Shadow Empire

Chapter 893 The charm of statistics and the fact that people are not hungry

In another room, Roger and members of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce were also discussing the transaction.

"Isn't the price of more than 30 yuan per ton too high?" Someone felt a little worried about the price given by Rogerf.

In the current international food prices, the price of wheat is only 31 or 32 yuan per ton.

The nature of food is different from other commodities. It is true that its consumption is huge, but its reserves are also huge, and there are many options.

Wheat is too expensive and people cannot afford it, so they eat rice. Rice is also one of the main foods in the southern continent.

If you can't afford rice, eat high-starch foods, such as potatoes.

People always find ways to fill their stomachs, because wheat is not the only option to fill their stomachs.

Once the price of grain is too high and we are unable to sell it, it will become very troublesome.

Roger shook his head and said, "You don't have to worry too much about this."

"The federal government will give us some subsidies. Secondly, if we can't sell the grain, we can make it into wine and ask the chairman to help us sell it."

Lance had reached a series of cooperation with members of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce before. For example, they privately established a small workshop to brew wine, and then gave the brewed wine to Lance to sell, and they divided the profits according to the proportion.

One ton of wheat can produce less than three barrels (federal barrels) of strong liquor, which can produce a little more than 500 liters of 50-proof strong liquor.

If these wines are bottled, they can produce about sixty bottles of copper-label wine.

Based on the current wholesale price of more than 30 yuan, these wines can be sold for 2,000 yuan.

Of course, there are a lot of additional costs involved, such as labor costs. It takes three to four people to complete the entire process of making a meal of food.

The wages of winemakers are slightly higher than those of ordinary workers, and the wage costs of these people are about two hundred yuan.

Another relatively high cost is the price of oak barrels. Currently, a federal-standard oak barrel costs about fifty dollars, and two and a half barrels cost one hundred and twenty-five dollars.

These barrels can only be used three times, which means the cost is more than 40 yuan.

In order to distinguish it from other whiskies on the market, Lans also adds some spices and blends it with some technological products, which is also some additional expenses.

Then there are various other additional losses, including some R&D costs, storage costs, management costs, transportation costs, and sales costs.

For a bottle of wine that costs thirty yuan, the cost accounts for about half of it.

But it is obviously impossible to say that it does not make money.

Thirty yuan worth of food plus eight or nine hundred yuan in production costs will become more than two thousand yuan after a period of time, so the profit is still very sufficient!
Therefore, even if he bought some extra grain and couldn't sell it, Roger was not worried at all. Whether he gave it directly to Lance or they brewed wine privately and then gave it to Lance to sell, the cost of a few dollars would be completely overwhelmed by the huge profits!
After hearing Roger's certainty, the others naturally stopped saying anything.

They raised the issue of cost because they wanted to determine the final destination of the grain and the role they played.

Soon someone knocked on the door of the room, and the person outside pushed the door open and walked in. "Mr. President has already discussed it. Gentlemen, please follow me to the hall."

Roger and the others stood up, straightened their clothes, and went outside together.

They soon sat on both sides of the negotiation table again. Diego's eyes were filled with greed, and he didn't speak.

As the president, it is not appropriate for him to be the one to test the waters at the beginning of negotiations. With his status, if the other party rejects his offer or makes a sharp bargain, he will lose face and the negotiations will most likely collapse.

Therefore, often when negotiations are almost complete, these bigwigs will step out as decision makers to make the final decision.

The first person to speak was the Minister of Commerce, Ambassador Casillas' former superior.

This guy has some understanding of business, but he is not proficient in it.

There is not a very good business atmosphere in Lapa, and the Ministry of Commerce is more like a decoration and a joke.

If most of the country's large companies have certain relationships with these ruling groups, the Ministry of Commerce will be nothing more than a decoration.

The Minister of Commerce coughed and said, "We just discussed and believe that the current wheat price in the international market still has great potential for appreciation."

"President Roger just said that this is the only time in hundreds of years, so why is it impossible for it to break through the high price of forty dollars a ton?"

“I think it’s very possible!”

"If you can offer forty dollars, we can sell you some more food!"

"This way you get what you want, and we won't suffer too much."

Roger has not been living a life of idleness in recent years. The Empire Chamber of Commerce's several impressive achievements have made him a figure in the financial business circle, and he often participates in some business activities.

He is also learning and growing. Moreover, the Empire Chamber of Commerce is not the only one that does business. They also do some business themselves, with wins and losses.

These experiences have made Roger not a person who knows nothing. On the contrary, he has some experience in business negotiations.

He rejected the offer immediately.

"It's too high, Mr. President. We can't accept this price. The most I can give you is thirty-six dollars per ton."

Diego and the officials around him had no expression on their faces. The Minister of Agriculture interrupted and said, "President Roger, from my point of view, I am against this business."

"Selling too much grain will result in our people not having enough wheat to feed themselves, and the price will be too low, and we will not be able to give an explanation to the people."

“If you can meet our offer, then we will use part of the sales proceeds to improve people’s lives and the environment.”

"This is equivalent to you doing a good thing."

The two ministers took turns to negotiate, but Rogers insisted on the price of thirty-six yuan and refused to lower it.

When he saw Diego's expression becoming a little irritated, he suddenly said, "Forty dollars is not impossible, but it can't be 500,000 tons."

Diego frowned slightly, "Do you think 500,000 tons is too much?"

Then he relaxed his brows again. Five hundred thousand tons meant twenty million. He didn't believe that Lance, a gang leader, and this Imperial Chamber of Commerce could come up with so much money.

But the next second, Roger's words caused a brief blank in his mind, "It's not too much, it's too little."

"One million tons, I can give you thirty-eight dollars."

"One million and a half tons, I can give you forty dollars."

"As long as you agree, I can sign a contract with you immediately!"

For a moment, the room fell completely silent.

Diego looked at the Minister of Commerce beside him and winked at him. The latter also shook his head in confusion.

Instead, the Minister of Agriculture asked softly, "Can you afford so much money?"

He was a little confused and a little bit unbelievable. Are all the chambers of commerce in the Federation so rich?
They mobilize tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of funds at every turn. Where do they get so much money from?

You know, one million tons is 38 million, and one and a half million tons is 60 million. This is the federal sol, not the worthless para in Lapa!
Roger's face was calm. "What you need to know now is not whether we can afford it, but whether you agree to it."

Diego turned to look at the Minister of Agriculture. His brain wasn't very good, and he couldn't figure out how much money it was when it came to math.

His fingers hidden under the table began to curl as he calculated.

One hundred million...

So many zeros!
His breathing became a little rapid. Although he didn't know exactly how much, it was definitely a lot.

To be honest, this price is very attractive, but they are asking too much!

If we sell another 500,000 tons of grain to these people, they will still have more than one million tons of grain, and there will be hundreds of thousands of tons in the private sector.

Although it's not enough for everyone, it won't cause too much of a problem.

But if they sold the one million tons of grain they had, they would only have five or six hundred thousand tons left.

Even if the private sector's own wheat is included, the total amount will not exceed 1.2 million tons.

Diego and the ministers did not consider selling all the grain they had, but just thought about trying to sell one million tons at the price of thirty-eight dollars.

Roger saw their eyes rolling around and knew they were going to discuss something again, so he stood up and said, "My friends and I are going to the door to smoke a cigarette." Diego and his officials did not object. They waited for Roger and others to leave the hall and go to the balcony and closed the door.

Diego asked, "If we sell them a million tons, will there be enough food left over for people to eat?"

“Is there anyone who can figure this out?”

These masters certainly couldn't figure it out, so soon a special official was assigned to do the calculation, and he was also an official who graduated from the Czech National University.

After his calculations, he came up with a number -

"Mr. President, gentlemen ministers, if we divide our remaining food among each of us, each person will get about 100 kilograms of wheat on average."

"One hundred kilograms?" Diego's eyes widened, and so did the others. "So much?"

He found it a little hard to believe. With so much wheat per person on average, why did they often complain that they were not full and were hungry?

Damn these troublemakers!

Of course, he did not agree to it in anger, but looked at the Minister of Agriculture and asked, "What are we going to plant next?"

The Minister of Agriculture was also a member of the ruling group, but he had been to university and had actually studied crops. He answered very quickly, "Potatoes and carrots."

"Not many people eat carrots, potatoes are the main food."

"The potatoes will be harvested in February or March next year, and then we can start spring planting, followed by a new round of planting."

Diego actually already had the answer in his mind when he heard this, "The potato production is huge, I remember."

The Minister of Agriculture nodded, "Three or four times."

He realized something right after he said this.

"Look, there are still four or five months from now until February or March next year, which is more than a hundred days."

"Just now our..." He didn't know the guy's name, he just glanced at him, "Our friends told us that we have 100 kilograms of food left per person on average."

"Then we will sell another 500,000 tons, and divide the remaining grain equally among everyone, so each person can get 50 kilograms."

"Fifty kilograms!" Diego emphasized the number. "For more than a hundred days, each of them can still eat one kilogram of wheat every day. I think... this is not impossible."

He stopped after saying one sentence, and then gasped heavily. His obesity made it almost impossible for him to breathe.

The other ministers were discussing in low voices. Although some wanted to say something, they remained silent in the end.

One million and a half tons of grain, priced at 60 million, an unprecedented super sale!
In the past, each group could only earn over one million yuan each year, and this one million yuan might not necessarily belong entirely to any one of them, as it had to be divided among others.

But now, just for food, they can swallow up 60 million federal soles in one go...

Those who knew they shouldn't do this couldn't open their mouths at this time.

The federals are too crazy and are giving too much. It looks like they are discussing it, but in fact, they have already decided.

Whoever opposes is the enemy of these ministers.

Sixty million!
Soon Roger returned to the room again. He sat in his chair and looked at them with a smile. "Gentlemen, have you finished your discussion?"

Diego nodded, "Forty dollars a ton, one million and a half tons!"

Roger could no longer control the smile on his face. He stood up and held out his hand. "It's a pleasure to work with you, Mr. President."

Diego stood up with the help of the armrest of the chair, with a smile on his face. He shook Roger's hand and said, "Happy cooperation!"

"However, Mr. Roger, I don't want you to disclose our transaction to the public."

Roger was not surprised. He nodded and agreed. "No problem. No one except us will know that we transported the food."

"Then...I'm going to go back and prepare the money."

Diego also loosened his hand and said, "Tell me when the money is ready. The food can be loaded on board anytime and anywhere."

After leaving the Presidential Palace, Roger immediately returned to the hotel and told Lance about this.

Lance called the bank and soon the funds began to be mobilized - the money was an interest-free loan.

Although he could come up with the money, a lot of it was in cash.

This time, he could use the opportunity of operating Lapa to launder some of the money.

The banknotes are being packed into boxes and will be transported to the port of Lapa on cargo ships. When one's power reaches a certain level, whether one launders money or not is actually the same thing.

The trade of 1.5 million tons of grain is certainly not a small matter, but both sides are keeping it secret, and people can only see large trucks constantly traveling between the port terminals.

Sometimes when a truck passes by, it will spill some wheat kernels, which will cause some children to scramble for them.

Even though there aren't many wheat kernels and they can only grab a small handful, this stuff can be ground into flour to make a smaller loaf of bread.

So whenever a transport truck appears on the street, a large group of children will run after the truck with cloth bags on their backs, which has become a common sight in Lapa recently.

People actually knew that they were probably transporting grain, but they didn't know exactly how much they had transported, and there was no news in the market.

At night, two truck drivers came to the hotel where Lance was staying and entered the room after going through layers of inspection.

Lance was a little curious. Both truck drivers were from the Federation.

There are local truck drivers in Lapa who can drive trucks, but Lance doesn't trust their driving skills.

It doesn't cost much to hire them, but if they damage a truck, not only will you lose a lot of money, but it will also delay the transportation time.

So these truck drivers are all from the federal government, and each of them makes about eighty dollars a month.

The prices for federal technical jobs have generally increased now, and there are additional subsidies for those who want to go abroad, so the prices are very high.

Lance also attaches great importance to these people.

"What's matter?"

The two drivers nudged each other, and soon the older one took the initiative to step forward and said, "Mr. Lance, I want to report a situation."

"Some people make potholes on the ground from the warehouse to the port at night, and our grain trucks are bumpy every time they pass by."

"You know, a bumpy truck will always shake some wheat out, so we usually load it quite full."

"Then someone will rush out to grab the wheat that has been thrown out."

"We have dealt with it twice before and filled the potholes, but they were soon damaged again. The local police are not doing much about this matter."

Lance frowned, "What did the police say?"

"The police went to the scene and said they would deal with it, but there has been no follow-up so far."

Lan Sijin's frown relaxed, "Okay, I understand. I will deal with it as soon as possible. The information you provided is very important."

He said to Mador beside him, "Please remember their names and give them an extra month's salary as a bonus this month."

Mador walked over and recorded their personal information, and the two drivers left happily.

Lance called the local police department and found their chief.

"Mr. Lance, I have already sent our police to check out the situations you mentioned."

"We did not catch anyone at the scene, and the police force in Zhuolan is limited. We cannot always use the police force to help you clean the road."

"If you can catch the criminal, then call us again so that we can handle it more conveniently."

Lance hung up the phone without saying anything after listening to it. It was obvious that the police chief was just trying to get him to give a perfunctory answer.

This actually reflects the attitude of the Presidential Palace. Although they did business, Diego did not like the federals to enter here and enter his country. This is his kingdom, not the federals'!
(End of this chapter)