After having a coal mine, Marin lost interest in the agricultural reform of the manor. He has become the son of a coal boss, so he still wants to be a farmer? Even if you farm, the small amount of cultivated land at home can't turn over the waves.
Moreover, Adler said that although he, as the eldest son, may not have the share of the fields with his younger brothers and sisters, but he is willing to share the profits from the coal mine with his younger brothers and sisters, especially Marin who discovered the coal mine.
Adler is not a stingy person, and he is not stingy with money. It is a family tradition that the manor is not distributed to the younger brothers. But for this coal mine, it is not ancestral. Although it is underground in the manor, if Marin hadn't done a "geological investigation" on a whim, the coal mine would not have been unearthed one day.
Of course, Adler also said that when he was alive, the proceeds from the coal mine could naturally be distributed to his younger brothers and sisters, but he did not guarantee that future generations would do the same. Because, this coal mine belongs to the Hoffman family. As the next patriarch, Adler can agree to distribute the interests of the coal mine to his younger siblings while he is alive. But after Adler's son became the new patriarch, he might not be so magnanimous.
But even so, Marin and his younger brothers and sisters can share a lot of benefits. Even if the coal mine produced 100 chartrones a day, the Hoffman family would have netted at least 100 shillings, or 7.5 marks. 365 days a year, the Hoffman family can make a net profit of at least 2,700 marks.
In fact, a skilled miner can dig 15 Chaltron coals a day (data from Newcastle, UK), even if he is unskilled, it is no problem to dig seven or eight Chaltron coals a day.
Then, it is no problem to recruit 20 miners and mine 200 Chartron a day. And the income of the Hoffman family will also double. Of course, this premise is that all the coal of the Hoffman family must be sold...
However, the coal of the Hoffman family is first-class coal, and it is anthracite that is most suitable as fuel. Therefore, its market is at least better than ordinary coal.
Adler negotiated with the old Hoffman and was willing to share 30% of the coal mine profits with his younger brothers and sisters. Among them, Marin won 10%, and the remaining 20% was shared by the two younger brothers and sisters.
Of course, this vision is beautiful. However, for a long time, coal mines are not necessarily profitable. Because, mining coal mines, the early investment is huge. For example, to recruit miners, you need to build dormitories for the miners. Also build a minecart track to the docks. Then, a wharf needs to be built so that the coal ship can dock more conveniently... Not only that, but they have to go to the city to find a merchant who is willing to sell the Hoffman family's coal...
In order to master how to operate coal mines, Malinte went to other coal mines in the Ruhr area to investigate. Then, he got some data through some means.
The data shows that in a typical coal mine, miners can dig about 10 Chaltron coal per day. Of course, there are not only coal diggers in the coal mines, but also the workers who are responsible for hoisting the coal from the deep shaft on pulleys, and the workers who use hand-drawn mine carts to transport the coal to the warehouse where the coal is piled outside the mine.
Generally speaking, the current wages of coal diggers in the Ruhr area are 3 pfennigs per day, while those responsible for lifting coal and pulling coal to warehouses are paid 2 pfennigs a day. On average, the labor cost for each Chaltron coal from going out to being transported to the warehouse is about 3 to 4 pfennigs.
But it was more than that, because the cost of transporting coal by horse-drawn cart was too high, and the volume of transport was small. Therefore, coal is generally shipped out to the docks on the Ruhr River or the Lippe River for loading. As for the distance from the coal mine to the wharf, it depends on how far each coal mine is from the wharf. There are far distances, and it costs 4 pfennigs just to transport one Chaltron coal from the coal mine to the dock. If the cost is low, one or two Finneys are also needed.
Of course, there are also very favorable conditions, such as the coal mine in the Hoffman Manor, which is only 2 kilometers away from the Ruhr River, and the transportation cost is very low.
It's much more than just the cost, though. Because, digging coal and selling it, the government also has to collect taxes. The Holy Roman Empire is different from other countries. Mining in other countries is to pay taxes to the royal family. As for the Hoffman Manor within the territory of Earl Mark, for every Chaltron coal sold, a tax of 2 Finneys needs to be paid to Earl Mark.
In addition, after the coal is transported from the country of Mark, if it passes through a vassal country and encounters checkpoints, it will basically have to pay a customs duty of 1 pfennig. If you pass through multiple vassal states, you will have to pay a lot of money just for taxes.
Therefore, transporting coal by ship not only has low transportation costs, but also has the meaning of avoiding checkpoints on land. After all, on a big river, as long as you don't dock, few princes will send boats to chase you to collect taxes. Only when the ship docks at a dock will there be a tax collector to collect taxes. After all, this is the Middle Ages, and tax officials are also afraid of water, and dare not go down to the river to "take a bath".
And when you arrive at the destination city, you must pay import tax and city entry tax when you import coal. Therefore, for a Chaltron coal, those merchant ships generally only give the coal boss 2 shillings per Chaltron. But even so, the profit of the mine owner is at least 1 shilling per Chartron. As for the ship owners, as long as they stop at a few ports, even if they sell for 4 shillings per chartron, they will still have a profit of more than 1 shilling.
However, there is a prerequisite for this—that is, you have to sell the coal first. You must know that there was no industry in the Middle Ages, and the most special needs for iron smelting and copper smelting were coal. Because these productions all require the high temperature created by coal. For others, such as cooking and boiling water, you can use local firewood. Therefore, the market for coal in the Middle Ages was very small and belonged to the buyer's market.
If coal is so easy to sell, it is estimated that many people in the Ruhr area will make a fortune by selling coal, just like the later generations of coal bosses in Shanxi. Unfortunately, this era is the Middle Ages...
Marin, who has been baptized by the tide of market economy in later generations, knows the importance of sales. So, without further ado, he pulled the Hoffmanns and asked them to bring enough money and go to Cologne, the largest city on the Rhine.
It stands to reason that the two largest commercial cities in the German region are Hamburg and Bremen, and the sales in these two places will be better. However, Marin knew that in this era of Bochum, there was no inland waterway leading to Hamburg and Bremen. Only after the opening of the Sino-German Canal in later generations can the waterways between Bochum and Bremen be opened. Right now, if you want to transport coal to these two places, you must first transport it out of the mouth of the Rhine, and then transport it from the sea to these two places in a large circle. However, in this era, shipping by sea is too risky. Therefore, considering safety and transportation costs, Marin felt that it would be better to find a nearby big city to sell coal.
Cologne is the largest city in the Rhine Valley. Even Vienna, the capital of the empire, was not as prosperous as Cologne. At the same time, Cologne is also the residence of the Archbishop of Cologne, one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire.
Many commercial activities along the Rhine revolve around the city of Cologne. There are many merchants here, and many nearby vassal states will send business representatives to Cologne City to be responsible for the purchase of goods. Therefore, coal is relatively easy to sell here.
After Marin and Hoffman came to Cologne, they found a hotel to stay. Then, Marin spent money to obtain some information about the business community in Cologne and some businessmen he wanted to know from the local innkeeper.
After screening, Marin selected three well-known coal distribution managers. The reason why he chose a coal manager instead of a coal merchant himself is the truth that Marin realized when he was working in later generations-if you want to sell products to the other boss, you must make the boss feel that you are making a lot of money. But if you really want to do this, you will have to make a lot of concessions on your own side, and you will suffer a lot.
But managers are different. They only work for the boss, but they are also very powerful. However, they themselves are just workers, not the bosses themselves. Therefore, it is actually very simple to want him to purchase your goods—that is, you can bring him enough personal benefits...
Therefore, managers with purchasing authority are very popular. In later generations, many business people in charge of selling products will bribe these managers with purchasing authority. Of course, not bribery can get everything done. This also has a premise, that is, there is no big problem with your goods, and there is not much difference between them and other people's goods.
Knowing this well, Marin met with the three managers he selected, and launched a big bribery campaign...
But what made him depressed was that the first two managers said that their coal suppliers were personally determined by the boss, and they had no right to change them. Therefore, Marin had to give up. Fortunately, the third manager has more power to speak - he is the boss' brother-in-law...
After paying a huge bribe of 50 marks, the agent of the coal dealer named Wright agreed to purchase from the coal mine of the Hoffman family after two months later, after the contract with the previous dealer expired, and they would send The ship came to load the coal. Of course, the coal quality of the Hoffman family is also excellent. Although Wright was jealous of the bribe, he accepted the bribe with confidence and signed a contract with the old Hoffman after examining the samples brought by Marin and proving that the quality of the Hoffman coal mine was first-class. Moreover, the price offered by old Hoffman is also low-only 2 shillings per chartron. In fact, the price of first-class coal in the Ruhr area is generally 2 shillings and 3 pfennigs per Chartron. Therefore, it is not a loss at all for Wright to choose the Hoffman Coal Mine.
After solving the sales problem, Marin and the Hoffmans rushed back to the manor. Next, it is the excavation of coal mines and the transportation of coal.
Under Marin's dispatch, Adler was sent to the Ruhr River to supervise the construction of the coal terminal. The old Hoffman was in charge of repairing the road from the coal mine to the river, and directed the serfs to repeatedly roll the road with the stone roller "invented" by Marin. Mrs. Mary, on the other hand, supervised the carpenters to build a batch of Chinese-style wheelbarrows for the shipment of coal.
Because, Marin estimated that if a 2-kilometer-long mine car track was built, the investment cost would be too high, and the Hoffman family could not afford the money for the time being. Therefore, he simply decided to use wheelbarrows and bullock carts to transport coal first.
The bullock carts are ready-made, but there is a problem with the bullock carts. Once it rains and the road is muddy, the bullock carts will not move, which will affect the shipment of coal. The wheelbarrow is actually intended to be used in rainy days and when the road is not dry. Because the unicycle is an all-terrain vehicle that can walk on grass. Moreover, the Chinese-style unicycle can hold five or six hundred catties of goods, which is very convenient and practical.
As for Marin himself, he took Kahn and Kohler out to those old coal mines and bought two sets of support equipment for lifting coal cars with pulleys for lifting coal in mines.
After buying the equipment, Marin did not leave immediately, but quietly sent people to contact some powerful and skilled miners in those old coal mines, and at the "high price" of 4 pfennigs per day, he poached 5 free miners. A seasoned miner for civilians.
The Hoffman Coal Mine is a newly opened coal mine. If all new workers are used, the output may not be guaranteed. And once the output can't keep up, the old Hoffman is equivalent to breaching the contract, but he will lose money to Wright. Therefore, Marin dug up 5 skilled and powerful miners. Then, the old Hoffman recruited a dozen robust serfs who had never mined coal from outside the manor, and learned mining from five old miners. With the help of a master, I believe that these dozen or so young men will start digging coal faster. Of course, some of them are also responsible for loading coal to the wharf.
In this way, at the beginning of September, the coal mine of the Hoffman family officially started operation. At this time, the news that the French King Charles VIII led 37,000 French troops into Italy finally reached the German region.
Marin knew that His Majesty the Emperor must have started to worry. Because, the emperors of all generations of Shenluo regarded Italy as their own private land and did not allow others to get involved, especially the powerful France. Therefore, Marin also temporarily put down the family coal mine business and began to prepare, planning to go to Vienna to join the emperor...