Prodigal Son of the Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 47 Cornucopia

  Thinking of the Little Ice Age, Fang Jifan felt emotional. Such extreme weather, not to mention the chill brought by the extreme weather, and the accompanying reduction in grain production were all one of the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, it seemed that he was afraid that Fang Jifan would be afraid of the cold, so Deng Jian hurriedly brought over a hand stove, which was made of copper, with charcoal burning in it, and Deng Jian said with a smile: "This is the charcoal that Manager Yang bought this morning. The price of carbon has skyrocketed, there is a price but there is no market, young master, you don’t know that a catty of carbon now sells for more than 40 yuan, but even so, the carbon in the capital is not just bought, Manager Yang still I have ordered, this charcoal is only allowed to be burned for the young master, don't let the young master catch the cold."

   "Forty dollars!" Fang Jifan was startled: "It's only a catty, they might as well grab it!"

   But immediately, Fang Jifan's eyes suddenly flashed with a look of light.

The price of charcoal remains high. There are reasons for this. On the one hand, it is not easy to burn charcoal. In this era, most people want to keep warm, and the rich burn charcoal, while the poor and lowly can only burn firewood; It takes time and effort, but because it burns more fully and does not produce too much smoke, it is very popular among wealthy households. But firewood is different. Once it is burned, it will be smoky, and the poor need to go out of the city to cut it. It seems cheap, but it actually takes a lot of effort.

   So... no one uses anthracite for heating in this day and age?

  Fang Jifan thought of anthracite.

Anthracite is different from ordinary coal. Ordinary coal will produce a lot of smoke, and because there are too many impurities and high sulfur content, it will be like poisonous smoke when burned. In later generations, the briquettes and briquettes commonly used by people are actually It needs to be refined, commonly known as coal washing. It's just that in this era, if you want to wash coal, the technical difficulty is too great, and there is almost no feasibility.

  The reason why the ancients did not use raw coal on a large scale is precisely because of this reason.

  However, anthracite is different. The sulfur content of anthracite is extremely low. Although it has a high ignition point, this is not a problem. The most important thing is that it burns colorless and smokeless, and it burns for a long time. It is an excellent cold-proof fuel.

However, anthracite will also volatilize some deadly gases such as sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Fortunately, the content is not high. Gas, in fact, is the same as burning charcoal, which hardly causes much harm to the human body.

  The reason why charcoal is expensive is that it requires a lot of labor and manpower, but anthracite is different, as long as it can be mined, it can be continuously supplied to the entire capital.

  Of course, this is not important. The important thing is that Fang Jifan remembers that the main production area of ​​anthracite is in Shanxi, and in this capital... there seems to be only one production area, this place...

   Get rich!

  Fang Jifan suddenly became excited, and hurriedly said: "Deng Jian, Xishan, do you know where Xishan is? Go and find out whose land it is, hurry up!"

Deng Jian has long been used to the young master's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but he just thought about it, and said, "Xishan? The little Xishan knows that it's the land of Shouninghou and Jianchangbo. Man Jingshi knew about it. Back then they The brothers were granted titles, and there was no land near the suburbs of Beijing, so His Majesty gave the area around the western mountain to Marquis Shouning and Uncle Jianchang. For this reason, Marquis Shouning and Uncle Jianchang even went to the palace to cry, saying that everyone else They gave good land, but their Zhang family only gave them a piece of barren hills. They couldn't live with it. They had to hang themselves and die. In fact, His Majesty was really reluctant to give them the excellent Huang Zhuang, but fortunately, the western hills occupy a huge area. , with a radius of more than ten miles..."

   These two surnamed Zhang again!

All of a sudden, Fang Jifan became a little embarrassed. According to the temperament of these two people, if they want to buy that Xishan, they have to ask the lion to open their mouths. Damn, these two guys even cheated our Fang family 30,000 yuan Two silver!

   But Fang Jifan immediately thought, Xishan is where the ore lode is located. Regarding this point, Fang Jifan's memory will never be wrong. This anthracite is a treasure, no matter what, this mountain must be bought.

   After all, millions of households need heating inside and outside Gyeonggi. In such extreme weather, whoever can master the fuel is equivalent to owning a cornucopia.

   "Let's go!" Fang Jifan greeted Deng Jianyi.

  Deng Jian excitedly said: "Young Master, Young Master, what are you doing?"

   "Go to the accountant!" Fang Jifan said without hesitation, time is money, it's a lot of money.

Fang Jifan rushed to the account room. Fang Jifan searched and found almost all the treasures in the account room. Now the transaction must be completed as soon as possible. Don't drag a cart full of cash. The transaction is too inconvenient. Therefore, Fang Jifan still felt that there were not enough treasures, so he looked at several land deeds and took them all together, rushing out of Fang's house as if flying.

  Deng Jian was so frightened that his face turned pale. Seeing Fang Jifan like this, he didn't have time to call for someone, so he just chased him out like crazy.

In fact, the Shouninghou Mansion is not far from the Nanhebo Mansion, but compared to the Nanhebo Mansion, the Shouninghou Mansion is more magnificent. The Zhang family brothers Shouninghou and Jianchangbo are the brothers of the queen of the dynasty. , and the relationship between Queen Zhang and Emperor Hongzhi was extremely harmonious, and naturally, the brothers of the Zhang family also rose with the tide.

  As soon as Fang Jifan arrived at the gate of the waiting mansion, he refused to let Deng Jian report, so he stepped forward.

   This was naturally stopped by the door, Fang Jifan said directly and sternly: "I want to see Uncle Zhang, hurry up and report."

The good brothers of the Zhang family woke up very early today. They are brothers and they usually get tired of being together, but everyone in the capital knows that the brothers of the Zhang family are notoriously stingy. Others are stingy, even they are very stingy to themselves. For example, today's breakfast was just a bowl of gruel.

After Zhang Heling finished eating, he touched his belly happily: "Look, Yanling, drinking porridge is good for your body, and I feel more and more that this porridge is really something that prolongs life. Come on, would you like to drink half a bowl more?" ?”

  Zhang Yanling thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Forget it, it's too bad, save a little, and have lunch at noon."

  Zhang Heling smiled and said: "That's right, you have to be diligent and thrifty to manage the house..."

  The two brothers looked at each other and smiled. At this moment, Menzi came in and said, "You two masters, Nan and Bo..."

   "No see!" Zhang Heling immediately became annoyed when he heard Nan Hebo. The old guy has come to the door several times, and every time he asks for money, hum, the money his brother cheated with his ability, he wants to go back if he wants to go back? Not to mention Nan Hebo, even if the Heavenly King Lao Tzu came, he wouldn't even try to take away a cent of the 30,000 taels of silver.

   Want to make trouble?

  Hmph, I don’t even ask, what is Empress Zhang’s status in the palace today, and who are our brothers in Empress Zhang’s family.

   "Don't be angry, don't be angry..." Zhang Yanling persuaded: "Brother, save a little energy, or you will be hungry again later."

   Zhang Heling thought it was reasonable, so he twitched the beard under his chin and squinted at the door.

   None of the people in this mansion is something Zhang Heling is used to. Anyway, no matter who it is, he feels that he is wasting his food.

  Men Zi asked Ai Ai authentically: "It's not Nan He Bo, it's Nan He Bo's son, that Fang Jifan, a well-known prodigal son."

  As soon as Zhang Heling heard the words "prodigal son", Zhang Heling aimed at Zhang Yanling, who was thoughtful.

   "See you?" Zhang Yanling asked tentatively.

Zhang Heling was silent for a while, then said: "I heard that this kid has a brain disease. If he doesn't see him, he will be so angry that he kicks the door. It's a mess. Then...see you." He said to the door: "Go, put him He called to come in, and also, remove the tea in front of you, so that no one will see us drinking tea, lest he still want to ask for tea."

  So Menzi hurriedly withdrew the tea, and then led Fang Jifan in.

  Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling looked at the beams of the house, shaking their legs as if they hadn't seen Fang Jifan.

  Fang Jifan came in with a smile, and said: "My nephew Fang Jifan, I have heard about the names of the two uncles for a long time, and I am here to pay my respects."

   "Oh." Zhang Heling only glanced at Fang Jifan: "Do you want some tea?"

  Fang Jifan said: "No, no."

  Zhang Heling breathed a sigh of relief: "It's right not to drink. Drinking too much tea will hurt your kidneys."

   "..." Fang Jifan took a deep breath, and cut straight to the point: "My nephew goes to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing. He is here to buy land, Xishan... I wonder if the two uncles have any impressions?"

  At first I thought that Fang Jifan was here to seek justice, but the two brothers had already figured it out anyway, whether they want money or not, who knows they came to buy...land...

  Zhang Heling looked at Fang Jifan suspiciously: "This... this Xishan... Xishan is a good place, there are mountains and waters, um... right, this..."

  (end of this chapter)