Back home, Zhu Ming had no plans to do any more experiments.

He found that if the sand ratio was lowered and charcoal powder and sawdust were added, honeycomb coal would be more flammable. If the sawdust is slightly carbonized, the honeycomb coal is better burned.

But considering the cost, all of them were abandoned.

It is better to be simple and rough directly, and it can be burned with coal and soil. What more charcoal powder? What more sawdust?

80% coal and 20% mud, which is the optimal ratio, and it is easy to ignite after burning for a long time.

There is no other choice for soil, and most of the soil near Kaifeng is yellow loam. Moreover, it is not a sticky yellow loam suitable for honeycomb coal, but a sandy yellow loam with a slightly weaker viscosity. It can only be said that it can be used.

"Xianggong, there are guests waiting for you at home, listening to Mr. Chen's lecture." Bai Sheng took the reins and led the horse inside.

Zhu Ming asked, "Scholar?" ”

Bai Sheng said: "The surname is Che, and he claims to be the head of the Tan Bank. I moved all the charcoal stoves and charcoal balls in the house and hid them so that he could not see them. ”

"Well done." Zhu Ming praised.

Bai Chongyan and Min Zishun are still reading books and preparing for the exam, and the customs exam has been confirmed to be held on the second day of the first lunar month next month.

Zhu Ming offended Cai Jing, and Cai Dang controlled the officials.

Even if they pass the exam, it is estimated that they will be suppressed, and they will be thrown into the poor countryside for a few years without thinking about moving their nests.

Zhu Ming will inevitably involve his friends, and he doesn't know how to comfort him.

But he saw Chen Yuan sitting under the porch and preaching to a businessman: "The Carboniferous Division and the official office are contrary to the theory of square rules. It is difficult for you to draw a prescription for charcoal, so you have to seek a strike, and this is right, and there is nothing wrong with it. ”

The merchant said happily: "In terms of learning, we also take advantage of it? ”

Chen Yuan nodded: "Naturally." The way of heaven is nothing more than humanity, benevolence loves people, businessmen are also people, and the court should treat them with benevolence. ”

The merchant asked, "But those ministers say that the merchant is a traitor, and the court also says that we are a miscellaneous industrial and commercial person." ”

Chen Yuan asked rhetorically: "Among the merchants, there are many treacherous people, isn't it true?" ”

The merchant could not refute this, because this is a fact, and he could only compare it to the worse: "The merchant is more cunning, is it not that the scholar is cunning?" How many of those ministers in the court are not treacherous? ”

Chen Yuan said: "If you want not to be despised, businessmen should make money in a good way. It must be remembered that there is a way in life, not a skill in making money. Tao and art, Tao first, art last. Jun is the head of the charcoal line, if there is no government exploitation, will you not hoard Juqi and raise the market price? ”

The merchant said: "Naturally not, there are rules in the charcoal business." ”

Chen Yuan smiled: "Even if you are so hypocritical, Your Excellency doesn't have to listen to my nonsense." Leave. ”

"Sir, don't go," the merchant hurriedly stopped, "I like to hear Mr. speak of great reason." ”

Chen Yuan said: "The bad reputation of Shangjia is not imposed by scholars, but the hat that you have worn on yourself for thousands of years. Do you know that there are Confucian merchants in the south? ”

The merchant shook his head: "I don't know." ”

With the development of the commodity economy and the flood of scholars, from the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were more and more unsuccessful scholars engaged in business.

Some of them, combining Confucianism and Taoism, called themselves "Confucian merchants". They pursued the principle of "a gentleman loves money and takes it in the right way", and integrated the Confucian "distinction between righteousness and benefit" into commercial activities, no matter what they do in private, at least on the surface, blameless.

And Wang Anshi's new learning has played a role in fueling the "Confucian merchants".

Chen Yuan said: "Confucianism has righteousness and benefit, the gentleman is in righteousness, and the villain is in profit." This is a sentence from the Analects, and you must have read it a long time ago. But can a gentleman speak for himself? Yes. A gentleman should manage his money with righteousness......"

Managing money with righteousness is Wang Anshi's point of view.

Recently, in order to be able to give lectures in the capital, Chen Yuan reopened Wang Anshi's article.

In the past, he read Wang Anshi, with a critical eye, purely from the perspective of Luo Xuemen.

Now when I read Wang Anshi again, for the purpose of absorption, I will extract the usable content of the new learning, and package the "Taoist learning" as a new learning to promote.

Reading from a different angle means that the perception is very different.

Chen Yuan found that most of Wang Anshi's distinction between righteousness and benefit can be used as a footnote to the theory of Taoism.

If we want to talk about righteousness and benefit, we must first talk about human nature.

Wang Anshi overturned the views of Mencius, Xunzi and others, and chased Confucius's "similar sex, far away from Xi". He believes that nature does not care about good or evil, neither good nor evil, and purely depends on nurture.

Furthermore, he said that righteousness and profit are not opposites, but can be united.

Public interest is righteousness, and what we talk about for national financial management is profit, but the result is righteousness. also said, "A "Zhou Li", financial management accounts for half of it, how can Zhou Gong be profitable?" ”

He also said that Yang Zhu only knew that self-interest was unjust, and Mozi only knew that benefiting others was unkind, and the combination of benefiting others and self-interest was benevolence and righteousness.

Chen Yuan has continued to write articles recently, and the "Yili Chapter" is almost finished, quoting Wang Anshi's views a lot.

But there is one thing, Chen Yuan does not support Wang Anshi.

He believes that "righteousness comes before profit", while Wang Anshi believes that "profit comes before righteousness".

Wang Anshi is too radical, saying that people have permanence, longevity, and childbirth, and are not harassed and exploited, so that they can have good moral sentiments. Without a stable material life, it is impossible for people to have good morals, and without good morals, society will be in turmoil.

It can be simply summarized as: the poor are not qualified to talk about righteousness! Don't talk about morality! The imperial court must make the poor less forced, and then through moral education, the number of gentlemen can become more and the society will be stable.

This point of view made Chen Yuan feel extremely uncomfortable.

Do you still talk about the gentleman's poverty?

This businessman came to visit Zhu Ming in the afternoon and listened to Chen Yuan for three hours.

In the end, he said: "Mr. is really a great Confucian, I have a son, studying in the house, I don't know if I can worship under Mr.?" ”

"Yes," Chen Yuan said with a smile, "Other businessmen's children can also come to study." ”

The merchant said, "I am the head of the charcoal shop, and when I go back, I will tell them to let the charcoal merchant Jia Du send his children to come and apprentice." ”

Of course, what businessmen value is not a kind of knowledge, but a kind of social identity.

Although the social climate is becoming more and more profit-seeking, it is also becoming more and more tolerant of businessmen. But the background is still discrimination, and there is no psychological burden on exploitation, and businessmen are only used as tools to make money.

That's why Xu Xiang's father took the goods to Bianliang to do business, and when he saw the Jinshi lining up to walk out of Donghua Gate, he sighed: "It should be like this when you have a child." So he no longer worked as a trader, only kept some shops, and wholeheartedly trained his son to study for the imperial examination.

There is also a cattle supervisor book of Nasu to buy officials, and he earns more than 1,000 yuan a month by collecting rent, and he also has countless other properties. But he sighed to himself that "his body is cheap, and it is difficult to get close to the noble", visited famous teachers everywhere, made friends with famous people, frantically spent money to entertain scholars, and finally donated food to buy a small official, and went to work happily every day. Not only is he not greedy, but he also pays money to do a good job.

The businessman in front of him felt that Chen Yuan was willing to speak for the businessman, and Chen Yuan's knowledge must be good, so he sent his son to apprentice.

Hearing Zhu Ming's footsteps, Chen Yuan got up and said, "Tanhualang is back, let's go talk by ourselves." ”

The merchant hurriedly waved towards Zhu Ming: "Xiaomin Che Guirou, meet Zhu Xuezheng!" ”

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "Please sit down at the head of the car dealership." ”

Che Guirou took out the wooden box, tore off the red cloth, and opened the lid of the box: "Zhu Xuezheng said bluntly that he impeached corrupt officials for us and other charcoal merchants, and was fined by the official family for two months. Tokyo charcoal merchants are all admired, a little courtesy, not a respect. ”

Lying in the box were two pieces of gold bread, worth about two hundred pieces.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the price of gold was extremely high, and one or two pieces of gold were worth at least 20 guan or more, and sometimes even 30 guan.

Zhu Ming glanced at it and pushed the gold back: "No need. ”

Che Guirou said: "This is not a gift for my family, but a joint effort by charcoal merchants. ”

Zhu Ming didn't say whether he would accept it or not, but asked: "How long do you plan to strike this charcoal strike?" Is it to raise the price of charcoal? ”

Che Guirou said: "The Carboniferous Division forced us to sell charcoal at a low price, and at the same time forbade foreign charcoal merchants to sell goods to us. The strike of the charcoal store is not to raise the price, but to be able to purchase goods at a low price. There is no way to retreat from other carbon merchants, so they can only make an appointment to strike together. Please Zhu Xuezheng, and then go to the impeachment of the Carboniferous Division! ”

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "It turns out that I can't harvest these two pieces of gold in vain, so I have to help you with it again." ”

"How dare you, after the deed is done, there will be another thank-you gift." Che Guirou said.

Zhu Ming asked: "There are dozens of businessmen in the charcoal industry, and there are no other officials to help?" ”

Che Guirou said with emotion: "Thirty years ago, Tan Xing was still able to speak. Later, it became weaker and weaker, where can I still make friends with Qinggui? ”

The government-run enterprises squeezed the coal market from the beginning of the Renzong Dynasty, and the officials went directly to make money, of course, more than the merchants were filial piety.

Now, the charcoal businessman Jia has been made financially weak, and he can only buy off a petty official like Zhu Ming.

And those who dare to talk about things in petty officials, who else is there besides Zhu Ming?

Zhu Ming said: "I want to open a charcoal shop, can I join the charcoal shop?" ”

Che Guirou was stunned at first, and then rejoiced: "Welcome!" ”

Private coal merchants are not afraid of officials opening shops to compete, but only afraid of government-run enterprises smashing the field.

Of course, they are willing to accept Zhu Ming, and they can't wait to bring in a few more officials, so that they can better deal with the exploitation of the Carboniferous Division in the future!

Zhu Ming asked, "Are there any rules for the charcoal industry?" ”

Che Guirou said: "You can't raise or lower prices without permission, you have to advance and retreat together." In the event of exploitation by the government, they must not communicate with the government privately, and they must also advance and retreat together. Other than that, it's all a little rule. ”

Zhu Ming said: "I want to open a charcoal shop outside Nanxunmen, can I help contact charcoal merchants from other places?" ”

"Wrap it up on me!" Che Guirou said with a smile.

Tokyo's coal market is large enough that there is not much competition from the private sector, and the real enemies are the government-run ones.

Let's put it this way, the homeless people of Tokyo can only run to the banks of the Cao River more than ten miles away to build shacks. Because the perimeter of the city wall is several miles, all of them belong to normal settlements.

In "Qingming Riverside Picture", the boat crossing the bridge is afraid of being hit, and it is very famous to be made into a moving picture. This place, seven miles outside the city, is still very prosperous.

Zhu Ming's coal shop only needs to have enough customers in a certain area outside the city to already make money, and there is no need to compete with the shops in the city for the market.

Zhu Ming returned the gold: "I don't want the money, just help me contact the charcoal carrier." Your boycott is making a big fuss, and I'll go to Shangshu for impeachment. ”

Che Guirou sincerely admired: "It is said that Tanhualang is as honest as water, and I know today that it is not a lie!" ”

Zhu Ming also said: "I am an official, and I can't do business according to the system, so the charcoal shop is run by my relatives." I also offended Kaifeng Mansion Yin, it is inconvenient to come forward, please ask your Excellency to help with the paperwork. ”

Che Guirou said: "I still know a few officials, and this is handed over to me." ”

You also need a license to open a store, and it is best for the charcoal store to help you apply, otherwise most of them will be deliberately stuck.

In addition, although there were countless officials in the Song Dynasty who were engaged in business, the law did not allow it. Zhu Ming didn't want to be left behind, so the legal person of the coal shop must write Bai Sheng's name.

Local charcoal dealers went on strike, and foreign charcoal dealers went on strike.

Kaifeng citizens are crazy to buy, but anyone who has a little deposit will pick up coal at home one by one.

In less than ten days, the official office could not bear it, not only did not reduce the price according to the order of the imperial court, but instead raised the price of coal to more than 15 wen.

The more the price increases, the more people rush to buy.

Half a month later, the stock was sold out, and the whole of Tokyo fell into a coal shortage.

The Carboniferous Division turned to Kaifeng Prefecture Yin, who took the official errand and forced the private coal shops to open for business.

Anyway, the price of coal is skyrocketing, and these businessmen are happy to sell.

But soon the inventory was also sold out, the charcoal store was organized, and the bosses took their men to besiege Cai Jing's house.

Cai Jing couldn't go out, so he sent someone to call for support, and the front division of the palace sent out with the forbidden army.

But those forbidden soldiers also couldn't buy coal, and they arrived at the scene one by one just to watch the excitement.

"It's the other way around, it's all the other way around, these profiteers!" Cai Jing was furious, and a little scared.

Cai Xianggong was stuck at home and couldn't go to work, and the matter finally got big enough that even a eunuch ran to report to the emperor.

Song Huizong's first reaction was to laugh: "Haha, it's very interesting." ”

Then he was furious: "I don't listen to my edict, those people in the household department are so bold!" ”

(End of chapter)