Chapter 55 Market Research
Wang An patted Er Gou's shoulder and said teasingly, "It's just a few taels of silver. Look how surprised you are."

Ergou swallowed his saliva and said with some stammering: "Little doctor, is our salary too high?"

"The least valuable thing in the capital right now is people. Let alone one or two taels of silver, even if it's five or six cents of silver, Zhang Ergou dares to guarantee that those who want to do it will definitely line up from You'anmen to Zuo'anmen!"

Wang An said seriously, "We don't lack this little money. Take a long-term view. Only if you are really good to your employees, they will help you wholeheartedly."

"The young doctor is a good man, we will all listen to you." Ergou nodded, but his eyes flickered as he spoke, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Wang An said with a smile: "Don't worry, as the first employee of our Wangji Honeycomb Coal Factory, I will pay you two taels of silver!"

Ergou was stunned when he heard this, and then after a moment he seemed to realize that he was not dreaming. He jumped up excitedly, and then knelt down to Wanan with a plop. "Godfather, please accept my greetings!"

"Go away, go away. I don't have a son as old as you!" Wang An waved his hands, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Ergou also laughed shamelessly, still kneeling on the ground and saying flatteringly: "Then let my two sons recognize the shopkeeper as their godfather!"

"You're quick to change your tune, calling me the shopkeeper now." Wang Anjiang Ergou pulled him up, "Come on, don't bother trying so hard to get me a godson. If you don't do your job well, you won't be able to recognize me as your grandfather."

"Don't worry, boss. If I, Ergou, dare not do my job carefully, I will be struck to death by a thunderbolt from a drought!" Ergou patted his chest to show his loyalty.

"Okay, remember what I just said and do it." After Wang An said that, he took Ergou back to Doujiafang.

Ergou went to recruit people to build a shed, and Wang Anze returned to the herbal medicine shop to find a coal miner to make honeycomb coal.

The so-called coal briquette machine is a coal briquette machine that is useless for making honeycombs. It looks similar to an air pump, and the tail end is a mold for making honeycomb coal.

Originally, Wang An made honeycomb briquettes for his own use, so he only made one coal miner, and its appearance was rather rough.

If we want to open a honeycomb coal factory now, just this coal scoop is not enough.

So Wang An took a coal bucket and found the blacksmith shop in Doujiafang, and asked the craftsmen to make twenty first for comparison.

After placing the order with the blacksmith, Wang An had nothing to do.

There doesn't need to be any major changes at the warehouse, just building a shed and a pool or something, and Ergou has already been assigned to do all of this.

Wang An has nothing to do now, but now is the time when he is full of energy. Wang An, who can't sit still, starts to wander around the capital.

It would not be correct to say that he was wandering around randomly. Wang An went around the warehouses and shops selling coal with a purpose, asking about prices and counting the flow of people.

At the same time, I estimated how much coal an ordinary family uses in a month.

After a tour, Wan An had a rough idea of ​​the general market price of coal in Beijing and the people's coal consumption.

Thanks to the rich coal resources in the Western Hills and the fact that there was little wood available around Beijing due to long-term logging, if one wanted to buy wood, they had to ask woodcutters to carry it from more distant areas.

Moreover, the price is relatively expensive, one hundred kilograms of wood costs one and a half cents of silver.

As for charcoal, it was even more expensive, costing four and a half cents of silver per hundred jin.

So in this situation, coal became an affordable choice for ordinary people to heat and cook.

But to say it is affordable is only relative.

Coal in the capital cost one coin and three cents per 100 jin, which was only two cents cheaper than wood. Therefore, coal was not a new thing for the people in the capital at that time, and almost every household used coal.

But for the poor people in ancient times, hunger and cold were almost the eternal themes.

Coal, which cost only one cent and three fen, could not be burned casually. Normally, coal was only used for cooking, and daily heating was maintained by faith.

At this time, the advantages of honeycomb coal are reflected. It has a long burning time and controllable firepower. When paired with special stoves, only four pieces of coal can burn for a whole day.

It can not only keep you warm, but also cook.

Thinking of stoves, Wang An suddenly remembered that he seemed to have forgotten that he also had to produce special stoves for sale.

So he hurried back to the herbal medicine shop, took the coal stove and found the blacksmith again, pointed to the iron sheet on the outer layer of the coal stove and the iron parts used, and asked the blacksmith to try to make a batch first.

If the samples produced are qualified, Wang An will purchase them in large quantities.

As for the clay used for the inner liner, the technical content is not high, and Wang An can teach the workers to make it himself and then assemble it.

When the blacksmith learned that Wang An's large purchase would be at least 10,000 sets, he was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth.

At the same time, he said with some embarrassment: "The little genius doctor wants so many. I am the only one in this shop and I am afraid I can't make it in time."

Wang An waved his hand and said, "It won't happen overnight. It depends on the sales volume at that time."

At this point Wang An changed his mind and decided that instead of outsourcing the production, he might as well just hire the blacksmith in front of him to produce iron buckets specifically for him.

If sales are good, I can recruit more blacksmiths. The cost is controllable and the supply is stable, so the benefits I can get are far greater than the wages I need to pay.

Thinking of this, Wang An said directly: "Are you interested in working with me..."

After successfully recruiting blacksmiths, Wang An began to think about how to price his honeycomb coal after it came out.

Finally, he decided to sell his honeycomb coal by the piece, with each coal ball costing only two copper coins.

By this calculation, ordinary people only need eight cents to burn honeycomb coal for a day if they are frugal.

If you burn coal, it will cost at least ten cents a day, which can be said to be extremely cost-effective.

Now everything is ready, all we need is the east wind.

While Wang An was busy recruiting people, making coal stoves, and renovating cargo yards, the Forbidden City was not peaceful.

Chongzhen looked at Yuan Chonghuan in front of him, his thoughts in turmoil.

"Your Majesty, if you want to pacify Liao within five years, you need food, money, armor, and manpower. More importantly, if my plan to pacify Liao within five years falls into the ears of the civil and military officials in the court, they may think it is arrogant. Therefore, I think that you should issue a clear order to stop rumors so as not to disturb the morale of our army."

Yuan Chonghuan stood in the hall and made a lot of demands in an endless stream, but Chongzhen did not show any expression at all, and did not even have a clear attitude of support or opposition.

This made Yuan Chonghuan somewhat uneasy. Could it be that his words of consolation had reached the emperor's ears, and that the emperor was therefore angry with him?

(End of this chapter)