Chapter 172: A 700 Million Yuan Deal Exclusively Published on Jinjiang Literature City
What are your thoughts?
There are too many.
Seeing so many great things all at once, it would be a lie to say I wasn't envious.
Huo Tiankuo could roughly guess why Lu Xuan had specially invited him to visit; it was simply that he wanted to make a deal with him and exchange goods.
The premise for mutual exchange is that he also needs to have some leverage.
The problem is, he has nothing.
Lu Xuan replied, "How could there not be? Doesn't the general have others?"
Huo Tiankuo's expression changed slightly, and the expressions of the other guards also became wary.
Lu Xuan said, "Don't misunderstand, I didn't say that the general should sell himself or the Huo family army. I meant, sell your labor."
Huo Tiankuo and his personal guards were stunned at the same time.
labor force?
"What does Brother Lu mean?"
Lu Xuan said, "All the supplies I have can be traded for grain, and I support credit. General Huo doesn't have any grain on hand, but can't he just grow some himself?"
"I can provide greenhouses, seeds, and other supplies needed for planting. What the general needs to provide is sufficient labor. The harvested grain can then be used to pay off the debt."
"Once you've returned all the grain you needed to exchange for supplies, whatever you grow afterward will belong to you. How about that?"
Huo Tiankuo stared in shock, his eyes wide. "You can do that?"
But, "What good will that do you?"
Lu Xuan said, "I will price all the supplies you need based on profit, so there will naturally be plenty of profit to be made."
Huo Tiankuo: "..." That's true, but when there's a famine, everyone is too busy fighting for supplies to be willing to give people credit.
"Aren't you afraid that if we grow the food, they won't give it to us, or they'll just run away?"
Lu Xuan chuckled lightly. Run? Can you outrun a hoverbus or a flying machine?
"I believe in General Huo's character."
After Huo Tiankuo finished speaking, he also thought of the incredibly fast hovercar and realized that he had asked a stupid question.
Moreover, knowing that Yunlu Village, or rather Lu Xuan, possessed something valuable that could help the disaster victims survive, how could they possibly run away?
Lu Xuan asked, "So, General, do you wish to make a deal?"
The guards, who had already been persuaded, looked expectantly at their general.
Huo Tiankuo nodded without hesitation, "Of course!"
Yunlu Village, which reportedly has fewer than 200 people, cultivates so much land. With over 3,000 people, how could they possibly cultivate several times more land?
I don't expect to harvest the same amount of grain as Yunlu Village, but even half that should be enough to pay off the debt.
Thinking of this, just in case, Huo Tiankuo still asked, "What is the price for building a greenhouse on one acre of land?"
If greenhouses are too expensive, they might not be able to plant as much land as they want.
Lu Xuan said, "General, you're lucky. The immortals have given most of the supplies a big discount. Whether it's greenhouses or other supplies, the prices are much lower than before."
Li Tie nodded in agreement, "That's right. A few days ago, our village spent a lot of supplies because all sorts of good things became much cheaper."
Ge Yuan reassured Huo Tiankuo, "General, please rest assured, you will definitely be able to afford it."
Lu Xuan was also straightforward and directly quoted the price of a greenhouse per acre.
One mu of land yields one thousand jin of mutated grain.
"Hiss—!" Several guards couldn't help but gasp.
Huo Tiankuo was also taken aback. This was much cheaper?
But from the corner of his eye, he noticed the expressions on Li Tie's and the others' faces, and they seemed to genuinely think the price was very cheap.
After calming down and thinking about it, Huo Tiankuo realized that Li Tie had said that the average yield per mu (unit of land area) was 1,000 jin (unit of weight), which sounded like a lot, but in reality, it was just a figure that could be recovered after one harvest.
No matter how much land is planted, the cost of the greenhouse can be recouped with just one harvest.
When you calculate it this way, it does seem like a really good deal.
Huo Tiankuo continued, "Then how do we trade the food?"
Lu Xuan said, "The price of mutated grains is too high. It's not cost-effective to use them as rations when conditions are not good. I recommend that the general exchange them for nutrient solutions."
One nutritional supplement can ensure a person is full for a day. If used sparingly or combined with other foods, it can last for three days without any problem. It's also rich in nutrients, so there's no need to worry about your health deteriorating.
Knowing that Huo Tiankuo had never seen a nutrient solution before, they immediately took one out and gave it to him.
Huo Tiankuo was already quite full, but after taking a nutritional supplement, he almost burst his stomach.
He exclaimed with delight, "This is truly a wonderful product! How do I exchange this nutrient solution?"
Lu Xuan said, "One pound of mutated grain can be exchanged for 10 sticks."
Huo Tiankuo: "!!!" So cheap!
He calculated according to the lowest line that Lu Xuan had just mentioned.
Their 3,000-plus-person team needs at least 1,000 doses of nutrient solution per day, which is equivalent to 100 kilograms of mutated grain.
The daily ration for three thousand people only costs one hundred catties of mutated grain, which is unbelievably cheap!
Huo Tiankuo immediately waved his hand and said, "I'll order 100,000 doses of nutritional supplements first!"
With nutritional supplements so cheap, there's no need for him to be stingy and only buy a month's worth; he can just buy enough to last until next spring.
This time it was Li Tie and Grandpa Zhang's turn to take a breath.
Each family only had a few hundred vials of nutritional supplements stockpiled, yet the general asked for 100,000 vials!
That's a big spender!
Having served in the military, Ge Yuan knew that the army's provisions were measured in hundreds of thousands of catties, so he wasn't surprised at all.
Lu Xuan remained calm.
Modern calculations show that grain production easily amounts to tens of thousands of tons, while a mere hundred thousand vials of nutrient solution is insignificant.
Lu Xuan nodded to indicate that there was no problem, and handed over the list of supplies before the other party could speak again.
The list above already includes all the types of goods that can be purchased and their specific prices, which can save you the trouble of asking about each one individually.
Huo Tiankuo was overjoyed and read it through quickly and carefully.
The first item is the nutritional supplement I just asked about, and the next one is salt, which is also a necessity of life.
The price is one-to-one with the mutated food, which is exceptionally cheap.
Not to mention that the quantity available for purchase is listed as unlimited!
Can it provide an endless supply of salt?
Where did they get so much salt?
Salt, iron, and tea have always been sensitive items, especially the former two, which Huo Tiankuo found hard to ignore.
Survival is difficult enough after a catastrophe, so it's impossible to spend a lot of time manufacturing smuggled salt. Even major salt merchants might not dare to claim they have unlimited stockpiles.
Are there really immortals in this world?
The live stream has hundreds of millions of viewers: Not only do they exist, but their numbers are so large they'll scare you to death.
After a moment, thinking of the more than three thousand mouths in the camp, Huo Tiankuo temporarily suppressed his doubts.
Well, in this world, it's best not to delve too deeply into many things.
The low price is a good thing for him.
He had originally planned to buy only the minimum amount, about 200 or 300 jin, but considering the cost of the greenhouse and nutrient solution, he suddenly felt that 300 jin was too stingy.
Why not stock up on more at once, let's get three thousand catties!
We can eat as much as we want, enough to last us for half a year.
After that, there are candies: fruit hard candies, fructose, white sugar, brown sugar, milk candies, and all sorts of other candies.
This price is quite expensive, three times the price of salt.
However, compared to the sugar price before the disaster, it is still very cost-effective.
Sugar is not as essential as salt, but drinking more sugar water can help replenish the body if you are in poor health. Huo Tiankuo also decided to buy 1,000 jin of it.
Then there are large quantities of leafy greens like cabbage and radishes. One pound of mutated grain can be exchanged for two pounds, and Huo Tiankuo ordered 20,000 pounds.
The food ends here; below that are various medicines.
Antipyretics, anti-inflammatory drugs, wound spray, frostbite ointment, antidiarrheal medication, painkillers...
Huo Tiankuo had already witnessed how effective the medicine in Yunlu Village was. Unlike nutritional supplements and salt, it wasn't cheap; in fact, many of them were priced by the grain or tablet, with one serving being a pound of mutated grain.
A bottle of 100 painkillers costs the same as 100 kilograms of pills.
It is indeed expensive, but one bottle of medicine is enough for 100 patients, and one person can be cured with one pound of grain. Whether before or after the disaster, it is a great thing that we could not ask for.
Even Huo's army often faced shortages of medical supplies when they were in the Northwest.
As a general, Huo Tiankuo was all too aware of the importance of medicine.
Especially during periods of extreme weather and disaster, stockpiling more medicine can save more lives.
Having a rare opportunity to obtain unlimited quantities of top-quality medicines with excellent effects, Huo Tiankuo gritted his teeth and ordered 10,000 doses of each necessary medicine.
There are ten kinds of medicine in total, with a total value of up to 100,000 catties of grain.
There are also extra-large tents that can easily accommodate 50-100 people, charcoal for heating, and basic bio-suits.
Huo Tiankuo had long been curious about why the people of Yunlu Village didn't feel cold even though they were only wearing single layers of clothing. After hearing Ge Yuan explain the effects of the bio-clothing, he was immediately intrigued.
The bio-clothing is priced at 40 catties for children and 60 catties for adults, based on the mutated food.
Ge Yuan specifically told Huo Tiankuo that the temperature could drop to minus sixty degrees Celsius during the coldest season, and that without a bio-suit, the probability of freezing to death at that temperature was extremely high.
Huo Tiankuo's expression immediately became extremely serious.
However, equipping more than 3,000 people with bio-suits would be too expensive.
After hesitating for a moment, Huo Tiankuo decided to order 500 adult sizes and 100 children's sizes first.
Half of the adult size was given to frail elderly women, while the other half was worn in rotation by the Huo family army when they went out hunting or patrolling.
However, cooling and warming patches are inexpensive and of good quality; the price of one biosuit can buy 300 patches, which can be used as a cost-effective alternative.
Huo Tiankuo ordered 10,000 heat packs in one go.
I didn't buy the cooling patches since I won't need them anytime soon.
One extra-large tent contains 50 kilograms of mutated food; buy 100 of them. Since there are only five tons of charcoal available, just buy them all.
Finally, there are weapons.
They were all cold weapons, including knives, spears, clubs, whips, and even alloy crossbows used by the village's hunting teams.
Huo Tiankuo was very fond of the weapon that Lu Xuan had taken out as a sample.
Upon learning that all cold weapons, regardless of style or size, only cost 30 jin of mutated grain, he was both delighted by the low price and heartbroken that such powerful weapons could only fetch such a small amount.
Then, very honestly, he asked for 1,000 items, with swords, spears, and crossbows making up the majority, followed by a small number of daggers and machetes.
That's about all the information I needed.
Just as Huo Tiankuo was about to put down the list, he suddenly seemed to remember something and asked, "Don't you sell meat, mushrooms, and fruit?"
Lu Xuan said, "I'll sell them, but the quantity is too small to be included in the list. I can provide a maximum of 1,000 catties of ordinary fruit per month, and two catties of mutated grain per catty of fruit. As for mushrooms, I'll give the lion's share to the immortals in exchange for supplies. If the general wants to buy some, he can ask other villagers to buy a small amount later."
Huo Tiankuo thought of the delicious mutated fruits he had eaten in the orchard, "What about the mutated fruits? Aren't they for sale?"
Lu Xuan said, "It can be sold, but the price will be very high, ten times that of ordinary fruit."
Huo Tiankuo and his personal guards' expressions changed drastically.
Ten times? That means one pound... twenty pounds of mutated grain!?
They ate a mutated watermelon that weighed at least 20 pounds. At this price, wouldn't that be equivalent to eating 400 pounds of mutated grain?
If you include strawberries and grapes, it might reach 500 jin (250 kg).
The more they had enjoyed the meal not long ago, the more regretful and heartbroken the soldiers were now.
Huo Tiankuo exclaimed in astonishment, "How can it be so expensive?"
When placed alongside other inexpensive and high-quality goods, the price is outrageously high.
Lu Xuan didn't hide anything, "The mutated fruit has the effect of strengthening the body. People with weak constitutions can eat more of them to greatly reduce the probability of getting sick."
It's impossible to stay completely healthy. Mutant fruits aren't a panacea. Try going outside for a walk without a bio-suit during the peak of the coldest season when temperatures drop to minus 50 or 60 degrees Celsius. You'll still get sick from the cold.
However, it is impossible for an ordinary person to actually do something like brainstem deficiency, so this effect is quite tempting for Huo Tiankuo.
This must be arranged for Huo Jiajun and all the disaster victims!
Lu Xuan reserved some of the mutated fruit for the audience to win in a lottery, only giving Huo Tiankuo a share of 500 jin per month.
This quantity is really not much; to ensure that everyone's physical condition is improved, it will take at least half a year to buy it.
In order to save on supplies as much as possible, Huo Tiankuo was particularly careful with his spending this time, focusing on buying small fruits.
For example, hawthorn, wild cherry, strawberry, raspberry, orange, and grapes come in bunches with many grapes, which is also very cost-effective.
Other fruits weren't completely ignored, just in smaller quantities.
But after he determined the type of fruit, he thought of another very important question.
"These fruits probably can't withstand freezing..." What if they freeze and damage the fruit when they take it back, affecting the results?
It's not just mutated fruits; it's heartbreaking to see ordinary fruits ruined by freezing.
“That’s easy.” Lu Xuan casually picked up a handful of rings and placed them on the table.
Huo Tiankuo's eyelids twitched, his gaze shifting between the table and his fingers, and he asked with difficulty and disbelief, "These rings could be...?"
Lu Xuan said, "A spatial ring."
Huo Tiankuo: "!"
The guards: "!"
Shouldn't such a treasure be extremely precious?
Are they plentiful?
Is this reasonable?
Viewers in the live stream: Tsk tsk, the streamer has shown off again.
Lu Xuan said, "The contents of these rings vary, ranging from 50 cubic meters to 100 cubic meters, 500 cubic meters, and 1000 cubic meters. General, you can choose according to your needs."
Huo Tiankuo's breathing became somewhat rapid.
If he also had such a treasure, wouldn't he be able to put not only fresh food that was afraid of spoiling, but also other kinds of medicinal supplies inside? He wouldn't have to worry about them getting lost or spoiling, and he could also prevent them from being stolen.
However, Huo Tiankuo was hardly convinced: "You really want to sell such a treasure?"
Lu Xuan countered, "Why not sell it? I don't need it."
His fifteen spatial beads are still not full, and it is practically impossible for them to be full.
Even though each villager has exchanged two or three spaces with him, and many of them have been given away, there are still hundreds of extra space rings and bracelets accumulated from the blind boxes.
They can't reproduce if we keep them, so it's better to sell a few at a high price than to sell them at a discount.
As long as there are enough supplies, every additional ship sold will help him purchase more warships.
Huo Tiankuo was speechless.
He wiped his face, suppressing the bitterness in his heart, and asked, "What is the price of that spatial ring?"
Lu Xuan quoted the price based on the village's previous group price.
The price for outsiders should have been doubled, but the price was reduced internally, and because Huo Tiankuo had a good reputation, Lu Xuan did not raise the price further.
It's bound to be expensive.
But the products are good, and the price is very reasonable.
At least Huo Tiankuo didn't show much heartache on his face; on the contrary, he felt it was a good deal.
1,000 cubic meters only requires 8,000 catties of grain, but the space can hold at least a million catties of supplies. What else is there to complain about?
Buy it!
In addition to a 1000-cubic-meter space, Huo Tiankuo also asked for two small rings, each 100 cubic meters in size.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
At this point, all other supplies had been purchased, and all that remained was to determine the size of the greenhouse.
With the size of Huo's army, they could easily cultivate tens of thousands of acres of land, but the cost of greenhouses is more than 60,000 yuan per acre, so tens of thousands of acres would cost more than 600 million yuan. Even if Lu Xuan sold the land, he wouldn't be able to afford it.
Moreover, the cost of a greenhouse is not just the greenhouse itself, but also includes the investment in air conditioning, nutrient solution, herbicides, plant protection machines, and other supplies.
The absence of any one of these elements will significantly impact production.
Therefore, Lu Xuan only gave Huo Tiankuo a share of 1,000 mu.
Taking all the costs into account, the cost per mu is 500 jin more than the yield per mu.
In addition, the 270,000 jin of mutated grain needed to pay for the supplies just ordered meant that all of Huo Jiajun's first harvest, as well as half of the second harvest, would have to be used to pay off the debt.
With adequate fertility and irrigation, the total yield of 1,000 mu of land can reach approximately 1.5 million jin.
The total debt is 2.3 million jin.
When this number came out, not only were Li Tie and his group dumbfounded, but Huo Tiankuo and his group were also shocked.
How come the price of so many supplies, which were originally in the thousands, was only a few thousand or tens of thousands of kilograms? How did the final price reach more than 2 million kilograms?
The viewers in the live stream were also surprised.
2.3 million jin? Mutant grain?! That's so much!?
That's a really big deal!
No wonder the streamer looked down on the reduced share of tens of thousands of kilograms; compared to over 2 million kilograms, tens of thousands are nothing!
If they could really earn that much, the streamer would be rich.
Let me calculate the total value of all this grain after recycling...
Nearly 700 million!
Wow! So many!?
Lu Xuan said to Huo Jiajun, "These debts may sound like a lot, but don't just think about the debts. You can think about it. Half of the second harvest is at least 700,000 jin."
The soldiers' eyes lit up, and Huo Tiankuo's tense expression relaxed.
Although more than 700,000 catties of grain is still less than the military pay of the Huo family army, the Huo family army in the Northwest is a force of 100,000, while how many people do they have now?
If they can grow so much food, they will no longer have to worry about anyone starving to death due to lack of supplies.
He could also return to the Northwest as soon as possible to check on the situation of the other Huo family troops.
And this time is at the latest when winter ends and spring arrives.
He can wait!
Once Lu Xuan confirmed that Huo Tiankuo had no intention of changing his mind and reducing the scale or the amount of supplies purchased, he took out a blank sheet of paper and wrote a contract on the spot.
The total amount of goods involved in the transaction, the debt, the repayment method and term, the borrower, and the repayer were all clearly written down, and Huo Tiankuo was asked to sign and affix his seal.
In times of catastrophe, a so-called contract is, to put it bluntly, just a piece of waste paper; whether or not it is kept depends entirely on one's conscience.
But with Lu Xuan's strength, he wasn't worried about being renege on his debts at all.
After Huo Tiankuo signed the document, Lu Xuan began to check the goods.
Nutritional supplements, salt and sugar, bio-clothes, cooling and warming patches, and medicines are all readily available and mostly don't take up much space. 100,000 doses of medicine may seem like a lot, but a significant portion of them are 100 pills per bottle, so even if you pile them all together, it's just a small heap.
Cabbage, radishes, charcoal, and fruit take up a lot of space, but that's fine; they can all be stuffed directly into Huo Tiankuo's spatial ring.
The only exception is the greenhouse.
Lu Xuan said, "The greenhouse materials take up too much space; we can't fit so many. I'll deliver them to the camp for the general tomorrow and then pick them up." He also offered to provide them with planting guidance.
Huo Tiankuo nodded, "Okay, then I'll trouble you, Brother Lu."
Lu Xuan handed the spatial ring containing the supplies to Huo Tiankuo and taught him how to retrieve the items using his mental power.
Huo Tiankuo mastered the usage in a very short time, and because it was his first time using it, he tried it several times, looking quite eager to try more.
After the transaction was completed, Huo Tiankuo, concerned about the disaster victims in the camp, did not intend to stay long. He thanked Lu Xuan sincerely and then took his leave.
Lu Xuan wanted to stay behind to take stock of his remaining wealth, so he passed the task of giving it away to Ge Yuan.
Huo Tiankuo got into the car with the village chief and a few others seeing him off, and returned to the camp as quickly as possible.
When Huo Tiankuo returned to the camp, he summoned all the disaster victims and took out a large amount of supplies from his spatial storage, piling them up like a small mountain in front of everyone. The entire camp was in an uproar.
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