My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 172 Three whips will scatter the souls of the unruly people. Shangguan, I am a good citizen.

As soon as the prince's order came out, all the unruly people in the city were suppressed.

Three whips will scatter the souls of the unruly people, and I, your Excellency, am a good citizen.

The people who were in unrest in various neighborhoods were just instigated and gathered together by someone with ulterior motives.

Then they saw a large number of Jinwu Guards coming in line.

The leader wanted to make trouble again, so he was whipped on the body, causing him to grimace in pain.

"Are you guys going to rebel?!"

When the other people heard this, they immediately dispersed.

Rebellion is a serious crime.

Even though it seems like there are a lot of people here now, most of them are just spectators, joining in the fun.

If we were charged with the crime of gathering a crowd to rebel, we would be doomed.

Since ancient times, people have feared power rather than virtue.

The slight ripple caused by the crown prince's order was over before it even began.

The main reason here is that there are no officials involved.

In fact, people who have read books know the dangers of seepage wells.

Chang'an of the Han Dynasty was destroyed just like that.

It is a good thing that the prince ordered the seepage well to be buried.

But most people don’t know history and just follow customs.

Chang'an stinks in spring and summer, with stinking ditches everywhere. Don't the people know this?

They knew it, but they were dissatisfied because they just didn't want to bear more corvee labor.

In the palace of King Wei.

The main hall was a mess.

Li Tai opened champagne to celebrate at halftime. The banquet was not over yet, but he overturned the table again after receiving the news.

Chai Lingwu, Fang Yiai and others are no longer surprised by this.

"How dare the prince, how dare he!"

"Father, don't you care?"

Li Tai didn't expect that the prince would be so tough.

Directly mobilize the army and police to forcibly suppress the people of Chang'an City.

"Maybe it's because I think it's related to corvée."

Chai Lingwu made an analysis.

After all, if this matter is reported to the emperor, His Majesty will think that the people are against corvee labor.

Li Tai was very angry, but there was nothing he could do.

In the East Palace.

After receiving the news, the eunuch Wen Zhong reported it to the crown prince.

"Cui Shengyu sent a message saying that the King of Wei was behind this and had arranged for many people to incite the people."

"Your Highness, we need to investigate. Cui Shengyu may be able to help us find some evidence."

As the prince's undercover agent and a core member of the Prince of Wei's party, Cui Shengyu can say that almost all the things happening on the Prince of Wei's side will be directly transmitted to Li Chengqian.

"No need, Father knows it clearly."

There is not much point in impeaching the King of Wei for such a matter, and Erfeng will not get any results.

Judging from the current situation, Erfeng will definitely protect King Wei.

After all, if the King of Wei was really dead, Erfeng would be the one who would be anxious.

Now, having King Wei as a buffer zone can reduce conflicts between father and son in more aspects.

"How many tens of thousands of pounds of coal have been sent from Jinzhou to Chang'an?"

Li Chengqian asked.

Jinzhou coal has been continuously transported to Chang'an since more than half a month ago.

"It's about two million kilograms." The eunuch Wen Zhong replied.

Hearing this answer, Li Chengqian nodded with satisfaction.

Here, he had to thank Emperor Yang of Sui for digging the Grand Canal.

You have to know that under the current transportation conditions, if it is only transported by land, a two-horse carriage can carry 800 kilograms of coal per day. It is about 600 miles from the Jinzhou mine to Chang'an. Even if it travels at full speed of 60 miles a day, it will take nine days.

Including the round trip, if all the coal was transported by horse-drawn carriages, 7500 carriages would be needed to transport the 30 kilograms of coal produced every day.

7500 carriages means 1.5 horses. Each horse needs to consume about 40 coins of concentrated feed every day, plus the driver's wages of 20 coins, which means 90 coins a day, not counting the cost of depreciation of the carriages.

The mine's daily profit of 130 million yuan was suddenly reduced by 90 yuan, leaving only 40 yuan.

The market price of a good horse is ten thousand coins, and a two-horse carriage is twenty-five thousand coins. The cost of buying a carriage is 1.87 million coins. The cost of returning the carriage alone will take 467 days, which is a year and a half.

Not to mention how difficult it is to buy 1.5 horses.

1.5 horses are enough to form a cavalry team of people.

With tens of thousands of cavalrymen, they can easily destroy the small countries in the Western Regions.

Of course, this is also the reason why Li Shimin vigorously developed the horse breeding industry after he ascended the throne. He set up eight districts and forty-eight prisons in Longyou. There were about 400,000 horses in the whole country of the Tang Dynasty, which can be said to be the peak period of China's horse breeding industry.

Historically, during the 40 years from Zhenguan to Linde, the number of horses reached 760,000. Later, because there were too many horses and the stables were not big enough to feed them, eight of the supervisory pastors were moved to the Hequ area.

In addition to raising horses for the Tang Dynasty, foreign wars were also an important source of military horses.

In the 15th year of Zhenguan, Li Ji won a great victory over the Xueyantuo and captured 15,000 war horses.

In the second year of Emperor Xuanzong's Kaiyuan reign, Xue Rengui's son Xue Na defeated Tubo and captured nearly 80,000 horses, 40,000 cattle and sheep, etc.

In addition, the Tang Dynasty also told its many vassal states that it would not accept any gifts during the festival this year, and the only gifts it would accept would be horses.

Therefore, horses were a common tribute when tribute was paid. In addition to official horse farms, the people of the Tang Dynasty also raised a large number of horses. There were so many horses on the market that the price of horses fell. There was even a situation where one horse could only be exchanged for one piece of plain silk.

In the Tang Dynasty, whether it was the "horse-selecting art" for selecting good horses, the "Stable and Warehouse Law" for managing horses, or the veterinary institutions established by the state, they all reached an unprecedented level of perfection.

According to the "Six Codes of the Tang Dynasty", the horse administration agency Taipusi had 600 veterinarians and one veterinary doctor.

The number of veterinarians in the central government was rare before the Tang Dynasty. Under such comprehensive care, the number of horses in the Tang Dynasty reached the highest peak in the entire dynasty.

Before the Tang army went into battle, the horse farms gave priority to supplying strong war horses.

The second-rate horses will be supplied only after all the strong horses have been drawn.

Therefore, the Tang cavalry always demonstrated amazing impact and mobility in battle, and its material foundation was much better than that of many later dynasties.

Of course, buying 15,000 horses to transport coal is not cost-effective.

At present, the transportation of Jinzhou coal is first carried out by land transportation, that is, the coal is first transported by land to the ferry on the bank of the Yellow River.

Then they loaded the boats and sailed upstream along the Yellow River. After reaching the Wei River, they sailed downstream to Chang'an.

The coal was transported by a Cao ship, which was originally a ship specially used to transport grain. A Cao ship could carry thousands of stones of cargo.

One stone weighs about 120 kilograms, and 30 kilograms of coal can be transported by one canal ship.

It takes about twenty days to reach Chang'an by water.

In other words, only 30 cannon boats, including the round trips, are needed to transport the kilograms of coal produced every day.

The cost of a grain ship was one million coins. The most important thing was that Li Chengqian did not need to spend money to build it. The prince could just issue an order to directly requisition forty grain ships.

The grain transport vessels of the Tang Dynasty mainly came from Emperor Yang of Sui, who built the Grand Canal in order to increase the transport capacity.

Emperor Yang of Sui built hundreds of grain ships.

This is what it means: those who plant trees will enjoy the shade.

It took Emperor Yang of Sui six years to dig the Grand Canal, and millions of civilian workers were conscripted.

This is just like the forced labor in the entire city of Chang'an to build underground canals. Emperor Yang of Sui was naturally scolded by the people at that time.

But the Grand Canal is almost as important to the whole of China as the Great Wall, and its impact on the transportation and economy of the whole of China is unprecedentedly huge.

Just like Li Chengqian now, he has already reaped the benefits.

"Send the order of the Crown Prince to the left and right Jinwu Guards, and inform all blacksmith shops, wine shops, restaurants, etc. in Chang'an City that they are prohibited from using firewood and are only allowed to use coal. Anyone who refuses to change will have their shop closed immediately and prohibited from operating."

Currently, the daily output of the mine is only 300,000 kilograms, which is not enough to supply all the people in Chang'an, but it is roughly enough to supply the needs of shops.

Those who could open a shop in Chang'an were considered wealthy in the Tang Dynasty.

You should know that the housing prices in Chang'an are at their peak now. Even an ordinary house near the city wall starts at a minimum of tens of thousands of coins, and no house is less than thirty thousand coins.

For example, a mansion near the imperial palace would cost millions.

Historically, seven years later, Chu Suiliang was promoted to the third rank of Zhongshu Ling, and bought the house of 67-year-old Zhongshu translator Shi Hedan for an amount significantly lower than the market price.

Shi Hedan was a Sogdian who worked as a translator in the Secretariat. His official rank was the upper sixth grade. As a subordinate of Chu Suiliang, his status was quite different from Chu Suiliang.

His early business ventures made him a lot of money, and then, with his proficiency in various languages, he became a translator in the Tang Dynasty.

His house was exquisite and luxurious, worth three million coins, but Chu Suiliang was only willing to pay three hundred thousand coins.

Shi Hedan reported Chu Suiliang's act of forcibly buying his house, which led to the impeachment of the censor Wei Siqian.

In the end, Chu Suiliang was demoted to the governor of Tongzhou.

Even an important official like Chu Suiliang acted like this, which shows how high the housing prices in Chang'an were.

Therefore, for the people of Chang'an who could buy a house in Chang'an, replacing firewood with coal was not a burden for them.

After all, a pound of coal only costs five cents. Although it is more expensive than ten pounds of firewood at three cents, it can be used longer, so in reality, the difference is not that big.

The prince's edict spread throughout the shops, but did not cause much impact.

When many shop owners heard this, they initially thought that it was a sky-high price for coal and accepted it with gritted teeth.

Then I was surprised to learn that a pound of coal only cost five cents.

You should know that the coal on the market in Chang'an now costs twelve cents per pound. Now the coal produced and processed by the prince only costs five cents per pound, which is much cheaper than the market price.

"Shopkeeper, can I use this coal that costs five cents a pound?"

"His Royal Highness has changed his name. Could it be some inferior goods?"

In a certain tavern, the waiter asked the shopkeeper.

The cook was also worried that cooking would be a problem if the coal was not hot enough.

The shopkeeper gritted his teeth and said, "Who knows? If it doesn't work, we can just buy some coal from the prince and then buy coal from the market."

The prince's reputation is now the strongest in Chang'an, and what happened two days ago is still vivid in people's minds.

How could they, who were small business owners, dare to offend the prince?

There is no need for the prince to take action. Any official can come and close their shops.

Fortunately, the price of coal in Taizi is low, so we can just consider it as paying taxes.

Only small shops were a little worried. For larger restaurants and taverns, this was not a big deal. They just had to pay a few dozen or a few hundred coins to the prince every day, which was not even as much as the kickbacks given to the officials.

The people in the blacksmith shop don't care. Charcoal and coal are mainly used for forging nowadays.

Now that the prince has got some coal, use it if you can.

If you can't use it, just buy some.

This time, the prince's order caused almost no ripples in the shops in Chang'an.

The next day, a large number of horse-drawn carriages carrying coal began to deliver goods to various shops.

Honeycomb briquettes finally appeared in the eyes of the people of Chang'an.

At the same time, each product can also get a stove design drawing.

This is a blueprint of a honeycomb coal stove that Li Chengqian asked the Prince's Household Order Temple to make using woodblocks and then print in large quantities.

There are single-burner and three-burner stoves.

It can be built directly with loess and can effectively adapt to the shape and combustion characteristics of honeycomb coal.

In the shop, the servant and the shopkeeper were marveling at the newly arrived honeycomb briquettes.

They had indeed never seen coal in this shape before.

So I started testing it right away.

"This coal has very little smoke, and the fire is very big."

Honeycomb coal, made through multiple processes of water-washed coal, is better than the coal on the market.

To a large extent, this is the best coal, the kind that sells for fifteen cents a pound on the market, and has always been affordable only by the rich and powerful.

However, it is now sold at five cents per pound and is being sold in large quantities.

"It's really good stuff, really good stuff."

"By the way, here are the drawings that were just delivered."

A large number of shop owners immediately realized the benefits of honeycomb coal, especially for wine shops.

Honeycomb briquettes can provide higher fire power, which allows their dishes to be prepared in a shorter time.

After using it, I found that the fire of honeycomb coal was more stable and there was not much smoke.

When firewood burns, a lot of smoke will appear. The kitchen of the tavern is always surrounded by smoke.

And it is more convenient.

Two pieces of honeycomb coal can burn continuously for more than an hour. There is no need to add fuel frequently like firewood, saving manpower and time.

Firewood takes up a lot of space, and space is extremely scarce in shops. If honeycomb briquettes are used instead, a lot of space can be saved, which is like killing two birds with one stone.

"Clear out the woodshed and buy all the honeycomb coal."

"Find someone, find someone quickly, buy more, this is really good stuff."

When honeycomb briquettes were first being sold to customers, there was no regulation on how much one had to buy. Most shopkeepers just bought ten kilograms with the mentality of giving it a try.

One piece of honeycomb briquettes weighs two kilograms, but there are only five pieces of honeycomb briquettes.

However, after experiencing the benefits of honeycomb coal, I immediately realized its usefulness.

Especially in blacksmith shops, the stability of the honeycomb coal fire and its higher firepower are of great benefit to forging iron tools.

This stable high temperature is critical for forging and can make better iron tools.

As a result, only tens of thousands of kilograms of coal were sold in the morning, but by the afternoon, 800,000 kilograms had been sold.

"Your Highness, this coal is selling too fast. Maybe Jinzhou won't be able to keep up."

The eunuch Wen Zhong was both happy and worried.

The good news is that 800,000 kilograms of honeycomb coal directly earned 4 million yuan, a speed that is beyond imagination.

Once, the prince was impeached by Zhang Xuansu because of 70,000 coins.

But at the same time, they began to worry about insufficient mine output.

"Don't worry, it's selling fast now because they saw the benefits of honeycomb briquettes and stockpiled some in advance."

"You don't need so much for your daily needs."

Li Chengqian said calmly that with more than two million catties in stock, plus 300,000 catties delivered every day, it would definitely be enough for the current needs of the Tang Dynasty shops.

Sure enough, on the second day, the amount of coal sold dropped to 400,000 catties, and on the third day, it was only 200,000 catties.

For the next few days, the output remained basically stable at around 200,000 kilograms.

Just a few days later, the weight suddenly soared to more than 400,000 kilograms.

"What's going on?" Li Chengqian asked with a frown.

The eunuch Wen Zhong said: "Your Highness, it is because a large amount of honeycomb coal was resold."

"The best coal costs 15 cents per pound and is mainly used by wealthy families. Now, honeycomb coal costs 5 cents per pound and is better than the best coal."

"Since honeycomb briquettes are not sold to the public for the time being and are only supplied to shops, many large households pay a premium of two or three wen and buy them from merchants at a price of seven or eight wen, resulting in a shortage of honeycomb briquettes now."

(End of this chapter)