Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Seeing Zhu Ming using coal dust and mud, everyone in his family came to watch.

Ju Ming mixed three piles, using different proportions for each pile, and carefully weighed and recorded each proportion.

The cook's name is Pan Qiaoniang, a widow in her thirties. Bought it from Lu Zai, with six and a half years of contract left, and only spent thirty guan.

When she saw Ju Ming pressing wood molds to make briquettes, she couldn't help but ask: "Why are there holes in the charcoal briquettes made by my husband?"

Ju Ming was stunned: "Are there already charcoal pellets on the market?"

Pan Qiaoniang said: "Yes, there are not only charcoal balls, but also charcoal cakes, made of charcoal chips and mud."

"Well……"

Zhu Ming was stunned on the spot, his heart was greatly shocked, and he asked again: "Why don't we use charcoal pellets and charcoal cakes at home?"

Pan Qiaoniang said: "Charcoal pellets and charcoal cakes are made very large, so they can be fired easily in the large stoves of restaurants and blacksmith shops. They are also used in brick kilns and lime kilns outside the city."

Ju Ming understood that there was only so much coal dust. After being made into coal cakes and briquettes, they were mainly sold to craftsmen and smelting sites.

As for lumps of coal, it is naturally impossible to smash them into briquettes.

Breaking coal requires labor, and making balls also requires labor. It is better to just sell coal blocks.

Ju Ming turned to Bai Sheng and asked, "Did you pay for the charcoal ash you moved back that day?"

Bai Sheng said: "I gave you the money."

"Why didn't you say it?" Ju Ming scolded.

Bai Sheng explained: "My husband said that the thing was useless and could be picked up for free. I asked the store to give it to me for free, but he refused. I thought that the thing was not expensive, so I bought some with my own money."

Ju Ming: "..."

Forget it, there’s nothing to say.

Ju Ming ordered: "Go and buy two charcoal cakes and two charcoal balls and come back immediately! Go on horseback!"

The cornucopia has long been unable to resist Bai Sheng, because Bai Sheng is mainly feeding it the night grass at night.

After a quick horse ride back and forth, Bai Sheng bought the things.

This thing is indeed quite big, with a diameter of nearly 20 centimeters. It is suitable for smelting furnaces and restaurant stoves.

Moreover, they are all pressed by molds, not rubbed by hand.

"Alas!" Zhu Ming sighed secretly.

In the early days, it was impossible to just pick up charcoal scraps as raw materials, and once the briquettes became popular, competitors could follow suit in minutes.

The business strategy must be changed!

First, to build a brand and establish a reputation, you can use the "Tanhua Coal" sign. (In the Song Dynasty, the word "coal" did not specifically refer to coal; charcoal could also be called coal.)

Second, it is also engaged in the coal stove business, and "Tanhua stove" is matched with "Tanhua coal".

Third, explore and improve the ratio of raw materials to make our own "Tanhua coal" burn longer than other companies' products.

Fourth, find a long-term coal supplier as soon as possible. The current coal market in Tokyo is in short supply. If there is no stable supplier of raw materials, you can only go to government-run stores to get goods at high prices.

In the remaining two days of the holiday, Ju Ming was doing comparative experiments. If he ran out of raw materials for coal scraps, he would buy them.

Three days of vacation flew by in a flash.

Ju Ming rode to work again and handed over the impeachment memorial.

In the Song Dynasty, there were Jinzouyuan, Yintaisi, Dengwenguyuan and Dengwenjianyuan.

Memorials and official documents from various places must first be sent to Jinzouyuan, which then forwards them to the Bank of China. Officials in Beijing can hand it over directly to the Bank of China.

If the application is rejected by the Jinzouyuan and Yintai Department, it can be submitted to Dengwen Guyuan. If the Dengwen Drum Institute also refuses to accept it, it can be submitted to the Dengwen Inspection Institute. If the prosecutor refuses to accept the vehicle, the officials and citizens have the right to "invite the driver", that is, to stop the vehicle on the street and complain. (The operations in this paragraph also apply to ordinary people.)

Ju Ming rode to the Yintai Department and was only allowed to submit in the outer hall. No officials were allowed in.

"Tan Hua Lang?"

The person in charge of receiving the memorial was a civil servant, who reminded: "If it is not a matter for the Imperial Academy, any random memorial will cost eighty sticks."

Ju Ming said: "Please pray for the people, I wish the staff would be eighty."

It is okay to forcibly remove matters that are not within the scope of one's authority, but according to the law, eighty-nine measures must be taken.

This kind of ban was generally not implemented in the Song Dynasty, but was replaced by demotion and dismissal.

Therefore, historically, when Wang Ge was the Minister of Dali Temple, he did not impeach the Carboniferous Department, which was not within his jurisdiction. After he was transferred to Kaifeng Prefecture, he immediately went to Shu. Because the price increase of coal was related to the people's livelihood in Tokyo, Kaifeng Prefecture had the right to take action.

The day after Ju Ming submitted the memorial, Wu Shi saw it.

Wu Shi immediately took it and handed it to Zhai Ruwen: "Gong Xun, that half of your disciples has just been studying for a few days and has already passed the exam."

Zhai Ruwen was the deputy examiner of the provincial examination. He admired Zhu Ming's strategies for the provincial examination and tried to ensure that Zhu Ming's paper did not fail. After reading Ju Ming's memorial, he nodded and smiled: "He is indeed a member of my generation. He is dedicated to serving the people and is not afraid of treachery!"

Wu Shi said: "He is an imperial scholar and is upright, but he impeaches the Carboniferous Department and goes beyond his duties. I am afraid he will be demoted and sent away."

Wu Shi was also not afraid of trouble. When he was the magistrate of Zheng County, he dared to offend the transfer envoy and resolutely refused to give the 30,000 dendrobium grains collected in violation of regulations.

He also served as the envoy of Yongxing Army Road School. The headmaster of the road school reported that local scholars criticized the emperor, and the ministers could not bear to listen. Wu Shi directly burned the report letter and said back, "I am a minister and I can't bear to listen to it. How can I let my father listen to it?"

Later, Cai You and Wang Fu proposed to conquer the Liao Dynasty, but Wu Shi firmly opposed it and was thrown into managing the Taoist temple.

This person was a member of Zhang Shangying's party. He was implicated in the incident of dismissal of prime minister, and was demoted first to magistrate and then to tongpian. Wu Shi was old and didn't want to die from exhaustion on the road, so he simply stayed in the capital.

When Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty learned of the situation, instead of punishing him, he promoted him to Changping, Hedong. As soon as he went there, he encountered a famine. Because he was able to provide relief, he was now recalled to the court to do some work.

Wu Shi and Zhai Ruwen discussed it and took Ju Ming's memorial to Fang Hui to sign it.

There are only three people working today, and Fang is the eldest.

Fang Hui has completely settled down, and no one wants to offend him. After signing in accordance with the regulations, he will no longer be contaminated by this memorial.

Wu Shi and Zhai Ruwen, however, each contacted their old associates and asked those who had the power to impeach to report together.

In a few days, eight copies were collected and handed over to the emperor through the provincial department.

After practicing Taoism, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty took time out of his busy schedule to read eight memorials carefully.

It was related to the people's livelihood in Kaifeng. Song Huizong was very surprised when he learned about the situation. No matter how stupid he is, he still understands what it means that the price of charcoal is higher than the price of rice. What if hundreds of thousands of Tokyo residents rebel because they have no money to buy charcoal for cooking?

Immediately annotated: "I have been ordered to investigate and deal with it. If there is any violation again, it will be treated as a violation of the imperial pen."

Those who do it again are tantamount to resisting the decree, and the wording is extremely harsh.

As for Ju Ming's illegal memorial, Song Huizong just pretended not to have seen it.

The matter involved the Carboniferous Department and was related to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Song Huizong was a little upset and asked: "Wang Fu and Ding You have resigned. Who do you think is qualified to be the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs?"

Xue Daoguang replied: "The poor Taoist only knows how to practice and does not pay attention to the affairs of the court."

Song Huizong didn't know how to appoint him for a while, so he simply put it off. The duties of the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue were temporarily delegated to the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

But this was a critical time in the war against Xixia, and military pay and rations were originally a mess. The Minister of Hubu returned to pay filial piety to his father, and the Minister of Hubu was greatly troubled. The distribution of money and food was even more confusing. Even Tong Guan, who was leading the army outside, could not see the follow-up food.

In this case, either attack in one go and achieve a quick victory.

Or put it off until next year. As long as the army doesn't move, we can save food and grass to get through it.

Tong Guan chose to fight quickly and take out Xixia's strategic city first...

The Yintai Division not only has the officials, but also other officials.

The specific circumstances of the eight people's impeachment of the Carboniferous Division were soon known to Cai Jing. He couldn't do anything about the other seven people, but he caught Ju Ming's illegal behavior.

"This guy is going too far!"

Cai You said angrily: "A little prince dares to refuse marriage first, and then comes to impeach me. Do you really think that my Cai family is just paper?"

Cai Jing shook his head: "Xue Daoguang is married to Zhenglong, and Zhu Ming is also favored by the officials. They impeached him for making false accusations, and at most he was fined three months' salary. It is impossible to really demote him from the capital."

"I want to impeach him even if he is fined!" Cai You couldn't swallow this bad breath.

Cai Jing said: "We must start elsewhere. Chen Yuan did not give lectures anymore, but stayed in the capital. He will definitely take action in the future. If you look at this person, you will be wrong if you say too much. One day he will violate the rules when he lectures. It’s time to arrest him again in the name of a member of Yuanyou’s party! If we arrest Chen Yuan, we can arrest Zhu Ming and label him as a traitor to Yuanyou.”

"Father is wise!" Cai You said flatteringly.

It's not as exciting as in movies and TV shows, where they spit on each other in the court.

Song Huizong was usually too lazy to go to court, and the struggle between ministers could only be through memorials.

The trolls supported by Cai Jing are all trying to impeach Ju Ming for violating the rules.

The evidence is conclusive and must be punished.

Ju Ming was fined two months' salary.

After receiving the punishment from the court, Zhu Ming was about to cry. Two months' salary was more than 70 guan. How much briquettes he had to sell to earn back.

Moreover, the first month’s salary has not been paid yet!

He became the first new Jinshi since the founding of the Song Dynasty to be fined before receiving his salary.

It's like a newly hired employee reporting corruption to the leader of the financial department. Is this your business?

Merely imposing a salary penalty is considered a mercy, so you should be fired directly!

When the Taipei students heard the news, they all came to the office to pay a visit to express their admiration for Ju Ming.

Chen Dongzuo bowed and said: "Xue Zhengzhen is a role model for people. He is not afraid of the powerful and asks for orders for the people. We admire him very much!"

Zhu Ming looked at the students and sighed: "The price of charcoal is higher than the price of rice. I have never heard of such a ridiculous thing since ancient times. Mr. Hengqu said that we must establish a destiny for the people, and we should practice it."

Zhang Zai belongs to Guan School, is not banned, and can be cited.

Zhu Ming was only seventeen years old this year, and he came to Taixue to do his homework. Many students were unconvinced.

When something like this happened, he immediately won the respect of everyone and no longer bothered with Ju Ming's age.

The students couldn't keep their mouths shut and spread the news wider and wider.

Because it was related to public life, word soon spread throughout Tokyo. Everyone knew that Tanhwaro used coal for the common people and was fined his salary for impeaching corrupt officials.

That month, the chief officer of the Carboniferous Department was demoted from the capital, and several subordinate officials were arrested.

The director of the tax charcoal field was arrested and imprisoned. Dozens of government-run charcoal fields were ordered to sell coal at a fair price. The price of coal plummeted from 10 yuan to 5 yuan.

Private coal shops were also ordered to sell coal at a fair price. However, they purchased coal at a high price and suffered heavy losses due to this order.

This was intentional by Cai Jing and his party. They took the opportunity to dump at low prices to seize the market, and then raised prices after the limelight passed.

No matter what, the common people have benefited at this time, and coal prices have dropped by half. They remember Tan Hwa Lang's good deeds, because among those who were impeached, only Ju Ming was punished.

The reputation of Xiao Zhu Tanhua is even more resounding inside and outside Tokyo.