Chapter 353: Chapter 236: Golden Mountain and Silver Sea (Part 2)

Besides, money itself was a huge source of influence.

Fang Zhen had further plans. In the Nameless World, all it would take were a few clever moves to use his "Golden Mountain and Silver Sea" plan to quickly win over the nobles of the Tarrenno Duchy who might otherwise defy his rule.

As for the specifics, he’d have to wait until he had the silver in hand.

Just then, Fang Zhen’s phone began to vibrate nonstop. People were replying to his messages.

"Bro, you need silver? I know a bank manager. They sell silver, but it’s all cast into ingots. The price is steep—about double the market rate. You want it?" This was the message from Wang Donglai.

Fang Zhen shook his head.

’The bank’s collectible silver is too expensive. It won’t work.’

He replied to Wang Donglai before checking his other messages.

The manager from his company replied, suggesting he buy collectible silver bars on an e-commerce platform.

Fang Zhen casually opened Jingmao and took a look. Collectible one-kilogram silver bars were selling for around eight thousand, while fine silver ones were going for the high nine thousands.

The price was acceptable, but delivery would be too slow.

These were the only channels for acquiring silver, and they were all too slow. He could use them down the line, but with supplies needing to be moved back and forth, this distant water couldn’t quench his immediate thirst.

Suddenly, a few chat messages caught Fang Zhen’s attention.

Tang Xiaojuan: Sir, you need silver? Are you looking for bars or jewelry?

Tang Xiaojuan: Silly me. You used to deal in gold, so you probably wouldn’t be interested in silver jewelry. You must be looking for something like silver bars, as an investment, right?

Tang Xiaojuan: The Yu Le Gold Store has a stockpile of physical silver collectibles. If you need some, I can talk to them. They’re all 100-gram and 1-kilogram bars, and they aren’t much more expensive than the market price. I can get them for you for 7,750 to 7,800 per kilogram.

Tang Xiaojuan: And these are physical silver bars. If you want them, we can have them ready in just a few hours. We also have professional security for delivery to any location you specify, as long as it’s within Xiahai City.

Fang Zhen was a little surprised.

He’d met Tang Xiaojuan back when he was first starting out selling gold jewelry. She was also the one who introduced him to Chen Baokun, the gold jewelry collector.

’A gold store really is a good place to get physical silver quickly.’

’And the price she’s offering is very fair. At 7,750, it’s definitely cheaper than the bank’s bars and over two hundred less than the e-commerce sites.’

"What about the purity?" Fang Zhen replied.

Tang Xiaojuan: You can rest assured, it’s all 925 silver. The purity is guaranteed.

Tang Xiaojuan: I’ll have to ask my boss for the exact amount, but we should have over fifty kilograms.

Fang Zhen: All right, arrange a meeting. I want to see the person in charge. I’ll inspect the goods on-site.

Tang Xiaojuan: (Smiley face) You’re so decisive! Alright, I’ll get in touch with them for you right away!

Fang Zhen put down his phone.

silver, meaning it contained 92.5% silver, was the most common material used for silver jewelry.

Fine silver, with a purity of 99.9%, was so pure that it was extremely soft and generally only used for collectibles.

silver, on the other hand, had a moderate hardness and toughness, making it suitable for crafting jewelry like rings, brooches, hairpins, and necklaces, and also making it easy to set with gemstones‌.

Fang Zhen was buying silver for trade; he figured that once it was traded, this silver would most likely be minted into Silver Coins. The quality of 925 silver was better than the silver used in the Duchy, so many people would be interested.

...

That afternoon, Fang Zhen returned home.

He also brought back two large suitcases, containing a total of eighty kilograms of silver ingots.

The person in charge of the gold stores at Yu Le Group wasn’t the owner but a professional manager. He had previously stockpiled some precious metals through internal reallocation, accumulating over a hundred kilograms of silver ingots in total.

The ingots had been selling slowly, and since the manager needed to free up capital, he seized the opportunity and sold the whole lot to Fang Zhen.

The full eighty kilograms of silver ingots cost Fang Zhen 620,000 yuan.

Fang Zhen was still quite comfortable financially.

He had previously sold the Dog Head Gold. Then, using his company’s channels, he had sold two smelted gold bricks. He had also earned a million by selling two bottles of Alchemy Ointment to Zheng Yachen through the beauty salon in which he held a silent partnership. All told, his funds were ample. With over 2.7 million in his account, he had more than enough money for the silver.

Back in his living room, he opened the two large suitcases. Eighty kilograms of silver, all in the form of one-kilogram ingots, were laid out before him.

The stacked silver ingots resembled a range of miniature, snow-capped mountains, gleaming with a cold, pure light.

The sight was one of dazzling, brilliant silver.

Fang Zhen felt truly wealthy now. Seeing a number on a bank statement was one thing, but having eighty brick-like silver ingots laid out before his eyes—that felt real.

Looking at the silver, he thought, ’This still isn’t enough, but it’ll do for now.’

This was all the silver ingots that could be rounded up in Xiahai on short notice. To get more, he’d have to get his sales rep, Hao Lei, to mobilize his guys to buy more from e-commerce platforms using different accounts. That way, he could probably get another one or two hundred kilograms.

’This is enough for now. I’ll leave the silver issue at that.’

Fang Zhen set the silver aside for the time being and turned his attention to another matter.

The food factories he’d had his company contact that morning had all responded.

Because the need was urgent, Fang Zhen had targeted local food factories in Xiahai. Hao Lei, the man he’d entrusted with the task, was incredibly efficient and had already finalized the deals that same morning.

Hao Lei was a true professional. An outstanding sales rep is like an agile cheetah, all decisive action. He was practically an extension of Fang Zhen’s own will, saving him the trouble of dealing with countless trivial details.

Fang Zhen had ordered over 200,000 fried instant noodle cakes. At only 0.4 yuan each, they were much more affordable than buying fully packaged ramen. He also bought the other components separately—dried vegetable packets, seasoning salt, sauce packets, and oil packets. Bought in bulk like this, they were even cheaper, only 0.1 to 0.2 yuan per packet.