Chapter 418 Who says this land can't grow gold ingots?

Zhang Huilan came out of the kitchen carrying salted duck eggs and happened to hear this.

The old lady put the plate on the table and wiped her hands on her apron: "Wenxuan, I don't like hearing that. Farming is something that people do. Back in our hometown, we could even dig corn out of the cracks in the rocks. Although this land is barren, most of these military wives come from rural areas. As long as they're willing to put in the effort, how can we let the land lie fallow?"

“Mom is right.” Su Yue looked up from the map.

She was holding a notebook filled with densely packed data.

From the moment Gu Beichen proposed this idea, her mind had been racing.

This is not just a charity project to provide housing for military spouses; from a business perspective, it is a perfect closed loop.

“Wenxuan, you only saw the poor soil quality, but you didn’t see its pH level.” Su Yue pointed to the area with the end of her pen. “The pH value of this land is around 8.0, so it’s indeed not suitable for growing sweet potatoes and wheat. However, it is a paradise for sea buckthorn and aloe vera.”

Huo Wenxuan's eyes lit up slightly: "Sea buckthorn?"

“Yes. The raw materials for our factory’s sea buckthorn oil and aloe vera gel are all transported from the Northwest and Guangdong. The transportation cost accounts for 30% of the cost.” Su Yue opened a page of her notebook and pushed it in front of Huo Wenxuan. “If we grow them ourselves, the transportation cost is almost zero. Moreover, sea buckthorn grown in saline-alkali soil has a higher fruiting rate and is more oily because of the harsh growing environment.”

“It’s not just about raw materials.” Gu Beichen continued, drawing a line on the edge of the map with his finger. “Once the farm is built, in addition to growing cash crops, we can also raise livestock. Pigs, chickens, ducks. The amount of meat and eggs consumed by the military canteen every day is astronomical. In the past, we relied entirely on local supplies, and sometimes they couldn’t even keep up. In the future, with direct supply from the farm, the profits from this will be enough to pay the salaries of the military spouses.”

Huo Wenxuan swallowed the steamed bun completely.

He's a businessman, and he's got a plan in his head.

Raw materials are self-sufficient, finished products are directly supplied to the military, labor is readily available and cheap (military spouses), and land costs are extremely low (wasteland).

This isn't charity; it's like striking gold.

"Let's do it!" Huo Wenxuan slapped his thigh. "This business is worth doing! But brother-in-law, what about the start-up capital..."

“It’s from Lan Hai Factory.” Su Yue closed her notebook, her tone firm. “But this can’t be considered a donation; it’s an advance payment for raw materials. We need to sign a formal supply and sales contract. Even close brothers should keep clear accounts.”

“Okay.” Gu Beichen nodded. “I’ll take care of the land and the paperwork. The military will provide engineering vehicles to level the land, lay power lines, and build irrigation ditches. Your factory will be responsible for the rest: seeds, fertilizer, and farm tools.”

Clear division of labor, swift and decisive action.

The atmosphere at the dinner table instantly transformed from tense to lively.

Zhang Huilan couldn't stay idle; she kept talking about going to collect some vegetable seeds from her hometown, saying she wanted to intercrop some green beans and eggplants along the edges of the fields.

After breakfast, the jeep sped out of the courtyard, kicking up clouds of dust.

Gu Beichen drove, Su Yue sat in the passenger seat, and Huo Wenxuan huddled in the back seat with a thick stack of feasibility reports in his arms.

The car drove westward, and the landscape became increasingly desolate.

After about forty minutes, the cement road turned into a gravel road, and eventually even the gravel road disappeared, with the wheels making a crunching sound as they rolled over the hard, dry salt crust.

"We've arrived." Gu Beichen slammed on the brakes.

The three got out of the car. The wind was strong, carrying fine sand that seeped into their collars. As far as the eye could see, there was a vast expanse of white wasteland, with a few scattered clumps of red willows lying on the ground, half-dead.

Huo Wenxuan squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, and it crumbled at the slightest touch, revealing a layer of white salt crystals. "This soil... is harder than I imagined." He pursed his lips. "If you want to grow anything, just washing away the salt and alkalinity will be a painful process."

“No need to wash it all.” Su Yue walked to a low-lying area and looked at the little bit of muddy water that had accumulated in it. “We’re going to plant salt-tolerant crops. Sea buckthorn itself can fix sand and improve soil. After three years of planting, this land will become fertile land.”

She turned around and pointed to a high hill in the distance: "That area is high and windy, suitable for building wind turbines to power the chicken coops. The low-lying areas here can be dug deeper to make fish ponds, where ducks swim on top and fish eat duck droppings below, which is a recycling process."

Gu Beichen stood in the wind, his military uniform fluttering in the wind.

He watched Su Yue pointing out the landscape on the barren beach, her face, which usually carried a somewhat aloof air, now brimming with vitality.

This is his woman.

Give her a fulcrum, and she can move the world.

Give her a barren beach, and she can paint a masterpiece like "Along the River During the Qingming Festival".

“This land has been taken.” Gu Beichen took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, but didn’t smoke it. He just twirled it in his hand. “I already talked to the political commissar last night. He was worried at first that it was a waste of time and that the military wives wouldn’t be able to endure the hardship.”

"Suffering?" Su Yue sneered, tucking her wind-blown hair behind her ear. "In this era, who hasn't suffered? What they lack isn't the ability to suffer, but the opportunity to suffer. Give them a chance to earn money with their heads held high, and believe me, they could turn this saline-alkali land upside down."

"I believe you." Gu Beichen crushed the cigarette pack. "I believe you, and I believe them."

A piece of red paper, with vigorous calligraphy on it, was slapped hard onto the notice board at the entrance of the compound with paste.

With a loud "snap," the needle struck several military wives who were sewing shoe soles, causing their hands to tremble and the needle to nearly pierce their flesh.

"Job posting for military dependents' farm. Base salary of 18 yuan, piece-rate bonus, the more you work, the more you earn. As long as you are willing to work hard, there is no upper limit."

Gu Beichen stood by the notice board, his hands still covered in paste.

He wasn't wearing his military uniform today, but rather an old, faded training uniform with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his two strong forearms.

More and more people gathered around.

"Eighteen yuan? And that's just the base salary?" Liu Guifen, the wife of the battalion commander, squeezed to the front, her eyes wide open, pointing at the words, and raising her voice, "Brigade Commander Gu, are you kidding us? That saline land is so barren that even rabbits don't poop there, what kind of treasure can you grow to pay us wages?"

"That's right," someone chimed in. "The year before last, Old Zhang's family planted two acres of sweet potatoes, and they even lost money on the seeds. If this job were so easy, would we even have a chance?"

The voices of doubt buzzed around like flies.

Gu Beichen didn't say anything, but took out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes from his pocket, pulled out a cigarette and held it in his hand.

Su Yue walked out from behind him.

Today she was wearing a neat set of overalls, her hair was tied in a high ponytail, and she was holding a large megaphone when she pressed the switch.

"Sizzle—"

The static instantly silenced the scene.