Chapter 19： Coal mine operation

After the coal mine, Marin lacked some interest in the reform of manor agriculture. I've become a coal boss son. I still want a hairy farm? Even when farming, so little arable land in the family can't make waves.

Moreover, Adler said that although he is the eldest son, the field may not have the brothers and sisters, but the coal mine benefits, he is willing to share with the brothers and sisters, especially Marin who excavated the coal mine.

Adler is not a stingy person, and he is not mean to money. The estate is not divided between the younger brothers, it is a family tradition. But for this coal mine, it is not ancestral. Although it is underground, the coal mine would not have been unearthed for one day without Marin's whim.

Of course, Adler also said that while he was alive, the proceeds of the coal mine could naturally be distributed to the younger brothers and sisters, but he did not guarantee that future generations would do the same. Because this mine belongs to the Huffman family. Adler, the next patriarch, could agree to share the interests of the coal mine with his siblings while he was alive. But Adler's son may not be so generous after becoming the new patriarch.

即使 But even so, Marin and his brothers and sisters can get a lot of benefits. Even if the coal mine Nissan produces 100 charlotons, the Huffman family can earn at least 100 shillings, which is 7.5 marks. 365 days a year, the Huffman family can earn at least more than 2,700 marks.

In fact, a skilled miner can dig 15 chartron coals daily (Newcastle, UK), even if unskilled, it is no problem to mine seven or eight chartron coals a day.

Then, it is no problem to recruit 20 miners and dig 200 Charteron a day. The Huffman family's income will also double. Of course, this premise is that the coal of the Huffman family must be sold out ...

However, the coal of the Huffman family is first-class coal, and it is the most suitable anthracite for fuel. Therefore, its sales are at least better than ordinary coal.

Adler and the old Huffman negotiated that they were willing to give 30% of the coal mine proceeds to the younger brothers and sisters. Among them, Marin got 10%, and the other 20% were divided by two younger brothers and sisters.

Of course, this vision is wonderful. However, for a long time, coal mines are not necessarily profitable. Because the early investment in mining coal was huge. For example, to recruit miners, we need to build dormitories for the miners. There is also a minecart track to the dock. Then, a pier needs to be repaired to make it easier for coal carriers to dock ... More than that, they have to go to the city to find businessmen who are willing to distribute Huffman family coal ...

掌握 In order to master how to run a coal mine, Marin went to other mines in the Ruhr area to inspect it. Then, he obtained some data through some means.

Data show that in general coal mines, miners can dig about 10 Chaltron coal per day. Of course, there are not only coal miners in the coal mines, but also workers responsible for hoisting coal from pulleys in deep wells, and workers who transport coal by hand-drawn mine carts to warehouses where coal is piled up outside the mine.

In general, the current coal miners in the Ruhr area pay 3 fennies a day, and the workers responsible for lifting coal and pulling coal to the warehouse are 2 fennies a day. On average, the cost of labor for each Charteron coal going out to the warehouse is about 3 Finney to 4 Finney.

But that's not all, because the cost of transporting a horse-drawn carriage is too high and the volume is small. Therefore, in general, coal transportation is pulled to the docks along the Ruhr or Lipper river for loading. The distance from the coal mine to the dock depends on how far each coal mine is from the dock. There is a long distance, and it will cost 4 Finneys just to transport a Chaltron coal from a coal mine to a dock. Low cost, also need one or two Finney.

Of course, there are also very favorable conditions, such as the coal mine at Huffman Manor, only 2 kilometers away from the Ruhr River, and the transportation cost is very low.

Alas, this is much more than cost. Because the official excavation of coal is also taxed. The Holy Roman Empire is different from other countries. Mining in other countries is to pay taxes to the royal family. Huffman Manor in the territory of the country of Mark, for every sale of Charteron coal, you need to pay 2 Finney tax to Earl Mark.

In addition, after the coal is shipped out of the country, if it passes through a vassal state and encounters a checkpoint, it will basically have to pay a Finney tariff. If you pass multiple vassal states, you will have to pay a lot of money for tax alone.

Therefore, in addition to the low transportation cost of shipping coal, it also means to avoid the checkpoints on land. After all, on the big river, as long as you are not on the shore, few princes will send ships to chase you for taxation. A tax officer will collect the tax only when the dock is docked. After all, this was the Middle Ages, and the tax officials were afraid of water and would not dare to take a bath in the river.

After arriving at the destination city, importing coal and entering the city must also pay import tax and entry tax. So, for a Chaltron coal, those merchant ships generally only give the coal boss 2 shillings per Chaltron. But even so, the profit of the miner, at least, has 1 shilling per Charteron. As for the ship owners, as long as they stop at a few ports, they will have a profit of more than one shilling even if they sell 4 shillings for each Charteron.

Alas, there must be a premise-that you have to sell coal first. You must know that there was no industry in the Middle Ages, and coal was the most demanding of iron smelting and copper smelting. Because these productions require the high temperatures created by coal. For others, such as cooking rice and boiling water, you can use local firewood. Therefore, the market for medieval coal is small and belongs to the buyer's market.

If coal is so easy to sell, it is estimated that many people in the Ruhr area will get rich by selling coal, just like the Shanxi coal boss in the future. Unfortunately, this era is the Middle Ages ...

林 Marin, who has been baptized by the tide of market economy in the future, knows the importance of sales. So he said nothing, pulled up the Huffmans and let them bring enough money to go to Cologne, the largest city on the Rhine.

It stands to reason that the two largest commercial cities in the German region are Hamburg and Bremen, and it would be better to go to these two markets. However, Marin knew that in this era of Bochum there were no inland waterways leading to Hamburg and Bremen. Only after the later Sino-German canals were opened could the waterways on Bochum and Bremen be opened. Right now, if you want to transport coal to these two places, you must first move out of the mouth of the Rhine, and then make a large circle from the sea to these two places. However, the risk of shipping by sea during this era is too great. Therefore, considering safety and transportation costs, Marin felt that it was OK to find a nearby big city to sell coal.

In the Rhine Valley, Cologne is worthy of being the largest city. Even the imperial capital Vienna is not as prosperous as Cologne. At the same time, Cologne was also the residence of the Archbishop of Cologne, one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire.

商业 Many commercial activities along the Rhine are around Cologne. Here, merchants gather, and many vassal states nearby will send business representatives to Cologne to take charge of commodity procurement. Therefore, coal is easier to sell here.

When Marin and Huffman came to Cologne, they found a hotel. Then, Marin spent money from the local owner, the hotel owner, to get some information from the Cologne business community, as well as information about some of the merchants he wanted to know.

筛选 After screening, Marin selected three more well-known coal distribution managers. The reason why the coal manager is chosen over the coal merchant itself is the truth that Marin realized when he worked in later generations-if he wants to sell products to the other boss, he must make the boss feel that he has made a lot of profit. But to do so, the concessions of one's own side are very large, and they are relatively disadvantaged.

But managers are different. They just work for the boss, but they also have great power. However, they are just part-time workers, not the bosses themselves. So, wanting him to buy your goods is actually very simple-that is, you can bring him sufficient benefits personally ...

So managers with purchasing authority are very popular. In later generations, many business people who are responsible for selling products will often bribe these managers with purchasing authority. Of course, bribery is not everything. This also has a premise, that is, your goods are not too big, and there is not much difference from others' goods.

Marin, who knows this well, meets with three managers he has selected and launches a bribery tactic ...

But to his dismay, the first two managers stated that their coal supplier was set by the boss himself and they had no right to change. So Marin had to give up. Fortunately, the third manager has a greater say in power-he is the boss's **** ...

After paying a huge bribe of 50 marks, the coal dealer agent named Wright agreed to purchase the coal from the Huffman family's coal mines and send them to him after two months and the contract with the previous dealer expired The ship came to load coal. Of course, the coal quality of the Huffman family is also excellent. Although Wright was jealous of the bribe, after examining the samples brought by Marin, he proved that the quality of the Huffman coal mine was first-class, and then he accepted the bribe and signed the contract with the old Huffman. Moreover, the price given by the old Huffman was also low-as long as 2 shillings per Charteron. In fact, the price of first-class coal mining in the Ruhr area generally costs 2 shillings and 3 finnies per charlteon. Therefore, Wright chose Huffman coal mine without any loss.

After solving the sales problem, Marin and the Huffmans rushed back to the manor. The next step is the excavation and transportation of coal.

马 Under Marin's dispatch, Adler was sent to the Ruhr River to supervise the construction of the coal terminal. The old Huffman was responsible for repairing the road from the coal mine to the river, and directing the serfs to repeatedly roll the road with the stone invented by Marin. Mrs. Mary is responsible for supervising the carpenter to build a batch of Chinese unicycles for the shipment of coal.

Because, Marin estimated that if the construction of a 2 km long minecart track is too expensive, the Huffman family will not be able to afford the money for the time being. So he decided to use a wheelbarrow and ox cart to transport coal first.

The yak cart is readily available, but there is a problem with the ox cart. Once the road is muddy on a rainy day, the ox cart cannot run, affecting the shipment of coal. The unicycle is actually intended to be used in rainy days and when the road is dry. UU reads because unicycles are all-terrain vehicles that can walk on grass. Moreover, a Chinese-style unicycle can hold five to six hundred pounds of cargo, which is very convenient and practical.

As for Marin himself, he took Kahn and Kohler out, went to those old coal mines, and bought two sets of bracket equipment for hoisting coal carts to lift coal.

After buying the equipment, Marin did not leave immediately, but quietly sent people to contact some of the skilled miners in those old coal mines, using the "high price" of 4 Finneys a day to rob 5 of them. Civilian experienced miner.

Huffman Coal Mine is a newly opened coal mine. If all newcomers are used, the output may not be guaranteed. And once the output can not keep up, the old Huffman is equivalent to a default, but to lose money to Wright. Therefore, Marin dug 5 skilled and powerful miners. Then, the old Huffman recruited more than a dozen robust serfs who had not mined coal from outside the manor, and learned mining with five old miners. A master took it with me. I believe that these dozen young men will be quicker in digging coal. Of course, some of them are also responsible for loading coal to the dock.

In this way, by the beginning of September, the Huffman family's coal mine also officially started operation. At this time, the news that King Charles VIII of France led the 37,000 French troops into Italy finally reached the German region.

He Marin knew that Her Majesty must be anxious. Because the emperors of the past ages all regarded Italy as their own reserved place, and they cannot tolerate others, especially France, which has a strong momentum. Therefore, Marin also temporarily put down the family coal mine business and began to prepare, planning to go to Vienna to join the emperor ...

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