Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 745 The business of making money

In the northwest of Xinma City, hundreds of charcoal kilns with a height of several meters stand side by side, stretching for several miles. Nearly 20 people surround the charcoal kilns and keep pointing, so densely packed that you can't see the end at a glance.

That scene was really spectacular.

Seeing that Peng Bin was done with his work, Taichang ordered someone to go over and recruit him.

After the emperor and ministers greeted each other, he couldn't help but praised: "I was really surprised by the speed at which you built the charcoal kilns. In less than half a day, hundreds of charcoal kilns were built, and a thousand charcoal kilns were built a day. Shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Peng Bin humbly said again and again: "This lowly minister didn't do anything, it's the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion who are very powerful, and they are really fast when they do their work. Just teach them casually, and they will do a good job."

Taichang nodded slightly and said, "Well, the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion are really good. This charcoal kiln should be able to be recycled continuously, right?"

How about this?

Peng Bin thought for a while, and then explained in detail: "Your Majesty, the charcoal kiln is not yet fully built.

Although we selected the most suitable clay for building a charcoal kiln, the clay layer of this charcoal kiln is too thick, and cracks will inevitably appear after drying.

In the past few days, I have to send someone to watch it, and quickly fill in any cracks.

Moreover, after the first batch of charcoal came out, the entire charcoal kiln had to be repaired to plug all the cracks inside.

The seam between the door and the cover will inevitably be a little deformed, and it will have to be repaired at that time. "

Well, these are small things.

Taichang nodded slightly, and then asked again: "How long does it usually take for this charcoal kiln to produce charcoal?"

Without hesitation, Peng Bin said, "It depends on what kind of charcoal kiln it is, and what kind of wood is fired in it."

If it is an earthen kiln built in the mountains, all the charcoal inside is burned out to prevent air leakage, so you dare not burn the firewood too thoroughly.

In general, the firewood inside the kiln is about [-]% burned, then the door is closed, and then the air holes are blocked one after another.

This kind of burning method takes at least ten days to produce charcoal.

The vertical clay kiln produced by Weichen is the fastest one.

Because the door is opened on all sides, you can see the burning situation inside, and the sealing effect is good, so you don't have to worry about air leakage.

Therefore, we can burn the firewood inside to about [-]% before sealing the door and covering the lid.

This kind of burning method can produce charcoal in about two days.

However, some particularly solid wood may take two and a half to three days to produce charcoal. "

Uh, it will take two or three days to burn!
Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help frowning slightly and said, "How many catties of charcoal can this furnace produce?"

Peng Bin still said without hesitation: "This furnace can produce about two thousand catties of charcoal."

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help sighing slightly: "It seems that building a row of charcoal kilns is not enough!
The north of Xinma City is only a hundred miles long, and if one charcoal kiln is one zhang apart and the distance is one zhang, then at most about [-] charcoal kilns can be built.

Eight thousand pieces can produce 600 million catties of charcoal, and it will take two days, with an average of only 800 million catties per day.

This output is definitely not enough, at least three or four rows of such charcoal kilns need to be built. "

Uh, build so many?

Peng Bin couldn't help reminding: "Your Majesty, this charcoal kiln can't always stand here, right? It will always be dismantled?"

Taichang shook his head slightly and said: "We can't develop here yet, let's try to start building the city from the Amazon River in the south, the area of ​​more than [-] miles wide and [-] miles long is probably enough.

I have considered this issue carefully.

We have to build more than 2000 ships a year, and we must cut down a lot of wood, but only the trunk can be used for shipbuilding, and the branches are basically useless.

If you add the felling of mahogany and the wood felled when the road was built and the city was built, there may be billions or even billions of catties of branches in a year.

It's a pity to lose all these branches. If they are burned into charcoal, they can be sold for at least tens of millions of taels.

This is already a very good industry. The cost of burning charcoal is basically no cost, and it only consumes a little labor. The profit is at least [-]%.

Moreover, there are quite a lot of places where charcoal is used at the moment. As long as the charcoal we burn is of high quality and low price, there is no need to worry about selling it.

This money is not earned in vain!

Let's just enclose the north side with a city wall and build a charcoal-burning base. "

Uh, this.

Well, a business of tens of millions of taels a year is indeed a very good industry, and the key profit is still high.

Hearing this, Peng Bin thought about it carefully, and then suggested: "Your Majesty, if we do it as an industry, we need to subdivide the types of charcoal.

Wei Chengang just asked the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion to roughly classify the branches according to the degree of compactness of the branches, because the charcoal burned together with firewood piles of the same degree of compactness is not prone to defective products such as smoky charcoal.

Now it seems that we have to subdivide these branches according to different types of wood.

For example, those whose materials are relatively loose, whose burning time is not long but the charcoal fire is relatively large, we can specially make charcoal for barbecue or cooking on board.

Those materials that are relatively compact and have a relatively long burning time can be specially made into charcoal for baking.

Those materials that are relatively brittle and easy to grind into powder can be specially made into charcoal for making gunpowder.

There are some special ones that we have to pick out as well.

For example, teak wood and other charcoal that burns with a delicate fragrance can be sold as high-grade charcoal, and it is not a problem to sell hundreds of taels per thousand catties.

Another example is the charcoal made from rosewood and red sandalwood. Not only does it have sandalwood, but it is also refreshing.

This kind of charcoal is the top-grade charcoal that is rarely seen in the market, and it can be sold for a few hundred taels per thousand catties. "

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help being dumbfounded.

Unexpectedly, a simple piece of charcoal has so many ways.

He froze for a moment, then nodded without hesitation and said: "Very well, I will subdivide it according to what you said, and burn various types of charcoal at different prices, so that we can earn more!"

Hearing this, Peng Bin thought for a while, and then asked, "Your Majesty, how many charcoal kilns shall we build this time?"

Taichang thought about it for a while, and then said decisively: "Since the firing is non-stop throughout the year, there is no need to build too many, just build three rows."

Not many three rows?
That's [-]!

Peng Bin asked cautiously: "Then we need to recruit a lot of people. A charcoal kiln includes collecting firewood, handling firewood, placing firewood, and watching the kiln. At least five people are needed. Calculated like this, Three rows of charcoal kilns require at least 12 people."

Is there anyone missing at this time?
People from the Juma tribe are enough, because they don't need so many people to grow herbs in their land, and a hundred thousand or so people are enough.

Taichang pondered for a while, and then said to his beloved disciple: "A Suzu, let the clansmen under your command share among themselves, those who are willing to grow herbal medicine, then learn to grow herbal medicine, and those who are willing to burn charcoal, then learn to burn charcoal.

Burning charcoal is actually a pretty good job, and after a year, earning 50 taels is not a problem. "

Four fifty taels, that's two to thirty thousand catties of grain!
A Suzu nodded repeatedly and said: "Okay, the students will tell them later."

Taichang really didn't expect it, and inadvertently thought of a profitable business.

The profit of this business is really quite good. It is conservatively estimated that it can earn more than 500 million taels a year.

You know, during the Wanli Dynasty, the annual tax revenue of the Ming court was only about 500 million taels.

Of course, it's not that simple to do this business.

First of all, you have to cultivate people.

If someone who doesn't know how to burn charcoal grabs the firewood and burns it randomly, then he won't make any money.

Taichang thought for a while, and immediately ordered Peng Bin to find the most experienced director of the Ministry of Industry as the steward of the charcoal factory, and asked Ma Xianglin to find a hundred veterans with charcoal burning experience as the foreman.

At the same time, he ordered Asuzu to gather the tribal chiefs who were willing to bring their people to burn charcoal together, and taught them well.

The next day, the scene here was different again.

Among the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion led by Ma Xianglin, Qin Yiming and Qin Gongming, there were many young and strong men from the Juma tribe.

They immediately started to learn how to fight.

Whether it is building a kiln, choosing wood, or even watching the kiln, and plugging cracks with clay, they are all following suit.

Peng Bin took several other directors of the Ministry of Industry and began to plan near the river in the north.

There are more than 20 men and women working here, and if their families are counted, it is at least [-].

Moreover, the climate here is relatively hot. If it is too close to the charcoal kiln, it will be even hotter.

How to build houses for them and how to make them live more comfortably, all of these must be well planned.

In addition, for tens of millions of catties of charcoal a year, it is definitely not enough to rely on people to carry the materials and finished products. There are also docks for transferring firewood and charcoal.

There is also a problem with the packaging of charcoal.

If it is to be sold, it must not be loose, at least it must be packed in a sack.

To produce sacks, we need to make some machines for rubbing hemp rope and weaving sackcloth. If we rub it by hand, we can't do so much.

There are also hemp plants such as flax, ramie, jute, sisal, and abaca, which have to be found quickly. When they grow, the skins are directly torn to make linen, and the seeds must be collected to find places in the nearby jungle to multiply in large quantities.

At this moment, they don't need to think about collecting firewood, because the firewood in Xinma City is enough for them to burn for several months or even a year.

However, after the firewood here is burned out, they have to follow the tree-cutting team to collect firewood.

At that time, it will be unrealistic to transport hundreds of thousands of miles by manpower, and must be transported by ship.

The problem is that the big river in the north is not very long, and it is not connected to the Amazon River. If you want to detour to the coast outside the mouth of the Amazon River, it will take a long detour.

After pondering for a while, Peng Bin thought of his old profession, digging canals!
Of course, there is no need to dig a long canal here. Just find a tributary of the Amazon River and dig a canal more than ten miles long to connect with the big river in the north.

(End of this chapter)