Chapter 54 Preparations
After breakfast, Wang An went out.

Walking on the muddy road, Wang An went into an alley and came to the depths of Doujiafang.

This is a residential area consisting of low thatched houses with walls made of yellow mud bricks and roofs made of straw.

These thatched houses are generally not high, and even many of the doors require one to bend down to enter and exit.

Wang An stopped in front of one of the thatched houses, knocked on the door and called out, "Er Gouzi, are you home?"

A response came from the room soon, "It's the little doctor, why did you come to see me so early in the morning?"

The door opened quickly, and Wang An looked through the door into the dark room, and saw Ergou's wife and two children busying themselves in front of the stove.

"Haven't you had breakfast yet?" Wang An stomped off the snow on his feet and stepped into the thatched hut.

Ergou quickly stepped aside to let Wang An in, and attentively brought a stool over, saying, "Thanks to the little doctor, I can now afford breakfast."

Wang An grinned, feeling slightly proud.

I still remember when I first met Ergou, he was a person who had no idea where to start.

Not to mention breakfast, even two meals a day is difficult.

Later, Wang An started a laundry business. He first hired Ergou's wife to work there, and later he included Ergou in the wholesale sales of moisturizing glycerin.

After half a year, Ergou's family was not well-off, but at least they could have three meals a day.

Wang An said politely, "We all work hard to make a living. You said it was all thanks to me."

Ergou chuckled and called to his wife, "Go cut two strips of pickled radish. The little doctor will be eating at our house today."

Wang An waved his hand and said, "You're welcome. I just came out after breakfast."

Seeing Wang An’s firmness, Ergou gave up.

Wang An patted the empty stool beside him and motioned Ergou to sit down, then said, "We have taken over the freight yard you took me to Baimajing last time, and not only that, we have also taken over the two coal mines of the Zhou family."

Er Gou was shocked when he heard this. He opened his mouth in disbelief and asked, "Then...how much silver is that?"

Wang An waved his hand and said with a smile: "My cousin bought it with the money. He is now a business partner with me."

Ergou then breathed a sigh of relief. He thought that Wang An had suddenly made a fortune, which made him feel worried.

As for Wang An's cousin Ergou, he had also seen him. He was surrounded by a butler and thugs, and was dressed in silk and satin, like a young master from a wealthy family.

Although he knew that Wang An's uncle sold medicinal herbs at the border, he never expected him to be so rich that he could buy a coal mine for 25,000 taels of silver.

After a sigh of emotion, Ergou hurriedly bowed to Wang An and congratulated him, "Then I wish the little genius doctor a great opening and a lot of money!"

"I like to hear that," Wang An said with a smile, "but I don't have many trustworthy people around me. Are you interested in helping me?"

Ergou was overjoyed and said quickly, "I'm interested. I'm grateful that the little genius doctor thinks highly of me. What else can I say?"

But Ergou and his wife both followed him for a living, so after half a year, they knew what kind of person Wang An was.

Although he seems a little obsessed with money, he treats his subordinates very well.

He paid high wages and never made things difficult for anyone.

Unlike other black-hearted shopkeepers, who not only treat people like animals, but also often find excuses to deduct wages. The wages are not high to begin with, and the wages that are deducted are often not enough to guarantee food. "Okay, we'll leave after you have breakfast."

Ergou was afraid of losing his job again, so he stood up and said, "The little doctor's job is more important. We won't starve to death if we skip a meal, and we can save my share so that the children can eat more."

Wang An also stood up and patted Ergou on the shoulder, sighed and said: "Follow me and work hard in the future. I can't say more, but at least you can have enough food for your family."

"With what the little miracle doctor said, my life is yours!" Ergou patted his chest and vowed.

Wang An didn't say anything more, but just felt a little emotional.

This is the way the world is. As long as people can have enough food to eat, they will do anything.

The two men left the house and headed towards Baima Well.

The two came to the cargo yard for the second time, but their mood was very different from the first time.

Last time he was just a passerby, but this time he came with the mentality of a boss. The huge freight yard and the piles of coal were all the capital for Wang An to start his business blueprint.

"Let's build a shed here... a pond there, and some carts to transport coal..."

Wang An talked as he walked, with an air of someone who could command the country.

Ergou hurriedly wrote down everything Wang An said and started to renovate the cargo yard as soon as Wang An finished speaking.

Adhering to the principle of "don't employ people if you don't trust them", Wang An directly threw ten taels of silver to Er Gou, "Spend this ingot of silver first, and tell me if it's not enough. Keep a record of where you spent and how much you spent, don't waste money in vain."

Ergou had lived for more than twenty years, but this was the first time he got a whole ingot of ten taels of silver. Looking at the white silver in his hand, his eyes almost popped out.

Wang An called him twice, and then he woke up as if from a dream and agreed repeatedly.

After making the arrangements, Wang An instructed again: "If you don't have enough people, go back to Doujiafang and recruit ten neighbors. Choose the honest and simple ones, and don't choose the sneaky ones!"

"Okay!" Ergou agreed and asked, "Just how much the salary is, so I can tell them."

Wang An stroked his chin and thought for a while. It was a time of turmoil, and many refugees who had suffered disasters or encountered difficulties in the surrounding areas and could not survive poured into the capital, so labor was worthless.

Even if you only provide two meals a day, you can recruit a lot of qualified "livestock".

Even the waiters in restaurants and the clerks in shops could only get eight or nine cents or five or six cents of silver a month as wages.

However, although Wang An was obsessed with money, he was not willing to exploit the workers who sold their labor.

In his opinion, labor costs actually account for the least cost in an enterprise, and the real major costs are raw materials, taxes and some unspoken rules.

Just like some companies in later generations, sometimes they would use connections to treat people to meals, but one meal could be equivalent to several months' income of their employees.

This is just the meal, not including the cost of the "gift".

Especially in the current Ming Dynasty, perhaps if you just pay your employees a little more, you can allow them to feed one more mouth to feed.

After thinking for a while, Wang An said, "They are all physically demanding work, so we won't let them get anything for nothing. We can pay them a salary of one or two taels per month and provide them with a meal at noon."

Seeing Ergou's mouth open in disbelief, Wang Anton found it funny.

(End of this chapter)