In early winter, the temperature in Beijing drops sharply.
People put on thick clothes one after another, and the number of beggars on the street is gradually increasing.
Whenever winter comes, it is the most difficult time for poor people.
The survival pressure brought by the weather alone made them feel like they were out of breath.
Not to mention anything else, just getting firewood for the winter is quite a troublesome thing.
The permanent population of Beijing is one million, and the floating population is measured in units of one hundred thousand!
The amount of firewood consumed every day is quite astonishing.
Almost all the forest within a thirty-mile radius had been severely cut down.
As for coal, that is, coal, it does divert some of the fuel from the public.
However, untreated charcoal burns with a strong smell and billows of black smoke. Except for a small number of uses, ordinary people and powerful people still use firewood in their homes.
This is also the main reason why there are many small coal mines in Beijing, but they have always been tepid.
Of course, most of the small coal mines in the Beijing area are controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It's not that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has foresight, but that there is a lot of demand for coal in the industries controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In addition, coal mines can gather a lot of young people, which is a hidden danger in the capital city.
Because of this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs gradually took control of almost all the small and not very valuable coal mines in the capital city.
No one cared that the Ministry of Internal Affairs suddenly launched briquettes and briquette stoves recently.
First of all, shops, restaurants and other places under the Ministry of Internal Affairs were laid first.
Then, the Imperial Mansion outside the city, which was affiliated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was allocated a lot of briquettes and briquette stoves.
At the same time, the small coal mines in the capital owned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs aggressively recruited homeless beggars in the city and outside the city.
At a very low price, refugees were hired to make briquettes. According to the price of one penny per piece of briquettes, almost thousands of people were recruited at one go.
Within a few days, a steward from the noble family came to place an order for two hundred briquette stoves and ten thousand briquettes.
Even though briquettes only cost a penny each, they were sold in large quantities.
As for the portable briquette stove, each one only costs one tael, but if you sell thousands of them in one day, that’s a lot of money.
For a time, the workshops affiliated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs were extremely busy, and hundreds of homeless refugees and beggars were temporarily recruited to work and make money.
The Xungui family was the focus of attention of the people in the capital. Their concentrated purchase of briquettes and briquette stoves naturally attracted the attention of the people in the capital.
Those who follow the trend may simply come to order one or two briquette stoves, as well as dozens of briquettes, planning to use them first.
After trying it, it turned out to be quite convenient.
At this time, there were rumors that many palace ladies and eunuchs in the imperial city were also using briquette stoves and briquettes.
As the saying goes, what works first and what works first, when you see that the palace, the residence of the honorable family, some shops and the people all use briquette stoves and briquettes, the people in the capital suddenly feel itchy.
After learning that briquettes and briquette stoves were very convenient to use, they started buying them in such a rush that the specialized store of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was almost overcrowded.
For a time, the workshops affiliated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs were making huge profits every day, and there were so many orders that they were able to keep them for more than half a month.
At that time, the weather was just entering the coldest season of winter.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs was also ruthless. In order to meet the construction deadline, they directly wiped out all the refugees and beggars in Chengli and dragged them to work in the briquette and briquette stove manufacturing workshops.
All of a sudden, the appearance of the entire capital city became much cleaner.
In stark contrast to the advance, the fleet of vehicles transporting briquettes and briquette stoves every day almost never stops at the city gate.
Even a fool can see that this time the Ministry of Internal Affairs has made a lot of money.
As long as you are not stupid and do some calculations, you will know that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has made at least tens of thousands of taels of silver from briquettes and briquette stoves alone.
Moreover, with the consumption of briquettes, the amount of money that can be earned will only increase.
Maybe, I could make hundreds of thousands of taels a year ago!
With such an astonishing profit, some powerful people could no longer bear it and wanted to forcefully take a share of the pie.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the steward of the royal family, so what if its business is the royal business?
It’s impossible for a dignified emperor to still participate in business and compete for profits with the ‘people’, right?
It's a pity that they wanted to join in but couldn't find any chance.
I wanted to encourage the noble class to charge into the battle, but I didn't expect that every noble family was strangely honest and peaceful.
They do have some means, that is, they instruct their shops and workshops to make a batch of briquette stoves.
Naturally, it can be seen that coal is the foundation of this business.
As long as there is a continuous supply of coal and coal can be made into briquettes, you can make money while lying down, and still make a lot of money.
I don’t know which bastard is so wicked as to spread all the methods and methods of making briquettes.
At this time, rumors about this were circulating throughout the capital city.
As long as there is no problem with their brains, almost anyone in the capital who has heard this rumor can make briquettes. It is really simple.
Isn't it just that stone carbon and yellow mud are mixed in proportion and then kneaded into shape with water?
It doesn't matter if you don't have a special coal press, you can make straight air holes even with a stick.
Unfortunately, knowing how to make briquettes is useless.
Without enough coal resources, everything is in vain.
At this time, the use and characteristics of the briquette stove had been thoroughly spread, and at least four briquettes were burned every day.
Think about it, the number of briquette stoves sold by the Ministry of Internal Affairs at this time is said to have exceeded 20,000.
What is that concept?
If all the 20,000 briquette stoves sold were used, at least 80,000 briquettes would be consumed in a day.
If you don't have coal mines, how can you make so much briquettes?
But upon closer inspection, everyone was dumbfounded. Most of the coal mines that had been excavated in the capital city were in the hands of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Several other coal mines, both large and small, are in the hands of the Ministry of Industry.
In other words, no matter which powerful family wants to participate in such an industry, it must seize the coal mines from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
But how can such a thing be so easy to do?
Unless the cabinet ministers unite, if you want to seize today's wealth, you have to ask yourself how strong your head is?
Those powerful people who were ready to take action were basically discouraged at this time.
Obviously, it is quite unrealistic to take advantage of the cold weather to participate in the briquette business, so we can only find ways from other aspects.
There is no way to get hold of the coal mines within the boundaries of the capital city, but it is easy to get hold of the coal mines in other places.
For example, Jin Province, which has just experienced a major purge, has many large coal mines there...