Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 347
Of course, Xinzheng does not lack coal. This place is one of the important production areas of the Zhengzhou Coal Group in later generations. How could it be possible to lack coal?From Zhengzhou to the south, through Xinzheng, Xuchang and Pingdingshan, this line goes west all the way to the huge area of ​​Luoyang, which is full of coal mines. If you add the Yima mining area to the west of Luoyang, the entire mining area in western Henan will be rounded off. .

Of course, Gao Yushi does not need so many coal mines at all. He has neither such a strong mining ability nor such a strong digestion ability. He only needs to open two mines in Xinzheng—roughly the Zhao family in Xinzheng City Zhai Coal Mine and Wanghangzhuang Coal Mine.

These two mines have several advantages: first, they are very close to Xinzheng County, about [-] miles west of Xinzheng County, standing side by side and hand in hand, with obvious location advantages.

You must know that in the era of Ming Dynasty, having a mine is not the key. The key is that you have to transport it away after opening the mine. If the transportation is difficult, unless it is a gold mine, a silver mine, or a copper mine at the worst, then it will not lose money. .If you go to deep mountains and old forests to dig coal, you will definitely lose your underwear.

The second advantage is the large mine.How big is it?Let’s not talk about the Wanghangzhuang Coal Mine, let’s talk about the Zhaojiazhai Coal Mine. The proven reserves of later generations are 4.7 million tons, and the mining capacity is 300 million tons per year. It is the largest coal field in Henan.

Gao Yushi didn't expect 300 million tons of coal. He didn't have such good equipment, but even if it was reduced to one percent of later generations, there would still be [-] tons of coal... This was in the Ming Dynasty, and [-] tons was not a small amount.If Wanghangzhuang is added together, the two mines can produce [-] tons of coal a year, which is definitely not a problem.

If Gao Yushi is interested in vigorously developing around Xinzheng, it will be enough to form his second coal production base besides Jingshi Coal Mine (including Kaiping and Jingxi).

The third advantage is that there is coking coal.Although China has a lot of coal, the proportion of it that can be coked is not too high, so being able to produce coking coal can be regarded as an advantage.

But when it comes to Xinzheng, it's a bit embarrassing, because Xinzheng only has coal, but no iron mines worth developing. At least Gao Yushi doesn't remember any iron mines worth mentioning in Xinzheng.

Looking at the whole of Henan, iron ore is not the main resource. The iron ore that is closest to Xinzheng and has some development value under the current technical conditions of Ming Dynasty is probably Xuchang iron ore in the highly pragmatic impression.

However, the problem is that Xuchang not only has iron mines, it also has coal mines, and the output is also not low.If you want to make steel in Xuchang, there is no need to transport coal from Xinzheng, and it can be done locally.In this case, transporting coal from Xinzheng to Xuchang for steelmaking, or transporting iron ore from Xuchang to Xinzheng for steelmaking, in terms of the transportation efficiency of the Ming Dynasty, is completely foolish behavior.

Gao Wushi knew that he was only a liberal arts student, and that he only had some contact with iron and coal when he worked in the county committee. Let him improve Daming's steelmaking technology a little bit, so that it doesn't need to use charcoal to make steel Well, he can still give it a try, but if he is more advanced, and can even play with the railway, it will be too embarrassing for him.

Therefore, in the inland areas like Henan, it is impossible for Gao Pragmatic to ask himself to improve the transportation efficiency.

But Gao Wushi did not understand the key point, which is the specific location of the Xuchang Iron Mine - it is located in Suqiao Town, Jian'an District, Xuchang City in later generations, which belonged to Changge County (the middle position between Xinzheng and Xuchang) during the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, it is only 35 kilometers away from Xinzheng—that is, seventy miles away.

This is actually a completely acceptable distance, but Gao Yushi doesn't know about it.

After thinking about it, he decided to start the coal mine in Xinzheng first. Even if he can't make steel, selling briquettes can still generate income for his hometown. It is possible to be scolded.

Just to cite two examples: After the highly pragmatic Wubo returned to Xinzheng from the Dudufu, the Shangshu court set up Guodian Mayi in Xinzheng to facilitate the travel of Xinzheng people. For this reason, he also took the initiative to contribute and raise funds. The joint investment of the Gao family's five houses (the fourth house is extinct, not included) accounted for half of the local capital; Participating in the compilation of Anyang County Chronicles, etc., can be regarded as a contribution to the hometown.

Therefore, Gao Wushi would rather temporarily give up making steel in Henan and mine the Xinzheng Coal Mine, mainly for the benefit of his hometown - at least after the establishment of the coal mine, many people can do odd jobs, sell some rice noodles, fruits and vegetables or other small items to the mine. In the words of later generations, this is called promoting the healthy development of the local economy.

He told Mrs. Zhang about this idea. Mrs. Zhang thought for a while after hearing this, and asked with some hesitation: "How much can you sell that briquette in Xinzheng? I know you want to benefit your hometown, but this kind of thing always has to be done." Do what you can, but don’t dig coal and have no place to sell it, it will be a big loss.”

Gao Wushi shook his head: "I haven't investigated this point yet, but according to historical records, Kaifeng's mansion was already dominated by burning coal in the Song Dynasty, and there are many now, and the burning efficiency of my briquette is higher than that of burning briquettes. Much more, but the cost is lower. If we can sell to Kaifeng, we will definitely not have to worry about selling. If it is a bit difficult to sell to Kaifeng, we can also sell Xinzheng and the surrounding counties first. I think the loss should not be... If it’s really not possible, our Gao family can burn a lot of charcoal instead of burning coal every year.”

Mrs. Zhang waved her hand disapprovingly and said, "How can you do business just to protect your capital? You should start a charity hall? No matter how big your family property is, if a business doesn't make money, you will not be able to do it sooner or later. If that's the case, then why not?" Better not do it in the first place.”

Hey, mother, you are worthy of being from a business family in the past dynasties, there is some truth in what you say.

Gao Wushi thought for a while, then nodded and admitted, then thought for a while, and said: "I brought two samples of coal cutters for making briquettes. Let's get some coal tomorrow. I'll let my mother make some trial-produced briquettes first." As a result, let’s discuss whether coal mining is cost-effective.”

Mrs. Zhang smiled: "I have briquettes at home, so I don't need to use them tomorrow. I'll ask a few servants to try them out when I have time. If it's as good as you said, we can sell them to Kaifeng Mansion—you You may not know that Kaifeng does not produce coal itself, and the coal there is transported from Zhengzhou or Qi County. From these two places to Kaifeng, it is not much closer than Xinzheng to Kaifeng, at most ten or twenty miles away. It doesn't matter."

Gao Wushi was overjoyed: "That would be great, as long as we can win the market of Kaifeng Prefecture, this game will be considered alive."

Mrs. Zhang nodded with a smile, and said again: "Also, you just said that the Xu County Iron Mine is far away. This mother is not very clear, but I remember your fifth uncle mentioned it last time. The iron used in the trial production of firearms at home comes from Xu County. Since you are going to visit him in the county tomorrow, you might as well ask him there to find out whether the iron in Xu County is dug and smelted by yourself or shipped from other places. , if you dug the hole yourself, you can ask where you dug it, and then calculate the distance, and then you can make a conclusion."

(End of this chapter)