The banquet ended when all three parties were satisfied, and the three Jin merchants left here in a silk embroidered sedan chair, and Li Lusheng personally sent them away, calling a confidant butler to arrange for him to do some shady deeds.

Three days later.

On the fourth day when the price of coal was raised to four coins of silver, Zhu Shun had not yet gone to the Marquis of Zhenyuan, but he came to the door first.

Marquis Zhenyuan sat on the Huanghuali official hat chair in the workers' hall, didn't bother to drink tea, and asked directly: "Brother Xian, how long will it take for the second batch of coal washing plants to be built?" ”

"It has been four days since the coal raised the Dao four coins of silver, and a lot of coal has been released in large quantities in these four days, which is enough to consume the cash in the hands of a big Jin merchant."

"Although there is still one big Jin merchant left, judging from the current situation, it can't be delayed any longer, and if it drags on any longer, the people will really have no way to live."

Zhu Shun didn't expect that the Marquis of Zhenyuan would take the initiative to come to him to talk about it, and every day that dragged on, the Marquis of Zhenyuan would earn a lot of money.

At this time, the first thing that Zhenyuanhou thought of was not how much money he could make, but the way of life of the common people, and this conscience really made Zhu Shun feel that he was not wrong.

According to the original plan discussed by Zhu Shun and the Strategy Department, it was necessary to wait until the cash in the hands of the three major Jin merchants was consumed before the price of raw coal was completely reduced.

After all, the silver that Li Lusheng could mobilize in his hands was not only the silver of the three major Jin merchants, but also the silver in the hands of some bureaucrats and gentry.

As long as the cash in the hands of the three major Jin merchants can be consumed in advance, the silver in the hands of the bureaucrats and gentry is only a small head, and it will not affect the trend of the overall situation.

The plan is not static, and in the current situation, the plan not only has to change, but also has a big deviation from the original plan.

As long as the people can live a good life in this cold and bone-chilling winter, it is worth making more money less.

As for the direction of the big picture.

After the construction of the second batch of coal washing plants was completed, there were 200 flotation coal washing ponds in western Beijing, which spit out a huge amount of medium coal every day, and the power of industrialization was enough to crush everything.

Zhu Shun nodded, and made a decision on the spot: "Brother Gu came at the right time, the second batch of coal washing ponds has been completed, and the third batch of coal washing ponds is currently being built." ”

"With these 20 coal washing plants as a basis, the price reduction of coal is enough to last half a month, and when half a month later, another batch of coal washing plants will be completed, and then there will be no need to worry about it at all."

Marquis Zhenyuan was relieved when he heard this, and got up and left here: "The price reduction of coal is related to the livelihood of countless ordinary people, the sooner it is done, the better, and I will not bother the virtuous brother here." ”

"I also ask Brother Xian to arrange someone to send the coal to the capital as soon as possible."

The Marquis of Zhenyuan discussed with Zhu Shun about the price reduction of coal in the early morning.

Afternoon.

One after another horse-drawn carriages carrying coal entered the capital, and these carriages did not come from the western part of Beijing, but came out of the Zhuangzi on the outskirts of Beijing by several nobles such as the Marquis of Zhenyuan.

Jingxi is not close to the capital, and it has to carry a large amount of coal, so it will not be possible to reach the capital in the morning.

The coal loaded in these carriages is the last batch of stocks in the hands of the Marquis of Zhenyuan, which can roughly last three or four days.

After the horse-drawn carts carrying coal entered the capital, they immediately parted ways and rushed to their respective places.

In addition to constantly adjusting the price of coal these days, Zhenyuanhou has also done one thing quietly.

With his connections as a top nobleman, as well as the help of Huaiyuanhou, Xing'anbo, and Xinningbo, who also belonged to the industrial faction, he bought a large number of shops and houses.

These houses were all bought by the Marquis of Zhenyuan, and the silver was provided by the three richest people in the nobles, after all, the silver in the hands of the Marquis of Zhenyuan was not enough to buy enough shops and houses to cover all the alleys.

After the shop house was purchased, a group of masons and carpenters were recruited to renovate the shop house and turn it into a coal shop.

As the carriage carrying coal entered the capital, all these shops were replaced with a brand new plaque, the handwriting of which was inscribed by the crown prince Zhu Cihong himself.

Zhenyuan Mining Bureau.

At the same time, so many shops in the capital changed to listen to the same name, and the considerable swagger attracted the attention of many dignitaries and bureaucratic squires.

The word Zhenyuan also reminded the dignitaries and bureaucrats of the Marquis of Zhenyuan, after all, the magnates with this strength in the capital are the top magnates.

The powerful are especially taboo about impersonating the four words, and generally no one will inscribe the word Zhenyuan on their own shop, so they will commit the taboo of the Marquis of Zhenyuan.

In this way, there is only one possibility, so many shops are all the industry of Zhenyuanhou.

The main industry in the hands of the Marquis of Zhenyuan was to sell horses in Liaodong, and the first thing that came to the minds of dignitaries and bureaucrats and gentry was that it was difficult for the Marquis of Zhenyuan to sell horses in large quantities in the capital.

Just thinking about it, I drove this thought out of my mind, Liaodong horses are not ordinary goods, just put them there.

The feeding of Liaodong horses needs a large open space, and those stores can store some bulk goods, and it is definitely not enough to place Liaodong horses there.

The dignitaries and bureaucrats and gentry were curious, and sent their entourage to the shop to check it out, and when they heard the report from their entourage, it was incomprehensible.

They are all shops that buy and sell coal.

The coal in the hands of the Marquis of Zhenyuan has long been eaten by the three major Jin merchants, where did he get so much coal, and the supply is enough to cover all the coal shops in the hutongs of the capital.

Thinking about it, there is only one possibility, Zhenyuanhou is actually in a nest with Li Lusheng and others, seeing that the price of firewood is so high, he finally can't bear to raise the price.

I temporarily rented so many shops, just to sell the firewood in my hand as soon as possible, and this matter may even be done with Xin Ningbo's embarrassment.

Although it is a very violent thing to burn the fine wood of the furniture made by the New Nymber Lumber Mill as firewood, the money is moving.

With the current price of firewood, as long as it is increased by one percent, those good timber sold as firewood will not lose money, and they can take advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money.

Some of the magnates in the dignitaries couldn't help but have a slight complaint about the Marquis of Zhenyuan, but they didn't expect him to fall to this point and start drinking the blood of the common people.

The bureaucrats and squires were completely relieved, but they didn't expect that the top nobles in the capital of the dignified town and the distant marquis would actually do the same thing as their snakes and rats.

Just when the bureaucratic squires were thinking of raising the price of coal to five cents, the price of firewood and implementation to five cents.

The Zhenyuan Mining Bureau opened.

A load of coal costs only one cent of silver.