The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 197 Reconstruction of the Imperial Examination Hall
The Imperial Examination Hall in the capital was where the civil service examinations were held.

The provincial examinations in Northern Zhili were also held here.

Its location is roughly the southeast corner of the inner city of Beijing.

Wanli was extremely concerned with military affairs and neglected literature, so he had never been to the Imperial Examination Hall.

However, the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty always needed civil servants to govern, and he also wanted to cultivate a group of obedient imperial party members.

This newly-minted scholar was the foundation for him to cultivate the imperial party, and he always had to win him over.

Furthermore, a new idea suddenly came to his mind and he planned to do coal business.

Therefore, he wanted to renovate the Imperial Examination Hall and install coal stoves in the rooms there, so that the new scholars could feel the care from him as the emperor. At the same time, he wanted to publicize the use of coal stoves through these candidates and open up the coal business.

At about noon the next morning, he brought the chief minister Yu Youcai, the grand secretary Shen Li, the scholar of the Hanlin Academy Li Tingji, the minister of rites Sun Yu, the earl of Yongnian Wang Wei, Shan Sinan, Li Xuancheng and others, and rode straight to the Imperial Examination Hall under the escort of tens of thousands of Jinyiwei cavalry.

It is very convenient to get from the Imperial City to the Imperial Examination Hall. You just need to go out of the Right Chang'an Gate, cross East Chang'an Street, pass through the Dongdan Archway and Guanyin Temple Hutong.

This Imperial Examination Hall is really huge.

Outside the Imperial Examination Hall was where students gathered waiting to enter. The huge square could easily accommodate tens of thousands of Jinyiwei cavalry.

Inside the gate, there is a long square where students line up for body searches and enter their cells. It can also accommodate tens of thousands of people.

On the inside of the square are small doors like ticket gates, and inside the small doors are rows of number rooms.

On the wall outside each cell, there are characters taller than a person, such as "Heaven and Earth Are Mysterious", "The Universe Is Wild", etc.

Each row of these rooms has sixty compartments, arranged according to the sixty-year cycle. There is a sign nailed at the entrance to each room to prevent candidates from entering the wrong one.

In the entire Imperial Examination Hall, there are more than two hundred rows of such rooms!

Room No. 1 is a small space that is roughly half a zhang wide, half a zhang deep, and less than ten zhang high. The furnishings inside are very simple, just two wooden boards about an inch thick.

The outer part is about waist-high and is used as a desk. It is also used to lock the candidates. It can be opened and has a hinge on one side and a lock on the other.

There is a piece of furniture inside that is about knee-high, which serves as both a chair and a bed. If the candidate is taller than 1.5 meters, he or she will not be able to lie flat.

Wanli looked at the furnishings in the room and couldn't help but frown.

This is simply torture. You have to know that the imperial examination consists of three tests, each lasting three days, for a total of nine days. You have to eat, drink, defecate and urinate all in this small space.

The key point is that this room has no door. In February, the ice and snow in Beijing have not melted yet, and the temperature at night may be several degrees below zero.

Candidates are not allowed to bring quilts. If the cold wind blows and the charcoal fire goes out, people will be frozen into popsicles.

He looked at the icicles hanging from the eaves, then at the ice scattered everywhere on the ground, and couldn't help but frown and said, "Isn't this room too simple?"

Unexpectedly, Shen Li even sighed, "Your Majesty, this is still considered good. When I participated in the imperial examination, the cells were still made of wooden boards and clay walls. Not only were they extremely dirty, but they also leaked everywhere and were prone to fire.

This was rebuilt by Yuan Fu in the second year of Wanli. After all, it is a brick and tile house, so it is basically not likely to catch fire. Even if it does, it will not burn many people.

In the past, the examination rooms often caught fire and candidates were often burned to death. In the seventh year of Tianshun, more than ninety candidates were burned to death. When we took part in the examination, we didn't dare to sleep at night, for fear that the charcoal fire would accidentally splash onto the wall and set the room on fire.

Now it's fine. Even if sparks fly from the charcoal fire, at most they can only set fire to one cell. Besides, when the examination begins, the water tanks in the middle will be filled with water. A few buckets of water can put out the fire."

Is this still good?
Wanli looked at the rows of water tanks outside the cell and couldn't help but laugh and cry.

Does this mean that not being burned to death is good enough?
Wanli shook his head slightly, then said decisively: "Father-in-law, let's build a batch of coal stoves for these cells first."

The reason why he recruited Yongnianbo Wang Wei was to make a coal stove.

It is definitely not possible to burn coal in a charcoal basin without a coal stove. If you burn it in a charcoal basin, a large number of candidates will probably be suffocated to death by the coal smoke.

Yongnianbo Wang Wei was rather puzzled and asked, "Your Majesty, what kind of coal stove are you talking about?"

There were no coal stoves at that time, so most people didn't dare to burn coal, as it could easily cause death.

Nowadays, most coal is used for iron smelting and ironworking.

Wanli thought for a moment, then gestured, “A coal stove is used to burn coal. It has a stove at the bottom that’s about waist-thick and about a foot high, and a chimney on top that’s about arm-thick and about a foot long.

The most important thing about burning coal is to prevent the smoke from reaching people, so the coal stove, including the chimney, must be sealed to prevent air leaks. The air can only enter through the opening at the bottom where the coal slag is discharged."

Do we need to seal the top of the coal stove?
Wang Wei, the Earl of Yongnian, pondered: "Your Majesty, this is sealed up. Where should the coal be put in? Through the slag outlet?" That certainly won't work, because the slag outlet is separated from the coal burning area above.

Wanli thought about it carefully for a while, then gestured and said, "This coal stove is not a simple cylinder, we need to add something inside.

For example, a round plate like a lantern should be added in the middle. The coal burns on the plate, and the burnt coal slag falls to the slag outlet layer below. A round iron plate should also be added to the slag outlet layer to prevent the red coal slag from falling directly to the ground.

"We need to add two discs on top, one large one to seal the sides, and one small one about the size of a bowl with a ring for putting coal in."

Is that so?
Yongnianbo Wang Wei pondered for a while and then asked, "Your Majesty, where should the chimney be installed?"

Wanli thought again: "The chimney must not be installed in the middle, because after the coal inlet in the middle is removed, you can put a kettle to boil water or even a small pot to cook.

The chimney has to be installed next to it, which means that there has to be a sloping platform about the same size as the chimney extending from the cylinder of the coal stove."

Oh, the chimney is installed next to it.

Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei nodded slightly, then asked, "Your Majesty, the chimney pipe is only as thick as an arm. Should we cast it directly to be ten feet long? It's very difficult to cast something this long."

How can a chimney be cast in one piece?

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "The chimney pipe doesn't need to be cast as a whole. That would make it difficult to assemble. You can cast it into several sections, which will make it easier to assemble."

It is convenient to install like this, but the problem is that it cannot leak.

Yongnianbo Wang Wei asked again, "Your Majesty, do the joints between these sections need to be polished smooth? If not, if they are directly connected, there will definitely be leakage."

You even polished both sides of this thing to make it smooth. How much time does that take?
How are coal stoves sealed in later generations?
Wanli thought for a while, then suddenly realized: "We need to make a lot of this stuff. The simpler the sealing, the better. If it can be done without processing, then don't do it.

You know the jars for pickles, the ones with a circle of grooves on the outside. Just add some water in the grooves and it will be sealed.

Our chimney pipes, including the joints between the coal stove and the chimney pipe, can be cast with a circle of such grooves, but no water is added to the grooves. We can just apply clay directly on them.

We try not to process the entire furnace, including the chimney pipe, and cast it directly. We can just brush off the fine sand on it and use it. This way we can make it quickly."

Oh, so there is no need to process it.

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei nodded slowly and said, "I understand. This is easy to do. Just make some wooden molds and cast it directly."

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "How much do you think this thing costs per set? If you organize all the people to work on it, how many sets can you make in a day?"

Yongnianbo Wang Wei estimated: "There are not many requirements for this thing. One-fire wrought iron is enough. Cast it thinly, about ten pounds of one-fire wrought iron, which is 250 coins. Counting the processing fee, it is probably 250 coins. One tael of silver should be enough to make two.

As for how many can be made in a day, that depends on how many craftsmen are recruited. This thing is sand casting, and two skilled casters should be able to cast twenty sets a day. "

so cheap?

And a skilled caster can cast ten sets a day!
Upon hearing this, Wanli pondered and said, "Then you should recruit a thousand skilled casters and have them produce ten thousand sets every day."

what?
Do so much every day?

How much will this cost?

Yongnianbo Wang Wei estimated, "Your Majesty, ten thousand sets a day means one hundred thousand catties of wrought iron. Add in the processing costs, and that's five thousand taels a day, or one hundred and fifty thousand taels a month!"

We can sell this for money.

Wanli smiled slightly and said, "This kind of stove can be sold for one or two taels of silver. There should be many people who want it. But that's not the key point. The key point is the coal. Even if we make the stove and give it away, we don't know how much we can sell the coal for in a day.

Don't worry about that. Just focus on the work. When the first batch is finished, install all the rooms. Just install the hinges, remove a few tiles from the eaves, lift the chimney, and seal it with clay. It must be installed before the imperial examination begins."

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei quickly bowed and said, "Your humble servant obeys your order."

Oh, and there are pliers.

Wanli gestured, "You still need to make iron pliers, which are used to clamp coal and remove coal slag. They don't need to be as strong as blacksmith's pliers, just a little stronger than a pair of scissors will be enough."

This stuff is simple.

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

(End of this chapter)