"Chen Gongzi, you want to rent a big mansion, which is not easy in the inner city." The tooth man Lao Song smiled all over his face and introduced Chen Yue.

"You also know that every inch of land in Beijing's inner city is expensive, and even if there is a large area of empty houses, it has long been occupied by those dignitaries and nobles, and they have built their own courtyards. There are a lot of empty houses in the outer city, what kind of are you looking for? ”

"The area should be large, the yard should be at least more than one acre, the house doesn't matter if it can be dilapidated, and the location must be close to Xibianmen." Chen Yue put forward his own request, Beijing's coal yards are all near Xibianmen, and the place where briquettes are made is placed there at least to facilitate coal transportation.

"Xibianmen, could it be that Chen Gongzi, you want to do coal business?" is worthy of being a human spirit who often deals with people, and the tooth man Lao Song suddenly saw through Chen Yue's plan.

"Exactly!" Chen Yue said.

"The one at the Simon Gate, let me look for it." Lao Song brought a thick account book, brought amber eyes, and lay there to search carefully, and the account books recorded all kinds of house information. After looking for a long time, Lao Song stopped.

"There are three houses that meet your requirements, one is in Nanfang, which is a house with an area of two acres, divided into three before and after, and there are 23 main rooms in the flower hall. This is the property of a thousand households in Beijing, and the thousand households were transferred to Datong to serve as a guerrilla general, so they planned to sell or rent out the house.

The other is in Changying Street, is an area of two acres of street house, the street is two floors and three rooms of the façade, the most suitable for business, there are more than ten main houses in the yard, the original opened is an inn, the yard is for the merchants to pile up goods, it is very spacious.

The third place is in the Xibianmen, only a few dozen steps away from the urn city, the area is slightly smaller, only half an acre of appearance, there are three main houses and five wings, because there are coal yards everywhere nearby, the owner of the house can't stand the smell of coal wafting in the air, and moves to the inner city to live, planning to rent or sell the house.

Chen Gongzi, if you are interested, Lao Song, I can lead you to these three mansions to have a look. ”

After listening to Lao Song's words, Chen Yue thought about it carefully, the first place was the three-entry house, although there were many houses, they were not suitable for business, so they naturally did not consider it. The second place is suitable, whether it is the area or the site, the most important thing is that there is a façade building facing the street, which is very convenient for doing business.

"You can take me to the second place to have a look, I don't know what the rent says?" Chen Yue asked.

"Rent? I forgot to tell Chen Gongzi that this second mansion is only for sale, not for rent. The owner of the property is a southerner, and when he is old, he wants to return to his roots. The price of this house is not high, only one hundred and ten taels of silver. ”

A house covering an area of two acres, and a façade building facing the street, this is definitely a mansion in Beijing in later generations, and it is within the third ring road, worth the least 10 million, and can even be sold for one or two hundred million, it is definitely a mansion. Now it only costs more than a hundred taels of silver, and the asking price is indeed not high, Chen Yue suddenly had an urge to buy it immediately.

However, this city of Beijing will fall in a year or two, falling into the hands of the Mantars, what is the use of owning the best real estate? Although one hundred taels of silver is not much, Chen Yue can afford it now, but honeycomb coal is a low-profit business after all, how long will it take to sell it to earn this one hundred taels!

"I don't have much money in my hand, and I can't afford such an expensive yard, so you might as well take me to the third mansion to have a look." The third place is good, although the area is smaller, it is close to the coal yard, Chen Yue comforted himself like this.

"Okay, Gongzi Chen." Lao Song closed the account book in his hand and opened a cabinet to find the key.

The yard of this third house is really small, except for the main house and the wings, there is not much space, let alone the place where briquettes are made, and I am afraid that even the raw coal bought will not be much piled up.

Looking at Chen Yue's disappointed face, Lao Song was also very regretful, and said that there was only so much of the mansion in his hand.

"Childe, do you think we can just buy a coal yard?" Chen Ping, who had been silent along the way, suddenly proposed.

Buy a coal yard, and soon even have a coal belt site! Chen Yue's eyes lit up.

"Chen Gongzi, are you really going to buy a coal yard? You said earlier, Lao Song, I have an introduction here. The eyes of the tooth man Lao Song also lit up, "I have a distant relative who also opened a coal yard, and the business is okay." But he was a little old and couldn't bear this hardship, so he planned to sell the coal yard. ”

"Where is the coal yard, take me to see it." Chen Yue was also happy.

"Okay, it's not far from here, let's go now." Lao Song locked the courtyard door and took the lead to walk towards the west gate.

"Wait, isn't it in the city?" Chen Yue grabbed Lao Song's sleeve.

"Chen Gongzi is joking, the coal yard in the city is doing very well, who wants to sell it!" Old Song turned his head and laughed.

Outside the city, outside the city, anyway, I am doing the exclusive business of honeycomb coal, and I am not afraid of competition from others, that is, a little farther. Chen Yue comforted himself.

Fortunately, the coal yard of the old Song relatives is not far from the city gate, and it is outside the moat when they go out of the Xibian Gate.

What a big yard, look at the area of seven or eight acres, low rammed earth courtyard wall, a large pile of coal piled up against the courtyard wall, in the northernmost row of a dozen or so earthen houses.

The whole courtyard is very large and very empty, this is the first feeling for Chen Yue. It is a very good place to make honeycomb coal, the open yard is just right for drying briquettes, and the earthen house can be set aside for two rooms to store dried briquettes, and the other few can be used for briquette-making workers.

Lao Song's distant relatives are in their forties, with an honest appearance, but they are not at all as old as Lao Song said, seeing Lao Song leading people to see the coal yard, he greeted him with a happy face, rubbing his hands and smiling and not knowing what to say.

"This coal yard is so-so, how much are you going to sell it for?" Chen Yue asked with a dissatisfied expression.

The relatives hesitated and looked at Lao Song.

"Chen Gongzi, look, with such a big yard, more than a dozen houses, and so much coal, you can make money if you take over. It's not just selling you a yard, it's transferring the whole business to you. Old Song smiled and said to Chen Yue about the benefits of the yard.

"Come less, business? Why don't I see a customer coming to my door? Chen Yue said disdainfully. At this time, the other coal yards are full of customers, and there is an endless stream of coal vendors, delivering briquettes to thousands of households. And the coal in this coal yard is piled up with thick dust, and there is not a single vendor who comes to pull briquettes, which is obviously the appearance of business that cannot be done.

Listening to Chen Yue's words, Lao Song's relatives blushed and lowered their heads, he was really an honest man who was not suitable for business.

"Even if the business is not good, there is such a large site, so many houses, and a pile of 100,000 catties of coal, why do you have to give eighty taels of silver." Lao Song's face changed, and he gritted his teeth and made an offer.

Chen Yue shook his head, turned his head and left. The pile of coal in this yard is worth a little money, but it is not worth eighty taels of silver.

Before Lao Song could say anything, his relatives couldn't help it.

"Don't want eighty taels, sell them for fifty taels!" As soon as the words came out, Lao Song glared at him fiercely.

"I can only give thirty taels of silver!" Chen Yue stopped and turned to look at the old Song relatives.

"Thirty taels of silver, but it's not even enough coal money." The old Song relative's face was very ugly.

"Chen Gongzi, you're not a pastime, right, you will give thirty taels for such a big yard?" Old Song said dissatisfiedly.

"Your coal is transported from Xishan Coal Mine, and the cost and freight are definitely not more than 30 taels. As for your yard, see for yourself what kind of place it is? See if there are any people living outside the city? ”

Now it is no more than the peaceful years, due to the Manchu Qing Dynasty several times of entering the customs and looting, resulting in the people of Gyeonggi being empty, and there are not many people outside the walls of Beijing who dare to live at all.

"Even if you build this broken house, you won't need two taels of silver. With thirty taels of silver, you can go to the city to buy a small courtyard house, and then start a small business, wouldn't it be better than accompanying this pile of broken coals to rot together! ”

Listening to Chen Yue's words, the coal yard boss's face changed, and even Lao Song closed his mouth.

"Can you add more?" Old Song's relatives wept and pleaded.

"Well, I'll give you two taels more! But you have to move out of here tomorrow. Looking at the bitter look on the face of the honest person, Chen Yue's heart couldn't help but soften.

"Okay, okay, I'll move now, I'll move now." Old Song's relatives said in a loud voice.

……

"Childe, he can't do business here, can we do it here?" On the way back, Chen Ping asked the doubts in his heart.

"Do you know why he can't sell coal?" Chen Yue asked with a smile.

"Isn't it because the location is not good, outside the city? This person is too bad at business, if I need to lower the price a little, those coal sellers are not competing to come here to buy briquettes, how can the business not continue! ”

"You think you're smart, look at what's up ahead?" Chen Yue smiled and pointed ahead.

"Ahead, in front is the West Gate!" Chen Ping raised his head, only to see the hollow city gate and a few crooked soldiers leaning against the city gate.

"The reason why he can't do this business is because of this city gate, and you think that those soldiers are vegetarians, and they must not be skinned by every small briquette trafficker who enters the city. The business of selling coal is already profitable, and if it is pumped by these soldiers, where will those hawkers make money? Since he can't make money, how can he come to his coal yard to get briquettes! ”

Chen Ping looked at the soldiers in the cave of the city gate with green eyes on their faces, and instantly understood Chen Yue's words, but then there were new questions.

"Then wouldn't it be the same for us to do the briquette business, and we can't make money?"

"How can we be like them, you forgot what our family does? We are also military households, and the soldiers who watch the city gate are a family, and we only need a little money to let the soldiers go. And what we sell is not ordinary briquettes, but honeycomb coal, and the profit is several times that of theirs, and the small money at this point can still be afforded. Chen Yue laughed.