At dawn on the fifth day, Guo Da came over with eighty servants to report for duty.

Eighty-one large trucks blocked the alley behind the Zhao residence. Many neighbors were looking around, wondering whether the Zhao residence was moving or doing something else.

Zhao Hao ordered them to carry the coal lotus roots from the backyard and load them onto the truck.

Before dawn, Cai Mingqing took some count and found that after several days of hard work, there were a total of 12,000 coal lotus roots available.

Coal lotus roots are very convenient to stack and store. An eight-foot-long cart can carry 150 coal lotus roots, which only takes up less than one-third of the space.

"It seems that it is no problem to load over a thousand kilograms on a large truck." Zhao Hao nodded with satisfaction.

"Why don't we ask them to gather the goods together?" Guo Da asked.

"No need. Your task today is to distribute these coal lotus roots to every street in the outer city as much as possible." Zhao Hao shook his head.

"Excuse me, sir, how much does this item cost?" Guo Da asked again.

"They are free for the first three days, and from the fourth day on, they are sold for four cents each." Zhao Hao replied, "You can also exchange them for loose coal, four pounds for one."

"You'll have to run around more in the beginning, and I'll teach you how to play it later..."

"Young Master, you are right. It's a foolish thing to just practice without saying anything." The little black fat man said eloquently, "To do business well, you need to shout."

"There are so many of them." Zhao Hao smiled and patted his shoulder, saying, "We earn our money through hard work in this business. Fortunately, we will have the manpower in a few days, so you won't have to pull the cart anymore. Then you can just set up a shed on the street and solicit business."

"Well, we'll do whatever the young master says." The little black fat man nodded, and prepared himself mentally to endure hardships.

~~

Zhao Hao asked the guards to help load the remaining coal lotus roots into the truck, and called the servants into an empty room in the backyard.

In the room, there was a huge map of the outer city... He had asked Wu Shilai for it. In fact, it originally also had a map of the inner city, but he had been asked to cut it up and put it away to prevent people from thinking he was going to rebel.

Then Zhao Hao repeated what he had said to the little black fat man, and then said to the servants: "Our goal is, of course, to make every household in the capital use coal lotus root. But we still have to eat one bite at a time. After weighing the pros and cons, I have to focus on the outer city first."

"According to Shuntian Prefecture's statistics, the number of registered households in the outer city exceeds 100,000, and the number of hidden households is almost the same."

Because the Ming Dynasty levied a poll tax, with households as the tax unit, the people reduced their tax burden by splitting up their families and canceling their household registration.

At that time, collecting more taxes was not considered a political achievement, and the government turned a blind eye.

As a result, even though the country enjoyed peace for 200 years, the number of households recorded in the Yellow Book of the Ministry of Revenue did not increase but decreased...If later historians use this to argue that the people of the Ming Dynasty were living in misery, they would be either stupid or evil.

"Moreover, the people in the outer city are basically ordinary people with low to middle incomes. These people are exactly our target users!" Zhao Hao said loudly: "Our slogan is small profits but quick turnover. I have set the most competitive price. How many you can sell depends on your ability!"

"For this reason, I hereby announce that for every ten coal lotus roots you sell, you can get a commission of one penny. The more you sell, the higher the commission will be!"

Hearing the young master say this, the servants could not help but feel happy. They all said that even if there was no reward, they would still do their best to serve the young master.

At this time, they still don't know how much benefit this insignificant penny will bring them...

Zhao Hao was too lazy to explain to them, just let the facts speak for themselves. He then gave the servants a brief sales training and taught them how to use the most straightforward and simple language to introduce the advantages of coal lotus roots to the people.

As for the problem of preventing gas poisoning, he did not even mention it. Because after living in Daming for a year, he had deeply realized that the houses of this era were too well ventilated...

For example, the main house where he lived had paper-covered windows and a wooden door, and a gentle breeze blew constantly at night.

This is the residence of a third-rank official. If it were an ordinary citizen's house, even the walls would be leaky. Are you worried that the coal poison won't dissipate? It's just groundless worry.

Only the mansions of the princes, nobles, and wealthy businessmen could cause carbon monoxide poisoning because the rooms were too well sealed. But those people all burned silver charcoal, so who would use earthy coal balls?

~~

Finally, Zhao Hao pointed to the map of the outer city behind him and said, "I have divided the more than 300 streets, roads, and alleys in the outer city into 60 sales areas. You, Mr. Guo, will be responsible for the specific allocation of manpower. Let's set off after we're done..."

"Yes, sir." Guo Da hurriedly responded respectfully.

"Starting tomorrow, we will go to the Lugouqiao coal yard." Zhao Hao gave another order and left the house.

Outside, Cai Ming had already finished loading the trucks with his men. There were 150 yuan in each truck, and there were more than 200 yuan left. Following Zhao Hao's instructions, he asked the servants to distribute it to the nearby neighbors.

He took five people with him and loaded the 100 sets of molds onto the carriage parked outside the main gate. Then he stood in front of the carriage and waited quietly for the young master to come out.

"Not bad." When Zhao Hao came out dressed neatly, he saw that he was ready. He nodded with satisfaction and got on his carriage.

"Let's go." Gao Wu gave an order and drove the young master's carriage ahead.

Cai Ming led his men to protect the loaded carriage and followed behind.

~~

By the time we arrived at the coal factory, it was already afternoon.

Just one day later, the originally quiet and silent yard turned into a bustling construction site.

The scene of thousands of people smashing coal with hammers in the sea of ​​coal is still very spectacular.

Zhao Hao saw that many workers were already holding big stones and smashing the tools before they even received them. Their enthusiasm for work was extremely high.

Hearing the steward say that the young master had arrived, Sun Dawu hurried over and welcomed Zhao Hao to the small courtyard in the southeast corner.

This was the original residence of the yard manager, and Sun Dawu used it as a place for him and the other managers to discuss matters.

After entering the room, Sun Dawu cleaned the table and chairs and asked the young master to sit down. He personally brought tea and then reported:

"You are right, sir. Yesterday, a total of about a thousand people came, and they worked for less than half a day. But we followed your instructions, provided them with a good meal, and gave each of them 40 coins when they were dismissed. As a result, today, two thousand more people came... Judging from the situation, we will be able to recruit 6,000 people tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

"It doesn't matter if we recruit more. I can afford them." Zhao Hao took a sip of tea and said confidently.

"Oh, I understand." Sun Dawu didn't waste any more words this time.

Compared to the workers of later generations, these workers are so cheap that they are almost free...

Yesterday, I spent only forty taels to pay the wages to a thousand people; a month's salary is only one thousand two hundred taels, which is just enough for Master Zhao to reward one of his apprentices.

Even if he hired 10,000 people, the monthly salary, including food and wages, would only be 15,000 taels. For Mr. Zhao now, this is no pressure at all.

Don't forget, these are all full-time workers with three insurances and one housing fund, no benefits, and no holidays...

'This Ming Dynasty is simply a paradise for capitalists!'

Zhao Hao suppressed his excitement and asked Sun Dawu with a stern face:

"You're not going to persuade me today?"

"Hey, my lord. I spent the whole night thinking about it, and it was only when I thought about your highness opening a porridge factory that I finally figured it out."

Sun Dawu was ashamed and said, "Young Master, you are not doing this for money. You are trying to find ways to help the refugees... I will treat them well in the future..."

"Uh..." Seeing that he was pretending a little too much, Zhao Hao reminded his coal plant manager awkwardly: "You still have to control your expenses and don't overdo it, so that you can..."

This way I can earn more...but in this situation, it sounds a bit cheap to say this.

"So that we can provide relief to more disaster victims?" Sun Dawu quickly took over the conversation.

"Not bad." Zhao Hao glanced at him approvingly. It turned out that every fat guy was a good supporting actor.

ps. The first update is here, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~~