In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 131 Still lacking copper
This output surprised Zhao Yurui. At its peak, the Xinzhou Mine had an annual output of more than 500 million catties, but there were 10,000+ miners. Now Zhao Yurui adopts the joint household system and only recruits more than 5 households. Of course, there are also 10,000 miners. + people.

After his careful arrangement and management, the output has almost exceeded the peak period.

"Among them, 16 catties were handed over to the imperial court every month. The imperial court purchased them at 450 ren per catty, and got more than 7 guan. Wan Guan.” But here, the imperial court gave the members, and gave three 2+ members.

There is no way, the court has always done things like this, otherwise the mine would not have closed down in the past, because the value of the meeting is depreciating every day.

"Our monthly labor expenditure is about 15 guan (an average of about [-] guan for one household), mainly for money miners and coolie miners."

"Other expenses are [-] guan." Including fuel, construction, food, etc., among them, the food cost exceeded Zhao Yurui's original budget, and about [-] guan was already included in the original account, but it was more than that, and had to be posted separately.

On Quanyong's side, those who paid for women and young people mainly used congregation sons, while those who paid for adults and strong people mainly paid for copper coins.

Originally, they planned to spend less than 15 guan, but after adding money miners, the expenditure reached 15 guan per month.

"We originally prepared a group of 300 people, a total of five groups."

"If there are enough copper and tin materials, 15 coins can be minted every month."

It was only then that Zhao Yurui realized that their current productivity was a bit astonishing, because they all cast a lot of money. As long as there is enough copper and tin, at face value, they can cast 100 million guan per month.

But the key point is that their output is not enough. The monthly output is 46 jin, and 16 jin is handed over. In the end, 30 jin of copper can only be casted about [-] jin per month.

The face value of the monthly copper coin is 30 guan, and the iron coin is [-] guan.

So in fact, Quan Yong's coin miners had a lot of work in the early stage. According to their copper output, three groups of people are enough.

Calculated in this way, the actual monthly income of the copper farm is 37 guan (iron money is not counted), and after deducting the expenditure of 21 guan, the net profit is 16 guan.

It was even higher than Qin Zhuo's previous budgeted income.

Quan Yong finally said, now the mine is not enough copper, and the other is too much iron and others, and they also have a lot of people who mint money, often rest, cousin, you still pay wages, do you want to lay off people?

When Zhao Yurui heard it, hey, he didn't lose money, and he made money, so he said, "Quan Yong, you guys did a good job. After you go back this time, you will do three things."

"First of all, you can't lay off people, and then give all the money miners and our own people a reissue of last year's year-end bonus. through."

Quan Yong listened quietly, thinking that his cousin would spend his money recklessly, hey.

"Among the [-] groups, select the ten groups with the best performance, and each group will send another [-] guan."

"My cousin divided them into groups, and they will be judged every month, and the bonuses have already been distributed." Quan Yong shouted, feeling a little bit sorry for the money.

"That's a month-to-month comparison. Now we will compare at the end of the year. We will reissue last year. Ten groups will be selected, and each group will be awarded [-] guan." Zhao Yurui said.

"Okay." Quan Yong said helplessly.

Now they have to pay another tens of thousands of guan, but Qin Zhuo and Quan Yong also have to admit that Zhao and Rui are willing to spend money, and there are rewards and punishments, so they have fewer people than before, but their output is not low.

"The second thing is to recruit a group of blacksmiths and give me the remaining iron materials to make iron pots."

"Iron pots are divided into four sizes, from small to large, and they are also made with molds."

In the late Ming and Qing dynasties, iron pots in the Central Plains were popular all over the world. Overseas businessmen came to buy tens of thousands of them at a time, which was quite profitable, because many overseas natives did not have pots at the moment.

Including Koryo and Japan are also extremely short of iron pots.

It is too simple to make iron pots in their mines. Originally, the iron materials used to cast copper coins had to be melted into molten iron, and then they would be poured directly into the mold, and it would be a pot.

"The monthly production of iron pots should reach [-] first, and blacksmiths should be used as much as possible." Zhao Yurui first made [-] pots to see the market, and then expanded the scale later.

The Xinzhou Mine has been in operation for half a year, and it has been recruiting people for construction and preparation. Recently, it has just started casting for two or three months, so this time only 50 guan were shipped.

In the future, at least 16 guan can be produced every month, plus [-] guan iron money.

According to Zhao Yurui's request, once every two months, copper coins, excess iron materials, lead materials, tin materials, iron pots, and copper mirrors are transported here. Ship it.

Because the ship coming from Xinzhou must pass through Lin'an.

There is no waterway in Xinzhou to get to Qingyuan Mansion. It is slow and unsafe to travel so many metals and copper coins by land. Therefore, Quan Yong came here by taking the official waterway. From Xinzhou all the way to Lin'an, and then from Lin'an, the whole journey is about 900 miles. , It will take about ten days to walk. If you use the footwork of the trackers along the way, the time can be shortened by two or three days, but you have to pay extra.

If such output can be maintained in the future, only Xinzhou can earn nearly 200 million guan for Zhao Yurui every year. In addition, he will gradually drive to the poker rooms across the country, and it will not be a dream to earn 500 million guan a year.

In the same mine, the official can lose money, and Zhao Yurui makes a lot of money because Zhao Yurui's management and rules and regulations are good, which can motivate workers and craftsmen to work hard and save money without wasting money.

Seeing that the official money minting only consumes close to 10% of the fire, in addition to the powder that the workers and officials don’t care about, there is another point that officials can use the fire to embezzle copper coins.

The term fire consumption has existed hundreds of years ago, and it is also an excuse for the officials to take advantage of it in a fair and honest manner.

Based on the fire consumption of nearly 10% of copper coins, assuming that [-] guan coins are minted daily, officials can only deliver [-] guan.

The other one hundred guan was pocketed in the name of 10% fire consumption.

Zhao and Rui's fire consumption dropped directly to 2%, and there was even room for it to drop, so the profits would naturally be high.

"How many 13-17-year-old boys are there in the mine?"

Before Zhao Yurui left, when recruiting at the mine, each household had to have a strong man in his 30s and 40s. Those with teenagers over ten years old were given priority, and middle-aged people around [-] years old were also given priority. Afterwards, they had to be counted and recorded. Replace new.

全勇道，10岁到17岁少年有一万4000多人，13岁-17岁少年有5000多人。

"The third thing, from now on, [-] teenagers will be drawn every month to join the training, and the batch will be rotated every three months."

Last year, Zhao Yurui's request was to draw one person from each group of 100 people, a group of [-] people, and each group trained for one month.

From October to April now, exactly half a year, 500 people have been trained.

Now increase the training, each batch of 500 people, plus 100 of the previous 600 people, each batch of [-] people, and rotate one group every three months.

One year later, 500 teenagers can be trained. At the same time, the first [-] people have been trained for a year and a half. After deducting the rotation time in the middle, each person has been trained for at least half a year.

Quan Yong nodded and remembered.

"Each time five hundred youngsters are drawn, won't it affect the output?"

"The teenagers are all helping their father, and it doesn't have much influence."

"Try to draw as evenly as possible, and the drawn group will get a slight bonus in the assessment."

"clear."

Zhao Yurui discussed with Quan Yong and Qin Zhuo very late that day and arranged many matters.

Also consider shipping issues.

The ships that Quan Yong transported this time were from the local coin casting company. They were relatively old and small, so more than 30 ships came. Zhao Yurui directly arranged for Quan Yong to go to the local shipyard to buy the ships. Five medium-sized ships with a thousand materials.

At that time, Jiangxi Jizhou Shipyard was also quite famous in the Southern Song Dynasty, with an annual output of [-] ships at its peak.

One thousand feeder ships can hold 60 tons, about 12 jin, which is almost just right when it can actually hold 13-14 jin.

But the copper coins are very heavy, they should be five and ten denominations, one string weighs thirteen to fourteen catties, and a thousand-feed ship can hold exactly [-] strings. , that is one hundred thousand strings.

Including other materials, at least five ships are required.

Finally, Zhao Yurui asked if there was any way to increase the production of copper materials?
Quan Yong said that Xinzhou has more than 5 households and 10,000+ people, which is almost the same. If you add tens of thousands, there is no modern machinery, and the increase in production is limited, unless you buy another mine.

Among the four major copper fields in the Song Dynasty, the largest was in Shaozhou, Guangdong. According to historical records: "The amount of yuan is 1000 million catties, and the harvest in the first year is 280 catties."

There is quite a lot of copper over there, but it is also a matter of the past, and now the output has also dropped sharply, and the key is still far away.

It is impossible for Zhao Yurui to go there to take pictures of the copper mine and then do it by himself.

And it’s fine for him to buy a mine in the country and do it. How many do you want to buy? What do the court officials think?
Qin Zhuo said: "You can exchange copper coins for Japanese copper mines."

Japan’s copper mines are quite rich in data. During the 1962 years from 1708 to 47, more than 490 million catties of Japanese copper flowed into China, equivalent to the copper output of the Qing Dynasty for nearly 30 years. At that time, the eight Shanxi merchants controlled the relationship with Japan. In the foreign copper trade, the profit is as high as [-] times, and the profit is full.

How much copper was there in Japan at that time?Looking at the price of copper at that time, it is unbelievable compared to now.

In 1695, the unearthed price of Japanese copper mines was 95 Wen/109 catties, and the export price was [-] Wen/[-] catties.

In 1705, the unearthed price of Japanese copper mines was 191 Wen/113 catties, and the export price was [-] Wen/[-] catties. (A price inversion is formed.)
Although this is the price of copper ore, it is still many times cheaper than the current official price of 450 Wen per catty in the Southern Song Dynasty.

After the price was inverted, Japan began to restrict the export of copper ore, and the price soon rose.

However, major copper mines in Japan were not discovered until the 16th and 17th centuries, and copper smelting technology was only improved after learning from China.

In 708 AD, Japan discovered the earliest copper mine in its history in the mountains of Chichibu County, Musashi State. The Japanese imperial court changed the year name to Hetong accordingly, and used Musashi's copper mine as raw material to cast Kaiyuan Tongbao in the Tang Dynasty. The earliest statutory copper coin in Japanese history, "Hetong Kaibao".

However, due to the limited coin casting technology, the quality of copper coins is getting worse and worse, and all the folks use the Kaiyuan Tongbao of the Tang Dynasty.

In 958 AD, after Japan cast the Qianyuan Dabao with the worst quality, for more than 600 years, until a major copper mine was discovered, no statutory copper coins were cast again. (private casting does not count)

During these 600 years, including the Song and Yuan dynasties, most of the copper coins from the Song and Yuan dynasties were used, and even copper coins from the Tang Dynasty were used.

(End of this chapter)