Chapter 99: Good Performance
Wang An was powerless to do anything about this, even though he had urgently recruited coal-making workers from Doujiafang, increasing the number of people from ten to thirty.

Except for a small area used to store raw coal, the entire warehouse, even the cracks in the corners, is filled with freshly made honeycomb coal waiting to be dried.

Even so, with a population of over one million in the entire capital city, it would be impossible for Wang An to completely monopolize the market.

At this point it is no longer a question of market acceptance, but rather that the coal warehouse’s honeycomb coal production simply cannot keep up.

This even led to some people in the market hoarding honeycomb briquettes and driving up prices, while others began to imitate the shape of Wangji honeycomb briquettes.

This really allowed some people to take advantage of the situation and make a fortune.

After all, the technical threshold for honeycomb briquettes is not high, and the few difficulties can be easily overcome as long as you put in effort.

For example, the mold for making honeycomb briquettes is not difficult to make as long as you reverse the process based on the honeycomb briquettes.

As for the ratio of making honeycomb coal, it was not a difficult task for the Ming people who had already mastered the production of special-shaped coal cakes.

Even if the initial ratio is not perfect, resulting in the burning time and firepower not as good as the authentic Wangji honeycomb coal, but after a period of exploration, it is only a matter of time to master the right ratio.

If we have to say what core technology Wang An has, there is indeed one.

This is also one of the reasons why relatively wealthy families in the capital city still insist on using Wangji even when cheaper honeycomb coal has become available.

That is, add quicklime to the honeycomb coal!

Quicklime can increase the structural strength of honeycomb coal, prevent the honeycomb coal from loosening during transportation and combustion, and can improve the combustion efficiency of honeycomb coal through a series of chemical reactions, and ensure that the coal in the honeycomb coal can be fully burned without waste.

Of course, the most important thing is that quicklime can fix sulfur and reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.

The people of the Ming Dynasty naturally did not know what sulfur dioxide was, but the lawsuits involving deaths caused by the use of counterfeit honeycomb coal were a hot topic.

There have been several cases in the capital where poor people have died from burning counterfeit honeycomb briquettes in a closed environment.

Although there are relatively few examples, it is usually very cruel that one death kills the entire family.

For this reason, many small workshops producing counterfeit honeycomb coal have been sealed off by the government.

However, there has been no such example in the case of Wangji Honeycomb Briquette.

Wang An claimed that his honeycomb coal was made using unique technology and added with rare medicinal materials, and that it was absolutely safe as long as a series of precautions were observed during use.

The so-called unique technology and rare medicinal materials used in honeycomb briquettes are of course nonsense. Wang An simply engraved a line of eye-catching words on each honeycomb briquettes stove: "Pay attention to ventilation."

In addition, quicklime is added to honeycomb coal, which results in a much lower sulfur dioxide concentration than that of counterfeit honeycomb coal. As long as you pay attention to ventilation, it is basically safe.

Therefore, in this wave of honeycomb briquettes craze started by Wang An, even though countless competitors emerged, Wang An's honeycomb briquettes remained strong.

And as time goes by, Wang Ji has become a well-known brand.

Even among the middle and lower classes, a strange kind of comparison has formed.

Although everyone was burning honeycomb briquettes, neighbors would compare whether they were using Wangji honeycomb briquettes. This further led to a surge in the market demand for Wangji honeycomb briquettes, and the shopkeepers who had signed distribution agreements were fighting against Wang An almost every day for twelve hours.

The requirements are raised and the supplies are allocated to their own companies.

However, Wang An ignored them. When he was unable to open up the market at the beginning, these people, as later generations called them, were undoubtedly very important as agents. They were an important foundation for supporting the sales of a product in the early stages.

However, now that word of mouth has spread, it has gained unparalleled market recognition.

Wang An focused on ensuring the coal demand of the Beijing catering and accommodation industries, and would only consider allocating it to agents if there was surplus production capacity.

The only way to maximize product profits is to directly connect with the first-tier consumer market.

Wang An, who came from later generations, was not a so-called businessman in his previous life, but thanks to the overwhelming information bombardment, he still understood this basic business principle.

The price of honeycomb coal is two cents each, and Wang An sells it directly to restaurants and inns in the capital at this price.

This is equivalent to the official website pricing in the future market, but when sold to distributors, the price for two honeycomb briquettes is three cents.

In Wang An's view, this meant that he lost a penny for every two honeycomb briquettes sold to the distributor.

Can this be tolerated?
If the coal warehouse had not been established only this year, Wang An would not have wanted to have a reputation of being a traitor in the business circle of Beijing. In addition, he had indeed signed a distribution agreement, otherwise he would have stopped cooperating with these people long ago.

However, compared with the profits brought by honeycomb coal, the troubles caused by these annoying coal warehouse owners seem insignificant.

When night fell, Wang An drove away the last coal warehouse owner who had been pestering him. Yun Zhao sat opposite him happily, looking at the account book on the table and the mountain of silver, he couldn't stop smiling.

Even Yun Zhao, who was born into a wealthy family, swallowed hard when looking at the pile of silver in front of him, and said, "Master, our income for the entire first month is 9,321 taels of silver."

"After deducting the cost of raw materials and the food and wages of the servants, the net profit is 3,128 taels of silver!"

"Haha!" Wang An couldn't help laughing out loud. He made a net profit of more than three thousand taels of silver in just one month. Although it didn't sound like much, compared with those corrupt officials who had assets of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, it seemed to be just a drop in the bucket.

But you have to know that Wang An made his money by selling honeycomb coal, a low-profit product, without completely monopolizing the market in Beijing.

Moreover, compared with the era of explosive production capacity in later generations, the net profit of each piece of honeycomb coal was less than 8%, while Wang An's net profit was more than 30%, which was already an extremely terrifying figure.

Besides, the main feature of honeycomb coal is that it is cheap and durable. If the price is too high, ordinary people might as well buy coal directly.

Wang An bared his teeth and laughed, "Yun Zhao, you and your mother must be quite anxious in the small room in the backyard, right?"

Yun Zhao was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously said: "It's okay, Master. My mother and I are living well."

However, as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he reacted, "Master, do you want to buy a house?"

Wang An showed a look of smugness on his face and said, "Why do we have to work so hard in life? If we make money, of course we should improve our lives."

(End of this chapter)