Chapter Fifty-One: Procuring Arms

  Magistrate Li Guangyao of Jinyang, with a disdainful expression, stood in the main hall of the magistrate's office, looking at the three baskets of instant noodles. "A group of rustic bumpkins, if you don't drink the wine offered to you, you'll be forced to drink the penalty wine. If you're not given some face, you won't submit obediently. The Chu State is in a difficult situation, and each of you is still thinking of yourselves, without even knowing how to make voluntary contributions."

  Downstairs, Huang Daxia and other captors hastily nodded in agreement. The personal attendant on the side also said: "The master is right, it's a group of ignorant and rustic people. If the country is broken, how can the family still exist?"

  Only a few good-hearted constables from humble origins thought to themselves: Speaking of having money and grain, Master Magistrate, your family isn't lacking either, with thousands of acres of fertile land, yet I've never seen you voluntarily donate even a single grain of rice.

  "Alright, put away these noodles. I will present them to the imperial palace tomorrow. You all closely monitor the grain merchants in the market and collect their grains, hurry up to prepare food for the expeditionary army, and quickly recover the lost land." Li Guangyao instructed.

  The Chu State court officials made a decision to gather the troops from all over and send them to the north to fight against Qi and Jin. Even if they couldn't recover all their lost territory, they had to make sure that the two states wouldn't dare invade again.

  The state of Chu has a large army of 500,000 men, and the amount of grain and fodder needed is not small. Moreover, the state of Chu has been supporting the front line all along, consuming a large amount of money and grain, with a huge deficit. The Emperor of Chu had to ask his ministers to come up with a plan for grain and fodder, but the ministers would not harm their own interests.

  The price of grain in Jinyang City was relatively stable, and there were very few refugees who died of starvation. The wealthy officials who did not want to spend money or effort had shifted the burden onto the merchants and farmers. No one would have cared if it weren't for the delicious Xiaoxuan noodle shop's limited-time low-price noodles, as well as Du Le's wine house's strategy of exchanging five-leaf grass for grain and providing affordable food. Although these were limited in quantity, they were constantly being supplied with grain from another world brought by Du Le.

  In this situation, the representatives of the big families in the imperial court and high-ranking officials simply and crudely believed that it was precisely because of the abundance of food among the people that the grain hoarded in their homes could not be sold at a high price. Few people cared that for nearly half a year, the country had been in turmoil, with large tracts of arable land in the north falling into enemy hands, and the total amount of domestic grain was getting smaller and smaller, and new grain would not be harvested until next year.

  The Chu State's court may think what they want, but Du Le has nothing to do with it. However, if they dare to take my property so brazenly, that would be unbearable.

  Du Le's countermeasure is simple. I'm not short of money, nor do I rely on the officialdom of Chu State. At worst, I'll close the shop and suspend business! After all, the business in Fuyang City has been on track, and the gold coins earned recently are not a small amount, so I don't lack this bit of gold coins now. Not only will the noodle restaurant be closed, but Yan Fu's wine house will also stop providing low-priced grain and stop purchasing five-leaf grass. After all, I have a mountain villa, and there is no shortage of five-leaf grass on the mountain side, so I'll hire people to go into the mountains to collect it. All the dishes in the wine house will be raised in price, consistent with the market.

  Moreover, in order to demonstrate the so-called revenge, Du Le also had Yan Fu secretly find people to spread the plan of the government seizing grain, inducing refugees to attack grain merchants, and even attacking the government. Let the Emperor of Chu sitting in the Golden Hall feel the power of a chaotic world.

  Have someone deliver a letter to Zhao Quan, Xiao Duo Cai doesn't need to return to the restaurant anymore. Together with the butler, move most of the people in the manor to the newly purchased mountainous area and establish a new manor. Taking advantage of the increasingly chaotic Chu State, secretly recruit refugees, train young men, and slowly increase the strength of the Du Manor. The above-ground industries in Jinyang City are being gradually abandoned by Du Le.

  The day after the noodle shop was searched, a rumor began to circulate within Jinyang City that the government would seize grain and not allow refugees to survive. At first, no one believed it, but as more and more private grain merchants sold their grain at low prices to the government, which became military rations, while grain merchants with official backgrounds raised their prices higher and higher, making it increasingly difficult for people to buy food, and the porridge sheds that were supposed to relieve refugees could not see a single grain of rice. The rumor turned into a believable fact.

  The city of Jin is gradually filled with an atmosphere of despair, while on the other hand, high-ranking officials of the Chu State government in Jin City continue to maintain their luxurious lifestyle, with lavish feasts and wine, while people are freezing to death on the streets. In this situation, refugees begin to gather together in large numbers, whispering among themselves.

  Du Le didn't care about the development of the situation in Jinyang City, after issuing instructions to close the noodle shop, raise the price of wine and stop purchasing five-leaf grass, he started transmitting on both sides again and became busy.

  The instant noodle factory, under the leadership of Liao Bingkun, was producing and processing in an orderly manner. Although Du Le did not accept Li Ze's funding, thanks to the hot sales, Du Le still decided to invest more funds to expand production scale, and a new assembly line was also being planned.

  In fact, apart from a slight shortage of manpower, the company's operations have no major problems. As decision-making matters had been decided long ago, Du Le's work was particularly easy, and he only needed to keep an eye on account movements during idle times, as well as supervise factory production.

  Du Le's approach is to fully delegate power. Since he has entrusted things to them, he trusts his subordinates and believes in their abilities.

  There are some things that he can only take care of in person. For example, customizing a batch of swords.

  However, in modern society, it is generally impossible for ordinary civilians to customize a batch of firearms. Even in the United States, where guns are highly developed and widespread, it is not possible, let alone China, where private gun ownership has always been prohibited. By the same token, swords are also controlled items, making it extremely difficult for Du Le to customize a batch of them.

  There are strict legal provisions, and there must also be loopholes in the law.

  Du Le goes online and can easily find a large number of specialized manufacturers by typing in "customized knives and swords" on a search engine.

  Contacted a hardware mold factory in Fuyong City online, Du Le used the name of purchasing a batch of ancient knife-making crafts to contact the merchant, with an order quantity of 500,000 steel knives, and the material requirements must be steel, hardness and durability are the most important.

  I didn't expect the merchant to quote a price that almost scared Du Le to death, with each stainless steel knife's wholesale price being 350 yuan, and a minimum order of 500 pieces. In other words, if Du Le wanted to get his desired quantity, he would have to prepare over 10 million Hua currency?! There was no way around it, so Du Le had to ask how much the iron knives cost. Fortunately, the price of the nearly one-meter-long iron knives wasn't too exaggerated, at 50 yuan per piece, with a minimum order of 1,000 pieces. This price point was still acceptable for Du Le.

  After some thought, Du Le decided to adjust the order quantity: 500 steel knives, 2000 iron knives, and also ordered a batch of two-meter-long long guns. The gun head was made of iron, so the price of the long gun was relatively cheap, and the wholesale price was only 10 yuan per piece, Du Le ordered 10,000 pieces.

  Having received such a large order, the merchant was naturally overjoyed and promised to complete it with quality and quantity. He also asked Du Le if he needed any special patterns or engravings on the knives, or if there were any specific requirements for the sword hilts.

  It's really a good opportunity when someone offers you a pillow. Du Le saved a lot of effort in explaining and went along with the businessman, saying that quality must be good and cannot be sloppy.

  The total value of 375,000 orders is a big deal for a small factory. Du Le asked to deliver as soon as possible, preferably not exceeding one month.

  The hardware factory immediately stated that the approximate delivery period can be one month, and if the sample confirmation is no problem, the factory can even complete all goods within two weeks. It's just such a large batch of goods, and the delivery may be more critical, and also asked Du Le how to receive the goods.

  Du Le said this is not a problem, he has a warehouse in Fuyong City, after inspecting the quality, it can be delivered directly to his warehouse, and the entire transaction can be completed.

  Du Le paid a deposit of 10,000 yuan through a third-party intermediary. Then he asked if he could see the sample tomorrow afternoon, and it was in a hotel room in Fuyong City.

  After getting the exact answer, both parties agreed on a time and place, and Du Le only then went offline and shut down his computer.