Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 195 The Boast of Claiming Kingship in Hanzhong (Part 2)

A cold wind howled, and the weather gradually turned cold.

The disaster victims from Guanzhong, Huguang and the Central Plains rushed to Hanzhong Prefecture like madmen, as if they were being whipped from behind.

Hanzhong Prefecture is already quite crowded.

From the Baihe and Xunyang line in the east to the Shiquan and Xixiang line in the west, most of the Hanzhong Prefecture was filled with disaster victims.

At this time, Little Celestial Master Zhang Yun had tens of thousands of disciples, and the number of disciples under his disciples was more than 300,000. The number of disaster victims gathered in the entire Hanzhong Prefecture was probably more than two million!
With so many disaster victims, even just providing porridge would consume at least 500,000 to 600,000 shi of grain per month. Moreover, disaster victims from Guanzhong, Huguang, and the Central Plains are still pouring in. By winter, there could be as many as three or four million disaster victims gathered here.

Little Celestial Master Zhang Yun has really bragged about this. What if we don't have that much grain?

This is naturally impossible.

If there's no food at home, would you invite others over for a meal? Anyone with a brain wouldn't do something so stupid. Little Celestial Master Zhang Yun must have some brains to create such a big fuss.

Moreover, the so-called Little Celestial Master Zhang Yun has the Emperor himself standing behind him, so how could he possibly lack food?

Soon, the young Taoist priest ordered people to bring over countless potatoes.

Some people had heard of potatoes, and some had even seen them. These are called taro, and they are grown not only in the capital region but also in the northwest. However, no one expected that the potatoes that the Little Celestial Master ordered his men to bring were all bigger than fists. The largest they had ever seen were only the size of an egg!

The young celestial master even ordered his disciples to prepare a dish for the disaster victims: Heavenly Fragrance Potato Soup.

That is, put some spices and salt into the potatoes, then stew them until they are soft and tender, then mash them into powder with a spatula and add them to the soup.

That soft, glutinous, and fragrant taste is so delicious that you'll drool just smelling it after you've had it once.

This dish was an unparalleled delicacy for the disaster victims; many of them had never tasted such a delicious food before the disaster.

As for where the spices and salt came from, nobody asked that. The little celestial master is omnipotent. He can get hundreds of millions of bushels of grain. Why would he ask where these spices and salt came from?
The fragrant potato soup and porridge were already a hit with the disaster victims, and that wasn't all.

Immediately afterwards, the little celestial master ordered people to bring over countless sweet potatoes!
Many people have heard of sweet potatoes, and some have even eaten them. However, no one expected that the sweet potato that the Little Celestial Master ordered to be brought over would be thicker than a forearm. Most of the sweet potatoes they had seen were only as thick as a finger!

As for how to eat sweet potatoes, there's no need to teach you. You can eat them raw, as they're sweet and delicious. They're even better when steamed or roasted.

The disaster victims now completely revered the Little Celestial Master as a deity. They had so many potatoes and sweet potatoes that they couldn't possibly eat them all. It was probably only a god in the world who could conjure up so many potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Since the Little Celestial Master was revered as a deity, no one dared to disobey him.

He didn't ask the disaster victims to do anything else. Winter was approaching, and although the Qinling Mountains blocked the way and the cold air generally couldn't get through, and Hanzhong usually wouldn't freeze over, it was still cold to build a shack outside in winter. So he told the disaster victims to dig caves after they had eaten their fill to protect themselves from the cold winter.

Caves not only provide shelter from the cold winter, but they are also quite cool in the summer. Most ordinary people in Guanzhong actually live in caves, but they just call them cave dwellings.

The young Taoist master was doing it for their own good, so naturally they dug as hard as they could.

With over two million people working together, they could easily dig up mountains, let alone cave dwellings. In less than a month, the mountains along the Han River and its tributaries were almost completely dug up like rat holes, with interconnected passageways, enough to house three or four million people.

As for why there were so many hoes and shovels, no one asked, because they all believed that the Little Celestial Master was truly omnipotent.

Once a person has enough to eat and a warm place to live, it's inevitable that they'll have their own ideas.

At this moment, the young celestial master Zhang Yun also secretly ordered his disciples to start spreading the news.

Zhang Lu, a descendant of the Celestial Master, did not declare himself king back then, but now Zhang Yun, another descendant of the Celestial Master, should declare himself king!
Even his title had been suggested: King of Hanzhong.

To declare oneself king is tantamount to rebellion.

When the local officials of Hanzhong Prefecture received the news, it was another urgent report sent to the capital.

At this time, the capital city was almost frozen solid.

The howling, cold wind stung my face.

However, the boiler rooms in the northeastern outer city of the capital were still steaming and sweltering. The craftsmen were testing boilers for heating.

This kind of boiler is no ordinary boiler.

Song Yingxing ordered it to be cast in eight pieces, each weighing several hundred pounds, totaling several thousand pounds.

This boiler is over two zhang tall and about one and a half zhang thick. If it is filled with water, it can hold nearly one million jin!
As Zhu Jue watched the castings being unearthed from the sand pit, a hint of excitement appeared on his face.

The fact that such a large boiler could be built shows that the industrial base of the Ming Dynasty was exceptionally strong.

Moreover, once this large boiler is built, he can start making a lot of money.

He had Song Yingxing design this heating boiler for 10,000 households. This 10,000 households is not the average of 100 square meters per household in later times, but rather 300 to 400 square meters per household.

If we calculate heating costs based on future generations, it would be five or six yuan per square meter of building per month. For a household of three or four hundred square meters, that would be around two thousand yuan, which is more than three taels of silver per month.

Of course, coal and labor were not as expensive as they would be in later years, so he didn't need to charge such high heating fees. Charging each household one or two taels of silver a month would be enough, and he would still make a profit of more than half.

Nowadays, there are at least 500,000 households in the capital alone. If we build 50 such boilers, we can earn 400,000 to 500,000 taels a month. Since the winter is long now, let's say it lasts for five months, that would be more than 2 million taels.

As for whether the common people in the capital can afford this heating, there is no need to worry at all, because at this time, any job in the capital can easily earn more than two taels of silver a month, and the wages of craftsmen are three or four taels, or even four or five taels a month, which is not much.

In other words, with the current income level, a household only needs two people working to get through a warm and comfortable winter with just one month's wages.

If there are two people working in a craftsman's household, then there is no need to spend a month's wages.

After the Ming Dynasty develops, everyone's wages will be even higher, and the money spent on heating will be relatively less.

Promoting this heating system will take time. At the beginning, there probably won't be many people who want to install heating pipes. It's not necessary for him to build all fifty heating boilers in one year.

This thing will only become popular if it's installed in some people's homes and then other people go to those homes to experience it.

He wasn't in a hurry. Since the artisans' families were all wealthy, he would just install a few in the areas where the artisans lived.

When the time comes, other people, out of curiosity or because they are relatives or friends of the craftsmen, will definitely be unable to resist going to these craftsmen's homes to try out the effect. Once they experience the effect, they will most likely want to install it themselves.

He was standing there pondering how to promote the use of heating when Fang Zhenghua strode in, carrying a memorial, and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, an urgent report from Hanzhong Prefecture."

This must mean that Pan Yunteng is preparing to start a rebellion.

He was having Pan Guozhong continuously send grain, potatoes, and sweet potatoes over there, and these grains, potatoes, and sweet potatoes were all being transported to ports and wharves near the three towns of Wuhan for Pan Guozhong to pick up.

The area of ​​Xing'an Prefecture is only about a thousand miles away from the three towns of Wuhan. If Pan Guozhong pulls the tugs day and night, he can pull 70,000 to 80,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) over in about two days, and over a million shi over in a month.

In other words, even if each disaster victim consumes about half a shi (a unit of dry measure) per month, that would be enough to support more than two million disaster victims. Two million people would be more than four hundred thousand households. Even if each household only has one able-bodied person, that would still be more than four hundred thousand able-bodied people.

Pan Guozhong sent ships over last time saying that there weren't enough ships, which means that the number of disaster victims gathered in Hanzhong Prefecture has exceeded two million.

With such a large population and so many able-bodied men, it's time to prepare for an uprising.

Zhu Jue took the memorial and saw that, sure enough, the prefect of Hanzhong had reported that the young celestial master Zhang Yun was preparing to declare himself king, and the title had already been decided: King of Hanzhong.

After thinking for a moment, he simply said, "Ruoyu, keep this memorial in the central government and pretend you didn't see it."

This means don't alert the enemy.

If Pan Yunteng were to launch an uprising, he would certainly attempt to capture most of the counties and prefectures of Hanzhong Prefecture in one fell swoop. If he were to issue an order, these counties and prefectures would definitely make preparations, and it would be quite troublesome for Pan Yunteng to take them over.

If he doesn't say anything, then it's different.

Pan Yunteng has now surveyed all the counties and prefectures in the eastern part of Hanzhong Prefecture. He only needs to smuggle weapons and equipment in, and these counties and prefectures can be taken over in an instant!
(End of this chapter)