coal to cook, isn't that a loser? ”

Li Fei said with a white chin: "I see! After a pause, he said: "Then ordinary people's homes, do you buy charcoal for heating in winter?" ”

The winter in Jiyuan is very cold, although it is not to the terrifying point of urine falling into ice, but it is also so cold that the river freezes, and icicles are hung on the eaves. In addition, Jiyuan is located in the Central Plains, and there is no custom of every household building a fire pit in the further north, so it is extremely difficult to survive in winter.

The craftsman said, "You still have to buy charcoal, otherwise you will freeze to death in winter." ”

Li Feibai said: "Do you spend money to buy charcoal?" ”

The craftsman said, "Spend money." ”

Li Feibai said: "Is charcoal more expensive or coal more expensive?" ”

The craftsman said, "Naturally, charcoal is more expensive." ”

Li Feibai said: "Why do people buy charcoal for heating instead of coal? ”

The craftsman said with a smile: "The shopkeeper Li said that although coal is much cheaper than charcoal, burning coal for heating will poison coal and die, but burning charcoal will not." For the sake of life, it is better to spend more money to buy charcoal than to buy coal cheaply and give your life away. ”

Li Feibai suddenly realized and said, "So that's the case!" After a pause, he added: "If my coal fire can prevent people from being poisoned by coal and dying, do you think the people will burn coal for heating instead of charcoal?" ”

The craftsmen's eyes are all bright! The price of coal is not a fraction of the price of charcoal, but a world of difference. If there is no fear of life by burning coal for heating, then who will buy charcoal for heating!

Someone asked: "How is it possible to burn coal for heating without being poisoned by coal?" ”

Li Feibai said: "Why is coal poisoning when burning coal for heating? That's because the coal is not burned enough, producing a toxic gas, and people who inhale this gas for a long time will be poisoned and die unconsciously. But if there is a way to expel this poisonous gas out of the house, people can't smell it, and naturally they won't be poisoned. ”

Among the craftsmen of the iron smelting plant, as well as the craftsmen brought by Li Feibaixin, there were many blacksmiths, who often dealt with coal, and they immediately understood the meaning of Li Feibai's words.

Humanitarian: "When the fire is just lit, there will be a stream of green smoke coming out, even if the fire is stronger, you can still see the green smoke that seems to be there, thinking that this is the poisonous smoke, smelling for a long time, the headache is cracking, it may be the precursor of poisoning." At this point, just go outside and get some fresh air. ”

His words were echoed by many people, and some of them said: "But how can this toxic smoke be discharged?" ”

Li Feibai took out the second piece of paper and said, "This is the second thing I want you to make, coal fire." He pointed to the hole in the countertop and the pipe connected to it, and continued: "Just cover the lid of the coal fire, and the poisonous gas will be discharged down the pipe to the outside of the house, so that the people in the house will not be poisoned by the coal." ”

Only then did the craftsmen understand that the things made of the two pieces of paper in Li Feibai's hands were originally used in this way, and they discussed it one after another.

Some said: "Although the winter is short, it can be three or five months. Every household in Jiyuan buys thousands of catties of coal in winter, which is tens of millions of catties of coal a year! ”

Some said: "Not only Jiyuan, but also Huaiqing Mansion, Henan Province, and the entire Ming Dynasty, if we all buy our coal, our annual output is not enough to sell in one day." ”

Some said: "If you want to think of beautiful things, you will almost think of the sky, and the Ming Dynasty is not only our coal-producing place, but the coal-producing place is in the sea, how can we just buy our coal." ”

Some said: "Anyway, the coal can be sold, and the shopkeeper Li is really a god!" Sure enough, as he said, as soon as he came, the coal was sold. Why can't we come up with such a solution? ”

Some said: "If you could figure it out, you would have been a shopkeeper a long time ago, what kind of craftsman would you be!" ”

His words caused a burst of laughter, and then someone asked: "As long as the coal can be sold, why does the shopkeeper Li have to beat the coal into briquettes?" ”

Li Feibai said: "The first is to burn briquettes to save coal. Second, our coal fire is tailor-made for briquettes. Third, selling loose coal cannot be sold at a high price, and it can be sold as briquettes and can make more money. ”

The craftsmen were amazed again and discussed. Unlike before, most of the people who spoke this time were craftsmen from the iron smelting plant.

They couldn't help but have some tears in their eyes, after all, those iron ingots were all painstakingly smelted by them, just like their own children, and they ended up useless, which was inevitably unacceptable. Now, these iron ingots finally have a place to use and can be exchanged for real money, how to make them unhappy.

Everyone said their own things, and when they didn't have anything to say, someone suddenly asked: "Li Da shopkeeper, who are you going to let make the briquette machine, and who will make the coal fire." ”

Yes, there are more than 200 people in the room in front of me, who doesn't want to make these two things. However, it really doesn't take a few people to do these two things, and others don't have a chance to do it themselves.

As soon as these words came out, everyone was interested again, and one by one they recommended themselves and volunteered to do these two things.

Li Feibai said: "There is no progress without competition, I plan to divide everyone into ten groups, each group of about 20 people, to do these two things together." He paused for a moment and then said, "The big guys have their own whims, and the limit is ten days, and whoever makes the best and most practical things will take out a thousand taels of silver as a reward." ”

There were some new terms in his words, but the people in the room understood the meaning. Everyone's enthusiasm soared, it was 1,000 taels, and each person could get 50 taels, which was more than their annual work and food.

Li Feibai pressed his hand, asked everyone to be quiet for a while, and then said: "But don't be discouraged if you don't win, I have a bigger reward behind, and there are enough 10,000 taels of silver waiting for you." ”

Everyone was stunned, I don't know what Li Feibai is going to do with 10,000 taels?

Li Feibai said: "The iron ingots piled up on the iron smelting yard must have been seen by everyone, why is the iron we smelted is defective, I think the main reason is that there are too many impurities in the iron." I don't know much about why there are too many impurities, but the reason is that the furnace temperature is not high enough.

"Raising the furnace temperature is not something that the craftsmen of the iron smelting plant can solve, so this time I brought in all the best craftsmen I could find, as well as the craftsmen of the coal cellars. In order to solve the problem of coal, the craftsmen of the coal cellar must find the best coal. If the furnace is not high enough, ask the mason who built the house to raise the furnace. If it is the reason why the smelting tool is not fire-resistant, let the craftsman with experience in this area solve the problem and burn the refractory material. If the bellows are not large enough, then let the carpenter solve the problem. It's really not good, I also brought a waterwheel craftsman, and if the manpower is not enough, I will do it with water!

"In a few days, I will send a sum of silver to the iron-smelting station, all of which will be used to test the best iron, and whoever has the means to make good iron can withdraw two taels of silver to improve the iron-making tools, and if it is not enough, I will send more silver. Anyway, I just have one request. Whoever can make the best iron must not only be better than the iron smelted in the house, but also better than the iron smelted in the province, and it is best to smelt the iron that the entire Ming Dynasty cannot match, and I will award it 10,000 taels of silver. At that time, it will not be us crying and begging others to buy our iron, but others crying and begging to buy our iron. ”