PFC Chapter 209: Kang and Fireplace
Chapter 209: Kang and Fireplace
At this time, Wei County Magistrate's memorial had already been submitted to the Heavenly Hall by Hou Rongda, the former magistrate of Huihai County and current chief clerk of the Imperial Observatory's Institute of History.
Hou Rongda was born in a humble family and had no strong background. He had to live in a coastal county town in Ningzhou Prefecture for many years. After his term of office ended, he was transferred to several counties in Ningzhou Prefecture without any promotion.
Finally, the Imperial Observatory discovered iron mines in Huihai County. He could have used this to gain political achievements and get promoted to a higher position.
Before the mine was opened, his promotion order came down to the chief clerk of the Imperial Observatory's Imperial Astronomical Bureau, one level higher than the seventh-rank county magistrate, and also a Beijing official.
The title sounds nice, but in fact he is just a historian without real power.
Throughout the dynasties, how history is written is the will of those in power. They just polish it and complete it according to the outline.
Compared with the magistrate of Huihai County who owned the iron mine, the power in his hands became smaller.
On the surface, it was just a simple transfer of officials, but the water behind it was very deep. One move affected the entire body. Various forces were lurking underwater, fighting openly and secretly, and the battle was fierce.
Inside the imperial study, the emperor was delighted. "Good! Very good! Pass on my order to hand over these two designs to the Ministry of Works and have them start work immediately. The kang and fireplace must be built within three days. I want to personally inspect them."
Eunuch Cao immediately held up the two design drawings and held them carefully, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will do it right away."
Three days later, the first kang of the Cangyuan Dynasty was born in the capital.
The young eunuch followed the instructions on the blueprint and first placed a layer of thatch with large pores on the bottom of the stove, then placed a layer of straw on the thatch, and finally placed a few pieces of dry firewood.
He lit a tinder, ignited the thatch, and the fire burned upwards along the thatch.
The Minister of Works, Mr. Sun, was accompanying the emperor and introduced to him: "Your Majesty, this stove is built in the common people's main room, that is, the kitchen, and the stove is connected to the kang, and the two are separated by a wall.
Above the stove is a stove table and a large iron pot. By lighting the stove, you can make a fire and cook. The stove can not only be used for cooking, but also for heating the connected kang. People sleeping on it will not be cold in winter and do not need to burn firewood for heating.
The kang has a strong thermal insulation effect. As long as you light a fire when cooking in the evening, do not extinguish the firewood at the bottom of the pot, close the stove door, and do not waste firewood, the kang can stay warm all night.
The smoke from the fire can be discharged outside the house through the chimney, so there is no need to worry about the thick smoke backflowing and irritating people at night."
After the stove had been burning for a cup of tea, the emperor went to his bedroom accompanied by a group of officials.
Immediately, a young eunuch spread a layer of clean yellow cloth on the kang.
Minister Sun touched the head of the kang and found it was warm to the touch, just the right temperature.
"Your Majesty, you see, the head of the kang is already quite warm. If you feel it's too hot, you can sleep at the end of the kang."
The emperor tried it himself and was delighted. He said, "It is indeed a brilliant design. With this, the people in the north will no longer be afraid of the cold in winter."
In this era, there was a shortage of food and clothing, and every winter, during the extremely cold season, many poor people would freeze to death.
Then, Minister Sun led everyone to see the fireplace.
"Your Majesty, you see, this stove built into the wall is a fireplace. When you burn a fire in the fireplace, the heat will penetrate into the hollow wall, and the whole room will be warm as spring."
After they had been in the room with the fireplace for a while, they began to feel a little hot.
The emperor praised: "The heating effect of this fireplace is much better than that of a kang."
Minister Sun explained: "Your Majesty is right. In terms of heating effect, the fireplace is indeed better than the kang, but the kang can be used for cooking and heating at the same time, saving firewood, while the fireplace can only be used for heating alone.
At the same time, the kang does not need to be built with hollow walls. If you want to build a hollow and solid wall, you must use high-temperature resistant materials such as blue bricks or stone bricks. The adobe bricks used by ordinary people are easy to crack when heated and cannot be used to build a fireplace. In addition, the construction process of this hollow wall is very high. It is difficult for ordinary craftsmen to learn it in a short time. The cost is too high, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to popularize it among the people. "
The emperor was very satisfied with Minister Sun's carefulness and ability. "What you said makes sense. The kang is enough to ensure the safety of the people in winter. The stove has also been passed on to them. Whether they can use it depends on the situation of each family."
Afterwards, the emperor drafted an edict overnight, ordering the Ministry of Works to take charge of the popularization of kangs and fireplaces.
Minister Sun immediately formulated a plan and recruited many craftsmen from the public for training. Once they had learned the skills, they could teach throughout the country.
Once accomplished, it will be a great achievement that will go down in history, and all those involved will be rewarded.
It is already sixty-nine days of spring and the weather is chilly, but it is the time when people are frozen but the ground is not frozen.
The ice and snow that tightly wrapped the beach for a whole winter melted quietly at some point, and the waves pushed the broken ice surface to drift away along the tide.
Today is a high tide, and people who have been staying at home all winter can finally go out to play in the sea.
People who live by the sea dislike eating seafood the most, but also like eating seafood the most.
This is an extreme diet principle. If you eat it for a long time, you will get tired of it. If you don’t eat it for a while, you will miss it.
It’s just like the relationship between people. If they are too close, they will feel bored. If they are too far, they will become strangers until they no longer interact with each other.
Not too far, not too close, is the best distance for getting along with each other.
Li Meir's shell jewelry sells very well. Whenever she sets up her stall at the market, many women come to buy from her.
The finest satin flowers, with the unique luster and elegance of silk, paired with shells of appropriately matched colors, are beautiful and cheap, costing only ten cents each on average.
Women naturally love beauty, but gold and silver jewelry are too expensive for ordinary people to afford. Even if they buy them, they dare not wear them easily for fear of being snatched away. This kind of silk flower is not only beautiful but also high-end, so it naturally sells well.
Li Meir made a lot of money from this, and the women who shared the profits also made a lot of money. Even the women in the village who followed to work made a lot of money.
Li Meir paid one cent for each silk flower. A woman could make about fifty silk flowers a day and earn fifty cents a day.
Fifty cents is equivalent to more than three pounds of the best pork belly, fifty eggs, and five pounds of fine rice. For ordinary families, these things can only be eaten a few times a year.
Nowadays, you can earn that much in a day.
The villagers built houses for the Li family, which brought them a lot of income. Soon, the Li family's reputation in Fushui Village became better and better.
They have been completely integrated into Fushui Village. Their household registration has been moved to Fushui Village long ago, and they can settle down there once they have land.
While building the house here, Old Man Li was anxious to reclaim the land.
The men of the Li family are now so busy that they have to run between the dock, the stalls and the village, and they have no time to reclaim the land.
The Li family finally decided to hire someone to reclaim the land, but was stopped by Li Yuer, who suggested using fire to get rid of the weeds and shrubs in the field first, and the wood ash could also be used to fertilize the fields.
After the wasteland refining is completed, ask the village chief to help hire people to reclaim the wasteland.