On the streets of the capital, I heard someone shouting early in the morning.

"Sell newspapers, sell newspapers ......"

"Honeycomb coal, honeycomb coal! Sell honeycomb coal! Five pennies, five pennies, home delivery! ”

A vendor pulling a horse-drawn cart shouted loudly, and the whole vehicle behind the carriage was full of honeycomb coal. Some of the people passing by were curious, and some ran over to pay for it.

"I don't know what's going on now! I can only buy two catties of briquettes for a penny. This honeycomb coal is also made of coal, but you can buy five catties for a penny! It's also convenient to burn, and it's much more cost-effective than briquettes. ”

"I heard that the emperor levied the mining tax, and those miners who did the briquette business, if they still sold at the previous price, they would definitely lose money."

"Then why is this honeycomb coal still so cheap?"

"Who knows! Little brother, I'll buy 20 Wen honeycomb coal and send it to my home. ”

"Okay, where do you live?"

"Right ahead."

"Little brother, I'll buy thirty wen and send it home for me."

Xiao Wang, who came out to sell a whole cart of honeycomb coal early in the morning, diligently delivered honeycomb coal to the neighbors in these alleys. This honeycomb coal is not worried about no sales at all.

The most important thing is that honeycomb coal is cheap, and it is easy to burn. This thing is at least much cheaper than firewood, and the firewood around the big towns in the north has already been cut down in recent years, and the remaining trees are all used for timber, who will use them as firewood. Transporting firewood from farther away to the city to sell it is more expensive than coal, and although logging does not require digging a hole and can be cut by a casual individual, coal mining is much more efficient than logging when it is mined on a larger scale.

Therefore, the price of firewood in the capital is much higher than the price of coal, and it has always been something that only those wealthy families can afford, because the meals made by burning firewood are the most natural, stewed chickens and ducks, and the taste is obviously different from those stewed with other fuels. Therefore, the mansions of those powerful people burn firewood, and every three or five days, there will be firewood drivers to deliver firewood. Where can ordinary people afford it!

Ordinary people used to burn briquettes, and these briquettes were cheap enough. You can buy about 5 catties for a penny, which is enough to burn for a day or two.

It's just that the price of briquettes has skyrocketed recently, from five pounds a penny. It has risen to two pounds a penny, and the price has increased by more than half.

It has to be said that Wei Zhongxian, who specially presided over the tax bureau's crackdown on coal mine owners this time, can be said to be extremely hardworking, and he directly dealt a ruthless hand when collecting taxes.

So much so that after these briquettes entered the city. The price is like a wild horse running wildly, jumping up like crazy, and the bolt can't be bolted!

A penny, though not much, is almost similar to the purchasing power of a penny in later generations. But the common people also know how to be careful! The price of briquettes has risen so fast, and it is still affordable to use it, but it is not cost-effective.

At the same time, the people in the capital found that the price of honeycomb coal did not rise. A penny can still buy five catties.

The weight of each of these honeycomb coals is 550 yuan, and 50 grams of yellow mud and other materials are added, which is exactly 600 grams, which is a pound in the Ming Dynasty.

Most importantly. These honeycomb coals are much easier to burn, without the need to fan as often as briquettes, and sometimes the fire is not enough, and the combustion is not complete.

The price of honeycomb coal is so cheap, and it is convenient to use, of course, it is to use honeycomb coal. It's just that you need to add a coal stove, and the coal stove is not a very expensive thing, the structure is very simple, and you can make it by just a craftsman. The civilian production area of the Royal Military Factory produced a batch of coal stoves. The price of a coal stove is only 30 yuan, and it is immediately very popular in the capital.

In fact, the price of these honeycomb coals is six yuan a penny, but they are not delivered to the door, and they have to go to the warehouse to pull them themselves. So someone sold honeycomb coal, and a penny became five yuan.

Xiao Wang, who sells honeycomb coal, calculates the account, as long as he sells 900 pieces of honeycomb coal a day, he can earn 30 yuan, and he can earn 900 yuan in a month, which is equivalent to 1.8 yuan.

Every house is running out of coal. will buy a lot of it directly and pile it outside. It's relatively simple to sell 900 pieces of honeycomb coal a day. Especially when I first started this kind of business, the business was very good. Soon after a busy day, Xiao Wang went back and forth to the warehouse several times, sold more than 3,000 pieces of honeycomb coal, and earned 90 yuan a day.

Honeycomb coal soon began to sweep the entire capital, and the shadow of honeycomb coal can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys.

These cheap honeycomb coals have been greatly welcomed.

After all, one penny can buy five pieces of honeycomb coal, which is almost equivalent to two cents in later generations to buy a piece of honeycomb coal. Such a price is completely acceptable to the people of the capital.

Despite the extremely low price, the Royal Mining Company made a lot of money.

These honeycomb coals, all of which are mined nearby, the mining cost and processing cost are relatively low, a labor force can dig five or six square meters of coal a day, and one side of the coal weighs more than 2 tons. However, the transportation and excavation of the mine road is not so convenient, and it is no problem for a miner to dig two or three tons of coal a day.

Processing honeycomb coal is also very simple and the cost is relatively low.

The highest cost is transportation, a horse-drawn carriage can pull about 1,500 kilograms of coal, and the freight for a day is about 60 yuan.

In other words, if it exceeds the one-day transportation distance of the horse-drawn carriage, the cost will rise a lot. If it does not exceed one day's transportation time, then the cost can be controlled below 100 wen, and the honeycomb coal processed from one ton of raw coal after entering the city can create a profit of about zào 200 wen.

If it is transported by water, the cost is much lower. After all, the ship does not have to eat grass, and the volume is larger.

There is a lot of coal in the north, and it is no problem for the horse-drawn carriage to run 50 kilometers a day, and under normal circumstances, there must be coal mines in northern cities within 50 kilometers.

In contrast, firewood is commonly burned in the south. Coal is not so abundant in the south, but forest resources are much richer, so in most parts of the south, the cost of burning firewood is lower than burning coal.

But in the North, the cost of burning coal is much lower than the cost of burning firewood.

The emergence of honeycomb coal soon squeezed the briquettes in the capital out of the market. The coal mine owners were almost crying and fainting in the toilet, and they naively thought that the price increase would pass on the cost to the people, but this trick was useless.

The Royal Mining Company obviously doesn't have to pay taxes, and the price of coal is still so low. At the same time, honeycomb coal is much more convenient, where can their briquettes compete, and they can't sell it in a few days, and the coal is squeezed in piles and piles in the warehouse.

It didn't take long for these mine owners to pinch their noses and admit it. The briquettes in the warehouse were sold at a low price, and the mine was sold to the Royal Mining Company at a low price.

The Royal Mining Company is still very formal in the purchase of the mine, at least the money has been paid. Although the price is a little low, it is basically no different from giving it away for free.

However, these mine owners. They also cried for their father and mother, begging the Royal Mining Company to buy their coal mines. Not only did these mines not make any money left in their hands, but they also had to be charged a monthly mining tax. This mine has become a hot potato in your hands, and you can throw it away early.

The coal mine owners who were out of the game naturally scolded their mothers.

"Robbers. Totally a bandit. ”

"This bullshit emperor, if it goes on like this, the world will turn against him."

The state is inherently an institution of violence, an upgraded version of the robbers, and it has been so since ancient times. It's just that everyone sets a rule and follows the rules. If there are rules, there will be no chaos, there will be no bloodshed, no matter whether the strong or the weak, they can find their place in the rules, so as to form a pyramid structure. And survive.

Nowadays, the rule of the Ming Dynasty is that merchants do not have to pay taxes. It's not reasonable, but that's the way it is. But the growth of capitalism is clearly bent on pulling the imperial power down from the top of the pyramid.

Zhu Youxiao holds the imperial power at the top of the pyramid, so naturally he doesn't have to be polite to these businessmen.

Lao Tzu is a robber, how to tick!

Zhu Youxiao is this idea, but on the surface, it naturally can't be so explicit, but: "I'm just collecting taxes, and it's reasonable and legal." At most, it is a shake of the hand when collecting taxes, and the collection is a little heavier. ”

Coal mine owners around the capital were squeezed out. Naturally, coal mining around the capital was also under the monopoly of the royal family and mining companies.

This piece squeezed those coal mine owners out of the market, which made Zhu Youxiao very satisfied and rewarded Wei Zhongxian.

Although it monopolized the sale of coal, the price remained at the wholesale price of six pieces of honeycomb coal. After all, this thing is closely related to the lives of ordinary people, and a long stream of water is the king.

However, Zhu Youxiao found that he could make money for firewood.

It is obviously impossible to let the powerful and rich people in the capital burn honeycomb coal. As the emperor, Zhu Youxiao's fuel for the imperial dining room was also wood and charcoal, and coal was not used at all.

So. Doesn't this thing have the conditions for luxury?

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao immediately waved his hand, collected taxes, and continued to collect taxes.

"In order to protect the environment, all firewood entering the city will be subject to a five-fold tax rate." Zhu Youxiao raised the banner of environmental protection and set a 500% firewood tax.

The trees in the north are to be protected, but Zhu Youxiao does not mandate that firewood should not be burned, and if he can afford it, he will continue to burn it.

I can't afford to burn this money, so I obediently burn honeycomb coal.

Soon, outside the gates of the capital, the firewood tax became a new tax. For a while, the rich families in the city scolded their mothers, saying that the emperor had drilled into the eyes of money, and even had to pay taxes for burning firewood.

There is no way, life still has to go on.

For those who are really rich, it is not a big deal to increase the price of firewood five times, and being rich is capricious.

If you don't have money, you can only accept your fate, what else can you do!

However, the life of the people at the bottom of the capital is much better, because the royal capital began to recruit a large number of workers in the city, and various investment and construction activities have been launched, and more labor is needed.

After all, many industries under Royal Capital have begun to generate profits, and at this time, it is natural to invest some of the profit money in expanding reproduction and other links.

Royal Mining Company Mining Needs Workers, Recruit!

The salt company entered the peak production period in the summer, and also hired a lot of temporary workers.

At this time, the mining company, the salt company, and the Jimin Grain Company all completed the market monopoly in the capital, and they all had a demand for the quality of the road, so the road construction was put on the agenda again.

Someone who builds roads! Again.

Materials such as sandwich soil, slag, and stones are used to build roads, and they all require manpower.

What else is the Royal Military Factory, the Mint, the Iron and Steel Factory, the honeycomb coal processing, these are all in need of workers, both regular and temporary.

These activities immediately provided a large number of jobs for the people of the capital, as long as there is a strong young and strong, the work intensity of the post is relatively large, the wage standard for temporary workers is 30 Wen a day, and the labor intensity is lower, there are 25 Wen. Labor such as women is paid 15~20 wen a day. (To be continued.) )

PS: The first update has arrived! I've gone back to the countryside, and there should be three chapters today, maybe four chapters, and the author is trying to take a look.