Chapter 47: Treasure Basin

When Fang Jifan thought about this Little Ice Age, he felt quite emotional. Such extreme weather, not to mention the cold brought by the extreme weather, but also the food production reduction that followed, had been one of the causes for Ming Dynasty’s fall.

At this time, as if afraid that Fang Jifan would fear the cold, Deng Jian quickly brought over a hand warmer. This hand warmer was made of copper, with burning charcoal inside. Deng Jian said with a smile, “This charcoal was bought by Manager Yang this morning. Recently the charcoal price has skyrocketed, the price is high but no one sells! Young Lord, you don’t know, one jin of charcoal now sells for over forty coins! But even so, charcoal in the Capital isn’t something you can just buy if you want. Manager Yang also instructed, this charcoal is only for the Young Lord to burn, don’t let the Young Lord catch a cold.”

“Forty coins!” Fang Jifan was shocked. “And that’s just for one jin! They might as well go and rob people!”

But then, a flash of inspiration suddenly lit up Fang Jifan’s eyes.

The high price of charcoal had its reasons. On one hand, making charcoal wasn’t easy. In this era, for warmth, rich people burned charcoal, while the poor could only burn firewood. Although making charcoal took time and effort, because it burned more completely and didn’t produce much smoke, it was favored by wealthy families. Firewood was different; as soon as it burned, it filled the place with smoke. Furthermore, the poor had to go outside the city to gather it. It seemed cheap, but actually cost a lot of mental effort.

So… didn’t people in this era use smokeless coal for heating?

Fang Jifan thought of smokeless coal.

Smokeless coal was different from ordinary coal. Ordinary coal produced a lot of smoke, and because it had too many impurities and high sulfur content, burning it was like releasing poisonous smoke. In later times, the commonly used honeycomb briquettes and coal balls actually needed refining, commonly called coal washing. But in this era, the technical difficulty of coal washing was too high, almost impossible.

The reason the ancients didn’t use raw coal on a large scale was precisely because of this.

However, smokeless coal was different. Smokeless coal had extremely low sulfur content. Although its ignition point was high, that wasn’t a big problem. Most importantly, it burned colorless and smokeless, and burned for a long time, making it an excellent fuel for keeping warm.

However, smokeless coal also released some fatal gases like sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Fortunately, the content wasn’t high. After certain processing, most could be washed away. Moreover, buildings in this era weren’t sealed environments, so the small amount of gas from smokeless coal was actually almost as harmless to people as burning charcoal.

The high price of charcoal was mainly due to the large amount of manual labor and manpower required. Smokeless coal was different; as long as it could be mined, it could continuously supply the entire Capital.

Of course, that wasn’t important. What was important was that Fang Jifan remembered the main production area for smokeless coal was in the Shanxi region. And here in the Capital… there seemed to be only one production site, this place…

Strike it rich!

Fang Jifan instantly became very excited. He quickly said, “Deng Jian, the Western Hills, the Western Hills! Do you know where they are? Go and find out, who owns that land? Hurry up!”

Deng Jian was already used to the Young Lord’s occasional excited outbursts. But he just thought for a moment and said, “Western Hills? This servant knows about the Western Hills. They belong to the Marquis of Shouning and the Earl of Jianchang. Everyone in the Capital knows this. Back when they were enfeoffed, there was no land left near the Capital suburbs. His Majesty bestowed the Western Hills area to the Marquis of Shouning and the Earl of Jianchang. Because of this, the Marquis of Shouning and the Earl of Jianchang even went to the palace to cry. They said others were given fertile land, but the Zhang Family only got a barren mountain. They said life was unbearable, they wanted to hang themselves, better to die clean. Actually, His Majesty was also reluctant to give them the good imperial manors. But fortunately, the Western Hills cover a very large area, dozens of li in radius…”

Those two Zhangs again!

Suddenly, Fang Jifan felt a bit troubled. Given the temper of these two, if he wanted to buy the Western Hills, they would surely demand an exorbitant price. Damn it! These two guys also swindled thirty thousand taels of silver from our Fang Family!

But then Fang Jifan thought, the Western Hills were where the mineral vein was located. On this point, Fang Jifan’s memory was absolutely correct. This smokeless coal was a treasure trove! No matter what, he had to buy that mountain.

After all, inside and outside the Capital Region, there were over a million myriarchs needing heating. In such extreme weather, whoever controlled the fuel would essentially possess a treasure basin.

“Let’s go!” Fang Jifan called out to Deng Jian.

Deng Jian said excitedly, “Young Lord, Young Lord, what are you going to do?”

“To the Accounts Office!” Fang Jifan said without hesitation. Time was money, it was money clinking and flowing!

Fang Jifan rushed swiftly to the Accounts Office. He searched around, practically gathering all the Treasure Notes in the Accounts Office. Right now, he had to complete the transaction as soon as possible, no dragging feet. Hauling a cart of silver for the transaction would be too inconvenient. So, Fang Jifan still thought the Treasure Notes weren’t enough. His eyes fell on a few property deeds, and he collected those too. Then he flew out of the Fang Family like the wind.

Deng Jian was scared pale. Seeing Fang Jifan like this, he didn’t have time to call others, and just crazily chased after him.

Actually, the Shouning Hou Mansion wasn’t far from the Nanhe Bo Mansion. But compared to the Nanhe Bo Mansion, the Shouning Hou Mansion appeared much more impressive. Marquis of Shouning and Earl of Jianchang, this pair of Zhang Brothers, were the brothers of the current Empress. Empress Zhang and Emperor Hongzhi had an extremely harmonious relationship. Naturally, the Zhang Brothers’ status rose accordingly.

As soon as Fang Jifan arrived at the Hou Mansion entrance, without having Deng Jian announce him, he boldly stepped forward.

Naturally, the gatekeeper stopped him. Fang Jifan directly said sternly, “I want to see Uncle Zhang. Go and announce me quickly.”

The Zhang Family’s two fine brothers got up unusually early today. They were siblings, usually stuck together. But people in the Capital knew the Zhang Brothers were famously stingy. They were stingy not only towards others but even towards themselves. For example, today’s breakfast was just a bowl of thin porridge. The two slurped and panted, drinking it down in one go.

After eating, Zhang Heling happily patted his belly. “You see, Yanling, drinking porridge is good for the body. I increasingly feel this porridge water is truly something that prolongs life! Here, do you want to drink another half bowl?”

Zhang Yanling thought for a moment and shook his head. “Forget it, too wasteful. Let’s save it, keep the rest for lunch.”

Zhang Heling smiled and said, “True, we must be diligent and thrifty in managing the household…”

The two brothers looked at each other and smiled. At this moment, the gatekeeper came in and said, “Two Masters, Nanhe Bo…”

“Won’t see him!” As soon as Zhang Heling heard Nanhe Bo, he immediately showed an extremely annoyed expression. That old fellow had come to the door several times, each time demanding money back. Hmph! The money we brothers obtained through our own skill, he wants it back just because he asks? Don’t even think about it, not even if the King of Heaven himself came. Not a single tael of that thirty thousand taels of silver!

Come to make trouble?

Hmph! He should go ask around what status Empress Zhang holds in the palace, and who we brothers are to Empress Zhang.

“Don’t get angry, don’t get angry…” Zhang Yanling advised. “Brother, save some energy. Otherwise, you’ll get hungry again later.”

Zhang Heling thought this reasonable. He then twirled the beard under his chin and looked sideways at the gatekeeper.

There wasn’t a single person in the entire mansion that Zhang Heling found agreeable. Regardless of who, he felt they were all wasting his food.

The gatekeeper stammered, “It’s not Nanhe Bo. It’s Nanhe Bo’s son, that Fang Jifan, the famously good-for-nothing wastrel.”

Upon hearing ‘wastrel,’ Zhang Heling glanced at Zhang Yanling. Zhang Yanling seemed thoughtful.

“See him?” Zhang Yanling asked tentatively.

Zhang Heling, shrewd and calculating, remained silent for a moment before saying, “I heard this kid has a brain illness. If we don’t see him and he gets angry and kicks the door broken, that would be a waste. Then… let’s see him.” He said to the gatekeeper, “Go, call him in. Also, take away the tea in front of us. Don’t let people see we were drinking tea, lest he also wants to ask for tea to drink.”

So the gatekeeper hastily removed the tea, then led Fang Jifan inside.

Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling each looked at the roof beams, acting as if they hadn’t seen Fang Jifan, shaking their legs.

Fang Jifan came in smiling and said, “Your humble nephew Fang Jifan, long have I heard of my two esteemed uncles’ great names. I specially came to pay my respects.”

“Oh.” Zhang Heling only glanced at Fang Jifan. “Want some tea?”

Fang Jifan said, “No, no need.”

Zhang Heling breathed a sigh of relief. “Not drinking is right. Drinking too much tea hurts the kidneys.”

“…” Fang Jifan took a deep breath and got straight to the point. “Your nephew does not come to the precious temple without a reason. I came to buy land. The Western Hills… I wonder if my two esteemed uncles have any impression of it?”

Originally thinking Fang Jifan came to seek justice, the two brothers had already decided: want money? none. Want lives? we have two. Who would have thought he came to buy… land…

Zhang Heling looked at Fang Jifan suspiciously. “This… this Western Hills… the Western Hills is a good place! Has mountains and water, hmm… right, this…”