Chongzhen made a brief calculation, not counting the horses and maintenance costs, and the complete cost of the entire monorail was about 102,000 yuan.

Every four carriages are a group, totaling 10,000 yuan. Each run requires 12 horses at 10-12 yuan per horse, and with double horse preparation, it will cost 250 yuan for the horses. Running in three groups would cost $31,000.

Driving, crew, rest station service personnel, horse breeding personnel, as well as inspection and protection of railway inspectors, it is estimated that the labor cost of 3,000 yuan per month is required.

In other words, if you want to make the entire railway run, you need to spend 140,000 yuan of investment, and then you need to spend 4,000 yuan per month for operation and maintenance costs.

After thinking about it in his heart for a long time, Zhu Youzhen said to Lu Qi: "Call Tu Wenfu over, I want to ask him about the Jingxi Coal Mine?" ”

Tu Wenfu, who was a little untidy, hurriedly followed Lu Qi into the upper study, and before he knelt down to salute, Zhu Youzhen had already waved his hand and said, "You don't have to salute, you tell me, how is the Jingxi Coal Mine being rectified now?" How much coal can be produced in one day? How much coal is transported into the capital every day? How much coal does the Beijing coal yard sell per day? ”

Chongzhen's series of questions made Tu Wenfu a little dizzy, but he quickly reacted.

After taking a breath of relief, he replied: "Back to Your Majesty, Jingxi Coal Mine has been reorganized since the beginning of the year, and 11 managers have been replaced, 344 coal workers have been re-recruited, and there are more than 1,800 coal workers. Among them, there are 312 coal diggers and more than 1,500 coal pullers.

Jingxi Coal Mine now produces 156,000 catties of coal per day, with an average of 500 catties of coal per coal digger.

The daily wage of coal diggers is 1 jiao and 2 cents, while the daily wage of coal pullers is 6 cents, and every 500 catties of coal is spent on labor wages of 4 jiao and 2 cents.

The price of 500 catties of coal is 1 yuan, and the profit can be 5 jiao and 8 cents. The total daily profit is 180 yuan, minus 40 yuan of materials and management fees, and the daily net profit is about 140 yuan. ”

Zhu Youzhen frowned and interrupted him and asked, "A coal digger digs the coal, and it takes 5 people to pull it?" ”

Tu Wenfu immediately explained: "Back to Your Majesty, these coal workers are divided into inside workers and foreign workers, the inside workers carry coal in the mine, and the outside workers need to pull the coal to the coal washing plant for washing, and then transport it to the lime yard, glaze factory and other places, and the labor is not provincial. ”

Zhu Youzhen pressed his temples, feeling a little headache, he thought for a while and then said: "How long do coal diggers work in a day in the coal mine now?" Have you split up your crew? ”

Tu Wenfu said with some credit for himself: "Back to Your Majesty, now they can work 12 hours a day, two hours more than before, and the coal production is two-fifths more than that of the surrounding private coal mines. There are 5 counters in the mine, and I haven't heard of any teams. ”

Zhu Youzhen knew that this counter was the contractor of the coal mine, but the contractor of the Ming Dynasty was much more fierce than the contractor on the construction site in later generations.

He had heard reports of them either recruiting fellow villagers, or buying able-bodied young men from among the homeless, or capturing beggars, and then going to the mines to collect work.

For these eunuchs in the palace, it is obviously much easier to manage the miners through these counters than to manage them themselves.

For these counters, the coal mine opened in the palace is the best talisman, and even if the miners in their hands die, no government will come to intervene, so it has become a complementary relationship.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but say with some displeasure: "I remember, I asked Liu Jingting to investigate the Xishan Coal Mine a year ago, didn't I say at that time that these counters would have to be replaced?" ”

Tu Wenfu immediately replied: "Your Majesty, those counters have indeed been replaced, and those with lives have also been sent to the local county government for legal action."

Now these counters are elected by the coal workers themselves, not the wicked people who did evil in the past. ”

Zhu Youzhen's face looked a little better at this time, and then he said: "Then let them change their names and call them team leaders." These team leaders are considered managers in the mine, and each person receives an additional 3 yuan per month.

In addition, the time of each team is limited to 8 hours, and then three shifts are carried out, with one shift and two shifts. Each team will set a standard coal mining amount, and if the standard coal mining amount is exceeded, it will be rewarded.

Anyone who can put forward suggestions to increase coal mining output or coal mine safety measures, and can improve underground production conditions, must be rewarded.

In addition, the arsenal will try to produce simple rails and bucket trucks suitable for operation in coal mines. Also, let the * workshop and the coal miners study whether they can use * to mine the coal seam.

Finally, some disabled workers who cannot go down to work in the mine, as well as their families or bereaved families, are called to establish a logistics service office for the coal mine. Canteens, bathhouses and medical clinics were set up. And set aside a part of the profits from the coal mine to set up a school for the children of miners. ”

For the emperor to spend money so lavishly, Tu Wenfu suddenly felt a little distressed, and he couldn't help but persuade: "Your Majesty, if you do this, there will not be much profit left in the coal mine."

Now a half-sized slave sold outside is only four or five taels of silver, and a sturdy young man without craftsmanship is only eight or ten taels.

His Majesty has given them a very high daily salary now, and there is no need to spend so much unjust money. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him and shook his head and said, "What do I want so many servants for?" What I need is for them to increase the efficiency of coal mining. As long as you can double the amount of coal mined per day by the coal diggers, you will be able to earn back all the money.

Also, let these coal miners make money, and the few cotton mills and glass factories invested in the palace, are they still afraid that the things they produce will not be sold?

Besides, in addition to the Jingxi Coal Mine invested in the palace, there are more than 200 small coal mines in Mentougou. If I don't treat these coal miners better, how can the workers in those private coal mines aspire to work in the Jingxi Coal Mine? ”

Tu Wenfu asked cautiously: "Your Majesty wants to recruit these workers from small coal mines to the Jingxi Coal Mine?" ”

Zhu Youzhen did not answer this question directly, but asked: "How much coal is produced in each coal mine in Xishan a day, and how much coal does the capital use in a day?" ”

Tu Wenfu immediately replied: "The coal mines in Xishan plus the Jingxi coal mine produce about 200 tons of coal every day. After the spring in Beijing, although the amount of coal used for heating has decreased, because more people have adopted new coal stoves, the daily coal consumption has increased, reaching more than 180 tons per day.

Yichen estimates that the amount of coal used in the capital will reach more than 200 tons per day. However, after the beginning of spring, the land froze, and now the road from Xishan to the capital is difficult to walk.

Coal wagons that used to arrive in one day now take a day and a half, and the amount of coal they load has to be reduced. On the contrary, it was transported by camel caravans, and it did not have any effect, although the freight rates of the two were about the same, but the number of camel caravans was really not as large as that of large carts.

At present, less than 150 tons of coal are transported to the capital every day. The price of coal in the market has begun to rise, and the place where the coal yard makes honeycomb coal is watched by vendors all day long, and it is sold out before it can appear. I thought maybe we could raise the price of honeycomb coal a little bit. ”

Zhu Youzhen rubbed his chin and asked, "If we solve the problem of output and transportation, then those small coal mines will not be able to compete with us?" ”

Tu Wenfu was stunned for a moment before he said: "That's true, but now it seems that the output of coal is still far from enough."

Every three days, one day's output is transported to the lime plant and the glaze plant. His Majesty also ordered the expansion of the lime plant's capacity and the construction of a cement plant.

In the past, most of the coal produced in Xishan was purchased by coal yards. But now that the price of coal has risen, the owners of these coal kilns have begun to secretly make honeycomb coal for sale. I'm afraid that in the short term, they will not worry about financial problems.

The best way to expand the capacity of the coal mines in western Beijing is to annex the privately owned coal kilns. As long as His Majesty delegates power to his ministers, the ministers can guarantee that the production capacity of the Jingxi Coal Mine will be doubled within ten months. ”

Zhu Youzhen immediately leaned forward and asked with interest, "So what are you going to do?" ”

Seeing Chongzhen's interest, Tu Wenfu suddenly became a little excited in his heart, and his eyes lit up and said: "There is a stone bridge that must be passed from Xishan to the capital, and the minister thinks that if a tax card is set up next to the bridge, those kiln owners will definitely be unable to help but get rid of the coal kiln." ”

After listening to Tu Wenfu's suggestion, Zhu Youzhen was immediately disappointed, and he immediately asked: "What if those kiln owners refuse to resell, but instead incite the coal workers to make trouble?" ”

Tu Wenfu was dumbfounded for a long time before he whispered: "There are only more than 10,000 coal workers in Xishan, except for a few coal kiln owners, most of the kiln owners are just businessmen, and they have no supporters in the court, as long as the patrol police station plus the Beijing camp..."

"Stupid." Zhu Youzhen had to interrupt, the eunuch who didn't care about the power of the coal miners.

Hearing Chongzhen's reprimand, Tu Wenfu suddenly retracted, he was panicking. Zhu Youzhen said to him.

"As a great emperor, how can I act so despicably. If it is spread out, how will my face be saved in the future? ”

Tu Wenfu hurriedly knelt down in front of the emperor in fear and pleaded guilty, Zhu Youzhen continued: "Although the establishment of the Mining Bureau of the Ministry of Industry has been approved by the Cabinet, those civil officials have always pushed back and refused to allocate manpower to set up the Mining Bureau. They seem to want to get involved with me until I don't want to deal with it anymore.

Since the civil servants refused to move, I will find some reason for them to move. When you go to the Jingxi Coal Mine for a while, in addition to setting up the logistics services and other facilities I said, you also set up a coal miner's union to organize the workers. ”

Tu Wenfu's head was a little dizzy, and he asked cautiously, "What is the union that Your Majesty is talking about?" What does it mean for the workers to organize? ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said, "Is this a union?" It is to organize the workers to make trouble, of course, not to make trouble with us. It was to liaise with the workers of those small coal mines and ask the kiln owners to raise their wages and benefits.

The trade unions can organize these workers to strike or something, and if they make some noise, I can do justice for them. Of course, you have to choose the people in the union carefully and don't set yourself on fire. ”