"That's right, it's three million stones." Zhao Xu's eyes were bright.

This is the food ration for a year for millions of people.

He thought about the reason for so much.

First of all, there were about 300,000 people coming from Jinzhou.

This number is still growing.

The second is the craftsmen and soldiers of the royal palace who entered the workshop.

They only consume food, not produce food.

Finally, there is the situation facing the North Four counties.

In his opinion, the foreign wars in the North Four counties will not stop in the future, and this will continue to consume food.

It is absolutely necessary to store three million stones of grain for spare.

Otherwise, once the northern four counties face a shortage of food, the powerful tribes will work together to cut off the source of his food, and the northern four counties will be in chaos without fighting.

"But there are too many of them, so I have to go back and discuss it." Xie Lan wiped the sweat beads on his head, "The Empress said that the official can decide the food within one million taels of silver."

Zhao Xu nodded.

This million taels of grain is the sincerity given to him by the Xie family.

In places like Yanzhou, grain is expensive and can be sold for one or two stones.

But in Jiangnan rice, you can buy more for one tael of silver.

This million taels of silver is equivalent to one hundred and three hundred and four hundred thousand stones of grain.

Thinking of this, he said, "I will not make you embarrassed. I will use artillery to get the remaining food?"

Xie Lan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and said, "This time the Xie family wants to buy 350 cannons from His Highness."

It is no secret that the number of artillery purchased by the Han family and the Liang family is not a secret.

His Xie family is not as wealthy as the Liang family, but he can't lose to the Han family.

So there are fifty more doors than the Han family.

Zhao Xu chuckled gently, "Since that's the case, when you go back, tell the Empress that 300 cannons will give cash silver and fifty cannons to exchange for grain. Before attacking Xiliang, I hope that three million stones of grain will arrive in the four northern counties."

When Xie Lan heard this, he took a breath of cold air.

Fifty cannons are only 400,000 taels of silver.

With the one million taels of silver promised by Queen Xie, the King of Yan wanted to buy three million stones of grain for 1.4 million taels of silver.

This basically means asking the Xie family to buy grain for him at half price.

But he thought to himself, but he didn't dare to say it.

The Xie family was bargaining at the King of Yan.

This matter was not something he could decide. "I will report it to the Empress truthfully."

"Well, okay, I have written a memorial and prepared a generous gift. I will send it to the capital immediately. On the day the Xie family promised, the gift will be delivered to the prince's mansion, and the memorial will appear in the court." Zhao Xu threw down a bargaining chip, and it depends on whether the Xie family will accept it.

"I remember it." Xie Lan stood up, bowed to Zhao Xu, and turned around and left.

Zhao Xu watched Xie Lan leave and quietly finished the tea on the table.

Just as he was about to return to the bedroom, Feng'er walked in and complained as he walked: "Your Highness, it's time to take charge of these profiteers in Yancheng. These coal cakes are more expensive every day, and they are really grabbing money."

After formally handing over the responsibility of managing the royal palace to Feng'er.

Feng'er is naturally in charge of the current expenditure on the royal family's internal affairs.

Hearing this, he said, "You said the price of coal cakes is rising?"

Feng'er nodded, "I ordered the servants to buy some and burn the boiler. I never thought that the money I gave was twice as much as usual."

Zhao Xu's expression darkened.

Fortunately, he bought a lot of coal when he selected commercial bank officials.

These coals are piled up in the warehouse of the Military Affairs Office.

Otherwise, he would have to buy coal at a high price now.

This will inevitably increase the cost of various commercial goods.

But even now there is no problem.

This does not mean that there will be no problems in the next few months.

After all, his military commander made a flintlock rifle in Dasong.

There are also huge orders of artillery, which require a lot of steel, while steelmaking requires burning coal.

"I understand. You send someone to the business bank. The business bank officials call the coal merchants in Yancheng." Zhao Xu said.

Feng'er, the King of Yan would scold the coal merchants in the future and went happily.

Half an hour later, more than ten coal merchants arrived at the royal palace under the leadership of the business officials.

When the coal merchants saw Zhao Xu, they saluted and shouted injustice before Zhao Xu could speak, "Your Highness, we can't blame us for the price increase of this coal cake. Jinzhou was captured by Xiliang and no one mined the mine. We are helpless."

When they came, they guessed that the King of Yan was looking for them because of coal.

After all, the royal family has always been a big buyer of coal.

Zhao Xu raised his hand and signaled the merchants to be quiet.

He had no intention of blaming the merchants for the increase in coal prices.

When Jinzhou was captured by Xiliang, he thought of the current situation.

"Don't worry, I don't mean to blame you, I just want to ask if there is still coal coming from Jinzhou." Zhao Xu said.

The merchants breathed a sigh of relief.

A merchant said: "At the beginning, there was, but now there is no more. There is also high-priced coal. After Xiliang occupied Jinzhou, he occupied all the coal mines and drove the people to transport coal to Xiliang."

Zhao Xu frowned. The resources on the territory of Xiliang have always been scarce.

As far as he knows, the coal and iron in Xiliang were smuggled by merchants in Jinzhou.

Now that they occupy Jinzhou, they naturally have to steal coal and iron.

"What's even more hateful is that after the fall of Jincheng, the four great families in Jinzhou offered to flatter Xiliang, and made enemies for the tigers and led the way for Xiliang soldiers. They occupied many mines of merchants, and even let us have no coal to buy. Then they sold us high-priced coal, which caused the coal price to soar." Another merchant was indignant.

"Four Great Merchants?" Zhao Xu's eyes narrowed slightly.

Jinzhou and Yanzhou are the two states, because the sky is high and the emperor is far away, the local wealthy families have always been rampant.

There was a Zhang family in Yanzhou, and even the Yuan family smuggled to Beidi.

The Jinzhou rich people who could not take advantage naturally had the idea of ​​Xiliang.

It is said that in the past century, I have secretly smuggled many coal, iron and fat oil into Xiliang.

When Zhao Xu was in the capital, these Jinzhou rich families had a big storm.

A powerful family member of Jinzhou relied on his money and spent a lot of money, and spent a lot of money. He even jealous of the Wang family members in the powerful family in brothels.

As a result, the Wang family members were annoyed and beaten to death the wealthy family members of Jinzhou on the spot.

These four great families in Jinzhou are worthy of being rich and powerful.

Shengsheng used the money to open up the Dou family's access, and forced the descendants of this powerful clan to be sentenced to death.

Although the Wang family was dissatisfied, how could they beat the Dou family in the court?

I could only swallow this breath.

"It's them. It is said that when they speak, they will increase the coal in Beisi County by five times or even ten times the price." The merchants said.

Upon hearing this, a cold light flashed in Zhao Xu's eyes.

Simply put, the coal matter is that Xiliang occupied Jinzhou.

As a result, the wealthy families in Jinzhou depended on Xiliang and took the opportunity to raise the coal price, hoping to make some money from him, which really made Xiliang feel superior to being a dog.

"Well, I understand. You guys go back, I have my own concerns." Zhao Xu said.

After hearing this, the merchants bowed and left.

"Jinzhou." The merchants disappeared, and Zhao Xu gently spit out two words.

Even if the battle in Jinzhou is going to be fought for coal.

Many people know that in contemporary times, Shanxi's coal has the best quality in the country.

Among them, the quality of thermal coal, bituminous coal and anthracite is excellent.

This thermal coal is simply fuel.

The thermal coal has high heat production and is very suitable for boilers. The thermal power plants use thermal coal.

bituminous coal is suitable for refining coke, and this military department has great demand.

As the name suggests, anthracite is free of smoke when burned. Because its carbon content is very large, it is often used in blast furnace blowing.

Although he still can't use it now, he will use it as the technology in the smelting industry improves in the future.

At the same time, anthracite can also be ground into powder and filtered water sources.

In short, such an important coal base is related to the industrial lifeline of the four northern counties.
Chapter completed!