The ups and downs in the cabinet have not yet left the Forbidden City, so naturally they cannot affect Zhao Hao.

At that time, he was not even in the capital, but was leading a large sightseeing group on a one-day tour of Xishan.

This was agreed upon last month.

At that time, Zhao Hao asked the princess for help and prepared to hold the first shareholders' meeting of Xishan Coal Industry on the eighth day of this month.

In order to ensure that he could reap plenty of profits... oh no, to ensure that the meeting was held smoothly, he specially invited each shareholder to send a manager to go with him to visit the Xishan mining area.

At present, Xishan Coal Industry is said to have 22 shareholders. But not counting Zhao Hao and his wife, there are also Ji Sizheng, Sun Pangzi and other persons acting in concert. There are only 13 legitimate outside shareholders.

But there were more than thirteen carriages following Zhao Hao to Xishan.

There were more than a hundred managers, merchants, and eunuchs who got off the car.

This is after Fatty Sun screened through layers of candidates who have financial resources, energy, and connections. If everyone is accepted, the number will probably have to double.

Who wouldn't want to meet with his own eyes Master Zhao, the scientific master who had five successful candidates in the imperial examination, the inventor of the coal lotus root technology, the first person to fly in the Ming Dynasty, and the man who had just given a lecture to the emperor and his ministers yesterday?

What's more, Xishan Coal Industry itself is already a very popular topic.

For the past two months, rumors have been circulating in the streets of Beijing that a company called Xishan Coal Industry has gone insane and has been buying up abandoned coal mines in Hunhe, Dayu, Mentougou and Juyongguan areas, and is refusing to buy even those that are not abandoned.

Common people all said that the money from Xishan Coal Industry came from the wind, and the nobles were wasting it for fun.

But no matter how wealthy a noble is, he can't just spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver just to play with it, right?

Therefore, businessmen with a little bit of brains, as well as shopkeepers who run businesses for noble officials, have been thinking about this early on.

What exactly is Xishan Coal Industry up to?

After a little investigation, they found that Xishan Coal Industry was actually very powerful. It was a joint venture between the Princess and Mr. Zhao, a scientist.

Now everyone dared not underestimate him anymore.

Just a princess who has been in charge of the royal property for nearly ten years is enough to make them pay attention to Xishan Coal Industry. Moreover, the cooperation between these two people has achieved great success!

Everyone knows how much coal lotus roots can be sold at the Lugouqiao coal yard every day.

A few months ago, who could have imagined that a small, gray coal lotus root could bring in tens of thousands of taels of net profit every month?

Who in the capital wouldn't be jealous? Who wouldn't want to have a piece of the pie if they had a little bit of power?

It was only because the princess was there to keep an eye on things that no one dared to get involved...

Now it was discovered that the two gods of wealth had actually established Xishan Coal Industry, and invested all the money they earned from the coal lotus into Xishan. Moreover, outsiders were allowed to participate in the shares. Now, who in the capital city, who was rich and powerful, could sit still?

Don't they all have to come and see the fun? If they really have a way to make money, they can join in the fun.

~~

The convoy stopped at Sanjiadian, the starting point of Xishan Road.

Fatty Sun and Fatty Tang led the way, and everyone surrounded Master Zhao and crossed the big stone bridge.

Because the Inner Court Glass Bureau is located west of the bridge, the road condition we walked on before was not bad.

But further ahead, the stone-paved mountain road had been worn out over the years by the hooves of livestock all day, and the road surface was uneven and full of potholes, making it impossible for vehicles to pass.

In addition, it had just rained, so the road was flooded and muddy. Everyone had to walk with one foot deep and one foot shallow, making it very difficult.

"It's so unlucky. It hasn't rained for a month, but it happens when we go out." The shopkeepers couldn't help but complain: "But the road in Xishan is too bad, right? We have just entered the mountain, and it must be even worse as we go deeper..."

"That's why we need to repair the road!" Fatty Sun announced loudly to everyone, "Young Master has a foresight and has already recruited 20,000 laborers to renovate all the mountain roads in Mentougou!"

As if to confirm his words, everyone heard the sound of chiseling stones.

After they turned a hill, they saw thousands of laborers using chisels and sledgehammers to dig out the road, and they had forcibly expanded the mountain road, which was less than ten feet wide, into two feet wide.

"The first phase of the 'Beijing West Mountain Road' project is to rebuild the West Mountain Ancient Road. After completion, the Yuhe Ancient Road and the Pangtan Ancient Road will be rebuilt in turn. These three main roads are all built to the standard of two meters wide, which can accommodate four iron-tile carts in parallel."

"Wow, this is a huge investment!" The shopkeepers secretly calculated that just repairing these three main roads would cost at least 50,000 or 60,000 taels of silver.

"Once it is completed, the effect will be immediate." Many people are secretly looking forward to it. The entire main road in western Beijing is blocked by these bad roads. Once it is completed, the cost of transporting coal can be reduced by half. And the transportation capacity will also be greatly improved.

"I built this road not just for transporting coal." At this time, Master Zhao finally said, "After this road is built, merchants traveling from Zhangjiakou to the capital will also benefit greatly."

"Young Master is really a righteous man..." The shopkeepers flattered him, but cursed him for being a spendthrift in their hearts. Is that something you should worry about?

As they were talking, they walked to a place two miles away from Liuli Bureau and saw a circle of reed sheds on the hillside beside the road.

"We're here." How could Fatty Tang let Fatty Sun have all the glory? He rushed to flatter Zhao Hao and said, "Sir, this is the No. 1 kiln of our Xishan Coal Industry's trial mining."

"So close?" The shopkeepers were all surprised, and then they laughed and said, "That's right, that makes sense."

Ever since coal mining started in Xishan, people would definitely start digging from the closest and best place.

Only after the best locations have been dug up will the coal mine owners continue to go deeper into the mountains. This way, generation after generation and over hundreds of years, the coal mines have reached Miaofeng Mountain.

If we mine coal here, we can save a lot of money on transportation costs alone.

Therefore, these coal mines will be abandoned only when they cannot be mined any more and cannot be abandoned any more.

What's the point of looking at this thing, is it for nostalgia?

Everyone secretly complained, but because of Mr. Zhao's reputation, no one dared to say anything strange.

Zhao Hao did not explain, but greeted everyone with great interest: "Since we are here, let's go and take a look."

Wu Yu, who was guarding the coal mine, saw the young master coming. He quickly stood at attention and saluted, then opened the gate.

"And it's so mysterious..." The shopkeepers were a little curious.

When they followed Zhao Hao into the reed shed, they saw a huge coal pit under the shed. Next to the pit was a coal-lifting windlass and four strange-looking machines.

They have cast iron faucets with long bamboo tubes at the bottom that extend deep into the mines.

"This No. 1 well was mined more than 400 years ago. It has a good location, but because of severe water seepage, it was abandoned after only a few years of mining." Zhao Hao stood by the well and introduced it to everyone with a smile: "But after scientific treatment, it has been turned into treasure and can be mined again."

"Really?" The shopkeepers were immediately intrigued. What would it mean if the abandoned coal mine could be mined again? They dared not even dream of it...

"If you can really turn trash into treasure, you will probably become the richest man in the capital!"

"But, how is this possible?" Even if Zhao Hao could really go to heaven, everyone found it hard to believe.

"Hearing is believing, seeing is believing." Zhao Hao smiled and said, "Come with me and take a look, and you will know."

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