…

 

Two days passed uneventfully.

 

During these two days, Wang Shouzhe stayed in Changning Manor, cultivating and enjoying the rare peace while sipping on spirit tea.

 

However, outside, the situation had changed dramatically. As the wheat matured, the first wave of pests broke out suddenly and spread throughout the entire Changning Wei region. The major clans were all in a state of panic.

 

Due to the inevitable decrease in crop yield, the prices of all agricultural products, except for the staple grains strictly controlled by the Daqian government, began to rise. Even the Wang's Clan fish stall suddenly saw a surge in business and a significant increase in prices. In the absence of staple grains, salted and smoked fish, which could be stored for a long time, could also sustain life.

 

All commercial rice stores had stopped selling grain to the public. The Daqian government-run rice stores had started to limit sales, and a long queue had formed in front of them. The city guards had already intervened to maintain order.

 

Wang Shouzhe sipped his tea and listened to the various news reports that came in from all directions, feeling uneasy. If it weren't for the fact that the family had a treasure like Wang Luo Jing, he would have been worried sick by now.

 

How could he be so relaxed amidst the storm?

 

"Fourth Brother, someone from the Qian's Commercial House sent a letter." Wang Shouyi personally came to the backyard to deliver the message, his brow furrowed. "In addition, Sixth Uncle sent over his stock of salted and smoked fish, which has already sold half of it in the past two days. I see that the other fish stalls of various clans have already started to limit purchases or raise prices significantly. Shouldn't we raise our prices too?"

 

Limited sales of salted fish?

 

Wang Shouzhe frowned as he took the letter. It seemed that the news of a large-scale decrease in crop yield had already triggered panic. He was no stranger to this scene. On Earth, he had seen too many instances of ordinary people collectively panic buying in the face of disasters or rumors.

 

And the salted and smoked fish were selling too fast. The stocks that had been delivered in several batches amounted to nearly 800 or 900 dan. Before the price increase, the price of salted and smoked fish ranged from 20 to 30 copper coins per Top Gold, and the price of one dan usually ranged from 20 to 30 copper coins.

 

Now the price had risen to 30 to 40 copper coins per dan, and it was selling even faster.

 

"What about live fish and fresh fish?" Wang Shouzhe asked.

 

"Live fish hasn't gone up, but fresh fish has generally gone up by 20%." Wang Shouyi reported, "Many people buy fresh fish to pickle or smoke themselves or reduce their consumption of staple foods and eat more fish. Therefore, salt and firewood have also gone up in price."

 

As expected, everything was affected.

 

The outbreak of resistant aphids had instantly affected all aspects of life. Once the prices of basic materials such as salt, firewood, and charcoal rose, everything else would follow suit.

 

"Second Brother, you can raise prices according to the market." Wang Shouzhe said, "As for limited sales, we can sell 20 dan of salted and smoked fish to the public every day, but we can sell 50 dan internally."

 

"Fifty dan? That's five thousand catties…" Wang Shouyi was surprised. "Can Sixth Uncle keep up with that? Even if he can, Wang Dingpu's fish processing workshop won't be able to keep up with the salting and smoking."

 

It was currently the peak season for fishing, and according to the usual operation of Wang Dinghai's fishing team, ten boats working hard could easily catch several thousand catties, with an average of a few hundred catties of ordinary fish per boat.

 

Most of it would be processed into salted or smoked fish at Wang Dingpu's workshop. Under normal circumstances, the maximum output of the sun-dried fish and smoked fish workshop was only 800 dan per month.But Wang Dinghai had already fully copied and fixed the zither production, and that kind of thing could be operated even by ordinary people. The daily output would continue to increase, and during this peak fishing season, it was not unusual for the entire fishing team to catch over ten thousand catties.

 

"Increase the manpower and space for fish processing, and make use of the empty land and houses at Fenggu Farm. Also, all the house slaves, servants, and idle clan members at home should be put to work to ensure that the production of smoked and salted fish exceeds two thousand dan this month." Wang Shouzhe instructed, "Second brother, you will be in charge of this work."

 

"As long as Sixth Uncle can keep up, I am not afraid." Suddenly, Wang Shouyi was also filled with fighting spirit. Two thousand dan of smoked and salted fish in a month. At least three or four thousand dan of fresh fish were needed to produce it, and the weight would be greatly reduced after the fish were slaughtered and smoked and dried.

 

If Sixth Uncle could really supply the production, this was a great opportunity to make money. How could he, Wang Shouyi, hold back?

 

In previous years, the catch during the fishing season was the cheapest, so a large amount of ordinary catch would be made into smoked and salted fish and then sold slowly. The total production and sales of smoked and salted fish for the whole year in previous years was only about two thousand and several hundred dan. The total sales of fresh and live fish in a year was only about two thousand dan.

 

The overall turnover was difficult to exceed one thousand Top Gold, and about half of it had to be allocated to the accounts of the fishing team.

 

But now it was different.

 

If they could really produce more than two thousand dan this month and sell one thousand five hundred dan of smoked and salted fish at forty taels of silver per dan, they would have a turnover of six hundred Top Gold.

 

This did not include the sales of fresh and live fish… It was extremely possible to reach the turnover of a normal year in just one month.

 

Therefore, Wang Shouyi felt that his blood was burning! If he didn't fight now, when would he?

 

"Okay, then second brother, you will be responsible for coordinating everything." Wang Shouzhe wrote a clan leader order, signed it, stamped it with the clan leader's seal, and handed it to him, "With this, you can mobilize the family's servants and withdraw silver from the family's account room."

 

"I don't need silver for now." Wang Shouyi took the order letter and said excitedly, "The stock of salted fish sold too fast this time. I still have about two hundred Top Gold in my accounts, which is enough to operate with."

 

"Second brother, you're busy, but don't make mistakes in the accounts. There can be no omissions." Wang Shouzhe casually warned.

 

Wang Shouyi's body trembled, and his eyes became serious. He quickly said, "Fourth brother, rest assured, as a member of the clan, I will never violate clan rules. Every month, I will reconcile the accounts with Auntie Wu, who is in charge of the account room, and will not dare to make any omissions."

 

"Second brother, thank you." Wang Shouzhe solemnly bowed to him, "This rare opportunity is hard to come by. The Wang Clan must do its best to get rid of its decline."

 

Wang Shouzhe was still very satisfied. Although this second brother of his had average talent in cultivation, he was very dedicated to the family business. Compared to Sixth Uncle Wang Dinghai, who was a rough old man, he was much more meticulous and stable.

 

"Fourth brother, you're exaggerating. These are all my responsibilities." Wang Shouyi quickly returned the bow and said, "In that case, I will take care of everything and go now."

 

After he left, Wang Shouzhe took a deep breath and then opened Qian Xue'an's letter, which invited him to meet at Jucai Inn outside Changning Wei City. Through the secret code left on the letter, Qian Xue'an indicated that he had completed their agreement.

 

However, although he trusted Qian Xue'an, he did not dare to take risks this time. Everything must be done cautiously.Immediately, he dressed up slightly and went straight out of the city. Instead of going to Jucailou first, he rode a black steed towards Shanyang. In just a short while, he saw Wang Zhong outside a small estate several miles outside the city.

 

"Wang Zhong, how did things go?" Wang Shouzhe asked.

 

"Reporting to the clan leader, it was successful. Gongsun's young clan leader has come as agreed and is waiting in the estate," Wang Zhong said with a slight excitement. He had been waiting outside the estate for seven or eight hours.

 

The Wang clan's influence was mostly on the south bank of the An River. If they wanted to find many transport carriages on the north bank, they had to rely on Gongsun's clan in Shanyang. Their relationship was currently in a honeymoon period, and his small request would not be rejected.

 

After entering this leisure estate outside Changning City, which belonged to Gongsun's clan in Shanyang, he met with Gongsun Qiang and said, "Greetings, Uncle. Sorry for keeping you waiting."

 

"It wasn't a long wait. What do you want with the twenty carriages you requested, heavy carriages for transporting ore?" Gongsun Qiang was low in emotional intelligence and impatient, and was curious as soon as they met.

 

"It's nothing special," Wang Shouzhe said calmly. "It's just to transport five to six thousand tons of old grain." Since he had involved him, he couldn't hide the quantity.

 

"…"

 

At that moment, Gongsun Qiang's eyes almost popped out. "Nephew, do you not know that grain is scarce now? You want to transport five to six thousand tons…" He had the urge to curse. Compared to this nephew clan leader, he felt like his thirty-eight-year-old "young clan leader" had wasted his life.

 

…