Protect Our Clan Leader

Chapter 393: Chapter 88: Setup before the horse! Suppression of the Huangfu Clan_2

The current Wang Shouzhe is not a nobody. He is someone who can share a hearty conversation with his father, Lei Yangyu, address him as his brother. Besides, he is also the brother of Wang Luotong.

Even with his status as the second son of the Celestial Lei Family, he wouldn’t dare to act rashly.

Wang Shouzhe simply nodded slightly without making significant conversation with him.

Although the Lei Family is a prominent celestial family, the Ping’an Wang family is an eighth-grade peak family, while Wang Shouzhe is the Family Head. In his eyes, Lei Bowu was simply a youngster.

Under Wang Luotong’s leadership.

Wang Shouzhe’s group quickly arrived at the Tianhong Ranch, where they were settled in a decent house. Once there, Wang Shouzhe discussed matters in his study with Wang Luotong and Wang Zongwei.

“Fourth Uncle, please, have some tea,” said Wang Zongwei, who was now thirty and had a small mustache, making him look quite mature.

Yet in front of Wang Shouzhe, he didn’t dare to even breathe heavily. When sitting, he dared only to perch on the edge of his seat, his back straight like he was in a constant state of readiness for instruction.

“Zongwei, this is a spring outfit and a letter from home that Mrs. Rong asked me to bring for you.” Wang Shouzhe took out a large parcel and a thick letter from his storage ring and handed them to Wang Zongwei.

“This…”

Wang Zongwei quickly stood up and took the parcel and letter, fearfully saying, “How could she bother Fourth Uncle like this, that’s completely unacceptable.”

“What’s there to bother about?” said Wang Shouzhe indifferently. “Rong is my niece by marriage, a daughter-in-law of Wang family whom we married properly. She’s part of our family. She has a soft demeanor, and you must treat her well. Do not let her down.”

Ultimately, Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui personally stepped in to arrange the marriage between Gongsun Rong and Wang Zongwei. Otherwise, with the carefree nature of his youth, Wang Zongwei wouldn’t have been able to marry a girl like Gongsun Rong.

But the way the Gongsun Clan named their daughters seemed quite random, unlike Wang family daughters, who were named according to their generation.

“Fourth Uncle, don’t worry,” Wang Zongwei hurriedly stated. “If I disappoint Rong, I assure you I won’t die peacefully. Even if you kill me with a single sword, I won’t bear any grudges.”

“You’ve behaved commendably in the past couple of years, particularly this time when you’ve done a great service,” Wang Shouzhe said rarely praising him. “This time too, you need to show some results in Qianma Town. Let it be a testament to everyone that the young men of the Wang family are fine individuals.”

“Yes, Fourth Uncle,” replied Zongwei, nodding his head repeatedly, brimming with excitement. Being commended by Fourth Uncle like this was better than anything else.

Subsequently, Wang Shouzhe reached into another parcel and gave it to Wang Luotong: “Your mother has been busy at the Jinsha Xu Family recently, and she had no time to buy you new clothes. These two spring outfits were specially prepared for you by your fourth sister-in-law.”

“Thank you, Fourth Brother, and thanks to sister-in-law,” beamed Wang Luotong as she received her gift. The value of the gift wasn’t important. What mattered was the concern coming from her family.

After their brief pleasantries, they started the official discussion.

“Fourth Uncle, let me first give you a general introduction to the Tianhong Ranch,” Wang Zongwei stated with a serious expression, opening the book in front of him. “The pasture has eight hundred households, totaling thirty-one hundred people. There are thirty thousand acres of grazing fields, which, after years of development, have little room for expansion.”

“We have five thousand short-horned red cattle. Of those, two thousand are gestating cows, four hundred are young cows, one hundred are mature bulls, with the rest being cattle under a year old. Under the management of the Huangfu clan before, about three thousand calves were born each year, with approximately two and a half thousand surviving. The cows are typically kept for five years and give birth to three calves. Apart from the bulls kept for breeding, all others are fed for meat which is then sold.”

“On average, two and a half thousand cattle are sold every year to maintain a stock of five thousand,” Wang Zongwei detailed eagerly. “Around ten thousand Qian Gold is earned from the two thousand young beef cattle, and the remaining five hundred gestating and culled cows can sell for one and a half thousand Qian Gold. On average, we earn about eleven and a half thousand Qian Gold from selling these cattle each year.”

“Tianhong Ranch has a herd of thirty thousand sheep, three thousand of which are lambs. They sell three thousand older sheep annually to maintain the balance of the herd, earning about three thousand Qian Gold. In terms of wool production, they sell about one and a half thousand loads per year. With each load selling for five Qian Gold, the annual income from the wool is seven and a half thousand Qian Gold.”

“We have a thousand horses, and the earnings from this are not fixed. If we manage to train a high-quality battle horse, it can fetch a high price, usually averaging about three thousand Qian Gold a year.”

“In addition, there are ten Spirit Horned Yaks that typically breed one each per year. If you consider selling one each year, it makes two thousand Qian gold. Spirit Horned Yaks are quite large, around five to six-thousand jin each. The Huangfu Clan usually reserves it for their own consumption~”

“Besides, the product from the thirty thousand acres grass field and that from the eighty acres Spirit Field used for cultivating spiritual alfalfa belongs to internal consumption within the ranch.”

“As a result, the average gross income produced each year is about twenty-seven thousand Qian gold. On top of that, we need to purchase other feed, along with herders’ expenses, approximately eight thousand Qian gold in expenditure. Thus, the original annual gross profit of Tianhong Ranch was about eighteen to nineteen thousand Qian gold.”

Wang Shouzhe listened and nodded, it seemed that Wang Zongwei had really worked hard and had already started to familiarize himself with the operations. However, the initial auction price for Tianhong Ranch was one hundred and seventy thousand Qian gold, even if Wang Shouzhe overpaid a bit, the purchase price for the ranch had not exceeded two hundred thousand Qian gold.

One way to say it is, Wang Shouzhe got an enormous benefit from this deal. But, in valuation, livestock breeding is usually underestimated since the risks can be quite significant if not managed well, especially with cattle and sheep.

“What about the dairy products from the cows?” Wang Shouzhe inquired.

“The milk produced by the cows is either provided to calves or supplied in a small quantity to the members of the Huangfu Clan,” said Wang Zongwei, “The majority of the remaining milk is turned into dried cheese by the herders to be part of their own diet. Some of it is also sold to Changning Garrison. However, it’s not worth much. Fourth Uncle, as you know, many people are not accustomed to the taste, and it can only serve as a dietary supplement for herders.”

Wang Shouzhe nodded in agreement, dairy products were not popular in this world, mainly because of the insufficient scale and preservation difficulties.

Fresh milk goes bad very easily and there are no pasteurization methods in this world yet.

However, prominent families are aware of the benefits of dairy products for children’s growth.

In a prominent family farm such as the Wang family’s, they would keep a few cattle and sheep and occasionally provide young clan members with the dairy products.

Most of the commoners in this world essentially have no chance to enjoy dairy products.

Even dried cheese can’t be preserved for very long and its taste is generally hard to accept.

In the world Wang Shouzhe came from before he passed through, the dairy industry was massive.

Even Wang Shouzhe himself was slightly tempted.

One of the toughest issues–the sealed packaging and transportation after sterilization, can be completely solved with high-grade glass bottles!

Of course, dairy products represent only an additional value.

Wang Shouzhe was more interested in the growth of the fodder, he took a sip of his Spiritual Tea and asked, “Zongwei, tell me more about the fodder.”

“The thirty thousand acres of grassland on the Tianhong Ranch can produce about four hundred and fifty-thousand dan of hay each year, each dan of dried fodder can be sold for one big copper and thirty shillings, which is approximately six thousand Qian gold. However, this is not enough. Therefore, we also need to transfer a batch of hay from Xingwang Ranch, along with a large amount of bean residue left after oil extraction from Qianma farms. This batch of material is worth more than five thousand Qian gold.”

Wang Shouzhe nodded and said, “That is to say, the fodder and food, etc. that the cows, sheep and horses consume in one year, along with Spirit Grass and so on, are also worth tens of thousands of Qian gold. The cattle, sheep, and horse breeding magnifies the value of the fodder.”

“You could say that,” Wang Zongwei nodded and explained, “But these are the prices for selling to the Huangfu Clan’s ranch, mainly because it is close by and due to our branch family relationship. If it was sold to other garrisons, the transportation cost would be higher, hence it wouldn’t be very cost-effective. Thus, it was more profitable before to sell to the Huangfu Clan or to convert it into meat and wool.”

“The overall feed output of the three ranches and farms in Qianma exceeds their own consumption, the surplus is all supplied to the Celestial Huangfu Family.”

“Hehe~” Wang Shouzhe kept nodding, “Whether it is about selling calves, beef cattle, wool, or horses. Ultimately it all boils down to the problem of cultivating fodder. As long as the yield and nutrition per acre of fodder are higher, the cost of our beef cattle, wool, and horses will be lower.”

When this matter was brought up, Wang Zongwei also got excited, “Fourth Uncle, you are absolutely right. Some of the old herders said that our newly sown alfalfa is more favored by cows and sheep, and they have a better appetite for it. Also, the yield of each acre of alfalfa will be 70% more than before.”

…