Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 87 Repeatedly Defeating Enemies and Advancing Ranks (Part 1)

In the Central Plains, heroes rose up everywhere, and the entire Henan province was a scene of chaos and unrest, with rebels running rampant.

At this time, the capital was peaceful and tranquil, as if it were in a prosperous and peaceful era.

This peaceful and prosperous era will not come so easily.

The reason why the capital city appeared peaceful and tranquil was mainly because it was too cold, so ordinary people wouldn't spend too much time wandering around outside.

Moreover, the main expenses for this expansion of the new city in the east of the capital fell on the common people. Leaving aside the cost of land acquisition, the wages alone amounted to several million taels of silver in the imperial treasury. Although the wages distributed to each household were not much, they were enough to celebrate the New Year.

Therefore, most ordinary people in the capital had extra money, just like in prosperous times, and their lives became a little better.

As for the wealthy, they can live even better lives as long as they are willing to spend money.

This was all because Wei Zhongxian's shop had a lot of good things, including food, household items, and even heating systems that could keep the house warm and cozy.

If we install this heating system and seal the windows with glass, winter will be no different from spring. You won't feel the cold outside at all inside the house, and you won't even need to wear heavy cotton clothes.

As for the price, there are countless high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital. Three thousand taels is an amount that ordinary people may not be able to earn in their entire lives, but it is just a small amount of money for high-ranking officials and nobles.

Therefore, the heating business is exceptionally good; the colder the weather, the more people place orders, and the boiler factory seems to be overwhelmed with work.

Around 9 a.m. that day, Zhu Jue made a special trip to the boiler factory to take a look.

The boiler factory was a hive of activity, with rows of furnaces spewing flames and the dense sand dunes radiating heat. Teams of craftsmen were pouring molten iron into large crucibles, making the entire factory feel like the height of summer, with everyone sweating profusely. Many craftsmen who didn't handle the molten iron were working shirtless.

Looking at the craftsmen working shirtless, Song Yingsheng said awkwardly, "Your Majesty, there's nothing we can do. It's too hot in here, and many of them are used to working shirtless."

What is this.

Zhu Jue carefully surveyed the enormous factory building, then asked, "How many sets of boilers and heating pipes can you manufacture per day now?"

Song Yingsheng explained in detail: "Now, the sand field in this factory can be filled with enough sand to cast ten sets at the same time. The casting, cooling, sand cleaning and inspection take about half a day. That is to say, a factory can produce about twenty sets a day."

However, sand casting cannot guarantee that every piece will be flawless; about 10-20% will always have problems and need to be recast. As a result, a factory can only produce about seventeen or eighteen finished sets per day.
Furthermore, Chang Geng's side still needs steam boilers, and Meng Hou's side still needs to cast musket parts. I must reserve a factory specifically for them to use.

So, based on that calculation, we can only produce about 150 to 160 heating units a day, and we also need some for ourselves, so we can only sell about 150 units a day.

There are only about 150 sets!

These heating boilers cost three thousand taels a set. Even after deducting the costs of labor, steel ingots, copper sheets, coal, etc., you can still make at least two thousand taels a profit per set.

In other words, one could earn 300,000 taels of silver in a single day?

Are there really that many wealthy people in the capital?

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "You've been making these for over twenty days now, haven't you sold them all?"

How do you say this?

Song Yingsheng explained in detail: "Your Majesty, we didn't produce this many every day at the beginning, and at that time, we used almost all of what we made ourselves."

Later, when demand exceeded supply, I hurriedly added manpower and molds, working around the clock to eventually produce 150 sets a day, which is only a matter of a few days.

In terms of the total number sold, it is roughly around a thousand sets, and nowadays there is no shortage of supply. Those in the capital who have the money to install them have mostly done so.

"Your Majesty, I am still considering whether we should appropriately reduce production, since this boiler consumes too many steel ingots and copper sheets." "This is a valuable resource; it's not just for selling for money, I also intend to provide it for the soldiers in Liaodong."

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Are the reserves of steel ingots and copper sheets insufficient?"

Not really.

Song Yingsheng explained in detail: "Your Majesty, we still have enough steel ingots. This is because we already had more than a million catties stored up, and we can still produce more than 100,000 catties every day. The boilers and heating pipes together actually require less than a thousand catties of steel ingots. Even if we keep making them until the New Year, we will still have enough steel ingots to use."

The key is this copper sheet. We need a large ring for the seams of our boilers, and a smaller ring for each heating pipe connection. Copper is also very heavy. A single heating boiler requires 50 to 60 kilograms of copper, and a thousand boilers would require 50 to 60,000 kilograms.

If we continue building like this, we'll need nearly 300,000 jin of copper a month, and by the time we reach the New Year, we'll be using over 400,000 jin. Chang Geng is heartbroken; he needs so much copper. If we keep building boilers for heating at this rate, even this 1 million jin of copper won't be enough.

Copper sheets can actually be replaced with rubber. Last time, he sent Zheng Hongkui to inquire whether the colonial bandits had large quantities of copper and rubber for sale. He wondered how the inquiry went.

As Zhu Jue was pondering this, Fang Zhenghua suddenly strode in, carrying a memorial, and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, the Governor-General of Zhejiang and Fujian, Xiong Wencan, has sent an urgent report from eight hundred li away."

It can't be such a coincidence!

Have you bought the copper and rubber yet?

Zhu Jue took the memorial, opened it, and couldn't help but show a hint of surprise.

The Governor-General of Zhejiang and Fujian, Xiong Wencan, reported that Zheng Zhilong had already assembled a large army to begin the crackdown on pirates. The pirate Li Kuiqi's gang had been wiped out, and he was still pursuing several other pirate groups.

It seems that Zheng Zhilong is going to do everything in his power to wipe out the pirates.

In fact, Zheng Zhilong did not do his best to eliminate pirates in history. At least, the elimination was not so fast. It seems that it took him five or six years to wipe out the pirates along the southeast coast.

As for the reason, it is probably due to a lack of motivation.

Emperor Chongzhen in history was not as generous as he was. Zheng Zhilong had wiped out several pirate groups, but he was only given the title of Five Tiger General. Although the name sounded impressive, he was just a guerrilla general without any official rank!
As for Zheng Zhilong's title, it was not bestowed upon him by Emperor Chongzhen. It was during the Hongguang reign of the Southern Ming Dynasty that Zheng Zhilong was granted the title of Earl of Nan'an, and it was during the Longwu reign of the Southern Ming Dynasty that he was granted the title of Marquis of Nan'an.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty was practically extinct. Emperor Hongguang and Emperor Longwu both wanted Zheng Zhilong to resist the Qing army, and they didn't grant him titles and honors for suppressing pirates at all.

What's the point of bestowing titles and ranks when the Ming Dynasty has already fallen?
It's understandable that Zheng Zhilong lacked motivation at that time.

This time it was different; he offered Zheng Zhilong the condition of being granted a title and a noble rank, just like he was paid by the piece.

Zheng Zhilong was after this prestige. The Ming Dynasty showed no signs of falling, and he could be ennobled if he wiped out all the pirates. Naturally, he was full of energy and just wanted to wipe out all the pirates as soon as possible.

well.

You want to be granted a noble title as soon as possible, right?

I also want to lure you to the capital as soon as possible!
Upon realizing this, Zhu Jue decisively said, "If I am foolish, I will draft an imperial edict to promote Zheng Zhilong to the position of General of Fujian and to the position of Right Vice-General of the Five Military Commissions."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ruoyu immediately ordered someone to bring over the drafting materials for the imperial edict, and then sat cross-legged on the ground and began to write rapidly.

After seeing that he had finished writing, Zhu Jue continued, "Draft another decree to promote Xiong Wencan to Governor-General of Zhejiang, Zhili and Fujian."

This was in preparation for luring Zheng Zhilong to Nanjing to be granted the title of Earl. Xiong Wencan had no control over Southern Zhili, so it would be difficult to trick Zheng Zhilong into going there to be granted the title of Earl. Therefore, Southern Zhili also needed to be controlled by its Governor-General.

(End of this chapter)