If it only needs tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy coal every year, then Schneider's commercial department has the confidence to make this money back, after all, the coal needed to cross the group is basically used as a production cost rather than a living cost. The amount of coal consumed will definitely be calculated into the price of the commodity sold, so there is no need to worry about making a loss-making transaction.

The Executive Committee is not only concerned about the huge cost of buying coal, but also about the reliability and stability of relying on others to supply coal. Now that the civil war on the mainland is tight, Yazhou's coal supply has been cut off by more than half, and even if coal can be bought from Guangzhou or elsewhere now, it may be suddenly interrupted one day due to force majeure from the outside world.

"I still have to buy a boat to run Hongji to pull coal by myself!" Tao Donglai once again affirmed his idea in his heart. He nodded at Schneider, indicating that Schneider could discuss the purchase of the boat with the other party.

Schneider understood, cleared his throat and said: "Two shopkeepers, we have recently wanted to buy a few larger sea ships, but we have been suffering from no way......

Zhang and Li glanced at each other, both a little surprised by what Schneider said. Shopkeeper Zhang asked: "Looking down, there are many big ships moored in the bay of Shengli Harbor, why do you need to buy another ship?"

Schneider responded: "You don't know, in fact, the ships docked in the harbor have reached the end of their lifespan, and now there is no way to go to sea again, and this kind of big ship is extremely expensive to build, and our local manpower and material resources cannot support the construction of this kind of ship." And there is no decent shipyard in Yazhou, so we can only think of buying ships. ”

Schneider's statement is reasonable, and the two shopkeepers did not have any doubts about it. The shopkeeper Li asked, "I don't know how big a ship you want to buy, and how many?"

Schneider also knows that the largest number of legal merchant ships in the private sector can only be built to 400 materials, but these 400 materials of sea ships are based on different hull structures, shipbuilding processes, and displacement tonnage, in fact, there is a large gap, from more than 100 tons to nearly 200 tons, and there is no very unified standard. But now that the crossing group is in a hurry to use the ship, Schneider can only desperately say bigger: "It's best to have a sea ship of 400 materials, the number, it is estimated that there can be a dozen or so ships." ”

"A 400-material sea ship can't be bought in Yazhou. Shopkeeper Li blocked all the words that Schneider had in his mouth in one sentence: "The largest sea ship in Yazhou does have 400 materials, but it is the warship of Yazhou Water Village." (Baidu search update is the fastest and most stable) sea ships are mostly around 200 materials, just the same size of the two ships that came from this disdain and 'Anfu Xing'. ”

This time, the two merchant ships from the two trading houses were both Cantonese ships, about the same size as the one that the Crossing Group had captured pirates last time, and their displacement was also at the level of less than 100 tons.

Just when Tao Donglai and Schneider were disappointed, Shopkeeper Zhang spoke: "There are no 400 sea ships in Yazhou, but there are Danzhou and Qiongzhou in the north. In the next Bucai, we are willing to find a seller for you. ”

Shopkeeper Li also rushed to be outdone: "This time, I will take a boat back to Guangzhou to deal with the accounts, and the four hundred sea ships you need can be purchased in Guangzhou on your behalf." ”

Tao Donglai said happily: "That's really thanks to the two of you! But buying a ship is one thing, and the sailors on the ship also need to hire a group of ......."

"Naturally, we will do it for you!" "Shopkeeper Zhang refused to fall behind in front of his competitors, and immediately rushed to answer without waiting for Tao Donglai to finish speaking.

"When the two hired shipwrights and sailors on our behalf, they could explain that anyone who was willing to move in with their families would have to settle down with us. Schneider added with a smile.

As for the standard of this settling-in allowance, Schneider did not elaborate. Anyway, the circulation of coupons is now being implemented in the control area of the crossing group, and even if the settling-in allowance is to be issued, it is only a negotiable coupon, and the cost of the settling-in allowance is actually extremely low for the executive committee.

After earning the watch, the shopkeepers showed their true colors as merchants, and they all said that they hoped to buy some goods produced by Haihan by the way, such as glass products and silver mirrors, which are very in demand on the market now.

Even if they don't mention it, Schneider will take the initiative to bring it up. Only three or four days after the Ya Office sent the information that glass products were in short supply, the glass kiln built by the Executive Committee in a mountain col on the west bank of the Tiandu River had been put into operation. This place is actually next to the cultivated land that was originally opened up by the labor camp, and compared to the location of Shengli Port, it is an inland area, and it is relatively hidden, and it can only be reached by boat from Shengli Port across the mouth of the Tiandu River.

The reason for choosing such a closed location is that the glassmaking of this era, especially the manufacturing process of mirrors, is still a very advanced technology, and only the craftsmen of Venice in the whole of Europe can make exquisite stained glass, and they have mastered the manufacturing and inlay technology of mirrors, which can be described as unique in the world. It wasn't until the second half of the 17th century when King Louis XIV of France asked Chancellor of the Exchequer Colbert to send commercial spies to smuggle several craftsmen from Venice to Paris that the art of mirror-making spread around the world.

In the eyes of the Executive Committee, the mirror-making technology of the Venetian is backward and inefficient, and it cannot be compared with the craftsmanship mastered by the Crossing Public, although it is still limited by the conditions of materials and processes and cannot produce mirrors according to modern technology for the time being, but the rise of the Crossing in this industry is only a matter of time. The Executive Committee did not want to be infiltrated into the glass workshop by commercial spies of certain forces in the future, and the craftsmanship of the workshop would be stolen. When the conditions are ripe, the Executive Committee also plans to open a flat glass production workshop here, which will be surprisingly large once it becomes popular as a door and window decoration, and the profit of this business is also surprisingly high compared to its low cost.

Of course, before it was put into production, the investment in this glass workshop was also very large. According to the estimation of the relevant departments, the furnace, calcining kiln, and annealing kiln need to be built in the plant, and if the production capacity is to be reached, then the kilns with different functions have to be constructed. In addition, in order to manufacture flat glass using the "flat plate casting method" with relatively high production efficiency, it is necessary to install at least one aviation system in the plant to lift and move the crucible containing the molten glass. This will involve the span and clearance of the plant, and the function of fire prevention must also be considered, which puts forward higher requirements for the design and construction of the plant. As for the giant iron workbench for casting flat glass, the Executive Committee decided to leave this trouble to the metallurgical workshop.

With the current strength of the crossing group, it is not possible to play such a "large-scale" industrial project for the time being, so most of the plans are still only on paper. At present, the glass kiln that can be put into production can produce very limited glass products, and the technical level of the raw hands is far from reaching the process level of glass products in later generations, and the cups and dishes made are often not regular enough. Therefore, in order to overcome this dilemma, the relevant departments have specially developed some more alternative glass products for the commercial department to sell.

"Look, both of you, this is our new glass paperweight. Schneider introduced and scolded the product development department for its shamelessness, which is clearly a rectangular glass bar, the corners of which have been simply polished so that it will not cut its hands, and it looks crystal clear, but that's all.

Originally, he thought it was good after hearing about this idea, and even proposed to build a yì to let the production department carve some poems or something on the raw materials to increase the added value of the product, but the production department said that glass engraving must wait until the chemical department produces hydrofluoric acid to be realized, and the chemical department said that a special reactor should be built first. Crude distillation column and rectification column could not produce a large amount of hydrofluoric acid required by the glass kiln without a special production line, and this was obviously not a project that could be completed in the short term, so Schneider's plan had to be reluctantly put on hold.

"There's also our newly developed glass pole brush. "The glass brush is not very technical, it is just a brush barrel cast from a mold, and the shape and size are the same as the common bamboo pen barrel. The production department was clearly a little more interested in this product, as they produced eight samples of different sizes for this demonstration.

"This is a glass inkstone...... Schneider couldn't help twitching at the corner of his eye when he saw this sample, isn't this thing just a relatively shallow flat-bottomed ashtray?

Schneider, who has always been a strong mouthpiece, felt a little weak for the first time, is it really okay to sell this kind of thing? Schneider secretly decided to wait for this to be done and then go to the person in the product development department and say, as long as the other party is willing to admit his mistake, Schneider promised that he would not kill him.

"This thing is very good!" Schneider, who was distracted, heard the praise of the shopkeeper, and turned his head to see that he was holding a glass pole brush and sighed: "I have also seen the jade carved pen barrel below, which is more flashy and less elegant, this glass pen barrel is clear and dignified, which is suitable for people who read!"

And the shopkeeper Li also held the glass inkstone and exclaimed: "In the past, the glass products purchased from the Francophone were often mostly ornaments for play, even cups, dishes and saucers, they were rarely used, and they were mostly reduced to decorations." These items of yours are quite ingenious, and they are very good to be simple and complex, very good!"

Tao Donglai was also stunned by the side, he didn't speak all the time, he was thinking about what kind of rhetoric he should make up to persuade the other party if the other party was not satisfied with these products, but he never thought that these two shopkeepers would snatch all the lines as soon as they came up. Looking at it like this, it seems that my previous worries are a bit unnecessary.