There was another heavy snowfall yesterday. Looking around, the entire city of Chang'an was completely white.

For literati and poets, at this time, find a restaurant, make an appointment with a few friends, and cook a pot of rice wine. Life should not be too moist.

But for ordinary people in Chang'an City, this is the most difficult day.

On this snowy day, whether you are doing small business or doing farm work, basically don't expect anything to be harvested.

The long winter has basically consumed the burning materials stored in people's homes.

"My dear, it's really cold. Look, Gouwa's lips are turning purple. If this continues, I'm afraid he won't be able to stand it."

In an ordinary house in Yongqingfang, a family of four is huddled on a wooden bed.

There is not much firewood left at home, and if we use it for heating, we don’t even have to cook.

"His father, the family only has a few tens of pennies left. How many days can it last even if he goes out to buy charcoal to keep warm? The price of charcoal in the West Market is already twice what it was last winter. It is simply not what our family can afford.

It’s worth using.”

Looking at their children who were in poor mental condition in their arms, the couple frowned.

"Why don't I go to my parents' house and ask my brother to borrow some charcoal? He works for a big merchant in the West Market, so he still has some savings?"

"Forget it, wasn't he just fired some time ago? I don't know what he has been busy with recently, and he probably isn't much better than our family."

Just as the couple was sighing, there was a knock on the door.

"Wu Niang, open the door quickly, I'll bring you something good."

"It's big brother. Big brother is here. Go and open the door."

Wu Niang was shocked at first. Someone knocked on the door in such weather, but it didn't mean something had happened.

But I was relieved to hear that it was my eldest brother.

"Brother, why did you run out in such a cold weather when you weren't at home?" His father said as he opened the door, "Hey, why are you carrying a load of things? What is this?"

"This is a briquette stove, and that one is a briquette stove. It's very easy to use. It's hard to find one in Chang'an City these two days."

Although it was a very cold day, Brother Wu Niang, who came over with a load of things, was sweating profusely.

Whether it is a briquette stove or briquettes, they are both heavy objects, so it would be strange not to sweat while carrying them.

"Brother, is this briquette used for heating?"

Although Wu Niang thought coal was poisonous and was afraid to use it before, now that her eldest brother has brought it here, she is a little confused whether to use it or not.

No, it's too cold and the child can't bear it.

Yes, what if I get carbon poisoning?

"Wuniang, wasn't I fired by my boss a while ago? A new briquette shop just opened in the West City, and a large number of workers were recruited. I am relatively experienced in the West City, so the new owner asked me to help sell the briquettes."

Brother Wu Niang said excitedly, "At first, I just wanted the boss to give me enough wages, and I didn't think anything else was wrong. But let me tell you, this briquette is different. Even the Chang'an County government office

They are all helping to promote it everywhere. Originally, I was worried that no one would want the coal, but now there is a rush to buy it.”

"This coal is poisonous, isn't everyone afraid?"

Wuniang's family of four runs a small business of their own, selling some biscuits on the street, and their lives are pretty good, so coal has never been used.

"Wu Niang, don't worry, big brother can still harm you? This briquette is different from ordinary coal. Use it with this briquette stove. As long as you don't put it in a completely closed room, you don't have to worry about carbon poisoning.

I heard that even His Majesty is using it, how can you be more valuable than His Majesty?"

"Brother, what are you talking about? You are the only one who can use metaphors like this."

After hearing what her eldest brother said, Wu Niang breathed a sigh of relief.

If honeycomb briquettes are easy to use, it would really be like providing help in times of need.

"This briquette costs five yuan a penny, which is a lot cheaper than charcoal. The key is that it is very resistant to burning. If you sell biscuits on the street and use briquettes, you will have a lot left over from the charcoal alone."

Brother Wu Niang is really thinking about Wu Niang’s family.

There are five brothers and sisters, the first four are all boys, and only Wu Niang is a girl, so there is no sense of patriarchal preference in their family.

"Really? If it works well, then we can start the stall again today. We ran out of charcoal a few days ago and business was not very good, so we hid at home and did not go out."

"I'll let you know if it works or not."

…

The moon shines brightly on Kyushu, making some families happy and others sad.

For most people in Chang'an City, the briquettes that have appeared on the market in recent days can be said to be a life-saving treasure, solving the heating problem that everyone is most concerned about.

It is no exaggeration to say that with briquettes, there is no need to worry about winter in the future.

Just store a few hundred pieces of briquettes at home, so you don't have to worry about running out of firewood in cold weather.

However, for some merchants who are hoarding, it is a bad luck.

"Shopkeeper Cui, I have lowered the price of charcoal by 30% today, but I still haven't sold a few kilograms. If we wait a little longer, when the weather starts to warm up, it will probably be even harder to sell."

Nanshan Charcoal Shop is one of the few shops in the Western Market. Backed by the Cui family, it almost monopolizes 50% of the charcoal sales in Chang'an City.

Some time ago, the Cui family had news to the shopkeeper, so the shop bought a large amount of charcoal from other shops at a high price in order to make a lot of money when the weather suddenly turned cold.

Everything is going according to plan, and the price of charcoal is almost the same every day.

You can still buy two catties in the morning, but in the evening you may only be able to buy one catty and eight taels.

Therefore, it goes without saying that Shopkeeper Cui was in a beautiful mood. Even the concubine at home felt that her master seemed to be a few years younger during those nights.

However, the situation has indeed changed suddenly in recent days.

Something called briquettes suddenly became known to everyone.

The cheap price alone has impacted the sales of Nanshan Charcoal Shop to pieces.

Coupled with the help of Chang'an County, Wannian County and other yamen to promote it, the imperial court seemed to be purchasing it aggressively, and briquettes were quickly accepted by ordinary people.

The Nanshan Charcoal Shop, which originally wanted to make a fortune, was in bad luck. All the charcoal in the warehouse became unsalable.

"If you can't sell the goods at a 30% price reduction, then you can reduce the price by 50%. If 50% doesn't work, then you can reduce the price by 80%. In short, you can't let the goods rot in your hands."

After being in business for so many years, Shopkeeper Cui still has some courage, otherwise the Cui family would not have let him take charge of the Nanshan Charcoal Shop.

"Steward Cui, most of our charcoal was purchased at a high price some time ago. Yesterday the price was reduced by 20%, and today it is reduced by 30%. If it continues to drop, we will lose money."

The guy has also been with Butler Cui for many years and is naturally loyal to Butler Cui. I'm afraid he didn't think of this.

"Of course I know I'm going to lose money. But with the current situation of briquettes, if we don't sell them at a lower price, we will only lose more. Now some noble families still insist on using charcoal. When they accept briquettes, who will be willing to buy briquettes at high prices?

Several times as much charcoal?”

"I heard that the briquettes were made by the Prince of Chu's palace. The Prince of Chu should not be his dandy, why would he come out to cause trouble?"
Chapter completed!