By the way, Xishan borders the capital, so the imperial court and the government should have pretty good control over the area.
In fact, this is indeed the case. There are frequent exchanges between the two places, and the exchanges of business personnel are quite prosperous. The tentacles of the powerful people in the capital have also spread.
This is nothing at all. The most powerful people in the capital can only build a few Zhuangzi and so on. As for minerals such as coal, they don't care.
Before industrialization, the utilization rate of coal was not high, and the money earned was purely hard-earned money. How could it attract the attention of the powerful people in Beijing?
But the emergence of briquettes changed everything.
Simply burning coal not only smells bad but is troublesome to ignite. It is also difficult to control the heat. Ordinary families in Beijing can only hold their noses and admit it.
Wealthy people who value dignity and quality of life are simply not willing to burn coal and blacken their homes with unpleasant odors all year round.
It also takes up space, and it’s not very pleasant to have soot floating around all year round.
This is also the main reason why although coal gradually replaces firewood, it is not very popular among wealthy people.
Briquettes are different. When used with a specific stove, they not only burn more fully, but the exhaust gas is discharged through the chimney without a heavy smell, and they can also control the size of the fire at all times, which is quite simple and practical.
Not only that, it is not troublesome to transport the prepared briquettes.
With the rapid spread of briquettes and coal-burning stoves in Beijing, they gradually replaced firewood mixed with cinders as the main fuel, and the trend of burning briquettes also emerged in the surrounding areas.
In other words, although Lian Er lost the capital market, under Jia Cong's technical guidance, it also made a lot of money in the suburbs of Beijing and Tongzhou, and it was quite stable.
This was the reason why he did not continue to ask Jia Cong for ways to make money.
Of course, with the power of Rongguo Mansion, he could only do this.
As time goes by, there are not too many powerful people who are interested in the briquette business. They are naturally interested in the market in a prosperous city with a large population. As for the suburban rural areas with low purchasing power, they do not pay attention at all.
The technology of briquettes and the production of coal stoves are not difficult. Even without the guidance of a mature team of craftsmen under the chain, it will be enough to try a few times.
As a result, the demand for coal has greatly increased!
There used to be coal kilns near the capital, but most of them were small private kilns, and a few official kilns were of no use at all.
As a result, small coal mines that had not been paid attention to by powerful people in the past suddenly became popular. If Lian Er hadn't acted quickly and got all the small coal mines, he would have been unable to control several sources of coal.
Because he spent too much energy on his previous trip to Jiangnan and later on promoting his new book, Jia Cong had no idea about the changes in the coal mine resources in the capital.
Through Lian Er's description, he now knew how fierce and bloody the battle for coal resources in the capital area had been in the past two years.
Royal relatives, cabinet bosses, and top dignitaries all came to the scene one after another. After a fierce battle, the final winner was the Ministry of Internal Affairs!
"Third brother, you don't know. I heard that during the fiercest competition for the coal mines in the suburbs of Beijing, many people were even killed with knives!"
When talking about this, Lian Er had a look of shock on his face, obviously he was still frightened by the intense scene back then.
"Is there anyone who is forced to buy the coal mine in Brother Lian's hands?"
Jia Cong asked with a smile, but he didn't feel anything.
The struggle for interests is inherently bloody and cruel, and if everyone wants to be gentle and abide by the rules, unless the second chain is so strong that others dare not easily provoke him, or he is simply the rule maker, it is all delusional.
"Of course!"
Speaking of this, Lian Er's face looked very ugly. He shook his head and suppressed his unhappiness, and said thankfully: "Fortunately, my third brother had already warned me. My coal mines are not big in scale, and they are all in quite remote places."
, so I wasn’t robbed!”
Of course, Jia Cong is not a mastermind, he just knows how fierce the competition for energy is in modern society, and he even does not hesitate to launch a long-lasting national war for this purpose.
Therefore, it was originally suggested that Chain Two take the initiative to abandon the Beijing market and shift its focus to the suburbs of Beijing, and by the way acquire a few small private coal mines in remote locations with average output.
Anyway, the purchasing power of people in the suburbs is average, and the demand for coal is relatively fixed, so there is no need to fight for medium and large coal mines.
Unexpectedly, Lian Er was not greatly affected by this wave of competition for coal mines, and the few small coal mines in his hands were not robbed.
The Rong Guofu brand is enough to scare local officials, but it doesn't care about the powerful people in the capital, and they are not qualified to participate in such a thing.
Otherwise, with the sieve-like confidentiality of Rongguo Mansion, Jia Cong would have heard the rumors long ago. Obviously, Rongguo Mansion did not even have the opportunity or qualification to participate in the battle for coal mines in the suburbs of Beijing in the past two years.
Whether it is the second wife, Mrs. Wang, or the hottie Wang Xifeng, they are both money-minded, and if they have the opportunity to make a lot of money, they will not let it go.
In addition, he also thought that maybe some top nobles had spoken and the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not start to rob them. Otherwise, it would be difficult to say whether the small coal mines in Chain 2 could be saved.
Not to mention the battle for the coal mines in the suburbs of Beijing, if they failed to grab the coal mines in the suburbs of Beijing that could continuously generate profits, the powerful people in Beijing would naturally not agree.
Then, the coal mines in the Zhili territory bordering Shuntian Prefecture, Xishan and Guanluo came into the eyes of these powerful people in the capital.
In particular, many coal mines in Xishan changed hands one after another and became the possessions of the powerful in the capital.
As there are more coal mines, the amount of labor required will naturally increase.
Ahem, with the current level of productivity, don't expect any mining equipment. Coal mining relies entirely on manpower. In order to squeeze labor to obtain more profits, needless to say, various bloody and cruel methods are used, as you can see by referring to various modern black kilns.
In terms of coal mines alone, there are countless crimes in Xishan. What the Criminal Department Yamen can know is definitely just the tip of the iceberg. It doesn't take much to know that the public security situation in Xishan is definitely not much better.
This was also the main reason why Lian Er wanted to go with La Jia Cong. If he went rashly without mentioning the huge safety hazard, someone might be killed.
The local government in Xishan, as well as local forces, might suspect that he was conducting a "private visit incognito" without knowing the circumstances. If this were to happen, the outcome would not be good.
Kang Mazi, who always likes to visit privately incognito in the drama, was also sent to the mines by local powerful men to work as coolies. Don't expect local powerful men to be more wary of the majesty of the court's laws when their own interests are involved.
If you kill someone, kill them. As long as the hands are clean, it will become a headless case. No one will pursue the death, and maybe there will be a big problem...