Li Chengen flipped through the account book in disbelief, counting on his fingers:

"That's more than two thousand taels of silver a day. In a month, that's sixty to seventy thousand taels. In a year, my goodness, I can make seventy to eighty thousand taels..."

"You didn't calculate the cost..." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes at him.

"Oh, that's right." Li Chengen slapped his forehead and couldn't help laughing: "Where in the world is it so easy to make money? Otherwise, all the money would be spent on making coal briquettes."

"Hahaha..." Everyone laughed happily along with the young master.

Sun Dawu and Guo Da, however, disagreed in their hearts, thinking to themselves, "Young Master, you are really fooled. This coal yard can really make a net profit of 700,000 or 800,000 taels a year."

Although today's profit was less than 500 taels after deducting the cost, but today is just the beginning.

The coal yard has just started operation, the production capacity has not yet been released, and the transportation links have not been straightened out, which has limited today's sales.

But what is extremely exciting is that market demand far exceeds expectations!

After a while, when the production capacity and transportation problems are solved, sales will increase greatly!

By then, making a net profit of more than two thousand taels a day would not be just a pipe dream.

~~

Of course, the young master didn't know that he was despised by the two servants. He was still enthusiastically giving Zhao Hao suggestions:

"I have a good idea that can increase the income of the field by one dollar."

"Oh?" Zhao Hao looked at him with interest and said, "I'd like to hear more about it."

"I see a lot of people using their own coal to exchange for coal lotus roots. We can't get any money, and we have to work hard to get it back." The young master said with a smug look on his face:

"Why don't you just stop changing coal from tomorrow? That way it will be easier and you can earn more money."

"Uh..." Zhao Hao's hand holding the teacup shook, and water spilled all over himself.

"How about it, are you shocked?" The young master pointed at Zhao Hao proudly and laughed, "Do you feel that you have overkilled yourself and your cleverness has backfired?"

"That's about right." Zhao Hao put down the teacup, took the handkerchief handed to him by Guo Dafeng, and wiped the water off his body.

But in his heart he sighed silently, "Mom, I think the Li family's business should be inherited by your daughter..."

Sun Dawu and Guo Da also realized completely that this young master was simply not cut out for business.

In the eyes of these two old masters, the young master's move of accepting loose coal from the common people in exchange for coal lotus roots was simply a stroke of genius that made them applaud!

Because the production of coal lotus itself requires a large amount of loose coal, purchasing it from the people can squeeze the loose coal out of the market as soon as possible, allowing the people to use the coal lotus as soon as possible.

It also solves the problem of transport teams making empty trips on their return journeys and wasting transport capacity.

He is truly a role model for businessmen!

~~

Zhao Hao threw the handkerchief to Sun Dawu and asked casually, "How much can be produced today?"

"Sir, today is actually the first day of complete production at the farm." Sun Dawu said with a smile:

"I took a look around during lunch break and estimated that I made more than 500,000 cakes today. If I work until dark this afternoon, I can still make about the same number."

"Hmm." Zhao Hao nodded. This was pretty much what he expected.

He let the guards try it, and found that they could fight off as many as 600 people in one day, and as few as 500 people.

Of course, the coal yard workers, who were mostly refugees, did not have the muscular muscles like the men in Caijia Lane, but on average, five hundred a day should not be a problem.

Two thousand people working for a day, isn't that exactly one million?

Zhao Hao nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, just keep up this speed."

"I'm just worried that there won't be enough coal..." Sun Dawu didn't expect that he was worried about when all the coal would be used up two days ago. In a blink of an eye, he was worried about not having enough coal again...

In this era, ordinary people were busy all year round, but they were unwilling to work during the first month of the year. Of course, the refugees were the exception...

But riding an ice raft is a technical job, how can refugees do it?

Therefore, during this period, no one was engaged in transportation on the Yongding River, and the coal from Zhaitang could not be transported there temporarily.

Even if the coal yard stopped adding coal pile workers, it would still consume two million kilograms of coal a day.

The original 30 million kilograms would be consumed in just half a month.

"It's not a big problem. I asked Gonggong Ji to go and buy coal for me. I estimate that Xishan coal will be shipped in the second half of the month. But just in case, the yard should not add coal handlers for the time being. If you recruit more people, all of them will be coal transporters." Zhao Hao nodded and instructed Guo Dadao:

"Starting tomorrow, you will be the first to buy coal. Don't just focus on the loose coal in the hands of ordinary people. Buy all the coal from the coal shops outside the city for me."

The young master was eating steamed bun with big mouthfuls, but when he heard this, he suddenly felt that the sweet and delicious milk steamed bun was not so fragrant anymore.

It turned out that my words were not taken seriously at all...

"We still need to increase our transportation capacity. Once our transportation capacity is increased, we will have the autonomy to buy or sell." Zhao Hao stood up and put on his coat while continuing to say to Guo Da: "You need to continue to purchase large vehicles, and you also need to open up transportation on the ice as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir. I have made an appointment with the local gang leaders in this area tonight to see if I can get them to resume work as soon as possible." Guo Da nodded in response and presented Hailong's hat.

There was nothing to worry about here, so Zhao Hao naturally changed back into his usual attire and prepared to go back to the city to tell his godmother the good news.

After getting dressed, he patted the shoulders of the two generals Heng and Ha with his thick leather-gloved hands and said, "Do your best. I will not treat you unfairly!"

"Yes, sir!" The two of them felt as sweet as if they had eaten honey.

Because of the master-servant relationship, he would not explain everything about salary and shares too clearly like he did when he started the business. Doing so would not only create divisions but also make the two old hands lose their respect.

Since I am still young, I should exercise my authority on my own for the time being and let them guess more about what I am thinking.

To put it bluntly, it’s still a question of expectation management.

~~

Zhao Hao and Li Chengen hurried back to the capital before the Yongding Gate was closed.

The two of them ran straight towards the inner city along Zhengyangmen Street, and arrived at Shiwangfu Street only after it was completely dark.

The soldiers guarding the street entrance had already closed the gate. When they saw that it was the young master who had returned, they quickly opened the door and let them in.

There were four big red lanterns hanging on the door of the Princess's Mansion, but the door was not closed yet.

Captain Niu of the Embroidered Uniform Guards was waiting at the door with a lantern in his hand. When he saw his men coming back with two carriages, he hurried down the steps and diligently arranged the brocade cushions.

"The two young masters are finally back. His Highness and the county lady have asked more than ten times."

"Oh, how did my mother know that we would come back?" the young master asked curiously.

"Haha, what can be hidden from His Highness?" Captain Niu felt a little sorry for having only a surname but no name, then said with a smile: "His Highness is afraid that the two young masters will be bullied during their first business, so he has asked his subordinates to secretly take care of the two young masters these days."

"I really worry so much about you, mother." Zhao Hao nodded touchedly and walked inside.

When he went up the stairs, he saw that Li Chengen did not follow him, and Zhao Hao couldn't help but look back in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

But Li Chengen's face turned pale and beads of sweat dripped down.

Doesn't this mean that my mother already knows that I lied...

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