After acquiring the coal mine, Marin lost some interest in the agricultural reforms of the estate.
Being the son of a coal magnate, why would he still want to farm?
Even if he did, the limited farmland at home wouldn’t make a significant impact.
Moreover, Adler mentioned that although as the eldest son, he might not have a share in the farmland, he was willing to share the coal mine’s profits with his younger siblings, especially with Marin, who discovered the mine.
Adler was not a stingy person and was not parsimonious with money.
The estate’s land division among the siblings was a family tradition.
However, the coal mine was not inherited; if it weren’t for Marin’s sudden decision to conduct a “geological survey,” the coal mine might never have been discovered.
Of course, Adler also mentioned that while he was alive, the coal mine’s profits could be shared with the younger siblings, but he could not guarantee that future generations would continue this practice.
The coal mine belonged to the Hoffmann family.
As the next head of the family, Adler could agree to share the profits while he was alive, but Adler’s son, the new head of the family, might not be as generous.
Nonetheless, Marin and his siblings would still benefit significantly.
If the coal mine produced 100 Charteltons of coal per day, the Hoffmann family would earn at least 100 Shillings per day, equivalent to 7.5 Marks.
Over a year of 365 days, the Hoffmann family could net over 2700 Marks.
In fact, a skilled miner could extract 15 Charteltons of coal per day (according to data from Newcastle, England), and even an unskilled miner could manage 7-8 Charteltons per day.
Thus, recruiting 20 miners could easily yield 200 Charteltons per day, doubling the Hoffmann family’s profits.
Of course, this assumes all the coal is sold…
However, the Hoffmann family’s coal is top-grade, smokeless coal, making it easier to sell compared to ordinary coal.
Adler and old Hoffmann discussed and agreed to allocate 30% of the coal mine’s profits to the younger siblings.
Marin would receive 10%, while the remaining 20% would be divided among the two younger brothers and the sister.
While this vision was appealing, it would take a long time before the coal mine became profitable.
The initial investment for mining was substantial.
For example, recruiting miners required building dormitories for them.
A mining rail to the dock had to be constructed, and a dock had to be built for coal-carrying ships…
Additionally, it was necessary to find merchants willing to deal in Hoffmann family coal…
To understand how to manage a coal mine, Marin specifically visited other coal mines in the Ruhr area for a survey.
He then used some methods to obtain data.
The data showed that typically, miners could extract about 10 Charteltons of coal per day.
Besides miners, there were workers responsible for hoisting coal from deep mines using pulleys, and workers who used hand-drawn carts to transport coal to storage outside the mine.
Generally, miners in the Ruhr area were paid 3 pennies per day, while those responsible for hoisting and transporting coal to storage earned 2 pennies per day.
On average, the cost of labor for each Chartelton of coal, from extraction to storage, was around 3 to 4 pennies.
But that’s not all.
Since the cost of transporting coal by cart was high and the volume was limited, coal was typically transported to docks on the Ruhr or Lippe rivers for shipping.
The cost of transporting a Chartelton of coal from the mine to the dock varied based on distance, ranging from 1 to 4 pennies.
Some conditions were very favorable, such as the Hoffmann estate’s coal mine, which was only 2 kilometers from the Ruhr River, resulting in low transportation costs.
However, costs were not the only consideration.
Selling coal also involved official taxes.
Unlike other countries where mining taxes were paid to the royalty, in the Markburg territory, each Chartelton of coal sold required a tax payment of 2 pennies to the Mark Count.
Additionally, after leaving the Markburg territory, coal transport passing through various princely states would incur a 1 penny toll at each checkpoint.
Multiple princely states meant many tolls.
On large rivers, as long as the boat did not dock, few princes would pursue and tax it.
Taxes were only collected when boats docked at ports.
In the medieval period, tax officials were also wary of water and did not dare to venture into rivers.
When the coal reached its destination city, import, and city entry taxes were also required.
Thus, merchants generally paid the coal owner 2 Shillings per Chartelton.
Even so, the miner’s profit would still be at least 1 Shilling per Chartelton, while shipowners could make over 1 Shilling in profit if they sold the coal at 4 Shillings per Chartelton after minimizing port stops.
However, this was contingent on actually selling the coal.
In the medieval period, there was minimal industrial demand for coal, primarily for iron and copper smelting, which required the high temperatures produced by coal.
For other uses like cooking and heating, local firewood sufficed.
Thus, the medieval coal market was relatively small and was a buyer’s market.
If coal were so easy to sell, many in the Ruhr area would likely become wealthy coal magnates, similar to the Shanxi coal bosses in later times.
Unfortunately, this was the medieval era…
Having experienced the market economy in later times, Marin understood the importance of sales channels.
Therefore, he didn’t hesitate to take the Hoffmann couple to the largest city on the Rhine — Cologne.
In theory, Hamburg and Bremen were the two largest commercial cities in the German region, which would have been better for selling coal.
However, Marin knew that during this period, Bochum did not have inland waterways to Hamburg and Bremen.
Only after the opening of the Central German Canal in later times would waterways connect Bochum and Bremen.
For now, transporting coal to these cities would involve navigating out of the Rhine and taking a long maritime route.
Given the high risk of sea transport in this era, Marin decided it was more practical to find a nearby major city to sell the coal.
Cologne, situated on the Rhine, was undoubtedly the largest city in the region.
Even the imperial capital Vienna could not match Cologne’s prosperity.
Moreover, Cologne was also the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire.
Many commercial activities on the Rhine revolved around Cologne.
The city was a hub for merchants, and many nearby princely states sent commercial representatives to procure goods in Cologne.
Thus, coal was relatively easier to sell there.
After arriving in Cologne, Marin and the Hoffmann couple checked into a local inn.
Marin then spent money to obtain information about the Cologne business scene and details about specific merchants from the innkeeper, a local resident.
After filtering through the information, Marin selected three well-known coal distribution managers.
The reason for choosing coal managers rather than direct coal merchants was based on Marin’s experience in later times — to sell products to a boss, it’s crucial to make the boss feel that they are getting significant benefits.
However, achieving this often requires substantial concessions, which can be disadvantageous to oneself.
But managers are different; they are just employees with significant power.
However, they are not the owners themselves.
Thus, convincing them to purchase your goods is relatively straightforward — you need to provide them with enough personal benefits…
Therefore, managers with purchasing authority are highly sought after.
In later times, many salespeople would bribe these managers with purchasing power.
Of course, bribery alone doesn’t solve everything.
There’s also a prerequisite: your product must be reasonably good and comparable to others.
Unfortunately, he was frustrated when the first two managers said their coal suppliers were personally chosen by their boss and that they had no authority to change suppliers.
So, Marin had to give up.
Fortunately, the third manager had more influence — he was the boss’s brother-in-law…
After paying a hefty bribe of 50 Marks, the coal distributor agent named Leit agreed to switch to sourcing from the Hoffmann family’s coal mine after the contract with the previous distributor expired in two months.
They would send their own ships to load the coal.
Of course, the Hoffmann family’s coal was of excellent quality.
Despite being tempted by the bribe, Leit accepted it only after verifying that the quality of Hoffmann coal was top-grade.
He then signed a contract with old Hoffmann.
Moreover, old Hoffmann offered a low price — only 2 Shillings per Chartelton.
In fact, high-grade coal in the Ruhr area generally costs 2 Shillings and 3 pennies per Chartelton.
So, Leit’s choice of Hoffmann’s coal was not a loss.
With the sales channel problem solved, Marin and the Hoffmann couple rushed back to the estate.
Next came the excavation and transportation of the coal.
Under Marin’s coordination, Adler was sent to the Ruhr River to supervise the construction of the coal transport dock.
Old Hoffmann was responsible for preparing the road from the coal mine to the river, directing the serfs to repeatedly compact the road using the stone rollers “invented” by Marin.
Mrs.
Mary was in charge of supervising carpenters to build a batch of Chinese-style wheelbarrows for coal transport.
Marin estimated that constructing a 2-kilometer-long railway would be too costly for the Hoffmann family at the moment.
So, he decided to use wheelbarrows and ox carts for transporting coal initially.
Ox carts were readily available, but they had a problem — when it rained and the roads became muddy, ox carts couldn’t move, which would affect coal transport.
Wheelbarrows were meant to be used during rainy days and when roads were wet.
They were all-terrain vehicles that could traverse grassy areas and were capable of carrying 500 to 600 pounds of cargo, making them quite practical.
As for Marin himself, he took Kahn and Kohler to purchase two sets of pulley lifting equipment from old coal mines for transporting coal from the mine.
After acquiring the equipment, Marin did not leave immediately.
Instead, he secretly sent people to contact some skilled miners from the old coal mines and offered a “high price” of 4 pennies per day to lure away 5 experienced miners who were technically free citizens.
The Hoffmann coal mine was new.
Relying solely on inexperienced workers might jeopardize production.
If production fell short, old Hoffmann would effectively breach the contract and would have to compensate Leit.
Therefore, Marin brought in 5 skilled miners.
Old Hoffmann then recruited a dozen strong serfs from outside the estate who had no experience in coal mining to learn from the experienced miners.
With a mentor, these young men were expected to learn quickly.
Some of them were also responsible for loading coal and transporting it to the dock.
Thus, by early September, the Hoffmann family’s coal mine officially began operations.
At the same time, news of French King Charles VIII leading 37,000 troops into Italy finally reached the German region.
Marin knew that the Emperor must be getting anxious.
Historically, Holy Roman Emperors treated Italy as their own domain, not allowing others, especially the powerful French, to intrude.
So, Marin temporarily set aside the family coal business and began preparations to head to Vienna to seek the Emperor’s support…