There were a lot of Erguotou bottles in the back of Chen Xia's car. He bought them at the airport when he was transiting in the capital because the waiting time was too long.
Originally, I was planning to ask a fellow villager for directions when I met him on the road, or to exchange it with him when buying cantaloupe, as a favor.
Now, all the benefits have come to these soldiers.
The military station slaughtered a few more sheep. Anyway, there wasn't much else here, but there were plenty of cattle and sheep, all raised by the troops themselves.
After eating and drinking, Chen Xia had a bold idea.
"Captain Su, I have a question for you. Your troops are stationed in the Hotan area, right?"
"Yes, it's in Hotan. Dean Chen, have you heard of Hotan? It's quite far away, and transportation is quite inconvenient."
Chen Xia lowered his voice and asked, "Have you heard of Hetian jade? That's what, mutton-fat white jade."
Captain Su replied indifferently:
"How come you don't know about Hetian jade? I heard it was a treasure in the past, but now it's hard to sell. Oh, and the largest Tatlekssu jade mine belongs to our army."
Chen Xia was delighted when he heard this. The military system controlled the ore, and with his reputation as a first-class hero, he could easily buy it all by giving money and materials, right?
Wait, why is it ore?
"That's not right. Shouldn't this white jade be picked up from the river? How did it become something that had to be dug out from the mountains?"
"Hey, you're talking about water-grade jade. Actually, there's also mountain-grade jade. Water-grade jade is dug out from riverbanks and is of better quality. Mountain-grade jade is dug out from mines and is of lower quality. But this isn't absolute; the key lies in the final appearance."
Oh, now Chen Xia understood, there are so many details to pay attention to.
"By the way, Captain Su, I have something to trouble you with. When you get back, I'd like you to talk to your leaders about buying a large quantity of mutton-fat jade. I don't want ordinary stuff, I want the top-quality seed-material mutton-fat jade. I'll take as much as I can get. The price is negotiable. I'll pay in foreign currency, either US dollars or Hong Kong dollars."
Captain Su spat out the tea in his mouth and started coughing continuously.
"Chen, Dean Chen, you are not kidding, right?"
"Really? I personally prefer seed-material mutton-fat jade and want to buy some to keep as a collection. Hey, hey, hey, don't look at me like that. I didn't embezzle any money. My grandfather is from Hong Kong, and he gave me all the money."
"Damn, no wonder you drive such a nice car! It turns out you have a grandfather from Hong Kong. How come I never get such a good thing? Dean Chen, you've really helped us a lot. We were worried about not being able to sell all the jade."
After saying this, Captain Su jumped up quickly.
"No, I need to report this important matter to my superiors immediately. Dean Chen, please come with me to make the call, or my superiors will think I'm talking nonsense while drunk."
After the liberation, the glory of Hetian jade, or more precisely, mutton-fat jade, has been gone forever. The reason is naturally the same as that of jadeite.
Everyone knew the situation in our country at that time. Who had the spare money or leisure to appreciate these "playthings"?
In the era when antiques were sold as scrap, these pieces of mutton-fat jade could not be eaten or used, and no one would buy them in jade shops. They could not be exported because Europeans and Americans did not like jade at all.
Moreover, the situation of Hetian jade producing areas is even worse than that of jadeite producing areas.
Jade can also be sold through smuggling, official auctions, and sea exports. After all, the Chinese cultural circles in Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia still like it.
However, Hetian jade is located deep in the desert of Xinjiang Province, where there is not even a railway, so this once noble jade has been kept in seclusion for a long time and no one cares about it.
There is no market, no demand, and even basic transportation cannot be solved, so in the end, the goods can only be piled up in warehouses.
It was not until the late 1990s that it began to be hyped along with jadeite. After entering the 21st century, its price also began to soar. Moreover, due to the scarcity of seed material mutton-fat jade, it was sold by gram.
Weird, it's a high-end luxury product that only rich people can afford.
Captain Su found a phone at the military station and reported and requested information all the way up. Finally, even the division commander was alarmed and asked directly to speak to Chen Xia.
"Hello, Master Fang, I'm Chen Xia."
"Hello, Comrade Chen Xia. I met you when you first came to the Ulu Military Region to give a speech on heroic deeds. You were on the stage, and I was sitting in the audience. So, is what Su Jianjiang said true?"
"Right...I personally like seed-material mutton-fat jade very much...yes, that's right...I want the best jade...water-based jade or mountain-based jade is fine."
Commander Fang asked cautiously, "Comrade Chen Xia, can you really pay in US dollars?"
Chen Xia patted his chest and said, "Dollars, no problem. Besides, we are all comrades. I promise not to bargain. I will give you whatever you say. Just consider it as supporting our troops."
When Commander Fang heard this on the other end of the phone, he really wanted to come out through the phone line and give Chen Xia a big kiss.
Why does Commander Fang want US dollars so much?
This is because Xinjiang Province is too large and is located in the border area of the motherland, so material supplies are not particularly convenient and abundant.
At that time, domestic economic construction had just begun, money was needed everywhere, and there was still a war in the south, so military spending was not so easy to guarantee.
But how could it be so easy to support an army of several thousand or even tens of thousands of people?
In order to subsidize the troops, the superiors gave them some tertiary industries to run themselves, the so-called "live by the mountain, eat by the mountain; live by the water, eat by the water."
In the Hotan area, the troops, apart from grazing, also worked in the Hotan jade mines.
As a result, the tertiary industry of other brother troops flourished due to convenient transportation.
But the local garrison in Hotan is in a miserable situation. They are basically begging for food while guarding a gold mountain. Who can they sell the Hotan jade to?
Those state-owned jade factories all have their own sources of raw materials, and they are also having a hard time. If sales were really that easy, Commander Fang would have snatched away their customer resources long ago.
Now someone is buying it and returning it in US dollars, which is a great thing.
Although the troops do not have any foreign exchange revenue-generating tasks, don't forget that they are short of supplies now, but China's northern neighbor is not short of supplies.
But they don’t accept RMB, only US dollars.
As long as you have the US dollars, we will give you whatever the Chinese army wants. Food? Steel? What? Not enough? If not enough, what about planes, artillery, tanks?
In the late 1980s, the gay worshippers in the polar bear country, cough cough, anyway, give you whatever you want, even an atomic bomb.
So as long as Chen Xia is willing to use US dollars to purchase seed material mutton-fat jade, the troops can use US dollars to go to the northern neighbor to exchange for all the supplies they need.
This was a godsend for the Hotan garrison.
No wonder Commander Fang and Captain Su were so happy, this solved their urgent problem.
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