Chapter 683: The Coal Problem

Liu Zheng was startled.

This master-disciple etiquette was truly a bit too much.

Yet the Prince of Jin insisted on the master-disciple etiquette to apologize for his cold reception of the past few days.

"Quick, quick, quick, this cannot be, this cannot be!"

The Prince of Wei and the Prince of Yong exchanged surprised glances and hurriedly stepped forward to help him up.

The ancient saying that those who are accomplished are teachers is true. But after all, the status of the two was so vastly different. The Prince of Jin's attitude was still very shocking.

It was clear to see.

He had actually been contemplating the future development of Jinzhou all along.

This time, these theories of Liu Zheng truly made him feel like he was bathed in a spring breeze and had received a sudden enlightenment.

Jinzhou is definitely one of the best in the Longyan Dynasty, possessing an economic foundation, a foundation of public opinion, and a cultural foundation.

At a time when Xie Tianyao is in his twilight years, every Feudatory King considers this.

How should their own territory proceed?

How should they establish themselves in the world?

How can they protect themselves when the world is in chaos, or even have the possibility of vying for the Zhongyuan?

And now.

He saw a broad and smooth Great Dao.

In the past, he had gathered all the great scholars and Confucian masters of Jinzhou, but not a single one could point out the problems of Jinzhou, let alone how to improve them.

A great talent.

This Vice Minister Liu is absolutely a great talent!

For such a person, he wished he could keep him in Jinzhou and treat him as an honored guest!

What is laughable is that when he was welcoming him, he had subjected him to all sorts of humiliation and mockery...

A great talent!

Alas, his focus is on Liaodong.

Seeing the Prince of Jin so stubborn, Liu Zheng could only smile bitterly and say: "If the Prince of Jin continues to humble Liu Zheng like this, then I can only take my troops north and not dare to linger in Jinzhou for even a moment!"

Upon hearing this, the Prince of Jin hurriedly jumped up, smiled bitterly, bowed, and walked over: "Mandarin simply no longer has the face to face you all. But Jinzhou is indeed terminally ill, I hope Vice Minister Liu will reach out and save it!"

The four of them looked at each other and laughed heartily.

This time.

Re-hosting the banquet for Liu Zheng and the others could truly be considered to have some sincerity. Fine wine and delicacies, private home-cooked dishes.

There was no one else around, only the Prince of Jin and one of his trusted aides.

He first insisted on pouring wine for each of them despite their refusals. Only then did he return to his seat, look at Liu Zheng, and smile: "Vice Minister Liu, can you speak now?"

Liu Zheng laughed dumbly, shook his head, and said: "What should be said has already been said. If the Prince of Jin asks again, it would be about how to implement it specifically, right?"

The Prince of Jin's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.

Liu Zheng chuckled, waved his hand, and several page boys nearby naturally brought over brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

Taking advantage of the tipsiness, Liu Zheng stood up, his hand moving like a dragon or snake.

A stunning piece of running regular script leaped onto the paper.

"Good!"

"Good calligraphy!"

Several people exclaimed at the same time.

This was not intentional flattery; in the current Longyan Dynasty, the most popular fonts were regular script and seal script. Although running regular script had been popular for a time, it soon disappeared. Liu Zheng felt that it might be because of the lack of Wei-Jin culture in this world, causing the creativity of the Jin Dynasty literati, who had been fashionable for many years, to vanish into the long river of history.

But in his previous life, he had practiced running regular script since he was a child, and it was Wang Xizhi's running regular script at that!

Writing it out like this naturally made people's eyes light up.

"Allocate funds, create a Ministry of Sports, and popularize sports."

This was the first item.

The three of them looked at it and smiled at each other.

As expected of Vice Minister Liu of the Ministry of Sports, the first item is naturally to promote his own sports.

"Allocate funds, develop resources!"

This item.

Made the Prince of Jin frown.

Develop resources?

What resources does Jinzhou have? There are some, in the Datong area, there are indeed iron mines and silver mines nearby. But these have already been under development.

Liu Zheng ignored his question.

He continued to write: "Allocate funds, attract investment, and introduce various workshops of all sizes!"

"Allocate funds, encourage civilian technological progress, invention, and creation!"

"Allocate funds, run Public Schooling, and build academies!"

"Allocate funds..."

More than a dozen items in a row, all of them were about allocating funds.

Fortunately, the Prince of Jin is indeed wealthy, indeed a local tycoon.

At the current stage, as long as things can be solved with money, they are not problems at all!

Flowing and eloquent.

More than a dozen specific policies were completed just like that.

The Prince of Jin took these works and laughed heartily: "Vice Minister Liu's calligraphy is a rare treasure! This Mandarin shall hang it in the main hall of my study to admire daily!"

Liu Zheng repeatedly claimed he dared not accept such praise.

The Prince of Yong, however, teased: "Don't even mention it, I don't even have a single piece of Liu Zheng's calligraphy in my collection. Why don't you let me have it, Prince of Jin, and I'll have a rubbing made for you later?"

"You fat man, get out, get out, get out!"

"Ha, the Prince of Jin is likely heavier than me, the big brother shouldn't mock the second brother!"

In this way, the atmosphere of mutual disdain and mockery from before became much more harmonious.

Liu Zheng and the others also felt a sense of relief in their hearts.

The Prince of Jin, a branch of the Xie Family, had always held a very ambiguous stance within the Longyan Dynasty. In terms of positioning, he belonged to the Old Aristocrats. Yet, he was incredibly wealthy, with the face of a nouveau riche; even the Prince of Qin, who was in the Capital, would not be given the slightest bit of face by him. He also never participated in the struggle for the succession.

He also looked down upon the Scholar-officials.

In his eyes, those wealthy Jiangnan merchants who were Scholar-officials were still just "barbarians" from the south.

As for the New Aristocracy, that went without saying. One could tell just from the attitude they were greeted with on this first day.

Therefore.

To put it plainly, he was a pragmatist with a very firm stance!

In his eyes, there was only Jinzhou.

If you want Jinzhou to be well, I will play along with you. Not only will I play along, I can even perform the Envoy's salute for you.

If that won't work, then get lost!

Reality.

But the common people who followed him could live good lives.

Is such a person good or bad?

Liu Zheng felt it was half and half.

He was a good Feudatory King, but because his vision was limited, it was impossible for him to participate in the future struggle for the world.

Once the world fell into chaos, Jinzhou would inevitably be fish meat in the eyes of others; if it did not reform, it could only be slaughtered by others.

Amidst the drinking and merriment, the Prince of Jin finally took advantage of the alcohol and let out a sound: "It's just that, Vice Minister Liu, I understand all the other government decrees. But this resource development..."

Here it comes!

Liu Zheng felt both relieved and had his heart jump into his throat.

The real main event had finally arrived.

The Prince of Yong and the Prince of Wei also exchanged a secret glance.

This matter still had to be left to Vice Minister Liu to hoodwink—ah no, to negotiate.

Liu Zheng composed his thoughts and smiled faintly: "Prince of Jin, autumn and winter are approaching; Liu Zheng would like to ask, how do the people of Jinzhou spend the winter?"

The Prince of Jin was stunned and laughed: "Naturally, most use charcoal braziers!"

Liu Zheng continued to ask: "And what about ordinary households?"

"This..."

The Prince of Jin was stumped by the question.

Because.

In the Longyan Dynasty, coal resources were strictly controlled! They belonged to national strategic resources! In the history of his previous life, coal entered daily life during the Northern Song Dynasty, when it was called "stone charcoal"! However, the bottom-tier masses could not afford it; "coal monopoly" was used to control coal resources, with the government selling them uniformly to reap huge profits.

Therefore.

Among the common people, what they used most was still charcoal.

But...

Charcoal was also very expensive.

A price standard for reference: In the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu, wheat in Northern Song regions like Xiang, Xu, and Jingnan was twelve copper coins per dou, and rice was thirty copper coins per dou. That winter was very cold, and seeing that the people could not hold on, the government "released 500,000 units of charcoal," taking the portion of charcoal they controlled and putting it on the market at half price. The people swarmed to grab it, resulting in the tragedy of "people being trampled to death"!

During the Yuan and Ming periods, those who could use coal for heating were still mainly the palace, the imperial family, the government, and the households of officials.

What about the masses?

Besides expensive charcoal, there was only one Method.

Burning firewood.

In fact, until the eighties of Liu Zheng's previous life, many rural areas in northern Huaxia still did not have enough firewood to use for heating. An investigative report from 1981 revealed that in Heilongjiang, which was rich in forest resources, "two-thirds of the Farmer Households in the province lacked living resources," and Hailun County in that province was a typical example.

Therefore.

To go to Liaodong, the heating problem must be solved.

To start an Industrial Revolution in Liaodong, the coal problem must be conquered.

The Prince of Jin looked at the silent Liu Zheng and thought quietly for a moment.

Suddenly his expression changed drastically: "Is what Vice Minister Liu is talking about, coal?"