Chapter 393: Chapter 88: Strategizing Qianma! Suppressing the Huangfu Family_2

The present Wang Shouzhe is not a small-time figure; he can converse merrily with his father, Lei Yangyu, and call him brother. Moreover, he is Wang Luotong’s brother.

Even considering his status as the legitimate second son of the Celestial Human Lei Family, he dared not act recklessly.

Wang Shouzhe merely nodded indifferently and paid him no further heed.

Though the Lei Family is a Celestial Human Family, the Ping’an Wang Family is also a Noble Family at the Peak of Eighth Grade, and Wang Shouzhe is the Patriarch. To him, Lei Bowu was nothing more than a junior.

Under Wang Luotong’s lead.

Wang Shouzhe and the group soon reached a rather decent residence within the Celestial Crane Ranch, where arrangements were made for them to settle in. Wang Shouzhe then retired to the study to discuss matters with Wang Luotong and Wang Zongwei.

"Fourth Uncle, please have tea." Now thirty years old, Wang Zongwei sported two small mustaches and had a much more mature appearance.

Yet before Wang Shouzhe, he dared not breathe harder than half a breath, only letting his backside barely touch the chair, sitting with his back straight as if awaiting an admonishment.

"Zongwei, here are the spring clothes and family letter that Miss Rong has entrusted me to bring you." Wang Shouzhe took out a large bundle and a thick letter from his Storage Ring, handing them to Wang Zongwei.

"This..."

Wang Zongwei hurriedly stood up, accepting the bundle and letter with great trepidation. "She dares to trouble Fourth Uncle, how utterly unbecoming."

"What’s there to be troubled about?" Wang Shouzhe said calmly, "Young Rong is my niece-in-law, my Wang Family’s properly wed wife; she is family. The child is gentle by nature, and you ought to treat her well and not let her down."

The marriage of Gongsun Rong was ultimately arranged by Wang Shouzhe himself and Gongsun Hui. Otherwise, with his youthful delinquency, he could hardly have wed a girl like Gongsun Rong. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Still, the Gongsun daughters are named rather whimsically, unlike the Wang daughters who follow their generational order.

"Fourth Uncle, rest assured." Wang Zongwei hastily said, "If I were to fail Rong’er, I would welcome divine retribution. Fourth Uncle, you can cut me down with a sword and I would have no complaints."

"Your performance these past two years hasn’t been bad, especially this time when you have greatly contributed." Wang Shouzhe rarely praised him, "This time, make sure to achieve results in Qianma Town so that others may see that the Wang Family men are of good stock."

"Yes, Fourth Uncle." Rarely praised, Wang Zongwei nodded repeatedly, exceedingly thrilled. Such commendation from Fourth Uncle meant more than anything else.

Subsequently, Wang Shouzhe brought out another bundle to Wang Luotong: "Your mother is also busy recently with the Golden Sand Xu Family without time to buy you new clothes. Here are two sets of spring clothes, specially prepared by your Fourth Aunt."

"Thank you, Fourth Brother, and thank you, Sister-in-law." Wang Luotong received the gift, beaming with joy. The value of the gift was insignificant; what mattered was the care from family.

After some brief pleasantries, the three dove into official matters.

"Fourth Uncle, let me first report the general situation of the Celestial Crane Ranch to you." Wang Zongwei also set his face straight, took out a booklet to introduce, saying, "The ranch has eight hundred households, a total of three thousand one hundred people. The pasture land covers thirty thousand acres, but after years of development, there is little room for expansion."

"There are five thousand Short-Horned Red Cattle in the inventory, among them two thousand breeding cows, four hundred heifer cows, and one hundred young bull cattle; the rest are meat cattle under one year old. Previously, the Huangfu Family’s management method produced roughly three thousand heifer calves annually, with about two thousand five hundred surviving. The cows are usually kept for five years, bearing three calves. As for bulls, besides those kept for breeding, the rest are fattened and sold as beef."

"On average, two thousand five hundred cattle are sold annually to maintain an inventory of five thousand heads," Wang Zongwei elaborated. "Among them, two thousand beef cattle can be sold for about ten thousand Qian gold, while the remaining five hundred breeding cows and culled bulls sell for only one thousand five hundred Qian gold. Normally, the annual gross revenue from cattle sales is eleven thousand five hundred Qian gold."

"The Celestial Crane Ranch has thirty thousand sheep, with three thousand lambs annually sold and culled to maintain the flock, earning three thousand Qian gold; the annual wool production of fifteen hundred dans sells for five Qian gold per dan, generating seven thousand five hundred Qian gold."

"There are one thousand horses, whose income is not fixed; producing quality warhorses fetches high prices. Typically, annual revenue averages three thousand Qian gold."

"Additionally, there are ten Spiritual-Horned Yaks, usually breeding one head per year. Selling one head annually nets two thousand Qian gold. Spiritual-Horned Yak are massive creatures, about five to six thousand jin each. The Huangfu Family usually keeps them for their consumption."

"Furthermore, the thirty thousand acres of pasture that produce and eighty acres of Spirit Field used to plant Spiritual Alfalfa Grass are all for internal consumption."

"Thus, the average annual gross revenue produced is about twenty-seven thousand Qian gold. Additionally, the need to purchase other feed and household expenses amount to about eight thousand Qian gold in expenditure, resulting in the original annual gross profit of Celestial Crane Ranch being roughly eighteen to nineteen thousand Qian gold."

While listening, Wang Shouzhe was nodding his head. It looked like Wang Zongwei had put in considerable effort, getting to grips with things quickly. However, the initial auction price for the Celestial Crane Ranch was seventeen thousand Qian gold. Even if Wang Shouzhe paid a premium, the acquisition price for this ranch didn’t exceed twenty thousand Qian gold.

In a sense, Wang Shouzhe scored an incredible bargain with this move. Yet, the valuation of the ranching industry is generally low because the risk of failing to raise cattle and sheep is quite high.

"How about the dairy products from the cows?" Wang Shouzhe inquired.

"The milk from the cows is either given to the calves or in small amounts to the Huangfu Family people nearby," Wang Zongwei explained. "Most of it is turned by the herders into dried cheese, a staple food of theirs. Some is also sold to the Changning Guard, but it fetches little money; Fourth Uncle, you know, many people can’t abide the taste, so it can only serve as a subsidy for the herders."

Wang Shouzhe nodded repeatedly in his heart. Dairy products are not popular in this world, mainly because of the limited scale and difficulty in preservation.

Fresh milk spoils too easily, and the world hasn’t yet seen pasteurization.

Yet families understand that dairy is quite beneficial to children’s growth.

Therefore, like the Wang Family farms, they will keep a few cattle and sheep to occasionally supply young family members.

Most common folk in the world have scant access to dairy products.

Even dried cheese doesn’t keep long and its taste is widely unpalatable.

While in Wang Shouzhe’s previous world, dairy was a massive industry.

Even Wang Shouzhe found himself slightly intrigued.

Because one of the toughest issues—the sanitized sealed packaging for transport—can completely be solved with higher-grade glass bottles!

Of course, dairy products are merely an additional yield.

Wang Shouzhe is more interested in the growth of forage; he sips Spirit Tea and asks: "Zongwei, talk about the forage situation."

"The Celestial Crane Ranch’s thirty thousand acres of pasture originally yielded about four hundred and fifty thousand dans of dry forage annually, sold for thirty coins per large copper per dan, totaling about six thousand Qian gold. But this dry forage is insufficient. Thus, additional supply is needed from the Xingwang Ranch and large amounts of bean residue left over from oil production from Qianma Farm; this batch’s worth also exceeds five thousand Qian gold."

Wang Shouzhe nodded, saying: "So, each year the cattle, sheep, and horses consume forage and other foods, including Spirit Grass, of over ten thousand Qian gold in value. Raising cattle, sheep, and horses is essentially amplifying that value."

"That’s one way to say it," Wang Zongwei confirmed, "but these prices are the rates for the Huangfu Family Ranch nearby, largely due to proximity and main branch relations. Selling to other guards incurs higher transportation costs and is generally less profitable. Therefore, trading with the Huangfu Family or converting it into meat and wool has proved wiser."

"The total feed produced by the three major ranches in Qianma usually exceeds self-consumption, with the surplus supplied to the Celestial Person Huangfu Family."

"Haha~" Wang Shouzhe nodded repeatedly, "Whether selling calves, meat cattle, wool, or horses, the fundamental issue lies in growing feed. As long as the per-acre yield of feed is higher, with richer nutrients, then the cost of producing cattle, wool, and horses will be lower."

At this, Wang Zongwei too grew excited: "Fourth Uncle, you’re absolutely right, some old herders say our newly planted alfalfa grass is more appealing to cattle and sheep, enhancing their appetites. Moreover, the yield per acre of alfalfa exceeds the original by seventy percent."

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