Chapter 011: Backing the mountain and eating the mountain (Part 2)
Of course there is no shortage of coal in Xinzheng. This place is one of the important production areas of the Zhengzhou Coal Group in later generations. How could there be a shortage of coal? From Zhengzhou to the south, through Xinzheng, Xuchang and up to Pingdingshan, this line goes all the way west to the huge area of Luoyang.
It is a coal mine distribution area. If we add the Yima mining area to the west of Luoyang, the entire mining area in western Henan is completed.
Of course, Gao Pragmatic does not need so many coal mines at all. He has neither such strong mining capabilities nor such strong digestion capabilities. He only needs to open two mines in Xinzheng - roughly the Zhao family in Xinzheng City in later generations.
Zhai Coal Mine and Wangxingzhuang Coal Mine.
These two mines have several advantages: first, they are very close to Xinzheng County. They are both about 20 miles west of Xinzheng County. They are side by side and hand in hand. They have obvious location advantages.
You must know that when mining in the Ming Dynasty, having a mine is not the key. The key is that you have to transport the mine. If transportation is difficult, unless it is a gold or silver mine, or even if it is not good, it must be a copper mine, then you will not lose money.
.If you go to dig coal in the deep mountains and old forests, you will definitely lose your underwear.
The second advantage is that the mine is large. How big is it? Let’s not talk about Wangxingzhuang Coal Mine, let’s talk about Zhaojiazhai Coal Mine. The proven reserves of later generations are 470 million tons, and the mining capacity is 3 million tons per year. It is the largest coalfield in Henan.
.
Gao Pragmatic didn't expect 3 million tons. He didn't have such good equipment, but even if it was reduced to one percent of that of later generations, there would still be 30,000 tons of coal... But in the Ming Dynasty, 30,000 tons was not a small amount.
If Wangxingzhuang is added together, and the two mines together produce 50,000 tons of coal per year, it will definitely be no problem.
If Gao Pragmatic is interested in vigorously developing the area around Xinzheng, it will be enough to form his second coal production base in addition to the Jingshi Coal Mine (including Kaiping and Jingxi).
The third advantage is the availability of coking coal. Although China has a lot of coal, the proportion of it that can be used for coking is not very high, so being able to produce coking coal can be considered an advantage.
But when it comes to Xinzheng specifically, it's a bit embarrassing, because Xinzheng only has coal, but no iron ore worth developing. At least Gao Pragmatic can't remember that Xinzheng has any iron ore worth mentioning.
Originally, looking at the whole of Henan, iron ore is not the main resource. The iron ore that is closest to Xinzheng and has some development value under the current technical conditions of the Ming Dynasty. In a highly pragmatic impression, it is probably the Xuchang Iron Mine.
However, the problem is that Xuchang not only has iron mines, it also has coal mines, and the output is not low. If you want to make steel in Xuchang, you don’t need to transport coal from Xinzheng, you can do it directly locally. In this case, you can transport coal from Xinzheng
Steelmaking in Xuchang, or transporting iron ore from Xuchang to Xinzheng for steelmaking, was a completely foolish act based on the transportation efficiency of the Ming Dynasty.
Gao pragmatic knew that he was just a liberal arts student. He only knew about iron and coal through some contacts while working in the county party committee. He asked him to slightly improve Ming Dynasty's steel-making technology so that he did not need to use charcoal to make steel.
, he can still reluctantly give it a try, but it would be too difficult for him to be more advanced and even be good enough to play with railways.
Therefore, there is nothing we can do to improve transportation efficiency in inland areas like Henan.
But Gao Pangshi failed to understand a very critical point, which is the specific location of Xuchang Iron Mine - it is located in Suqiao Town, Jian'an District, Xuchang City, which later belonged to Changge County (between Xinzheng and Xuchang) during the Longqing Period of the Ming Dynasty.
It is actually only thirty-five kilometers away from Xinzheng - that is, seventy miles away.
This is actually a completely acceptable distance, but it's a pity that Gao Pragmatic doesn't know that.
He thought about it and decided to open the coal mine in Xinzheng first. Even if he could not make steel, he could still generate income for his hometown by selling briquettes. People of this era have a strong sense of localism. If an official does not want to find a way to benefit his hometown, he may even
You may get scolded.
Just give two examples: After the highly pragmatic Fifth Uncle returned to Xinzheng from the Dudu Mansion, the Shangshu court set up Guodian Horse Post in Xinzheng to facilitate the travel of Xinzheng people. For this purpose, he also took the initiative to contribute and raise funds. The result was only
The joint investment of the five families of the Gao family (the fourth family is extinct, not counting) accounted for half of the local investment; after Guo Puzhi returned to Anyang, because he was a standard poor official and could not take care of his hometown financially, so
Participating in the compilation of Anyang County Chronicles can be regarded as a contribution to my hometown.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic would rather give up steelmaking in Henan temporarily and explore the Xinzheng coal mine, mainly for the benefit of his hometown - at least after the coal mine is established, many people can do odd jobs and sell rice, noodles, fruits and vegetables or other small items to the mine.
In the words of later generations, this was called driving the healthy development of the local economy.
He told this idea to Zhang. After listening to it, Zhang thought for a while and asked with some hesitation: "How much can you sell for that briquette in Xinzheng? I know you want to benefit the hometown, but this kind of thing always has to be done."
Do what you can, and don't dig out the coal and have no place to sell it, which will be a big loss."
Gao pragmatic shook his head: "I haven't investigated this yet, but according to historical records, Kaifeng Mansion was already mainly burning coal in the pre-Song Dynasty, and there are many now, and the combustion efficiency of my honeycomb briquettes is higher than that of burning briquettes
Much more, but the cost is lower. If we can sell to Kaifeng Prefecture, we will definitely not worry about sales. If it is a bit difficult to sell to Kaifeng Prefecture, we can also sell Xinzheng and surrounding counties and counties first. I think the loss should not be...
If it doesn't work, our Gao family will consume a lot just by changing from burning charcoal to coal every year."
Mrs. Zhang waved her hands disapprovingly and said: "How can you do business just to protect your capital? Do you think you are opening a charity? No matter how big your family fortune is, if a business is not profitable, sooner or later you will not be able to continue. In this case, what's the point?
It’s better not to do it in the first place.”
Hey, mother, you are indeed from a business family of all generations. This makes sense.
Gao pragmatic thought for a moment, then nodded and admitted, then thought about it again and said: "I brought two samples of coal miners for making briquettes. Let's get some coal tomorrow. I'll have someone trial-produce some briquettes for my mother to see first.
As a result, we can then discuss whether coal mining is economical."
Mrs. Zhang smiled: "We have briquettes at home. We don't need to do it tomorrow. I'll ask a few servants to give it a try when I have time. If it's as good as you said, we can sell it to Kaifeng Mansion - you
You may not know that Kaifeng itself does not produce coal. The coal there is transported from Zhengzhou or Qixian. The distance between these two places to Kaifeng is not much closer than that from Xinzheng to Kaifeng. At most, it is only ten or twenty miles away.
It doesn’t matter.”
Gao Jingshi was overjoyed: "That would be great. As long as we can win the Kaifeng Mansion market, this game will be considered viable."
Mrs. Zhang smiled and nodded, and said: "Also, you just said that the iron mines in Xu County are far away. I don't know this very well, but I remember that your fifth uncle mentioned it last time.
The iron used in the trial making of firearms at home comes from Xu County. Since you are going to visit him in the county town tomorrow, you might as well ask him whether the iron in Xu County is smelted by digging pits yourself or transported from elsewhere.
, If you dig the hole yourself, you can ask where it was dug, and then calculate the distance, and then we can make a final decision."