Chapter 592: The Coal Guild and Xiang Yan, the Heavily Guarded Summer Palace |
The thirteenth year of Great Xia, the tenth day of the sixth month.
The sky was just beginning to lighten at dawn, and pedestrians were returning home one after another.
The noisy Xia City gradually fell into silence. More and more roof chimneys began to emit thick white smoke. At a glance, it was clear that the open flames originally in the houses had been switched to coal stoves, which was why it was like this.
There were three reasons why people in Xia City would switch to burning coal stoves at daybreak:
First, to ensure temperature. The temperature after daybreak was lower, and ordinary fire sources provided insufficient heat. Only burning coal could ensure the indoor temperature.
Second, they needed to sleep after daybreak, and every household no longer needed open flames.
Third, it was for safety considerations. After all, Frost Beasts and Abominations were both light-chasing creatures. Of course, this reason wasn't very valid anymore. Xia City hadn't suffered attacks from Abominations or Frost Beasts for many years, and judging by the current development speed, it probably wouldn't for many years to come.
However, this all referred to the situation in the outer city!
The most important reason why the vast majority of residents in the outer city switched to coal stoves after daybreak was to save money.
The Great Xia Camp Supply Department had long since conducted statistics. Taking Xia City residents as an example, when there was Sacred Cauldron heating, the average per capita coal consumption was about 30 jin per day. Without Sacred Cauldron heating, it directly tripled to about 100 jin.
In the early years when everything was priced in Contribution Points, the price of coal stones was basically maintained at around 1 Contribution Point for 100 jin. The Camp Supply Department would make slight adjustments based on coal stone inventory and changes in the city's population, but the fluctuation wouldn't exceed 20 jin.
Later, with the discovery of silver mines, Contribution Points were pegged to silver. 10 Contribution Points exchanged for 1 liang of silver. The price of coal stones converted to 1 liang of silver for 1000 jin.
Then at the beginning of this year, the Camp Supply Department officially began implementing silver monetization across the entire territory of Great Xia. Except for officials, all members of the Military Department, top squad members of the Hunting Department, and all those who had been ennobled still retained their Contribution Points. The Contribution Points of all other Xia people were cashed out into silver or supplies.
In other words, the Great Xia Contribution Points system would henceforth only continue to operate within two groups: some high-level officials and the military. For the vast majority of other Xia people, it basically became history.
1000 jin of coal stones only cost 1 liang of silver. This price, of course, wasn't much of a burden for Xia City residents. But coal stones were just one of the necessities. Great Xia now had a wide variety of resources, from clothing, food, shelter, and transportation to essential ironware for going out like bows, crossbows, and weapons, to Refined Salt, spirit wine, pills, and other cultivation resources. If it was just one person eating their fill with no family to worry about, it wouldn't matter much. But once a household had more people, and one or two with decent aptitude and ambition, the consumption and expenses became quite startling.
So saving a bit here and there was wise. For example, a normal family of three used about 9000 jin of coal stones per month, equivalent to 9 liang of silver. Just saving 1 liang would be enough to buy 20 jin of beast meat.
Moreover, over the past six months, due to the lack of Sacred Cauldron heating, the Camp Supply Department had continuously raised the price of coal stones. At the end of last year, 1 liang of silver could buy 1100 jin. By June this year, 1 liang of silver could only buy a little over 800 jin.
The impact wasn't too great, but for some thrifty families, it added a bit of a burden in disguise.
Therefore, ordinary residents in the outer city, to save some silver, would try to use wood mixed with coal stones to light open flames at night for heating and lighting, and only specifically use coal stones for heating at daybreak.
The inner city was different!
Since the beginning of the year, after conquering the northern five towns and establishing dominance in the Southern Foothills, the population of the Xia Capital had experienced a huge surge. The entire capital's population had already exceeded five million. Yet even so, the inner city had not relaxed its population restrictions. Up to now, it only housed a little over 200,000 people at most.
You should know, Great Xia's total population was already over 16 million. Families that could reside in the inner city were inevitably either wealthy or noble. A few coal stones were naturally nothing to them.
Moreover, the inner city was originally the core of Great Xia. The Lord Leader's sleeping palace, the Xia Palace, the Ancestral Temple, the three pavilions, the headquarters of the nine departments, and other most important buildings of Great Xia were all located within it. Its importance was self-evident. Putting other things aside for now, all of Great Xia's annual surplus resources were stored in the underground vaults beneath the Camp Supply Department's main hall.
Furthermore, Great Xia's territory was vast, and the nine departments had countless matters to handle. Every day, people from various jurisdictions came to conduct business. The nine departments also often had to send people out to handle affairs. To meet these needs and facilitate travelers, the major streets of the inner city were lit with coal lamps around the clock. There was simply no distinction between night and day.
"The Xia Palace hasn't lit the Sacred Cauldron for almost half a year. That never happened before. Guess what the reason is?"
Deep within the inner city, at the Xia Palace's internal storage, Xiang Yan, who had just finished unloading a cart of coal stones, turned his head to look at the Star Gathering Hall towering behind him. First, his eyes showed yearning, then he couldn't help but curiously ask the people beside him.
There were five people beside him, all about ten years older than him, middle-aged in appearance, their faces looking exceptionally honest and simple.
Hearing his question, the five first looked at each other, then one of them respectfully said, "That sort of thing, even the boss doesn't know. How could we possibly know? But..."
The man paused, a smile appearing on his face as he continued, "The boss should be happy. Over the past six months, the price of coal stones has kept rising, and our coal business has been earning more and more silver, hasn't it?"
Hearing this, a smile appeared on the young Xiang Yan's face.
It had been over four years since the martial assembly in the eighth month of Great Xia's ninth year. He was now 22 years old. Two years ago, after reshaping his skin membrane to its limit, he realized that no matter what, he couldn't break through the 100,000 jin barrier. Although unwilling, persuaded by his eldest brother Xiang Liang, he still made the breakthrough with his medium-grade Battle Body aptitude.
Forget medium-grade Battle Body aptitude, even his eldest brother Xiang Liang's upper-grade Battle Body was somewhat insufficient in today's Great Xia. So from the moment he chose to break through two years ago, Xiang Yan clearly understood that it was basically impossible for him to stand out in Great Xia relying on strength alone.
Therefore, he chose a different path: commerce!
Since the opening of Hongmen's port in Great Xia's seventh year, the Camp Supply Department had outsourced some supplies, handing them over to interested Xia people to operate. With the maturation of Hongmen City's commercial model over the past few years, a new emerging group called Xia Merchants had begun to appear.
Especially at the beginning of this year, with the Camp Supply Department officially implementing silver monetization and contact with Caiqiu, the demand for trade in Tianxia expanded rapidly. Previously, the Camp Supply Department had only opened up basic supplies like clothing, food, shelter, and transportation. As of this month, Refined Salt, high-grade beast meat and beast blood, and even relatively high-grade spirit pills like Beast Core Pills had all been successively opened up.
Currently, Xia Merchants could roughly be divided into two types:
The first was self-operation. For example, some people with relatively strong strength hunted and gathered outside, selling the surplus after paying taxes. Others with good skills or who mastered secret recipes could also do their own unique business. Such people were collectively called civilian merchants. They only needed to regularly pay a ten percent commercial tax to the Camp Supply Department based on their turnover. They accounted for over eighty percent of the entire Xia Merchant group, constituting the vast majority.
The second type were merchants directly under the Camp Supply Department. They first spent a large sum to bid for the operating rights of a certain type of supply from the Camp Supply Department for a set number of years. Then, within that period, they could obtain goods from the Camp Supply Department at a lower price for sale. Such people were collectively called official merchants. Although official merchants bore a higher burden, paying a thirty percent commercial tax, even so, everyone fought desperately for it.
Just think about it. The Camp Supply Department was originally a financial institution, controlling resources across the entire territory of Great Xia. Handing out the operating rights for some supplies was essentially a disguised way of recruiting a group of people to help them handle affairs. This ensured the normal supply of goods for the Xia people while allowing silver to circulate to the maximum extent. Only in this way could resources and wealth be continuously created, feeding back to the camp and driving its continuous development.
The huge benefits within this were obvious to anyone not stupid.
For example, take silk. The Xia Clothing Workshop now produced many types of silk. One relatively high-grade type was called Snow Jade Silk. Its main raw material was Snow Bamboo Silk from the Arrow Bamboo Forest. The annual output from the Xia Clothing Workshop was only five hundred bolts. One hundred bolts were for the Xia Palace's use, two hundred bolts were sent to the Treasury for storage, the Camp Supply Department kept one hundred bolts to make clothes for its own operation, and only the final one hundred bolts could circulate.
How did they circulate?
That was through official merchants!
The Snow Jade Silk garments operated by the Camp Supply Department itself could sell for 500 liang per set. One bolt of cloth was a hundred meters long and could make about 30 sets of garments. Adding in some scraps, not counting cost and labor, one bolt of Snow Jade Silk could ultimately be converted into 17,000 liang of silver.
The prices of Great Xia's supplies were all based on the Camp Supply Department's standards. With the Camp Supply Department's prices so high, the one hundred bolts of Snow Jade Silk circulating outside had their price per meter directly driven up to 200 liang, equivalent to 20,000 liang to buy one bolt.
And this was just the raw material. After being made into garments and sold, even after paying the thirty percent commercial tax, the profit margin was still extremely terrifying.
And Snow Jade Silk was just one of the many high-grade silks produced by the Xia Clothing Workshop. There were many even higher grade than Snow Jade Silk.
Even this was just silk. What about the others?
In Great Xia's seventh year, when Hongmen opened its port, the Camp Supply Department first publicly auctioned the operating rights for shops in Hongmen City, marking the starting stage for official merchants. At that time, many people were still watching and waiting, thinking it might not necessarily be profitable.
Looking back now, almost all of those who spent a large sum back then to bid for Hongmen shop operating rights had accumulated substantial wealth. In recent years, as the Camp Supply Department successively opened up operating rights for various supplies, those people from Hongmen City had the most wealth and naturally grabbed quite a few.
And Xiang Yan was now also an official merchant!
His ability to become an official merchant naturally relied on his eldest brother Xiang Liang.
His eldest brother Xiang Liang was now not just the Punishment Officer of Hongmen. At the beginning of this year, after the northern campaign ended and rewards were distributed based on merit, thanks to his military merits earned at Evergreen Valley, he had been promoted from a ninth-rank Mystic Plume viscount to an eighth-rank Crimson Sky viscount, making him one of the proper noble households within the inner city.
Upon learning of his interest in commerce, Eldest Brother Xiang Liang directly allocated a batch of Contribution Points from his own account, converted them all into silver, and gave them to him. Then he approached his colleague, Li Longkai, the Armaments Division Officer of the Hongmen Camp Supply Department. After much maneuvering, he successfully bid for the exclusive coal stone operating rights for the South Sixth District of the Xia Capital's outer city.
In today's Great Xia outer city, one district had a population of at least over 100,000, consuming over ten million jin of coal stones daily. At the current unit price of 1 liang for a little over 800 jin, his daily turnover was at least over 10,000 liang. The key was it wasn't just retail. Major consumers like blacksmith shops and restaurants ordered a lot. His actual daily turnover was roughly over 18,000 liang, sometimes a bit more, reaching about 600,000 liang per month.
The unit price for obtaining coal from the Camp Supply Department was 1 liang for 1200 jin. After deducting all costs and then the thirty percent commercial tax, he could earn about 20,000 liang per month.
If this were converted to the old Contribution Points, that would be 200,000 points!
This income, it must be said, was too considerable, even surpassing Eldest Brother Xiang Liang's income.
Of course, from the moment at the beginning of the year when the Camp Supply Department extensively canceled the Contribution Points system, continuing it only among high-level officials and the military, silver and Contribution Points had already been delinked.
Anyone with clear eyes could see that those who could continue to use the Contribution Points system were the true core personnel of Great Xia. Future high-grade cultivation resources, even some extremely precious supplies, would surely only be exchangeable with Contribution Points.
Currently, there was a popular saying in Xia City: before, it took 10 Contribution Points to exchange for 1 liang of silver. Now, forget 10 liang of silver for 1 Contribution Point, even if it were 100 liang for 1 point, many people would probably be willing.
"Of course, I can't compare with Eldest Brother. His monthly salary isn't much, but the year-end assessment is the main event. That single reward is enough for me to earn in a year. Moreover, he can attend the Cold Origin Banquet every year and has the qualification to meet the Lord Leader. Whatever the Lord Leader casually bestows, its value is beyond what I can imagine.
The key is, if Eldest Brother wanted to make money, there were too many ways. Those high-grade cultivation resources in the Camp Supply Department can only be bought with Contribution Points. As long as he buys them and then sells them, he could easily earn money I could never even imagine..."
Thinking of this, Xiang Yan suddenly felt listless.
He now had a coal business, sitting on the coal stone trade, and could earn quite a bit every month, but he still couldn't compare with Eldest Brother Xiang Liang.
So, in the end, the Ice Abyss came down to relying on strength!
He sighed slightly. Seeing the five laborers had already pushed the carts towards the direction of the Xia Palace's main gate, he hurriedly followed.
He had entered the Xia Palace today precisely to deliver coal.
The Camp Supply Department stipulated that the coal businesses of the seventy-two districts in the Xia Capital's outer city took turns delivering coal to the Xia Palace every five days. This was considered something they had to undertake in addition to the thirty percent commercial tax.
Even so, all seventy-two districts fought to do it, afraid of losing this duty.
Think about it. With so many people in Great Xia, not everyone had the qualification to enter the inner city. And even people like Xiang Yan, who already lived in the inner city, had never entered the Xia Palace even once.
Although it was just the warehouse at the side of the main gate, being able to take this opportunity to come in and see the Xia Palace was indeed worth it!
"Esteemed one, we are from the Great Yan Coal Business. Please trouble you to open the small gate!"
The six of them soon arrived at the Xia Palace gate. Xiang Yan directly stepped forward, took out an entry token issued by the Garrison Chief of the South Sixth District, and spoke to the soldier on duty.
In March this year, after the Martial Arts, Alchemy, and Artifact Forging Pavilions were all relocated out of the Xia Palace, a wall over ten meters high was built around the palace perimeter. From then on, the Xia Palace's guards became extremely strict. Ordinary people without tokens simply couldn't enter. Even after entering, Dragon Garrison Captains were specifically watching from high places. One couldn't wander around randomly. Once discovered, the light punishment was a beating, the more serious one was directly taken to the Penal Department for torture and interrogation. There were precedents ahead. Xiang Yan had heard about them, so naturally, he didn't dare to be careless.