After the meal, Li Yan asked Rongda to prepare 10,000 yuan for Li Yuanchang. After playing in Yizhou for a few days, Li Yuanchang returned with satisfaction. Li Yan also asked Tong Nian to lead the fleet to set off for Hedong Road, and transported the coal from Hedong Road from the Yellow River through the canal. This 20% price was simply a waste of time for him, and the stolen coals were only equivalent to paying low labor prices.

When he returned to Chang'an, Li Yuanchang told the merchants the news. He was already secretly scolded by the merchants and swore that he would never interfere with Li Yuanchang's affairs again, but 20% was always better than nothing. After the transport ships emitting black smoke from the Chamber of Commerce of the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce arrived, these merchants rushed to sell the accumulated coal to the Chamber of Commerce of the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce. At the same time, the ships emitting black smoke from the Chamber of Commerce of the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce of the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce of the Sacred Tang also aroused the curiosity of these merchants, because in terms of cargo capacity and speed, the ships of the Chamber of Commerce of the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce were much stronger than those that rely on manpower.

In Taiyuan, in one of the most famous restaurants, coal merchants from Hedong Road invited Tong Nian to gather here. Although Tong Nian did not like this kind of occasion, he still had to do this business, so he could only be invited to go. After drinking these few glasses of wine, a businessman said, "Manager Tong, why did your ships in the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce emit black smoke and run so fast."

When others heard this, they all raised their ears. In this era, it can be said that whoever controls transportation will control business. These people don’t understand the truth. They are all thinking about whether they can buy one or two ships.

"This..." Tong Nian kept a secret, and did not intend to be a treasure for the steamship. He had also discussed with Tong Nian about the production of steamships for sale. Otherwise, their shipyard would have been in a loss-making state and only went out but not in. This would be very unfavorable to the finances of Yizhou. However, Li Nian also did not intend to sell the most advanced steamships to these merchants, according to his idea. He was planning to let the shipyard produce a batch of paddle-wheel steam transport ships instead of turbine steamships, and at the same time limit the power of the steam engine. Generally speaking, it was to sell low-end steamships to exchange for high profits at low costs.

The merchants at the table were all staring at Tong Nian. After Tong Nian dragged the old man's voice, a merchant finally couldn't help but say, "Manager Tong, you said, we are all anxious to death."

He laughed and Tong Nian said, "This kind of ship is called a steam boat. There is something called a steam engine inside this ship. By burning coal, the ship can be allowed to sail without the need for boatmen to row the boat. Even if it goes up against the current, it is easy."

His eyes widened in surprise, the merchants whispered to each other and talked a lot. They didn't understand what a steam engine was. A merchant said, "I have only heard of pheasants. I haven't heard of steam chickens yet. There are really all kinds of wonders in the world."

"It's just that since it's a chicken, how it relies on coal to burn, strange. Weird!"

"This doesn't make sense..."

“…”

Faced with the strange discussions of the merchants, Tong Nian almost spit out the dish in his mouth. However, when he first heard about it, he seemed to have this reaction. He said, "Everyone, please don't talk. Tomorrow, I will take you on the boat to visit, so that you can resolve your doubts, how about it?"

"That's great!" The merchants all smiled, "But is this ship for sale?" The merchants raised another key question.

"Well, I have to go back and discuss with Your Highness!" Li Yan did not make a clear statement, so Tong Nian did not dare to make a decision without authorization.

"Then I hope Manager Tong will go back and ask for us." A businessman said.

Tong Nian bowed and said, "It must be, it must!"

...

At the same time, in the Han Palace, Li Yuanchang was surrounded by a group of famous playboys from Chang'an. Although the incident in the coal mine caused a lot of hatred for him and he also lost a lot of money, his new interest quickly made him forget these unpleasant things.

"Do you know what this is called?" Li Yuanchang put the playing cards on the table, gently wiped the poker, and arranged the poker in a straight line on the table, revealing the true face of the playing cards.

The dandy guys shook their heads.

"This is called playing cards! It is a gambling tool, which is higher than what you usually play cricket fighting, dog fighting, and elegant. This is the game that nobles play. Do you understand?" Li Yuanchang showed an exaggerated expression, his tone was full of contempt for the previous gambling methods.

A playboy said, "Is it so powerful? Isn't it just a pile of paper?"

"A pile of paper? It's so vulgar, it's so vulgar. Do you know where this playing card comes from?"

The playboys shook their heads again.

With a sneer, Li Yuanchang said: "Yizhou, do you understand? This is from Yizhou. Can the things in Yizhou be bad? Tell you that the playing cards are the most popular in Yizhou. The Emperor is playing, and it is still playing every day. If you don't play for a day, it will be uncomfortable!" Li Yuanchang shook his head and sighed, "If it weren't for some things that I had to come back, I really want to stay in Yizhou and not come back."

"The Supreme Emperor is always playing, it's so magical, then Your Highness will teach us!" Such a playboy suddenly became interested.

Li Yuanchang showed a very unhappy expression and hesitated for a while and said, "Okay, okay, I will reluctantly give this skill to you."

...

At this time, Li Yanhun, who was in Yizhou, didn't know that although Li Yuanchang gave him bad things behind his back, he also gave him the opportunity to kill three birds with one stone. One was to buy coal at a low price, the other was to start the business of the steamboat, and the other was to bring him a group of wealthy gamblers to Chang'an, which would soon bring him a group of wealthy gamblers.

However, this will be something that will happen in the future. What he really cares about now is the huge impact that intelligent people will have on him after participating in the construction of Yizhou. First of all, in terms of agriculture, Rongda was replaced by intelligent people shortly after taking over the management of the manor. This is a decision made by Li Yan, because both in terms of technology and management, Rongda belongs to the original level and cannot be compared with them. Because of the participation of intelligent people, the high-tech and vegetable greenhouse plan has been successfully implemented. Li Yan is also relieved from the endless Baidu search. Sometimes in order to check these technical information, he does not know how many cells will die. Compared with his slow speed, the intelligent people have also taught a large number of technical talents in this area while restoring the high-tech and vegetable greenhouse. This makes Li Yan really ashamed and truly understands the saying that technology is productivity.

In order to cooperate with the vegetable greenhouse, Li Yan also made a new thing, because it would not work without it in the vegetable greenhouse, and hatching chickens also needed it, and cooking and heating also needed it. He just accompanied the Chinese people to spend decades of coal ball stoves.

"Your Highness, this is the first batch of coal ball furnaces, this is coal ball." In the palace, Rongda asked several servants to put the coal ball furnace transported from Taoyuan in front of Li Yan. This simple thing does not require much technical content, so Tong Yu made it himself. With the help of Li Jie, a complete set of coal ball production machinery was successfully put down the production line, which allowed the Shengtang Chamber of Commerce to start mass production of coal balls.

Li Yan looked at the coal briquette furnace and coal. It was basically no different from what he used before. Without liquefied gas or natural gas, this is the best heating tool. "How much is this cost?" Li Yan asked. His plan was naturally for civilian use, and it would not work if the price was too high.

"Tong Yu said that one cost 20 cents." Rongda replied.

"Twenty cents!" Li Yan measured it. It was easy for an ordinary person to buy it. He said, "Then contact the Chamber of Commerce and tell them to sell one for thirty cents." Tong Yu only calculated the materials and labor costs, and definitely did not count the transportation costs. So Li Yan added another ten cents. In this way, each coal ball furnace could make five cents. The profit of the coal ball furnace was limited. He mainly relied on subsequent coal balls to make money, because a coal ball furnace could be used for several years, but coal balls were constantly consumed, which was considered to be a small profit and a lot of money.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Rongda responded and took the coal ball stove with him. This batch of things belonged to the royal palace. It has always been Li Yan's rule to try new things first in the royal palace. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!