The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 20 Preparing to Attack Ningguo Mansion

Zhan Ershisi ran to Lixiangyuan again to find Xue Baochai.

Whenever he had nothing to do, he would run to Lixiangyuan and became very familiar with all the people in the Jia family.

Master Zhan was a magnanimous and generous person, and soon all the servants and maids liked him. They were all very respectful and polite to him whenever they met him.

Everyone just thought he was here to meet his lover secretly, so they didn't take it seriously. Not only did they not tell anyone, they also secretly tried to cover up for him.

Of course, Zhan Ershisi came here for serious business.

He sat down on the chair, looked at Baochai who was standing respectfully in front of him, and said casually:
"Now, the master and I are doing business together with Brother Zhen from Ningguo Mansion."

"When you are free, go to Ningguo Mansion more often and make friends with Sister Zhen and Daughter-in-law Rong, and get on with them."

Baochai was respectful and reserved. She stood one step away from him, nodded in agreement, took on the task, and respectfully saw Zhan 24 off.

The next day, at dawn, Zhan 24 got up, washed up, and came over again, taking Xue Pan out and heading towards the coal sales yard.

Although a new store has been established, the production and sales of honeycomb coal are not done here.

Before Zhan Ershishi, he asked Xue Zhong to withdraw money from his account and bought a spacious yard near the Shijia Coal Yard. All coal-making work was carried out here. The coal yard was next to it, so it was convenient to obtain raw materials.

The target customers of honeycomb coal are families who used to buy coal from coal yards for heating, as well as families who cannot even afford coal and have to endure hardship.

As for those families who use carbon, they will not be considered for the time being. After all, those who can afford carbon are often wealthy families.

As for the official, the court's "Xixinsi" would often directly distribute carbon, or "firewood silver", which had nothing to do with this business.

Strictly speaking, if more households use honeycomb coal, it will inevitably affect the sales of Shijia Coal Yard.

But on the one hand, there were connections with the Ningguo Mansion, and the historians could not refuse. On the other hand, the historians did not think that Jia Zhen could make any big business, and most likely he would close down in a few months.

Even if we think positively, Jia Zhen just wants to make some quick money during the winter, as the shop will most likely be closed next spring.

With this idea in mind, the historians were not that concerned about this new business, and had no intention of suppressing it.

Zhan Ershi arrived at the port and saw that Yang Yougong had been working hard for half a day. Wu Sihai was now the head steward of the Xue family, so Yang Yougong took over his position and became the steward of the Zhan family. He was in charge of this matter.

Yang Yougong was originally a hunter in the mountains and was a good archer. However, because the traps he set injured the hunting dogs raised by local gentry, he was forced to flee into the mountains and became a savage.

Zhan Ershisi set up a camp here, so he took the initiative to surrender. Zhan Ershisi used a little trick to help him get revenge and recruited him as his assistant.

The Shi family also sent a liaison manager here. They are only responsible for providing raw materials and sales channels and do not need to participate in coal production, so there are no complaints from the Shi family’s people.

Zhan Ershisi did not deliberately do anything to keep secrets. After all, it was not realistic to keep secrets these days. The only way to guarantee that others would not use your technology to make profits was to rely on monopoly of power. So he let the manager of the Shi family watch from the side.

Manager Shi stood at the door and watched Yang Yougong and a group of people from the village disperse. Each of them brought some people to conduct on-site teaching there, mixing the yellow mud and coal powder and other materials together, shaping them and drying them. He laughed secretly in his heart.

The Jia family is so evil-minded. The coal powder is already difficult to burn, and they even mix yellow mud into it. It would be a miracle if they could sell it!

But this matter had nothing to do with him. He was only responsible for delivering the coal powder, completing the handover, and recording the accounts, and that was it.

When normal families buy coal, they mostly buy small pieces and granular coal, which are easier to burn.

However, because the coal dust is constantly settling at the bottom, it is often mixed with soil and no one wants it. The only way to recover some of the costs is to sell it to the poorest households at a very low price, and most of the coal dust will be thrown away.

But honeycomb coal itself needs to be mixed with yellow mud and other materials, so this little bit of soil is not a big deal, and it can be made with coal powder.

Anyway, the Shi family couldn't sell the coal powder, so now that they sold it to the Jia family, they were not only doing a favor, but also making use of waste. The coal powder that was originally unsellable was exchanged for copper coins. This in itself was beneficial to the Shi family.

So even though Manager Shi was disdainful in his heart, he kept flattering Zhan Ershisi for the sake of appearance, and even praised him as a business genius.

No matter what Zhan Ershisi really thinks in his heart, as long as he doesn't make things difficult for his business, there will be no problem, so he will receive all the rewards he deserves, and the word "rich" stands out.

Sure enough, after receiving the silver, Manager Shi, like Lai Er, was knocked to his knees on the spot.

He found an opportunity, secretly pulled Zhan Ershi aside, and asked stealthily:
"Master Zhan, do you want to earn more?"

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(End of this chapter)