Zhu Hao is not afraid of not finding the mineral vein.
Xishan became the main coal-producing area around the capital in the middle and early Qing Dynasty. In later generations, mining sites can be found in many places. It only took a few hundred years from the Ming Dynasty to modern times. Even if the vegetation and other changes have changed greatly, the geological structure is basically the same.
Zhu Hao followed the coal mine sites left in history, especially those large coal mine pits...
Just do it and it’s done!
It's just that the recruitment of coal miners is not necessarily smooth... We are not yet in the troubled times of the late Ming Dynasty, and there are not many refugees. It will require extra expenses for farmers to leave the land and become specialized miners.
Zhu Hao's plan was to mine coal in Xishan, use coal as the raw material for smelting, use Qian'an's rich iron ore resources for smelting in Yongping Prefecture, which is also the Tangshan area in later generations, and then find a port on the Bohai Sea coast to build ships once the steel is available...
...to form a one-stop industry.
This is only a preliminary plan, using only the resources in the suburbs of the capital.
A slightly longer-term plan is to open the coal mines to Shanxi and the iron ore mines to other places, develop the Anshan iron ore in advance, and in the later stage make full use of the iron mines in Ma'anshan, South Zhili, Huguang Smelting, Qiongzhou Shilu and other places.
Mineral resources, striving to build advanced furnaces throughout China, showing determination to smelt steel on a large scale, and rapidly advancing the modernization process of the Ming Dynasty by piling up steel production.
"Dongzhu Su, I will draw some maps for you. During this period of time before this year, you will take some people with rich mining experience and follow me to the Xishan Mountains to explore the topography and landforms. After this year, ask them to follow the instructions I specified.
If the local mine is opened, I believe it won’t be long before coal is produced!”
Zhu Hao means to do it personally.
Tang Yin frowned: "You go there in person? What should I do if something happens in the capital?"
Didn't he say in front of Su Xigui that you were not going to take care of the whole thing of helping the emperor review memorials?
"Even without me, there won't be any trouble in the capital in just a few days... If Mr. Tang is willing, you can come with me." Zhu Hao smiled and extended the invitation.
Tang Yin will not go.
As an old scholar, he was already beyond his ability to manage mining affairs. If he continued to explore the terrain and search for mineral veins himself, he was worried that his body would collapse first.
Su Xigui asked hesitantly: "Can we find the mine just in the past few days?"
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "Don't worry, let me complete the search for rich mineral veins. Your task, Mr. Su, is to raise funds. It's still the same old rule. After the coal is put into production, you will definitely have a share in the proportion of shares...
...I will split it up with you after the official production. The preliminary financing... 20,000 taels of silver is enough."
"Twenty thousand taels of silver is no problem."
Su Xigui originally thought how much Zhu Hao would cost, but he was confused when he heard that it was only 20,000 taels... The price was very reasonable.
Tang Yin felt very unhappy after hearing this.
Sure enough, I am still too short-sighted. I listened to two "elders" chatting and didn't take 20,000 taels of silver seriously. Is it because I have too little knowledge?
Or are you saying that my pattern is not good?
"Okay, let's divide the work and cooperate!"
…
…
Zhu Hao is going to Xishan to explore coal mines.
When prospecting for minerals for the first time, it was not enough to just follow the map. He needed to walk around in person and draw the map according to the actual topography. At the same time, he had to check which places had been mined and which places were still virgin land... and then he had to be realistic.
Based on the situation, we can determine which places are most suitable for coal mines.
The Xishan coal mines discovered in the Ming Dynasty were probably less than one percent, let alone one tenth. Many large mines are currently deep in the mountains and old forests that no one has ever entered.
In the middle of winter, the mountains and forests are probably covered with snow. If you walk through it, you may not be able to get out if you fall into a pit. You must be fully prepared.
Zhu Hao wanted to draw the map as quickly as possible, start construction as soon as the location was determined, build the coal mine as soon as the coal was produced, expand production immediately after the output caught up, and then open a new coal mine.
Zhu Si left the palace that day.
Zhu Hao explained the matter to him.
Zhu Si frowned and asked: "Who will review the memorial that year ago?"
Sure enough, Zhu Si's structure is similar to that of Tang Yin. I feel that Zhu Hao's personal visit to the mine is a bit "overqualified". Obviously your most important value is to help me handle official business. Why do you even have to complete the exploration work before starting the mine?
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguo to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. www. Android and Apple are available.]
Zhu Hao consoled him: "It's already the end of the New Year, and the Chinese New Year is in three days. I'll try to get back as soon as possible after the New Year. If I don't go now, and after the New Year, my colleagues will think of asking me to do something, I'm afraid I won't be able to get out again."
Make time... If Your Majesty has something difficult to decide, you can wait until I come back to help you with the details."
Seeing Zhu Hao's resolute attitude, Zhu Si sighed helplessly: "Then you go early and come back early. You are not in the capital, and I don't even have a helper."
"Your Majesty, you can't say that. In fact, there are many buttocks around your Majesty."
Zhu Hao thought to himself, why don't you care at all what Zhang Zuo and others think? You value me very much, but you must also take care of their feelings!
Zhu Si nodded: "I heard from my uncle. He said that you are good at reading Feng Shui and can explore rich mineral veins... If the official coal mines can produce more coal in the future, we will not be short of money.
"
"Um."
Zhu Hao said, "What we are currently doing is to hand over all the proceeds from mining to our own people to manage, and use money to make money. The first step is to strengthen the management of coastal defense and northwest military supplies. No one can ask for it. Just like Huangzhuang Guantian,
You must be in your own hands to not be controlled by others!"
"good!"
Zhu Si felt refreshed after hearing this.
…
…
On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Hao led people on the road to the Western Mountains.
Before leaving, he asked for leave from Yang Shen, saying that he wanted to visit the border areas, imitate the sages of the Ming Dynasty, inspect border affairs and write some military strategies.
It was the Chinese New Year time, so Yang Shen naturally would not have thought that Zhu Hao was going to explore for mineral deposits on the spot. Even if the new emperor insisted now, who would have thought that he would find a new top scholar to explore for mine sites? Besides, no matter how powerful you are as a new top scholar, you are better than
Is it comparable to those experienced craftsmen?
Yang Shen just left the instruction "Go early and come back early" before sending Zhu Hao on his way to the west.
As for home.
Zhu Hao also said hello to Zhu Niang, on the pretext that he wanted to visit the border and other places.
Although the three sides are currently being harassed by Tatars, fortunately, there are no warnings from Xuanfu, Datong and Piantouguan. This means that the surrounding areas of the capital are relatively safe now, and Zhu Hao has no announced destination.
Beyond the scope of Juyongguan, Zhu Niang let her son go after a long time.
As soon as Zhu Hao left.
As expected, the people around Zhu Si couldn't support him.
First of all, in terms of reviewing the memorials, even if Zhang Zuo had the help of several eunuchs, the Supervisor of Ceremonies, it was difficult for him to do it. He went out of the palace to seek help from Tang Yin, but Tang Yin could not do anything except distinguishing which matters were more important.
The result is……
These days, most memorials are based on cabinet votes.
Fortunately, before Zhu Hao left, he also took some remedial measures, that is, to judge in advance what ministers might report, especially the reports that might have been deliberately backlogged by the cabinet before, involving personnel appointments and removals, and financial and food allocation.
Approval will be done in a tone of voice, and if it matches, it will be adopted. If it doesn't work, it will be shelved. It doesn't reveal too many flaws.
It was the end of the New Year, and all the things that needed to be done were basically completed before the end of the twelfth lunar month. Zhang Zuo and Tang Yin tried their best to cover up, and everything was calm.
…
…
The first year of Jiajing.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, all the ministers entered the palace to congratulate the new emperor on the new year.
Because there was an accident in which ministers were stampeded when leaving the palace on the first day of the Lunar New Year in the Zhengde Dynasty, resulting in many deaths and injuries, Yang Tinghe specially asked the ministers to enter the palace in batches to celebrate the New Year this time.
And Zhu Si was not as foolhardy as Zhu Houzhao. He was waiting in the palace early in the morning for ministers to come to pay New Year's greetings.
Zhu Si said in advance that the ministers did not need to give any New Year gifts. Instead, the emperor would prepare a red envelope, which was a letter of silver, for the ministers who paid New Year greetings.
The second-grade ministers are worth ten liang, and the remaining ministers are reduced by two liang in turn, and are divided into four levels: ten liang, eight liang, six liang, and two liang.
Those who can sneak into the palace to celebrate the New Year must at least be a minister or the head of the Sixth Ministry. In addition, some people from the Hanlin Academy will also go. Even officials whose rank is lower than the fifth rank will get a minimum of 20 taels.
silver.
For this red envelope sending event, the inner government prepared five thousand taels of silver. At the end of the morning, the nobles got the most, while the civil servants received much less.
Although most people don't care about these few taels of silver, for those officials from the middle and lower classes who came from poor government offices, it can be regarded as a great gift, allowing them to live a good year.
As a member of the Hanlin Academy and a new Jinshi, Zhu Hao was supposed to visit the palace to pay New Year greetings, but he did not show up because he was out of Beijing to explore coal mines.
The emperor didn't bother to ask. After all, there were many people coming to the Hanlin Academy at one time, and no one really cared whether someone was fishing in troubled waters or someone was absent.
This New Year greeting came to an end after noon.
The emperor did not give a banquet.
However, all the ministers came out of the palace in high spirits, each laughing and talking about how much money they had received.
Tang Yin, as a fifth-grade minister of the Ministry of Industry, entered the palace with the people from the Ministry of Industry, but was left behind by the emperor after celebrating the New Year.
Everyone else knew that Tang Yin was a minister of Prince Xing's palace, so even if they felt it was inappropriate, they didn't complain.
"Sir, is there any news about Zhu Hao? He has been gone for several days, but he has not sent anyone back to deliver a message?"
Zhu Si was very anxious.
After not seeing Zhu Hao for a few days, Zhu Si felt that it was really difficult for him to support himself. It seemed that only with Zhu Hao in charge in the court could he feel at ease.
Tang Yin said: "I have not heard any news about him, but as long as there is no news, it is good news and there will be no danger."
"It's so cold..."
Zhu Si suddenly thought of something and asked, "Did Lu Qianhu go with him?"
"yes."
Tang Yin replied.
Although this time he was just going to explore the coal mine and do the site selection, he still wanted to protect Zhu Hao's safety. Lu Song brought a dozen Jinyi guards with him to meet Zhu Hao after leaving the city. These Jinyi guards were all in casual clothes, and they were all wearing swords.
Hide.
Including the manpower brought by Zhu Hao, there were more than thirty people in the group.
But not everyone followed Zhu Hao up the mountain to explore.
At the end of each day's exploration, they would go down the mountain to rest, and Zhu Hao's reward for these people... was a down vest for each person.
In fact, Jin Yiwei's treatment is very good, especially Lu Song, who was given a mink coat early. In these winters, rich people mostly wear fur clothes, which are relatively bulky and cause some inconvenience in movement. Zhu Hao's down vest
It just makes up for the shortcomings.
Zhu Sidao: "The same goes for Lu Qianhu. If he didn't send the message back earlier... Oh, by the way, who else went with him?"
Tang Yin said bluntly: "There are also two disciples of Zhu Hao, Jiang Rong and Guan Jing. Apart from these, they are the people sent by Su Xigui."
"Oh, there are quite a lot of manpower, but I'm afraid of encountering bandits or something, so why not let Commander Zhu send some more guards in royal robes, in the name of supervising the imperial mausoleum, but actually...to perform the duty of protection?