prosperous age

Every winter, modern people can always enjoy the comfort brought by air conditioning and heating in a warm room. A group of friends sit around a hot pot, wrapped in thick down jackets, and drink hot drinks. Winter does not seem so unbearable.

But in ancient times, every winter was like a test of survival, especially for the poor people.

Looking through historical documents, how cold were the winters in ancient times?

According to the "Twenty-Four Histories", the temperature at that time was generally three to five degrees lower than it is now.

This number may not seem large, but in the absence of modern heating equipment, the cold is enough to be unbearable.

"Song History Five Elements" recorded an astonishing statistic: in the winter of the first year of Yuanyou, the depth of frozen ground in the capital reached one foot and five inches.

The situation in the north is even more severe. In extreme weather conditions, the temperature can drop to more than 20 degrees below zero.

The book "Qimin Yaoshu" mentions "walking on ice during the 39th and 49th coldest days of winter", which vividly describes the severe cold at that time.

During the four months from the beginning of winter to the beginning of spring, water in the northern region freezes almost every day, and the ice on the river surface can be up to half a meter thick.

In such a low temperature environment, there was no air conditioning or heating, no down jackets, and even cotton coats only gradually became popular in the Ming Dynasty. So how did they survive the winter?

Rich people could naturally sit around the stove to keep warm, but ordinary people did not have much money and could not afford to use a lot of charcoal.

And what about outdoors?

In the north, the rich mainly relied on animal fur to keep warm, while ordinary people could only wear layers of clothes to keep warm.

In addition, in severe cold weather, they also have to endure the impact of rising prices caused by the low temperature.

After all, the temperature is too low, which will affect the transportation of goods, and merchants will also set up stoves in the store, and these costs will be included in the selling price of the goods.

"While the rich wine and meat smell, the road with frozen bone."

This line of poetry by the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu vividly describes how people spent the winter during the Tang Dynasty.

Although many people say that it reflects the huge differences in class life, the nobles enjoy wine and women, while the common people are poorly clothed and hungry.

You should know that Du Fu is neither a poet of the middle Tang Dynasty nor a poet of the late Tang Dynasty, but a poet of the transition period from the prosperous Tang Dynasty to the middle Tang Dynasty.

When this poem was written, it was still the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, but the historical event of the country's decline from prosperity did not occur until two years later.

In the north at that time, there were already people freezing to death on the roads. This is not an impressionistic poem but a realistic one.

To this end, Wei Guangde specifically inquired about the winter conditions in the capital and surrounding areas over the years, and the answers he received moved him.

According to the reply from Shuntian Prefecture, no more than a hundred people froze to death in the capital every year. For a capital city with a population of nearly a million, this number did not seem large.

However, Shuntian Prefecture did not dare to completely conceal the truth from Wei Guangde, and finally added that street dwellers and beggars were not included.

In fact, among those who froze to death in winter, these lower-class people were not cared about by the government at all, and they were the largest group.

In previous years, Shuntian Prefecture would simply report "many deaths" as a perfunctory response to this, because they would not bother to calculate the specific numbers.

In other words, as long as the number of people who froze to death is less than ten thousand, the word "tens of thousands" will not be used.

To this end, Wei Guangde specifically gave orders to Shuntian Prefecture, asking them to collect large amounts of coal and store them in certain specific areas before the arrival of winter to provide free heating for the people.

In later generations, most of the mountains around Beijing were bare, but in fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, this place was still a landscape of green mountains and clear waters.

However, Beijing suddenly became the capital of the Ming Empire, and heating in winter consumed a lot of fuel.

These days, people are still accustomed to burning firewood as their main source of fuel, so a large number of trees on the mountains outside the city were cut down for fuel.

In order to ensure the huge amount of firewood and charcoal needed by the Beijing Imperial Palace and various government offices, the government chose the northern section of the Taihang Mountains where there were more forests, and established the Yizhou Firewood Factory in the fourth year of Xuande. It was called the "Mountain Factory" at the time, and sent special personnel to manage the mining and burning of firewood and charcoal.

The Shanchang Yamen was originally located in Yizhou, Baoding Prefecture, and most of the firewood and charcoal were mined in the Shanchangs such as Shagu in Yizhou. However, from the fifth year of Xuande to the fourteenth year of Zhengtong, "the wood had been used up for a long time", so at the beginning of the first year of Jingtai, the factories were moved to Pingshan, Lingshou and other places in Zhending Prefecture for mining and burning.

Later, considering the long distance and fearing that it would affect the supply of the capital, in the first year of Tianshun, the mountain factory was moved back to a place two miles northwest of Yizhou City.

The two prefectures of Taiyuan and Pingyang in Shanxi, and the five prefectures of Zezhou, Luzhou, Liaozhou, Qinzhou and Fenzhou, the three prefectures of Shuntian, Zhending and Baoding in Zhili, and the four prefectures of Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Dongchang and Jinan in Shandong were responsible for dispatching personnel to collect firewood and make charcoal. The number of woodcutters under their jurisdiction was allocated by the above-mentioned government offices. These prefectures and counties had a total of 25855 woodcutters per season, and a total of woodcutters in four seasons.

In addition, there were 2000 firewood porters who transported firewood to Beijing.

The project was so grand that the Ministry of Works set up a department in Shanchang and appointed a supervising assistant minister to take charge of the matter.

At the same time, the palace and various government offices were very particular about the use of charcoal.

But precisely because of their particularity, the consumption of wood increased greatly, causing serious damage to the forest resources near the capital.

Wei Guangde arrived too late. If he had arrived during the Zhengtong period, there might have been remedial measures.

The strong winds and sandstorms of later generations actually appeared in the Ming Dynasty, but they were not as severe as in later generations.

During the Jiajing period, due to many reasons such as the deforestation of surrounding forest resources, the price of firewood in Beijing soared, costing more than 15 taels of silver per 45 jin, and charcoal more than taels of silver.

The capital's population of nearly one million could not do without that thing in the winter, so during the Jiajing period, the control over the Xishan coal yard was gradually relaxed.

You know, mining was very strict and cautious in the Ming Dynasty.

To this end, Wei Guangde specifically managed the Xishan Coal Mine. On the one hand, he relaxed the control over the coal mine, and on the other hand, he strengthened supervision over the mine owners.

As I said, if a large number of miners gathered together, there might be a civil uprising if we were not careful, and this was happening under the feet of the emperor.

In order to reduce trouble, supervising mine owners is a top priority.

Mining taxes must be collected, and the money paid to miners must not be reduced.

In Wei Guangde's hands, withholding the miners' wages is just wishful thinking. The Chamber of Commerce in which he has a stake has entered this market, so how can he allow them to sabotage him?

This also led to a sharp increase in coal supply in the city this winter, and coal prices were much lower than in previous years.

Taking this opportunity, Wei Guangde asked the northern government to purchase a batch of coal, set up offices in winter, and provide free heating to the people to avoid the situation where the people, especially the refugees, would freeze to death on the road.

As for this expense, Wei Guangde simply brushed it off with a single sentence: "The emperor's wedding is coming soon."

"Master, the several heating stations designated in the capital have already stockpiled hundreds of thousands of pounds of coal. I don't think there will be a large number of people freezing to death."

Lu Bu took out the official document sent earlier by Shuntian Prefecture and whispered to Wei Guangde.

Hundreds of thousands of kilograms of coal may seem like a lot, but in fact they are only worth a few hundred or a thousand taels.

"Is it enough to keep those places warm for a whole winter?"

Wei Guangde frowned and asked. He didn't really know much about these things. After all, he was not in charge of preparing the coke at home. There was someone in the family who was responsible for the purchase.

"Well, Shuntian Prefecture only compiles the numbers reported by several county offices. I don't know if they are enough."

Lu Bu did not dare to hide it and reported back in a low voice.

"I'll write a note. Tomorrow you take a few people to Shuntian Prefecture and ask them to take you to have a look and do some calculations. In previous years, no one cared, but since I thought of this this year, I naturally cannot return empty-handed.

When I went to see it, I told the people below that this expenditure would have to be made every year and that the figures must be reported before every winter. I also told them that I would send someone to supervise it.

As for other prefectures and counties, let the Ministry of Revenue send someone to inspect them."

Wei Guangde thought that he might be able to take care of the Sijiu City, but other places still had to be managed by the government, and it would not be good for him to intervene rashly.

"Oh, yes, sir, I'll arrange it as soon as possible."

Lu Bu nodded hurriedly.

He went out to check on this matter on behalf of Wei Guangde, so naturally he couldn't do his job wrong.

Even if there is some discrepancy in the number, it cannot be too big, otherwise it will lose face for the master.

Besides, he might not be able to come back in the next few days, so he would have to find a servant to do the job at the door.

"Go down."

Wei Guangde wrote the note and handed it to Lu Bu, waved his hand, and then picked up the memorial on the table to read.

Today's work still needs to be completed, even though most of these memorials are of little interest.

Only half a cup of tea had passed since Lu Bu left the house and Wei Guangde had only read two memorials when footsteps were heard at the door.

Wei Guangde looked up and saw that Lu Bu had already brought Zeng Shengwu in.

"Sansheng, what brings you here?"

Wei Guangde put down the memorial in his hand, stood up happily and bowed to him.

"My Lord Deputy Minister, I have come here to report important events to you. If you need the wind, I will bring it to you myself."

Zeng Shengwu hurriedly returned the greeting and said.

"Please take a seat, Lubu, and bring the tea."

Wei Guangde turned out the desk and led Zeng Xingwu to sit in the reception room.

They were still wooden chairs, but when the weather got cooler, Wei Guangde had someone add a cushion to each chair.

It’s not that Wei Guangde didn’t plan to make a sofa, but the iron materials in Ming Dynasty were not good enough to make springs.

Without that thing, forget about the sofa.

It is said that the only firearm developed in China during the middle and late Wanli period was the flintlock rifle. In fact, that thing might really be made, but the cost would probably be beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Ordinary iron is easy to make, but steel for springs is not easy to make.

Wei Guangde had no idea how the spring of the flintlock rifle made by Bi Maokang was made, but he thought it would be very difficult to produce a small amount of usable ones.

After the two men sat down, before the reed cloth was served with tea, Zeng Shengwu had already taken out a document from his sleeve and handed it to Wei Guangde, saying, "Shan Dai, this is a document sent to the capital by Chen Lin, the garrison commander of Jiugang. It says that envoys from An Elia have arrived at Jiugang, and that they are sailing around the world on the orders of the Queen of An Elia."

"Eliya? The Queen?"

After hearing this, Wei Guangde's mind started working rapidly, wanting to know which country in later generations this "An'eria" was.

In fact, although World War I and World War II had a great impact on the political landscape of Europe, those countries generally appeared in much the same way.

China has always used the "transliteration" method for their names, and it is inevitable that different characters will appear in different periods, and the pronunciations will also be different.

Wei Guangde took the document but did not read the letter from the Queen that Drake brought. It was all letters, which Wei Guangde could not understand.

Of course, this is just what Wei Guangde thought. Anyway, he had heard before that foreign countries were divided into ancient and modern times, which means there is a big difference.

However, if Wei Guangde looked carefully at the so-called "letter from the country", he would still see many familiar words.

In fact, the English used in the UK now is early English, not ancient English. It is not much different from modern English and can be read by guessing.

"Aniliya, Skocia, Zeberiah, the island nation, the queen."

Wei Guangde pieced together the general situation in Britain at that time based on what Chen Lin had inquired about many times, including from Drake and other British sailors.

After looking at these pieced-together things, Wei Guangde had actually more or less guessed which country this "An'eria" was.

Anelia, Scotia and Zebenia are actually England, Scotland and Ireland, which can be seen in the "Kunyu World Map" written in the middle and late Wanli period.

The full name of the United Kingdom in later generations is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, abbreviated as Britain. It should be translated into Chinese as "Commonwealth or Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", but the full name does not contain the word "Britain" as in the abbreviation.

The reason why China later called it Britain was that the Qing Dynasty was defeated in the Opium War and the British called themselves "Great Britain", and the name of Britain was accepted by the Chinese.

After reading the letter, Wei Guangde certainly never expected that the British had already come here during the Wanli period.

He knew the legendary British pirate, but he definitely didn't remember his name. At this moment, Wei Guangde was still wondering whether the "Invincible Fleet" had been sunk by the British.

In the Ming Dynasty, the post office was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, so this document had not been sent to the Ministry of Rites, as it should have been.

However, Wei Guangde didn't pay much attention to this matter. He looked through the contents at the back and said, "We should copy it and send it to the Ministry of Rites, especially for record."

"I understand. It's just that this is overseas and it's a country I didn't know before, so I brought it here for you to see first."

Well, although Wei Guangde is not in charge of the Ministry of Rites, it seems that Wei Guangde is also in charge of matters involving diplomacy in recent years.

In the current Ming Dynasty, no one understands the world better than him. He is the "King of Understanding" of this era.

"Regarding the matter of Elijah, the Ministry of War must send a letter to Jiugang and Myanmar. If their envoys arrive, they must be safely delivered to the capital."

The war between Britain and Spain had a huge impact on the European situation, and Britain was also a troublemaker in Europe during this era.

When thinking of Britain, Wei Guangde thinks of opium, the poppy used to make opium, and the beautiful poppy flowers.

Opium actually existed before the Tang Dynasty, but it was only used in small quantities as medicine. Unlike the British, who directly expanded the business and eventually developed the drug industry.

Drugs, the root of all evil.

With Wei Guangde here, Poppy

Thinking of that thing, Wei Guangde still shook his head. His chamber of commerce could not do this business, even if it was sold abroad. He did not want to become the "Opium King" or the "Sixteenth Century Drug Lord" in the eyes of future generations.

Not only can we not do it, we also need to let people know a little bit about the toxicity of opium poppy, and stop this business first. (End of this chapter)