In the next few days, accompanied by Yan Xishan, Gu Ruyong, Li Guohua, Zhang Huizan, and others, Sun Yuanqi inspected the development of the people's livelihood in Datong Prefecture, the implementation of compulsory education, and the preparations for the 47th Mixed Brigade. Some Jin businessmen who were far away in Jinnan or other provinces could not come for a while, and even used telegraphs to entrust others to subscribe for shares on their behalf.

China Coal Company's 26% stake in the Shanxi gentry, Sun Yuanqi was originally worried that they would not be able to digest it, but who knew that it would be subscribed silently, as if 2.6 million yuan was just an appetizer. This made Sun Yuanqi surprised, but also fully realized the rich family background of the Jin merchants: the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse!

Although the "China Coal Company" is now just a verbal proposal from Sun Yuanqi, and only the number of shares subscribed for by each company on paper, the market has begun to speculate on these illusory shares. It is said that in just a few days, there have been people who have offered a 10% premium for a large buy, and the price is expected to rise further over time. Everyone now understands that the shares of China Coal Company are a golden rooster, and when they are put on the market, they are real money, and they will lay golden eggs in the future, who is willing to sell them for money?

When Sun Yuanqi came to Taiyuan after finishing his trip in Datong, Lilith also hurried from Shanghai to Taiyuan. Like this, the things that Sun Yuanqi called to her side in a hurry happen almost once or twice a year, but fortunately, there are very money-burning and profitable projects waiting for her every time, otherwise she would have washed her hands long ago - pick a child!

After listening to Sun Yuanqi's introduction, Lilith was puzzled: "Why did you suddenly think of forming a coal company?" If you just want to find a stable fuel supplier for the Beiping Iron Works and Hanyang Iron Works. I don't think it's necessary at all. Hanyang Iron Works and Jiangxi Pingxiang Coal Mine are not only close at hand, but also belong to Hanyeping Company, so there is no need to purchase coal at all; Beiping Iron Works and Zhili Kailuan Coal Mine have also been working together very happily. They always give us the best quality five-trough coal at a reasonable price and just as close to each other. Why should we rush into a field where we have no technological advantages?

"From the beginning of our involvement in the industry to the present, the secret of our success is to quickly monopolize the market with our exclusive patented technology, and achieve indisputable industry dominance, so as to achieve huge profit returns. And what about the coal industry? As far as I know, you don't have much research on this. Moreover, the technology of coal exploration, mining and utilization in Europe and the United States has been very mature, and China's domestic mining companies have used Western technology in addition to maintaining the original technology exploration and mining. Compare to them. We don't have much technical advantage, and the profits we make are bound to be relatively small. In that case, why bother? It's better to invest the money directly in Sister Jing Hui and let her develop a few more new drugs! ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "What you said is certainly right. But industrial companies can be broadly divided into two categories. One is the technical type, relying on high-tech to occupy the market, we have walked this road before, you also know more about this; There is also a resource-based type, which is to win by the amount of natural resources in hand, such as Rockefeller's Mobil oil.

"Because patent protection is only a decade long, and new technologies are emerging every day, technology-based companies must rely on continuous innovation to keep them alive. Once the technology is outdated, it means that the enterprise has reached the end of the road. From this point of view. It is indeed very prescient for you to invest money in the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research or the Institute of Infectious Diseases of Jingshi University to develop a few more new drugs!

"But resource-based companies are different. As long as you have enough resources in your hands, you can sit still and watch the clouds rise and fall in the world. For example, coal, known as the 'food of industry', will not lose its important role for at least the next one or two hundred years, and coal companies can naturally sit back and relax. Moreover, the German geologist Richthofen believed that Shanxi's coal mines were the richest in the world, with hundreds of billions of tons of reserves. Isn't that worth the investment? ”

Lilith said: "It may be true that coal will not lose its important role in the next one or two hundred years, but this does not mean that now is the best time to invest in coal, especially the 'China Coal Company' that you are going to set up, with a share capital of 10 million yuan, and the initial goal is to produce 2 million tons of high-quality coal per year." Do you know what this concept is? I can tell you about it with a report recently submitted by Chunghwa Broadcasting.

"It is estimated that the total output of China's major coal mines this year will be around 5.5 million tons, and the total output is expected to be 8.5 million tons with the small coal mines dotted around. The largest of them should belong to the Kailuan Coal Mine formed by the merger of Kaiping Coal Mine and Luanzhou Coal Mine last year, a Sino-British joint venture with a share capital of 10,000 yuan, and an expected output of 1.69 million tons this year. In other words, you plan to build a mining company that is comparable in scale to the Kailuan coal mine and accounts for more than 20% of the country's total annual output? ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "Why not? As I said earlier, resource-based enterprises rely on the amount of natural resources they can control to win. ”

Lilith sneered, "You think it's easy to start such a big mining company? Have you considered the resistance of your competitors? Then I'll tell you about the old story of the Luan Coal Mine! Kaiping Mining Bureau, one of the predecessors of Kailuan Coal Mine, was organized by Li Hongzhang in 1877 under the orders of Tang Tingshu, with a capital of 800,000 taels and a form of official supervision and commercial office. The mine is rich in coal, the geographical conditions are superior, and the production is booming, and it has made a total profit of more than 900 taels of silver in the 11 years from 1889 to 1899. It was precisely because of the high profits of the mine that it was coveted by the British.

"In June 1900, taking advantage of the Eight-Nation Alliance's peaceful definition and the mob of the Eight-Nation Alliance, De Xuanlin, the Tianjin Customs and Excise Department and the adviser of the Kaiping Mining Bureau, colluded with the British army to arrest and imprison Zhang Yanmou (Zhang Yi), the superintendent of the Kaiping Mining Bureau, on the grounds that he was raising pigeons to report the military situation of the Eight-Nation Alliance to the Beijing government. Under the pressure of the British bayonets and the temptation of De Xuanlin, Zhang Yanmou sold the Kaiping coal mining rights to the shell company of De Xuanlin and the American Hoover (that is, the future president of the United States) at a price of zero yuan. In fact, the actual value of the Kaiping Coal Mine at that time was more than 6 million taels of silver.

"1906 year. In view of the fact that the Kaiping Coal Mine was fraudulently occupied by the British, China opened another predecessor of the Kailuan Coal Mine, the Luanzhou Coal Mine, by 1910. The annual output has reached 360,000 tons. However, the rise of the Luanzhou coal mine caused strong uneasiness among the British, because it would seize the share of the Kaiping coal mine in the Tianjin market, so the British took advantage of the strong capital of the Kaiping coal mine to carry out price cutting competition regardless of the cost. In just three years, Luanzhou Coal Mine not only made no profit for its shareholders, but also had high debts for the company, and finally suffered heavy losses. It had to be sold to Kaiping Coal Mine. This is the origin of the Kailuan Coal Mine.

"On the day you reported that you were planning to establish the China Coal Company, the price of coal in the Kailuan Coal Mine fell from 7.1 yuan to 6.9 yuan per tonne, and there is a continuous downward trend. If the Kailuan Coal Mine continues to adopt the method of price cutting competition. How long do you think your China Coal Company will be able to support it?

"Other data show that in the past 20 years, the direction of foreign capital investment in China has changed significantly, and the proportion of foreign capital in the three major industries of machinery, shipbuilding, water and electrical appliances, and textiles, where foreign capital was previously concentrated, has fallen sharply. For example, the textile industry has fallen from more than half of the previous year to 9.2% last year. The mining and metallurgical industry increased from 0 before 1898 to 52% in 1911. In one fell swoop, it became a core sector for foreign investment, of which coal accounted for a large proportion. Do you think that when China Coal Company is surrounded by crocodiles, will it repeat the mistakes of Kaiping Coal Mine and Luanzhou Coal Mine? ”

Sun Yuanqi pouted: "This is also the last madness of the British!" It is now the first half of October, and the China Coal Company has not yet been formally established, and when the resources are explored, the equipment is purchased, and the mining is ready, it will have to be in the first half of next year, and it is estimated that the official production will have to wait until the second half of next year or the first half of the next year. At that time, the world war had broken out, and there would be Germans who would torture the British to death. How can they still have the energy to covet our minerals? Maybe at that time, we will take advantage of the fire to rob and let them spit out the Kailuan Coal Mine with the principal and interest! ”

Lilith was unmoved. He continued to ask, "Is it possible to make money from coal?" The key is sales! From the current structure of coal consumption in China, more than 50% of coal is used by households, and more than 10% is used for railways, mining and metallurgy, and ships, and there are some other scattered uses. Where do you think you can open a sales market of 2 million tons? Do you plan to make the Beiping Iron Works and Hanyang Iron Works all use the coal of the China Coal Company? ”

Sun Yuanqi replied confidently: "In my opinion, production is the big problem, and sales are the best solution." ”

"Oh?" Lilith was visibly unconvinced.

Sun Yuanqi took out the design drawings of honeycomb coal and briquette stove drawn in the past few days from the drawer, and introduced to Lilith: "This is the briquette I designed according to some inspiration from my predecessors, which is mainly made of anthracite powder mixed with yellow mud, and some flammable accelerants can be added if necessary. Because it resembles a honeycomb, it is called 'honeycomb coal'. The most important idea of honeycomb coal is in the yellow clay shape and these honeycomb-shaped holes, which not only save coal, but also help burn.

"This briquette stove is used with honeycomb coal, which can be used for household fire, heating, cooking, boiling water, etc. Both of these have a wide range of raw materials, low cost, easy to use, simple to make, cleaner and more economical than the use of wood and split wood, have good development prospects, and are also very suitable for large-scale promotion. As long as it can be popularized, the amount of coal used by households will inevitably increase on a large scale. ”

Lilith immediately smiled, took the drawings and looked at them a few times, and then carefully hid them with her: "If it is really feasible, it can indeed increase the amount of coal used by households on a large scale." But it's too simple to be learned, and China's patent law is not sound enough to cheapen other coal companies. Do you have a better way? ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "Yes, yes, and the prospects are very broad, and the profits are very amazing, I'm afraid that you may not have so much courage!" (To be continued.) )

ps: Yesterday, the power adapter of the notebook was broken, and I took it to repair, but there was no suitable one, so I could only break it.

Go back to the office today, codeword, a little more chapter. It is expected that the new power adapter will arrive tomorrow, and it should be possible to double change, right?