Protect Our Patriarch

Chapter 15 – Precious! My treasured granddaughter!

“In addition, we also need to actively help the Yingxiu Lu clan, the Jinsha Xu clan, and the Donggang Chen clan.” Wang Shouzhe said solemnly, “In the last 40 to 50 years, our Wang clan have intermarried with these clans, and have built a deep relationship with them.”

These three families are not very powerful. But it was for this reason that they intermarried with the declining Ping’an Wang clan. Of these, the Wang clan was closest to the Yingxiu Lu family, and Wang Shouzhe’s birth mother was from the Lu family’s official line.

At the same time, the matriarch of the Yingxiu Lu clan, Wang Lulin, is also the eldest daughter of the Wang’s sixth generation descendants and Wang Shouzhe’s own aunt. The relationship is quite complex and intimate.

“That’s right, these three families are very close to my Wang family. What do you have in mind, Shouzhe?” Wang Xiaozhi nodded his head in agreement.

He has two daughters, one married to the Shanyang Gongsun clan and the other to the Donggang Chen clan. His son, Wang Dingbang, who died in his prime, married a direct line descendant of the Jinsha Xu clan.

“Fourth grandfather needs to quickly identify the cause and dangers of this pestilence. I will despatch the family generals to notify these six clans this very night.”

Wang Shouzhe quickly said, “Amongst them, the Shanyin Liu clan and the Changning Xu clan have trained spiritual insect masters. As long as we share the honeybugs eradication methods with them, I believe it will not be difficult for them to solve this crisis on their own.

“In addition, the Jinsha Xu clan and the Donggang Chen clan’s main business should not be in agriculture. We can reduce their losses after we have fulfilled the obligation to notify them.”

After a pause, Wang Shouzhe added, “The more troublesome ones are the Yingxiu Lu clan and the Shanyang Gongsun clan. Firstly, we must fulfil our duty to inform them as soon as possible. In addition, we need to actively rush to their aid and do our best. This way, even if they suffer huge losses in the pestilence, they will only be grateful to us and not resentful.”

Wang Xiaozhi was flabbergasted by these calculations and remarks. He had never expected that the sudden outbreak of a pestilence would involve such a complex situation.

More importantly, in just a short time, Wang Shouzhe was able to arrange the matter in such a thoughtful and meticulous manner and took care of every aspect.

“Shouzhe, fourth grandfather underestimated you and also underestimated Luojing.” Wang Xiaozhi sighed bitterly, “The young people of your generation are indeed better. We are old, we of the Xiao generation are really old.”

“Fourth grandfather is too modest. If it weren’t for your generation who held onto the ancestors’ inheritance, how would there be a place for us, the descendants?” Wang Shouzhe humbled himself before sneering again, “Apart from those six families, especially the Liu and Zhao clans…”

Suddenly, Wang Xiaozhi became serious, “Shouzhe, don’t worry, our three Wang family farms will completely block this news over the next 10 days.”

Unexpectedly, Wang Shouzhe laughed, “There is no way to hide the outbreak of the pestilence. Every family have agricultural experts. In less than three days, the entire Changning’wei region will flare up. By the way, didn’t you stock up a batch of insecticides at a low price, fourth grandfather?”

When the matter was mentioned, Wang Xiaozhi was vexed, “Yes, last year’s winter insecticides was the lowest price ever, and there was additional discount for larger quantities. I thought the three major family farms would require insecticides. After discussing with a few elders, I stocked up a large amount of insecticides, enough to last our family for three years.

“There are some 300 Qian gold of goods left. This is a huge loss, huge loss! After this plague, what’s the use of the insecticides?”

The family was already in such straitened circumstances that losing over 300 Qian gold in one go was enough to send Wang Xiaozhi to his grave with guilt.

“The insecticides should not have completely lost their effect yet, right?” Wang Shouzhe pondered, while his brain churned.

“That’s not true. It’s just that dealing with those adult honeybugs is more difficult than the eggs.” Wang Xiaozhi’s face was very grave, “I’ve just tried it, you have to double the dose mixed with grass ash juice to get rid of the honeybugs quickly, and that doesn’t include the subsequent honeybugs which continue to hatch.”

Then, Wang Shouzhe began to fire questions like a machine gun.

The overwhelmed Wang Xiaozhi didn’t dare to underestimate Wang Shouzhe any more and patiently answered the questions one by one. He is now 75 years old and followed his father into farming at the age of 15.  It has been 60 years since then, and he is indeed very experienced.

“In that case, the production value of winter wheat is about 15 copper per mu in an ordinary year.” Wang Shouzhe’s mind raced through the figures, “After deducting taxes, commissions for tenant farmers, farm tools and seeds for cattle and insecticides, etc, and the amortisation of insecticides which is around 1 copper, leaves an overall gross profit of 8 copper per mu. If this pestilence is not properly controlled, the farm will enter a slight loss stage based on a 50% reduction in production. The higher the production, the higher the losses……”

“If we don’t do anything, I’m afraid the production will be reduced by about 70%.” Wang Xiaozhi’s body shook, he understood what Wang Shouzhe meant, and made a judgment. “If you increase the investment of the insecticides by two large coppers when the outbreak starts, we can control the disaster to within 20% reduction in production compared to previous years.”

“The Great Qian Kingdom is currently practicing a unified government grain reserve mechanism. Any aristocratic family or merchant house which dares to take advantage of a good year or a disaster year to speculate on grain prices commits a big crime.”

Wang Shouzhe continued to sort out the various conditions, “Therefore, on the basis of a 70% reduction in production, every 10% of the reduction in production is a loss of 1 large copper and 50 jiao, and a reduction in production of 50% is worth 7 large coppers and 50 jiao. So, the question is, if there is no spiritual insect master to manage the honeybugs, is it worth to invest 2 coppers in insecticides?”

“It’s worth it!” As soon as he heard Wang Shouzhe’s analysis, Wang Xiaozhi immediately nodded rapidly, “I’ll invest even if it’s four large coppers.” At the same time, his eyes lit up with excitement, “What you’re saying, Shouzhe, is that our family’s hoard of 300 Qian gold worth of pesticides is not a loss, it’s also worth 600 Qian gold? Well, well, well, thanks to those guys who laughed at me for hoarding pesticides.”

“It’s worth at least 600 Qian gold. Our family has fifth sister Luojing, a junior spiritual insect master who specialises in treating honeybugs, so those pesticides are no longer needed. But compared to the entire Changning’wei region, spiritual insect masters are rare, and most of the family will have to rely on the insecticides to survive the disaster.” Wang Shouzhe smiled indifferently, “Congratulations to fourth grandfather for making a fortune for the family.”

“Hahahaha, great.” Wang Xiaozhi laughed so hard that his face turned red, “My family’s Luojing is really a treasure, worthy of being my Wang Xiaozhi’s granddaughter.”

The corners of Wang Shouzhe’s mouth twitched. This fourth old master was really old and thick-skinned, earlier he had been so patriarchal and kept saying that his granddaughters are money losing goods. Yet, in the blink of an eye, Luojing became a treasure.

However, Luojing, the future spiritual insect master, is a real treasure. Even if the new iteration of insecticide continues to be effective in the future, she can save the family a couple of hundred Qian gold in expensive “pesticide fees” every year, and the money saved will be pure profit.

“But it’s all thanks to Shouzhe’s good fortune.” Wang Xiaozhi was smiling from ear to ear, “The fourth master also understands your saying that sometimes bad things often turn out to be good. Shouzhe, you are a blessed man. After you become the patriarch, our Wang clan will definitely become better.”

Although superstition is not acceptable, Wang Shouzhe still appreciates Wang Xiaozhi’s superstitious words towards him.

With his forward thinking, it would be a waste to be a transmigrator if he didn’t grasp some business opportunities in this pestilence. The price of food is strongly controlled by the Great Qian government and speculation is forbidden, but the government didn’t forbid speculation on insecticides?

He gradually thought of a plan.