Ming Dynasty: Evolution from snake to national guardian beast

Chapter 30 The Zhao family comes and the storm rises again

"What the princess said is true."

Bai Chushen thought that it would be a real surprise if he could infiltrate his power into the military through coal.

When Zhu Di saw this scene, he immediately handed over the important task of promoting coal to Princess Yan.

He asked her to select the most capable people from among her men and go to various places in the north to select suitable sales representatives to sell coal.

Just when Prince Yan's Mansion was filled with joy and everyone was looking forward to the future, a group of people came to Peiping quietly.

These people all looked dusty and spoke southern Mandarin. They obviously came all the way from Yingtian City.

As soon as this group of people entered the city, they went straight to the Zhao Mansion and seemed very anxious.

"So, you have pawned all Zhao's charcoal shops in Beiping City?"

In front of Zhao Yan, a middle-aged man with a stern face asked coldly.

Zhao Yan stood in front of him, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Zhao Yan trembled when he heard this and nodded quickly.

"Snapped!!"

The next moment, a bright red slap mark appeared on Zhao Yan's cheek.

"Useless thing! Damn it!"

"Uncle, this is my fault. Please forgive me once. I just wanted to suppress King Yan, so I had to do this!!"

Zhao Yan received a slap in the face, but he didn't dare to be angry at all. On the contrary, he was even more frightened.

He hugged the middle-aged man's legs and cried loudly.

"Get away!!" he shouted.

The middle-aged man kicked Zhao Yan away and was about to curse, but the middle-aged man next to him stopped him.

"Brother, wait a moment."

"The best way now is to find a way to stop the coal sales of Prince Yan's Mansion."

"This time, if we fail, they won't let us go."

These two middle-aged men were the sons of the head of the Zhao family. They were sent to Peking for the purpose of selling coal to King Yan.

There are two sons, one named Zhao Chengyun is the eldest, and the other named Zhao Chengpi is the third.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Chengyun sneered, turned to Zhao Yan and said:
  "Find a way to fix your mess yourself."

"Zhao's charcoal shop is owned by the Zhao family. If these shops are gone, let's see how I deal with you!"

"Thank you for your forgiveness, uncle. Even if I do whatever it takes, I won't let others take away these shops."

When Zhao Yan heard this, he felt happy and quickly showed his loyalty.

The third master of the Zhao family stood aside and said.

"Let all your stewards come to me. We have something to ask."

"You two, wait a moment, I'm going to find someone right now."

Zhao Yan said no more and asked the boy to call all the shopkeepers over and come to visit.

Not long after, all the shopkeepers from the major shops in the Zhao Mansion came.

Zhao Chengyun looked at this group of people with a dejected look, and his heart was filled with anger.

Doing business is like war, it depends on spirit. If they all look listless, how can they still fight?
  "I am the eldest son of the Zhao family. I am here to manage the affairs of Peking."

"I don't care what your previous rules were. Now, be honest with me, otherwise, I will let you go!"

Zhao Chengyun's words were so categorical that everyone felt a force that could not be rejected.

But at this critical moment, Zhao Chengyun's words made everyone feel relieved.

However, what Zhao Chengyun said next made everyone excited.

"You have worked hard for so many years, and the Zhao family can see it. From today on, your salary will be increased by 10%."

As soon as these words came out, everyone perked up and their previous depression was wiped away. They all stared at Zhao Chengyun with burning eyes.

"Starting from tomorrow, we will continue to do business and seize King Yan's coal business." "This charcoal is the property of the Zhao family. No one is allowed to get involved, not even the King of Yan himself."

Zhao Chengyun's tone was very domineering, while the boss below looked puzzled and asked tentatively:
  "Sir, if there is no inventory, how can we still do this business?"

Hearing this, Zhao Chengyun glared at him fiercely.

"I am transporting coal from Shandong, South Zhili, Henan and other places, and transport it to Peking to sell."

"what?"

As soon as this statement came out, all the shopkeepers were dumbfounded.

You know, the cost of transporting charcoal from such a distant place is not ordinary.

"Excuse me, what is our price?"

"Sanwen!!" Meng Hao said calmly.

As soon as this statement came out, the whole place was in an uproar.

Three coppers? The charcoal shipped from South Zhili and Shandong only costs three copper coins?
  This is simply a huge loss for them.

Aren’t businessmen all there to make money?
  Now, why would the elder do this? Isn't this a fight with King Yan that will hurt both sides?
  The stewards wanted to say something else, but were interrupted by Zhao Chengyun.

"I have said before that you should do as I say. If anyone says another word, don't blame me for being rude!"

Everyone closed their mouths and did not dare to speak.

"Let's all disperse. Business will be as usual tomorrow. All the charcoal will be sold tomorrow."

Of course, the Zhao family also specializes in making charcoal.

However, making charcoal is extremely difficult.

Not only does it require a lot of wood, but it also goes through a series of processes, all of which are indispensable.

Therefore, the maximum daily output of Zhao's charcoal in Beiping Prefecture is fifty thousand.

However, there are more than hundreds of thousands of people in Beiping Prefecture. Zhu Yuanzhang implemented the policy of "taking agriculture as the basis, recuperating and working hard to govern", and the population of Ming Dynasty has doubled several times.

Today's Ming Dynasty has a population of nearly 70 million.

Both Yingtian and Peiping are large cities. Although the population of Peiping is not as large as that of Yingtian City, it still has more than one million people.

Hundreds of thousands of people can only produce more than 50,000 kilograms a day at most, which is far from enough. No wonder the price of coal is rising every year.

But this year, it is an unusual winter.

The next day, Zhao's charcoal shop reopened for business.

Although it has not dropped to two cents a piece like coal, it is still a bargain and there are quite a few people buying it.

However, the coal shop next door is also good. The price of two cents compared to three cents is still an advantage.

In addition, there are many people in Beiping Mansion, so the 50,000 kilograms of charcoal fire is still not enough, so we have to watch the coal business opposite, which is still booming.

As for those civilians, they had hundreds of kilograms of briquettes in their hands, which made Zhao Chengyun, Zhao Chengpi and others stunned.

The two of them even went to a shop on the street to get a deeper understanding of coal.

After a day of observation, both of them were a little depressed.

They calculated that just one shop could sell more than 100,000 kilograms.

This means that Prince Yan’s Mansion does not lack ‘supplies’.

In other words, if we want to suppress the industries of Prince Yan's Mansion, then we can only completely suppress the industries of Prince Yan's Mansion at the greatest cost and with the greatest financial resources.

It's only December, and there are still more than three months left until spring next February.

Thinking about the tragedy of Zhao Yan losing 250,000 taels of silver in just half a month, both Zhao family members felt a chill coming to their hearts.

If this is really done, no matter how rich the Zhao family is, they will not be able to withstand such a torment.

However, thinking about the arrangement of the person behind them, the two of them could only grit their teeth and bear it.

On the third day, charcoal from the south began to arrive, and prices exploded again in Beiping Mansion.

(End of this chapter)