Chapter 66: Coal Mine Occupied
And unlike ordinary coal, with the honeycomb coal stove produced by Wangji, people can freely adjust the fire size of the honeycomb coal stove, so as to extend the use time of the honeycomb coal and further reduce the cost of using the honeycomb coal.

This is a huge benefit for all businesses in Beijing, big and small.

When the shopkeepers of restaurants and hotels bump into him on the street, the first thing they ask is no longer "Have you eaten?" but "Have you used Wang Ji's honeycomb briquettes?"

If both parties have used it, they must sigh together, "Honeycomb briquettes are really cheap and easy to use!"

If one party has not used it, the other party who has used it will definitely brag about it and proudly express how much coal money he has saved since using honeycomb coal.

If they happen to come across one that neither of them has used before, they will make a skeptical agreement to go to a friend's house that has honeycomb briquettes to find out.

And those customers who go in and out of restaurants and hotels, when they happen to see the peculiarly shaped honeycomb coal and the honeycomb coal stove with all kinds of plain words written on it, most of them would curiously ask the shopkeeper about it.

These coal briquettes are really so easy to use and cheap.

As a result, most of the restaurant owners in Beijing became Wang An’s “voluntary salesmen”.

The eager customers started asking around, "Where can I buy this good honeycomb briquettes?"

As a result, a small number of coal shops and coal warehouses that had reached agency agreements with Wang An received large banners distributed free of charge by Wang An on their doorsteps.

The banner simply and clearly read: "Wangji Honeycomb Briquette Strategic Cooperation Distribution Point".

All of a sudden, the sales of the coal shops that had reached cooperation with Wang An skyrocketed, and the shop owners were so happy that they woke up in the middle of the night with laughter.

Other coal shops that failed to reach a cooperation agreement were like sharks that smelled blood, searching the streets for sales managers pushing carts.

There were even some people who were more resourceful and managed to find out the location of Wangji Coal Depot from somewhere and came directly to seek cooperation.

There were even some people with a long-term vision who saw the potential of honeycomb coal and came directly with money, asking for the exclusive agency rights for the entire capital.

However, as sales soared, what worried Wang An the most was not the production capacity issue, but the visible decrease in the coal reserves in the cargo hold.

It is estimated that it will be consumed in another three to five days of production.

"Ergou, come with me." Wang An called out to Ergou who was busy arranging the production.

Hearing this, Ergou came to Wang An excitedly and said, "Boss, where are we going? Have you thought it through and decided to sell the exclusive agency of Jincheng to Laifu Coal Store?"

"I heard that the boss behind the Lai Fu Coal Depot is Duke Cheng, Zhu Chunchen. His ancestors followed Emperor Chengzu in the war to quell the rebellion and made great contributions!"

Wang An rolled his eyes. To be able to be conferred the title of Duke must have done great things for his ancestors.

But this Zhu Chunchen...

Thinking of what this person did in history, Wang An felt that even if all the ungrateful and ungrateful people in the world were put together, perhaps none of them could be as deceitful as Zhu Chunchen.

However, there were so many people like Zhu Chunchen among the civil and military officials in the court that Wang An was too lazy to comment.

Patting Ergou on the back of his head, Wang An said, "We are in a period of rapid development right now. How can we give the exclusive agency to someone else?"

"Then it won't be us who are controlling others, but they will be controlling us."

Ergou seemed a little confused, and just felt a little sorry for the 1,000 taels of silver that the Zhu family's servant brought that day. My goodness, how many concubines could he marry with 1,000 taels of silver!
Moreover, it is just the purchase of agency rights.

But since Wang’s Coal Storehouse is the property of the little miracle doctor, he can do whatever he wants with it.

With a sigh of longing, Ergou asked, "Where are we going now, shopkeeper?"

Wang An glanced in the direction of Xishan and said, "Let's go to the mine. We have been so busy with the coal warehouse that we forgot about the most important coal mine."

“I don’t know if there are any workers left in the mine.”

Ergou said: "Since the father-in-law's family has gone bankrupt, the coal mine should also be shut down."

Wang An nodded, took out the contract from his arms and confirmed the location of the coal mine again, then set off with Ergou.

After walking for about two hours and asking along the way, the two finally found their own coal mine on a hilltop in the West Mountain.

What surprised Wang An was that the coal mine in front of him did not become abandoned because of the fall of the Zhou family. Instead, people were coming and going, and it looked like the mine was "working overtime to produce."

Wang An confirmed the address again and again, and pulled over a miner pushing a wheelbarrow to ask again and again, confirming that this was indeed the Zhoujia Coal Mine that his rich cousin had invested in and purchased.

Wang An was immediately confused. Could it be that someone heard about the Zhou family's downfall and took advantage of the suspension of work to dig some money?
After looking around, I saw a thatched shed not far away. There were two tables and chairs in the shed, but there was only one person sitting behind one of the tables, holding a pen in his hand and writing and drawing on the account book.

"Let's go ask the steward."

Wang An pulled Ergou up with him and strode into the shed.

Perhaps it was because the mine was too noisy, the manager did not notice someone approaching him and was still concentrating on recording something in the account book.

Wang An looked down and found that the account book only recorded the mining volume of the coal mine.

After taking a quick look at the numbers, I was so angry that my lungs almost exploded.

Although I didn't see the total number, the page that was opened recorded at least tens of thousands of kilograms.

Looking at the thick stack of account books that had already recorded the lost money, Wang An couldn't imagine how much money someone had stolen from him openly.

Thinking of this, Wang An's eyes suddenly turned cold and he directly copied the account book.

The manager then realized that there were two people standing in front of him. He pointed at Wang An in shock and anger and asked, "Where did this lunatic come from? Do you know where this place is?"

Wang An suppressed his anger, took out the contract from his arms, pointed at the address and name on it, and asked, "This is my coal mine, of course I know where it is!"

"On the contrary, you, who are you, actually dare to mine other people's minerals privately! You are stealing, do you know the law?"

The manager was surprised and squinted to identify the official seal on the contract. The address was correct.

After being stunned for a moment, he looked at Wang An in disbelief and said, "That's not right. Didn't you hear that the two mines of Zhou Kui's family were confiscated by the Ministry of Revenue? I didn't hear who they were sold to..."

Wang An was so angry that he laughed. Didn't the manager mean that anyone could dig in the coal mine before it was officially sold to anyone?

(End of this chapter)