Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 202 A Turbulent Era: The Three Kings Stand in a Power Struggle (Part 1)

People have a common problem: they are not worried about scarcity, but about inequality.

It's okay if everyone is broke; no one will feel resentful.

If everyone makes money and the amount of labor they put in seems to be about the same, but some people earn less and some earn more, then many people will feel unbalanced.

This has always been the case, and it has little to do with the era.

Zhu Jue is currently mainly using artisan households and military households.

The wages of craftsmen were exceptionally high. Even those who worked on a piece-rate basis, such as weaving cloth, steelmaking, and porcelain making, earned two or three taels of silver a month. The truly skilled trades, such as steam engine builders, shipbuilders, and craftsmen of muskets and cannons, generally earned four or five taels of silver a month.

Moreover, many artisan households have more than one person working, because the weaving workshops mostly employ women and children from the artisan households. Older artisans are more sought after as they get older, while the young and strong artisans can't do other jobs. So, most artisan households earn at least six or seven taels of silver a month.

Military households were a different story. Under normal circumstances, able-bodied men recruited into the Beijing garrison would only receive one tael of silver and one shi of grain per month. Even when working in the freezing cold, they would only receive two taels of silver and two shi of grain per month.

This income is less than half that of artisans on average.

If he doesn't find a way to increase the income of military households, they will eventually complain.

This is a major event that affects the morale of the troops, and it cannot be taken lightly.

He frowned and pondered for a while, then asked, "Jiandou, didn't I say that collecting ice in winter can earn a lot of money in summer? Selling about ten pounds of ice for one coin is definitely not a problem."

If they could find a way, collecting over a thousand catties of ice a day wouldn't be a problem. In the summer, that could sell for a tael of silver. The key is that they all need ice cellars. Have they all dug ice cellars yet?

How do you say this?

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded slowly and said, "The soldiers of the Beijing garrison dug many ice cellars before the ice froze. They were saying they would take advantage of this time to collect ice. The problem is, they are all busy right now and don't have time to collect ice. If we ask the elderly, weak, women and children in their families to collect ice, they won't be able to break many pieces in a day."

Do you really need to smash ice to collect it?

That's too much trouble.

The question is, how do you collect them without smashing them?
Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "Shi Gao, do you have salt, a water ladle, and a teacup here?"

Of course they have; they cooked and ate here last night and this morning.

Bi Maoliang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, we have all of these."

That'll do.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue immediately stood up and said, "Have someone take it outside. Let's try it. Remember, don't fill the ladle with water yet, and fill the teacup with cold water."

This one is simple.

Upon hearing this, Bi Maoliang immediately got up and went to the kitchen at the back.

The others followed Zhu Jue outside.

Soon, Bi Maoliang and his men brought over the salt, water ladle, and teacup.

Zhu Jue took the teacup, pinched some salt into it, stirred it with his fingers, and then poured it into the water ladle.

Then he picked up the water ladle, turned the salt water inside to wet the inside of the ladle, and then grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and spread it evenly on the inside of the ladle.

After finishing his work, he placed the water ladle on the snow and then instructed, "Shi Gao, have someone bring some cold water to pour in."

This is also simple.

Soon, an Imperial Guard soldier brought over a bucket of cold water and carefully poured it into the container.

Although it's not quite the case that water will freeze instantly when you splash it, the temperature is still very low, and the cold water in the ladle is visibly starting to freeze.

Zhu Jue looked at it for a while, and it was getting really cold.

Seeing that everyone was shivering and huddled up, he simply waved his hand and said, "Come on, let's go inside and have a cup of tea before we come out."

The water ladle was roughly the size of a palm and was semi-circular in shape, so it couldn't hold much water. When they leisurely finished their tea and came out, the water in the ladle had frozen into ice. Zhu Jue simply picked up the ladle, turned it upside down, and tapped it against the frozen ground, knocking the ice out instantly.

Everyone was astonished upon seeing this.

They all knew that if a ladle was filled with water and left outside to freeze, the ice inside couldn't be broken off; it had to be scalded with hot water for a while before it could be broken off.

Who knew that the current emperor would simply add some salt water and a little snow, and the ice would no longer stick to the water ladle.

The reason is actually very simple: the freezing point of salt water is lower than that of pure water.

Zhu Jue didn't explain this. He pointed directly at the water ladle and said, "Chang Geng, go and tell Liang Fu to have people nail together the cheapest wooden planks to make water troughs. The sides of the troughs should be nailed together with a slight slope, like a river embankment. They should be about a foot wide and half a foot high, and half a zhang long. The planks should be about half an inch thick. How many of these troughs can be made in a day?"

This is simple, but the problem is there are too many soldiers in the Beijing garrison.

Song Yingxing pondered, "Your Majesty, if we were to have all the shipyard's tens of thousands of craftsmen stop work to make this, producing 100,000 a day shouldn't be a problem."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue replied without hesitation, "Go tell Liangfu to stop work for five days and make 500,000 ice tanks first."

Uh, that's way too much. I don't know how many of the ship plates at the shipyard will need to be cut.

Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing was taken aback for a moment before nodding repeatedly and saying, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then explained in detail: "Jian Dou, you can order your soldiers to first block both ends of the moat that is more than ten miles long in the north, and then dig a row of water channels that are about two zhang deep and half zhang wide at the location where it needs to be widened into a canal wharf."

After they dug the canal, they dug a hole between the deep pit and the moat, allowing the water from the moat to flow into the canal. This way, they could use buckets to draw water directly into the trough. Then, they just had to wait for the water in the trough to freeze, and they could repeat this process.

The water in the canal was more than two zhang deep and about half a zhang wide. It certainly wouldn't freeze in a quarter of an hour or two. As long as they kept drawing water and making ice blocks, the water in the canal wouldn't freeze.

Once the water in the moat has mostly receded, the entire moat will freeze completely. Then we can start digging from the side, and once we break it open, we can smash the ice into chunks and stuff them into the ice cellar.

How many ice cubes can you collect by doing it this way?

The entire moat, which is over ten miles long, could be turned into ice and collected!
Now the ice cellars dug by the soldiers can be filled to the brim.

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty understands. Your Majesty will have them block the moat and dig irrigation ditches tomorrow."

As they were discussing, Fang Zhenghua suddenly rushed over with a memorial in his hand, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, Hong Chengchou has sent an urgent report from eight hundred li away."

This guy is still not giving up, why is he still playing music?

Zhu Jue took the memorial and glanced at it, and couldn't help but frown slightly.

Hong Chengchou reported that the rebel Gao Yingxiang had occupied Zezhou, Luzhou, Qinzhou, Fenzhou, northern Pingyang Prefecture and southern Taiyuan Prefecture, and was plundering local tyrants and conscripting a large number of men, with his forces estimated to number between three and four hundred thousand.

This guy still wants to recruit 100,000 troops from Xuanda and Pianguan Town to encircle and suppress them.

Sure enough, this guy was like a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken—he had no good intentions.

Even if he gave this guy the provisions and pay for 100,000 men, he wouldn't use it to besiege Gao Yingxiang.

This guy probably wants to gather 100,000 men to help Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong deal with Pan Yunteng.

This is because the so-called King of Hanzhong, Zhang Yun, has no connection with the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou. These guys certainly don't want the King of Hanzhong to rise to power.

Gao Yingxiang already had 300,000 to 400,000 troops, but what about Zhang Xianzhong?
Did Hong Chengchou not know or deliberately fail to report it?
It seems that Pan Yunteng's 500,000 troops are not enough to ensure his safety. At this moment, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong have at least 600,000 to 700,000 troops combined!

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, then handed the memorial to Liu Ruoyu and said coldly, "Approved. There is no money or grain."

At this moment, he was indeed short of money and provisions. He had already spent over ten million taels of silver on the northern outer city alone. In addition, there were the provisions and salaries of the soldiers of the Beijing Garrison and the Liaodong Army, as well as the money and provisions to feed so many disaster victims in Hanzhong Prefecture. The imperial treasury was almost empty.

Fortunately, the mansion returned more than two million taels of silver to them; otherwise, he would have been short of money.

He thought for a moment, then whispered in his ear, "Draft a secret decree, instructing Pan Yunteng to quickly recruit more men. By the end of this winter, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong's combined forces are estimated to be at least 800,000. Let him weigh the options and decide what to do."

(End of this chapter)