It has reached the twentieth month of the lunar month, and Jiang Yan finally returned to Linrong in Xiang Ao's expectations. The five truckloads of charcoal balls that Jiang Yan took out when he left have all been sold, and the selling price is 16 yuan each, weighing about six catties, which is slightly cheaper than the charcoal clay on the market. Five cars, each in the number of a thousand, sold for a total of 80,000 yuan.

Originally, the price of Xiang Ao was 14 yuan, which was the same as the normal price in the county. However, I never thought that after the on-site display, whether it was the common people or the people of the scholars, they were all robbed, and the Jin Cao officials who went with them saw this, and raised the price to fifteen yuan on the spot, and sold it in limited quantities. Otherwise, the five carts of charcoal will probably be sold out before they can get out of Wuyuan County. And how much money did Xiang Ao say about making five carts of charcoal?

plus the labor is only about two dollars, and its profit has increased by seven or eight times, and Xiang Ao himself is smacked. Excluding the cost of materials and labor, the use of caravans outside and their remuneration, the money in Xiang Ao's hands was nearly 70,000 yuan.

In fact, Xiang Ao is also a little prepared for the profits of the charcoal group. What Xiang Ao didn't expect was that there were people from the Zhen family in Zhongshan who rushed back to Linrong with Jiang Yan on this trip. Xiang Ao took Ma Jun and Jiang Yan to meet the Zhen family.

"The contemptible Zhongshan Zhen family's housekeeper Zhen Sui (apocryphal), has seen Xiang Fujun." The person who came was a middle-aged man about forty years old, some of whom were fat but not too obese. A little beard, a little mature, although not a handsome person, but also a good face.

"Steward Zhen is exempt." Xiang Ao returned the gift and invited Zhen Sui to sit down, "I don't know what the Zhen family has to teach this official, Shuofang is a remote place, and it seems that there is no object that the Zhen family can see." ”

"My Zhen family is not only a Zhongshan family, but also a generational businessman, and the firms are all over the Central Plains of the Han Dynasty and several northern states. Although Shuofang County has no profitable specialties or commodities, the charcoal balls made by Xiang Fujun are indeed of great interest to my master. Instructed the contemptible people to be close to Xiang Fujun on this trip. ”

"Oh? It's rare that the charcoal ball made by boredom can enter the eyes of the Zhen family. Xiang Ao was indifferently surprised, knowing that the Zhen family should have taken a fancy to the smokeless and flammable benefits of the charcoal group, so he preemptively asked: "Then I don't know what Steward Zhen is talking about when he comes this time?" If there is anything that the official can help, just say it. ”

In order to let the charcoal group know as much as possible to more people in Bingzhou, Jiang Yan and the accompanying Jin Cao officials discussed selling one and a half cars each in Wuyuan and Yunzhong, and one car each in Dingxiang and Yanmen to make a name for themselves. When Jiang Yan went to Yanmen County to dispose of the last car, he accidentally ran into the Zhen family businessman.

The Zhen family has been a businessman for generations, and the businessmen recruited by the family are not low-looking, and they feel that this charcoal group is better than high-quality charcoal and charcoal clay, and after learning that the price is not high, they will explain their intention to buy a large number of people and ask Jiang Yan and his party to stay and wait for the reply of the adults of the Zhongshan clan in Jizhou. Jiang Yan also knew that the Zhen family was a family of merchants in Bingzhou, and if he could take this line for Xiang Ao, it would be of a lot of benefit to Shuo Fangxing, so he agreed to stay and wait.

But he didn't want the Zhen family to be very interested in this object, so he sent the housekeeper Zhen Sui. Although the Zhen family is not a traitorous clan, it cannot escape the profit-seeking nature of businessmen. Such a fine charcoal ball is nearly six catties, and it only sells for fifteen yuan, and such a weight of coal slime is sold for nearly twenty yuan. The Zhen family, who initially got the charcoal group, summoned all the craftsmen in the family to smash it and study it, and the general composition can be analyzed, and the proportion can be slowly proportioned.

But no matter how the craftsmen of the Zhen family match, it is not easy to make the shape of the charcoal ball, and there is more or less choking smoke when burning, which is not much better than charcoal and charcoal clay, not only the combustion temperature cannot catch up with the charcoal ball brought by Jiang Yan, but the burning speed is extremely fast. In desperation, the Zhen family had to send an experienced housekeeper to see if they could directly buy Xiang Ao's charcoal group technology.

Xiang Ao is not a wild boy who has just come out of the mountains and forests at this time, and during the two or three months he has been in charge of a county, Xiang Ao has more and more things, including some common sense problems in business. Seeing Zhen Sui for the first time this time, Xiang Ao saw the other party's intentions, so he didn't give the other party room to think or maneuver, and asked questions directly.

On the way to come, Zhen Sui had already inquired about the owner of the charcoal making group during the conversation, and originally felt that this trip was difficult to handle since he knew that Xiang Ao was the Taishou of Shuofang County and a disciple of Cai Yong. I planned to talk nonsense after meeting with Xiang Ao, and stay a few more days to talk slowly, but I didn't want Xiang Ao to be so direct, and I couldn't complain in my heart, how could there be such a person to negotiate business.

"It's not too important, but I heard that Xiang Fujun has a degree of governance in Shuofang, and the head of the family ordered contemptible people to come and get close to Xiang Fujun, and the Zhen family will have a good fate in Shuofang in the future. Seeing that Zhen Sui was still avoiding the matter of the charcoal group, Xiang Ao no longer wanted to pay more attention to the other party.

"It's easy to say in this matter, the Zhen family is a big family in Zhongshan, if you need to do business in Shuofang, this official must be convenient, and Steward Zhen doesn't have to worry. If the matter of the Zhen family comes for this, you can rest assured that this official will not embarrass the Zhen family. Xiang Ao waved his hand and prepared to chase away the guests, "Steward Zhen also knows that Shuofang is barren, the people's lives are down, and although the official has no ambitions, he also wants the people to be healthy." Therefore, this official is extremely busy, and it is inconvenient to entertain Steward Zhen for too much time. If Steward Zhen is interested in the Shuo Fang under the jurisdiction of this official, this official will send people to follow him and visit everywhere. The official then took his leave to deal with government affairs. ”

After that, Xiang Ao apologized and prepared to leave.

"Xiang Fujun wait a minute," Zhen Sui was slightly anxious, "In fact, there is one more thing, that is, the Zhen family is extremely interested in the charcoal group made by Fujun, and I hope that Fujun can take some time to discuss in detail?" ”

"Oh? The Zhen family is also interested in the charcoal group? That's a good thing, Shuofang is poor, if a rich family like the Zhen family buys a large number of people, it can save a lot of Shuofang people. Xiang Ao was extremely happy and couldn't wait to make a deal immediately.

Seeing Xiang Ao like this, Zhen Sui breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he could talk. Seeing that Xiang Ao was not a procrastinator, Zhen Sui had no choice but to fit Xiang Ao's temperament and prepare to talk directly, so as not to hurt his feelings and even fail to do anything.

"Xiang Fujun, the master of my family originally wanted to buy out the manufacturing technique of the charcoal ball, and it doesn't matter if the price is higher, I don't know what the Fujun wants?"

Xiang Ao's face was not good-looking, as if it was completely black: "The art of manufacturing is impossible, there are not too many special products in my Shuofang land, and food is even more scarce, if the only craft that can help the people make a living is not left, how can this official face the people." ”

Well, isn't there no room for talking about it so seriously?

"Xiang Fujun is so young and has become a great responsibility for the livelihood of the people, and he will be extraordinary one day." Zhen Sui had to be modest and polite, in fact, he didn't know that this was also part of Xiang Aozhen's thoughts. "That being the case, it is the right thing for the contemptible people to talk to the prince about how to procure."

Xiang Ao also replied politely, changing his face quickly: "It should be so, it should be so." It caused Zhen Sui's face to turn black again.

The negotiation was extremely smooth, originally Xiang Ao thought that the other party would push the price to fifteen or even twelve yuan to buy it at once, but he didn't want the other party to directly bid for sixteen yuan. The three of them had no experience in negotiation, and most of them were confused when they talked, and Xiang Ao had to carry the banner of negotiation by himself.

In order to make the Zhen family feel that the cost of this coal group is not low, Xiang Ao had to do his best to perform the price of sixteen yuan and not make much money to calm his mind. The performance of nearly half an hour made Xiang Ao feel more tired than half a day's march and fighting, and in such a cold weather, his brain was sweating.

However, it is no coincidence that there is no book, Xiang Ao's performance made the other party even more convinced that the cost of this coal group was not low, and Xiang Ao's performance in this way also made Zhen Sui feel that Xiang Ao was young after all, too little experience, and did not cheat. Well, for Zhen Sui's inner drama, it's good for everyone to see through it or not.

After the negotiation was successfully negotiated, the Zhen family bought all the 10,000 charcoal balls in Xiang Ao's inventory on the spot, and left a deposit to set 50,000 charcoal balls to pick up the goods after the Spring Festival. Xiang Ao estimated that the output should be able to keep up, and even a lot of surplus went north to Saiwai to get foreign money.

In order to show sincerity, the Zhen family used gold cakes instead of baht money in this transaction. In fact, the weather is also an aspect, at this time, carrying so much five-baht money on the road in Bingzhou, whether it will be robbed is not to say, but it is a lot of fatigue to death on the road, Jiang Yan is worried about the robbery of the mountain bandits on the way, and he also lost a lot of money by Xiang Ao's reputation, looking for Guo Hong, the Taishou of Wuyuan County, in exchange for gold and silver to carry.

10,000 charcoal balls are worth 16,000 yuan, and Xiang Ao is also arrogant in terms of deposits, as long as he does not pay 20% of the order, he can make up 30,000 yuan and fold it into three gold cakes.

In this way, Xiang Ao finally has some spare money since taking over Shuofang County. At the beginning, in order to rescue the people, most of the people brought back were baggage, the amount was very small, and the money was not much. In the development of the charcoal mass and keel waterwheel, almost nothing was spent. Fortunately, Jiang Yan came back in time and brought back a great God of Wealth.

In this way, Xiang Ao has three gold cakes, 20 catties of silver and tens of thousands of coins in his hands, which is also a small and powerful posture. After Zhen Sui negotiated, he left with the strong servants of the Zhen family with ten carts of charcoal. Xiang Ao showed his sincerity, and also sent Jiao Meng with 20 cavalry to assist in escorting, and casually let Jiao Meng go out for a long time. When leaving, Xiang Ao kept telling him to rush back as soon as possible after being escorted to the Jizhou border, so as not to delay the Spring Festival.

There are still a few days before the Spring Festival, and Xiang Ao not only pays attention to the processing of charcoal balls and waterwheels that are still changing in three shifts, but also deals with the people or foreigners who have fled from abroad. Xiang Ao did not discriminate between the Han people and the foreign herdsmen, and the only thing he wanted to go was that the foreigners must learn Han culture and speak Chinese. Due to the monopoly of resources and knowledge by the scholars at this time, Xiang Ao did not dare to teach too many things at this time, but only taught the most basic etiquette and learning such as the difference between monarchs and ministers, and the way of filial piety.

If Xiang Ao dares to popularize knowledge to ordinary people or other races outside the world, not to mention that the world's corporal clan does not allow it, even Cai Yong is estimated to have to jump up. The matter of education is not complicated, after all, Shuofang is poor and inhabited, and the same is true around Shuofang County. Since Xiang Ao took office, the total number of Han people and foreign herdsmen who have fled to Shuofang is only six or seven hundred. Due to the geographical location of Sanfeng and Linrong, the number of foreigners who fled here was the largest, nearly 200, and the remaining dozens of Han refugees were still migrated from Shuofang County under excessive pressure.