Unfortunately, Magistrate Zhou could only guess that Han Du had a purpose in buying these barren mountains, but he could not guess what Han Du's purpose was.
But County Magistrate Zhou couldn't say anything, not to sell it.
Firstly, it was because he had no reason to refuse Han Du's request to buy the barren mountain. In the hands of the government, these barren mountains are nothing but useless things. Since Han Du is willing to spend money to buy it, it is equivalent to generating income for the government. This is beneficial to the government and can be regarded as a political achievement of County Magistrate Zhou. He has no reason to refuse.
Secondly, Han Du has always been very polite to Magistrate Zhou, and even expressed respect for him in his words. For an official like Han Du who is young and in the emperor's heart, it is certain that he has a bright future. Anyway, no matter how County Magistrate Zhou looked at it, he felt that Han Du's future was much better than his. Rejecting Han Du rashly may offend a future boss, which is extremely uneconomical for Magistrate Zhou.
However, although there were various reasons to support County Magistrate Zhou selling the barren mountain to Han Du, he had feelings about it in his heart. He vaguely felt that Han Du had a significant purpose in buying the barren mountain.
Han Du didn't care. He pointed out several barren mountains he had visited on the fish scale atlas, then sat on his chair and drank tea calmly.
Magistrate Zhou was tangled up in every possible way, trying to find out something from the expression on Han Du's face. As a result, Han Du remained expressionless from beginning to end, as if the purchase of Barren Mountain was just a casual mention, and success or failure was of no importance to him. There is no general difference.
In the end, Magistrate Zhou couldn't survive Han Du.
"Haha, since Mr. Han intends to buy these barren mountains, I can't refute Mr. Han's intention." Seeing the stalemate, County Magistrate Zhou had no choice but to agree.
Hearing this, Han Du smiled slightly, without showing any hint of the ecstasy in his heart. He took a sip of tea slowly, put down the cup, bowed his hands to County Magistrate Zhou, "Then please take care of yourself, Mr. Zhou."
"Haha, easy to say, easy to say." Magistrate Zhou rolled his eyes, "It's just that no one has ever bought this barren mountain. Should it be sold by the seat or by the acre? And, what about the price... ."
At this time Han Du spoke up, "These are barren lands, how can they be sold by the acre? I think it's better to sell them by the seat. As for the price, I am willing to pay ten dollars for a barren mountain. How about it?"
Although Han Du came here with three hundred taels of silver and more than one hundred thousand banknotes, he was not taken advantage of. Why should he pay a high price for something that could be bought at a low price? His family's money was not brought by strong winds.
Ten coins a piece? Those four are worth forty guan.
Although this was a free profit, Magistrate Zhou was still a little reluctant to just buy it. After all, the total price was too small and the benefit to the county government was limited.
Shaking his head and objecting, "Master Han can't say that. Since these barren mountains are marked with the number of acres on the fish scale atlas, they should be sold according to the number of acres. I don't ask Master Han how much he wants, just how much does one acre of barren hills cost?" ?”
After Magistrate Zhou finished speaking, he smiled and stroked his beard.
When Han Du heard this, his eyes suddenly widened. He looked at County Magistrate Zhou in disbelief and said in surprise, "Is your Excellency joking? You want to sell the barren mountains to Xiaguan at the price of land?"
"Besides, this barren mountain is hundreds or even thousands of acres of land. Do you think that the official will spend thousands of dollars to buy a useless barren mountain?"
County Magistrate Zhou also felt that he was too open-minded and looked at Han Du with some embarrassment, "Master Han, don't be angry. As a county magistrate, I naturally have to consider the county."
Han Du placed the tea cup heavily on the coffee table and said coldly, "Master Zhou, fertile land has its own price, and land has its own land price. There is no way you can sell barren hills for land price. It seems that Xianguan is here in vain. One trip, farewell."
Han Du bowed to Zhou County Magistrate and was about to leave.
County Magistrate Zhou quickly took Han Du's hand and said, "Master Han, don't be angry. The price, the price can still be negotiated..."
Han Du didn't really want to leave. He was stopped by Magistrate Zhou and sat down, but he still had a very angry look on his face.
"Sir Zhou, if you sell it by the number of acres, the maximum I can offer is ten cents per acre, and I can't add another cent."
Magistrate Zhou didn't care about Han Du's anger. Since Han Du could sit down again, it meant that he really wanted to buy it. Now that Handu wants to buy it, it is much simpler. It is nothing more than "start the price on the ground and pay back the money when you land."
"Mr. Han, if you only pay ten cents per acre, then I might as well sell you a house for ten cents. It's not appropriate, it's not appropriate. Seeing that I and you fell in love at first sight, I will give you a sincere price. Five hundred cents per mu, this is the lowest price, no matter what, it cannot be less..."
The two people, an old man and a young man, were going back and forth and bargaining. During this period, Han Du got up several times and prepared to leave.
In the end, a result that both of them were satisfied with was reached.
Han Du bought a total of 4,516 acres of land in four barren mountains at a price of one hundred cents per acre, and Han Du had to pay Zhou County Magistrate a total of 451 acres.
As for the last part of the six hundred coins, Magistrate Zhou waived it for Han Du with a generous wave of his hand.
After the two reached an agreement, Magistrate Zhou called on the county magistrate to prepare the land deed.
First, in the blank space of the four barren mountains on the fish scale album, list the name of the place, the original amount, and the name of the industry (that is, the name of the head of the household, Han Du).
) and other items. The county magistrate of Later Zhou Dynasty solemnly stamped his official seal on the land deed before handing it over to Han Du.
Han Du took the land deed with a sullen look on his face. After carefully confirming that there was nothing wrong with it, he folded the land deed and put it in his arms.
He bowed to County Magistrate Zhou, said "goodbye" angrily, and left the county government office without looking back.
"Master Han, don't be anxious. I have already prepared a banquet. Why don't you leave after eating..." County Magistrate Zhou watched Han Du leave with a smile on his face and shouted towards Han Du's back. .
After hearing this, Han Du's departure speeded up even more. As a result, with the reins in the hands of the Yamen servant, he and Xiong Shi got on their horses and left with whips.
When County Magistrate Zhou saw Han Du leaving angrily, he didn't care. Instead, he was very proud that he was able to get more than 400 yuan from Han Du.
Han Du rode his horse until he was completely far away from the county town, then pulled the reins to stop the horse. He couldn't help laughing loudly on the horse's back for a long time.
"What happened to you, sir? You are so happy?" Although Xiong Shi ran with Han Du for a day, he had no idea what Han Du did when he ran to several barren mountains. Moreover, Han Du left the barren mountain quickly every time, which made him even more confused.
While Han Du and Magistrate Zhou were talking in the study, Xiong Shi was also waiting outside, not to mention what Han Du and Magistrate Zhou talked about.
Han Du turned to look at Xiong Shi with a smile, "It's nothing, you will know in a few days. When you go back, go to Mr. Huang and ask him to arrange a few craftsmen who know how to quarry to go to the places we visited today. Pick one of the barren mountains to dig."
"Yes..." Xiong Shi responded with his head lowered.
At the same time, he also had some speculations in his mind. Han Du stopped firing the lime kiln because there was no coal and ran out.
Could it be that he discovered charcoal under those barren mountains?
But this was too unbelievable. He accompanied Han Du all the way. Han Du came out of the east city gate and went all the way to the barren mountains. But Han Du didn't stay in the barren mountain for long. If in just such a short period of time, Han Du was sure that there was coal beneath the mountain, it would be too much to believe.
But it doesn’t matter. Since Mr. Han asked the craftsmen to dig it out, won’t they know the result when they dig it out?
A few days later, several carriages pulling loads of coal drove into the banknote bureau.
Han Du immediately arranged for craftsmen to use coal and start burning lime.
Looking at the blue flames burning in the lime kiln, Han Du smiled. The quality of these coals was better than he expected. They were the finest anthracite.
Just like light petroleum is the king of petroleum, high-quality anthracite is also the king of coal.
Coal is known as the food of industry. An industry without coal can only starve to death.
The news of the discovery of coal in Jurong County, under Yingtian Prefecture, spread like a hurricane, spreading throughout the entire capital in the shortest possible time.
At this time, people were actually burning coal as a kind of fuel.
From the Western Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, coal wells of a certain scale and corresponding coal mining technology appeared. Coal was not only used to produce fuel, but also for iron smelting. Not only raw coal could be used, but also pulverized coal could be processed into shapes. into coal cakes, thereby increasing the use value of coal.
During the Yuan Dynasty, coal was more widely developed and used more widely. Metallurgy, ceramics and other industries all used coal as fuel. Coal became the main commodity in the market, its status became increasingly important, and people's understanding of coal became deeper. Even coal coking technology has become mature.
In the Yuan Dynasty, there were records of people using coal as fuel, which was several times cheaper than firewood.
But why don’t we see any coal in the capital?
The main reason why there are no traces of charcoal in the capital is that no charcoal has ever been found in the surrounding area.
The mining and use of pebbles are mostly in places such as the northwest, where the population is sparse and the development and utilization of pebbles has always been tepid.
On the contrary, although the capital is densely populated and has a huge demand for fuel every day, because no coal has been found in the surrounding areas, the only way to use coal is to transport it thousands of miles from the northwest.
Land transportation at this time can only make people cry. Even if the coal is transported to the capital, the cost of coal will probably skyrocket to much higher than that of firewood. It is simply unrealistic and no one will do such a stupid thing.
