Just as everyone was thinking of using some low-end techniques to obtain the secret recipe for making honeycomb coal, major coal bosses received invitations from the Huangxia Coal Chamber of Commerce.

Many of these people were among the shopkeepers who were invited by Liao Zidong to buy commercial street shops.

At this time, everyone felt that they had the opportunity to get rich.

Sure enough, Liulihou did not disappoint everyone.

Zeng Bohong, president of Huangxia Coal Chamber of Commerce, invited everyone to join the Chamber of Commerce. As long as you pay a membership fee of 100 taels for the first time and then pay a membership fee of 10 taels of silver every year, you can become a junior member of the Chamber of Commerce and share the recipe for honeycomb coal production.

Just one hundred and ten taels are a drop in the bucket for these coal bosses.

This is like giving it for free.

Joining the Chamber of Commerce is not just a simple matter of sharing a secret recipe.

Zeng Bohong said, "Since everyone has joined the chamber of commerce, it is a family. If you have money, you can make money together and divide the areas. You cannot sell them outside each area.

According to local conditions, the regional presidents of the chamber of commerce will discuss a unified selling price together. Members are not allowed to change the selling price privately, otherwise their membership will be cancelled and their use of all resources in the club will be cancelled, including the secret recipes obtained during their time as a member.

Once discovered by the Chamber of Commerce, it means that people who break the rules will be punished.”

When this was said, she smiled, but everyone felt a chill in their ears when they heard it.

If someone really betrays me, my family would probably not have a good ending.

In fact, before, merchants from various places also tended to unite, such as in Jiangnan, there would be those who sell private salt and cloth, etc., who would join forces together.

But like today, it is never possible to determine clear rules to ensure the interests of each member in this way.

The chamber of commerce during this period was just a means for large merchants to control small merchants, and they all wanted to swallow the other party and even occupy the other party's land.

Unless there is a connection between in-laws, there may be a foundation of trust.

A total of 57 companies joined the Huangxia Coal Chamber of Commerce. After some divisions by Zeng Bochung, he concluded that three regional presidents were needed.

Pay 100 taels to become a junior member, pay 1,000 taels to be a senior member, and pay 8,000 taels to become a regional president, referred to as the district mayor.

The district mayor has the right to bargain and pricing, which means that he can discuss the price of coal in the region with Zeng Bochong and finally set the price.

At the same time, the sales area approved by the Chamber of Commerce by the district mayor is also the largest.

In short, you can get the right after spending money.

There are many people who are willing to pay this money.

However, there are only three places. If you want to become a district mayor, you can only give birth to a new district mayor unless you want to attract more people to join and expand the coal sales area under the Chamber of Commerce.

Therefore, those members who want to have greater power and coal sales areas will work hard to gather around merchants.

Ancient merchants existed with officials, but at the end of this dynasty, their autonomy was greatly improved, and the bureaucratic class did not control them so tightly, and the shopkeepers gained certain power.

It is precisely because of this that they can decide whether their factories should join the Chamber of Commerce.

The people behind them are just dividends of the profits they get or ask them to pay some silver tribute every year. They do not occupy a large amount of shares like Xiao Sheng and have completely mastered these factories.

After discussing the regional division, Zeng Bohong said again: "Everyone, I have another suggestion, which is good for everyone, so you might as well listen."

"President Zeng, please speak!" Lin Chaoen, a coal giant from Shanxi, spoke, who is one of the presidents of the three regions.

Zeng Bohong continued: "I wonder if you have seen cement?"

Lin Chaoen replied, "See, I see that the Yongwei Camp's base is built with this cement, which is really strong. Could it be that President Zeng also has a way to do this cement business?"

"Haha, District Mayor Lin really respects me. I can't do this cement business. However, we can use it to help us do a better coal business.

Coal is mostly produced in Shanxi and Shaanxi. From there, I plan to collect funds from the Chamber of Commerce to rebuild it with cement. In this way, according to my calculations, the time can be saved by at least 30% of the time for transporting coal back and forth!

Think about it, how much coal can we sell after the time saved?

Moreover, we cannot repair this road in vain. Every distance we set up a charging station. For any carriage passing by here, we charge a part of the toll based on the weight of the goods they carry.

There are so many merchants from the two places who come and go to the capital, and there are endless carriages. The toll is probably a huge sum of money, which can quickly compensate us for the money we spent on building roads." Zeng Bohong said, and his words were quite tempting.

Everyone is a big businessman, so naturally he can understand the tricks. If you don’t talk about to tolls, if you can really save so much time, you can indeed get more profits.

Coal transportation costs account for a large part of its selling price. If a flat and spacious road is built, the transportation costs will be reduced a lot, which is also a profit!

Lin Chaoen continued: "President Zeng, we naturally know the benefits of this, but if we charge fees on the road, I am afraid the court will not allow it?"

"Well, this is a problem, but I can report to the boss and ask him to report to His Majesty. I believe that with the energy of our boss, we should be able to promote this matter. As long as everyone wants, I will report this matter to the boss today and strive to get a result tomorrow. How about it?"

Zeng Bohong asked.

Lin Chaoen first expressed his opinion: "If it can be implemented, my Lin family is willing to distribute some of the road construction resources to support the Chamber of Commerce in promoting this matter."

"Haha, okay, then we will pay the tolls we get according to the amount of investment." Zeng Bohong said with a smile.

After he said that, the others quickly expressed their opinions.

Zhu Youjian of course agreed to this matter, because this was what he discussed with Xiao Sheng to promote.

At present, the financial situation in the Ming Dynasty was tight, and the earlier the road was built, the better. The faster the coal in Shanxi was supplied to the capital, the fewer people who died due to the cold.

Subsequently, the court released a message that the court presided over and funded by the Huangxia Coal Chamber of Commerce to build a cement road leading from the capital to Shanxi.

After the road is built, a station will be set up, a rest place will be provided, and a toll will be charged.

The payment for the Huangxia Coal Chamber of Commerce to build cement roads was repaid for half of the toll, and the repayment time was fifty years.

In other words, within 50 years, 50% of the toll on this road belongs to the Huangxia Coal Chamber of Commerce.

Although the toll has changed from permanently to fifty years and fifty percent, this incident still makes the people of the Chamber of Commerce very happy. Everyone really didn't expect that the court would really allow this.

This is equivalent to paying off debts with state taxes.

After this news was released, the Huangxia Coal Chamber of Commerce also entered the vision of all the great nobles.
Chapter completed!