After Marin and his family left Markburg, they didn't go directly to find the address of the fief, but first brought the documents sent by Mark's palace back to Hoffman Manor, and entertained them with delicious food and drinks.
Then, Marin and his family discussed the selection of new fiefdoms. Originally, the old Hoffmans planned to choose arable land. However, they must also listen to Marin's opinion.
Because, in the final analysis, John II was willing to promote Adler as a knight in advance this time, and rewarded the Hoffman family with an extra fief, all because of Marin's face. Otherwise, how could John II have the mood to pay attention to a little knight family like the Hoffman family
Marin wanted to choose a coal mine, so the old Hoffmans and the Adlers could only agree...
So, Marin sent someone to invite several prospecting engineers from Dortmund, and began to explore coal veins near Hoffman Manor...
At the beginning, Marin asked the prospector to prospect around the Hoffman estate. Because the anthracite coal produced by Hoffman Manor is of very good quality and is also very suitable as fuel. The point is that anthracite has less smoke, and the air pollution is not as heavy as bituminous coal. You should know that when bituminous coal burns, it not only produces thick smoke, but also emits a pungent smell, which is very polluting to the air.
Therefore, if prospectors can find out the direction of the anthracite mine in Hoffman Manor, it would be a good choice to take down the anthracite mine as a whole.
However, several prospecting engineers explored for several days and drilled many holes with the help of workers, but they did not find any large coal mine veins in the surrounding area. In other words, even if the coal mine extends to other places underground, it is still deep underground. At least, you can't see it by drilling holes on the ground. Because, these days, drilling is done manually, not by machines. It would be nice to be able to dig down to a depth of ten or twenty meters. With such a depth, I can't see any results...
Of course, for Marin, this depth is enough. Because mining open-pit mines and mining deep mines have completely different mining difficulties and mining costs.
In this era, coal was not valued by people, and most of the coal mines were not developed, including many open pit mines. Therefore, there is no need for Marin to spend high costs to mine deep underground mines, but can give priority to open-pit mines that are shallow or wrongly done.
Moreover, coal deep mines are also very dangerous. If you are not careful, there will be a gas explosion or something. Because combustible gas gathers underground, it is easy to blow up when it encounters an open flame. However, the deep wells of coal mines cannot be lit without lighting, otherwise there will be no light. Because there are no miner's lamps these days, only torches can be used for lighting. This torch meets gas gas...
However, there is no such danger in open-pit coal mines. If it is above the open air or buried very shallow, the combustible gas will easily escape and will not gather together to detonate. In addition, the difficulty of mining is different, and the cost is different. Therefore, as long as you are not a fool, you must understand that it is better to choose an open pit coal mine than a deep shaft coal mine. But in the Ruhr area of this era, many open-pit coal mines have not yet been exploited, and they are also regarded as bad land because they cannot be cultivated...
Marin took a few prospectors and began to search around Hoffman Manor on horseback. Of course, they have the exploration permit document issued by the court of Earl Mark. Otherwise, in some places, the landlords will not let them in...
As for the place Marin found, if there was an original owner, John II promised that he could exchange it with another piece of land that was no worse than the original land and had more arable land.
In this way, Marin took several prospectors and a group of strong serfs who were responsible for digging holes and ran on the land belonging to the Mark County in the Ruhr area, looking for the legendary open-pit coal mine...
In other words, there are many coal mines in the Ruhr area, and Marin led the team to discover several open-pit coal mines nearby. But what makes Marin depressed is that the two best open-pit coal mines are in the hands of local nobles. Nobles are not commoners, and they have the confidence to refuse to exchange land. John II promised Marin that if he found a coal mine, he could exchange arable land. However, that was for civilians. Besides, commoners dare not reject John II. However, the nobles are different. Even John II cannot tamper with the ancestral fiefdom without sufficient reasons. If people are not willing to change places, John II can't force them to mess around.
The other three open-pit coal mines can be replaced. However, Marin took the craftsmen to investigate on the spot and found that the quality of the coal was not good. To put it simply, these three open-pit coal mines are not anthracite coal, but bituminous coal.
Speaking of it, if the iron and steel industry is to be developed, bituminous coal is an indispensable raw material for coking. However, in these years, you have vigorously developed the steelmaking business, and who are you selling the steel you produce
You know, this is the agricultural age, even if a lot of steel is smelted, it can only be used for farming tools and weapons, and there are very few other uses. Unlike the industrial age, building machines required a lot of steel.
Therefore, these days, the iron and steel industry does not need to spend so much effort on it. If you want to do it, you have to wait until the steam engine is invented...
In other words, in this era, anthracite, which is more suitable as a fuel, is more important than bituminous coal...
As for Marin, the small-scale iron and steel industry needs a little bit of bituminous coal. Marin doesn't have to worry about this. Because there is a bituminous coal mine in Gelsenkirchen, where his sister-in-law Liv's natal family is located. If you need bituminous coal, you can buy it directly from the Hamler family at a friendly price.
Therefore, what Marin needs more now is anthracite, not bituminous coal...
In desperation, Marin continued to lead the team to investigate, and gradually moved away from Hoffman Manor...
Finally, half a month later, Marin found a large open-pit coal mine in the southwest of Bochum, and it was a high-quality anthracite coal mine...
This place belongs to a local gentry family. This gentry is actually a descendant of a knight, but he is not from the line of the eldest son. He has lost his noble status and has become an ordinary squire.
Moreover, the family did not develop and utilize this large coal mine. They just dug up some coal for their own use, such as cooking and cooking.
When the document from the court of Earl Mark expressed his willingness to exchange the arable land by the Ruhr River with him, the gentry immediately agreed.
In fact, it was not that this gentleman did not know that coal could be sold for money. But the big question is, who are you selling to
In this era, few people bought coal, and the Ruhr area was full of coal mines. Therefore, even if you have coal mines, it is difficult to sell them if you have no access. Coal cannot be sold, and it cannot be exchanged for money. Therefore, it is better to change some cultivated land. After all, there is no situation where food cannot be sold...
In this way, Marin successfully obtained a large coal mine that produced high-quality anthracite much larger than the coal mine in Hoffman Manor.
This coal mine is located in the southwest of Bochum, only seven or eight kilometers away from the Ruhr River, and it is easy to pull coal to the Ruhr River. Of course, the premise is that Marin has to build a gravel road leading to the river first. Then, build a wharf to facilitate coal loading...
However, Marin is not in a hurry to develop this coal mine. Because, although he has expanded the number of salt cooking pots in Yancheng, more coal is needed. However, the coal mines in Hoffman Manor recruited more miners, and the output could still be supplied.
After all, the coal mine in Hoffman Manor has already produced a large amount of coal, and various facilities are relatively complete. Recruiting more miners can increase production in a short period of time. Unlike the newly won coal mine, it will take at least a few months to generate production including road paving and mine development. By then, the day lilies are all cold.
Therefore, as far as the moment is concerned, it is better to let the coal mine at home increase production first. As for this newly acquired coal mine, it can be occupied first and developed when needed. Of course, the construction of roads and docks can be done in advance, and the development of coal mines can be delayed.
Moreover, this new fief named "Mrs. Mary's Manor" by the old Hoffman because he liked his wife also has 100 Ugrams of arable land. Moreover, the squire who had moved away left behind a row of houses. However, he took all the serfs away. If you want serfs, you have to recruit them yourself. But now in the German region, the most indispensable thing is the surplus population. Otherwise, German mercenaries would not be able to develop.
However, the time has entered March, and spring plowing has begun. Whether it is the Hoffman Manor or the newly purchased Madam Mary Manor, spring plowing must be carried out. Therefore, Madam Mary's recruitment of serfs must be done quickly.
As the owner of the Wadden Islands, Marin must also rush back to the Wadden Islands to supervise the spring plowing. Therefore, after confirming the new coal mining site, Marin paid the salary, sent away the prospecting craftsmen, returned to Hoffman Manor to pack up, and was about to return to the Wadden Islands...