Chapter 440 Coal
In the blink of an eye, the coolness of late autumn fades away and winter comes quietly.
In the fields outside Taohua Village, the buckwheat planted earlier has matured.
The wheat awns swayed gently in the cold wind, and at first glance, the entire field looked like it was covered with a layer of fine gold foil. The women in the village went to the fields early, carrying bamboo baskets and sickles.
The buckwheat harvest must be completed before the frost, without any delay.
They bent over and skillfully cut the buckwheat ears. With a flick of the knife, the golden ears piled up into small piles.
After harvesting the buckwheat, the women were busy all the time and had to carry their hoes to turn the soil over again.
The soil was turned loose and had a moist smell. Then they sowed winter wheat seeds and compacted it lightly with a hoe.
Wheat is the main food for people in the southwest. It is easier to store than rice and can also help to alleviate hunger.
Most of the rice grown in the village had to be paid as tax, and the remaining rice was taken to the county town and exchanged for silver and stored. Only a small amount was kept at home, to be eaten during festivals or when guests came.
On weekdays, people grind wheat into flour and make it into steamed buns, noodles, wheat cakes and other foods, which are convenient and filling.
Among them, there was a food called "wheat cake", which made Gu Jiayue praise it highly.
In fact, its production method is somewhat similar to the knife-cut noodles in Gu Jiayue’s hometown, but the ingredients are much richer.
Families that are a little better off will add a spoonful of oil residue when making wheat cakes.
That is the residue left after boiling lard, with a strong aroma. It is mixed with chopped vegetable sprouts, peas or corn kernels and cooked together in a pot. After taking it out of the pot, it is mixed with a bowl of chili water.
The aroma of oil mixed with the fragrance of vegetables and spicy taste makes you feel satisfied after taking a bite.
The first time Gu Jiayue ate it, she was so impressed by the flavor that she devoured two large bowls, a rare occurrence. She even dipped half a bowl of chili sauce, which she normally avoids. Her only regret was that the chili sauce contained zheergen (Houttuynia cordata), and the distinct fishy smell was a little too much for her.
If the Houttuynia cordata was not added, this wheat cake would be perfect.
Gu Jiayue had just finished two bowls of wheat cakes when Hua Chao rushed in, drank two bowls in a hurry and was about to leave.
Huachao recently received a big order.
Sewing clothes for the soldiers going to Yanshan to fight.
Logically speaking, this kind of military supply order should not be the responsibility of the embroiderers in a remote town like Annan County. It should be produced by a workshop arranged by the Ministry of Revenue or the Ministry of War, and then transported to the border along with the food and fodder.
But who could have blamed the previous Minister of Revenue being beheaded for corruption, and the national treasury being empty?
The imperial teacher came up with a solution, which was to distribute the task of preparing military supplies such as food, fodder, and clothing to various states and counties, which would greatly alleviate the pressure on the national treasury.
As for how the lower-level states and counties prepare, the imperial teacher doesn't care.
Anyway, if you don’t finish it on time, you will be fired.
After the military supply tasks were assigned, even Zheng Qinghe was worried.
The fortune he had saved in the past two years was almost used up during the previous plague; this year there was another drought, and the county could not even collect enough taxes, let alone transport them to the capital.
But the order from above had already been issued. Although he was the son of the Grand Tutor, he was only a small county magistrate in Annan County. His words carried little weight, and no one would understand his difficulties.
Later, Zheng Qinghe suddenly thought, weren't there a group of girls learning embroidery in Gu Jiayue's school?
Those girls are dexterous and learn quickly, so they may be able to complete the task of sewing this batch of clothes.
So he quickly found Gu Jiayue and negotiated the deal with her.
He first transported the fabrics and cotton for making clothes and quilts to the school and asked the embroiderers to start working.
As for the embroiderers' wages, they could wait until the national treasury allocates funds or the county has income, or they could use taxes next year to offset the payment.
Gu Jiayue asked the girls in the school, and they knew that these clothes were made for the soldiers on the front line, so they agreed without saying a word.
"We are all relatives in the village, why do we need money?"
Hua Chao was busy making military uniforms, and Gu Jiayue was also extremely busy.
As the time for the Tongsheng Examination draws closer, the atmosphere in the school becomes more and more tense.
The children who used to run out to play after class now stay in the classroom obediently, studying hard with their books, and even during breaks they ask each other questions and recite.
Some children had frostbite on their hands, and their red and swollen fingers made it difficult for them to hold a pen, but they still refused to put down their books. During breaks, they would just burn radish peels on the fire, apply them to their hands, and then continue reading.
Gu Jiayue saw it and felt pain in her heart.
The children worked so hard, but the classroom was too cold. Their fingers were frozen stiff and they couldn't concentrate on their studies at all.
She thought that she had to improve the heating environment in the school.
At this moment, coal suddenly came to mind.
Although Juzhou's coal reserves are not the largest in the country, they are still ranked among the best in the southwest region. She remembered that many famous large coal plants in her previous life were located in this area.
She spent some education points and asked the system to detect the mountains near Taohua Village.
Sure enough, a large coal reserve was discovered in a mountain not far from the paper mill.
However, Gu Jiayue didn't have professional mining skills and didn't dare let the villagers dig too deep. She only asked everyone to use hoes and hammers to dig up the surface soil and rocks, chisel off the exposed coal blocks, and then transport them back to the village on carts.
There are three braziers in each classroom of the school.
The coal was burning "crackling" in the brazier, and the red coals were emitting warm heat.
The children, who had been huddled together due to the cold, gradually relaxed their toes and were able to turn pages and write with their hands.
After school, the children came home and told their families about this "magical heating device" in the school.
They helped to get the coal, but they didn't know what to do with it.
The villagers were curious after hearing this and came to ask Gu Jiayue if they could also go to the mountains to mine coal and burn it.
Gu Jiayue then remembered that she had forgotten to tell the villagers.
"sure!"
"That mountain doesn't belong to anyone, and the coal on it is also ownerless. Anyone who wants to mine it can do it."
But she couldn't help but remind him, "But when you burn coal, don't close all the doors and windows. You have to leave a gap at least. Remember?"
"Why?" a villager asked in confusion. "Even if there are gaps, the cold wind will blow in, so won't it still be cold?"
Gu Jiayue knew they wouldn't understand if she explained "carbon monoxide poisoning" to them, so she could only say it in the simplest terms: "When coal burns, it produces a poisonous gas. If the doors and windows are closed tightly, the gas won't escape. If you inhale too much, you'll faint, and in serious cases, something bad will happen."
As soon as these words were spoken, some timid villagers immediately backed down.
No matter how cold it is, you can't risk your life!
But there were still some brave villagers who thought that as long as they left a gap as Gu Jiayue said, everything should be fine.
They tried to collect some coal and burn it at home, and found that coal burned much longer than charcoal. If it was equipped with a special stove, it could also be used for cooking, which was much more convenient than burning firewood.
The clever men in the village quickly started to modify their own stoves to make them more suitable for burning coal.
However, when you knock the coals, some debris will always fall off. These debris are not good to throw directly into the fire. Not only will they not burn well, but they will also easily extinguish the fire.
The villagers had been used to being frugal all their lives and were reluctant to waste anything, so they smashed the debris into even smaller pieces, mixed it with some yellow mud, and kneaded it into coal cakes.
I didn’t expect that such coal cakes can also burn for a long time, and when placed on the stove, the fire is more even and not easy to fall off.
Before long, the entire Taohua Village was using coal for heating and cooking.
After seeing this, people from the neighboring village also learned to go to the mountains to mine coal.
For a time, several surrounding villages began using this "new fuel".
Later, a brave villager thought it would be a waste to use all the coal himself, so he loaded the coal onto a truck and transported it to the county town to sell.
This man was very smart. He didn't shout loudly on the street. He just brought a brazier from home and lit the coal in it.
People passing by were curious to see the black pieces burning in the brazier and the warm steam coming out.
This thing looks similar to charcoal, but it can actually burn?
Moreover, it burns at a higher temperature than charcoal, burns for a longer time, and even produces less ash than charcoal.
Someone couldn't help but ask what it was, and the man smiled and explained that it was a newly discovered "combustible material" in their village, called "coal."
For a time, wealthy people in the county town rushed to buy it, wanting to try out this novel heating device.
When other villagers saw that this man made money, they followed suit and transported coal to the county town and town to sell.
Within a few days, the exposed coal mines in the mountains were almost dug out, and some greedy people began to think about digging deeper into the mountains.
That day, Zheng Qinghe was processing official documents in his study when a servant brought in a brazier.
He glanced at it inadvertently and found that the brazier today was different from the past.
What was burning inside was not silver charcoal, but black blocks. Although it was a bit pungent, there was not as much ash as before, and it was warmer.
"What kind of charcoal fire is this today? It's burning harder than usual." Zheng Qinghe put down his pen and asked.
The servant chuckled and replied, "Your Excellency, this is what the villagers from the villages below bring to the county town to sell. They call it 'coal.' We've tried it, and it's not only durable but also holds a high temperature. The smell is a bit pungent, but you get used to it."
Zheng Qinghe became interested, stood up and squatted beside the brazier, carefully observing the burning state of the coal.
This thing looks insignificant, but unexpectedly it is much better than the high-quality silver charcoal he usually uses.
An idea struck him, and he said to the servant, "Go and find out which village brought this coal to sell, and bring the person to me."
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