It had been more than ten days since Hao Tong disappeared, so much so that Su Hao even doubted whether he had gone back to Yunnan. Deng Kui did what he said. During these days, he really followed Su Hao's side, step by step.
Bu Li, it seems that he regards Su Hao as a key protection target.
Su Hao was too lazy to guess what the two soldiers were thinking. He still had his own things to do. Deng Kui was willing to follow him. Su Hao was also very happy. At least he could treat Deng Kui as an orderly and help him from time to time.
Running errands, moving things, etc.
Dai Qi came back from the provincial capital and brought back the kiln photo issued by the Chief Secretary, which had the signature of the household and workshop. Dai Qi told Su Hao that the Chief Secretary was very supportive of the opening of the coal kiln, and specifically asked Feng
The city and county issued a document requesting the county government to provide necessary conveniences. As for the mining tax from coal mines, the household house made a rough calculation and determined that the annual tax amount would be 500 taels. In addition, the secretary of the household house also specifically informed
Dai Qi, if the output of the coal mine is less than 5 million catties by then, you can apply for tax exemption again.
In the Ming Dynasty's yamen setting, there were corresponding departments from the central yāng to the local areas. The six departments in the central yāng corresponded to the six houses in the local area, and were also called six caos. The household houses and work houses mentioned by Dai Qi were both in the province.
Although the name of the organization is the same as that of the county organization, the level is completely different.
"Will Jingran be so successful?" Su Hao asked in surprise. In his impression, the officialdom in the late Ming Dynasty should be extremely dark and decadent. Based on his guess, how could it not take several months to obtain these certificates?
of.
Dai Qi smiled and said: "Master Su, you don't know something. Our opening of coal mines is also an act to improve people's livelihood. The Chief Secretary has always strongly advocated such things."
"That's it." Su Hao said.
"Of course, I've also done a little bit of work on the household side. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so easy to negotiate the tax assessment," Dai Qi said.
"..." Su Hao was speechless. Unfortunately, he just wanted to praise the provincial officials for their integrity.
Dai Qi added: "The factory doesn't ask for our filial piety. However, Nanchang Mansion is extremely short of coal in winter, so the Lei Secretary of the factory specifically told me to leave dozens of dollars for him in the winter this year.
Ten thousand catties of good coal will be distributed to various officials in the province."
"These hundreds of thousands of kilograms of good coal are not given away for free, right?" Su Hao asked worriedly.
Dai Qi said: "Of course not, they will buy it at the market price. It is not easy to buy good coal nowadays, and it is impossible for anyone to give out hundreds of thousands of kilograms of coal at once to make a contribution."
"Haha, this means that we also have some in-demand supplies that we can sell at a price." Su Hao said with a smile.
With the kiln license, Su's Trading Company's coal mining business is completely legal. Over in Xuanfeng Township, Yu Fuyang has recruited nearly 200 coal mining adoptees, who are concentrated in the mountain farm of Zhao Luo's family, ready to start at any time.
Work.
According to Su Hao's instructions, Chen Guanyu and Xu Zong organized the volunteers to build a temporary shed as their residence. Although it was only a temporary residence, Su Hao still required them to keep the environment clean and tidy, both in front and behind the house.
Garbage is not allowed to be piled up, and drinking and fighting are strictly prohibited in the residence. Su Hao also specifically told Chen Guanyu to invite more than a dozen women from the surrounding villages to be responsible for cooking, washing, and cleaning for the righteous husbands, euphemistically called the logistics department.
.
Various coal mining tools are also being actively prepared. Su Hao and Yu Fuyang jointly designed a huge bellows, which is driven by four or five inlets and can pump air into a well hundreds of meters deep to discharge underground gas.
.A simple mine car has also been designed, which can load nearly a thousand kilograms of coal, and can be easily pushed out of the tunnel with just one entry.
The improvement of these tools was all proposed by Su Hao, and then he found carpenters and blacksmiths to implement them. In the process, Su Hao was once again impressed by the superb skills and rich imagination of the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty.
After another survey, Su Hao finally selected five well locations in the mountain field of Xuanfeng Township, and asked Yu Fuyang to lead the volunteers to dig shafts and search for coal seams. Learning from the lessons of Yu Fuyang's original coal mine, Su Hao told Yu Fuyang that if
When encountering a coal seam with a thickness of less than three feet, do not stop but continue digging downward. There will naturally be a thicker coal seam below.
"Master Su, do you mean that if I dig deeper into the coal mine, there will be a thick coal seam underneath?" Yu Fuyang asked Su Hao.
Su Hao smiled slightly and said: "If Yu Dongtou is interested, you might as well let the righteous men dig it. It doesn't need to be too deep. If you dig another 20 feet, you should have results."
After Yu Fuyang heard this, he really found a few people to dig deep into the foundation of his original coal kiln. After digging 20 feet, he found another coal seam six or seven feet thick. Only then did Yu Fuyang know that he had
What a big mistake he made before, but now it's too late to realize it, because all his coal mines have been sold to Su Hao.
Of course, Yu Fuyang does not resent Su Hao in this matter. He was not good at learning and returned empty-handed when he entered Baoshan. He cannot blame others for entering. He is now receiving a high salary in Su Hao's mine. Judging from the output of the coal mine,
It is estimated that my future dividends will not be less. Overall, my income is several percent more than when I was a gang leader, so I am satisfied.
After knowing the gap between himself and Su Hao, Yu Fuyang became even more determined. He firmly believed that as long as he followed Su Hao closely, he would naturally have the opportunity to become famous in the future.
While coal mining started vigorously, Su Hao arranged to set up several lime kilns in the mountain field and began to burn lime. Limestone is available everywhere, and it is not difficult to collect it. The process of burning lime is also
It's very simple. Just stack limestone and coal cakes alternately layer by layer in the kiln, and then roast them over fire to get quicklime. Xu Zong had some experience in this area, so the management of the lime kiln was completely left to him.
Take responsibility for Xu Zong.
There is no need to worry about the sales of quicklime. Zhu Xi has already contacted farmers in several surrounding villages and recruited tenant farmers to transform the red soil wasteland in Zhao Luo's farm. Su Hao promised to provide him with 500,000 kilograms of quicklime and 250,000 kilograms of quicklime.
Phosphate rock powder is enough to transform 50 hectares of wasteland. Zhu Xi has calculated it repeatedly with an abacus. If the rent is 1 stone meter per mu of land, then after deducting the cost of these fertilizers, the Zhao family can earn at least 1,000 taels of net income.
.
The most important thing is that the rent of the land can be received every year. After applying lime and phosphate fertilizers for several consecutive years in the red soil wasteland, the soil quality will be fully improved. In the future, it only needs to be fertilized again every few years.
, in this way the cost can be greatly reduced, and the Zhao family's income will also increase.
Cheng Yi was officially recruited into Su's Trading Company. After a short-term training by Su Hao, he was sent to the coal mine as the chief accountant. The name of this position was invented by Su Hao, but everyone can understand it. China has been
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the officials responsible for calculating official financial revenue and expenditure were called Sihui, while the daily running accounts were called Ji, and the summary of accounts was called Hui. The full name of the two is called "monthly accounting and annual meeting".
In the tenth year of Wanli, a classic book describing the national financial situation compiled by the Ministry of Household Affairs is called "Wanli Accounting Records". It can be seen that the word accountant has long existed, but in general business firms, this position is called "Wanli Accounting Records".
It's just a counting house.
Su Hao gave Cheng Yi a high salary of 5 taels of silver per month and made her responsible for cashiering all the money in the coal mine. Even Xu Zong and Yu Fuyang were under her control. Cheng Yi was originally born in an official family, but because of the disaster, she has been in charge of all the money in the coal mine.
They have always lived a humble and submissive life. Now that they are in power, girls suddenly regain their youthfulness, are full of energy, and are bossy. They have the energy of some of the strong women in the workplace in later generations.
While settling down at the coal mine, Su Hao took him for a tour of the mountainous area south of Fengcheng. Using the price of the wasteland, he bought several inconspicuous hills from local landowners.
From the perspective of those landowners, these mountain fields have no other use except for planting some Camellia oleifera trees. If fools from the county are willing to spend money to buy them, why wouldn't they do it?
Su Hao recruited a group of stonemasons in the county town and organized them into several groups. Each group was led by an old stonemason and a yamen worker from the workshop, and they were sent to several mountains to mine stones. The stonemasons mined stones.
The stones were pulled back to the county town by bullock carts and piled in a yard bought by Chen Guanyu, waiting for further processing.
These stones, which are worthless in the eyes of the public, are all treasures in Su Hao's eyes. Some of them are phosphate rock, which can be thrown into the fields as phosphate fertilizer after being smashed. The price per 100 kilograms can be
It was sold for 3 coins; some of them were quartz stones, which the Hao family and his son had successfully used to smelt high-quality glass; and there was also a gray-brown stone with a bit of metallic luster. Su Hao didn't say what they were used for.
Yes, I just told you to pay attention to rain and don't get these stones wet.
Thanks to the 500 taels of silver notes left by Hao Tong, Su Hao was able to start so many projects at the same time. Although the cost of each project was carefully calculated, the money was still used quickly like running water.
It's over. Fortunately, the coal mine has begun to produce output, and the Hao and Sons' glaze workshop can also provide Su Hao with some profits, so Su Hao does not fall into a financial crisis.
When all the businesses under his banner began to get on track and Su Hao was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, Hao Tong also reappeared. Along with Hao Tong, there was also a military officer wearing a mandarin duck jersey, who looked like
He looked majestic and looked like an official. Su Hao had not done much research on the official costumes of the Ming Dynasty, and could not tell what level of official the other party was.
"Old Hao, who did you bring?" Su Hao asked Hao Tong strangely.
"Master Su, this is Fang Shu, Fang Daru, the commander of Nanchang Guard." Hao Tong introduced to Su Hao in a low voice.