1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 10 Uncle
After hearing Peng Gang's words, all three uncles fell silent.

Peng Gang's words make sense; every family has its own problems. Just because his three uncles can unconditionally support their nephew doesn't mean their wives and children can too.

"That being said, my brother-in-law has always treated us brothers well. When his children are in trouble, we, as their uncles, can't just sit idly by and watch our own nephews be bullied in our home."

Remembering how Peng Xin had treated them like his own brothers and had helped them, the charcoal burners, Xiao Guoda bit his lip and made up his mind.

“I only have one child. I’m sorry to trouble you two brothers to take care of my wife and child. I’m coming to Qingfeng Village to work as a long-term laborer for Agang.”

With me around, anyone who dares to covet my nephew's land and property will have to ask me, Xiao Guoda, if my fists will allow it!

“I appreciate your kindness, uncles,” Peng Gang said. “Besides, once we get to Pingzaishan, we uncles and nephews can look after each other, right? I’m thinking of renting a piece of land on the mountain to build a charcoal kiln, and I’ll need to ask you uncles to come and help me out.”

"You want to rent the mountain area?" Uncle Xiao Guoying immediately tried to stop Peng Gang when he heard that Peng Gang wanted to contract the mountain area.

“No way! Right now, charcoal is cheap and rent is expensive. The charcoal we produce can’t fetch a good price to begin with, and we have to use more than half of it to pay rent. Many charcoal farmers who rent out their land in Pingzai Mountain are already in debt with usurious loans.”

Although Pingzaishan is located in a remote area, beyond the reach of the government.

The fact that the government is powerless to intervene does not mean that all the mountain areas in Pingzai Mountain are unclaimed land.

It was difficult for the government to reach the deep forests of Zijing Mountain and Pingzai Mountain, but the landlords and gentry could.

All the well-known mountain forest farms are owned. If you want to enter the mountains to burn charcoal or grow indigo, you need to obtain a license and pay rent to the owner of the mountain farm.

In terms of burden, it is actually no less than farming.

"What if we don't have to pay rent?" Peng Gang asked after pondering for a moment, resting his chin on his hand.

"If we don't have to pay rent, and we hire a good stove maker to produce more good charcoal, we're sure to make a profit," Xiao Guoying said after thinking for a moment.

"But where in the world can you find a mountain area where you can burn charcoal without paying rent? Even if you could, such a good thing wouldn't be available to us."

Xiao Guoying and the others were honest and simple mountain people. In their view, it was only natural to cut down trees and make charcoal, clear land and plant indigo on other people's land, and pay rent.

There are indeed mountain areas where rent is not required. In the more remote Dayao Mountains to the north, which are even more remote than Pingzai Mountain and Zijing Mountain, there are plenty of unclaimed mountain areas where rent is not required.

What kind of place is the Dayao Mountains? It is a land of miasma within a land of miasma, with a living environment even harsher than that of Pingzai Mountain and Zijing Mountain, and it is also the territory of the Yao people.

Go to the Dayao Mountains to burn charcoal. You might survive to go into the mountains to burn charcoal, but you might not survive to come out and sell it.

"It will be available soon." Peng Gang had his own plans, and he continued to consult with his uncles about any good mountain areas he had his eye on.

"Uncle, you've been burning charcoal in Pingzai Mountain for so many years, do you have a good spot in the mountains that you like?"

The Xiao family has made a living by burning charcoal and growing indigo in Pingzai Mountain for four generations, so they must be quite familiar with the various mountain areas in Pingzai Mountain.

“Yes, there is. About thirty miles north of Bitanxun, there’s a mountain area called Honglianping. My brothers and I passed by Honglianping a few times when we were carrying charcoal to sell in Dongxiang. There’s a lot of hardwood there that produces good charcoal.” Xiao Guoying thought of a good mountain area.

Hardwood has a high charcoal yield and produces better quality charcoal.

The amount of hardwood is an important indicator of whether a mountain area is suitable for charcoal production.

"The only drawback is that Honglianping is located in a relatively remote area, deep in the mountains, making it inconvenient to get in and out of the mountains," Xiao Guowei said with a sigh.

The charcoal produced in Guangxi is not primarily used for heating or cooking.

The dye houses were the biggest consumers of charcoal. Seven or eight out of ten of the charcoal produced in the various mountain areas of Pingzai Mountain was supplied to the dye houses in Xunzhou Prefecture and even the markets of neighboring prefectures and counties.

The so-called "planting indigo" refers to cultivating indigo plants, which are the raw material for dyes.

Like charcoal, indigo was also a major supplier to dye houses in various markets.

In Guangxi, the traditional cloth dyeing industry is the second largest industry after farming. More than a quarter of Guangxi's population relies on this industry for their livelihood, especially the landless proletariat, who depend even more on the local dyeing industry.

In mountainous areas with convenient transportation, dyeing workshops and charcoal merchants will usually come to collect charcoal and indigo.

In mountainous areas with inconvenient transportation, people have to carry the charcoal out of the mountains to sell it themselves.

If charcoal is to be burned in Honglianping, transportation costs will be a significant expense.

A remote location? This was exactly what Peng Gang wanted. He didn't care for a mountain area that wasn't in a remote location. At this stage, Peng Gang was still inexperienced and didn't want to operate under the noses of the government, much less directly clash with Xiao Chaogui and Yang Xiuqing, who had already distinguished themselves among thousands of charcoal burners.

"Who is the owner of Lianhuaping?" Peng Gang asked about the owner of Lianhuaping.

"It's Qiu Gusan from your esteemed county, Master Qiu." Mentioning the name Qiu Gusan, Xiao Guoying's face was clouded with worry.

"Although Master Qiu speaks the Hakka dialect, in Xunzhou Prefecture, he is known as a ruthless man who eats people alive. His ability to exploit people is even more ruthless than that of the Tujia lords. In Xunzhou Prefecture, the Hakka people call their Qiu family's ancestral hall the Thunder God Hall."

"What does 'Leigong Hall' mean?" Peng Gang asked, puzzled.

"Dealing with the Qiu family is like encountering a thunderbolt," Xiao Guoying explained.

So that's how it is. In my memory, although the Qiu Gu San family was one of the wealthiest Hakka families in Guixian County and even Xunzhou Prefecture, their reputation among the local Hakka people was indeed very bad.

"Uncle just said that hiring a good stove master is the key to producing more good charcoal and making a profit. Does Uncle have any recommendations for a good stove master?" Peng Gang asked.

“If you want to know about good stoves, look no further than the distant horizon. Your family’s Wei Changgong used to be a well-known good stove maker in Zijing Mountain,” Xiao Guoying said.

"If you can get him to do it, you can save 15% of the cost of burning a kiln of charcoal. There's a science to charcoal making; it's not as simple as you think. You can't just light a fire and produce the charcoal that charcoal shops and dye houses want."

“Wei Changgong? Since Wei Changgong is skilled at being a stoveman, how did he end up working as a long-term laborer for my family?” Peng Gang became increasingly confused.

The furnace master is the kiln master among charcoal burners.

What kind of wood should be used to load the kiln? How should woods with different fire resistance be stacked to ensure more even carbonization and produce good charcoal?

After sealing the kiln, where should the ventilation holes be left, how big should they be, when should they be closed, and when should the kiln be opened to collect charcoal?

These seemingly minor yet crucial technical issues are essentially determined by the kiln's furnace head.

The charcoal burner is a skilled worker, earning more than four times the income of an ordinary charcoal burner, and the benefits are much better than those of a long-term laborer.

Peng Gang didn't know much about Wei Changgong, only that Wei Changgong's real name was Wei Shoushan, and that he had worked as a long-term laborer in his family for about ten years.

As far as I can remember, Wei Changgong's family was not well-liked in Qingfeng Village. His wife seemed to be immoral, and there were many rumors circulating among the gossipy women in the village about Wei Changgong's wife, Zhao. The busybodies in the village would often harass Wei Changgong's wife.

“Wei Changgong’s master was the head of Zijing Hall. His current wife was originally his master’s concubine. The two had an affair, and Wei Changgong was expelled from Zijing Hall because of this. The major mountain areas of Zijing Mountain were afraid of offending Zijing Hall, so no one dared to hire him anymore,” Xiao Guoying said.

During the Qing Dynasty, the practice of guilds forming cliques and monopolizing power was rampant, and even the humble profession of stove maker was no exception.

The stove-making profession in the Zijingshan area was monopolized by the Li family, a local family of stove makers.

Wei Changgong's surname is not Li. It is likely that he became an apprentice and learned the skill of charcoal making from the Li family of Zijing Hall.

"I see." Peng Gang suddenly realized that his family's farmhand had such a romantic past.

Wei Changgong's actions were indeed a major taboo in this era.

“Brother, having A-Gang hire Wei Changgong as the stove master will offend the Zijing Hall,” Xiao Guoda said with dissatisfaction.

"What kind of mush is in your brain? Recommending someone like this to be our nephew's cook."

“You were young then and didn’t understand the whole story. Wei Changgong wasn’t a bad person. You worked in the Zijing Mountain area. Don’t you know who the Li family in Zijing Hall are?” Xiao Guoying said dismissively.

“Wei Changgong is truly skilled. If we don’t hire him, we’ll have to ask Zijingtang for a cook.”

The Li family would take a cut from hiring a charcoal burner from Zijingtang, so it would be more cost-effective to hire Wei Changgong directly, saving a lot of money. If Agang were to start a charcoal-making business in Honglianping, there would be countless expenses, so every little bit saved counts.

Besides, our nephew works at Honglianping in Pingzaishan. What right do the people from Zijingtang have to control the charcoal kiln in Pingzaishan? We're not afraid of them at all.”

Xiao Guoda was speechless. Wei Changgong had traveled alone through the night to deliver the message to them from Pingzai Mountain.

Bandits were as numerous as hairs on a cow in Xunzhou Prefecture. For someone to travel at night into the mountains to deliver a message was tantamount to risking their life.

Judging from this point alone, Wei Changgong's character was definitely not as bad as Zijingtang portrayed him to be, and he didn't seem like the kind of ungrateful person.

(End of this chapter)