I

"Dang Dang Dang Dang!"

A rickshaw loaded with briquettes slowly drove in from the gate of the city, and a guy next to him was beating gongs along the street to advertise.

"Honeycomb briquette, honeycomb briquette, the price is cheaper than big firewood, and it is used in the palace!"

"Honeycomb..."

As the population of Nanjing continued to increase, the price of firewood became more and more expensive, and the trees were cut down less and less. Although there are many mountains and trees in Nanjing, it is not a solution in the long run.

Historically, in the middle of the Qing Dynasty in Nanjing, firewood gradually failed to keep up with the needs of urban development. The government didn't bother to take care of it, and the people had to find their own way, so the first domestic coal store appeared, and Nanjing entered the era of mixed use of firewood and coal.

Now Zhao Han has to take care of it. Counting foreign household registration, the population inside and outside Nanjing has already reached 1.2 million. This is caused by his capital in Nanjing, and he must find a way to solve the problem of people's livelihood.

So people developed honeycomb coal and built a coal stove using honeycomb coal.

There is no need to worry about the source of coal. In the late Ming Dynasty, Anhui was already full of coal mines, which could be transported to Nanjing by water.

In the Ming Dynasty, coking coal was even refined and natural gas was used. Fang Yizhi's "Little Knowledge of Physics" described the refining process of coking coal and pointed out that coking coal could be used to smelt ore.

Natural gas is used to boil salt in Sichuan, which is called "well fire".

As early as the Song Dynasty, the salt mines in Sichuan began to use natural gas. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the natural gas in many mines was exhausted, and the forest resources were severely damaged, so coal became the main fuel for salt production.

In fact, if you think about it with your brain, you will know that coal will replace firewood sooner or later in areas where firewood is used on a large scale.

In Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were already "millions of households, all looking up to charcoal, and not a single burner". All of them burn coal, and no one burns wood!

Aimee Zhu's portrait of the Bodhisattva has already been painted, and she sent it to her employer's door to pay for the retouching fee. When she came back, she happened to meet someone who was promoting briquettes, and there were already a lot of people gathered there, so Aimee Zhu walked over curiously to watch.

"What kind of briquette do you have, how much is it per catty?" Some people asked curiously.

The clerk smiled and replied: "It doesn't matter how many pounds you sell, but how much it is. Five penny for one penny!"

Five honeycombs for one penny is actually not cheap. This year, the price of rice in Nanjing is only 4 pennies per catty.

But compared with firewood, it is not expensive.

More than ten years ago, the price of firewood in Nanjing was 1 tael and 30 dan of firewood, but now it has risen to 1 liang of silver and 25 dan of firewood. According to the adjustment of the silver-copper ratio, the Datong court finally fixed 1 tael of silver at 800 Wen. In other words, a load of firewood costs 32 Wen, which can buy 8 catties of rice. (Big firewood is wood blocks, branches, etc., and small firewood is rice stalks, corn stalks, etc.)

"It's so expensive, can it be cheaper?"

"It's not expensive, it's not expensive, I'll burn it for everyone to see."

The man unloaded the coal stove from the cart, first lit the fire with firewood, and then put briquettes into it.

While lighting the fire, the man introduced: "You can't rush to burn this briquette, you have to wait slowly, so that the fire can burn more and more vigorously. It is the most cost-effective to boil water, soup, and porridge. It is used for cooking. In the past, when charcoal was burned, half of the rice was cooked, and the unburned charcoal was wasted. With this kind of coal stove, the wind cover can be covered, and only the yin fire remains in the stove. This yin fire burns It took a long time, the briquettes in the first night, the dark fire can burn until the next day..."

Some people couldn't wait, and left after watching.

Aimee Zhu thought the stove was quite interesting, and stood there waiting for the charcoal fire to burn.

The clerk continued to introduce: "This charcoal is poisonous, so you need to ventilate it. Some Beijingers in the previous dynasty forgot to open the windows, and there were not a few people who were poisoned to death by charcoal poison. Everyone must remember clearly, whether it is burning When burning briquettes or other coals, windows must be opened for ventilation, we don’t care if people are poisoned to death.”

Some people come and some go, and there are always thirty or forty people around.

When the honeycomb briquettes were burning, someone finally wanted to buy them. The man said: "Our coal shop is outside the city, and coal stoves are also sold..."

Those who want to buy find out the address and go outside the city to buy stoves and briquettes.

As the price of firewood is getting higher and higher, honeycomb must spread rapidly. In the future, people in Nanjing will probably use a mixture of firewood and coal to boil water and cook. They will burn briquettes when they are not in a hurry, and firewood when they are in a hurry.

As for coal stoves, some people buy them now, and most of them will imitate them themselves in the future.

As the number of people using honeycomb coal increases in the future, the market sales volume will rise, and the price will definitely drop again. Six to ten honeycomb coals for a penny are more reasonable. This thing also adds clay, which can be made of coal powder. Coal powder from coal mines and factories is scrap.

Zhu Yu went to a coal shop outside the city, bought a coal stove for twelve yuan, and ordered another 50 briquettes.

The store clerk asked, "Does the customer move back by himself, or do we send someone to deliver it to the door?"

"How much is the errand fee for home delivery?" Aimee Zhu asked.

"It depends on the distance, and it also depends on whether there are many coal briquettes nearby," said the shop assistant. A lot, and put them in a big cart, and you will be charged half a penny."

Auntie Zhu said, "I live over the Fucheng Bridge."

The store clerk thought about it: "Fucheng Bridge is farther than the Drum Tower. How about this? I'll charge you two coins and give me an extra briquette. It's newly opened in the past two days, and the owner said that it has to lose money and make money in order to attract more customers."

Immediately, some laborers were called to put the briquettes and coal stoves in baskets, and accompanied Aimi Zhu home with the burden.

In the future, there will be more customers who use coal, so it will not be so troublesome, just pull a large truck into the city, and then deliver it door-to-door. If the business competition is fierce, the store may even waive the delivery fee in order to grab customers.

Fucheng Bridge is located on the west side of the Forbidden City, across a street, and then through an alley, you can go straight along the street to Xihuamen.

Many officials live here, and it is convenient to go to court and work.

"Miss Jiu is back?" A middle-aged woman in the alley greeted her.

Auntie Zhu glanced at the servant behind the other party, nodded and smiled: "Where is Auntie Song's shopping?"

The middle-aged woman said: "There are not enough things in the house. Madam asked me to buy some. What did Miss Jiu buy? It's dark and has holes."

Auntie Zhu said: "Honeycomb coal, also called briquettes, looks very convenient to use, so I bought it and tried it at home."

"This is very good, very good." The middle-aged woman said repeatedly.

Auntie Zhu said: "Auntie Song's hairpin is beautiful, golden and inlaid with precious jade."

The middle-aged woman suddenly became happy, tilted her head to show her hairpin, and said with a smile: "My little son who is worthless bought it. He graduated from elementary school a few years ago, and he entrusted his relationship to become a leather goods apprentice. This little bastard, reading It’s not very useful, but it works very quickly. The master praised him for his cleverness. After only three years of work, the apprentice has just left the teacher. The first month’s wages, just buy me a hairpin, and I don’t know how to save it for my wife. Copper, Medicine jade, worthless!"

"That's not cheap, my son is filial." Aimee Zhu said.

The middle-aged woman smiled even more happily: "My youngest son is very stupid, so he is only filial. I will work in this house for a few more years, save more money, ask for a wife for him, and renovate the old house. Renovate it. If you can live to sixty, then quit and go back to embrace your grandson and enjoy the blessings."

"Auntie is in good health, she can live to be a hundred years old." Auntie Zhu said.

The middle-aged woman laughed from ear to ear: "It's still Nine Girls who can talk, let alone live to be a hundred years old, if they can live to be seventy years old, they will wake up laughing when they fall asleep."

"Dang Dang Dang!"

"Sharpening scissors, sharpening kitchen knives..."

A middle-aged man carrying a bamboo basket walked along the alley, shouting.

Auntie Zhu bid farewell to the woman, and greeted, "You sharpen the knife and scissors, come here!"

Pushing open the courtyard door, the maid in charge of cleaning came over: "Didn't Miss Nine send paintings? How did you buy so many black balls to go home?"

"It's for cooking," said Auntie Zhu. "Grandma Qiu complained that the kitchen knife was blunt and hard to cut. Here comes the sharpened knife and scissors. Take out all the knives and scissors at home."

"Okay." The maid jumped up and down to get something.

Zhu Cizhao's wife also heard the sound, and called the cooking woman to study how to boil water with briquettes.

After a busy day, Auntie Zhu sat on the swing, which was made by Zhu Cihuang.

The weather was a little bit hot, but there was wind in the yard, and Auntie Zhu was swinging leisurely on the swing, and this early summer time became more pleasant.

"Miss, let me push you." The maid came to her side at some unknown time.

Auntie Zhu laughed and said, "Don't push, I'll just sit around by myself, and you'll definitely be sweating when you push it."

The maid's name is Zheng Shuhui, and Aunt Zhu calls her Hui'er. She was born in a small family in the city. She dropped out of school before finishing elementary school. She helped out with housework for a few years, so she applied to work here as a maid.

"Miss, my wedding date has been set, the second day of September." Huier said, shaking the swing gently.

Auntie Zhu said: "Congratulations then, I will give you a gift then."

Huier said: "My husband's family agreed that after we get married, we will still work here, but we can't live here at night. I come early every day, and when it gets dark, I go back to my husband's house."

"It's okay," Auntie Zhu joked, "I can save some food money. By the way, your fiancé is the one you mentioned last year?"

Huier nodded: "Well, he works in the glasses store. He may be impatient, he can write and count, and has a primary school graduation certificate. There is a gentleman in Qintianyuan who wrote a book "Mirror History", which specifically teaches how to make glasses. I That man, he learned from the book, and made glasses quickly and well, which can save a lot of money for the owner. Both the owner and the shopkeeper praised him and made him a master master. The 16-year-old master master, in this city of Nanjing It's very rare."

"You haven't married yet, is that you?" Aimee Zhu teased.

Hui'er blushed and said, "Anyway, we'll get married in two or three months."

"Boom boom boom boom!"

Hui'er let go of the swing and said while running, "I'll go and open the door."

The courtyard door opened, and there were men and women.

A female official, accompanied by several guards, and an official from the Ministry of Rites, even followed the matchmaker.

Auntie Zhu stared at the two big geese as a gift, and was a little taken aback, but soon realized that the royal family had come to propose marriage.

There is only one unmarried girl in the family...