The Princess' Mansion in Chang'an City has just begun to fall. Not only is the weather not cold, but Qiu Laohu is even more powerful. However, in the hall, there are three braziers burning. Princess Chengyang and Xue Shao stared at the three braziers without blinking, and even if they were sweating on their foreheads, they would not extinguish the braziers.

Zhang Zong next to him was drinking iced sour plum soup leisurely. The three braziers were firewood, charcoal and coal. Before adding the braziers, the three fuels were the same size. However, now the charcoal has been burned, leaving only a little embers, and the firewood was burning almost the same, but the remaining coal was still burning vigorously, and even blue flames emerged.

After a while, the charcoal and firewood were completely burned, leaving only a pile of ashes, but the coal was still burning, and there was no change in the fire. Princess Chengyang and Xue Shao were both tired of seeing it, so they had to rub their eyes and sit back to their positions.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'm afraid I wouldn't believe that the stone dug out from the ground could actually burn!" Princess Chengyang said with an incredible expression on her face. Until now, she had not yet woken up from the shock brought to her by coal.

"I can't believe it either. When Brother Shi told me before, the biggest function of this kind of coal is to make fuel like charcoal, I thought he was joking with me, but I didn't expect it to be true!" Xue Shao said in shock.

"There are many good things underground. In addition to this kind of coal, there is also something called oil underground. It can not only be used as fuel, but also has greater uses. Unfortunately, this thing is not easy to mine." Zhang Zong also said with a smile.

"Oh~, look, I'm so confused. Come on, go and buy all the places around Baiyao Town for me!" Princess Chengyang suddenly slapped her forehead and immediately ordered loudly. Seeing that it was getting colder and the fuel was about to rise. With fuel as good as coal, you will definitely make a big profit!

"Princess, please calm down. Although there are many coal mines in Xianyang, it is not possible to dig them casually. You still need to send someone to investigate!" Zhang Zong hurriedly spoke to stop him when he heard this.

"Yes, mother, don't buy land when you are hot. Brother Shi and I searched for several days before we found the coal mine by chance. If you buy wasteland, it's useless!" Xue Shao also advised at this time.

"Then you can't sit and wait. It's getting colder. If the coal cannot be mined in time, I'm afraid you will miss the best time to go public this year!" Princess Chengyang said anxiously again. Chang'an City has nearly one million people, and it consumes a lot of fuel every winter to keep heating. This is a daily business of gold making money, which is much better than a "small business" like soap.

"Princess, don't worry, I have bought the coal-producing mine, but I don't have the ability to mine. Why not follow the old rules of the soap business, I will take some of the share, and you will be responsible for the rest?" Zhang Zong also spoke again.

Although the coal mine was bought, the later mining required a lot of manpower and financial resources. Zhang Zong was not short of money, but he was extremely short of people. He could not even find a account before, let alone recruiting people to mine. If he only relied on himself, unless he cut him into eighteen pieces, each piece could stand on his own. Otherwise, even if he was exhausted, he would not want to mine the coal. Zhang Zong did not have the ability of Sun Houzi, so he could only cooperate with Princess Chengyang.

"Okay, then I'm not pretentious anymore. Without further ado, call all the managers in the family!" Princess Chengyang is a very popular person. When the managers in the family came, she immediately ordered that some managers were responsible for recruiting people, some managers were responsible for rushing to Baiyao Town for preparations in advance, and some managers were responsible for preparing various tools and supplies.

Princess Chengyang was like a general at this time, treating mining as a war, and everything was arranged in an orderly manner by her, which made Zhang Zong very impressed. As expected, she is a princess from the royal family, and her management ability alone is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

After the eldest princess gave the order, everyone immediately went to do their own business. At this time, Zhang Zong stepped forward again and said, "Princess, coal can not only make money. Its biggest function is to replace the current firewood and charcoal and reduce the price of fuel. By then, everyone in Chang'an can afford coal, and the poor people will not freeze to death every year like before!"

There is no heating in this era, and even cotton has not been planted on a large scale. Rich people can wear fur and burn expensive charcoal to keep warm. However, ordinary people who have no money can only rely on their bodies to bear it. Some poor people do not have winter clothes to keep warm, so they can only hold their families together in bed to keep warm. Therefore, people in Chang'an are frozen to death every winter.

"That's true. The biggest cost of coal is mining and transportation. Baiyao Town is not far from the capital, and the cost is not high. It should be much cheaper than charcoal and more resistant to burning than firewood. If everyone uses coal, it will definitely save a lot of people!" Princess Chengyang nodded in agreement after hearing this.

"Not only that, after turning coal into coke, it can also be used to smel steel. At that time, the cost of steel can be greatly reduced, so that more soldiers can afford weapons and armor!" Zhang Zong also added again.

In fact, there is another greater benefit that Zhang Zong did not say, that is, after using coal to replace charcoal and charcoal, people can reduce the people's deforestation of trees. Now the soil erosion in the Guanzhong Plain is quite serious. When the Yellow River flows through the plain, it takes away a lot of mud and sand, so the water of the Yellow River in the lower reaches is already very turbid. Once the Yellow River turns yellow, it will greatly aggravate the flood in the lower reaches, and the Guanzhong Plain will become no longer fertile due to soil erosion.

"Yes, coal has a huge effect, and it is even more so for the court!" However, when Princess Chengyang said this, she suddenly showed a hesitant expression and said, "But now we have only discovered one coal mine. What if the mining is completed and we can never find it again in the future?"

"You don't have to worry about this eldest princess. Our Tang Dynasty lacks gold and silver mines, and even copper mines, but there is no shortage of coal mines. As far as I know, there are almost everywhere in the northwest of Xianyang, and there are also near Taiyuan and the grassland areas in the north. Many coal mines there are even open-pit, with extremely amazing reserves. Even if our Tang Dynasty has been used for thousands of years, it may not be used up!" Zhang Zong explained with a smile.

If someone else said the above words, Princess Chengyang would definitely have some doubts. After all, no one could see the underground mines, but she believed Zhang Zong's words, because she had long been used to Zhang Zong's frequent words. Sometimes, although it sounded incredible, it was proved that Zhang Zong was right later. So when Zhang Zong asked her to borrow a guard to find a coal mine in Xianyang, she agreed without even asking what the coal was.

"I understand. Put a bag of coal for me, and I want to enter the palace!" Princess Chengyang finally understood the profound meaning of Zhang Zong's search for coal. She immediately smiled tacitly and ordered again. Zhang Zong said so much, but just told her that coal is of great significance, not even worse than Linyi rice. If she dedicated coal to the court herself, it would be another great achievement.

"The eldest princess is wise!" Zhang Zong also smiled immediately and said, "It's enough for the eldest princess Chengyang to understand her hard work."

"Okay, go and see the little cute person you rescued. During this period, she has asked you where you are eight times a day. If you don't show up, she may have to find you in person!" Princess Chengyang suddenly pointed at Zhang Zong and said with a smile.

"She woke up? How was she recovering from her injuries?" Zhang Zong immediately asked when he heard this. When he left before, Shangguan Wan'er was still in a coma, so the two of them hadn't talked a little.

"Don't worry, the wound is growing fast and nothing is wrong. But when do you plan to bring her home, you can't live with me all the time, right?" Princess Chengyang suddenly smiled at Zhang Zongkui at the end of her speech.
Chapter completed!