The Ming government has always taken an active attitude towards the production of coal, because the supply of coal is not only related to economic development, but can even rise to the level of maintaining social stability.

Traditionally, Chinese folk have used firewood or straw as fuel. If it is only necessary to sustain the family's cooking, the straw produced in the field, plus a small amount of firewood, is sufficient. With the development of the economy, brick burning, iron smelting, winemaking, porcelain burning and other industries need to use a large amount of fuel, which makes the fuel supply crisis, and the price of firewood continues to rise, which directly affects the cost of living of residents.

In addition, due to the massive felling of fuelwood, vegetation destruction and soil erosion have occurred in many places. In some places, the green mountains have become bare barren mountains in just a few decades, and the ecological environment has deteriorated dramatically.

Under these circumstances, from the emperor to local officials at all levels, they began to pay attention to the use of fossil fuels, and strengthened the exploration and mining of coal in a combination of official and private ways.

For example, during the Jiajing period, there was a county guard named Wansu in Mahu Prefecture, Sichuan, who was suffering from "the country of ten thousand rooms, and the axe was looking for each other, so the salary in the south could not be continued...... The people are sick", so they organized manpower to carry out large-scale coal exploration work within the scope of the government. In March of the fourth year of Jiajing, the surveyors finally found a coal deposit in a place called Xintanxi, and they were overjoyed, went to inspect it in person, and put offerings to worship the coal god, and then began large-scale mining.

At that time, the people of Mahu Mansion were not accustomed to using coal as fuel, so Wansu specially set up coal stoves outside the east and west gates of the government office, and sent special personnel to demonstrate the use of coal stoves to the people.

Fengcheng is a traditional coal-producing county under the rule of Nanchang Prefecture, the history of coal mining can be traced back to the Song Dynasty at the earliest, in the Song Dynasty Xie Weixin's notes have been recorded: "Jiangxi Road Fengcheng, Pingxiang two counties are produced coal in the mountains, digging black combustible, there is fire but no flame......" to the Ming Dynasty, Fengcheng County has dozens of coal kilns, but limited by exploration technology, the output of these coal kilns is still very limited.

The ancient people's knowledge of coal exploration mainly came from practice. The professionals in charge of coal exploration are called "coal masters", and their methods of finding coal are to observe the stone layers, the seedlings and the soil color, and the grass and trees.

For example, people at that time already knew that "all those who have a pulse of charcoal regard their mountains and stones, and count stones as well, and bluestone and sand and gravel do not", in which "counting stones" refers to shale, "bluestone" is limestone, and "sandstone" is sandstone. From this sentence, it can be seen that the coal division of that year had some understanding of the surrounding rock properties and sedimentation laws of the coal seam.

However, these coal exploration technologies formed based on experience are too superficial in Su Hao's eyes. It is precisely because of the limited coal exploration technology in those years that Fengcheng's coal mining industry has been uninterrupted, but the development is very slow, and the annual output of coal is enough for some large households in the city to heat in winter, and occasionally there are some lime-burning and iron-smelting workshops to purchase some. Due to low production, the price of coal also remains high, affecting the scope of its use.

Su Hao had already learned about these situations when he went to the countryside, and he was keenly aware that this was an opportunity for himself. If you can find one or two large coal fields and increase the output of coal, then not only will you be able to get rich returns from it, but the people of the entire Fengcheng County, and even the people of Nanchang Mansion and Jiangxi Political Envoy will benefit from it.

When Su Hao does things, he always has to consider its significance to the country and the people, which is also a habit he developed as a national expert in his previous life. But Dai Qi, Chen Guanyu and others don't have such big ideals, they only see the value of this matter to themselves. A large coal kiln with an annual output of 10 million catties of coal, deducting mining taxes, wages, material losses and the expenses of officials from all sides, can eventually leave at least a few thousand taels of silver in profits. Whether you take half or one percent of the dividends in the middle, it is also hundreds of taels.

According to the regulations of the central government of the Ming Dynasty, a scribe like Dai Qi in the seven-grade yamen had a monthly salary of one stone of rice, of which only 3 buckets could be extracted, and the remaining part had to be converted into treasure money, which had long been depreciated into the Mariana Trench, and it was not enough to use it as hand paper. The yamen in various places knew that this money was not enough to support their subordinates, so they would try their best to increase the salaries of their subordinates, Rao is so, Dai Qi's salary in a year is thirty or forty taels of silver, if it is not possible to make some kickbacks in the project, the family will have to drink the northwest wind.

Now, Su Hao's idea has given him an extra few hundred taels of income a year, and in the foreseeable future, such an income will not decrease.

After the meeting, Chen Guanyu and Dai Qi acted feverishly like chicken blood, one to search for craftsmen who dig coal, and the other to apply for the license required to open a coal mine. Lu Xiuer and Su Xiaohu have no experience in these aspects, so they can only run errands for Chen Guanyu, but they are also supported to turn around, and Lu Xiuer finally no longer cares about her career of selling tea eggs.

After a full exchange with Su Hao, Dai Qi wrote a report on the bid for a coal kiln. In terms of the estimated output, he made a discount on the basis of Su Hao's plan, claiming that the annual output was about 5 million catties. This is written in order to avoid that in case Su Hao's prediction is wrong, so much coal cannot be actually mined, and secondly, it can effectively avoid mining taxes.

The standard of mining tax is calculated according to the scale of coal kiln production, and as for the actual output, the official regulators can only simply estimate it, and it is impossible to see it so accurately. What's more, when the supervisors come, Dai Qi will naturally have a big red envelope to give, and even if 10 million catties of coal are piled under the noses of the supervisors, he will turn a blind eye.

After the report was written, Su Hao and Dai Qi came to the county office together and asked to see the county Hangul. Han Wen met with them in the third hall of the county government, but the master Fang Mengjin did not attend the meeting out of consideration to avoid suspicion.

"Master Han, this is a submission drafted by the students, and it is about coal mining, please take a look at it." Su Hao handed the report to Han Wen and said.

Han Wen had heard Su Hao talk about coal mining for a long time, so he was not surprised. However, when he read this submission, he was still a little shocked: "Instead, are you really sure that you can find a large vein with an annual output of 5 million catties of coal?" ”

Su Hao said: "Students also know a little bit about coal prospecting, but in fact, this is in the same vein as well prospecting. The students went to the countryside this time, walked five or six townships, and also observed the trend of the underground veins, according to my speculation, in the Xuanfeng Township area of Hexi, there may be large coal deposits, if it can be accurately located, the annual output of 5 million catties will not be a problem. ”

"5 million catties of coal, according to the current price of 2 yuan per 100 catties, is worth 10,000 taels of silver, this is a huge business." Han Wenba clicked his mouth and said meaningfully.

Su Hao said: "Master Han, the student's idea is that if the output of coal can be increased, the price of coal should be lowered. If the price of coal is as low as 1 yuan per 100 catties, then most people can afford it. The students have been in the countryside for a long time and know the suffering of the lack of firewood in the farm, and they also hope to benefit the people. ”

"It makes sense." Han Wen nodded and said, "When I went to Nanchang Mansion to discuss matters, Fan Fuzun also talked about the heavy cost of firewood for the people many times, and urged me to find more people to explore coal and increase coal production. Previously, the county government had also arranged for coal divisions to explore coal, but they had little gain. If the fruit of change can be found in the big coal deposit, it will be a great thing for fame and fortune. ”

"In this way, Lord Han supports me to go to coal exploration and mining?" Su Hao asked.

Han Wen said: "This is nature, such a good thing, how can this county stop it?" ”

Su Hao said: "My lord, this coal mining is quite risky, and if you are not careful, the investment in the early stage may be in vain." Therefore, the students did not dare to do this in the name of the workshop, but set up a commercial bank to handle it, so that if the coal mining failed, I would only pay some money personally, so as not to cause the county government to suffer losses. For this consideration of the students, please also ask the adults to be aware of it. ”

Han Wen stroked his beard and praised: "The change is really selfless, and he can think about the county government everywhere, and he is really a model for officials." Dai Shushi, you will also learn more from it in the future. ”

Dai Qi nodded again and again, and then said: "Lord Han, the upfront cost of opening this mine was obtained by Master Su and his subordinates by mortgaging the ancestral property, and there are still some gaps. Master Su means that he wants to find some businesses to share shares and share risks, do you think it is feasible? ”

"How big of a gap is there?" Han Wen asked.

"Uh...... There are still 50 taels missing. Dai Qi said, "What Master Su means is that he wants to take out a 10% dividend to raise people into the shares." ”

Han Wen is also an old man, Dai Qi has said it to this extent, can he still not know what the other party means. He pretended to be embarrassed, thought about it, and then said in a resolute tone: "The matter of coal mining, there is no eyebrow yet, and it is not appropriate to let the Shangjia family take this risk." In this way, the county will let the internal government save some money and squeeze out 50 taels of silver to save you in an emergency. As for the matter of this share, there is no need to mention it now, if the coal kiln can be successfully opened in the future, it will be okay to return the capital to the county. ”

"Thank you, Lord Han." Su Hao and Dai Qi both got up and saluted Han Wen to thank him. Han Wen said that he didn't want shares, but just wanted to be able to recover the capital, and everyone just listened to this kind of thing. The purpose of Su Hao and Dai Qi asking Han Wen to give 50 taels of silver is to be able to send money to Han Wen openly in the name of dividends in the future, and this kind of unspoken rule of officialdom is tacitly understood by everyone.