Fu Shanhe

Chapter 107 High-Profit Industry
At the same time as Li Mu took action, various dignitaries and aristocratic families also rushed to the Lianghuai region from all over the country.

In order to raise funds for post-war reconstruction, Huai'an Prefecture announced the sale of land.

Although Yangzhou Prefecture has not made an official announcement, it is only a matter of time before the land is sold.

In peacetime, such opportunities to legally annex land are rare.

Those who have some ability come along to join in the fun.

It doesn’t matter even if the family is not here.

When a large family develops to a certain size, it is inevitable to diversify risks.

It is rare that a power vacuum has emerged in wealthy places like Yangzhou and Huai'an.

Migrating a branch here to develop is a great temptation for each family.

For a while, people were everywhere asking for connections and favors.

As a powerful figure in Yangzhou, Li Mu also received many visiting cards.

He turned down all the requests that could be turned down, and for those that could not be turned down, he had no choice but to accept them anyway.

It's all nice talk, but if something really happens, we'll just have to see how the situation plays out.

In a society like Dayu where human relationships are important, no one can escape from the ways of the world as long as they are in the world of fame and fortune.

Fortunately, the prisoners of war were seconded and the progress was very smooth, which alleviated my little depression.

All the generals were worried about the food and drink for the prisoners of war, so it would be great to have someone come to share the pressure.

It was clearly planned to second only 5,000 people, but in the end more than 20,000 people were used.

There were men, women, young and old, all with their families. Li Mu was so scared that he quickly canceled his plan to go to Huai'an Prefecture to transfer people.

Yangzhou's mineral resources are not abundant, and the large mines with higher output have all been registered by the imperial court.

Li Mu, who was afraid of trouble, did not want to deal with the Mine Tax Supervisor and avoided these hot potatoes.

All they got were three coal mines, two copper mines, and one silver mine with low output.

The specific production capacity is unknown, and the original owner has turned to ashes, leaving no information to be found.

Li Mu did not study mining, so his professional knowledge in this area is almost zero.

The miners found among the refugees can barely be considered technicians.

The reason why they dare to do this business is simply because they think that since there are people mining in the past, it proves that it is profitable.

Copper and silver mines need to be smelted, and how much money can be made depends on the quality of the ore.

Coal mines are much simpler. Labor is cheap enough and everything mined is money.

The buyers were the salt fields in the Lianghuai area. After years of salt boiling, the surrounding trees had long been cut down.

By the Dayu Dynasty, all major salt fields used coal as fuel.

In order to distinguish it from traditional charcoal, people call this black stuff "stone coal".

Not only in the salt fields, but also in several major cities in Dayu, coal was widely used as a heating fuel.

Take Yangzhou as an example. As a metropolis with a population of hundreds of thousands, if everyone used charcoal for heating, all the forests in Yangzhou would be burned down in one winter.

The most important thing is the price. Charcoal is 3.3 cents per hundred catties, while coal is only 1.3 cents per hundred catties.

Li Mu visited the mine and found that the coal being mined was shallow and the mining technology was relatively easy. It was not difficult for each person to dig several hundred kilograms a day.

When labor cost = free meals, even if the wholesale price is only half of the retail price, there will still be huge profits.

……

"Sir, the situation can no longer be contained.

Huai'an Prefecture has already started selling land, and now the outside world's eyes are on us. We can't delay any longer.

Especially those soldiers who come here every day to ask for pay.

I don’t know which bastard came up with this idea, but that bunch of bastards brought a group of old people and children, and they started crying at the gate of the yamen as soon as the sun rose.

It has almost become a common sight in Yangzhou now. People who are not aware of the situation may think that we are levying heavy taxes and extorting money, which has caused great suffering to the people under our rule..."

At the end of the conversation, Ma Tongzhi could no longer speak.

Because of the issue of money and grain, Prefect Gu went to Nanjing in recent days and all matters were left to him.

Being followed by a group of soldiers every day, he was on edge every day, fearing that those guys would suddenly explode and give him a severe blow.

He was not the only one who suffered; all officials, big and small, in the yamen were harassed.

In order to prove that the treasury was empty, officials were forced to eat coarse grains.

People who have never eaten whole grains in their lives are now forced to eat whole grains and pickled vegetables.

He doesn't want to live such a hard life for even a single day.

But there is no way, those soldiers are not polite.

He comes over to follow her every day and is also responsible for preparing meals.

The servant tried to drive him away, but was beaten badly every time, which made him completely lose his temper.

"It's not just Yangzhou that's suffering, Nanjing has also been harassed.

It's just that they are relatively restrained and not so excessive.

When I went there this time, I didn't get any substantial support. Instead, they urged us to solve the problem as soon as possible.

Forget it. Now we can’t rely on anyone, so we might as well sell the land too.

Before selling the land, arrange for someone to check the number of acres of land, and also find out the large and small mineral resources in the territory.

Don't make the same mistake twice!

Those prisoners of war will also be dealt with, and they will be sold together while the land is being sold." Gu Youwen said slowly.

Compared with Zhou Tongpan's previous proposal, directly selling them as slaves was obviously a much lighter punishment.

However, the lenient sentence was in line with the idea of ​​"benevolent government" advocated by scholars of that generation.

The only problem is that handling the issue in this way poses considerable risks. If these people launch another rebellion in the future, they will be held accountable.

“For now, this is the only solution.

However, those extremely vicious criminals must be screened out in advance, otherwise there will be endless troubles. "

Ma Tongzhi nodded in agreement.

The lesser of two evils!
Compared with the potential political risks, reputation is obviously more important.

“There’s no need to worry about the extremely vicious criminals.

The strongest guys among the captives were basically seconded by our Lieutenant General Li to work in the mines.

Even if there are any that slip through the net, we can pack them up and stuff them into his hands.

Evil people need to be punished by evil people!
No matter how fierce a villain is, he will have to do his job obediently when he meets those soldiers. "

Judge Zhou said unhappily.

The person in front was not careful and Li Mu took advantage of him.

Although no one said anything openly, they still complained about him in private.

After suffering a loss, naturally there will be no good words.

If it were not for the overall situation, he would have sent letters to all generals to prohibit them from lending out prisoners of war.

Unfortunately, this is just thought. It is easy to feel relieved, but the difficult part is how to deal with the aftermath.

If the government treasury is unable to provide money and grain, and people are not allowed to find solutions on their own, then they are pushing them into a desperate situation.

"President Zhou is right, evildoers need to be dealt with by evildoers!

We might as well hand over all the young and strong men in the rebel army to Lieutenant General Li to keep them under control, so that they don’t stay outside and cause trouble.”

Gu Youwen agreed immediately.

Deciding to take responsibility still requires reducing political risks.

After this period of contact, although they often scolded Li Mu for being domineering, they still recognized his abilities in their hearts.

Among the many troops stationed in Yangzhou, only the soldiers under Li Mu did not come out to cause trouble.

In other words, when they got into trouble, there was no need for their local officials to intervene; they would take the initiative to handle the problem and never cause them any trouble.

The requirements for the army these days are not high. If they can win battles frequently and not harass local troops, they are first-class good soldiers.

The evaluation of a general who can lead such soldiers will naturally not be too low.

……

"General, according to your instructions, we bribed the officials of Nanjing Yuheng Qinglisi and recruited more than 20 craftsmen from there.

People have been assigned to the mine and the furnace is expected to start operating next month.

Coal mine production is on the right track. Currently, the three coal mines produce a total of 300,000 kilograms of raw coal per day.

Mainly, the mine tunnels were damaged, many of which are being repaired, and production capacity is expected to double next month.

The land reclamation work is also progressing very smoothly.

With the help of the soldiers, the abandoned land was gradually reclaimed.

At present, 100,000 mu of land has been reclaimed, and it is expected that by the spring farming season next year, all abandoned land will be reclaimed.

The estimated total number of acres of farmland is about 130,000 acres..."

Lan Linjie reported with a look of joy.

Most of the money and grain allocated by the imperial court had already been spent, and all subsequent expenses were borrowed from "money houses".

They have to resettle refugees and organize people to open mines, and money is spent like water every day.

Fortunately, the results are very encouraging. After the initial investment, I finally saw the return on my investment.

According to the current situation, the income and expenditure will be balanced after the spring grain harvest.

The next period is the profit period. In less than two years, all the initial investment can be recovered.

Unfortunately, these encouraging data did not change anything when they reached Li Mu's ears.

The daily output of raw coal is 300,000 kilograms, or only 150 tons, and this is the output of three coal mines.

On average, each coal mine produces only 50 tons, a figure that is not as high as that of the small coal mines that have been sealed off.

There is naturally no profit, and the raw coal needs to be cleaned before it can be put on the market for sale.

Theoretically, the miners can earn about two hundred taels a day, but the problem is that they also need to eat.

There are more than 20,000 miners and their families, and their current income is barely enough for everyone to eat.

Fortunately, there is still a lot of room for improvement in production capacity. In the past, local gentry mined secretly but did not dare to invest so much manpower and resources.

By next month, the revenue from coal mines alone will make the mining industry profitable.

If the silver and copper mines resume operation, the profits will be even more substantial.

After all, in the Dayu Dynasty, copper and silver were currencies in themselves.

Compared to other investments, mining is the fastest way to get rich.

(End of this chapter)