Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 103 The popularity of briquettes
The north wind blows, and the cold November wind blows on people's faces like knives, eager to scrape off a piece of flesh.

Zhangjiakou, also known as Zhangyuan, is a prosperous place for trade between northern Serbia and the customs.

This place is under the control of the Xuanfu. In the history of the Ming Dynasty from [-] years to the present, he was not conspicuous at first.

During the Yongle period, there were only a few residents surnamed Zhang who lived at the foot of the Great Wall, and then gradually formed a small town.

Until the fourth year of Xuande, Zhang Wen, commanded by Wanquan Youwei, built a fort here and named it "Zhangjiakou Fort", and this fortress gradually rose.

During the Jiajing period, due to the division of the Mongolian tribes, one of the forces, the Altan Khan, had no source of supplies.

So the leader of this department, Al Da Khan, wrote to the Ming court many times, asking the two sides to communicate with each other, but they were all rejected. In the end, Al Da Khan led his troops to attack the capital.

This matter was originally not a serious matter, as long as the policy is appropriate, it can be handled properly. Therefore, during the Longqing period, under the manipulation of Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others, Ming Dynasty approved the policy of "mutual market". Trading has started in some parts of the border.

The "mutual market" in Zhangjiakou is divided into "official market" and "civilian market".

The former is mainly the rulers of the Mongolian tribes donating horses to the Ming court in exchange for cloth, silk and other materials rewarded by the Ming court, while the latter is mainly a transaction between the people of the Ming Dynasty and Mongolian herdsmen.

The existence of this mutual market provides conditions for Zhangjiakou to turn from a military center to a commercial center.

Since the Wanli period, buildings such as Wenchang Pavilion and Yuhuang Pavilion have begun to appear in Zhangjiakou City. Afterwards, even some Mongolian tribes fought against the Ming Dynasty and deliberately avoided this place.

It seems that among the Mongolian tribes in the entire grassland, Zhangjiakou has become an existence second only to Guihua City.

In this way, Zhangjiakou, which has been freed from wars many times, began to grow rapidly, and now it is a huge fortress with tens of thousands of people living.

In this huge fortress, the Minshi market is even more frighteningly large, accounting for nearly one-sixth of Zhangjiakou's area.

Such a large city is enough to explain the prosperity of Zhangjiakou's commerce, and Zhangjiakou on this day is even more lively because of the arrival of one thing.

"Boss, your briquettes are too expensive, even more expensive than firewood."

On the stall at the gate of the city, a stall was placed here with great fanfare, but no one dared to expel it.

Not only that, dozens of Han and Mongolian people and herdsmen were surrounded in front of the booth.

Behind the booth, there stood a man with a thin face but a smile, and three guys who helped with the work, and there were only two things on the booth.

A pile of huge briquette mountains two meters high, and a briquette stove made of clay.

It was these two things that attracted the attention of the Mongols and Han people.

The briquette, this thing and it have been in Zhangjiakou for two days.

After the demonstration and explanation of the manager yesterday, many people understood that this is something that can burn for a long time, and its thermal efficiency is far longer than that of firewood and coal.

Therefore, early this morning, many Mongolians who came here deliberately came to buy with their own ideas.

But when it comes to doing business, the Mongols are not the opponents of the Han people. They have been deceived many times, and they came here with a sense of vigilance this time.

The first person to speak just now was an elderly herdsman elected by many Mongolians.

He was the first to say that briquettes are more expensive than firewood, but the thin middle-aged man was not angry about this, but explained with a smile:
"As you said, brother, this briquette is indeed more expensive than firewood, but it also burns longer than firewood."

"A [-]-pound firewood pier can burn for four hours at most, and the charcoal after burning may last for another hour."

"But this briquette, after using my family's honeycomb stove, three briquettes and fifteen kilograms can burn for a full five hours, and there will be no smoke like firewood."

The man explained the pros and cons, and the Mongolian on the opposite side heard that the man spoke Mongolian, and felt a little fond of him.

"Then let's talk about the price. How about two thousand catties of your briquette for a low-grade horse?"

"It really can't be changed. This briquette is so good, and the cost is relatively high. It's two thousand catties for a low-grade horse. I'm afraid my master will pull my tendons when I go back." The man pretended to sigh, and then grabbed took the Mongolian man's hand.

He put his hand into the sleeve of the other party, and said with his mouth: "This one is an inferior horse."

He opened the opponent's five fingers with his hand, but saw the Mongolian man shaking his head desperately: "My friend, this is too little."

"Then add this number?" As he spoke, he clenched the opponent's fist again, and then opened another finger.

"No, at most this number."

The Mongolian man first breaks out one of the man's fingers, then closes and separates five fingers, which means [-] catties.

"I still can't make the decision. Think about it. In this weather, a hundred catties of firewood can be burned for three or four days at most, and a hundred catties of briquettes can be burned for seven or eight days."

The man looked embarrassed, but the Mongolian man could only grit his teeth and say:
"Then at least this number, any less will not work."

He broke off one of the man's fingers, closed it again, and broke off two more.

One thousand and two hundred catties of briquettes and a low-grade horse were far beyond what he wanted.

Although he was very happy, he still said with a heartbroken face: "More?"

"No more, no more will do." The Mongolian man knew that the man could call the shots, so he began to show off.

Seeing this, the man pretended to sigh and said, "That's fine..."

"It's just that I can only give you this number for top-class horses, and this number for middle-class horses. I will give you two hundred briquette stoves..."

He used the man's hand to make a four, a two and a five, that is, four thousand catties and two thousand five hundred catties.

"Yes, but I don't have a high-grade horse. The number of medium-grade horses is fine. Do you want cattle and sheep? You can give the cattle at the price of a medium-grade horse, and the sheep at the price of a low-grade horse. You can give four sheep."

Seeing that he agreed, the Mongolian withdrew his hand and talked about other livestock prices.

"Okay, how much do you want, I can ask someone to transport it and it will arrive in five days at most."

"I'll sell ten low-grade horses, two middle-grade horses, twenty cows, and three hundred sheep." With a big wave of his hand, the Mongolian man directly bought nearly sixteen catties of honeycomb coal.

With so many briquettes, it is not difficult to see that this Mongolian man should be the leader of a small tribe.

These briquettes are enough for hundreds of Mongolian families to survive the winter.

The two quickly signed a contract of cooperation, and the Mongolian man asked someone to keep three low-grade horses as a deposit in the man's hand, and they came to trade on time five days later.

With the beginning of the first person, there will be more follow-up people.

Soon, dozens of Mongols made purchases one after another, and the men also asked people to write deeds while discussing business.

By noon, the man had negotiated thirty-six orders, which seemed to be almost done. After retaining two clerks, he took another clerk to settle the accounts.

"One hundred and two middle-grade horses, five hundred and sixty-two low-grade horses, eight hundred and ninety cows, six thousand four hundred sheep..."

"Hey, I sold [-] million catties of honeycomb briquettes this morning..."

Due to the different transactions of different people, some people have a low-grade horse with [-] Wen, some with [-] Wen, and some with [-] Wen, so the final transaction price is much higher than everyone’s expected profit. few.

The guy who settled the accounts couldn't help being speechless, while the thin man patted him on the shoulder and said:
"This morning, I'm afraid I made a profit of [-] to [-] taels. No wonder there are so many people in the exchange market, so there is such a big profit."

"General Banner, let's settle the business this time. You should be promoted when you go back, right?" The man smiled, and the thin man he called General Banner also smiled and said:

"After being promoted, you will be the first to be promoted to be the general flag."

"Okay, pack up quickly, and after eating something, continue to do business in the afternoon."

"Before the city gate closes in the dark, you take the two brothers and bring all the deeds and the cattle and horses as deposits back to Yanshan."

"Don't worry, I'm absolutely unambiguous!" The man patted his chest and replied, and they continued to do business after a brief rest.

After dark, the clerk who was ordered took all the deeds for doing business and the cattle and horses as a deposit, and rushed to Yanshan, three hundred miles away.

At the same time, those who rushed to Yanshan also secretly traded places such as Baimaguan, Da'ankou, Hongshankou, Qingyangkou, etc., and they also sent people back to Yanshan Daying at the same time.

Because the livestock used as the deposit was too slow to travel, they took the lead in sending the deed paper back to Yanshan Daying overnight.

After Yanshan Daying got the deed paper, it quickly started to load the coal kilns of Yanshan Institute. With the help of the many horses of the Yumajian, [-] horses quickly transported the first batch of nearly [-] million briquettes to various markets. the pass.

On November [-]th of the first year of Taichang, that is, in the morning of the second day after the briquette was sold, a thick stack of deed papers was placed on Zhu Youjian's desk.

As he was washing up, Wang Chengen pointed at the deed paper joyfully, bowed to Zhu Youjian and said:
"His Royal Highness, on the first day of the briquette market, nearly ten million briquettes were sold."

"Nearly ten million?" Zhu Youjian, who had just changed his clothes, sat down and flipped through the deed paper.

As Wang Chengen said, these negotiated paper contracts are worth [-] catties of honeycomb briquettes.

The livestock exchanged were [-] middle-grade horses, [-] low-grade horses, [-] cows, and [-] sheep..."

According to Zhu Youjian's own expectation, it would take at least [-] million catties of honeycomb briquettes to handle so many things, but it cost more than [-] catties less.

"These livestock and middle-grade horses were kept in the Yumajian as stallions, and the lower-grade horses and sheep were transported to Suzhou and Nanzhili by sea boats for sale, and the cattle dealers were sent to Huguang and Sichuan."

"The maidservant takes orders..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Wang Chengen also knew that this was the best arrangement.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan and Zhejiang changed rice to mulberry, and the area of ​​arable land was greatly reduced. There was not so much demand for cattle, but Huguang and Sichuan, which were the granary of the Ming Dynasty, had a great demand.

There are many wealthy households in the south of the Yangtze River, and the best place to sell sheep is in the south of the Yangtze River. Although low-grade horses are not suitable for military horses, they are suitable as a means of travel, and the price of selling them in the south of the Yangtze River is not cheap.

But after taking the order, Wang Chengen said again:
"Your Highness, if these low-grade horses are kept and fed properly, they can gradually grow into medium-grade horses and become military horses."

What Wang Chengen said is not false. Most of the words on the Internet that say that ten horses can be selected as a military horse are mostly fooling people.

In fact, as long as all the horses are well maintained and they are willing to spend more money to serve them, at least half of the horses can be used as war horses.

The so-called spending money to serve means that they also give concentrated feed, such as beans and rice, at ordinary times.

Although there are stories in the history books that ten horses raised one army horse, this kind of historical data is also fake, but it is not faked by later generations, but faked by time.

For example, in the Song Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty, the officials in charge of horse administration fabricated lies for corruption, saying that only ten horses can produce one war horse, so as to cover up their corruption.

There are many ancient fairy tales similar to this, such as the manufacture of musket barrels.

Officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties said that refined iron was needed to make muskets, and it took 3 catties of ordinary wrought iron to refine a catty of refined iron for making gun barrels.

But the iron element content of wrought iron is 98%-99%, and three catties are refined to one catty, so where do the other two catties go?
Very simple, the other two catties of wrought iron were converted into silver by the officials using material conversion technology and entered the pockets of the officials in charge.

After all, even scrap iron can be tempered and reused later.

Zhu Youjian didn't understand the way. After all, he came here for a short time and didn't have so much time to study.

So when he heard Wang Chengen's words, he also asked, "How many stone beans are there in the Yumajian?"

"There are still more than [-] stones." Wang Chengen replied honestly, and Zhu Youjian also nodded after hearing this:

"Since this is the case, select the tallest horses from the inferior horses to feed, and the rest of the horses will still go south for sale, and it will be the same in the future."

"Your servant takes orders." Wang Chengen saluted and responded, and Zhu Youjian also breathed a sigh of relief:
"Even if these livestock are counted in straw, they can earn [-] to [-] taels of silver by selling them in Jiangnan."

With nearly ten times the profit, Zhu Youjian had no choice but to be tempted.

But for this kind of thing, only a person like him who bears the name of a prince and has Jin Yiwei under his command can trade cattle and horses so freely without getting kickbacks.

In addition, with the support of Hao Huangxiong, all the ships with more than [-] materials in the three places of Denglai, Tianjin are available for him to drive, otherwise such a high profit would not be possible.

Without these ships, it is estimated that the profit can be cut in half by the freight alone.

"Ninety thousand taels... more than nine million catties..."

Zhu Youjian figured out how much money he could earn this winter.

More than nine million catties, which is enough for five or six thousand herdsmen to survive a winter normally.

Right now on the grassland, there are about [-] to [-] households in Monan alone, and [-] households in Mobei. Moxi is too far away, and it is estimated that they will not come to the Xuanhua area.

In other words, his potential customers are about [-] households, and even if only half of them are eaten, there will still be [-] households after excluding the [-] to [-] households currently trading.

That is to say, [-] to [-] million catties of briquettes can still be sold.

If it can continue to be sold at the current price, it is estimated that it can earn [-] to [-] taels of silver every winter.

"It's really profitable!" Zhu Youjian cursed secretly, and then thought of those merchants who sold iron pans, iron materials, and grain in the mutual market.

If all the mutual markets on the Great Wall were monopolized by him, it is estimated that the annual profit would be four to five million taels of silver.

If there is so much extra money, they can raise [-] elites...

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian couldn't help feeling a toothache.

Just because you want to completely control the Great Wall, you must replace all the soldiers and horses along the Great Wall.

If this is the case, at least [-] soldiers and horses are needed to defend the Great Wall.

With so many soldiers and horses, even if Zhu Youjian made himself famous, he couldn't afford to sell them at the price of bear's paws.

So if you want to save money, there is only one way, and that is to shorten the front line, and the problem of shortening is easier to say.

Recapture Hetao directly, and garrison with the Yellow River and Yinshan Mountain as defense lines.

At present, in the Hetao area, there are only less than [-] to [-] Ordos troops, and the number of soldiers that can be drawn is less than [-].

As for the area around Fengzhou Beach, there are more than a hundred thousand people in the Tumed Department, and they can pull out tens of thousands of soldiers.

All you need to do is to defeat these two parts, then surrender, and then move a large number of people to the undeveloped Houtao Plain.

Whether it's Hohhot's Fengzhou Beach from Baotou, the small oasis of Ordos in later generations, or Bayannur.

As long as these points are properly cultivated, they are enough to feed the people and garrison troops.

Although the area of ​​Bayannur was still a mud flat in the early Ming Dynasty, a lot of cultivated land can already be reclaimed now.

The only contradiction is that if the Ming army advances into the Hetao Plain and garrisons in Houtao, then Lin Danhan of Chahar may be hostile to the Ming Dynasty.

If this thing is not done well, it will be easy for Monan Mongolia to unite, and the Ming army will need to fight on two fronts.

Of course, Zhu Youjian can also directly lead the trained army of the Seven Guards and the First Battalion of the Imperial Horse Supervisor out of the fortress.

According to the grain output of the Yumajian and the number of horses, two million stones of grain, more than [-] stone beans, and more than [-] horses, as long as another [-] civilians are recruited, the army can maintain a combat distance of about [-] miles. scope.

And under the maintenance of this range, deducting the consumption of food operation, the Yumajian can fight for about four months.

But this is even worse, even if he burns Guihua City and lays down the Hetao, he will not be able to provide food for the subsequent relocation of the people.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian still had a headache and gave up the idea of ​​collecting the various gates of the Great Wall under his command, and turned his attention to the guards that he had discussed with the good emperor brother.

"How many people have been recruited by the Yanshan camp?" Zhu Youjian asked Wang Chengen, and he saluted:
"In the five days since His Highness came back, the four guards and the first battalion of Yanshan Daying Camp have been fully staffed, and the three guards of Yubayashi, the left guard and the front guard have been fully staffed, and only the right guard is still short of more than [-] people."

"Continue to recruit. Don't be afraid after the land is distributed. Tell them that they will distribute the land again. As long as they enlist in the army, they will have the land, and there will be more land in the future." Zhu Youjian waved his hand, and he had an idea in his mind.

Daming has far more land than population, with [-] million mu of arable land and a population of no more than [-] million.

In addition, according to the increasing population of the guards, apart from the military households in the guards in Beizhili except Shuntianfu, the other military households in the early Ming Dynasty were only [-] households, while the military farms in the Beizhili Guards had more than [-] million mu. .

Even if the population of the garrison has tripled at the moment, it will be at most [-] households and [-] million people, which can completely achieve three mu or even four mu per person.

But right now the military households are living miserably, and the imperial court is also miserable. Most of the military households don't even have their own fields.

So here comes the question?Where is the cultivated land?In whose hands?

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian couldn't bear it anymore, he said directly to Wang Chengen:
"People called Jin Yiwei, let me secretly check all the guards in Shuntian Mansion and Yongping Mansion."

"Look at the military farms in these places, who owns them all."

"Do they all need to be investigated?" Wang Chengen swallowed, because he remembered what Zhu Youjian said before, that only Changping, Huairou, Miyun, and Tongzhou areas should be investigated.

Now that the scope has been expanded to two prefectures, there are more people involved than before.

"All check..." Zhu Youjian said calmly:

"After investigating Shuntian and Yongping, the people called Jin Yiwei will continue to investigate Beizhili, Shandong, and Shanxi."

Zhu Youjian needs to grasp the latest first-hand information now, so that he can know how many people he needs to deal with.

Even if you don't do anything to them right now, you need to prepare in advance.

Seeing Zhu Youjian's request, Wang Chengen had no choice but to turn around and call Qianhu from Jinyiwei. After telling the other party what had happened, the other party bowed with fists and retreated.

For Jin Yiwei, this kind of information is not difficult, and he doesn't even need to use his identity as Jin Yiwei to get it.

Jin Yiwei retreated, and Wang Chengen also returned to Xuqin Palace.

At this time, Zhu Youjian had already started to read the memorials sent by the Ministry of War while having breakfast.

[Promotion of General Hu Conghua from Limin Fort in Shanxi Province to Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Ningxia]

[Canadian Secretary Liang Peng used the title of guerrilla to manage the affairs of General Lei Lian in Guangdong]

[Tianjin Haiphong Left Battalion guerrilla with title guerrilla Liu Yujun]

[Promoted Liaodong Town's Anbao General Cao Wenzhao to defend Zhen'anbao...]

"Huh?" A familiar name broke into Zhu Youjian's eyes, and it was still a very familiar name.

"Chengen!" Zhu Youjian raised his head and shouted, and Wang Chengen hurried up.

"Ask the Ministry of War, can we transfer Cao Wenzhao, the garrison of Zhen'an Fort, to Gonghua City for garrison." As soon as Zhu Youjian opened his mouth, Wang Chengen knew that His Royal Highness was cherishing his talents.

He didn't think it was strange, after all, Sun Yingyuan and Man Gui were born in Qianhu or guarding families, even Yang Wenyue, Sun Chuanting and others who were civil servants were only foreign ministers of the sixth or seventh rank.

Right now, it seems normal to transfer another garrison to Gonghua City.

He nodded and was about to go to work, but Zhu Youjian said:

"Forget it, let him stay in Liaodong, but send someone to contact him, and ask Xiong Tingbi to transfer him to Liutiaozhai."

Liutiaozhai is located between Shenyang and Liaoyang. If Cao Wenzhao has some talent for training troops and can train [-] troops like Man Gui, it might be able to play a certain role.

As long as he can make meritorious deeds, Zhu Youjian has the ability to promote him to the position of guerrilla general.

"Your maidservant takes orders..." Seeing that Zhu Youjian had nothing to explain, Wang Chengen picked up the memorial to the Ministry of War about Cao Wenzhao, and ordered someone to take it to the Ministry of War for revision.

But just when Wang Chengen was about to turn around and go back to Xuqin Palace after calling someone to do something, there was a sound of hurried footsteps.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help looking at the door, and at the moment Wang Chengen at the door also saw a panting Jin Yiwei who was about to walk into Xuqin Palace.

When he saw Wang Chengen, he knelt down on one knee and wrote:

"Father-in-law and Tongzhi Lu sent back news, it's urgent!"

"Come in!" Zhu Youjian said with a frown. Seeing this, Jin Yiwei walked into Xuqin Palace with Wang Chengen, and then took out Lu Wenzhao's autographed letter from his arms.

When Zhu Youjian opened the letter, his pupils instantly dilated and he got up immediately:
"Prepare the chariot and go to Qianqing Palace!"

(End of this chapter)