It was not yet winter at this time. Although it was already cold, I only needed to add a layer of clothes. The fire wall and the kang in the house were burned, and the temperature was almost thirty degrees. Not long after, sweat appeared on Li Shimin's face.

I couldn't stay in the house anymore, so the two of them came outside and found a cool and windless place to relieve sweating.

Li Shimin said: "This invention of my dear is indeed beneficial to the country and the people. I want to promote the world, but I still have doubts in my heart."

Li Mu could probably guess, but he didn't say that the boss wanted to speak. If he didn't let the boss say that he was smart, wouldn't he be a fool?

"No one paid attention to coal stone before, and the dosage was not very large, so it gave people the feeling that they were everywhere. But if the people in the world use coal stone to keep warm, the consumption would be large. Can this coal stone be used?"

Li Mu smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I have already conducted an investigation. The coal stones in my Tang Dynasty are inexhaustible."

"really?"

"really."

Li Mu dared to say this, but it was not without basis. Of course, he knew that coal was a non-renewable resource, and he used it a little less. But the premise was that many people used it. In the later years, the north provided 900 million people to heat each year. It has been more than 70 years since its founding. The proven reserves of coal are still enough for more than 100 years. You must know that this counts heating, power generation, and industry, and consumes nearly 3 billion tons per year.

We can make a rough estimate: remove the difficult-to-mine things, remove too many impurities, and remove all the miscellaneous things. Just count how many open-pit coal mines are like "just picking up" as Lu Wenfeng, a doctor at the Yu Ministry,? At least one quarter of them! You should know that two of the top ten open-pit coal mines in the world are in China. The coal currently used in the Tang Dynasty can be ignored, which is equivalent to an unmined state, with at least one hundred billion tons of stock.

How many people are there in the Tang Dynasty? Li Mu asked Lu Wenfeng, the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the number of soldiers was everywhere, and the population dropped sharply. In the first year of Zhenguan, the court conducted a statistics and the population was less than 2 million households. Even if it was a low-ranking population, the number of black households disappeared was only 2.5 million.

How many people are there? There are only 12 million people, plus the lowly and bad households, the number of people is only 15 million.

Just a few people are not as large as the total population of a municipality directly under the central government in later generations. Even if it is open and you don’t have money, you can use coal every day. How much can you use?

Li Mu was too lazy to calculate, but at least, when he was alive, he couldn't see the day when the open-air coal was used up. Perhaps the day when the Tang Dynasty was destroyed, there was no room for open-air coal.

Since that's the case, what's wrong with bragging? There is no way to verify it anyway.

Li Shimin still believed in Li Mu's judgment in these matters. He rubbed his hands and was a little excited.

What are the fights and fights all over the world? What are the fights?

To put it bluntly, it’s human!

Why do families have such a great influence? Because they have many people and influence more people. Who can determine the emperor's stupidity and wisdom? Or is it that people, if you say you are stupid, you will be stupid, and if you are smart, you will be smart.

Those who have attained enlightenment have many helps, while those who have lost their power have few helps. Where does the help come from? Are you still human?

Li Shimin could already imagine that once this coal was released, thousands of people would be spared from the cold. In the spring of the following year, he would inevitably be praised by the people. In this way, wouldn’t it be the beginning of a prosperous era?

"Your Majesty, I checked the code and found that in addition to the salt and iron franchise, my Tang Dynasty did not establish any laws on the mining of various minerals. I wonder if what I said is true?"

Li Shimin nodded and said, "There is indeed no official office in the court that specializes in mining. Most of the minerals are cooperated with local people and the government collects taxes. This has been the case in all dynasties. What's wrong with it?"

"Your Majesty, it's a big mistake." Li Mu said solemnly: "In my opinion, minerals are the lifeblood of the country. For example, copper, if you don't use them to mint coins, they are valuable in themselves, let alone gold and silver. Although the court collects taxes now, the court cannot control the amount of minerals, and the taxes collected are probably not enough. In this way, wouldn't it be that the country's minerals were delegated to private individuals and controlled by various places? To put it bluntly, isn't it equivalent to handing over to the hands of local families?!"

"This..." Li Shimin hesitated for a moment, his brows became tighter and tighter. Li Mu was right. For example, the mineral deposits today are all controlled by local families, except for salt and iron. But this has been the case in all dynasties. Can it be changed?

Li Mu's eyes rolled and said, "Your Majesty, have you heard the words of Emperor Gao from the Mountain?"

Li Shimin said angrily: "What do you mean!"

"If there was a copper mine in the east of Qian at this time, 200 kilograms of copper were dug, but the place concealed and distributed it privately. Will Your Majesty know?"

"This..." Li Shimin could not answer, of course he could not know. But when he thought about it, two hundred kilograms of copper were divided privately, and in name, it was his own in the world, and he suddenly felt that his own money was stolen.

Li Shimin took a deep breath and said, "Don't say what's available or not, just tell me what you think."

Li Mu no longer kept it in a silence and said bluntly: "There is that it is like this coal stone. It was not a mineral, but now with a new way of utilization, it has become a mineral. Your Majesty, you think that Taiyuan Shuozhou is the place with the largest amount of coal stone in the world. If the locals knew the use of coal stone, wouldn't they have to do nothing and get rich overnight?"

Li Mu paused for a moment and added another heart-wrenching sentence: "Your Majesty, this is all your money."

"Yes! All the kings in the four seas should be my own!" Li Shimin glanced at Li Mu and said, "What are you a good idea? Tell me quickly!"

"I think that Your Majesty should promulgate the Tang Dynasty Mineral Resources Law, stipulating that all mineral resources, such as iron, copper, gold, silver, etc., belong to the court."

Li Shimin frowned and said, "Is this move too much competing for profit with the people? After all, it has been..."

"Your Majesty, what does it have to do with the things that have happened thousands of years? Do you want to be an emperor who follows the rules? Isn't your Majesty appointing ministers to reform the Ministry of Works for innovation?"

"Innovation..." Li Shimin pondered for a while, and did not express his opinion easily, but said: "You continue to say."
Chapter completed!