The most impressive thing about Liangzhou City in winter is the amount of smoke, but fortunately the wind is quite strong, which can blow away the gray smoke pouring out of the chimneys.
The iron stove has become an indispensable household item in Hexi. It is still used to boil water for cooking even in ordinary seasons, and the coal cake business has become better.
There is no shortage of coal in Hexi. There are as many as five coal mines in Liangzhou Prefecture alone, and there are even more in Suzhou and Ganzhou.
Coal is the best fuel that Ye An can find now. It is large in quantity, resistant to burning, and has strong thermal energy. The key is that coal tar and coking coal, the by-product, can be extracted from coal. In addition to obtaining these things, you can also obtain other derivatives.
The most practical ones are asphalt, anti-corrosion oil, etc. produced in the process of refining coal tar.
As a result, large-scale mining of coal mines not only provides jobs, but also reduces the price of coal used by ordinary people, and at the same time continues to stimulate the application and development of coal.
Fan Ziyuan didn't mind the filthiness of the coal at all. He held it in his hand and looked at it for a long time and said to Ye An: "Coal has such benefits. If we in Huangzhou also take this as our priority, I'm afraid the market will have been overtaken by Liangzhou and Ganzhou."
Is the state occupied? How can we benefit from it?"
"Oh, that's good! I know the problem of market share, and I also know how to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune."
Ye An smiled slightly and put down the tea cup in his hand while joking: "You have to think about what advantages Huangzhou has. It's something that no one else has but I have..."
"Of course it's the terrain! We, Huangzhou, are now the gateway to Hexi. If you said I raised taxes... you were just joking..."
Fan Ziyuan glanced at Ye An teasingly and then said: "It's not that there are no unique things in Huangzhou, but most of them are medicinal materials. Oh, by the way, there is also honey, which allows farmers to keep bees and collect honey. This stuff will not go bad.
Pure honey can be stored for five or six years, so it seems we can put some effort into this."
"Oh, there's more!" Fan Ziyuan said and looked up at Ye Andao: "Huangzhou is rich in a kind of marble, which the locals call Baihua Rock. I looked at it and found that it is the limestone in the mouth of Hexi, and some of it can be made directly.
Into cement.”
Ye An looked at Fan Ziyuan curiously and said, "Isn't there always a cement factory in Huangzhou?"
"Where can I sell it? It's not that there are no sales when selling to Hexi, it's just that the competition is too fierce and there aren't many sales... If you give me an approval, I will sell the cement directly to Lanzhou for use. It's nothing
For valuable things, the production is large, and the more you transport, the cheaper it is, so just take a certain amount."
"Okay! I will give you the approval later. If cement can be sold to the Song Dynasty, hehe, as much as it can be sold, the Hexi government will not stop it! Sell it!"
Ye An was overjoyed, what was cement used for? Not many people used cement to build houses in the Song Dynasty, but cement was the most popular for paving roads. Flat and straight roads were the most popular.
What's more, the price of cement is cheap, and each state capital has the number of laborers that can be apportioned. Building roads with cement is easier and more economical than building roads with cement or rammed earth in the past. Therefore, the local officials of the Song Dynasty liked it.
Use road construction to gain political achievements.
It’s not that the court is unaware of it, but it’s just that they turn a blind eye to this kind of behavior. Of course, building roads has benefits, especially for the country. The benefits are countless!
As for why the cement from Hexi has not been sold to the Song Dynasty, the simplest reason is that we don’t have enough!
Hexi not only requires cement for roads, but also for building houses. Even a large amount of cement is invested in urban defense construction, so the consumption of cement is naturally staggering.
But Huangzhou is different. In many cases, people in Huangzhou prefer traditional wooden buildings. Although the roads in the city have been paved with cement, cement is only used on a few main roads.
The output of cement is high and the quality is good, but there is no market and sales, so it is a cheap resource. As the gateway of Hexi in the southeast, Huangzhou has a lot of trade with the Song Dynasty.
Fan Ziyuan took advantage of the opportunity of military parade and training to intercede with Ye An. Originally, he thought that this kind of behavior would be vetoed by Ye An, but he didn't expect it to be passed so easily.
When Fan Ziyuan was still surprised that he was so happy with Ye An, he smiled and said: "This is not a bad thing. Huangzhou produces marble, so just mine more and manufacture more. As long as you can support the people of Huangzhou, it is a good business. Furthermore, it doesn’t mean that you can’t sell to Hexi if you sell to Lanzhou. I even hope that you can take advantage of exporting to Lanzhou to drive down the price in Hexi, so that the price of cement in Hexi can return to what it should be.”
After Ye An finished speaking, he paused slightly, then sighed and said: "You should have noticed that the prices of some goods in Hexi are now showing signs of monopoly, and even the Department of Commerce and Trade is meddling in it intentionally or unintentionally.
Some people say that merchants' affairs should be resolved by merchants, and the government should not interfere too much. But if they don't interfere, look at the cement prices in Hexi have begun to skyrocket, and those small and cheap factories have been squeezed out and cannot survive. The owner can only be forced to sell the factory, and once those who are bent on monopolizing the market gain a large market share, they will gradually raise prices to test the bottom line of the market and the government, and eventually a monopoly will be formed."
"Not only is the Department of Commerce and Trade involved, but many of the owners are even Tokyo merchants, and behind these merchants there are shadows of Tokyo's powerful people...even my Taiyuan family, Fan, is also involved."
Ye An smiled indifferently: "I know what you said, but I have never stopped or restricted it. Why? Because I want the world to know that the environment in Hexi is like this. You can make money by investing money. Money, but as long as the means are legal, as for those shady means involved, it’s not just that the time has not come yet.”
"It can't be like raising pigs. If you fatten them and then kill them, people will criticize you." Fan Ziyuan was uneasy. He was worried that Ye An was raising pigs, otherwise the Commerce and Trade Department would not take action and would still be colluding.
Ye An shook his head: "No, of course it is not to fatten up and then kill, but to introduce competition! Look, these people think they have the means to control the market now, don't they know that the mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole is behind!"
After a short pause, seeing Fan Ziyuan's expression improve, Ye An smiled again and said: "How did the competition between Liu Han's Swift Army and Xi Lie Army go?"
Speaking of this, Fan Ziyuan's face was full of pride: "They are on par! Although the Swift Army is not as good as the Xi Lie Army in terms of personal combat power, the Three-Three Formation and other subjects can compete with the Xi Lie Army, so Without the competition of firearms, the two sides would almost be able to fight to a draw. If our Swift Army comes back from the battlefield, there is no way we can overwhelm the Western Lie Army!"
Ye An looked at Fan Ziyuan in surprise. He did not expect that he and Liu Han had really trained the Swift Army and could not fall behind in a competition with a battalion of the Xi Lie Army. This was something that even the Huaiyuan Army could only achieve.
"That's very good. It also shows that you and Liu Han have worked hard to form an army. After returning, the Firearms Department and the Transportation Department will send the firearms to Huangzhou for Liu Han to prepare to receive them. Once you have the firearms, you must train them well, especially
Caodian, please be careful not to slack off. You, Huangzhou, have become our gateway to Hexi, and I'm afraid there will be greater challenges and threats in the future."
Fan Ziyuan chuckled: "I'm not worried. The people of Huangzhou entered Hexi later than other prefectures, but they are the strongest. I saw that Ganzhou, Suzhou, and even Shazhou and Guazhou are naturally richer than Huangzhou.
If you are unwilling to give in, all you think about is coming from behind, how can you not be careful?"
Ye An nodded slightly: "Yes, the people of Huangzhou are probably the most hard-working people in Hexi. With the support of the people, you are more handy than the governors of other states. Let's see your political achievements in the coming year!"
Unexpectedly, Fan Ziyuan smiled confidently: "This is natural. Even if you ask me to leave now, I don't plan to leave! Just watch! I, the people of Huangzhou, will definitely catch up!"