The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

At the stalls in front of Zhengyang Gate, rows of ceramic honeycomb briquette stoves were displayed, and the Ministry of Works officials selling them would always hold up three fingers.

"This is a stove made by the emperor for the people. It can be used for cooking, boiling water, and heating, but you need to pay attention to ventilation and changing the coal. It only costs three qian of silver."

"They also provide matching honeycomb briquettes, which you can buy daily at Yongdingmen. Each briquette costs only two coins, but remember to handle them carefully, as they are fragile!"

Three qian of silver was already a high price, but people still lined up to buy it, mainly because honeycomb briquettes were cheap, costing six to ten wen a day, enough for the whole family to cook and warm themselves.

The reason why honeycomb briquettes were cheap was that Galdan mined coal in the Western Mountains and transported it all the way to the capital using railcars, saving a lot of manpower and resources. Since the slaves who mined the coal did not have to pay wages, they were naturally sold cheaply.

See, this is the benefit of colonization.

Exhaust other people's lives while bringing happiness to our own people!

As for why the furnace doesn't use sheet metal, it's naturally to be used for making weapons, since iron production was too low back then.

Just then, three Japanese men dressed in kimonos swaggered into the vicinity, carrying samurai swords, which frightened the locals into giving way.

One of them, a Japanese man who was only about 1.5 meters tall and had a shaved head, looked at the stove where the water was boiling with a gleam in his eyes and went up to examine it closely.

"Yosh, this is a good thing. If we could sell it to Ezo, it would definitely fetch a sky-high price."

"It would be even better if we could know how it's made; we have plenty of coal mines too."

Seeing several Japanese people acting suspiciously and discussing something, the clerk from the Ministry of Works quickly stepped forward to stop them.

"What are you Japanese doing here?"

Upon hearing this, the Japanese man stood up and stared at the official. Although he was shorter than the official, his attitude was extremely tough.

"You idiot! I am an envoy of the Tokugawa Shogunate! How dare you, a mere lowly official, disrespect me? Do you believe I will impeach you to your superiors?"

These Japanese were actually merchants from Nagasaki Island. They often impersonated the Tokugawa Shogunate or Japanese envoys to haggle with local merchants, and they were almost always successful, since the land of China was not peaceful for these people.

Sure enough, upon hearing that it was an envoy from Japan, he deflated like a punctured balloon; after all, he was just a minor official.

"Please feel free to look around!"

The Japanese are typically opportunistic and cowardly. Seeing that even a minor official from the Han Dynasty would fall for their act, the Japanese man suddenly became bolder, slapped the official across the face, and then pulled out a tael of silver.

"You, sell this to me first!"

"This is one tael of silver!"

The minor official, having been beaten, dared not retaliate. He then thought of giving the Japanese a stove to appease them, since one tael of silver could buy three of them, and he could keep the money for himself.

Just as the Japanese were about to take the stove, a man dressed in an earth-yellow military uniform, holding a flintlock pistol, and whose shoulder insignia indicated he was a centurion, walked over. This man was none other than Pan Feng, who had blocked Galdan outside the military camp last time.

"Wait!"

"You can't take this stove with you; you can only sell it to a citizen of the capital and return the money to him!"

Although this type of furnace is simple to make, and the materials are only mud and ash, its production capacity is still insufficient to supply all cities in a short period of time.

Therefore, it could not be sold to people outside the city, because in the countryside, people could rely on the mountains for heating or use straw to make fires for warmth after autumn, while people in the city could only endure it. Pan Feng was sent by the army to maintain order.

Upon hearing the sound, the Japanese man was furious and turned around, intending to repeat his previous trick. However, he was met with Pan Feng, a tall man who was 1.85 meters tall.

Gudong.

He immediately swallowed hard!

Oda Nobunaga was 1.75 meters tall and was considered a giant, so Pan Feng's height was already considered a myth among the Japanese.

Pan Feng came from a humble background and was a native of Changshan. He didn't know anything about Japanese people or Japan. He just thought that this was a Han Chinese who had shaved his head. So he went up and touched his shaved head and even gave him some advice.

"Now that the Han Dynasty reigns, we don't need to shave our heads!"

"Also, you can't be so arrogant. You're not very tall, what if someone beats you up?"

Pan Feng was about to leave after speaking when the Japanese man drew his katana with a clang and pointed it directly at Pan Feng.

"You idiot! You've gone too far!"

"I challenge you to a duel!"

Upon seeing this, the minor official immediately went to Pan Feng and explained the whole story.

An envoy of the Tokugawa Shogunate?

Was the Tokugawa Shogunate more powerful than the Qing Dynasty?

Pan Feng doesn't understand either. He became a centurion because he knew basic reading and writing and was physically strong. Even now, all he knows is how to ride a horse, shoot arrows, and fire a musket.

However, Pan Feng thought it was better to avoid trouble, so he waved his hand at the Japanese man.

"Hey little guy, that's the end of it for today. I don't know anyone in your Tokugawa Shogunate. I'm leaving!"

idiot!

How dare you underestimate me?

The Japanese man had a biased view, thinking that Pan Feng was humiliating him, especially since she had touched his shaved head earlier, which was a symbol of samurai honor that he would protect with his life.

"Go to hell!"

Thinking of this, the Japanese man, driven by malice, raised his knife and slashed at Pan Feng at a very tricky angle, aiming straight for Pan Feng's neck—a deadly move.

Pan Feng had also been training in the army for half a year, and given the height difference, he saw everything and was immediately enraged. "You're doing this for my own good, yet you still want to kill me?"

The hot temper of the Changshan people flared up instantly.

Then Mr. Pan will not be polite!

At worst, I'll just get beheaded!

Thinking of this, Pan Feng immediately dodged, threw the flintlock pistol to the clerk, and then drew the bayonet from his waist and stabbed hard.

The sharp bayonet pierced through the Japanese man's wrist, and the samurai sword clattered to the ground.

As a result of the chain reaction from the intense daily training over the past six months, Pan Feng subconsciously turned and kicked straight to the side.

boom.

The Japanese man was sent flying three meters away.

Whether it was because Pan Feng was too strong or the Japanese man was too weak, he didn't even cough up blood before collapsing to the ground and dying.

Yes, that Japanese man was kicked to death.

After all, the Japanese man was only 1.5 meters tall, which was like a child in front of Pan Feng. His thighs were thicker than his waist, and he was sent to meet the heavens with a single kick.

While Pan Feng was still stunned by the killing, the other two Japanese men, for reasons unknown, drew their samurai swords and rushed forward from the left and right, attempting to attack Pan Feng from both sides.

Killing one is the same as killing three.

Seeing this, Pan Feng hardened his heart, dodged the attack from the two Japanese soldiers, took back the flintlock pistol from the clerk, and attached the bayonet to the gun head.

Holding the flintlock pistol and adopting a forward-attacking stance, Pan Feng's aura changed in an instant.

With just a simple thrust and two jabs, he easily took down a Japanese samurai.

The remaining Japanese samurai were terrified at the sight and immediately knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly to Pan Feng.

"My lord, have mercy on me, my lord, have mercy on me!"

Seeing that Pan Feng didn't know what to do, the clerk quickly stepped forward and asked the Japanese man for advice.

"Aren't you envoys?"

"Why are you causing trouble here?"