When Lin Ze heard that Bright Moon Pavilion used tens of millions of jin of firewood a year, he found it entirely believable.
Xu Sheng instinctively wanted to tease him for knowing so little about the Martial Arts Holy Land.
A mere ten million jin of firewood was nothing to the vast forests on Crescent Moon Island; they could easily meet the demand, so there was no need to buy any from outside.
Tens of thousands of people lived on Crescent Moon Island. Whether they were cooking, heating their homes, smelting iron, forging weapons, boiling medicine, or refining pills, all of it consumed enormous amounts of fuel. To meet the sect's needs, the forests in several counties around the East Sea had nearly been felled in recent years.
Xu Sheng remembered the period just after he had left his master. He had spent some time as a foreman at a logging camp run by his sect.
The work had been easy. His only regret was that the pay had not been very good. Once he had saved enough for the journey, he had gone off to make his way in the martial world.
All the firewood they gathered back then had been shipped to Crescent Moon Island to supply the many disciples of the sect.
But in the next instant, Xu Sheng stopped the teasing remark that had almost slipped out.
If he spoke without thinking, he might expose a secret of his sect.
Bright Moon Pavilion was powerful enough that it needn't worry too much about such minor information getting out. The government and the other major powers probably knew these basic facts about the pavilion inside and out. But as a Bright Moon Pavilion disciple, he couldn't go around blabbing indiscriminately.
If his fellow disciples or elders heard about it later, they might think poorly of his character and blame him, distancing themselves from him.
After calming down, Xu Sheng began to consider Lin Ze's proposal.
"If what Brother Lin says is true, and one jin of coal is worth three jin of firewood while costing less, then shipping coal from Fengping County back to Crescent Moon Island in bulk would surely save more money and labor than setting up logging camps along the coast and cutting down trees ourselves."
"If I act as the go-between, earning a steady return from it does seem entirely feasible."
At the thought, Xu Sheng grew a little excited.
If he could make this work, he would earn a great deal of money to support his family, while staying relatively safer than he would by roaming the martial world.
But his excitement didn't last long. Xu Sheng's expression fell as he looked at Lin Ze and sighed. "Zi Yi, your suggestion is excellent. To be honest, my sect uses far more firewood each year than you estimated. We'd surely make a good profit if we could ship coal back there.
"But I have no money to buy coal, nor a ship to carry it back to the mountain gate. The most I can do is pass the news along to the sect."
"Whether the sect is willing to stop cutting wood at its logging camps and start buying coal from you, Zi Yi, remains to be seen."
At that moment, Xu Sheng keenly felt the helplessness of being a middle-aged man.
He had met a good friend young enough to be his son, who was willing to think about his future and point him toward a way to make money, but he lacked the means to seize the opportunity.
Lin Ze didn't mind Xu Sheng's dejection. Smiling, he said, "Since Jingguan says the sect uses many times more firewood than I estimated, then it must consume at least a hundred million, perhaps even several hundred million jin of fuel a year. Even if we only capture a small share of that, we'll still make a fortune.
"I can let you buy the coal on credit. I can also lend you money to buy a ship, and I can lend you some extra silver to grease the palms of the senior officials in charge of fuel procurement at the mountain gate.
"All you need to do, Jingguan, is help me sell the coal to Bright Moon Pavilion. You can pay me back later. It's a partnership that benefits us both: you'll sell coal in large quantities, and I'll profit from it too."
Lin Ze made his intentions clear: he was simply trying to make money.
Xu Sheng's eyes widened. He stared at Lin Ze, moved by the thought that Lin Ze had such faith in him and placed such great expectations on him.
As a boy, he had been no more than average in martial arts talent. His family and the elders of his sect had never thought much of him. Now, in middle age, he had spent years wandering the martial world without accomplishing anything. Yet Lin Ze was willing to place so much trust in him, and Xu Sheng was deeply touched.
His blood surged. He stopped worrying about whether he might fail, slapped the table, and said, "All right! Since you think so highly of me, Zi Yi, I won't let you down. I'll make sure this gets done properly."
"I'll set off for the sect with the coal at once. If we can reach an agreement, I'll ask you to support me generously."
Lin Ze smiled. It was settled.
If Xu Sheng could pull this off, Lin Ze would instantly gain another reliable major customer.
And even if Xu Sheng couldn't get it done, it wouldn't matter much. It wouldn't cost Lin Ze much; at this point, his entire investment amounted to nothing more than a promise of riches.
Even if all else failed, Xu Sheng could still work as his bodyguard. There was no way Lin Ze would lose out.
Lin Ze talked Xu Sheng out of rushing straight back to Bright Moon Pavilion, his blood still up. Xu Sheng had traveled a long way, and it would be too inconsiderate to send him rushing off without a moment's rest. Besides, even if Xu Sheng wanted to leave immediately, Lin Ze needed time to make preparations.
They talked a while longer, then ate and drank their fill.
Lin Ze arranged for Xu Sheng to rest in a guest room. He even booked two of the top technicians from the city's Emerald Red Pavilion to help him unwind from the fatigue of his long journey.
The next day, Xu Sheng got up, did his morning exercises, and ate breakfast. Then he boarded a large ship Lin Ze had rented from Dan Xuliang of the Cao Gang. It carried around four hundred tons of cargo and headed toward the mountain gate of Bright Moon Pavilion on Crescent Moon Island.
Ships in this era could hold quite a lot. The boats Lin Ze had used in his earlier estimates of middlemen's profits from selling coal, which carried only twenty or thirty tons each, could only be considered small.
Ordinary coastal merchant ships generally carried around four hundred tons, while some of the larger seagoing vessels could carry more than a thousand.
Lin Ze had loaded a hundred tons of coal onto the merchant ship Xu Sheng was taking.
It would go with Xu Sheng to Bright Moon Pavilion's mountain gate as a sample, so the senior officials in charge of fuel procurement could see how good this fuel was. If they approved a purchase on the spot, that would be ideal. If not, Xu Sheng could grease a few palms with silver.
"This afternoon, Xu Sheng should reach Coastal County and inform the mountain gate that he wants to deliver coal.
"If all goes well, he'll get an answer tomorrow afternoon about whether he can bring the coal to Bright Moon Pavilion. If he can't, he can just sell the hundred tons to the Cao Gang in Coastal County. Either way, I won't lose money."
Lin Ze said goodbye to Xu Sheng and watched the coal-laden ship depart from the dock as he considered the matter.
After the ship had disappeared from sight, Lin Ze went home.
First, he studied a lesson he had secretly recorded from Bright Moon Pavilion, making up for the morning exercises he had missed because he had needed to avoid Xu Sheng.
He had completed Vein Opening some time ago, but his body, energy, and spirit were still growing rapidly. After his training, Lin Ze could clearly feel that his Inner Breath had increased once again.
That afternoon, after waking from his nap, Lin Ze took a carriage toward the coal mine.
It was August 30. There was still an August 31 in the Main World, but here in Fengping County, it was the end of the month. That meant today was payday for all the coal miners.
At the coal mine, Lin Ze sat in the office doing the accounts.
On this important day, the three officials who held shares in the mine had also arrived.
"We started mining on August 4. From the fourth through the sixth, over three days, we mined 2,214 tons. The wages have already been paid."
"After that, production held steady at 800 tons a day. By August 19, we'd worked for thirteen days. After subtracting the two rest days, we mined 8,800 tons, and the wages are still unpaid."
"Then, from August 20 through August 23, over those four days, ten thousand miners joined us. Some went to build supporting structures, while the rest joined the mining crews. Daily production rose from 800 tons to 5,000, for a total of 20,000 tons of coal."
"From August 24 to today, August 30, production increased day by day over the seven days. Some miners could no longer keep up with the physical demands and started taking shifts off. In the end, daily production stabilized at 10,000 tons. Including the coal they had worked hard to mine earlier, the total for those seven days came to 80,000 tons."
"That means we mined about tons of coal in total last month."
Having finished the calculations, Lin Ze showed the figures to the three shareholders beside him. "We mined a total of 222,200,000 jin and 2,800 jin of coal. The miners' wages came to .4 taels of silver."
Then Lin Ze continued calculating the other costs.
"There were 170 cooks. Since this was part of the miners' benefits, we're counting less than a month as a full month. Each received 200 copper coins, for a total wage expense of 34 taels of silver."
"There were 100 scholars working as bookkeepers, earning two taels each. Ordinarily, that would come to 200 taels, but some joined later, so their pay was reduced. The total wage expense was 82.6 taels of silver."
"There were 100 members of the Mining Guard. Their wages came to 10 taels of silver, and their martial arts tuition cost 30 taels, for a total of 40 taels."
"The miners used more than 40,000 meal tickets. Add the meals for the coal mine's guards, cooks, and the women making honeycomb coal, and so on. We don't need to tally those separately for now. The total cost of ingredients was 800 taels of silver."
"Gloves, wooden helmets, pickaxes, as well as shoulder poles, baskets, and other labor protection equipment came to 523 taels of silver in total for the month. But a lot of that was a one-time expense, so next month's cost in this area should fall below 200 taels."
"In summary, this month's total expenses came to two taels of silver."
After a pause, Lin Ze continued, "We sold a total of 23.24 million jin of the coal produced this month, bringing in 4,648 taels of silver. We made a net loss of 7,933 taels. Then, because we have to pay tax on the coal we mine, we still owe around 33.33 million jin of coal in taxes, or 6,666 taels of silver at the selling price."
"I suggest paying in coal. That would mean we only pay about 1,666 taels in taxes, which puts our net loss at around 9,600 taels."
"The government can make a handsome profit by selling the coal, or use it themselves if they can't sell it."
"After deducting the tax and the coal already sold, we still have 165.63 million jin in the warehouse."
Lin Ze had only counted the coal mine's expenses, not the small sums he had spent on preparations beforehand. He had covered those out of his own pocket.
In other words, Lin Ze had already lost almost ten thousand taels.
But when the three officials present heard that the mine had lost a net 9,600 taels in a month, none of them showed any reaction.
The figure was about what their trusted subordinates at the mine had observed and reported.
Coal use and sales had only just started to pick up. The mine's sales would increase dramatically next month.
That was when the real money would start rolling in.
In theory, all the remaining 166 million-plus jin of coal in the warehouse could be counted as their profit.
That was more than 33,000 taels of silver in profit.
And if they calculated the profits based on next month's output of 600 million jin of coal, their returns could probably double or triple.
"Seeing that we've lost so much has put my mind at ease. To be honest, I was worried other coal mines would spring up like mushrooms after the rain once we started making money."
"Now it looks like even if other coal mines open, there won't be many. If we keep claiming that the mine is unprofitable, or even losing money, and say we're doing it purely for the livelihood of the people, that'll discourage even more forces from opening coal factories."
"Under those circumstances, it'd be a lot if all of Great Zhou had more than five large coal mines."
Gao Fei sipped his tea and laughed.
Not just any landlord or local strongman had the courage or capital to make such a massive investment that lost money at first.
Lin Ze was confident he could turn a profit because his internal management was good, and he had plenty of ways to open up the market. If someone else tried to run a coal mine the way Lin Ze did, they might keep losing money indefinitely.
And if they didn't build a large coal mine, but only opened a small one, they might avoid such heavy losses and even earn a little. But with low output, they wouldn't be able to disrupt the market much, let alone set prices.
"Zi Yi, you've worked hard. I look forward to our profits rolling in next month. Go on and get back to work."
Li He smiled.
Lin Ze still had to pay everyone at the mine, so he'd be busy for a while.
Liu Pei and Gao Fei also had to keep order and make sure things didn't get chaotic. Only he, the County Magistrate, could take a breather.
Lin Ze nodded, got up, and went to work.
The silver and copper coins prepared in advance were carried out of the storeroom cart by cart. Then Lin Ze and the bookkeepers began paying the miners.
Everyone who received their wages pressed a fingerprint onto a receipt to confirm they had been paid.
It wasn't until dusk that Lin Ze finished handing out all the money.
Starting tomorrow, the entire Coal Factory would have two days off. The miners would all go home, giving the mine another chance to expand its influence.
This would help the mine recruit more workers and increase production later on. It would also let people learn about the benefits of coal and continue expanding its use.
Meanwhile, as Lin Ze worked away busily,
on the other side, Xu Sheng, who had been sent to open up the coal market at Bright Moon Pavilion, had already reached Coastal County by ship. At a logging camp outside the city, he met an Affairs Elder responsible for supplying fuel to the mountain gate.
At Bright Moon Pavilion, the disciples were divided into three ranks, from lowest to highest: Outer Sect Disciples, Formal Disciples, and Inner Sect Disciples.
Above them were the elders, the sect's middle and senior ranks.
Aside from the Punishment Elder, who enforced the sect's rules; the Teaching Elder, who taught the disciples martial arts; the Hundred Crafts Elder, who oversaw the sect's industries and logistics; and the Pavilion Lord, who were the four highest-ranking figures, all the other elders were Affairs Elders who carried out the orders of those four.
The Affairs Elder Xu Sheng was meeting now belonged to the Bright Moon Pavilion Hundred Crafts Elder's faction.
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