xymnovel Chapter 125 Three coins? You're not kidding, are you?!
Chapter 125 Three coins? You're not kidding, are you?!
Chapter 125 Three coins? You're not kidding, are you?!
Li Shimin hadn't taken off his shoes; as soon as one foot stepped onto the crumbling mud steps, Li Yuan struck him on the shin with his cane.
"Take off your shoes! Don't you know any manners?"
Li Shimin rubbed his calves, not daring to get angry, and obediently kicked off his boots covered in snow and mud, climbing up in only his cloth socks.
That posture is really indecent.
The mighty Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, like an old farmer resting on the edge of a field, scurried into that corner, using both hands and feet.
I had just sat down.
An overwhelming heat, almost scalding, seeped straight into my bottom through the thin straw mat and mattress!
The heat wasn't like that of a charcoal brazier, where the front was scorching and the back was cool.
The heat surged upwards from the bottom, continuous and rising along the tailbone. In the blink of an eye, the back, which had been frozen solid in the snow, began to feel tingly.
"call-!"
Li Shimin couldn't help but let out a long sigh, and his whole body slumped down, leaning against the wall with an expression of utter comfort that was hard to look at.
"How about it? I didn't lie to you, did I?"
Li Yuan glanced at him sideways, then popped a piece of sweet potato Su Mu had given him into his mouth. "How does this place compare to your Liangyi Palace?"
"So comfortable—so comfortable."
Li Shimin tucked his hands into his sleeves, feeling every pore on his body open up in that instant. "Father, what kind of magic is hidden under this mud platform? How can it stay this hot all the time?"
Su Mu was squatting beside the stove, poking at the newly replaced honeycomb briquette with fire tongs.
The fire in the stove was blazing, blue flames licking the bottom of the kettle, and white steam began to puff out of the spout.
"There's no magic involved. Heat rises and smoke is expelled."
Su Mu pointed to the row of sheet metal pipes leading to the window, "As long as the stove doesn't go out, this kang (heated brick bed) can stay warm all night. And this coal burns for a long time. Look at these holes, the ventilation is good. This one piece is as good as three pieces of coal."
Little Sizi was lying on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), her two little feet dangling in the air.
She pressed her little face against the warm mattress, her voice as soft and sweet as a freshly cooked glutinous rice ball.
"Oh dear, my bottom is so hot—I don't want to move at all."
Li Shimin reached out and pulled his daughter into his arms to warm her.
The little girl smelled sweet and cloyingly like roasted sweet potatoes, which, mixed with the aroma of hay filling the room, finally put his mind at ease.
He suddenly turned to look at Su Mu, his eyes sharpening.
"How much did this thing cost?"
Su Mu threw the fire tongs on the ground, patted the black ash off his hands, and held up three fingers.
"Three strings of cash?"
Li Shimin frowned. If each household received three strings of cash, the national treasury could subsidize a portion of it, but it would be quite difficult to promote this throughout Chang'an.
Su Mu shook his head.
"Three hundred coins?"
Li Shimin breathed a sigh of relief. At this price, even a slightly well-off family could grit their teeth and buy it.
Su Mu shook his head again, a mocking smile playing on his lips: "Put away your royal mindset. What's this mud and all these black stones worth? Three coins."
"How many?!
'
Li Shimin almost rolled off the kang (a heated brick bed), and even Li Yuan stopped chewing, staring wide-eyed at Su Mu.
"Three coins?"
Li Shimin's voice trembled, "Although this furnace is made of iron, this mud platform—and this coal—"
"A stove is a one-time investment. It can be made of clay, sheet metal, or even just mud to make the interior."
Su Mu pointed to the pile of honeycomb briquettes at his feet, "The key is this fuel. Poisonous stones that nobody wanted before can now be crushed, mixed with loess, and pressed into shape with a mold."
Labor? Those refugees don't need wages, just food. I've already overcharged them with three coins.
After he finished speaking, the woodshed fell into a deathly silence.
Only the kettle on the stove made a bubbling sound as it boiled.
Three coins!
That is, the price of two flatbreads.
This allows the whole family to sleep on a kang (heated brick bed) that's so hot it burns their bottoms, even in the dead of winter, with a fire burning all night long.
Li Shimin slapped his thigh hard, the slap landing squarely on his own thigh flesh; it sounded painful.
"Wang Dequan! Where has Wang Dequan gone?!"
Wang Dequan, who had been huddled at the door, hurriedly scrambled in, not daring to complain about the dirty floor, and knelt down on the cinder-covered ground with a thud: "Your Majesty, this servant is here."
"Go! Summon Duan Lun, the Minister of Works! Tell him to get here right now! If he's even a quarter of an hour late, I'll skin him alive!"
Minister of Works Duan Lun arrived very quickly.
The unfortunate Minister was at home, worrying himself sick. The heavy snow was about to cause a disaster, and the Ministry of Works' meager coal reserves were simply not enough to distribute.
When he received the imperial edict, he thought His Majesty was going to punish him. He was so frightened that he even wore his official hat crookedly and stumbled all the way to the palace.
When he rushed into the backyard of the imperial kitchen, panting, and saw the chimney billowing from the dilapidated woodshed, he was completely stunned.
Which noble person was so distraught that they set themselves on fire in the woodshed?
Push open the door.
A wave of heat, mixed with the aroma of sweet potatoes, wafted over.
Duan Lun stood there, stunned.
The usually majestic and imposing His Majesty was sitting cross-legged on a mud platform.
Beside him was the equally unrefined Emperor Emeritus, who was holding the little princess who was chewing on her toes.
This family of three generations was no different from the idlers at the edge of the village, crammed together.
"Your subject—your subject Duan Lun pays respects to Your Majesty, and to the Retired Emperor—"
Duan Lun's knees buckled and he was about to kneel.
"No need, no need! Stop with the nonsense."
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Li Shimin waved impatiently, "Come up!"
"what?"
Duan Lun glanced at the simple mud platform, then at his own purple robe, "Your Majesty—this—"
"I want you to come up here! It's warm up there!"
Without waiting for a reply, Li Shimin pointed to the open space at the end of the kang (heated brick bed), "Take off your shoes!"
Duan Lun nervously took off his boots and carefully moved his buttocks onto them.
hiss-!
The minister's expression instantly became incredibly interesting.
"This—Your Majesty, how much silver frost charcoal is burning down there? How can it be so scalding hot?"
Duan Lun was an expert; he could tell the weight of the heat the moment he sat down.
"Charcoal my ass."
Li Yuan snorted and tossed a black coal ball into Duan Lun's arms. "Here, look carefully."
""
Duan Lun hurriedly caught the thing, getting covered in black ash without daring to wipe it off. He looked closely and saw it was full of holes, and it smelled of dirt.
"This...this is coal?"
Duan Lun's expression changed drastically. "Your Majesty! This is poison! You mustn't—"
"Shut up and listen to him."
Li Shimin pointed to Su Mu, who had been leaning against the corner of the wall without saying a word.
"Lord Duan, is that right? Watch closely."
Su Mu handed over the paper with a simple diagram drawn on it.
The drawings are extremely rough, but they are intuitive.
The left side shows the proportions for honeycomb briquettes: 70% coal powder, 30% loess, and an appropriate amount of water.
The right side shows a cross-section of the kang (heated brick bed): furnace, flue, and smoke outlet.
"The reason this black stone is poisonous is because the smoke cannot escape."
Su Mu pointed to the chimney in the picture, "Add a pipe to lead it outside, and the poisonous gas will naturally escape. The coal briquettes have holes drilled in them, so they burn completely and generate a lot of heat."
As for this kang (heated brick bed), it's for retaining heat. Surely Lord Duan, who is in charge of the Ministry of Works, shouldn't find this difficult to understand?"
Duan Lun was also a technocrat. He stared at the drawing for a long time, his eyes widening as his hands began to tremble involuntarily.
This design is absolutely brilliant!
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