Red Mansion, Ningfu Scholarly Family

Chapter 127 The traitor, he jumped out!

……

"Grandpa, look at this."

That day, Jia Rong took a piece of black honeycomb coal and placed it on Jia Jing's desk.

Jia Jing looked at it and frowned slightly.

"What is this?"

To be honest, if it wasn't Jia Rong, he would be furious if anyone dared to put such a piece of charcoal on his desk.

"Honeycomb coal."

"what for?"

Jia Rong smiled slightly and said, "Master, come with me and you will know."

Although Jia Jing was very busy, his eldest grandson had something to do, so he decisively gave up his official duties and followed his grandson out to look at the honeycomb coal.

The main reason is that he understands Jia Rong and will not act recklessly.

The honeycomb coal stove was placed in Jia Rong's yard, with the faint red flames burning brightly inside.

Jia Jing saw it and immediately understood.

It's a heating stove.

What was burning inside was the honeycomb coal that Jia Rong had just taken from the table.

"What are you doing with this?"

There was something unfriendly in Jia Jing's tone.

In his opinion, this is not doing one's job properly.

The eldest grandson was a little proud.

He had to talk.

Before he could open his mouth, Jia Rong explained, "Honeycomb coal is cheaper than charcoal. This stove only costs a few coins to burn for a day."

Jia Jing had lived in the Duke's Mansion since he was a child, and actually had no idea about a few coins, but there was one sentence he understood clearly.

Cheaper than charcoal.

He knew that there was a shortage of charcoal in the court, especially in the past two years, the Ministry of Works was almost going crazy over the charcoal issue.

Jia Jing: "Can it replace charcoal?"

Jia Rong: "It can't be completely replaced. For example, you can't put a big honeycomb coal in a hand warmer. It produces smoke and is very choking. It can only be used to burn incense burners and warm rooms."

"Oh."

Jia Jing stroked his beard and said, "Isn't that similar to coal?"

Coal had been used in large quantities for heating and smelting as early as the pre-Song Dynasty. However, due to the difficulty of mining and the fact that the mining supervisors had to collect a considerable amount of mining tax, the price of coal was not much different from that of charcoal.

This has led to some people being ignored.

Jia Rong said, "Almost the same, but much cheaper than coal, and more durable."

He then gave another example: "If you burn smokeless charcoal for a day, you get 30 wen, coal is about 20 wen, and burning honeycomb briquettes is at most 13 or 14 wen."

As we all know, if something with similar effects is 10% cheaper, people will be very excited, let alone if it is twice as cheap.

Jia Jing's eyes lit up immediately.

If honeycomb coal is really as Jia Rong said, it will not only solve the problem of charcoal shortage in Kyoto, but the profits will be enormous.

How much charcoal does Kyoto use in a year? Not to mention heating in winter, even if it is just for cooking and boiling water in all four seasons, it is an astronomical figure.

“How is honeycomb briquettes made?”

Jia Jing had to take it seriously.

This is an opportunity.

An opportunity to show off in front of the emperor!
"It's very simple."

Jia Rong explained the specific method again.

Jia Jing nodded. It was indeed made of carbon foam. He just saw it like that.

"What's the point of adding yellow mud? Are you cutting corners?" Jia Jing suddenly asked.

Jia Rong said: "You must add yellow mud. Without yellow mud, it won't solidify, and it will burn too quickly, so it won't be very practical."

"I see!"

Jia Jing nodded: "I know about this matter, you can go back and study with peace of mind."

Jia Rong: “…”

……

Huangji Hall, today's meeting of the imperial court.

"Almost all the trees on Yunmu Mountain have been cut down. There may not be enough wood this winter, so we have to go north to find wood to survive the winter," Wen Ting said.

The emperor's face didn't look good anymore.

"What does Lord Wen want to say?"

Wen Ting said helplessly, "Continue to the north for thirty miles and you will reach Yunxi Mountain. There are many trees on the mountain, which can provide timber to Kyoto for a long time. However, the mountain is steep, and it is inconvenient to transport back and forth. The initial budget of the Ministry of Industry is not enough, and we need to add money."

As expected, he wants money again!

The emperor said gloomily, "How much more do you want to add?"

Wen Ting said seriously: "About 100,000 taels. I just asked Mr. Liu Yan from the Ministry of Revenue, and he said that the Ministry of Revenue can only give 50,000, and the rest..."

The Emperor: “…”

"Neither do I."

"You have to figure it out yourself."

"Holy Emperor!" Wen Ting urged, "Charcoal is related to whether thousands of people in Kyoto can survive the winter smoothly. Please think twice!"

"Please think twice, Holy Emperor."

"Please think twice, Holy Emperor."

"Please think twice, Holy Emperor."

Everyone followed Wen Ting and stood out.

The retired emperor was nearly mad with anger, and was about to agree reluctantly when Jia Jing suddenly stood up.

"Holy Emperor, I have a memorial to report."

The emperor's eyes lit up: "Lord Jia, please tell me what you want to say."

Jia Jing smiled and said, "I have something that I would like to invite the Holy Emperor and the others to see. Please allow me to bring it into the palace." The Emperor did not wait for others to speak and waved his hand gently, "Allowed!"

Wen Ting smiled softly to the people around him, "The traitor, he jumped out!"

"Yes." Liu Yizhi said angrily, "The emperor was about to agree, but he insisted on interfering. What's the meaning of that?"

"Hmph, let's wait and see what conspiracy he has. He will probably offer some famous paintings or antiques to flatter us."

"He is indeed a treacherous villain!"

"When he presents it later, we will impeach him together!"

"Exactly!"

While everyone was discussing in a low voice, Jia Jing had already entered the hall holding a pitch-black object, and behind him were several guards carrying a strange-looking object with fire coming out of it.

"Be bold!"

Immediately, an imperial censor who was not afraid of the powerful jumped out and shouted: "Huangji Palace is an important place in the country. It is the place where the emperor discusses state affairs with civil and military officials. How can we allow these black and dirty things to defile it!"

"I accuse Jia Jing of disrespecting the Holy Emperor, a crime of great disrespect!"

Wen Ting looked at the censor who jumped out with appreciation.

Not bad, promising.

Waiting for promotion at your discretion.

Immediately afterwards, two more censors jumped out to impeach.

Jia Jing ignored the clowns and smiled at the emperor, "Your Majesty, I heard a few days ago that Kyoto lacked charcoal this year and the people had a hard time getting through the winter. I couldn't sleep day and night after returning home. By chance, I was sincere and found a secret method to make honeycomb coal."

"Oh."

The emperor had already looked at the stove, and even stood up from the dragon throne and walked to the stove.

Wen Ting hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, be careful, this thing is not yet..."

The Emperor: "Go away."

Wen Ting: “…”

Jia Jing smiled and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, and please don't worry, Mr. Wen. This is just an ordinary stove. There is no danger. The outside is made of yellow mud, and the honeycomb coal is burned inside."

"The whole stove can hold three pieces of honeycomb coal. When it is almost used up, just take out the lowest piece, put the two pieces above it in, and finally put a new piece of honeycomb coal on top."

Jia Jing demonstrated them one by one personally.

The movements are very skillful.

Finally, Jia Jing smiled and said, "This piece of honeycomb coal is worth two cents. The stove only needs four pieces a day, which is eight cents. You can use it to boil water and cook."

Everyone present had seen large sums of money, so when they suddenly heard that it cost eight cents a day to keep warm, they felt it was incredible.

Especially the emperor emeritus.

The palace spends more than hundreds of thousands of dollars on charcoal every year.

How many stoves like this do I have to buy!

For a moment, the emperor looked at Wen Ting with some unfriendly eyes.

Did your Ministry of Industry embezzle money?
Wen Ting was the second in command of the Cabinet and also the Minister of Works.

There is no doubt that he was stabbed by Jia Jing.

Wen Ting was very angry!
Why didn't you take this out earlier? I just asked the emperor for money and you took it out!
What is your intention?!
"Holy Emperor, this is impossible!"

"I do not suppose that this furnace uses only four pieces of...what coal a day?"

"Honeycomb coal." Jia Jing said with a smile.

Wen Ting said: "I've never seen honeycomb coal before, but I think it's made from coal, right? I've studied coal in the Ministry of Industry, and the daily consumption is at least two or three times that!"

Jia Jing laughed and said, "Master Wen, let's wait and see."

The emperor laughed and said, "Okay, I'll wait and see. If honeycomb coal can really replace charcoal, then Lord Jia's move will be a great contribution to the country!"

Everyone was shocked.

It’s a great contribution to the country!
What an honor and praise this is!
For a moment, Wen Ting and others couldn't help but look gloomy, especially the censors who had just jumped out to impeach.

Shivering.

Jia Jing said solemnly: "It is our duty to share the worries of the Emperor. I dare not take credit for it. Another thing is that this kind of honeycomb coal cannot completely replace charcoal. Hand warmers, foot warmers, charcoal basins, etc. still need charcoal."

"It can only be used in fumigation cages, warm rooms, or for boiling water and cooking."

The emperor smiled and said, "That's fine. If we save half of the charcoal, we don't have to change the place to cut wood this year, right?"

"Lord Wen?"

Wen Ting dared not even mention the matter of changing places, and hurriedly bowed and said, "We can save half of the charcoal this year, so we don't need to change places to cut wood. However... I still don't believe that you can only burn four pieces of honeycomb coal a day!"

The Emperor smiled and said, "It's okay. We can just wait for a day. I'm inviting you to be my host today. Come on, have the imperial kitchen prepare the banquet."

The court officials: "Thank you, Holy Emperor..."

The emperor waved his hand and said, "Thank you, Lord Jia. He earned it for you."

Jia Jing hurriedly said, "I dare not."

……

The day passed quickly.

Thanks to Jia Jing's control, only a little more than two pieces of honeycomb coal were used.

God!

Many people have already looked at honeycomb briquettes with shining eyes.

This thing is enough to change the current situation of boiling water, cooking and even heating in the entire Daxia. It can cover the tens of millions of people in the entire Daxia. How much money can it make!

Unthinkable! I dare not think about it!
The emperor's old face was full of smiles.

"Lord Jia! You have done a great service to the country!"

"Confer the title of Prince Taibao!"

"I thank the Holy Emperor for his grace!"

Jia Jing kowtowed respectfully to express his gratitude.

"Lord Jia, please stand up."

For a moment, Wen Ting and others felt very uncomfortable.

Jia Jing tries to please the emperor!
It can be confirmed that he is a treacherous and corrupt minister!
……

(End of this chapter)