Chapter 106 What a big tone
Three days later at noon, Zhu Chong came to the Baochao Tizhusi yawning. Old Liu and Zhang Quan were already waiting at the door.
"Sir, the lime kiln is ready and will be lit today. Why don't you light the first fire for good luck?"
Hearing what Old Liu said, Zhu Chong raised his eyebrows and nodded, "Okay, let's go."
The group arrived at the lime kiln. Zhu Chong was about to go forward to light the fire, but he noticed that the kiln was filled with all kinds of chopped firewood. His face immediately turned ugly.
"Sir, what's wrong with you..." Zhang Quan noticed that Zhu Chong's face looked strange and couldn't help asking.
Zhu Chong pointed inside the kiln and asked, "Why is there only firewood? No coal?"
Coal? When Zhu Chong asked this question, everyone present was stunned, and Zhu Chong himself was also a little confused.
As far as he could remember, people in the Central Plains had already started using coal during the Yuan Dynasty. How come, even in the Ming Dynasty, they still acted as if they had never heard of it and were completely ignorant? Was it not called coal, but something else?
After a long time, Zhu Chong gestured and explained, and finally let Zhang Quan, Lao Liutou and others know what the coal that Zhu Chong was talking about was.
"Oh, so you're talking about coal," Old Liu suddenly realized. "But, sir, Yingtianfu doesn't have that rare thing. We only have this firewood. Look..."
"No?" When Zhu Chong heard this and looked at the expressions of Zhang Quan and others, he knew that there was really no coal.
But the problem is that without coal, it is impossible to burn lime, and when making cement, you need the ash left after the coal is fully burned.
So without coal, we can’t make cement, and this matter cannot be taken lightly.
Zhu Chong quickly opened the system, spent points, and extracted relevant knowledge about the Ming Dynasty, and he actually found it.
Changning County, which is Jurong in later generations, is now under the jurisdiction of Yingtian Prefecture. Where is the coal mine!
Changning Coal Mine may not be considered a coal-rich area in later generations, but its coal reserves definitely exceed hundreds of millions of tons, and coal can be dug out as long as you dig a few meters underground.
After reading the information, Zhu Chong's heart skipped a beat. If he wanted his Baochao Tizhusi to be self-sufficient in the future, he would probably have to set his sights on the coal mine in Changning County.
There is no precedent for large-scale coal development in the Ming Dynasty today, which proves that the coal in Changning County has never been discovered, let alone developed.
Zhu Chong decided to invest all his remaining money in Changning County.
According to Zhu Chong's understanding, Changning County was a famous poor county in the Ming Dynasty because the land there was not suitable for growing crops at all.
Of course, if crops can be grown on coal, the county magistrate of Changning County is also a capable person!
In the Ming Dynasty today, buying and selling land is legal. In this case, there is no reason for Zhu Chong to leave this treasure pot to others.
Zhu Chong then said to Zhang Quan, "Let's not light the fire today. Let's put the lime burning aside for now."
"Ah? Sir, why?" Old Liu was shocked. It took so much time and consumed so much manpower and material resources, and Zhu Chong said he wouldn't burn it, so there must be a reason!
"Don't worry, I will make lime, but definitely not now. Lime kilns require good coal. Since there is no coal, of course we have to find the right coal first. Leave this to me, you can go do other things first."
Zhu Chong explained a few words casually and then left the Baochao Tizhusi alone.
Although the craftsmen and Zhang Quan and others could not understand Zhu Chong's approach, they had no complaints about it.
After all, Zhu Chong is now in charge of the Baochao Tizhusi, and he is definitely the backbone of everyone. Whatever he says is like an imperial edict.
Anyway, they get paid every day and don’t have to worry about food. They just do whatever Zhu Chong likes.
He went straight to the East Palace and saw Crown Prince Zhu Biao still writing furiously to review memorials. Zhu Chong walked up to him and took away his pen.
"Second brother, why are you running to my Eastern Palace instead of doing your job at the Baochao Tizhuo Office?" Zhu Biao looked puzzled.
"Brother, how about I give you another sum of money, no, a large sum of money?" Zhu Chong looked mysterious and approached Zhu Biao and said with a smile.
"You, you have no money to spend again?" Zhu Biao heard this and immediately looked troubled. "Didn't I just give you five hundred strings of cash? Why are you spending it so quickly? I don't have much money left!"
"One thousand strings of cash, and I'll pay you back one hundred thousand strings of cash in a month!" Zhu Chong directly promised Zhu Biao, "Of course, if you can give me ten thousand strings of cash, I'll pay you back ten million strings of cash in a month!"
"You..." Zhu Biao gasped. He didn't know where Zhu Chong got the courage to borrow money from him like this, but he was really scared by the tone of his repayment.
Ten million strings of cash! The annual income of the Ming Dynasty treasury is about this amount. Old Zhu and Zhu Biao are now worried about the lack of money in the treasury, and their hair is almost turning white with worry.
But to Zhu Chong, it seemed like ten million strings of cash was nothing, and he could collect the full amount for Zhu Biao in a month.
But it must be said that Zhu Biao was moved by Zhu Chong's words and his heart beat faster.
Human nature is sometimes like this. Because of greed, countless people have been deceived.
So when Zhu Chong left the Eastern Palace, he had an extra 100,000 strings of precious notes in his hands.
Zhu Biao told Zhu Chong that he didn't want much, just 100,000 strings of cash. After a month, as long as Zhu Chong could give him 10 million strings of cash, it would be fine.
It has to be said that Zhu Biao, his brother, was quite kind to Zhu Chong. If it were someone else, his money would have been wasted, but that was not the case with Zhu Chong.
After returning home, Zhu Chong called Zhou Xiuying and Yang Miaozhen, and asked them to find a carriage, return to the Baochao Tizhusi, take Zhang Quan with him, and then head straight out of the city.
"Sir, what are you doing..." Zhang Quan was called into Zhu Chong's car, and all the way there was nothing but question marks on his forehead.
Because Zhu Chong drove the carriage all the way to Changning, and then did not enter the city, but looked for wasteland outside the city, and then asked Zhou Xiuying to poke the ground with an iron rod.
"Sir, what are we doing here?" Zhang Quan followed Zhu Chong to many places, but he couldn't understand what Zhu Chong was doing with those girls.
"Well, that's about it." Zhu Chong didn't answer his question directly, but just said, "Let's go to Changning County Government Office."
The group went straight into Changning County and then arrived at the gate of the county government office.
Zhu Chong got off the car and waved to Zhang Quan, who then got on with Zhu Chong's badge.
Knowing that it was a fifth-rank official who had arrived, and that it was the director of the Baochao Tizhusi who had come in person, the receiving yamen runners did not dare to be negligent and quickly invited Zhu Chong and others into the county yamen.
Not long after, Yu Tong, the magistrate of Changning County, came trotting in to pay his respects to Zhu Chong.
"Your humble servant, Yu Tong, greets His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin!"
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