Honeycomb coal, which is a product that is not technically difficult, but is extremely convenient for people in cold regions.

In the era when the Xiaoice River was coming at the end of the Ming Dynasty, such things only need to be lit five or six, lit and stored with a special stove, which can completely warm a dozen square meters of small yurts for one night.

Its thermal efficiency is much better than that of firewood, and the cost is much cheaper.

What Zhu Youzhen had to do was to harvest the Mongols in the north with honeycomb coal.

Therefore, when he brought the three kinds of coal and earth he had brought from the capital, he explained to the craftsmen:

"This honeycomb coal is shaped like this." He pulled out a piece of paper on which he drew the shape of a honeycomb coal stove and honeycomb coal, which would later be seen in the world.

"The stove for this honeycomb coal can be coated with iron sheets, or it can be made directly from clay." Zhu Youzhen explained:

"Mix coal and soil into powder according to the method of one or two to three dollars, then knead it with water, throw it into a mold to shape it, and take it out after drying."

"This kind of honeycomb coal, once made, is not fast on fire, but it lasts for a long time, and after being put into the furnace and sealed, it can not be extinguished for an hour, and the only drawback is that it is a little smoke."

"But if you build an opening above the stove and install a bamboo pipe, you can get the smoke outside."

"As for the proportion of soil, it can be mixed according to the quality of cinder, and high-quality can be mixed with one or two hundred catties of soil."

After Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, he looked at the craftsmen expectantly.

As for them, they had never heard of such a thing, but they thought it was very new.

didn't laugh and say how simple this thing was like the others, but after hesitating again and again, he said cautiously:

"If it's really as simple as His Highness said, then the grass people and others can give it a try."

I just said I would give it a try, but I didn't pat my chest and say I would be able to do it.

This is very in line with human nature, and Zhu Youzhen also said to Cao Huachun:

"Give them five hundred taels of silver, and then ask other craftsmen to take materials from the place."

"Build a 100-acre Wu fort ten miles east of the barracks, and transfer a thousand households to garrison it."

After speaking, Zhu Youzhen said to the craftsman again:

"If you research this thing, you will each be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver, and each of you will be rewarded with ten acres of wasteland in Changping."

"If you can't study it, I won't punish you."

"Your Highness!" Hearing this, all the craftsmen knelt down one after another, clasped their hands into fists and thanked Zhu Youzhen.

It can be seen from this that even in the late Ming Dynasty, the status of craftsmen was still very low.

The military household system does not require children and grandchildren to be military households for generations, but every family must have one person in each generation to serve as a military household, and the same is true for artisan households.

This group of people who have become craftsmen, there must be people in the small family behind them who are doing well, after all, they are craftsmen of the three guards of martial arts in the capital, and maybe there is a relative who is an official.

Since the beginning of the Song Dynasty and the development of the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court's focus on basic education has been a historical trajectory.

After the relay of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered social studies to be established in various places, and invited teachers and Confucians to teach the children of the people.

A hundred years have passed, Zhu Qizhen ordered the imperial court to order the scholars and county officials to support and supervise social studies.

During the Chenghua period, the Jiangnan area was even more prosperous in social studies, and the children of the people did not become scholars at the age of eight, and their fathers and brothers were punished.

In the Hongzhi period, Zhu Youzhu once again explicitly ordered all prefectures and counties to establish social studies, and took Jiangnan as an example, stipulating that young children under the age of 15 should be sent to social studies, which was the earliest compulsory compulsory education.

There are a total of 1,438 recorded social studies in the Ming Dynasty, and it is almost guaranteed that every county has a social science.

This is still recorded, and many are still unrecorded, so in the Zhengde period, the Ming Dynasty industry began to get on the right track and entered the peak in the late Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, it is not surprising that in the Ming Dynasty, they could read and write, but due to the lack of social studies, most people still need to pay money to let their children study.

Therefore, craftsmen such as Wugong Sanwei may not have a lot of scholars behind him.

Zhu Youzhen didn't mean to punish them, and after beckoning them to study carefully, he asked someone to take them down.

It's just that after they went down, Zhu Youzhen remembered the matter of social science, so he said to Cao Huachun:

"How's the matter of the children of the Nine Sides and the orphans in the sanatorium?"

"I was about to talk to Your Highness about this." Cao Huachun saluted:

"In the past month and a half, the eunuchs sent out by the Qingong Palace have brought back a total of more than 16,400 people, most of whom are the remnants of dead generals and soldiers, 1,427 parents and children under the age of 16, and 2,000 orphans."

"The slaves and maids arranged for them to be twenty-four miles to the east, where they set aside 40,000 acres of land for them, and sent craftsmen and men to build twelve villages for them."

"More than 3,000 people? So much? Hearing Cao Huachun's words, Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly and said:

"Didn't I remember that the Beiyu hadn't knocked on the gate for years?"

Zhu Youzhen made it clear that the relationship between the Mongols and the Ming Dynasty had begun to gradually ease due to the gradual canonization of the Mongols in the late Ming Dynasty and the beginning of mutual markets.

Such a moderation is that since the 44th year of Wanli, the Mongols basically did not go south to raid.

Now it is the first year of Taichang, and in a broad sense, it is the forty-eighth year of Wanli.

It's unlikely that there will be so many orphans in four years......

However, Zhu Youzhen still relied too much on the memories of his previous life, so Cao Huachun explained to him:

"In Salhu No. 1 Middle School, Yang Hao dispatched soldiers and horses from all over the nine sides, and most of these orphans were children of soldiers and horses killed in Jizhen and Liaodong, as well as Xuanfu and Datong."

"Well......" Hearing this explanation, Zhu Youzhen understood a little.

However, so many children and migrants have to eat the grain of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and it will not be until the autumn harvest of the following year that they will pay forty percent of the grain according to the rules of the Imperial Horse Supervisor.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen asked again: "How much grain has been allocated?" ”

"When I returned to Your Highness, I allocated 80,000 stone of grain, and a lot of wood to build the house." Cao Huachun said this at first, but then said:

"Your Highness, the wasteland in the Changping area has been exhausted, and only Huairou and Miyun are left."

"So fast?" Zhu Youzhen didn't expect it to be sent so quickly, but Cao Huachun explained:

"The whole family of the enlisted was allocated the field, so that one mu was distributed according to the head, one person was given, a total of 70,000 mu, and then another 60,000 mu was sent to this frost, so that there were 130,000 mu."

"There are 160,000 people who have migrated from the vicinity, and 80,000 men have participated in the construction of the imperial mausoleum, so it is 160,000 mu, and 290,000 mu in Changping will be completed."

"The problem at the moment is that, according to the requirements of the migration, we are going to provide them with food until the autumn harvest."

"All the people are close to 200,000 people, and they have to eat 150,000 stone of grain every month."

"Before the Imperial Horse Supervisor, the grain was only 500,000 stones, and after the autumn tax in various places, 1,623,000 stones were harvested and handed over, for a total of 2,123,000 stones."

"After all kinds of food and drink, 120,000 stones have been used, and there are less than 2 million stones at present."

"Isn't that a lot?"

Hearing that there were still two million stones, Zhu Youzhen relaxed a lot.

Looking at Cao Huachun's serious appearance, he thought that the food of the Imperial Horse Supervisor had been eaten.

However, his relaxation made Cao Huachun smile bitterly:

"Now there are still ten months before the autumn harvest, but if there are other people from the political secretary in the future, according to the appearance of this land, I am afraid that two million stones will not be enough."

One million acres of wasteland, two acres for one person and two acres for the families of those who joined the army, according to the current shortage, at most 40,000 acres, and the remaining 600,000 acres are divided by heads.

If they come one after another, it will probably be after the beginning of spring.

But even so, from spring to autumn harvest, in more than eight months, more than 600,000 people plus the current 200,000 people, it is more than 800,000.

More than 800,000 people, every month is to save more, then they will have to eat 600,000 stone of grain, eight months is 4.8 million stone.

If this continues, the land will not be raised, and the people will go bankrupt first.

Cao Huachun was worried, after all, Zhu Youzhen told him that after the beginning of spring, the imperial horse supervisor would still have to do business with the Mongols and buy ploughing cattle and horses.

But if it goes on like this, even if the silver for repairing the emperor's mausoleum is counted, it won't be able to support so many people.

You can't keep looking for Banzai, right? When the time comes, Long Live will be anxious, so naturally he will not be angry with His Royal Highness, and he will be angry with him and Wang Chengen first.

However, after his sorrow was seen by Zhu Youzhen, he smiled and said:

"What should I do? So that's it? Don't worry. ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and comforted him, and explained to him:

"I'm sure of this food."

"As long as the food of the Imperial Horse Supervisor can endure until the summer, it is enough, and you don't have to worry about the rest of the food, it will be handed over to the honeycomb coal."

"Honeycomb coal?" Cao Huachun smiled bitterly, there is no thing about the eight characters, but His Royal Highness is confident.

"Well, honeycomb coal!" Zhu Youzhen explained with a smile:

"The honeycomb coal is made in a simple way, don't worry about those craftsmen, but as long as they go back and get it for a few days, they can get it."

"As long as the honeycomb coal is taken out, and then the cinder and coal stone are purchased at a low price and the local government in Shanxi, more than 600,000 people are added."

"In less than three months, not to mention the construction of the imperial mausoleum, tens of millions of catties of honeycomb coal can be made."

"That honeycomb coal...... Is it really that simple? Cao Huachun was a little unconvinced, and always felt that His Royal Highness was fooling himself.

He Cao Huachun is also a person who reads poetry and books in the inner study hall, and he has never heard of such a thing.

However, this is not to blame Cao Huachun, if it weren't for Zhu Youzhen going to the honeycomb coal factory to peek when he was a child, he wouldn't know that this thing was so simple.

But even if Zhu Youzhen said so, he also knew in his heart that the financial pressure of the Imperial Horse Supervisor was now very great.

He wants to come to the Imperial Horse Prison, not only for himself, but also to help the royal brother.

If he can't share it, but he still has to ask for silver with his good brother, then he won't be a joke?

So after thinking so, Zhu Youzhen said to Cao Huachun:

"It's still too late in time, and this honeycomb coal still has to be winter to earn a lot of silver."

"You have someone to supervise those craftsmen, and as soon as the honeycomb coal is ready, you immediately ask someone to buy coal around."

"When buying coal, send people to Zhangjiakou with enough coal to try the market first, if there are Mongolians willing to buy, discuss and set the price, and then take people to Baimaguan and Xifengkou to make mutual markets."

"This honeycomb coal is not a military need, and the imperial court can't help it, selling it in the name of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and by the way, the volume of goods after the spring of next year is set."

"Slave maid...... The slave maid received the order...... "Listening to His Royal Highness's words with such interest, Cao Huachun couldn't bear to disturb him, so he could only nod along with him."

Zhu Youzhen saw that Cao Huachun didn't believe it, and he didn't break it, but smiled and motioned for him to go first.

After a while, Zhu Youzhen found a brocade guard and asked him to call Lu Wenzhao over.

After a quarter of an hour passed like this, after Qi Jin ordered everyone to rest, everyone rested in the school field, and Lu Wenzhao also caught up with the school platform.

"Your Highness, you called me?"

Lu Wenzhao thought there was something urgent, but he didn't want Zhu Youzhen to ask:

"Lu Jianxing, where are they?"

Seven or eight days have passed since Lu Jianxing and the others went down to Jiangnan.

With so much time, it's time to go to Jiangnan even if you ride a horse, so Zhu Youzhen couldn't help asking.

After Lu Wenzhao learned that he was asking about this matter, he replied:

"Four days ago, they arrived at Yangzhou Mansion, and then visited Yang Yipeng, the governor of Caoyun, and spent three thousand taels of silver to get Caoyun's documents from Yang Yipeng."

"Subsequently, according to your wishes, Your Highness, the minister instructed the Fusi of Nanjing Nanzhen to come forward and transfer the three hundred small boats and sixty sand boats in Nanjing Cao Yun to Lu Jianxing."

"Then Lu Jianxing did not go directly to Sichuan and Huguang by boat, but directly used Yang Yipeng's documents to buy 300 horses of Yunjin and Song Jin and 3,000 horses of white cloth, 500 quintals of raw silk, 300 catties of West Lake tribute tea, 6,000 catties of brown sugar and 40,000 catties of chestnuts, and intercepted 300 pieces of official porcelain."

"Then he asked one of his generals to take people, and two days ago he sailed to Japan, and he took people to Fengyang."

"Heading to Japan?" Zhu Youzhen frowned, while Lu Wenzhao said:

"That Yun Jin and Song Jin are tribute brocades, which are expensive in Japan and can't be bought with money, and as for the specific price, I don't know if I am lowly."

"Similarly, there are tribute tea from West Lake, as well as white cloth and official porcelain."

"As for the sugar and chestnuts, I don't know what they are used for."

Lu Wenzhao felt a little ashamed, after all, Nanzhen Fusi had stored a lot of documents, and it stands to reason that they should have the most information.

But Lu Jianxing's approach, they didn't know, it was enough to make him feel embarrassed.

But Zhu Youzhen knows very well the power of the sugar-fried chestnuts.

Stir-fried chestnuts in sugar! In the future, the fried chestnuts that sold at 15 yuan a pound on the street were still too expensive, and they were now a special offering of the Japanese royal family!

In fact, there are wild chestnuts in Japan, but the sugar needs to be imported, and in order to eat it, the Japanese imperial family and local feudal lords have offered sky-high prices.

But this matter, if Zhu Youzhen remembers correctly, it should have been transmitted back to the Ming Dynasty at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Now Lu Jianxing actually knew about it and got into this business.

In this way, this guy is afraid that he will not be able to meet my expectations by doing grain trade on his own, so he wants to earn money through sea trade.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen narrowed his eyes, and then said to Lu Wenzhao:

"The people who asked you to supervise Lu Jianxing and them, and they can help with anything they need."

"As for the sea boats, you send someone back to Shuntian and ask the imperial brother to transfer the sand boats and fortune boats of some sailors in the south of the Yangtze River to see if the imperial brother can approve it."

"Humble command!" Hearing Zhu Youzhen say this, Lu Wenzhao heard from his words that he was very satisfied with Lu Jianxing's approach.

As for the so-called permission, in fact, as long as His Royal Highness speaks, as long as it is not too excessive, Banzai will nod his head.

Thinking of this, Lu Wenzhao saw that Zhu Youzhen was no longer talking, so he slowly retreated.

As for Zhu Youzhen, after the other party withdrew, he took time to look at the book, and then felt a little sleepy, washed up and went to bed and fell asleep.

It's just that in his sleep, he dreamed of hanging himself from a tree with a crooked neck, and he woke up in an instant.

"Your Highness......" Seeing that Zhu Youzhen suddenly opened his eyes, the little eunuch in charge of the hall saluted slightly.

"What time is it?" Zhu Youzhen exhaled a breath of turbidity and asked.

"Your Highness...... It's six o'clock now......" The little eunuch responded honestly, and when Zhu Youzhen heard this, he no longer stayed in bed, but turned over and began to wash.

It's just that as soon as he started washing, he heard Cao Huachun's excited voice:

"Your Highness! It's done! It really happened! ”

Hearing this, Zhu Youzhen wiped his mouth, and then Cao Huachun entered the bedroom and said excitedly:

"Your Highness, the honeycomb coal, as you said, is done."

"Have you lit it?" Zhu Youzhen was not surprised, and at this time, Cao Huachun also nodded and said:

"If you have lit it, you can make it according to each 3 catties, one can burn for an hour, and if you store five according to the stove of His Highness, you can burn for three or four hours."

"3 catties ......" one catty in the Ming Dynasty was 596 grams, which means that three catties are already close to 1.8 kilograms.

Zhu Youzhen felt a headache, and thought to himself that it was no wonder that one could burn for two hours.

However, according to this calculation, three is fifteen catties, and if fifteen catties are put in the furnace, remember to cover the lid, which can be burned for about three or four hours.

The efficiency of this combustion is very good, even if it is used for heating, it is enough for the Mongols.

"What about smoke? Is it much? Zhu Youzhen got up, and the little eunuch beside him changed his clothes.

"It's a bit smog, but it's much better with the bamboo pipes."

"If it is sold to the Northern Captives and the Tuman, you can ask them to make a pipe in the middle of the tent as His Highness said before." Cao Huachun replied.

"How much does it cost?" Zhu Youzhen's words were short and concise, and Cao Huachun immediately responded:

"It's cheaper than what Your Highness said, about 100 catties and 90 wen."

"And the slave asked the craftsmen of the martial arts three guards last night, and there are hundreds of catties of coal ash left in the Ministry of Industry and the War Bureau every day."

"If you store these coal ashes and bring them, you can earn an extra few hundred taels of silver every year."

Cao Huachun's words made Zhu Youzhen a lot happier, he was in a good mood, and his tone was relaxed:

"In this case, first ask someone to make 300 catties, and take them to Zhangjiakou, Baimaguan, and Xifengkou to show the Mongolians in the mutual market there."

"This year's wind and snow are heavy, and those Tatar tribes must be anxious."

"It's good to be in a hurry, and you can sell it for a good price in a hurry." Zhu Youzhen said with a smile:

"As for this honeycomb coal, immediately follow what I said before, stop everyone in the Imperial Tomb, get it for me first, and get 10 million catties! You can do the silver you need, and the coal in Changping is not enough, so we will ask the Ministry of Industry to transport it, and we will buy it for silver. ”

"Slave and maid command!" Hearing Zhu Youzhen's words, Cao Huachun immediately got up and took people down to do errands.

As for Zhu Youzhen, after getting dressed, he sat in the hall and waited for breakfast.

While waiting, all sorts of things kept popping up in his head.

According to the period of the Da Khan, Monan was divided into 30,000 households in Chahar, 30,000 households in Outer Khalkha, 30,000 households in Inner Khalkha, 30,000 households in Moxi, 10,000 households in Hetao Ordos, and 30,000 households in the naturalized city of Tumut.

At present, all the Mongols in the Monan region are about 300,000 or 400,000, which is about the same as what Lin Dan Khan boasted to Nurhachi.

There are only about 1450,000 people in Mobei, and Moxi may be more because of the passage of time, but according to the period of Warat and Dzungaria, the current Oirat Mongols in Moxi are less than 200,000 at most.

The Qinghai Mongols are estimated to have 40,000 or 50,000, but the number of men is only 10,000 or 20,000.

All the Mongols combined, it is about more than 800,000.

If you don't count Moxi and Mobei, Monan and Qinghai are only 4560,000, and at most 1560,000 men will be pulled.

After removing the Nekharkha, which has taken refuge in Nurhachi, as well as Qinghai, Naturalized Tumut, and Ordos Tumut, the population belonging to Lin Dan Khan is less than 200,000.

That is, Lin Dan Khan's soldiers and horses are actually about forty or fifty thousand.

From this point of view, the Mongols have been entangled with the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, and they are already dying, and they cannot form a unified empire to threaten the Ming Dynasty.

Since it can't be threatened, it becomes feasible to win them over.

When he was thinking about it, the breakfast dishes were also served on the table one by one, and Zhu Youzhen thought while eating.

"If I want to deal with Inner Khalkha, then I have to beware of the Horqin Mongols in the north, if I can ask Lin Dan Khan to control Korqin, and even the two sides are at war, then it will be beneficial to me."

"In this way, there are heavy white pole soldiers and Qi family troops, and the old slave will definitely not dare to send a large team of men and horses to support Inner Khalkha."

"I only need to crush the Engdel in the Inner Khalkha and kill the hardcore pro-gold faction in the Inner Khalkha."

"As soon as this guy dies, the gap between Nekhalkha and Houjin will be difficult to repair, and when the time comes, it will be difficult to support it alone with the help of the Horqin Mongols."

"It's just ......"

Zhu Youzhen said to Jinyi Wei Qianhu who was standing at the door: "Has Qi Yuanfu returned to Zhejiang now?" ”

Hearing the question, as Lu Wenzhao's command, Qianhu immediately replied: "Back to Your Highness, I will return to Zhejiang on the twenty-sixth of last month." ”

"According to the news of Beizhen Fusi, after Qi Yuanfu returned to Yiwu, the local county order rejected Qi Yuanfu's recruitment on the grounds that there was a shortage of men, and many counties in Zhejiang rejected Qi Yuanfu's request for recruitment."

"The Great Age of Genes"

"......" Hearing the news, Zhu Youzhen's brows furrowed for a moment, and then asked:

"Didn't he send someone to ask for Jinyiwei to help?"

"No, he said he could fix it." Jinyi Wei Qianhu explained, and said:

"Despite the blockade of the counties, when Qi Yuanfu offered a military salary of one or two and a half yuan a month for training in the local area, five taels per person before the promotion, and one or two six dollars and six cents per month after the promotion, there were still people in Zhejiang who went to apply."

"The news sent three days ago that Qi Yuanfu has recruited 1,600 soldiers, and I am afraid that it has exceeded 3,000 now."

"Humph!" Zhu Youzhen snorted coldly, and everyone in the hall lowered their heads, looking at their noses and noses.

They all knew that Zhu Youzhen was angry at the actions of Zhejiang officials.

But after Zhu Youzhen got angry, he immediately noticed that something was wrong, just because he asked Qi Yuanfu to recruit troops, it was impossible to cause such a big reaction from Zhejiang party officials, since this was the case, then there was another reason why Zhejiang party officials were embarrassed by Qi Yuanfu.

"Qi Yuanfu, is there anything else to do?"

Zhu Youzhen suddenly spoke, and Jinyi Wei Qianhu immediately replied:

"Long live ordering Qi Yuanfu to train the troops, he will go north in June next year, and go to Nanjing by the way, and send the additional silver, autumn tax, grain, and summer tax of tomorrow year to the north of the capital together with the arrears of Nanzhili and Zhejiang this year."

I see......

Hearing the words of this brocade cloth Wei Qianhu, Zhu You understood why the Zhejiang Party was embarrassed by Qi Yuanfu.

To put it bluntly, military training is a trivial matter, but it is a major matter to block Qi Yuanfu's military training to escort Cao Liang and Cao Yin to the north.

Tens of millions of stone grains, more than 8 million taels of additional silver and autumn taxes were all transported away at once, so the officials, gentry, squire, and merchants who used the silver to do their own business were all broken.

Therefore, food cannot be transported, and grain cannot be transported!

If Zhu Youzhen thinks right, the tens of millions of Shicao grain at the moment may have been sold at a high price by Jiangnan officials as private grain to the people in the north of the Huai River who are suffering from a grain shortage......