In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the Yanjing area was originally called Beiping Mansion.

Later, Zhu Di captured Nanjing, moved the capital to Beiping, and integrated the surrounding states and counties into Shuntianfu.

At first, Shuntianfu governed the four prefectures of Tongzhou, Zhuozhou, Bazhou and Jizhou, and consisted of 23 counties including Sanhe, Wuqing, Xianghe, Baoding and Zunhua. In addition, there are 11 counties such as Wanping and Daxing County.

Specifically, it is equivalent to the core area of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration, which can be called the north gate of the Ming Dynasty.

Every time Jianzhou plundered, it also focused on taking care of this area, and when it was already changing, it robbed about 1.5 million taels of property.

Chongzhen walked on the stone road in Zunhua County, and the surrounding private houses and buildings were either demolished by Jianzhou, or requisitioned by the Liaozhen Army to defend with wood.

Some families even put up a small cloak between the broken walls, and several people huddled together and shivered.

Yin Liu Zongzhou of Shuntian Mansion accompanied him and said bitterly, "Your Majesty, the rampant construction of slaves has caused heavy losses to the residents of this city, and many people have no floating wealth to rebuild their houses in addition to their homestead land, so they can only build a shack and hide in place. ”

Chongzhen didn't speak, if he didn't see it with his own eyes, it was hard to imagine what kind of life the people of Daming were living at this moment.

Only when he saw living people suffering in front of him could Chongzhen realize that the emperor had Kyushu Wanfang in his heart, and it was not an empty word.

"The county government's guest room is still there, right?" Chongzhen asked.

Liu Zong was stunned and replied, "Your Majesty, the yamen has not lost much. What do you mean? ”

"At the end of the year, there will be no more distinguished guests, so let the officials take stock of the room and spread the Chase bunk. Then count the old and weak women and children in the city, and those who really can't afford to build a house will move in first. ”

It is impossible for Chongzhen to issue a holy decree because of the flood of sympathy to rebuild the homes of more than a dozen county residents around the capital who have been affected by the war.

That would cost at least millions of taels of silver, and the finances of next year and the whole year would be paralyzed. Under the operation of the Ming officials, it is not surprising that it is also an unfinished project.

But he can at least use his authority to make life better for the most difficult people than before.

Liu Zongzhou's eyes lit up, "Your Majesty, this move is really a move for the people. ”

Chongzhen didn't pick up directly, but nodded, "Those of you who are courtiers can't always say long live and be a great father." If I don't speak, you won't move. ”

"Take the current situation as an example, in addition to the government, there are also Confucian temples and Buddhist temples in the city, and there will not be much loss. Since you are parents and officials, you can take the initiative to talk, and you will be able to live more people. ”

Liu Zongzhou's face was ashamed, nodded yes, and then turned to hard thinking.

Chongzhen saw that his point touched him, so he didn't say more.

For Daming, Liu Zongzhou is also a rare talent.

In the original history, Liu Zongzhou wrote a notebook after the change, directly pointing out Chongzhen's character flaws of impatience and hard work, and anger when frustrated, pointing out that people like him want to eat a bite every day to become a fat man, and in the end he can only die of emaciation.

As a result, Chongzhen picked it up and looked at it, and said, this person is loyal but a little roundabout, so he doesn't care, and he doesn't reflect on changing his own problems.

Although Liu Zongzhou saw people and things very accurately, Chongzhen was not reused for a while, and later led his protégé to commit suicide.

And from the perspective of personal morality, Liu Zongzhou can be called a perfect person, not only the originator of Zhejiang learning, but also aware of the problems of his own class, and took the initiative to reduce or reduce the land rent for his tenants.

Chongzhen pondered Liu Zongzhou's resume, and at the same time entered the newly rebuilt house of Zhang's family, a large household in Zunhua County, with him.

In the house, according to the Portuguese method, a foreign stove was placed with a chimney on it.

A few strong laborers stuffed briquettes the size of potatoes under the stove with a dustpan and lit them with paper curtains.

After a while, there was a wave of warmth in the room.

It's just that with it, there is also a smell of soot.

Seeing that Chongzhen frowned a little, Liu Zongzhou explained, "Your Majesty, Zhili has been burning coal since the Song Dynasty, but because this gas can poison the residents, it is not yet a climate. ”

However, the newly renovated coal stove has chimney ventilation, and the "gas" is much less than in the past. This big family also said that he didn't have to worry about accidents when he slept with the stove on. ”

"And while heating, the coal stove can also boil water and cook rice, which can be said to kill multiple birds with one stone."

Chongzhen nodded, "In this case, can this coal furnace be promoted to thousands of households in Shuntian Mansion?" ”

Liu Zongzhou's face was embarrassed, "At present, Shuntianfu is in ruins, repairing the city wall, providing relief to the victims, reorganizing the fields, and buying cattle, there are too many places to spend money, and it is really difficult to push it to thousands of households." ”

"However, the minister has ordered the counties to transform the official temple into such a coal stove, and also encouraged large households with savings to apply for renovation."

Chongzhen nodded, "It's a beginning, but it's still too slow." ”

"Just relying on us to push, the people still think that there is something greasy in it, and they are here to squeeze their money. You might as well know the big and wealthy merchants in this Shuntian Mansion, and say that the method of this coal stove is transmitted from the palace, and there are all kinds of conveniences. ”

"Now the palace sees that the people of Zhili are in difficulty, so this method is specially flowed out, so that they can compete for auction and use the money to relieve the disaster. In case it is patted, this method of manufacturing and installing a coal stove will belong to him, and anyone who wants this coal stove will have to find him in the future, otherwise it will be difficult to get along with the palace. ”

Liu Zongzhou was still pondering, but Chongzhen glanced at Zhang Dahu who was squatting in the corner of the house, "Zhang Dahu, are you also interested?" ”

Zhang Dahu was excited, and hurriedly knelt down, saying long live.

"The grass people are fortunate to have three lives, and they can see the face of the saint, even if they are bankrupt, they must buy this method!"

Chongzhen smiled slightly, "This method was originally said to be worthless, what was valuable was the royal charter." ”

"Your family has a lot of property, but if you are isolated, I am afraid that you will not be able to touch the edge of your family."

Zhang Dahu and Liu Zongzhou were a little stunned at first, and then immediately came back to their senses.

Indeed, it is not only Shuntianfu that can use coal stoves.

In recent years, the weather has been extremely cold, not to mention the northern provinces that are accustomed to prepare enough firewood in winter, even Huguang, Nanzhili and other places, and the demand for heating is indispensable.

Even if the poor families can't afford it, there must be dozens or hundreds of people in every prefecture and county who can afford it, and they are not afraid to spend money to buy coal.

What kind of profit is it from house to house?

Zhang Dahu's breathing became heavy, he thought that being able to face the saint was the biggest benefit, but he didn't expect to be able to smell such a big business opportunity.

Not to mention that you can expect all the shares of this business, even if you only take one and a half percent, you can earn back 100,000 taels of silver a year.

Liu Zongzhou was also aware of the saint's unfounded business, and his help to Jingluo Zhili, his eyes were even more full of admiration when he looked at Chongzhen.

However, the task given to Liu Zongzhou by Chongzhen was not just selling coal stoves.