Chapter Thirty-Two: Smuggling Coal into the Capital

  The four-people positioning of "scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants" also becomes a rigid and unchanging pattern in traditional Chinese society. Artisans and merchants have always been at the bottom of society, looked down upon by scholars who are high above them. This is indeed a social tragedy. In an agrarian economy, agriculture is dominant, but industry and commerce are equally indispensable classes. Artisans represent technological innovation, while merchants facilitate the circulation and exchange of goods. Human civilization and progress are driven by all classes. Overemphasizing agriculture while underestimating industry and commerce will inevitably hinder social progress and development. Liu Ze thought to himself that in his lifetime, he must change this situation, making the four characters "scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants" no longer have any order distinction, and truly achieve equality.

  Just as Liu Ze was about to ask, Guan Hai gave a command and the children shouted in unison: "Those who gave birth to me are my parents! Those who raised me are my masters! With loyalty and devotion, I will repay my master! If I betray him, heaven and earth will punish me!" Their voices were loud and clear, echoing through the clouds.

  Guan Hai said to Liu Ze: "Today the master has arrived, it should be up to the master to give the order to start the meal."

  Liu Ze secretly commended himself, this Guan Hai handled things quite reassuringly. Strengthening loyalty education was his own requirement, but there was no specific content. He didn't expect Guan Hai to actually implement a pledge of allegiance before every meal, which coincidentally aligned with the Christian tradition of saying grace before meals. This way, these children would understand that every meal was a gift from their lord, and their lord's kindness was greater than heaven. Serving their lord was everyone's duty.

  Liu Ze stood up and said loudly: "Liu Ze is just a rustic from Zhuo County, what virtue or ability does he have to be loved by everyone? Now the imperial court is in disarray, the people are suffering, and the world is on the brink of great chaos. I should wield my three-foot sword, drive out the evil and corrupt officials, and support the Han dynasty. Will you all follow me?"

  All the children shouted in unison: "We are willing to follow our lord and swear to die for him!"

  After lunch, it was the Boy Scouts' reading time. The teacher went to give a lecture. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were in charge of taking people to each tent to install stoves. Liu Ze met with Guan Hai alone.

  "Before this, during this period of time, your management has been quite good and very effective."

  "Thank you for your praise, I am willing to do my best and share your worries."

  "The carpentry shop you're running is quite good, just add some more manpower, I need you to make some furniture for me."

  As he spoke, he drew a picture of a taishi chair on the paper. Guan Hai had never seen such a thing and scratched his ears and cheeks, saying: "What is this?"

  Liu Ze smiled and said: "This thing is called 'Taishi Chair', it's for sitting, you can just copy the picture to make one, it shouldn't be too difficult."

  In the Han Dynasty, sitting was very different from later generations. What is called "sitting" was simply kneeling on a mat with one's buttocks on their heels. If there were armrests, it was called "sitting", and if not, it was called "kneeling". Liu Ze deeply hated this "sitting method", thinking that it was not sitting at all, but rather suffering. Sitting for half an hour would make his legs numb. Originally, sitting should be a comfortable thing to do, but in the Han Dynasty, it was a painful thing. When he heard that Guan Yu was skilled in carpentry, Liu Ze was overjoyed and thought that his first priority should be to make several large armchairs and cover them with animal hides. That would be true comfort. Thinking about sitting in such a chair, Liu Ze couldn't help but feel a little envious while kneeling on the mat.

  Although Guan Hai didn't understand what Liu Ze was drawing, the lord's orders were more important than heaven. Whatever the lord asked him to do, Guan Hai naturally obeyed, and with the drawings in hand, it didn't seem too difficult anyway.

  Liu Ze drew some more patterns on the paper and said, "You can also make some small stools. This is even simpler, one surface, four legs, let the children sit on this when they eat and take classes, no need to kneel there anymore." Liu Ze was most dissatisfied with the kneeling method. For thousands of years, Chinese people had a culture of kneeling, having to kowtow three times and knock their heads nine times when meeting the emperor, having to kneel to parents, teachers, and officials big and small, always bowing and scraping, kneeling could save one's life, becoming the only way for Chinese people to resist the powerful. No wonder it was said that Chinese people were full of slave mentality, all brought about by kneeling.

  "In addition to the carpentry workshop, we'll also set up a blacksmith workshop. We need to manufacture weapons and armor, as well as saddles and other equipment. In short, by this winter, we must build the blacksmith workshop and hire some skilled blacksmiths back, using coal as fuel to produce better ironware."

  "This is simple, I'll take care of it tomorrow. There are many refugees outside now, and it's not hard to find some who have carpentry and blacksmithing skills."

  "Did you make two weapons according to the diagram last time I brought back the Xuan Iron?"

  "My lord instructed, who dares to be slow? Quyang doesn't have good craftsmen, so I specially went to Ye City to find the most famous blacksmith master. It took a whole month to complete it according to your instructions. The size and weight are all according to your instructions. However, the craftsman asked for ten times more compensation than usual and said that if we didn't pay first, he wouldn't make it. I had no choice but to comply."

  Liu Ze nodded, not caring about the cost of labor, and said: "Good! Before I left, the porcelain had already been fired. In a few days, I will go to Luoyang. Although it's cold and short in winter, training can't be neglected for a moment. Now is the critical period, and we must strengthen our efforts. Tomorrow, I will recompile the training subjects, and you can train according to the subjects. Originally, we planned to complete the assessment this winter, but since Luoyang is urgent, let's conduct the assessment next spring instead. Also, go to Ji Zhou and You Zhou to buy some children back, try to choose those with higher natural talent. After the current personnel are eliminated next year, I'm afraid there won't be enough people."

  Guan Hai nodded in agreement. Liu Ze asked about some trivial matters within the camp, and Guan Hai reported to him one by one. Liu Ze then asked what Guan Hai needed, and after thinking for a moment, he said: "Sir, our camp is currently short of horses, with only a small number of civilian horses that are not suitable for cavalry training."

  Training a qualified cavalryman takes at least three years, and most civilian horses are used for pulling carts and carrying goods. Military horses cannot be easily purchased. Liu Ze hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'll think of a way."

  At this time, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei walked over, and Zhang Fei shouted from a distance: "Big brother, it's all done, the fire is lit, do you want to come and take a look?"

  Liu Ze responded with a sound, pulled up Guan Hai and walked into the nearest tent. The stove was very simple, just surrounded by iron sheets in a cylindrical shape, with refractory soil wrapped around the furnace core. The smoke pipe was also made of cast iron. The coal inside the stove had been ignited, and flames were spouting out, making the inside of the tent warm like spring.

  Guan Hai nodded his head and said: "Good stuff, good stuff. With this stove, what's to fear from the harsh winter winds and snow?"

  Zhang Fei also said: "That's right, this thing is much more useful than firewood, pulling it out to sell, it will definitely be sold at a good price."

  Zhang Fei's careless words suddenly lit up Liu Ze's eyes. He had been secretly calculating for the past few days that he had brought 100,000 taels of gold from Luoyang to the north, but now there was almost nothing left. Every place, including Fenghuang Valley, Quyang Kiln Factory, and Yangquan Coal Mine, required money. Although Qinghua porcelain had been produced, it had not yet reached a large scale, and its sales were still a mystery. How to get through this cold winter was a problem. Zhang Fei's suggestion was actually good, taking the high-quality charcoal to Luoyang to sell. With a heat value of over 7,000 kcal, smokeless charcoal could be sold for more than wood charcoal. Maybe this would open up a new path to wealth.

  After the matter was settled, Liu Ze handed over the two weapons to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. The one given to Guan Yu was a 64-jin Qinglong Yanyue knife, while Zhang Fei's was a 54-jin Zhangshi Snake Spear gun. He told them that these were made from the meteoric iron taken from Weizhe Pass. Both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's eyes lit up when they received their weapons. Even Guan Yu, who rarely smiled or spoke, showed some emotion. Zhang Fei was overjoyed, like a child, swinging his spear and running around the camp, testing it on anyone he met.

  Next, Liu Ze sifted through the coal he had brought back from Yangquan, removing the small coal and gangue, carefully selecting charcoal blocks the size of duck eggs, filling over a hundred large carts. He also loaded dozens of newly-made stoves that were much more delicate than those used in the barracks. Liu Ze personally designed them, completely imitating modern civilian stoves, and loaded two carts with freshly fired Qinghua porcelain, before immediately setting off towards Luoyang.

  This winter, the snow fell early and heavily, and the weather was much colder than in previous years. As soon as winter began, the ground was frozen and the roads were slippery with ice, making it difficult to travel. Liu Ze's convoy arrived in Luoyang four or five days later than usual.

  Jian Yong welcomed everyone into the Fuyuan Silk Store, and Liu Ze introduced Guan Yu to him. The shop assistants brought tea over, and as they sipped their tea, they chatted. Jian Yong first reported on the store's business, which was just as Liu Ze had expected. Three months later, a large quantity of Shu brocade flooded into the Luoyang market, causing prices to plummet. Currently, the market price for top-grade Shu brocade is only about two taels of gold per bolt, or one-fifth of its original price. However, the store had sold out all 500 bolts of Shu brocade (Liu Ze took 100 bolts with him when he left) before prices fell, and they have since purchased another batch at a low price from wholesalers. Although profits are lower, Fuyuan Silk Store still has many loyal customers, and by also selling other types of silk fabrics, business is still booming.

  "Still, Big Brother's eyes are poisonous. If we're still doing Shu brocade now, wouldn't we lose our pants?" Zhang Fei spoke coarsely as soon as he opened his mouth, and everyone laughed.

  Liu Ze also smiled and said: "Even if we compensate, it's not enough. The profit is too low, it's not worth it."

  Jian Yong suddenly remembered something. "Speaking of Shu brocade, there's another thing to report. A few days ago, several merchants from Yizhou came to buy the Xiangjiang navigation map. I said the boss was not around, but they were not willing to give up and came back several times."

  Liu Ze sank into thought for a moment before saying: "Oh, how did they know that I have the Yangtze River navigation map in my hands?"

  Jian Yun shook his head and said: "This is not very clear, those people listened to the accent and were undoubtedly from Shu, claiming to be the Yizhou Shipping Association."

  Just as they were talking, a fellow came up and reported: "Those few guests from Yizhou have come again and are requesting to see the head shopkeeper."

  Liu Zexin said, these people are quite well-informed, they found us as soon as we sat down. "Please come in!"

  Several people came in, all dressed as merchants. The leader, a man of over forty years old, with a round face and slightly plump, had a few strands of beard on his chin. He stepped forward and bowed, saying: "I am Qian Botong, the president of the Yizhou Shipping Association, and I have come to pay my respects to the great shopkeeper of Fuyuan Village."

  Liu Ze returned a courtesy and said: "Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!" Then he looked at the tea being served, and both sides took their seats as host and guest.

  "I didn't know you would come so soon, what advice do you have?"

  "Qian Mou heard that Liu Zhuanggui had a map of the Xiangjiang waterway, and came from afar to buy this map."

  "How could you know that I have a map of the Yangtze River navigation in my hand?"

  "Liu Zhanggui bought Shu brocade in Yizhou half a year ago, and it was transported through the Xiangjiang River without any damage. This matter has long been widely known in Yizhou, and even women and children are talking about it."

  Liu Ze smiled coldly and said, "This is the power of Old Man Bai. I recall that in the past, I sought out all the major shipping families, but no one paid any attention to me. If it weren't for Old Man Bai's sake, my twenty ships of Shu brocade probably still wouldn't have been able to leave Yizhou by now."