Chapter Forty-six: Chain Operation

  Liu Ze also helplessly said: "Not giving is not an option, the people will not fight against the officials. These eunuchs have been used to taking by force and seizing by clever means for a long time, it's their usual practice."

  Zhang Fei was furious: "I really want to give that dog official and dog eunuch a good beating, it's hard to relieve the hatred in my heart!"

  Liu Ze said calmly, "The loss is naturally irretrievable, but these eunuchs will not be able to gloat for long. In a few days, their get-rich-quick dreams will be shattered. They want to open coal mines without considering their own weight, and if I don't let their 10,000 taels of gold go down the drain, my surname is not Liu."

  Zhang Fei's eyes lit up and he said, "Right! Let's go back and fill the entire mine with earth, so they can't even dig out a single piece of coal or rock."

  Liu Ze shook his head and said, "That's not necessary, the mine will naturally be left to them. We just need to withdraw all the workers, machinery, and ventilation facilities, and in a few days, gas explosions and water inrushes will be enough for them."

  Guan Yu said worriedly, "The Quyang kiln factory needs a large amount of coal, and with winter approaching, the demand in Luoyang and other places will also increase sharply. Without the Yangquan Coal Mine, what should we do next?"

  Liu Ze slowly said, "I've thought about this a long time ago. There are many places in the world that produce coal, not just Yangquan. Less than 100 miles east of here is Jingxing, which is also an ideal place for coal mining. Four or five hundred miles south is Shangdang, where coal is also abundant. I had people buy these two places at a low price at the beginning of the year, and now they can be put to use."

  "Brother's strategic vision is vast and far-reaching, I am deeply convinced." Guan Yu sighed in admiration.

  Liu Ze smiled slightly and said, "Not at all, not at all. This time Zhang Letian's occupation of Yangquan Mountain is beyond my expectation. It was just that last year when I sold coal in Luoyang, I deeply felt the distance was far and transportation was difficult, so I thought of mining coal near Luoyang in Shangdang. Today it happens to be useful."

  Returned to Yangquan Mountain, Liu Ze immediately arranged for vehicles to transport all the coal stones stored in the coal yard to Quyang Kiln Factory, and dismantled all the mining machinery and ventilation pipes in the mine tunnel and transported them to Jingxing. All workers who were willing to follow him went to Jingxing, those who were not willing to follow him were paid wages and dismissed to go home, and those who were willing to leave their hometown to Jingjing were paid double wages. As a result, except for a few who were unwilling to leave, most people expressed their willingness to follow Liu Ze. Liu Ze personally took action, and in less than three days, the inside and outside of the mine tunnel had been cleaned up thoroughly.

  Three days later, Zuo Feng and Lü County Magistrate arrived as invited. Liu Ze was too lazy to waste his breath on them again, so he took out the deed and went through the transaction procedures with them, receiving 10,000 taels of gold. Zuo Feng saw that Liu Ze was indeed very straightforward and couldn't help but smile, taking the contract in hand and strolling around everywhere, looking at the dark cave with his hands stretched out and not seeing his fingers, feeling elated. Liu Ze sneered in his heart, let them be proud for now, there will be a time when they'll cry.

  As soon as he arrived at the well, Liu Ze immediately located the site and organized workers to dig a mine tunnel. Fortunately, all the workers were experienced hands, and the equipment was readily available, everything went smoothly, and within half a month, the first basket of coal had been dug out. Liu Ze still arranged for Hu Liu to be in charge of all matters related to the well-diameter coal mine, while he himself took another team of workers with Guan Zhang to Shangdang.

  The situation on the upper party side is more complicated. Liu Ze brought a small number of workers, so he had to recruit some vagrants locally. These vagrants were of poor quality, some were lazy by nature, and would steal if they didn't get what they wanted. Many people who were recruited in the day would run away with stolen goods at night. Managing these vagrants was a huge effort for Liu Ze, but in the end, he had no choice but to bring in 50-60 robust young men from Fenghuang Valley who were learning ironwork, which finally solved the problem of insufficient labor.

  The mountains of the Upper Party are more rugged than Yangquan, and the rocks are also harder. Liu Ze had to order Fenghuang Valley's workshop to produce a large amount of black gunpowder in a hurry. With no raw materials and no labor force, it was indeed difficult for him to make the huge amount of gunpowder needed to blast holes by himself.

  In order to meet the demand for gunpowder on the side of Shangdang, Guan Hai drew some manpower from Gongjiangfang and other places to establish a specialized gunpowder workshop, which mass-produced black gunpowder according to the formula provided by Liu Ze. After that, this gunpowder workshop not only did not disband but became bigger and bigger, producing a large number of gunpowders, even affecting the development of the war, which is another story.

  After solving a series of difficulties, the progress of the project became much smoother. In order to increase the production of Shangdang Coal Mine, Liu Zei simultaneously excavated six mine tunnels at the same time. Just as the autumn leaves were falling and drifting away, Shangdang Coal Mine finally produced its first basket of coal.

  Liu Ze finally breathed a sigh of relief, after consecutive battles for several months, even Zhang Fei, an iron man, was exhausted. At the same time, good news came from Luoyang, Jian Yun had set up branches in Ji Zhou, You Zhou, Bing Zhou, Qing Zhou, Yan Zhou, Xu Zhou, Yu Zhou and Chang'an. Many businessmen who originally did charcoal business saw that coal stones were selling well in Luoyang, and they all asked to be agents for selling coal stones. According to Liu Ze's instructions, Jian Yun signed agency agreements with these businessmen, and hundreds of agent stores joined in one after another, basically covering most counties in the north.

  Liu Ze immediately arranged for the Jingdiameter and Shangdang mines to transport coal to Luoyang and various state branches, adopting the principle of proximity. The Jingdiameter mine was responsible for transporting coal to Pingzhou, Youzhou, Jizhou, and Quyang, while the Shangdang mine transported coal to Luoyang, Chang'an, Yuzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou. The retail price was reduced by 50% from last year's basis and implemented as a unified sales price in various branches. The price for county agents was calculated at 60% of the retail price, while the price for prefecture agents was calculated at 70% of the retail price. Liu Ze required agents to also implement the basic retail price, but allowed them to make slight adjustments according to market conditions. However, the adjustment range could not exceed 30%. Any agent found hoarding or manipulating coal prices would have their agency qualification cancelled.

  Everyone is deeply puzzled, last year the sales of coal and stone were very good, this year the demand in various places has also increased significantly, it should be a price increase, but Liu Ze did the opposite, not only did he not raise the price, but instead lowered it. Moreover, the transportation costs are different due to the varying distances between states, yet Liu Ze requires the selling prices to be the same everywhere, isn't this a strange and absurd thing?

  Jian Yong asked Liu Ze, who had just arrived from Shangdang, in Fuyuan Village, Luoyang: "Hao, don't you find it strange?"

  "Master, you often have unconventional ideas, but this time I really can't understand. Isn't our business of coal and stone just for making money? Why would Master voluntarily give up high profits?"

  "Does Zhang Rang and Zuo Feng know about occupying Yangquan Mountain?"

  "I've heard a bit about this, and these eunuchs are really too overbearing."

  "I deliberately lowered the price in order to suppress their arrogance, when they transport coal from Yangquan to Luoyang, they will find that after deducting production and transportation costs, it is actually unprofitable. While our route from Shangdang to Luoyang is more than two times shorter, even with thin profit margins, there is still a profit."

  "Are you not afraid they will make another move on the Party's coal mine?"

  "If this industry is no longer a lucrative one, and only relies on hard work to make money, Zhang will definitely not be interested. This is the second consideration for me to intentionally lower the price. It's also my reflection after losing Yangquan Mountain: merchants should seek profit like a gentle stream, though it may be long but never-ending, whereas being greedy for huge profits will only attract the envy of those in power and lead them to plunder by any means."

  "What you said is absolutely right, if we want to make a long-term business, thin profit and more sales are the foundation."

  "The third factor is that in the future, coal mines will be opened more and more, and it's not just us who can open them, others can too. The production of coal will necessarily exceed the current production by more than a hundred times in three to five years. Coal will no longer be a luxury item for the wealthy, but will enter ordinary people's homes and become a daily necessity that everyone can afford. Therefore, the price of coal should not be sky-high, making it daunting for ordinary people. In the future, the price of coal must be set at a reasonable level, deducting production and transportation costs, with a profit margin of 30% to 50% being sufficient. Don't raise prices easily just because market demand is high; as long as our business spreads throughout the world, will we not make enough money?"

  "What you said, sir, is like pearls of wisdom, I've learned a lot from it. It seems that doing business is also a profound subject."

  Liu Ze smiled and said: "At first, Xianhe didn't seem to be enthusiastic about business when we left Zhuo County together."

  Jian Yun felt a bit embarrassed and said, "At the time, I was forced by circumstances to think of doing business with you, my lord. It's true that it wasn't my intention, and to some extent, I couldn't bring myself to do it as a scholar."

  "This scholar-farmer-worker-merchant positioning is truly harmful without end, how many students have sharpened their heads to drill into the official path, but among these 360 professions, every profession produces a top scholar—"

  "Zhuangyuan? What's that?" Zhang Fei chimed in at this time.

  Liu Ze didn't explain, and continued: "Doing business isn't necessarily a dead end. In the past, Fan Li held a high position but retired to live a simple life, that's why he was known as Tao Zhu. Now we've only been doing business for a year, but we already have assets worth tens of millions. Even if you're one of the top officials, your annual salary wouldn't be more than that. With money, you can buy whatever you want, do whatever you want, houses, land, women... you name it. You can even buy official positions and titles. Money isn't omnipotent, but without it, you're powerless."

  "As the lord's family member, you can still give up on literature and do business. We are just ordinary people, what can't we do? I am willing to follow you to death, as long as you lead the way."

  Guan Yu also said on the side: "Elder brother is far-sighted and has the upper hand everywhere, we have already given up in our hearts, but following elder brother's orders, Guan Yu will obey."

  Zhang Fei also said: "I have sold all my property to follow you, and I was one of the first to board the ship."

  Liu Ze smiled and said: "That's right, third brother is the largest shareholder. When big brother me becomes successful, I won't forget to give you dividends."

  "Dividends? What dividends? Give me some red silk? Forget it, I'm old Zhang and I don't look good in red anyway."