Start Being a Vassal King Today - Chapter 279

[Chapter 279 Soaring Coal Prices]

“That’s right, it’s three million shi.” Zhao Xu’s eyes sparkled.

This is the ration of millions of people for a year.

The reason why he wanted so much was after careful consideration.

First of all, there are about 300,000 people who came from Jinzhou.

This number is still growing.

The second is the craftsmen and royal soldiers who entered the workshop.

They only consume food, not produce it.

Finally, it is the current situation facing the four northern counties.

In his view, the foreign wars in the four northern counties will not stop in the future, which will continue to consume food.

It is absolutely necessary to store three million shi of grain for backup.

Otherwise, once the four northern counties face a food shortage, the influential clans will work together to cut off his food source, and the four northern counties will be in chaos without a fight.

“It’s just that this is too much, I have to go back and discuss it.” Xie Lan wiped the sweat from his brow, “Your Majesty said that the officials can decide for themselves the grain within one million taels.”

Zhao Xu nodded.

This one million taels of food was the sincerity that the Xie family gave him.

In places like Yanzhou, grain is expensive, and it can be sold for one or two stones.

But in Jiangnan Mijian, one tael of silver can buy more.

This one million taels of silver is equivalent to 1.34 million shi of grain.

Thinking of this, he said: “This king will not make things difficult for you, how about using artillery to pay for the remaining food?”

Xie Lan was relieved when he heard this, and he said: “This time, the Xie family wants to buy three hundred and five from His Highness. Ten cannons.”

The number of cannons purchased by the Han family and the Liang family is no secret.

His Xie family is not as rich as the Liang family, but he can’t lose to the Han family.

So there are fifty more than the Han family.

Zhao Xu laughed lightly, “In that case, when you go back, tell the Empress that 300 cannons will be given in cash, and 50 cannons will be exchanged for grain. Before attacking Xiliang, this king hopes that 3 million shi of grain will arrive in the four northern counties. ”

Xie Lan gasped when he heard this.

Fifty pieces of artillery are only four hundred thousand taels of silver.

In addition to the one million taels of silver promised by Empress Xie, King Yan bought three million shi of grain for 1.4 million taels of silver.

This is basically equivalent to asking Xie’s family to buy food for him at half price.

But he thought in his heart, but dared not say it.

Xie Jiaben was bargaining with King Yan.

This matter is not something he can decide, “I will report this matter to my empress truthfully.”

“Well, well, this king has written a note and prepared a generous gift, and I will send it to the capital immediately. On the day Xie’s family promised, this The gift will be delivered to the Crown Prince’s residence, and this booklet will appear in the court.” Zhao Xu dropped a bargaining chip, and it depends on whether the Xie family accepts it or not.

“I’ll remember it.” Xie Lan got up, saluted Zhao Xu, and turned to leave.

Zhao Xu watched Xie Lan leave, and quietly finished the tea on the table.

Just about to go back to the bedroom, Feng’er came in at this time, complaining as she walked: “Your Highness, it’s time to take care of these profiteers in Yancheng. These briquettes are getting more expensive every day, and they are really stealing money.

” After the duties of the palace were officially handed over to Feng’er.

Naturally, Feng’er is also in charge of the internal affairs of the palace.

Hearing this, he said: “You said the price of briquettes is going up?”

Feng’er nodded, “I ordered my servants to buy some to burn the boiler, but I didn’t expect to give twice as much money as usual.”

Zhao Xu’s face darkened down.

Fortunately, he bought a large amount of coal when he selected the officials of the firm.

These coals are piled up in the warehouse of the Bingzhan Division.

Otherwise, now he has to buy coal at a high price.

This will inevitably increase the cost of various commodities.

But even now there is no problem.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be problems in the next few months.

After all, he made flintlock guns in Daesong.

There are also huge orders for artillery, which require a lot of steel, and steelmaking requires coal.

“My lord knows, you send someone to the trading company, and the trading company officials called the coal merchants in Yancheng.” Zhao Xu said.

After Feng’er, the king of Yan wanted to reprimand the coal merchants, so he went happily.

After half an hour, more than a dozen coal merchants arrived at the palace under the leadership of officials from the commercial firm.

When the coal merchants saw Zhao Xu, they saluted, and before Zhao Xu could speak, they shouted their grievances, “Your Highness, we can’t blame us for the price increase of coal cakes. Jinzhou was captured by Xiliang, and the mine was unexplored, and so are we.” Helpless.”

When they came, they guessed that King Yan was looking for them because of coal.

After all, the palace has always been a big coal buyer.

Zhao Xu raised his hand, signaling the merchants to be quiet.

He didn’t mean to blame the merchants for the coal price hike.

When Jinzhou was captured by Xiliang, he thought of the current scene.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mean to blame you, I just want to ask if there is still coal coming from Jinzhou.” Zhao Xu said.

The merchants breathed a sigh of relief.

A merchant said: “In the beginning, there was some coal, but now it’s gone. There is also expensive coal. After Xiliang occupied Jinzhou, it occupied all the coal mines, and even drove the people to transport the coal to Xiliang.”

Zhao Xu frowned . , the resources on the territory of Xiliang have always been scarce.

As far as he knew, the coal and iron in Xiliang were all smuggled by merchants from Jinzhou.

Now that Jinzhou is occupied, they will naturally steal coal and iron.

“What’s even worse is that after the fall of Jincheng, the four great families in Jinzhou flattered Xiliang, worked for tigers, led the way for Xiliang soldiers, seized the mines of many merchants, and left us with no coal to buy, and then they sold them. Give us high-priced coal, which caused the price of coal to soar.” Another businessman was filled with righteous indignation.

“Four major merchants?” Zhao Xu narrowed his eyes slightly.

In Jinzhou and Yanzhou, because the sky is high and the emperor is far away, the local wealthy families have always been rampant.

There are Zhang family in Yanzhou, and even the Yuan family smuggled to Beidi.

The Jinzhou wealthy family who could not take advantage of this naturally came up with Xiliang’s idea.

It is rumored that in the past hundred years, an unknown amount of coal and iron has been secretly smuggled to Xiliang.

When Zhao Xu was in the capital, these Jinzhou wealthy families once caused a big disturbance.

A son of a rich family in Jinzhou thinks he has a lot of money, spends money like water, and spends huge amounts of money, and he is jealous of the son of the Wang family in the brothel.

As a result, the son of the Wang family was annoyed, and killed the son of the Jinzhou Hao family on the spot.

These four powerful families in Jinzhou are indeed rich and powerful.

Shengsheng used money to open up the Dou family’s door, and forced this son of a powerful family to be sentenced to death.

Although the Wang family was dissatisfied, how could they beat the Dou family in court.

I could only swallow this breath abruptly.

“It’s them. It is said that they said that as long as they go to the four northern counties, the price of coal will be increased by five times, or even ten times.” The merchants said.

When Zhao Xu heard this, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

To put it simply, the matter of this coal is that Xiliang occupied Jinzhou.

As a result, the Jinzhou rich family attached themselves to Xiliang, and took the opportunity to raise the price of coal, trying to get a fortune from him, which really gave Xiliang a sense of superiority.

“Well, this king knows, you go back, this king has his own concerns.” Zhao Xu said.

After hearing this, the merchants bowed and left.

“Jinzhou.” The figures of the merchants disappeared, and Zhao Xu uttered two words lightly.

This battle in Jinju will be fought even for coal.

It is well known that the coal in Shanxi is of the best quality in China in the contemporary era.

Among them, thermal coal, bituminous coal, and anthracite are of superior quality.

Simply put, thermal coal is fuel.

Good-quality steam coal produces a lot of heat and is very suitable for burning boilers. Thermal coal is used in thermal power plants.

Bituminous coal is suitable for refining coke, which is in great demand.

As the name suggests, anthracite burns without smoke, and because of its high carbon content, it is often used in blast furnace blowing.

Although he can’t use it now, he will use it in the future as the technology of the smelting industry improves.

At the same time, anthracite can also be ground into powder to filter water.

In short, such an important coal base is related to the industrial lifeline of the four northern counties.

The resources here must not fall into the hands of Beidi.

(end of this chapter)