When Ambassador Hou recovered, everyone left the dock.

Zhao Hao looked around and saw that he was already in the deep mountains, with high mountains and narrow valleys and ravines crisscrossing. A city hangs high above the top of the mountain, with a strong momentum of one man at the gate and ten thousand men not open.

Ambassador Hou's face was pale and did not forget the important task of the tour guide: "This place connects the capital to the east and the desert to the west, which is the last line of defense to the west. However, there is a city along the river not far ahead, and there is no war on the other side, so there is no peace here."

Zhao Hao nodded, he had already seen the houses at the foot of the mountain village like scales.

Because of coal, a lively market town has been formed here.

When everyone came to the town, they saw that there were not as many coal piles as imagined. There were more kilns than they thought, and the sanitation conditions were particularly poor... Well, I was talking about the streets.

"This is where the coal mine owners live, and they are here to discuss business with them." Ambassador Hou covered his nose and introduced: "The coal miners all live in the mine. There is a big head and a small head watches. They can't get down the mountain all year round."

Zhao Hao nodded, and there could be a lot of useful information in such a place.

He was waiting for the horse riders to come and meet, so he pulled Ambassador Hou to wander around the street.

Zhao Hao first went to a coal dental shop to ask about the coal price.

From the broker, he knew that 100 kilograms of coal was only sold for 80 cents, and the price of anthracite was nearly twice as expensive, about 150 cents per 100 kilogram. Of course, this is the price of coal in the Zhaitang, and a freight of 20 to 30 cents is required to be added to transport it to Beijing.

"How much does firewood and charcoal cost?" Zhao Hao began to calculate the interest rate spread here. You should know that in addition to the capital and Shanxi, most of the country still burn firewood, especially in the Jiangnan area, many people do not know coal.

"I don't know here that the firewood in Beijing is about 150 cents per 100 kilograms, and charcoal is four or five hundred cents per 100 kilograms." Ambassador Hou is indeed a professional, and he answered as many of his knowledge.

"It's not too much..." Zhao Hao muttered, thinking that the production and sales volume could not increase, and there was no profit.

It's just that he's making money is too easy and has become inflated.

In addition to labor, the coal business has almost no freight costs, and the sales volume is stable and has a long history.

Who can open a small coal mine and earn steadily two or three thousand taels a year, and it will be a big landlord?

"The population of Beijing exceeds one million, and the nearby hills have long been cut off bare, so we have to switch to coal." Ambassador Hou hurriedly answered: "The rich families still burn charcoal. After all, no matter how good anthracite is, it cannot compare to charcoal."

"Yes. If the ducks from Bianyifang were changed to roasted with coal, they would probably not be sold." Seeing that his uncle looked a little serious, Zhao Shizhen joked, which really made everyone laugh.

The current positioning of coal still exists as a substitute for firewood and charcoal.

Except for Zhao Hao, no one knows that this extremely cheap fossil energy contains the power to change the world!

In addition to the kiln, the most common ones in the town are human resources.

Coal mines are labor-intensive industries, even more so in this era. Wu Kangyuan told Zhao Hao that at least 20,000 refugees were digging coal and transporting coal. Zhao Hao felt it was a bit exaggerated at the time, but he completely believed this when he saw the situation on the street with his own eyes.

The streets were covered with ragged, pale and thin refugees, who were famous for finding work.

There was also a man shouting and urging these refugees into the shop like driving animals.

Zhao Hao also got into the crowd and entered a tit-house, asking where the refugees came from like chattering. As a result, there were people from Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and Liaodong.

So many refugees did not escape to Beijing to avoid the Tartars.

In fact, since the middle of Jiajing, the Eurasian continent has had signs of entering a long small ice age. Unusual climates such as great cold and heavy flooding, extreme cold and heat have appeared one after another, and crops in various places have failed to harvest or even lost harvest, which has forced farmers to abandon the wasteland and flee in large quantities.

Speaking of which, the reason why the Tartars invaded so frequently is also closely related to the large number of animals dying in extreme weather...

And all this is just the prelude to this little glacier that lasts for more than a hundred years, and it is not even an appetizer...

Of course, the climate is not completely useless, because humans will experience two beneficial progress at this time, one is the great burst of thought; the other is the improvement of technology...

And from the perspective of cold and pure capital, the large number of refugees generated by the cooling climate are exactly what industrial production requires, and a large amount of labor left the land.

While he was thinking about it, Zhao Hao heard someone's clanging sound and beat the gong.

It turned out that the store was full of people, and an agent beat the gong to calm everyone down, and then shouted loudly:

"Hujia Sanyao recruits thirty-year-old workers and thirty-year-old workers, and manages food and accommodation, and has a good salary."

"I dare ask, how much does it cost per day?"

"The money is calculated in the kiln, but not according to the day. If you pay a load down the well, you will send a load of ten cents and transport it from the kiln to the mountain twenty cents." The broker replied loudly.

"The Old Hu family is so generous? Last year, I was at another family and I only gave half of the money." Then a tall and thin man sighed.

"Yes, such a boss is rare. I heard that the old Hu family is full of food every meal, and there is still meat to eat every now and then." Another horse face echoed.

When the other refugees heard this, their eyes shone.

"These people are old kilns at first, and they know how to do it." The agent nodded with a smile.

"How long can it last?" asked the tall and thin man.

"Do work until May next year. If you are willing to do it, press your handprints as soon as possible. If you pass this village, there will be no store." After saying that, the agent waved his hand and asked his subordinates to take out a stack of written contracts.

"It's great now. Don't worry about half a year. I, Liu Laoliu, have to sign quickly." The tall and thin man immediately squeezed to the front, reported his name, and then pressed his handprint on a contract.

"I'm the one!" The horse-faced man also pressed his handprints.

When the rest saw that someone took the lead, they no longer hesitated and rushed to sign up and pressed their handprints.

Zhao Hao went up and saw that the contract was full of harsh conditions, and even had a bastard clause like "work injury, illness and death, and self-care"... but he probably no one could understand the whole room.

He couldn't stand it and left the tooth.

Then I heard Ambassador Hou whisper to him: "That tall man and that horse face are the nursery hired by Yass."

Zhao Hao nodded and then listened to him, "It would be great if these people could get half of the promised wages."

When the broker packed up the contract, he would take them to the mine by the foreman sent by Hujiayao.

Zhao Hao felt a little uncomfortable when he looked at the workers and was driven on the mountain road by the foreman like a cattle. These refugees who had never seen the world were so easy to deceive.

This is completely different from the cunning Jiangsu and Zhejiang villagers.

When he turned around, he saw the tall man with a horse face flashing into another tooth shop...
Chapter completed!