Just as everyone was looking forward to the bright financial prospects of the coal lotus business, they heard the sound of gongs outside.

Seeing the young master's inquiring look, Sun Dawu hurriedly explained, "The workers are having lunch."

Then he smiled and said, "I guessed that you would come today, so I specially invited a chef from the manor. If you don't mind, you can use some here."

"No problem." Zhao Hao said with a smile, "But let's take a look at the workers' meals first."

"It's just something I can do on my way." Sun Dawu hurriedly and diligently helped Zhao Hao pick up the cloak.

After the young master was dressed, everyone surrounded him and led him out of the courtyard.

After passing several meters high coal piles, we saw the workers who had been hammering coal for the whole morning, lined up in long rows waiting for their meals at the shouting of the manager.

Zhao Hao walked past them and went straight to where the food was served.

Dozens of large pots were lined up in a row. Beside each pot, there was a cook holding a large spoon, scooping soup and vegetables into a coarse porcelain bowl.

The worker, who was covered in black, hurriedly took the bowl in one hand and the two big steamed buns handed over by the kitchen helper in the other hand, and kept thanking the kitchen helper.

"Next!"

Although the cooks and the kitchen helpers ignored them, none of the workers cared about these trivial matters.

Their attention was drawn to the hot, fragrant food. They left the team and sat on the coal pile, eagerly devouring it.

Zhao Hao walked to the pot, took the chef's spoon and stirred it. He saw that it was a stew of cabbage, radish, bones, chicken feet, and a small amount of pork and mutton offal.

"Look, sir, there are both meat and vegetables, and they taste very good..." Sun Dawu came up quickly and said with a proud look on his face, "I dare to say this, this meal is unique within a hundred miles!"

"Really?" Zhao Hao returned the spoon to the chef and asked the worker in line.

When the workers saw that he was accompanied by the chief steward and that he was dressed like a young man from a wealthy family, they immediately knelt down and bowed, timidly saying:

“Yes, yes, yes…”

"Are you satisfied?" Zhao Hao picked up a brown steamed bun, broke off a piece and put it in his mouth.

"Satisfied, satisfied, the food is so delicious, Master is like a living Buddha..."

The workers nodded busily.

“……” Zhao Hao nodded silently, turned around and left.

After he left everyone's sight, he pounded his chest hard and said with a long sigh, "I almost choked to death..."

This made Sun Dawu, who was almost frightened, breathe a sigh of relief. He smiled apologetically and said, "Sir, you have never eaten such coarse grains."

"What is this thing made of?" Zhao Hao said angrily and threw most of the remaining dry food in his hand into Sun Dawu's arms.

"These are sorghum noodles and mung bean noodles..." Sun Dawu broke off a piece uncertainly, put it into his mouth and tasted it hard, and said, "And buckwheat noodles?"

"You're still adding bran!" Zhao Hao took the kettle offered by Gao Wu and drank some water to moisten his burning throat.

"Yes..." Sun Dawu said in bewilderment, "How can there be no bran?"

"..." Zhao Hao pursed his lips and wanted to scold Sun Dawu, saying that this was different from what he expected - there were both meat and vegetable dishes, at least one meat dish and one vegetable dish, and a vegetable soup or something; the steamed buns were the kind that mixed coarse and fine grains.

But you can see the workers eating with big mouthfuls of delicious food, and their satisfied laughter can be heard one after another.

It seems that this is enough for now...

For capitalists, managing workers' expectations is a science, and blindly raising standards is not a good thing.

Zhao Hao suppressed the inappropriate request and only mentioned two points: "Don't mix bran in the food in the future, and make sure you are full."

"Yes, don't worry, sir." Sun Dawu nodded heavily and said, "I promise I won't interfere again."

~~

After lunch, Cai Ming brought a few of his men and began to teach the managers how to make coal lotus roots.

Zhao Hao told Sun Dawu the two key ingredients of the coal cake.

"The coal lotus root mixed with sawdust is used to start a fire. You don't need to produce too much of it. Ten ordinary coal lotus roots are enough to make one kindling coal."

Looking at the managers who were busy mixing coal and soil in the distance, Zhao Hao whispered, "The most important thing is slaked lime. Only by adding this stuff can the coal lotus root have good quality."

"Don't worry, sir. I will never let it out even if I die!" Sun Dawu could not help but shed tears of gratitude for the sir's trust. He immediately came up with a confidentiality plan and said, "I suggest getting soil from another place, mixing the loess with slaked lime, and then transporting it in."

"Yes, you are an expert!" Zhao Hao nodded approvingly, completely believing that Ji Sizheng had not fooled him and had given him elite soldiers and generals.

"It's not easy to keep it secret." Sun Dawu thought for a moment and said with a bitter face, "It's easy at the beginning, but when the business gets bigger, I don't know how many people will start to figure us out. Sooner or later, they will figure this out."

"Of course." Zhao Hao nodded, but to Sun Dawu's surprise, he said, "You don't have to be on guard. Just let your colleagues know. We can make money together."

"Ah?" Sun Dawu felt relieved for a while, but he was full of questions again. "What do you mean, sir? It's most comfortable for our family to make money, right?"

"You feel relieved, but I can't handle so many refugees by myself. I need everyone's help." Zhao Hao only told him one layer of his thoughts, and then smiled arrogantly: "Besides, I have many tricks. They can follow me and learn slowly."

As the saying goes, a single flower does not make spring, a hundred flowers in full bloom make the whole garden full of spring. Mr. Zhao is eager for someone to learn from him, and the more people learn from him, the happier he is.

"Alas, I just can't keep up with your ideas..." Sun Dawu flattered him, and then asked, "By the way, sir, do you need a special stove to burn coal lotus roots?"

"Yes, there is a special stove, but I don't plan to use it."

Zhao Hao nodded again, then shook his head, and almost sprained Fatty Sun's old waist again.

The furnaces used to burn honeycomb coal in later generations have a very simple structure and are fully capable of production with current technology.

But it has a very annoying shortcoming - this thing saves coal and actually allows people to use half as much honeycomb coal!

This kind of thing will seriously affect the sales of coal lotus roots, and Mr. Zhao, who is "not doing it for money", will never do it.

Anyway, you can put the coal lotus root into an ordinary stove in people's homes and burn it, or just throw it directly into the charcoal basin.

It just burns faster...

Well, that's an advantage.

~~

After Cai Ming finished teaching, Zhao Hao prepared to go home.

Just as he was about to get on the car, he saw the sales manager Guo Da coming back with a group of his men, pushing a cart.

"So fast?" Zhao Hao retracted his foot and turned to look at the little black fat man who was sweating profusely.

"Hey, sir, it's free stuff, but it was snatched up in no time." The little black fat man said with a smile, "If they hadn't stopped us, the 150 coal lotus roots would have been snatched up by several families."

"Well, bring more people with you tomorrow." Zhao Hao smiled and patted his shoulder, and instructed Sun Dawu:

"Ji Sizheng will be sending a batch of trucks tomorrow. Please allocate 500 people to set up a logistics...er, transportation team."

"Yes, sir." Sun Dawu nodded quickly.

"You can serve as the transport team leader first. If you are too busy, find someone to take over." Zhao Hao said to Guo Dadao, "Continue to deliver it to me tomorrow, so that as many families as possible can use the coal lotus root."

"Yes, sir!" The little black fat man hurriedly responded loudly: "I promise to deliver it to every alley!"

"Looks like I'll have to work late tonight." Sun Dawu's scalp tingled. How many coal lotus roots did he have in his hand? One hundred or eighty?

"It's an extraordinary period, so please work harder. Those who work the night shift will get an appropriate increase in their pay." Zhao Hao nodded, gave the orders, and left.

ps. Third update, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~~