I studied in modern times

Chapter 665 Zhao Xu: Why can’t the people understand the court?

In a commercial city like Bianjing, everything can be negotiated as long as there are rewards!
Zhao Xu gave some rewards, and immediately the enthusiasm of all the workers soared!

In front of Zhao Xu, they demonstrated the process of making honeycomb coal or coal balls.

Those who sift coal are sifting coal, those who mix mud are mixing mud, and those who make coal briquettes are making coal briquettes.

There is no technical content in making honeycomb briquettes.

It's nothing more than sifting the coal, then mixing it with loess and mud, and then using an iron mold to demould them one by one.

Finally, leave the coal balls to the weather and let them dry naturally.

In a short period of time, hundreds of workers produced thousands of coal briquettes.

Coal briquettes were neatly arranged in rows on the open space in front of the bank of the Bian River.

The scene was quite spectacular, and Zhao Xu was extremely satisfied when he saw it.

In the city of Bianjing, the price of a dou of rice had remained at one hundred coins for more than ten years (this was during the Xining Reform, when the price had increased; before that it was even lower, during the Jiayou period, the price of rice was sixty coins per dou).

Similarly, the price of one weight of coal, sixty coins, has not changed since the Xining period.

As a result, a strange phenomenon appeared - when the rice from the southeast was transported thousands of miles to Bian Jing, its price was actually the same as that in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Yangzhou.

Sometimes it’s even cheaper!
To the extent that, although the city of Bianjing was in the north, the staple food was rice, not wheat!

Coal, also in general.

The coal from Hebei cost forty or fifty coins per weigh. After being transported for three hundred miles by water, the selling price in Bian Jing was only sixty coins!

Note that these are selling prices.

In other words, there are still middlemen who want to make a profit.

Even the civil servants and scholars could not stand this level of subsidies!
So much so that not long ago, the Right Censor Wang Di wrote a letter saying: The government’s very low price for selling grains is not conducive to attracting merchants... The people of the capital used to eat mostly wheat, but now they eat mostly rice, because rice is cheap... This has resulted in a gradual decrease in the amount of rice and wheat brought into the capital from neighboring counties. Is this a long-term strategy?

So he hoped to increase the price of rice sold in Kaifeng Prefecture.

That is the wholesale price of the Changping Warehouse - the price of one dou of Changping rice from the capital is set at one hundred coins.

After reading it, Zhao Xu gave Wang Di a thumbs up.

Even his impression of Wang Di has changed a lot - who said that the old party ministers are useless?

Look, isn’t this a loyal minister?

I wanted to raise the price a long time ago!

But I can’t say it out loud!

You are truly a loyal minister!
My mouth is replaced!

Then... then...

Wang Di was besieged by the entire Bian Jing!

I heard that even the owner of the house he rented was unwilling to continue renting the house to him and directly kicked him and his family out!
It was Zhao Xu who was kind enough to ask Zhang Yu to arrange a residence for Wang Di in the idle mansion of the store and house management. Otherwise, his family would have no place to stay in Bian Jing!

The people of Bian Jing really don’t understand the difficulties of their king and father at all!

What's wrong with a slight increase in rice prices?
Yes, the rice price increase proposed by Wang Di is a bit too much (the increase is about 40%).

But Zhao Xu believed that people in Bian Jing should respect market rules.

The rice you eat is neither market-based nor free.

It's entirely a food subsidy. Wang Di is right - eating subsidized rice for a long time will seriously undermine the enthusiasm of grain merchants in the north to sell grain to Beijing.

What if a severe drought occurs in the future and the Grand Canal stops functioning?
People without thought, he must worry about!

The people of Bianliang should think more about the imperial court and themselves.

However, Zhao Xu couldn't and shouldn't say these words.

At most, he privately instructed Tong Guan to publish a few whitewashing articles, but it was useless.

Once those articles were published, the name Hu Feipan became synonymous with insults.

It was not until Tong Guan, following Zhao Xu's instructions, quickly published an article criticizing Wang Di that the credibility of the Bian Jing Xin Bao was prevented from being destroyed.

Since we can’t raise prices, we can only think of other ways to generate revenue.

Honeycomb coal is Zhao Xu's tool for generating income.

After visiting the honeycomb briquettes production workshop in Tianmafang, Zhao Xu also personally watched the burning of honeycomb briquettes.

After reading it, he was very satisfied.

He called Jia Zhongmin, who was accompanying him, to his side and asked, "Street Office, how many days can a household in Bianjing use one pound of coal in winter?"

Jia Zhongmin was responsible for dealing with merchants and common people in the Bianjing Xiangfang. He was familiar with the living conditions of the people, and he immediately said respectfully: "Your Majesty, I have asked the clerks of the Street Office. Now, on average, one pound of coal in the capital can last an ordinary family of five for two to three days."

One weighing is fifteen catties, which means that the coal consumption required for heating and cooking for a family of five in Bianliang is at least five catties per day, and the upper limit may be around seven catties.

Zhao Xu nodded after listening to this. He knew that this should be the normal fuel consumption of civilians for heating and cooking in winter.

A weight of coal costs about sixty coins, which means that the daily heating and cooking costs are between twenty and thirty-five coins.

Considering that the people Jia Zhongmin contacted and questioned were all clerks, this was the heating and cooking fuel cost for the middle and upper class families in Bianliang.

The vast majority of poor people, especially those at the bottom of society, will certainly be very frugal in this regard.

It is normal to use one measure of coal for five or ten days!
He turned to look at Shen Kuo and asked, "Shen Aiqing, how many briquettes can be produced from one pound of coal?"

Shen Kuo replied: "Your Majesty, I have been ordered to verify the method of making charcoal balls."

"We have tested it and found that 350% coal and % loess are the most suitable for charcoal balls. The weight of a charcoal ball is about half a catty (Song Jin, about grams), so one weighing of charcoal can produce about to charcoal balls (the charcoal needs to be screened)." Zhao Xu asked again: "How long can a charcoal ball burn?"

Shen Kuo said: "Your Majesty, this depends on the stove you use..."

"If it is a charcoal stove used for cooking, when the fire is not on, use three charcoal balls per stove, which should keep it from burning out for a whole day..."

“If you light a fire, then one charcoal ball can probably be used to cook for a family.”

"If we use a stove for heating, three per day is enough for a family!"

Zhao Xu quietly made a calculation in his heart.

Take one weighed piece of charcoal and calculate the lower limit of making seventy charcoal balls.

According to Shen Kuo, a family of five could use about six charcoal briquettes a day to cover heating and cooking expenses (the charcoal briquettes could be transferred between stoves).

If you calculate it this way, Zhao Xu already has a rough idea in his mind.

The ex-factory price of these charcoal balls can be determined now.

So he said to Jia Zhongmin: "Street Office, the capital is about to enter a severe winter, and I am deeply worried about the suffering of the people."

"I intend to distribute these charcoal balls to the people in Beijing to relieve their suffering from the cold!"

"Then the Street Office will inform all coal merchants in Beijing about the existence of charcoal briquettes in Tianmafang!"

"The charcoal balls are sold in groups of six, and each group is priced at twelve cents."

"And the price of a set of them sold in Beijing is limited to fifteen cents."

"To encourage coal merchants, please inform them that all coal briquette taxes are exempted!"

At this moment, Zhao Xu's face was slightly red, and he spoke righteously, as if he was thinking about the people and the people of Bianliang.

Just like the anchors he had seen in modern live broadcast rooms.

It is purely for the welfare of the people!

But in fact, he has made a lot of money.

The price of coal in Beijing is sixty cents per pound, but the coal dealers sell it wholesale at around fifty cents per pound in the charcoal fields.

Now Zhao Xu was selling honeycomb coal to peddlers in groups of six, at twelve cents a group.

One pound of coal can be processed into at least 2.9 charcoal balls, or groups, with a value of coins, which is nearly times the price in the past.

The charcoal briquette manufacturing workshop in Tianmafang was established under the instructions of Zhao Xu and Shen Kuo, learning from the advanced experience of Lingjinyuan.

Adopt piece-rate wage system!

For every six charcoal balls made, one cent is paid as wages. On average, each worker can make about one thousand to one thousand five hundred charcoal balls a day, which means that the daily wages are one hundred and seventy to two hundred cents.

It is at the upper-middle level of labor prices in Bianjing.

However, they have to complete all the work from coal washing, coal screening, mud mixing, manufacturing to drying and finally warehousing, so they cannot actually get this number every day.

Their only benefit is that the charcoal yard provides two meals a day and two kilograms of Dengzhou dried fish every month.

In addition, there is a hidden benefit - they are considered to be employees of the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau.

To round it off, he was an employee of the emperor Zhao Xu.

Generally, the ruffians in Bianjing didn't dare to provoke them and their families.

For Zhao Xu, this labor cost is insignificant.

The only input is to provide these workers with raw materials and means of production.

But these things originally belonged to him.

Like coal, it's piled here.

In other words, the iron molds used to make charcoal balls are very expensive now!
They are standard high-tech products - each one is carefully made by master craftsmen from the Ordnance Bureau.

Don't be fooled, this iron mold has a simple structure.

But it’s not easy to make it!

In order to shape the iron mold, the mold casting method is required. Then, the craftsman carefully polishes the inner wall to make it smooth.

The time and energy required are unimaginable to modern people.

The manufacturing of other components is not simple either.

Therefore, the cost of each iron mold is very high!
At least more than one hundred and seventy strings of cash!

But it is precisely because of this that this can build a technical barrier.

Therefore, in the short term, Zhao Xu was able to control a monopoly and highly profitable industry!
Monopolizing iron molds means monopolizing charcoal balls.

The profit of charcoal balls is even higher than that of salt!

And this is as necessary for heating and cooking as salt!
Especially in winter, even the poorest people cannot do without cheap coal!
The honeycomb briquettes technology developed by Zhao Xu far surpassed the traditional coal heating used by the people of Bian Jing in terms of economy, durability and combustion efficiency.

It is no exaggeration to say that it is easy to earn hundreds of thousands of strings of cash every year by selling government-run charcoal briquettes.

After finishing his inspection in Tianmafang, Zhao Xu, surrounded by his ministers, returned to Kaifeng Prefecture, where he listened to Cai Jing's recent work report on Bianliang and symbolically decided on several cases - these cases were naturally carefully selected by Cai Jing and others.

These are all cases that can fully demonstrate his characteristics as an official, such as benevolence, love for the people, and care for the common people.

After finishing these things, Zhao Xu, under the protection of Yan Chen, boarded the imperial sedan chair, ended today's inspection, and returned to the imperial city.

(End of this chapter)