Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 160 0155 [Black Gold]

For several days in a row, Zhu Ming had no contact with the students.Only in the office, familiar with the school rules and regulations, look at the student test papers of the past year.

In a blink of an eye, the holiday is coming.

June [-]th, Tiankuan Festival, has a three-day holiday.

In the morning, the temperature is quite high.Before the sun rose, Zhu Ming rode out early.

All the way to the state bridge, here is the most prosperous area in Tokyo.

Large ships from the south stop here after entering the city, because the state bridge is too short to pass, so they can only be transferred by small boats in the city.

As a result, on both sides of the Zhouqiao, there are many inns and restaurants, which are exclusively for merchants to stay and eat.

By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Bian River on the east side of Zhouzhou Bridge was no longer allowed to dock due to long-term congestion, and at most it could travel to Xiangguosi Bridge.

The river section between Zhouzhou Bridge and Xiangguosi Bridge has become a wharf for loading and unloading goods, which makes it more prosperous and lively.

Early in the morning, there are already hawkers hawking along the street.

Many wealthy businessmen from other places came out of the "Zhangjia Hotel" on the south side of Zhouqiao, and went to the "Li Si Tea Shop" across the street to drink tea and play chess.There is no fried tea here, and wealthy businessmen are not used to drinking loose tea, so they always use tuancha to grind and brew.

Zhu Ming got off his horse and went to the "Zhouqiaotan Zhangjia" next door to the hotel.

This is a century-old shop, the earliest private coal shop in the inner city of Tokyo, and there is "Chejia Charcoal Shop" across the street from it.

"Chejia Charcoal Shop" opened near Zhouqiao, obviously wanting to take advantage of the brand popularity of "Zhouqiao Charcoal Zhangjia".

Similar practices are common in Tokyo.

For example, inside Nanxun Gate, there is the famous "Qingfenglou Hotel".

So next to Taiping Xingguo Temple, someone opened another "Qingfenglou Incomparable Inn".

Ju Ming was wearing a green uniform, a headband, and leather boots.

As soon as he walked to the door of the store, the clerk greeted him: "Tanhua Lang, please come in!"

Zhu Ming smiled and asked, "You recognize me?"

The clerk said: "On the day of Tanhualang's roll call, I rode past here on horseback. I could see clearly from the side of the road. Does Tanhualang want to buy charcoal? Just give me an order, and I will have someone deliver it to my house."

"Tie the horse for me and call your store." Zhu Ming said.

The man quickly took the reins and shouted inside: "Uncle, Tanhualang is here."

Boss Zhang of the charcoal shop came out quickly, about 50 to [-] years old, bowed and said, "Tan Hua Lang, please come in." Then he shouted to another clerk, "Hurry up and serve tea!"

Zhu Ming said: "There is no need for tea, I will leave after asking a few words."

Boss Zhang asked Zhu Ming to sit down: "Tanhua Lang has something to ask, just say it."

Zhu Ming asked: "Why does the charcoal in Tokyo become more and more expensive? The imperial court set a price of 4 Wen per catty, so why are they selling at 10 Wen per catty?"

Boss Zhang thinks this question is funny: "4 Wen per catty of charcoal is the official price set by the imperial court when my great-grandfather was still alive. It's been decades, how can there be no reason not to raise the price? It's still summer , the price of charcoal is not expensive. In winter, it can be sold for twenty or thirty yuan per catty."

"Twenty or thirty wen per catty, how can common people afford it?" Zhu Ming asked doubtfully.

Boss Zhang said: "If you can't use it, you will be frozen, and you will be fine until the beginning of spring. If you freeze to death, you can only consider yourself unlucky. The price of collecting charcoal is too high, and I have no choice. I can't do business at a discount."

The days of coal tax exemption are long gone.

Four tax charcoal yards were set up inside and outside Tokyo to collect taxes on coal transported to the capital.

Zhu Ming asked again: "No matter how high the charcoal tax is, it won't be so expensive, right?"

Boss Zhang hesitated to speak, as if some words were inconvenient to say.

Ju Ming said in a low voice: "If someone collects taxes indiscriminately, I will report to the Ming court. It concerns hundreds of thousands of people in Tokyo. Even the officials' homes have to burn charcoal. The officials will definitely not sit idly by."

Boss Zhang belongs to small and medium-sized merchants, and is the main type of merchants in Tokyo.This type of businessman has the largest number and has some official background, but they are completely powerless to fight against the government, at most they are surrounded by a few subordinates.

He probably heard the story of Zhu Ming and knew that Tanhualang had offended Cai Jing. Boss Zhang said in a low voice, “In the past ten years, there have been more than [-] government-run charcoal farms. Ships, forcing merchants to sell coal to the official market. Only when the coal in the official market is full, can it be sold to the private market. Many private charcoal farms have been forced to go bankrupt by the government. I often can’t buy coal from this coal shop. If you want to buy goods, you can only go to the government office to get the goods at a high price."

The imperial court's arrangement for the Tokyo coal market is to allow government-run and private companies to compete with each other.

Moreover, the taxed charcoal field also needs to store goods. Once the private charcoal field raises the price indiscriminately, the government can quickly adjust the price to match the price.

The tax carbon farms and government-run farms that were originally used to balance the market are now taking the lead in creating semi-monopoly.

This situation arose during Zhezong's reign, and it intensified during Huizong's reign.In just ten years, the imperial court added more than 20 government-run factories, blocked supply channels, forced private enterprises to go bankrupt, and then manipulated the retail price of coal.

Cai Jing cannot escape the blame!

Zhu Ming wants to manufacture and sell briquettes, so he can't always pick up coal ash as raw materials for nothing.In the future, he will definitely buy coal, but the officials are so messed up that he can't even get in the normal purchase.

After chatting for a few more words, Zhu Ming got up to say goodbye.

Boss Zhang sent him to the door of the shop, and said in a low voice: "If Tan Hualang can get along with the officials and punish the officials of the Charcoal Office, not only will I benefit, but hundreds of thousands of people in Tokyo will also save themselves from freezing to death." A few. It’s just that I can’t write my name on the memorial. I’m a small business, and I can’t afford to offend officials.”

"Don't worry, I won't mention you." Zhu Ming comforted.

After leaving the coal shop, Zhu Ming continued to lead the horse south.After passing the Zhangjia Hotel, there is the "Yuwanglou Cave Plum Blossom Buns" shop.

The name of the store is quite unique. Zhu Ming tied his horse under the eaves and planned to buy some steamed buns.

"Tanhualang is here!"

As soon as he entered the store, the clerk shouted.

On the day of the roll call, Ju Ming happened to pass by this street, riding a tall horse to attract the attention of everyone, and the shop assistants on both sides of the street were very impressed with him.

There is also the story of No. [-] and Tanhua refusing Cai Jing to recruit a son-in-law, which is also spreading rapidly in Tokyo, and the common people have an excellent impression of Ju Ming.

Ju Ming was sitting in the shop eating steamed buns, and diners peeked at him from time to time.

When it was time to check out, the shop clerk said, "Tan Hua Lang, the guest officer at that table has already paid for it."

Zhu Ming turned his head and saw a man smiling at him.

"Thank you for the hospitality!" Ju Ming bowed his hands in return.

Immediately, more than a dozen copper coins were thrown out, and strangers were not accepted as treats.

Such behavior makes people feel better.

When Zhu Ming left the steamed stuffed bun shop, the diners talked a lot, saying that Tan Hua Lang was an upright person, he didn't even want a few steamed stuffed buns for nothing, and he would definitely be clean when he became a high-ranking official in the future.

Zhu Ming rode out of the northwest water gate, where the largest tax charcoal field in Tokyo was located.

The coal in Tokyo City originally came from Huaizhou (Qinyang, Jiaozuo), and now it has formed gangs in all directions.For example, Yangdi (Yu County) in the south and Xiangzhou (Hebi) in the north.

In particular, the Xiangzhou coal mine was discovered hundreds of years later.

The mine is 46 meters deep, has 10 mining working faces, and has a complete tunnel and drainage system underground. It is the earliest large-scale coal mine site in human history.

Zhu Ming got off his horse and stood outside the charcoal tax yard, waiting until mid-afternoon. After waiting for more than five hours, he finally found a charcoal boat passing by to pay the tax.

There are a total of twelve ships, and the tax amount is assessed according to the size of the ship, and the tax can be directly offset by coal in kind.

These taxes in kind are used to stabilize coal prices at critical times.

But there was no unloading here at all, and the tax collector boarded the collier and continued to drive to Tokyo.

Zhu Ming followed along the river on horseback and stopped at Baihu Bridge, because the bridge hole was too short for the boat to pass.

I saw many small boats in the city starting to transfer the coal, and there were official messengers watching over the cargo, obviously wanting to transport all of them to the official charcoal field.

Not all of them, there is one left.

The coal could not be transported in a while, so the businessman left the rest of the work to his assistant, and went to the restaurant to eat with a sad face.

Zhu Ming led his horse to follow, and sat at the same table with the merchant.

The merchant saw that he was wearing a green uniform, obviously an official, so he quickly stood up and bowed: "Xiaomin has seen officials!"

"Please sit down," Zhu Ming reported his background, "My surname is Zhu, and I am the third Jinshi in the current discipline. I have already offended Cai Jing and Wang Fu, but the officials valued me a lot, so I was made to be an imperial scholar."

When the merchant heard this, he was immediately stunned.

How can there be such a self-introduction?
Zhu Ming added: "Tokyo's coal price is soaring, and the government sent me to investigate secretly. Don't worry, I won't leak your information, and I won't even ask your name. You just made a deal, why are you so worried?"

The merchant looked at Zhu Ming repeatedly, and since he didn’t need to know his name, he tried to complain: “I’ve shipped twelve ships of charcoal this trip, not to mention paying a lot of taxes, and eleven of them have to be sold to officials at a low price. It all depends on the remaining boat and sells it at a high price to a private charcoal farm, which can make some profits. But the price of the official charcoal farm is getting more and more ruthless, and if this continues, it may be difficult to maintain capital."

"It's always been like this?" Zhu Ming asked.

The merchant said: "It started during the reign of Chongning, and it has been [-] or [-] years. It was good at the beginning, but now it's getting greedier and greedier. The profits of our charcoal merchants have dropped again and again. But if we don't do it, we won't be able to pay the tax. field, we can only let the officials decide."

Zhu Ming asked again: "Who is the director of the Charcoal Office?"

The merchant looked around and said in a low voice: "Cai Xianggong's people. The reason why they exploited more ruthlessly this year is that Wang Xianggong became the Minister of the Household Department and also put people in the Carbon Coal Division. We mere merchants have to deal with two ministers at the same time. , where can it withstand such means?"

Cai Jing and Wang Fu are really good at making money.

After chatting for a while, Zhu Ming paid for the meal and left, and the merchant quickly disappeared without a trace.

Zhu Ming planned to go home and write a memorial, not to impeach Cai Jing and Wang Fu directly, but to impeach the officials of the Carbon Charcoal Office.If Song Huizong can't see it, then write another secret letter and ask Xue Daoguang to help pass it on.

The completion of this matter will not only reduce coal prices, benefit the people of Tokyo, but also pave the way for their own business.

In fact, if Zhu Ming doesn’t make a move, someone will do it next year—Dali Siqing Wang Ge, who was transferred to Kaifeng Governor, and the first thing he did when he took office was to impeach the Carboniferous Secretary.

The impact of this matter is too bad. After all, hundreds of officials also want to burn coal, and a large number of officials will be impeached immediately.

Song Huizong was also afraid of an accident in Tokyo, so he issued an order to correct it.

The rectification has some effect, but that's all. It only lowered the price of coal by a penny or two, and corrupt officials are still lying on the coal pile to make money.

Back home, give the horse to Bai Sheng.

Bai Chongyan walked over with a smile: "There is good news, Wang Fu's father died, and he has to be filial to Ding You."

Zhu Ming shook his head: "This is not good news. Without Wang Fu's restraint, Cai Jing's power is even greater."

At this moment, Cai Jing and his son are already playing the crown to celebrate.

They planned to impeach Wang Fu after the defeat at the front line and take back the financial power of the household department. They didn't expect Wang Fu to die suddenly.

Ju Ming couldn't get involved in this kind of high-level struggle, so he went to his study to write impeachment memorials.

As long as the Carboniferous Division is successfully overthrown, Ju Ming will surely become famous, because tens of thousands of people in Tokyo, including officials, will benefit.

Tomorrow, the development of briquettes will begin.

(End of this chapter)