Jurong.
Gu Zhengchen received a letter from Prince Zhu Biao. The letter was written quite boldly, with the sentence "draw your sword and face the wind, looking for the enemy in the heavy snow", which sounded like he was going on an expedition.
However, when Gu Zhengchen thought about it, Zhu Biao's real scene at this time should be "shivering heading north, with frostbite on his hands."
Lao Zhu took great care of his sons. He did not allow the princes to ride in sedans or carriages when traveling far away. Instead, they rode and walked. There were regulations on how many miles to walk and how many miles to ride on the ten-mile journey. Don't even think about it. Singing all the way in the carriage and eating "hot pot" all the way to Fengyang...
Of course, it was not only Zhu Dalang who suffered from the cold, but also King Zhu Xi of Qin, King Zhu Fan of Jin, King Zhu Di of Yan, and King Zhu Ji of Wu.
At this time, Zhu Xi had not yet been renamed King of Zhou.
In the third year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang granted ten kings in one go on the grounds that "I am the son of the emperor, and the one who is the direct elder must be the throne, and all his sons should be granted the title of king, and the land should be divided into vassals and vassals." In addition to the nine sons, there is also a grandson, Zhu Shouqian, who is Zhu Wenzheng's son.
There is only one reason for these vassal kings to become vassal before they started. These guys are still too young. Zhu Laosi is only fourteen years old this year.
Going to Fengyang in the middle of winter was not something Zhu Yuanzhang could even think of.
The Ming Dynasty didn't have down jackets. Don't think that the prince just wore a mink coat. He was just an ordinary cotton coat. There was no scarf or gloves. With his hands spread out, he could only face the whistling north wind while wrapped in the cotton coat.
Gu Zhengchen sympathized with Zhu Biao, Zhu Laosi and others, then added another piece of wood to make the small stove even warmer, and continued to draw the drawings of the new stove.
The weaving courtyard and the tailoring courtyard are all women. Once the hands are frostbitten, the work efficiency will inevitably decrease.
In order to ensure that the hands are not frostbitten in cold weather, a charcoal brazier alone is not enough. Moreover, after this thing is burned for a long time, the room will be very stuffy and make people feel dizzy. If the combustion is not sufficient, it may also cause poisoning.
After all, there are many people there, unlike the second hall of the county government, where there are usually only two or three people. A small stove is enough, the space is large, and people come in and out from time to time, so there is no need to worry about anything happening.
The design of the stove is not complicated, nor is it difficult to build. It can be made by adding mud and iron sheets, leaving a flue and connecting the iron pipes to discharge the smoke out of the house.
It is not difficult to make briquettes. It is just a matter of mixing coal and clay with water and making a tool for making briquettes.
Although Jurong is not a major coal-producing area, there are still coal mines in some mountains, such as Wanshan. Coal has also been transported to the county in recent years, but the quantity is not large.
The quantity is not large because the mining manpower is limited, and because Jurong is not Jinling, many households in the county burn firewood instead of coal.
However, under Gu Zhengchen's order, a team of more than 200 people entered the mountain.
The craftsman built the courtyard.
Blacksmith Wang and others were numb and had been working on iron all their lives. They never thought that iron could be rolled out like dumpling wrappers by using a stone to grind out iron sheets...
The iron sheet is not too thick, so you can cut it directly with scissors, then tap it, trim the corners, wrap it around the stove, and then roll up the remaining iron sheet to form a long tube as thick as an arm. Two corners are needed in the middle. This is also It's simple, just knock...
The county government master also designed a kettle that could sit directly on top of the stove. However, the iron sheet had to be of good quality to prevent it from leaking.
When the new stove was moved into the Jurong Weaving Compound, it received unanimous praise from everyone, especially since there was a large amount of boiling water, and women no longer needed to use cold water for laundry.
As the new stoves won favorable reviews and began to flow into large households, Gu Zhengchen ordered Gu Cheng, Hu Hengcai and others to bring two trucks of stoves and five trucks of briquettes to Jinling when delivering goods.
After receiving Gu Zhengchen's letter, Mrs. Gu invited Mrs. Feng of Mu Mansion as a guest. Mrs. Feng was even more happy when she saw this new stove and felt that the room was refreshing and warm.
As a result, the new stove entered the Mu Mansion, and Mu Ying naturally moved the things sent by Gu to the Huagai Palace. The Gu family was not qualified to enter the palace, and Zhu Dalang was not in the ban, so Gu Zhengchen could only use Mu Ying's hand to deliver things.
The new stove given to Zhu Yuanzhang was obviously specially designed and manufactured, and it was even more sophisticated. It also took great effort to design the radiator - a row of hollow tubes.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang is not afraid of the cold, he really doesn't like breathing the smell of soot every day, nor does he like the feeling of cold hands. This makes it difficult for him to hold a pen and is not conducive to correcting documents.
The new stove sent by Gu Zhengchen solved a difficult problem. The Huagai Palace could not be said to be as warm as spring, but at least there was no chill. Zhu Yuanzhang could easily handle documents in the Huagai Palace.
However, the people in the Ministry of Industry were unlucky.
Zhu Yuanzhang called Huang Su and Li Min, ministers of the Ministry of Industry, to the Huagai Hall, and scolded them: "In addition to being responsible for construction projects, shouldn't the Ministry of Industry also have some ingenuity and make something to relieve people's difficulties?"
Li Min and Huang Su were extremely depressed. You burned this brazier well, and occasionally burned a few useless memorials and waste papers. You think Gu Zhengchen did this, how could the emperor still burn paper?
Lift the kettle first and throw it in. It's inconvenient for him.
Li Min wanted to see how the new stove was made and was about to go back to imitate it, but Zhu Yuanzhang asked him: "Has the cargo cart been made yet?"
"This, not yet."
Li Min replied helplessly.
Zhu Yuanzhang became angry: "I gave you something, but why can't you make it? Could it be that the Ministry of Industry is not as good as a few private craftsmen?"
Li Min lowered his head and said quickly: "Your Majesty, this cargo cart looks simple, but the design of its legs and feet is quite exquisite. Although the Ministry of Industry has imitated it, it can't carry heavy goods. There are many broken legs and feet. The craftsmen are hammering more. Strong iron material will take a few more days..."
Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect that the small cart would stump the Ministry of Works, and said with a sullen face: "I think you are incompetent! You take people to Jurong to learn hard. When will you learn the craft, when will you come back!"
Li Min and Huang Su quickly agreed.
After leaving the Huagai Hall, Huang Su felt cold all over, shivered before he could adapt, and said to Li Min, "Is it really that difficult to imitate a cargo cart?"
Li Min sighed, rummaged around in his sleeves, found the document, and said gloomily: "Oh, I remembered Zhu Xi's words a few days ago and pondered them, but in the end I forgot about it... …”
"you you……"
Huang Su pointed at Li Min, his hands trembling a little.
This bastard who loves to learn!
It’s all because of you that everyone makes a trip to Jurong in winter!
Li Min smiled nonchalantly: "The matter has come to this, so don't complain. But this Gu Zhengchen is a strange person. He is a local magistrate, and the things he makes are better and more practical than those of the Ministry of Industry. The official of the Ministry of Industry Is it him or us?"
