Zhao Mansion, inner room.

After Zhao Hao finished his porridge, he picked up a handkerchief to wipe his mouth and asked the two people, "What else is going on?"

"Also, loose coal has disappeared from the market in Beijing. All coal merchants have changed to selling coal lotus roots. They can still sell out..." Guo Da said with an unhappy face: "I thought they would die, but I didn't expect that they would make a fortune by shamelessly imitating."

"Guo Da and I have complained many times that the coal merchants pretended to be importing coal lotus roots from our Lugouqiao Coal Plant." Speaking of this, Sun Dawu also said angrily: "They are all the same black stuff, and ordinary people can't tell the real from the fake, so they buy them all as ours... Guo Da and I are planning to order a new batch of coal lotus root molds that can bear our mark."

Zhao Hao couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. It turned out that the copycat method of our China had become popular in the Ming Dynasty. He remembered that Xuelang complained in the letter that most of the "First Sight Collection" on the market were pirated copies from other booksellers. But he cursed inwardly that the double standard was a waste of money!

Booksellers who don't pay copyright fees deserve to die...

But putting aside his personal emotions, he had to admit that copycats also have their uses, at least in the market development stage.

Zhao Hao was about to say that even if you put a mark on it, others can still copy it. But then he thought that he had a royal background and should be generous enough to let the fish grow. He swallowed his words and said with a smile:

"This shows that coal lotus is better than loose coal. If we all work together, sooner or later Beijing will become the world of coal lotus!"

"Young Master has a big vision." Sun Dawu couldn't help but reflect on himself when he heard this, why can't he see others doing well? He nodded quickly and said, "Although it can only be estimated for the time being, it is still possible that Beijing uses an extra one or two million catties of coal every day."

"What's the reaction from the dining hall?" Zhao Hao asked.

"The price of coal in the dining hall has gone up. One hundred kilograms of coal has gone up from 70 or 80 wen to 80 or 90 wen. In the capital, the price of coal has already exceeded 100 wen..." Sun Dawu hurriedly replied: "At the Lugouqiao coal market, we are suppressing it, so it is less than 100 wen for the time being."

"Given the nature of those profiteers, the price will definitely continue to rise." Guo Da said with a confident look: "I dare to say this, the price of coal in Lugou Bridge will definitely exceed 100 yuan by the end of the month, and even 120 yuan in Beijing."

"That won't work. The coal in Xishan is endless. We can only lower the price, not raise it!" Zhao Hao said decisively: "First of all, no matter what the market is like, the price of our coal lotus root is fixed at four cents per piece!"

"As long as we don't raise the price, no one else can raise the price, and the vegetarian hall won't think too much." Guo Da nodded and smiled.

"I've calculated that the cost of one coal lotus root is about two cents and seventy-eight cents, so we can still hold on for the time being." Sun Dawu also gritted his teeth and said, "It's nothing more than making less money, but we can't let those thieves take advantage of us."

"It is not my style to passively take a beating, so I have decided that the next step is to march towards the West Mountain. I must not let the coal miners in the dining hall choke me."

Zhao Hao slapped the table in a domineering manner and asked Sun Dawu in a deep voice: "How is the progress of the acquisition of the water-seepage coal mine?"

"My lord, I went to Mentougou and Miaofeng Mountain a while ago and found more than 30 abandoned kilns with good conditions and no owners." Sun Dawu replied hurriedly, "Even after paying taxes and arranging the fees, I didn't spend more than 1,000 taels of silver, and they are all in your name."

"Yes, he's a good shopkeeper!" Zhao Hao was delighted when he heard that. He patted Sun Dawu's belly, which felt very good, and asked, "I'm going to set up 'Xishan Coal Industry'. How about you stay in Xishan from now on?"

"Excuse me, sir, what does this 'Xishan Coal Industry' manage?" Sun Dawu was not a tool, so he naturally didn't want to leave the Lugouqiao coal yard which had just got on track.

"What else can I do? Buy a kiln, open a mine, and transport coal." Zhao Hao waved his hand and said proudly, "Don't worry about anything else. Just do one thing - buy all the kilns in Xishan, whether they have owners or not, for me!"

"Ah, young master." Sun Dawu said in astonishment, "In the entire Xishan area, coal mining has been going on for more than 400 years since the Jin Dynasty, and there are more than 3,000 to 5,000 abandoned kilns. Even if half of them have owners, it would be impossible to take them down without hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."

"That's less than a hundred taels each, what's the difference between that and picking it up?" Zhao Hao waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about the funding. I will make arrangements."

"Hey, it's the young master." Seeing that Zhao Hao had made up his mind, Sun Dawu had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree. But in his heart, he couldn't help but shout loudly, the young master really didn't do it for money!

He knew that the largest coal boss in Xishan owned only 20 to 30 coal mines, but employed 7,000 to 8,000 people, and was listed as a key monitoring target by the government.

So the young master bought so many coal mines at once, and they were abandoned ones. I don’t know how to explain it, except that he had too much money to burn.

Of course, Zhao Hao couldn't explain to him that resource reserves are the core of the value of mining.

Zhao Hao had visited the Miaofengshan Coal Mine. In his eyes, those coal mines that were only dug ten feet deep or even abandoned after only a few feet deep were clearly just a piece of cake with only a shallow layer of the surface scraped off, and there was at least 90% of mining value left.

Those so-called abandoned coal mines were clearly just the mine holes drilled by mining predecessors over hundreds of years in order to explore the mineral veins for him.

Moreover, humans always follow the principle of doing the easy first and then the difficult. Almost all of those so-called abandoned coal mines are better than the existing locations.

Therefore, if there is a way to turn waste into treasure, then Xishan Mining, the latecomer, will monopolize the best areas in the entire mining area and become the overlord of Xishan's mining industry in one fell swoop!

~~

Seeing that Sun Dawu agreed but was still a little reluctant, Zhao Hao laughed at Guo and said, "I think Fatty Sun is reluctant to give up his treasure bowl. How about you two switch, and you go to Xishan."

"Okay, sir." Guo Dake was much more lively than Fatty Sun, and nodded vigorously immediately, saying, "Sir, you have a far-sighted vision. We servants can do whatever we are told to do, and we will never go wrong."

"Go away, stop ruining my show." Sun Dawu knew that Guo Da was trying to wake him up, so he deliberately pushed him and gave him a grateful look. Then he turned around and said to Zhao Hao, "Sir, you misunderstood. I will definitely follow your lead. But I have invested so much money. If I can't get back the cost, how can I explain it to you?"

"Hahaha, you're so good, Fatty Sun. You're getting better and better at talking." Zhao Hao laughed and put his legs down on the edge of the kang. Fatty Sun and Guo Da quickly bent down to help him put on his boots.

Then Zhao Hao supported the two men's shoulders and went down the tunnel:

"I will give you a reassurance."

As he said this, he took the two of them to the backyard and let them personally experience the water press made by Zhang Jian.

Watching the well water being easily pumped up to the surface and gurgling into the bucket, the two were so surprised that their mouths were wide open.

When they found out that this thing had a simple structure. In addition to cast iron, it was just a little leather. And the quality of the leather didn't have to be very good, and it didn't even matter if it wasn't used... Because water itself had a certain sealing effect, and the sealing effect was improved after the water was added, the water could be pumped up quickly, so there were almost no requirements for the manufacturing process, they were so scared that they couldn't speak for a long time.

ps. First update, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~