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"Shouzhe, where on earth did you manage to get fifty to sixty thousand dan of grain?" Gongsun Qiang took a deep breath and almost couldn't believe it.
The Shanyang Gongsun Family is quite powerful, owning about ten to twenty thousand acres of fertile land. But even so, the yield of a season can't reach fifty to sixty thousand dan! Moreover, the noble family's land produce must be shared with tenant farmers, taxed annually per acre, and some must be reserved for grain seeds, insecticide powder, and other consumables.
From this, it's evident how astronomical fifty to sixty thousand dan of grain is. Even in normal circumstances, acquiring that much grain at once is extremely difficult, let alone in today's world.
"Bought it through connections with friends from the Qiaan's Trading Company," Wang Shouzhe said, "Uncle, time waits for no one. Let's head to Money Manor first, and the carriages will follow."
The Gongsun Family's carriages were specially reinforced to transport minerals. The horses pulling the carriages were stout and full of endurance, Northern heavy draft horses, with four to five horses per carriage, capable of pulling thousands or even tens of thousands of pounds.
Bought it through friends?
Gongsun Qiang's eyelid twitched violently, thinking, where do you find such friends, can I have a dozen of them? Filled with envy, jealousy, and a bit of disbelief, he first followed Wang Shouzhe to Money Manor.
Money Manor is one of Qiaan's assets, used to stockpile various bulk goods. Many bulk items number tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dan, and it's unnecessary to transport them into Changning Guard City.
As for fears of attack or robbery, that's just a joke.
Not to mention the formidable armed forces within Money Manor, the prestigious Qiaan Family of Longzhou alone is enough to deter any evil thoughts.
After seeking an audience at the Money Manor gate, Steward Qiaan Xue'an came out after a short while, wearing a face of displeasure towards Wang Shouzhe.
Afterward, he represented the Qiaan Family in making an exchange, both parties drafted a new contract, with Qiaan Family "repurchasing" the insecticide powder from Wang Shouzhe in the contract.
The price was very reasonable: ten thousand Qian Gold in cash and sixty thousand dan of aged grain in stock. With the repurchase of the original five thousand bags of insecticide powder, Qiaan Family could at least sell it for fifteen to twenty thousand Qian Gold, naturally ensuring no loss.
Regarding such "embarrassing" matters, the shopkeeper of Qiaan's Changning Branch didn't even want to appear, delegating everything to Qiaan Xue'an. The shopkeeper who hadn't shown up evidently planned to shift all the blame for the errors onto Steward Qiaan Xue'an.
That's why Qiaan Xue'an's face darkened during the process of assisting Wang Shouzhe with the procedures, unwilling to utter a single word from start to finish.
After everything was settled, he threw a large stack of gold notes and a route permit for sixty thousand dan of grain at Wang Shouzhe and left in a huff.
Such a genuine display of acting left Wang Shouzhe astonished, making him sigh; once Qiaan Xue'an successfully ascends to the Spirit Platform Realm, he will surely become a remarkable figure.
Once the procedures were completed, Wang Shouzhe located Gongsun Qiang, who was waiting outside: "Uncle, the procedures for receiving sixty thousand dan of aged grain are complete. Once your people arrive, we can start transporting the grain."
Gongsun Qiang trembled with astonishment, mouth agape, it was real; he actually "bought" a full sixty thousand dan of grain, his nephew is truly incredible.
Soon, Gongsun Qiang's convoy of twenty carriages approached, accompanied by eighty sturdy mining slaves.
In the mountain-like granary, aged grain is packed in rice bags, with each bag weighing exactly one hundred pounds, equaling one dan. But those mining slaves easily carried three or four bags to load onto the carriage.
"Uncle, how much can one carriage hold?" Wang Shouzhe, having lived two lifetimes, had never seen so much grain. Even though he had some mental preparation, the volume and quantity still far exceeded his imagination.
"Load it up, just load it up to a hundred dan, our carriages are specially reinforced. These Northern heavy draft horses can handle it," Gongsun Qiang's eyes reddened, never having seen so much grain in his life.
For a powerful family like the Shanyang Gongsun Family, stockpiling twenty thousand dan of grain is sufficient, enough to feed thousands of strong laborers for a year. The tenant farmers, miners, and mining slaves of the Shanyang Gongsun Family, combined with the family members, don't exceed thousands of people.
A hundred dan? That's over ten thousand pounds of grain...
Wang Shouzhe was slightly surprised; indeed, this is a mystical world, where not only ordinary people's physical strength is much greater, but even the strength of these Northern heavy draft horses is impressive. Not to mention, these aren't even Spirit Beast-level warhorses, otherwise, they'd be even stronger.
Those mining slaves were obviously used to heavy work, with every four people assigned one carriage. It only took six to seven trips to load up the carriages. Each special mineral transport carriage was overloaded with grain.
Even so, it was only two thousand dan.
At this pace, it'll take about thirty trips, won't it? Never mind, just take it slow, there's no hope of transporting all this grain in a short time anyway.
Fortunately at this time, Qiaan Xue'an reappeared, still with a stern face, saying: "Our Qiaan's Trading Company values its reputation above all else, we won't let our clients suffer. You can rent our heavy-duty freight carriages, including the drivers, for twenty Large Coppers a day, which includes provisions for both drivers and heavy draft horses. Loading and unloading are up to you."
Clearly, Qiaan Xue'an risked it to provide support.
But on the side, Uncle Gongsun Qiang almost spat out old blood; although the price was fair, it undermined his hard work, didn't it?
Originally, Gongsun Qiang planned to ask thick-skinned for some of the grain his nephew acquired as a favor for helping.
"Thank you, Steward Qiaan," Wang Shouzhe said happily, "Then let's rent another thirty carriages."
The number of carriages owned by Qiaan's Trading Company far exceeded that of the Gongsun Family. Additionally, their business operations spanned Longzhou, and the freight capacity of their carriages was, of course, extremely high, not inferior to Gongsun Family's carriages in any way.
When all fifty carriages were fully loaded, they set off from Money Manor.
Money Manor is only ten li from the Changning Ferry, under normal circumstances, a carriage can reach there in less than an hour. However, given the numerous eyes at Changning Ferry, Wang Shouzhe didn't want to make a spectacle and attract unnecessary trouble.
After passing the fork in the road, the carriage took the road towards Shanyang; two or three li later, it turned towards Anjiang, reaching the edge of a dense forest. From there, the carriage could no longer proceed. However, through the dense forest, after walking a hundred or so steps, there was a vertical cliff five or six zhang high, with a natural bay two to three zhang wide at the bottom.
At this time, uncle Wang Dinghai, having received a letter from the household generals, was already waiting there with the fleet and had set up a makeshift inclined walkway. The fleet comprised fishing boats and ferryboats, assembling all the usable boats from home.
Though transporting like this was laborious, it was highly concealed.
The route from the carriage, through the forest, to the cliff and onto the boats, required approximately two hundred and fifty steps. Wang Shouzhe positioned the mining slaves and household generals at intervals of three steps, employing a relay method to transport the grain.
Once everyone adjusted to the setup, they discovered the advantages of this simple human transport line: stable, orderly, and gradually increasing in efficiency. The speed of loading the boats ultimately reached one dan every one or two breaths, greatly saving time and effort in round trips.
In just over an hour, they miraculously loaded and unloaded all the grain from fifty carriages. Afterward, the cart convoy returned to Money Manor for the next batch, while Wang Shouzhe followed the fleet across Anjiang to the Fenggu Gate.
Fenggu Farm had more people — as many as two hundred tenant farmer households, providing a hundred and fifty robust laborers with ease. Using the same method, the rice grain was transported through the Fenggu Gate and temporarily stored in Fenggu Farm.
The inland river's boat resources were insufficient, with only five or six boats available, necessitating slow transport at this final stage.
The successful establishment of a difficult transport line allowed Wang Shouzhe to relax, but also made him acutely aware of his family's transport shortcomings.
First and foremost, there was an excessive reliance on public docks and a lack of privately developed concealed small docks.
Secondly, there was inconvenience in routing from Anjiang to the inland river due to differing water levels on both sides. The use of a single gate could not remain open for long, risking inner flooding, a problem that needed remedying through the construction of navigable locks.
Moreover, the family had apparent shortcomings in both boat and cart transport. Perhaps, given the current scale of the Wang Family, these were not very evident, but as the family continued to grow and prosper, these weaknesses would severely hinder its development.
It seems the establishment of their own comprehensive transportation channels is an urgent necessity.
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