Liu Ze also said helplessly: "What if you don't give it, the people don't fight with the officials, these eunuchs are used to being domineering and ingenious, and they have to snatch the way they like it." ”

Zhang Fei was furious: "I really want to give that dog official and dog eunuch a full fist, it's really hard to solve the hatred in my heart!" ”

Liu Ze said indifferently: "The loss is naturally irreparable, but it won't be long before these eunuchs are proud, and in a few days, their dream of making a fortune should be shattered." If I want to open a coal mine, I don't want to think about how many catties and taels they have, and if they don't let their 10,000 taels of gold go down the drain, I won't be surnamed Liu. ”

Zhang Fei's eyes lit up and said, "That's right, let's go back and fill all the holes for him, so that they can't dig out a handful of coal and stones." ”

Liu Ze shook his head and said: "That's not necessary, the mine will naturally be kept for them, we just need to remove all the workers, equipment, and ventilation facilities, and in a few days, the gas explosion and water collapse will be enough for them." ”

Guan Yu said worriedly: "Quyang kiln factory needs a lot of coal, winter is coming, Luoyang and other places will also greatly increase demand, without Yangquan coal mine, how do we do next?" ”

Liu Ze was not in a hurry, and said slowly: "I have already thought about this, there are many coal producing places in the world, not Yangquan, from this place less than a hundred miles to the east, it is Jingcheng, and it is also an ideal place for coal mining, and four or five hundred miles to the south is Shangdang, which is also rich in coal storage." I had these two places bought at a low price at the beginning of the year, and now they come in handy. ”

"The eldest brother is strategic, far-sighted, and the brother is convinced." Guan Yu was impressed.

Liu Ze smiled slightly: "No, no, this time Zhang let Zuo Feng occupy Yangquan Mountain, which was much more than I expected, but when I sold coal in Luoyang last year, I felt that the road was far away and the transfer was difficult, so I thought of mining coal in Shangdang near Luoyang on Zuo, and I just used it today." ”

After returning to Yangquan Mountain, Liu Ze immediately arranged for vehicles to transfer all the coal and stone stored in the coal yard to the Quyang kiln factory, dismantled all the coal mining equipment and ventilation pipes in the mine, and transferred them to the well. As a result, except for a few who were unwilling to leave, most of them expressed their willingness to follow Liu Ze. Liu Ze took matters into his own hands, and in less than three days, he had cleaned up the inside and outside of the mine.

Three days later, Zuo Feng and County Magistrate Lu arrived as invited, and Liu Ze didn't bother to talk to them anymore, so he took out the title deed and went through the transaction procedures with them, and collected 10,000 taels of gold. Zuo Feng saw that Liu Ze was so refreshing, he couldn't help but smile, took the contract in his hand, walked around, looked at the black hole and couldn't see his five fingers, and he was overjoyed. Liu Ze sneered in his heart, let Ya go proudly, there will be a time for you to cry in the future.

As soon as he arrived at the shaft, Liu Ze immediately located the site and organized workers to excavate the mine. Fortunately, the workers are all skilled, the equipment is ready-made, and everything is carried out in an orderly manner, and within half a month, the first basket of coal has been dug out. Liu Ze still arranged for Hu Liu to be in charge of the affairs of the Jingjing Coal Mine, and he and Guan Zhang led another team of workers to Shangdang.

The situation on the party side was more complicated, the number of workers brought by Liu Ze was insufficient, so he could only recruit some displaced people in the local area, these refugees were low-level, some were lazy, and they either steal or steal, and many of them were just recruited during the day, and then abducted things and ran away at night. It took a lot of effort to manage these homeless people, and in the end, there was really no way, so he could only transfer fifty or sixty sturdy teenagers from the Phoenix Valley who were learning art in the blacksmith shop, which solved the problem of insufficient work.

The mountains of Shangdang are more steep than Zhiyang Spring, and the rocks are harder, Liu Ze had to order the Phoenix Valley Craftsman Workshop to make a large amount of black powder, and it is indeed difficult for him to make the huge amount of gunpowder needed to open the cave by himself without any raw materials and no hands.

In order to meet the demand for gunpowder on the party side, Guan Hai transferred some manpower from the craftsman's workshop and other places to set up a special gunpowder making workshop to produce black powder in large quantities according to the local formula provided by Liu Ze. After that, this gunpowder workshop was not disbanded, but it became bigger and bigger, producing a huge amount of gunpowder, and even influencing the development of the war, which is a later story.

In order to increase the output of Shangdang Coal Mine, Liu Ze dug six mine holes at the same time, and went hand in hand. Just as the fallen leaves were drifting and the late autumn was fading, the Shangdang Coal Mine finally produced the first basket of coal.

Liu Ze finally breathed a sigh of relief, and after several months of continuous fighting, even an iron man like Zhang Fei was so tired that he was about to lie down. At the same time, good news came from Luoyang, Jian Yong had opened branches in Jizhou, Youzhou, Bingzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou and Chang'an. Many businessmen who used to do charcoal business saw that coal and stone were selling well in Luoyang, and they asked for agents to sell coal and stone. According to Liu Ze's instructions, Jian Yong signed an agency sales agreement with these merchants, and hundreds of agents have joined in, which can basically cover most of the counties in the north.

Liu Ze immediately arranged for Jingjing and Shangdang to transport coal to Luoyang and its branches in various prefectures, adopting the principle of proximity; Jingjing Coal Mine was responsible for transporting coal to Bingzhou, Youzhou, Jizhou, and Quyang, and Shangdang Coal Mine was responsible for transporting coal to Luoyang, Chang'an, Yuzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou, and the retail price was lowered by 50 percent on the basis of last year, and it was implemented in all branches as a unified sales price, and the price to the county agents was calculated at a 6% discount on the basis of the retail price, and the price given to the county agents was calculated at 7% off the retail price. Liu Ze asked the agents to also implement the basic retail price, and also allowed the agents to fluctuate slightly up and down according to the market conditions, but the range of fluctuations up and down shall not exceed 30%, but if it is found that there are agents hoarding and raising or suppressing coal prices, they will be disqualified as agents.

Everyone is deeply surprised, last year's coal and stone sales were very good, and this year's demand in various places has also increased significantly, and it stands to reason that the price should be raised, but Liu Ze did the opposite, not rising but falling. Moreover, the distance of the roads in each state is different, and the transportation cost is different, but Liu Ze requires the same price in various places, isn't it a strange thing.

Jian Yong raised the above question to Liu Ze, who had just rushed over from Shangdang, in Luoyang Fuyuanzhuang, and Liu Ze smiled faintly and said, "Xianhe, do you feel very strange?" ”

"The lord acts, often has unintended thoughts, but this time I really can't see through, why do we operate coal and stone, isn't it just to make money? What is the intention of the lord to give up high profits? ”

"Zhang let Zuo Feng know about the occupation of Yangquan Mountain, right?"

"I've heard a little, these eunuchs are really too domineering."

"I deliberately lower the price is to suppress their arrogance, and when they transport coal and stone from Yangquan to Luoyang, they will find that it is not profitable at all after removing production and transportation costs, and we are more than twice as close as the road from Shangdang to Luoyang, although there are still profits from small profits."

"Isn't the lord afraid that they will go to the party coal mine again?"

"If this industry is no longer a profiteering industry, Zhang will never look at them if they only rely on hard work and hard work, which is the second consideration for me to deliberately lower prices. This is also a little insight that I have lost Yangquan Mountain, businessmen take profits, when they are like a trickle, although it is long but endless, on the contrary, greedy for huge profits, it will only attract the eyes of the powerful, and then plunder by unscrupulous means. ”

"What the lord said is that if you want to do business for a long time, small profits and quick sales are fundamental."

"The third factor is that in the future, coal mines will be opened more and more, coal mines are not only we can open, others can also open, the output of coal and stone in three or five years will exceed the existing output of more than 100 times, coal and stone will no longer become the exclusive products of the powerful and rich, it will surely enter the homes of ordinary people, become the daily necessities used by everyone, so the price of coal and stone should not be high, so that the ordinary people are daunted, the price of coal and stone in the future should be set at a suitable price, deducting production and transportation costs, The profit is three to fifty percent enough, don't just raise the price lightly because of the large market demand, as long as our business is done all over the world, are you still worried about making money? ”

"What the lord said, every word is a bead, Yong has been taught, it seems that this business is also a university question."

Liu Ze said with a smile: "When Xianhe and I left Zhuo County at the beginning, it seems that we were not keen on doing business. ”

Jian Yong was a little embarrassed, and said: "At that time, I was forced to make a living, so I thought of doing business with the lord, it was indeed not Yong's wish, and I couldn't pull my face as a scholar more or less." ”

"The positioning of this Shinong industry and commerce is really harmful, how many students have sharpened their heads and drilled into the official career, knowing these three hundred and sixty lines, and the line is the champion——"

"Champion? What is it? Zhang Fei interjected again at this time.

Liu Ze did not explain, and continued: "Business is not necessarily not the way out, there is Fan Li in the ancient phase and the torrent retreats, so there is the name of Tao Zhu in the world, now we are only in business for a year, but we are sitting on tens of millions of assets, even if it is three princes and nine kings, a year's income is not more than Erer." If you have money, you can buy what you want, do what you want, houses, land, women, you can buy whatever you want, even official titles, although money is not omnipotent, but without money it is absolutely impossible. ”

"As the identity of the lord's clan, I can still abandon literature and do business, I wait for a cloth, why not, Yong is willing to follow the lord to the death, only the lord is the first to look forward."

Guan Yu also said on the side: "The eldest brother is far-sighted, and he can take the lead everywhere, we have already broken my heart, but with the eldest brother's dispatch, Yu and the others obey their orders." ”

When Zhang Fei heard this, he was not far behind and said: "I sold all my family property and mixed up with you, and I would have been on a boat long ago." ”

Liu Ze said with a smile: "Yes, the third brother is the largest shareholder, and when the eldest brother is developed, I will not forget to give you dividends." ”

Zhang Fei wondered: "Dividends? What's red? Give me some red silk? Forget it, my old Zhang is not black, and he doesn't look good in red. ”