Protect Our Patriarch

That night.

Wang Shouzhe’s carriage returned to the Wang’s residence where he wrote a couple of letters which was later dispatched by the family’s generals.

The first thing to do is to alert the families with whom the Wang clan have closer relationships so that they would not become suspicious of the non-infested farms of the Wang clan after the disaster. Even in the unlikely event that they have already discovered signs of the pestilence, this would not have prevented the Wang family from making a goodwill gesture.

Then, Wang Shouzhe took only two of his generals on horseback and rode out overnight. After arriving at the Dingpu ferry port, he crossed the Anjiang in secret with his family’s fishing boat and raced all the way to Changning’wei city and reached the city at the break of dawn.

The outline of the Changning’wei city was majestic and gleamed in the sunlight.

The walls are more than 10 zhang (1 zhang = 3.34m) high, made of thick black stone bricks, and the battlements are guarded by soldiers in full armour and bows. There is also a huge bed* crossbow at every few dozen feet.

Although Changning’wei is only a county town, it is more powerful and domineering than the famous cities on earth.

After all, this world is not ancient China. There are many demonic beasts and fierce creatures who live in the dangerous outer realm. Once a beast tide occurs, the high walled city is the only protection for mankind.

Ping’an town also has a city wall, but the wall is nothing compared to Changning’wei.

Wang Shouzhe and his two generals stopped slowly in front of the city gates, got off their horses and joined the group of people rushing into the city early in the morning. However, most of these were farmers, small traders, craftsmen, and other commoners.

When they saw Wang Shouzhe and his generals, who were holding tall horses and dressed in finery, they instinctively stepped aside in awe.

In the Great Qian Kingdom, aristocratic families are a privileged class, and even the most downtrodden small families are better than commoners.

The entrance gate to the East City.

Two fully armoured soldiers greeted him, checked Wang Shouzhe’s family token, and then respectfully invited him into the city.　　

After entering the city, he did not delay, took his horse, and went straight to the Qian trading firm. The merchant house had businesses all over Longzuo County, with a strong and prominent reputation. It was the Qian trading house which took the lead in managing the insecticides made by the Zifu Academy.

That alone made the Qian trading firm a fortune, not to mention the fact that their businesses go far beyond insecticides.

He took out the Wang family token, and the family generals remained outside to keep watch. Wang Shouzhe was led to a side hall to wait. The maids served melons, fruits, and tea, and then retreated.

Wang Shouzhe calmly sipped his tea and looked around. Even if it is just a side hall of a merchant firm’s branch, it was still decorated in an extremely luxurious manner, with various screens made of precious wood, and antique ornaments placed at random, all of which were worth a lot of money.

Even with Wang Shouzhe’s relatively “shallow” perception, he noticed the value of the decorations which cost hundreds, if not thousands of Qian gold, at the very least. This demonstrated the strong financial resources of the Qian trading firm, and the family really deserved to be one of the wealthy and powerful clans which dominate Longzuo.

As a transmigrator, Wang Shouzhe naturally understands the psychological tactics of the Qian’s.

He waited around 15 minutes.

A cubby and fair looking middle-aged man with a face which exuded peace and prosperity walked in, “The Patriarch of the Ping’an Wang clan is here in person, I’m sorry that I have missed welcoming you, I apologize.”

Wang Shouzhe narrowed his eyes as the other party’s calm and polite remarks disclosed some important information.

He served as the Patriarch for only two or three days, and now that the Ping’an Wang clan is in decline, even a change of patriarch would not attract much attention. However, the Qian merchant house took note and managed to confirm his identity within 15 minutes. (Translator: Very impressive for a world without whatsapp! )

The trading house really deserved to be one of the business giants dominating Longzuo as their ability to gather information is very powerful. Moreover, the other party’s surname is Qian, and his temperament is extraordinary. He is, most likely, of the Qian clan lineage.

“Not at all. I’m honoured to have been personally received by Master Qian. After all, I took the liberty of coming here.” Wang Shouzhe naturally responded with courtesy and modesty. This person surnamed Qian naturally could not be the shopkeeper.　

The Qian merchant firm was extremely large, and even the head of the Changning’wei branch was a bigwig and would not welcome him, a dilapidated family’s patriarch whose cultivation level is only at the Qi Refining realm.

The two men exchanged pleasantries and then sat down.

They didn’t start talking about business matters. Master Qian and Wang Shouzhe talked about ancestor Zhouxuan to ancestor Longyan, and then talked about Wang Shouzhe’s achievements in the Zifu Academy’s preliminary exams, and spoke with fervour about Wang Shouzhe’s outstanding homework.

Wang Shouzhe had a huge scheme up his sleeves, so naturally, he couldn’t show his nervousness, and accompanied him in the small talk, inadvertently showing off his logical and thinking skills, which were better than those of the natives.

“What a shame! With your knowledge, if you were to participate in Zifu Academy’s retest, becoming a disciple of the academy would almost be guaranteed.”

Master Qian, inadvertently, took Wang Shouzhe more seriously and said, half-honouring, half-sentimentally, “The Zifu Academy doesn’t just focus on cultivating talents; they equally value the disciples’ vision and organisation. I think that sooner or later, in your hands, the Wang clan will return to the top and make even further progress.”

“Brother Qian, don’t ridicule your younger brother.” Wang Shouzhe shook his head and laughed bitterly, “We at the Ping’an Wang clan only want to survive peacefully, nothing more.”

With mutual courtesy, the two have begun to call each other brothers.

“You are too modest. By the way, younger brother Shouzhe, you rushed to my Qian’s firm overnight, could it be that you have some big business to discuss?” After exchanging pleasantries for a long time, Master Qian finally couldn’t hold back any longer and raised the topic.

At those words, Wang Shouzhe put his teacup down gently and calmly said, “Speaking of which, I really need elder brother Qian’s help in this matter. I need 5,000 bags of pesticides.”

At these words, Master Qian’s hands trembled, and he looked at Wang Shouzhe incredulously. After a long while, he swallowed his dissatisfaction and said, “Did you come here to joke with me?”

“Why would you say this?” Wang Shouzhe calmly replied, “It can’t be that the large Qian trading house doesn’t even have 5,000 bags of pesticides, right?”

“Brother, do you know how much are in 5,000 bags of insecticides? One bag of insecticide is about 50 kg. After dilution, it is enough for 100 mu of fertile land, while 5,000 bags of insecticide is the amount for 500,000 mu of farmland.”

Master Qian frowned and said, “Our Changning’wei and all the towns under its command combined are only about 1.5 million mu of fertile land.”

“I know.” Wang Shouzhe’s expression didn’t change, and he remained serious.

Master Qian gradually became excited, “You are not joking?”

“Naturally, it is not a joke.” Wang Shouzhe said, “Even though my Ping’an Wang clan is only a ninth-ranked, bottom-ranked family, we are aware of the importance of such a matter.”

“Excellent, excellent, you have really given your unworthy elder brother a big surprise. I’ll take this deal,” Master Qian said with a cheerful expression, “However, there are only 2,000 bags in stock in the Changning branch, and the remaining 3,000 bags need to be retrieved from the other branches, which will take at least 10 days.”

“Why is the inventory so low?” Wang Shouzhe frowned slightly.

“That’s actually quite a lot. In previous years, everything was sold out.” Master Qian said with a straight face, “Because it involves the cultivation and production of raw materials, the annual production of insecticides is planned in advance.

“Last year’s harvest was 10% more than raw materials, and I originally wanted to sell the pesticides to the clans at a low price, but I didn’t realise that only a few clans would be willing to spend money to stock up. This is why we still have a backlog of 2,000 bags left in Changning’wei from last winter’s batch.”

“Brother, why won’t those families take advantage of the low prices to stock up?” Wang Shouzhe asked casually.

“This …… well, it’s not a secret to tell you, many clans already know about it, so it is not against clan rules to tell you.” After a slight hesitation, Master Qian said helplessly, “The medicinal herbs used in the pesticides are all grown in the medicine fields of many aristocratic families.

“As the benefits are good, more and more families are putting their medicinal fields into production. In recent years, there in an increase in production, while we are purchasing the raw materials at a low price. I’m afraid that this winter’s batch of pesticides, the production would be …… as you know, the bigger the family, the better informed they are.”

Haha~ Wang Shouzhe understands that this is overcapacity, and the market is saturated. Although he is not a professional in economics, he still surpassed the natives of this world in terms of outlook and awareness.

“In that case.” Wang Shouzhe said after a moment of calculation, “I’ll take the 2,000 bags in stock, as well as the 3,000 bags futures.”

“Well, brother Shouzhe, what are futures?” Master Qian didn’t understand this term and his chubby face was full of doubts.