Knowing that the "briquette pounding" had been successfully made, Chen Mo, who was practicing archery, rode the snow dragon horse to the county seat as soon as possible.

At this moment, with the opening of the city gate, vegetable farmers and hawkers who had been waiting for a long time spontaneously lined up in a long line, accepted the inspection of the soldiers guarding the city, issued a certificate, and then rushed into the city in a swarm.

Then he rushed to the Fukuzawa Building, and chose a good position in the streets around the Fukuzawa Building, where the vegetable farmers arranged their own vegetables and the hawkers supported their vendors.

In the streets and alleys, after a while, one breakfast stall after another was erected.

After less than half an hour, the streets around Fukuzawa Building were as lively as a market.

With the two successive bumper harvests in Pingting County, the current grain prices in the city have returned to the prices of the Taiping period.

Of course, in order to prevent large households from taking advantage of low prices to buy on a large scale, the yamen issued a grain restriction order, which required a certificate to be issued, and each person should not buy more than a few catties of grain each time.

And with the stability of the county, the yamen no longer gives free porridge.

And issued an announcement that taxes will be collected one after another from February next year.

This did not violate Chen Mo's promise at the beginning, and the time for tax exemption for one year has arrived.

If it is tax-exempt again, the yamen will have an imbalance between its income and expenditure.

The taxes collected by the yamen are nothing compared to the taxes paid by the imperial court, and if the taxes are not collected, the people will not be able to live or something.

Of course, for some poor households who really can't afford to pay taxes, they can submit an application for tax exemption to the Yamen, and after the Yamen has reviewed it, it will send someone to investigate in person, and if it is really a poor household, it will be exempt from tax.

Such a humane announcement has been supported by the people.

Of course, tens of thousands of people must be dissatisfied.

In their opinion, it is better not to pay taxes for the rest of their lives.

After all, the world is so big, everyone has it.

If they have money and still don't pay taxes, the yamen will definitely let them know how powerful the tax collectors are.

Compared to the bustle around Fukuzawa Tower, the streets near the arsenal are silent.

There are heavy patrols outside the arsenal, and people are not allowed to set up stalls around, and idlers are not allowed to approach at will.

"County magistrate."

"County magistrate."

“……”

Geng Songfu, Zhao Daoxian, and Zhang Xiaolou, the chief engineer of the arsenal, waited outside the arsenal early for a long time, when they saw Chen Mo coming, they stepped forward to greet them one by one.

Chen Mo turned over and dismounted, and when he heard this title, he frowned slightly, and then said: "It's time to change the title in the future, the title of county magistrate is a bit too childish now."

As soon as these words came out, Geng Songfu and the others were stunned.

Geng Songfu said: "What should I call it?" Magistrate? ”

"Just call Chen Shuai." Chen Mo thought that it was time for him to step down from his position as county magistrate.

"No." Geng Songfu nodded, it is indeed a little inappropriate to call the county magistrate again, after all, from the position of the Heavenly Master Army, Chen Mo is in charge of the land of the seven counties, and a few more counties, it is a county, in the past, it can be called the county guard.

However, the title of the county guard is the official name of the previous dynasty, and there is no seal from the imperial court, so it is a little strange to call it alone, Chen Shuai is a good title, and Chen Mo is already a party marshal.

"Don't be polite, show me the briquettes to pound." Chen Mo looked at Zhang Xiaolou.

"No, Chen Shuai." Zhang Xiaolou asked people to bring a "briquette pound" that was almost the same as Chen Mo's previous life, and after Chen Mo took it, he pulled it, and the effect of taking time was good.

"Chen Shuai, what's the use of this briquette?" Even Geng Songfu, who is well-informed, can't see the usefulness of this thing.

"You'll find out soon." Chen Mo sold it for the time being, turned back to Zhang He and said, "Help bring things up." ”

Geng Songfu looked at Zhang He and the others behind Chen Mo.

I saw Zhang He and several people walking forward with a sack, opening the sack, and pouring out a bunch of black and slimy things from it.

"Is this coal?" Geng Songfu said that he knew coal, after all, the sulfur in the county was extracted from pyrite and fired from coal.

Chen Mo nodded, and then instructed Zhang He to grind these lumps of coal into pulverized coal with an iron pull, and then bring clean water.

Honeycomb coal is very easy to make, the easiest way is to mix the pulverized coal and water in a ratio of ten to one, and then pound it with briquettes, press it into shape, and dry it for two or three days.

If it is not easy to form, you can also add some yellow mud.

If it is not good to burn, you can add some lime, charcoal powder, sawdust and other mixtures to help burn.

Soon, Zhang He stirred the pulverized coal evenly, Chen Mo took a briquette and pounded it, put a pestle into the coal ball, and then pressed it into the open space next to it, and an imperfect honeycomb coal was made.

For a better experiment, Chen Mo directly steamed the honeycomb coal with innate aura, and then ignited it.

After the honeycomb coal burned on its own for a while, Chen Mo said, "You can get close to roast it." ”

Geng Songfu, Zhao Daoxian, Zhang He and others tried in turn.

Zhang He and Zhang Xiaolou are shallow, and they still don't understand too much, what is the use of this thing except that it can be baked? The smell is still choking, how can there be firewood to use.

But Geng Songfu looked deeper, he also deliberately took a look at the place where the hole was punched, and found that this thing is fast and powerful, and the most important thing is that it lasts for a long time, is more durable than firewood, and the production method is also simple.

"Okay." Geng Songfu praised it, and then said: "This thing can not only be used for heating, but also for boiling water for cooking, which is much more convenient than chopping wood and starting a fire.

Chen Shuai, this thing should be non-toxic, right? ”

"Just keep it ventilated."

As for the problem of choking on smoke, Chen Mo knew that anthracite was smokeless and tasteless, but he didn't know how to make anthracite, so he could only see if there were any gods who could study it in the future.

"County Chen Shuai, do you want to use this thing to help the people survive the winter?" Zhao Dao interjected first.

Chen Mo nodded, Geng Songfu's sentence just now can also help the people boil water for cooking, so on this basis, you can also make a coal stove.

The coal stove is also very simple, and it can be rolled with a sheet of iron.

"Then the cost shouldn't be low, right? Can the people afford it? Zhao Dao said first.

"Master Zhao, don't worry." Chen Mo smiled: "It's very cheap, so cheap that you can't imagine it, of course, the pricing is negotiable, but it's definitely cheaper than firewood." ”

Coal, Chen Mo has a lot of it.

If you pound the briquettes, make a dozen of them, which can be reused, and can even be replaced with wood.

Chen Mo only needs to pay some labor costs.

To exaggerate, it is a no-capital transaction.

Geng Songfu bowed to Chen Mo: "The old man thanked Chen Shuai for his great kindness for countless frozen people. ”

"Geng Songfu, what are you doing?" Chen Mo hurriedly helped Geng Songfu and said, "Anyway, I am also the parent official of Pingting County. ”

"If it is the period of Emperor Jing, Chen Shuai will definitely become a famous minister for a long time, and he will be sought after by future generations." Geng Songfu is colorful.

Emperor Song Jing, the grandfather of today's son, recruited talents during his reign, emphasized agriculture and suppressed business, lightly punished and reduced punishment, and was loved by the people of the world.

It's a pity that he didn't live long.

His son, Emperor Xuan of Song, not only continued the policy of Emperor Jing of Song during his reign, but also pacified the Yue Barbarians in the south, conquered Hu in the north, and expanded the territory, but unfortunately lived too long, and now there is this troubled era, most of which was caused by Emperor Xuan of Song in his later years.

"Geng County praised it."

Chen Mo smiled and walked towards the arsenal, since he came, he would take a look at the development of the arsenal by the way.

At present, the arsenal generally manufactures weapons such as spears, crossbows, horizontal knives, short knives, and arrowheads.

Basically, according to Chen Mo's requirements, each person was equipped with five weapons (horn bow, gun, horizontal knife, short knife, and round shield. ）。

At present, there are 500 Divine Guards, equipped with five weapons.

1,000 Divine Guards, equipped with horizontal knives, short knives, and round shields.

All the brave and martial arts are in armor.

After Chen Mo entered the arsenal, a scorching breath came to his face, and the temperature inside was much higher than outside.

There were more than a dozen melting pots inside, and hundreds of blacksmiths (including apprentices) were ping-pong banging.

Geng Songfu followed behind, pointed behind him, and said: "Chen Shuai, at present, the arsenal is still expanding, striving to increase the output of Mingguang armor from fifty pairs a month to one hundred, and the red copper currently piled up in the warehouse is enough to build three thousand pairs of Mingguang armor." ”

"Is there enough money?" Chen Mo asked.

"Please also rest assured that if the expenditure is insufficient, Lao Clumsy will not expand, and after the tax collection in the coming year, it can be increased on a large scale, and the county school is also cultivating talents." Geng Songfu said.

Chen Mo's eyes lit up slightly, and he immediately said: "Geng Xiancheng, I currently have about six hundred war horses in my hands, can I create a heavy horse of two hundred people?" ”

Heavy cavalry equipment, riding spear + horn bow + 30 arrows + mace + two-handed knife + one-handed knife + round shield.

Geng Songfu thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "There are still too few war horses, and the cost of building heavy cavalry is too large, and the effect of two hundred heavy cavalry is not obvious. ”

Hearing this, Chen Mo nodded, and could only suppress this thought for the time being.

Qingzhou was too badly ruined by the Heavenly Master Army, this attack on Qingzhou, also requisitioned tens of thousands of people, coupled with forced conscription, resulting in a sharp decline in the population of Qingzhou, if it were not for this reason, now Chen Mo is in charge of several counties, can develop rapidly.

Yuzhou is good, but the people have been moved to the rear by Liang Song, obviously to prevent this.

……

In the afternoon of the same day, Sun Meng, Liu Ze and others drove into Pingting County with the men and horses of Quanyang County.

On a snowy day, it was difficult to travel, and tens of thousands of people walked on the official road, so frightened that the sentinels set up at various intersections hurriedly returned to the yamen to report, thinking that the enemy was coming.

Knowing that it was his own people, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Except for Shen Yong and Shen Wuwei, all the others were arranged into Qingting County.

And by the next day, Chen Mo had carried out the restructuring non-stop.

First of all, the soldiers who were originally trapped in the battle were classified as the Divine Brave Guard.

More than 8,000 soldiers and soldiers of the Heavenly Division were restructured into trap guards, and officially began winter training, from which the elite were selected and filled into the two guards of Shenyong and Shenwu.

(End of chapter)