Chapter 610 My People
The first thing everyone sees is a chimney, about ten meters high, emitting black smoke.

There was a boiler in the red brick house next door. Two workers, shirtless and sweating profusely, were shoveling coal into the furnace. The blazing flames spewed hot air, and could be felt from a long distance away.

In the room next to the boiler room, there were two thick-walled iron cast cylindrical cylinders facing each other, leaking steam with a hissing sound.

A smooth round rod moves back and forth between the cylinders. Next to the cylinders are a cooler and air pump, and in the middle is a one-way air valve to adjust the amount of steam.

The reciprocating round rod is wrapped with a long rod, and the long rod pulls a “seesaw”.

The sturdy seesaw is installed on an iron frame. When the left side is high, the right side is low; when the left side is low, the right side is high. One end of the seesaw is connected to an iron connecting rod, which rotates a turntable.

The turntable drives a set of gears, which drive a large flywheel. The large iron flywheel is five or six meters high.

The flywheel rotates, connected to an iron round rod, which moves back and forth like a piston in a large cylinder lying on the ground. When it is pulled forward, there is a pipe on the other side of the cylinder, as thick as an adult’s arm, which sprays water out and flows away from the ditch on the side.

Liang Youping, the technical section chief and chief engineer of Kaiping Coal Company, introduced: “Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang, and other superiors, this is the Longping Type 3 steam engine, developed by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, and it is very powerful.

“This machine can pump water 24 times in one minute,” Liang Youping said, pointing to the large horizontal cylinder. “Each time it can suck out 60 liters of water from a mine shaft more than 60 meters deep.

With it, our mines don’t have to worry about being flooded.”

He continued, “The coal mines from Kaiping to Luanzhou have thick coal seams, are shallowly buried, are easy to mine, and have good coal quality, especially coking coal for steelmaking, which is the best.

But it also has a problem. The geology below is a bit complicated, especially the aquifers. Once you dig ten meters, the coal mine will start to seep water. If it weren’t for this steam engine pump, we really wouldn’t be able to dig so deep and produce so much coal every day.”

“How much coal does this coal mine produce every day?” asked Zhang Juzheng.

“In response to Zhang Xiang’s question, the No. 1 well produced 400,000 tons of coal last year, with a total daily output of 1,100 tons. So far this year, it has produced 400,000 tons of coal, which is more than last year. It is expected that it will produce 600,000 tons of coal this year.”

“Six hundred thousand tons?” Zhang Juzheng felt dizzy.

He knew that one ton was equal to one thousand kilograms, also called one thousand kilos, which is roughly equal to one point six pounds.

How many kilograms does 600,000 tons equal?
Zhang Juzheng couldn’t figure it out at the moment. He only knew that there used to be coal production in the western hills of the capital, with an annual output of 300,000 to 400,000 kilograms, making the mine owner very rich.

Three hundred thousand or four hundred thousand jin, how many tons in total?
The number was not large. Zhang Juzheng calculated it in his mind and estimated it to be about three hundred tons.

Three hundred tons and six hundred thousand tons, what a world of difference!
No wonder Luanzhou coal was transported from three or four hundred miles away and sold at half the price of Xishan coal, forcing the Xishan coal mine to close down.

Since the Jiajing period, the imperial court and Shuntian Prefecture have issued many orders to strictly prohibit illegal mining of coal in Xishan. However, money is attractive to people, and there are always nobles and relatives who secretly order people to mine, and the ban has been repeated.

Now there is no need for government closure, Luanzhou’s cheap coal can drive it into bankruptcy.

I have realized that economic problems can be solved with economic means.

Zhu Yijun said on the side: “You use a lot of mechanical equipment, more than just a steam engine pump.”

Chen Qing’an and Liang Youping quickly replied: “Your Majesty is wise, please let your Majesty and everyone else come this way.”

The road we walked on was all black, the wind we blew was all black, the houses on the roadside were all black, the trees were all black, and even the people passing by were all gray.

Two rails were laid on the dark road. Three open carriages, each four meters long and two meters wide, were creaking on the rails. They were not moving fast, but were moving steadily.

The carriage coming from that side was full of coal, while the carriage passing from this side was mostly empty, with occasional sundries and a few people sitting in it.

There were fences on both sides of the tracks, and no one was allowed to get close. About five or six hundred meters away was a platform, with a chimney and a steam engine, which was running with a humming sound.

Liang Youping introduced: “This rail car is the same as the one at the dock, with a track gauge of 1.5 meters. It was previously a single track, but was expanded to two opposite tracks last year, and the transportation capacity has increased by two times.

This train consists of three carriages, which are used to transport coal. One carriage can carry 10 tons of coal, and three carriages can carry 30 tons. They are transported to the coal yard one kilometer away.

He pointed to the platform in the distance and said, “That’s the platform. There’s a big steam engine inside. Its output horsepower is six times that of a water pump. It drives two capstans on the left and right. The capstans have steel cables. When they rotate, they pull the cables in the middle of the rails and drive the carriages forward.

The winch on the left drives the steel cable on this side, and the winch on the right drives the winch leading to the coal yard. The winch drives the steel cable. The steel cable is pulled in the middle of the rails. It is very dangerous. If someone is accidentally caught in it, he will lose his hands and feet if he doesn’t die. So we need to build a fence to prevent people from getting close.”

That’s it!

Liang Youping led everyone to the coal mine entrance. There was a steam engine workshop next to the mine entrance. It was operating with a puffing sound, driving a huge winch, and the steel cable on the winch was turning with a creaking sound.

The well mouth is tall and big, and pitch black like a bloody mouth, which makes people feel scared when they look at it.

There were a dozen or so short and small cars being pulled out constantly, piled with coal.

When they reached the well mouth, someone pulled a wrench and the carriage tilted outward, with all the coal inside spilling into the coal pile.

When all the coal was poured onto the ground, someone in the steam engine room turned a wrench, and there was a teeth-grinding sound of gears. The steel cable began to reverse, and the empty cart clanged back into the dark wellhead and soon disappeared.

At the same time, the workers at the wellhead used shovels to load the coal piled up like a small mountain into the empty carriages. After loading three sections, they used tools to hook the bottom of the carriage onto the steel cable. With a series of teeth-grinding creaking sounds, the carriages full of coal clanged off to the coal yard.

Chen Qingan pointed to the dark well mouth and said, “Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang, and all the superiors. The car that just came out of the well is called a coal car.

It is also a rail vehicle, the track is only 0.6 meters wide, the vehicle body is one meter wide and two meters and two long.

Workers working underground use shovels and spades to load the coal into coal cars, and two or three people work together to push them to the power station, hang steel cables, and pull them to the wellhead in groups of ten.

Zhang Xueyan murmured, “The power that drives the machines at the Fengrun Woolen Mill is water power. The power at the Kaiping Coal Mine is a steam engine. Both are inexhaustible!”

Zhang Juzheng nodded and agreed, “Yes, by comparison, the steam engine is even better. It can be used anywhere as long as there is water and coal.

Water power drives require the use of river water, and embankments must be built to raise the water level, which is very troublesome. It seems that the steam engine will be the main driving force of the future industry! “

Zhu Yijun couldn’t help but turn his head and look at him, his eyes were really vicious!

After visiting Well No. 1, Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng and their party went to the living area of ​​the coal mine.

The first thing that caught our eye was a huge chimney, very tall and emitting black smoke. Everyone couldn’t help but look up.

How tall is this thing!
Chen Qingan quickly introduced: “Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang, and all the superiors, this chimney is the chimney of the boiler room, and it is 24 meters high.”

“Boiler room? How big a steam engine would require such a tall chimney?”

“In reply to Zhang Changshi, the boiler room is a place where hot water is boiled to provide hot water for everyone to bathe.”

“Ah, does a bathhouse need such a big boiler?”

“In reply to Mr. Zhang, we have four coal mines, and we work in three shifts a day. There are about 4,000 workers in each shift who need to take a bath, which means there are about 12,000 people a day. We need to supply hot water 24 hours a day, uninterruptedly, so we must have such a large boiler to boil water.”

Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Xueyan looked at each other and exclaimed: “Ten thousand people, burning coal and boiling water all day long, luckily you are the coal miners, how much coal would you need to burn like this?”

We didn’t go into the bathhouse, but went to the canteen. Chen Qing’an said, “The workers are very hard-working. In addition to the three meals a day, the canteen of our coal mine also provides hot rice, hot noodles, hot dishes and hot soups at other times. When the workers have a good rest, they can come and eat whenever they want.”

Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng and his entourage went to the canteen’s kitchen to take a look. It was bustling with twenty or thirty cooks and helpers working non-stop.

Take a look at the food. There are white flour buns and steaming beef soup. It’s delicious! If you don’t want to eat enough, there are beef noodles and mutton noodles.

“The beef and mutton are all from the Luanhe Grassland, and they taste very delicious.”

There is rice, six or seven stir-fried dishes, both meat and vegetarian, and the combination is quite balanced.

When I asked about the price, it wasn’t expensive.

“In reply to the emperor, our mine subsidizes the canteen. It is very cheap for managers, workers and their families, as long as people from the factory come to eat.”

This is too good.

Then we went to the Great Hall. The appearance of the hall here was exactly the same as that of the Fengrun Woolen Fabric Factory, and the scale inside was similar, with a capacity of 1,200 people.

“There are so many people in your mine, this meeting hall is a bit small.” Zhang Xueyan said.

“In reply to Zhang Changshi, it’s not that we don’t want to build it bigger, but if it’s wider, the sound won’t be able to be transmitted from the front to the back. People in the front talking or singing won’t be able to hear it at all.”

There is really no other way. The iron speaker and the soundbar design can only cover such a wide area.

“Does your mine publicity department have regular performances?”

“In reply to the emperor, yes. We have our own propaganda team and a special Kunqu opera troupe. We perform once every three days, including storytelling, chapters, and acrobatics.

We have a play every ten days. Every month we also go to Tianjin and the capital to invite opera troupes with special roles to perform.”

This treatment is too good!
When asked about the workers’ salaries, they were divided into different levels, from first-level apprentice to ninth-level senior worker, and the salary ranged from one and a half silver dollars to fifteen yuan per month.

Zhang Juzheng calculated in his mind that the wages paid by the Ministry of Works to the top-level craftsmen in the Construction Department were two taels of silver per month, which was about three silver dollars, and was only one-fifth of that paid to the ninth-level workers.

However, the Ming Dynasty court had always been corrupt and notoriously stingy, so the wages were relatively low.

Taking the wages of hired workers by the rich families in Wanping County as an example, the annual cost of hiring a groom was 40 taels of silver, which is equivalent to 60 silver dollars, which is one-third of the wages of a ninth-level worker.

Horsemen are skilled high-level hired workers, and their wages are quite high, while ordinary porters and rickshaws may only make 20 taels a year.

The average carpenter or bricklayer was paid between four and seven cents a day, which means two taels of silver a month. However, these craftsmen were paid based on the number of working days, so it was impossible for them to have work every day.

There is no harm without comparison.

A ninth-level worker in a coal mine earns 180 silver dollars a year, equivalent to 121 taels of silver.

Even the fourth and fifth level workers, who were the most numerous, received seven or eight silver dollars a month, which amounted to fifty or sixty taels of silver a year.

There are also houses to live in and discounts on meals. According to the Fengrun Woolen Fabric Factory, there are benefits available all year round, varying from one person to another.

Then, we buy food, clothing and daily necessities in the factory store, which are cheaper than outside.

Easily feed a family of ten.

No wonder the villagers in Yahongqiao think that the workers in the factory are all “decent people”.

The group also visited the mining area’s shops, clinic and public school.

That’s great, the treatment is great!
I wish I could quit my job and be a manager here!
The accompanying officials from the Secretariat of the Advisory Bureau, the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Public Security and other departments, the seventh and eighth ranks, were secretly muttering in their hearts, their eyes red with envy.

When they arrived at the dormitory area, many workers knew that the emperor and the prime minister were coming to inspect, so they gathered in the distance. When they saw Zhu Yijun and his party coming over and confirmed with the Yulin Army and the Yongweiying Military Academy on guard, they all shouted.

“Long live the Emperor!”

One shout after another became louder and louder, surging towards Zhu Yijun like a tide. More and more workers gathered around him, as well as their families.

He had long ago asked Yang Jinshui to secretly pass a message to the heads of various factories and mines in Kailuan, telling the workers that when they saw the imperial carriage, they did not need to kneel on the ground and shout “Long live the emperor”, but could just stand there, shout “Long live the emperor” and applaud enthusiastically.

This is the preferential treatment that the emperor gives to factory and mine workers, and it is not given to ordinary people!
Looking at the workers whose faces were flushed with excitement and who were rushing forward but were stopped by the guards, Zhu Yijun suddenly got excited and jumped onto a high platform and waved his hands, and the surroundings suddenly became silent as if by magic.

Everyone looked up, their eyes filled with joy, admiration, respect and love.

Zhu Yijun reached out and took off his helmet, revealing his ear-length hair, and said loudly: “I have heard that many poor scholars, seeing you have cut your hair short, feel ashamed of you being shaved people (criminals whose hair has been shaved off) and laugh at you being short-haired thieves.

Now I have also cut my hair short, and have become what they call a bald man or a short-haired thief.”

The thousands of workers who were closest to the scene were so excited that their eyes were red and their bodies were shaking. The family members of the workers in the back heard the story and made a lot of noise.

“Next time they dare to laugh at you like this, I will give you the power to slap them hard!”

The workers were so surprised and excited that they shed tears. The applause once again rang out like thunderous spring tides.

“Long live the Emperor!”

The shouting started again.

Zhu Yijun raised his right arm and shouted: “Long live the Ming Dynasty! Long live the people!”

“Long live the Ming Dynasty! Long live the people!”

Tens of thousands of people shouted excitedly, the sound was deafening.

These are my people!
Zhang Juzheng whispered to Zhang Xueyan, “Zi Yu, do you finally understand why the emperor ordered Yang Jinshui and all factories and mines to treat these workers well?

They are the people in the emperor’s heart. These workers know that their food and clothing come from the emperor, and they support the emperor and are loyal to him.

If anyone dares to rebel against the emperor, they will bite the rebels to death without hesitation!

Zi Yu, they have hundreds of thousands of people, and they made all the guns, cannons, and armor for the Ming army and navy.”

Zhang Xueyan replied: “Open up the militia division.”

Zhang Juzheng raised the corner of his mouth and said nothing more.

The shouts at the scene became louder and louder, shaking the land of Yanbei.

(End of this chapter)