‘Ahem, what are you doing？’
Zhu Di was stunned for a long time before he asked.
Everyone was excited and hurriedly stood up to salute.
Xia Yuanji said excitedly, ‘Your Majesty, His Highness the King of Han has developed this briquette, which can completely replace charcoal or even firewood and become a fuel for people to keep warm and make fires.’
‘Yes, Your Majesty, the firepower of this briquette is very sufficient, and there is no black smoke at all. It is harmless to the human body.’
Jian Yi was also helping in the robbery. He was indeed very satisfied with the novelty of briquettes.
Zhu Di was even more stunned when he saw his appearance.
What do you mean？
Didn’t you say that the King of Han will perish with you？
How come it has only been so long and yet you are starting to boast？
Zhu Di stared, glared at Zhu Gaoxu, and shouted, ‘You are such a traitor, what’s going on？’
Zhu Gaoxu shrugged innocently and explained, ‘My son removed the harmful things in the coal and successfully developed this briquette. I wanted to tell Mr. Xia and the others the good news.’
‘But they didn’t believe it, so my son had to burn coal in front of them to verify it. The effect was very good!’
Zhu Di was numb and looked at Xia Yuanji with dull eyes. The latter laughed sarcastically with his face flushed.
Seeing this situation, he still didn’t understand. He glared at Zhu Gaoxu angrily and then sat down next to the brazier.
Feeling the scorching heat wave, Zhu Di couldn’t help but become interested.
‘So, is this briquette really useful？ Can it be extended to the entire world？’
Although Zhu Di is a war madman, this does not mean that he never cares about people’s livelihood.
Seeing that the twelfth lunar month of winter was approaching, Zhu Di was also a little worried.
Because since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, tens of thousands of people have died of hunger and freezing every year.
Of course, this is not just the Ming Dynasty, this is also true in all dynasties.
The cold winter is a difficult obstacle for the poor people.
‘Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty has very abundant reserves of coal. It can be said that it is almost everywhere. However, it is a little difficult to mine. In addition, coal itself contains toxic substances, so the demand is not large. Except for smelting steel, there is almost no one. Ask about it!”
Xia Yuanji stroked his beard and explained, ‘Now that His Highness the King of Han has mastered how to remove harmful substances from coal and make it into such convenient and practical briquettes, it will be a blessing to the people of the world.’
‘Your Highness, the King of Han, would like to ask how much does this piece of briquettes cost？’
I have to admit that this briquette has a huge market, and once it comes out, it will definitely be sought after by dignitaries.
But if this is the case, then this coal will not benefit the common people, and the real beneficiaries will be those high-ranking officials.
After all, coal in the past was expensive, and the dignitaries were not willing to burn it, but the common people could not afford it, so this put coal into an embarrassing situation.
By the same token, if the price of the briquettes in front of you is too high, you will fall into the same situation.
Zhu Gaoxu smiled and did not answer in a hurry. He asked instead, ‘Old Xia Tou, do you know how much a load of charcoal costs on the market now？’
Zhu Di also looked at the Minister of Revenue, his eyes full of questioning.
Xia Yuanji was startled, and his expression suddenly became serious.
‘I heard that the charcoal… has increased to 600 cents per load!’
‘The colder the weather, the more expensive the charcoal will be…’
Six hundred coins per load!
This price is too high for ordinary people.
For six hundred coins, you can buy a roast goose, or two chickens, two ducks, and fifteen pounds of meat.
Moreover, this load of charcoal cannot be burned for a few days at all, and it can only be used for heating, which is not very practical for the people.
Therefore, they would rather suffer the cold than spend a lot of money to buy this charcoal.
It was warm as spring inside the Nuan Pavilion, but the cold wind was howling outside.
Everyone was silent for a while, and their hearts felt cold.
Zhu Gaoxu held out two fingers and said with a smile, ‘I’m going to price this briquette at two cents!’
Two pennies？
Not two coins？
Xia Yuanji suddenly became excited and asked in disbelief, ‘Your Highness, King of Han, did you say two cents？ Not two cents？’
One denarius is worth one hundred wen, and two denarii is equivalent to two hundred wen.
If this briquette is priced at two cents, this price is actually acceptable. After all, briquette is more practical for the common people than charcoal!
However, the price the King of Han just mentioned was two coins!
Two cents!
Oh my God!
Zhu Gaoxu nodded heavily, ‘Yes, it’s two cents, not two cents!’
‘This king developed this briquette not for profit, but to benefit the people of the world!’
‘In the final analysis, the only difficulty in the process of making briquettes is to remove harmful substances such as sulfur. The rest is streamlined production. As long as there are enough raw materials and manpower, we can continuously produce briquettes to provide people with warmth through the winter.’
After hearing this, everyone froze on the spot, and Zhu Di looked even more moved.
The King of Han Zhu Gaoxu worked so hard to create this briquette, was it to benefit the people of the world？
If it were in the past, not to mention Xia Yuanji and others did not believe it, even Zhu Di would not believe it, and he would definitely think that this Han prince had evil intentions.
However, after experiencing so many things, it seems that what he said has some credibility.
‘Old Xia Tou, old Song Tou, how about you？ Cooperate with me？’
‘The Ministry of Household Affairs will provide the money, the Ministry of Industry will provide the people, and I will provide the technology and be responsible for the management. The profits will be shared equally by everyone.’
cooperate？
Divide？
Xia Yuanji and Song Li were both stunned, looking at Prince Han with doubts on their faces.
Your extremely low price of two cents has benefited the people all over the world, but where is the profit at all？
After all, a piece of briquettes costs two cents. Excluding costs and labor costs, what profit margin is left？
It’s not bad if you don’t lose money!
Xia Yuanji has always been shrewd. He doesn’t do business at a loss, so he just shakes his head like a rattle.
Seeing this, Song Li gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement for the first time.
Because this minister of the Ministry of Industry is still thinking about the blast furnace ironmaking and crucible steelmaking mentioned by His Highness the King of Han, and is determined to follow the King of Han to the end.
The Ministry of Household Affairs refused, but the Ministry of Works agreed, which made Zhu Gaoxu a little dumbfounded.
After all, the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the coal mine. If he doesn’t nod in approval, where will Zhu Gaoxu get the raw materials if he doesn’t have them？
In desperation, Zhu Gaoxu could only look at the smiling Emperor Yongle and asked tentatively, ‘Father, the cold winter is coming. Look at Xia Yuanji, an old man who refuses to benefit the people of the world!’
Xia Yuanji ‘？？？’
What？
When you are happy, you call ‘Old Xia Tou’？
If I don’t cooperate with you, I’m like ‘Xia Yuanji, the old immortal’？
You’ve gone too far!
Zhu Di smiled jokingly when he heard this and nodded.
‘Okay, the Ministry of Household Affairs will provide the capital, the Ministry of Industry will provide the people, and you will provide the technology. But when the time comes, you will get four cents of the money. Give me one share.’
‘No, dad, you are a white wolf with empty gloves. Why don’t you go and grab it…’
‘Well, I really want to steal this skill from you, but don’t I care about the relationship between our father and son？’
Zhu Gaoxu ‘？？？’
Zhu Di!
What a thief!
Your uncle’s!