In the afternoon, I first visited Jia She.
Ask him to find a trustworthy blacksmith with decent skills to first make a few furnaces and molds for briquettes. This way, there are concrete things and the explanation will be more intuitive.
Then, he called Wangcai, Tiezhu, and Zhang Fu and went to the grocery store.
The soap is ready to go on the market. This store needs to be inspected on the spot, otherwise I will be really worried.
This shop is not far from Ningrong Street, only two or three blocks away. The location is not bad, and the storefront is okay. However, Jia Cong immediately frowned as soon as he entered.
There are too many goods here, too miscellaneous and disorganized, and the smell is not very good. It is not even comparable to the small shops I have seen in my previous life.
This definitely won't work. It's too low-grade, and good things can't be sold at the same price.
There is a shopkeeper in the store, whose surname is Liu, and they all call him Shopkeeper Liu, and two assistants. The three of them are in charge of the entire grocery store.
When shopkeeper Liu saw Zhang Fu following a young man, he guessed that his boss was coming and immediately came to greet him.
"I've met the Third Master. Why did the Third Master come to the store when he had time?"
Jia Cong looked at Shopkeeper Liu. He was not tall, a little thin, and had a shrewd look on his face.
"Well, let me come over and take a look. This store looks a bit messy. How is the business? How much money can you make in a year?"
"Back to Third Master, there are a lot of things in this store and it seems a bit messy. But the business is still okay. I can earn about a hundred taels of silver a year."
Jia Cong looked back at Zhang Fu, who nodded and said, "Third Master, this number is about the same. The conditions of all grocery stores in the city are similar."
Jia Cong nodded and went to the warehouse at the back to take a look. There was also a lot of goods stored in it.
This store must be renovated, otherwise rich people will not be willing to come in.
"Steward Zhang, Shopkeeper Liu, this store is too messy and the layout is unreasonable. With this look, people with some status or wealth will not be willing to come in. I'm going to redecorate it."
"The third master just decides. If you need us to do anything, just tell us."
Next, Jia Cong expressed his thoughts and some of his own ideas.
Shopkeeper Liu's eyes lit up after hearing this, "That's great. Why did you think of it before?" It seems that this little master is really not simple.
After all, shopkeeper Liu was in this business, and he also put forward a few opinions. Finally, the three people unified their opinions and decided on the decoration plan.
The decoration of the store was left to Zhang Fu and shopkeeper Liu, and he told shopkeeper Liu that he should prepare in advance for selling the new soap and make a billboard to promote it.
When the store is decorated and reopened, it will be the day when the new soap will be launched.
After helping Jia She settle down on the coal business, he will go to Zhuangzi to train his team while improving his own strength. He will ignore other matters for the time being.
The next day, after Jia Cong finished practicing and had breakfast, he pulled Ping'er aside.
Ping'er asked doubtfully: "Third Master, do you have anything to do with me?"
"Sister Ping'er, you went to Sister-in-law Feng's place for a walk today. You accidentally mentioned in front of her that the master and I are going to do business together. If she is interested, please ask her to come to me before dark."
"Third Master, do you want to recruit Second Mistress to join in the business?"
Jia Cong nodded and said: "Yes, we are doing it anyway. It doesn't matter if there is one more person. It also allows you to earn a favor in front of her. After all, you have had a match with her."
"Third Master, is this a soap business? In fact, Third Master doesn't have to give up the benefits to them for me."
Jia Cong smiled and said: "I'm very happy that you can think about me. It's not a soap business. We'll do that business ourselves. The master and I are partnering in the coal business. I just want to participate in the shares and don't want to do anything, so I brought my second brother in. , let him come forward to manage."
Ping'er smiled and said: "I am following the third master now, so naturally I am thinking about the third master. Do you want the second master Lian to work as a coolie for you?"
"Absolutely. After finishing these things, I'm going to practice hard for a while to improve my strength. When Sister-in-law Feng asks you, don't talk about business, just say it's very profitable. You can make hundreds of thousands taels a year, so you can He said he heard me talk about it occasionally."
Ping'er is also a smart girl. If she thinks about it carefully, she will understand that Sister Feng is greedy for money. If she says this, she will definitely be attracted to her, and she will also remember her as a favor. Thinking of this, she can't help but smile.
"Thank you, Third Master, for thinking about me. I will definitely ask Second Mistress to come to you."
Jia Cong smiled and said, "Don't be polite to me. I'll go to the farm to see you later. I won't be back until this afternoon."
"I understand, Third Master."
Jia Cong came to the front yard and called for the coachman, who took Wangcai, Tiezhu and Zhang Fu with him. He also called five guards to follow them. The group of people left the mansion and headed for the farm outside the city.
After walking thirty miles for nearly half an hour, the road conditions outside the city were so bad that sitting in the car was a torture. It seemed that I had to take time to learn to ride a horse.
In the future, if you train your team in the farm, they will definitely come and go from the farm frequently.
Standing at the foot of the mountain, looking at the endless fields in front of me, these are all my own, covering a total of 6,000 acres of fertile land. There is also a small river in the south that can irrigate crops. It is considered top-quality land.
A group of people came to the village, and the head of the village led people to welcome them out.
"My servant is paying my respects to the third master. The third master invites you to come to the village to talk."
Jia Cong asked as he walked: "How much grain can be harvested from one acre of land here in a year?"
"Back to Third Master, when the harvest is good, this acre of land can produce more than 300 kilograms a year. If the harvest is bad, it can only be about 200 kilograms."
"Isn't there a river here? Why are there still bad years?"
Zhuangtou said with a sad face: "Third Master, our land is too big. It will be too busy to carry water for watering."
Jia Cong shook his head. This was obviously an excuse. There is water not far away. You would rather have drought crops than irrigate them with water. Is this possible? Let’s wait until you actually go and see it.
"What percentage of rent did we receive before? How much can we earn in a year?"
"Go back to Third Master, we charge 30% of the land rent. If the annual income is good, we can earn about two thousand taels."
Jia Cong looked back at Zhang Fu, who nodded and said: "Third Master, basically this is the number, not much different."
The yield is too low. It will take a hundred years to recoup the money spent on the land, which is not cost-effective.
It seems that I need to straighten things out. First, check the entire terrain nearby, and then see how to sort it out.
Soon we came to a courtyard with three entrances.
Jia Cong came to the hall and took a seat, rested for a quarter of an hour, and asked Zhuangtou to arrange lunch.
Then he took people to the hill to the west, walked around the entire mountain carefully, and surveyed the terrain.
There are many trees on this mountain and the vegetation is quite dense. Occasionally, you will encounter a few pheasants and hares.
"Is there a lot of prey on this mountain? Does this mountain belong to you?"
"Third Master, this mountain has no owner. There are not many game animals on the mountain. During the off-season, many people come to the mountain to hunt. There are only rabbits and pheasants."
Everyone went down the mountain along the south side until they reached the small river. The river was five or six meters wide and about two meters deep. They followed the river all the way down and returned to the villa.
After lunch, I took a short rest and walked around the 6,000 acres of farmland to explore the terrain.
The water level of the small river in the south is a bit low, and it is indeed impossible to irrigate directly. It seems that we can only use water trucks. This is not urgent. We will not need to water the ground until spring starts, so we should take our time.
