Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

"Young Master Wang."

"Young Master Wang."

Wang Feng walked into the villa, and everyone sitting at the dining table waiting for the meal to be served stood up to greet him. He gestured for them to leave.

"Please sit down. After breakfast, Ninth Master will come to the study to report on the recent situation."

"Yes, Young Master Wang," Ninth Master replied with a bow.

"Here you are, time for breakfast."

Breakfast was served, consisting of congee with preserved egg and lean pork, fried dough sticks, and meat buns.

Wang Feng didn't greet anyone, picked up a meat bun and started eating it in big bites.

As before, Aunt Li ate alone in the kitchen. The wives of the second son and his family ate while feeding their children. As for the six rough men, they ate like starving ghosts after seeing Wang Feng start eating, and their eating manners were extremely unsightly.

After breakfast, Wang Feng followed Ninth Master to the study. He sat in the boss's chair, lit a cigarette, and said:

"Tell me about what's been going on lately."

"Yes, Young Master Wang."

"In the two weeks since Wang Shao left, we have recruited 45 people at wages 30% higher than the market rate. After our investigation, we found that these 45 people are all hardworking and willing to fight. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the work, we also bought ten cars and three trucks for transporting goods from the car dealership."

"In addition, as arranged by Young Master Wang, I had already arranged for people to start buying jadeite from the market a week ago. However, we have not collected much so far, only about 20 tons, and less than one ton of high-quality jadeite."

Wang Feng nodded, flicked his cigarette ash, and asked, "Where did you put all the jade? And where did you arrange for these forty-odd people? How much money is left?"

"I know the jade is important to Young Master Wang. I've arranged for it to be delivered to the villa and stored in the underground secret room. As for the accommodation of the forty-five people, I've rented a small apartment building nearby. Not counting the shops downstairs, there are a total of twenty rooms, with four people in each room. This place can accommodate a total of eighty people. The shops downstairs will be used as warehouses or for transferring supplies."

After a pause, Ninth Master continued, "Before Young Master Wang left, we had more than HKD 400,000 left. After that, we used the 1,000 catties of gold you provided to exchange for more than HKD 2.8 million at HSBC. During this period, we spent more than HKD 800,000 on buying cars, acquiring jade and other miscellaneous expenses. Now we have HKD 2.3 million left, so our funds are currently quite sufficient."

Wang Feng was very satisfied with Ninth Master's account.

"Ninth Master, I'll now explain the follow-up arrangements. Please take notes."

"Yes, Young Master Wang."

"Have Lao Liu inform the 45 newly recruited people that I have something to say to them after dinner tonight."

"Also, keep recruiting people. Fill that Tanglou building to capacity. Remember, they must be brave and willing to fight. Those who are lazy, cunning, or corrupt are absolutely not welcome."

"Also, I brought some heavy equipment and a lot of bullets this time. Arrange for someone to teach them marksmanship. But when they're not on a mission, make sure to hand over the heavy equipment to prevent any lord-killing incidents."

"I will be leaving Hong Kong Island in two days. Before I leave, I will leave you ten million US dollars. Your only purpose here is to help me acquire a large amount of jade and gemstones, and to help my father-in-law as much as possible when he needs it."

After listening to Wang Feng's explanation, Ninth Master nodded solemnly.

"Young Master Wang, three days ago, I arranged for the second brother to teach them marksmanship. However, because our bullets are limited, we only let each of them fire a few shots, and they can barely use it."

Wang Feng waved his hand: "You don't need to worry about the bullets. Tonight I will put enough guns and ammunition in the underground secret room so they can practice their marksmanship without worry."

"By the way, I asked you to find a way to buy jade from the mines in Myanmar so we could arrange for people to mine it ourselves. Any progress?"

Ninth Master shook his head and gave a wry smile: "Young Master Wang, we are in the initial stage here, and we really can't spare that much energy to handle this matter right now. I arranged for Third Brother to handle this matter last week, but there has been no progress so far. It's really because we are unfamiliar with this place, and it's inconvenient to do many things here."

Hearing this, Wang Feng said speechlessly, "Ninth Master, why can't you be more flexible? We have money, and we're not short of money. Why don't you use that money to make some friends? Like the local thugs or foreigners in Hong Kong? These people are very greedy. As long as you give them benefits, are you afraid that no one will do things for you?"

"Well."

Ninth Master smiled awkwardly: "Young Master Wang, I had thought about this before, but our foundation is not yet stable. I'm afraid those people are too greedy. I plan to recruit enough people first and train them to a certain level of combat power before contacting them, so as to avoid being attacked by them."

Hearing Ninth Master's answer, Wang Feng sighed. He had been too hasty. Ninth Master and his men were just ordinary people. If they encountered a ruthless gangster or a greedy foreigner, they could easily run into serious trouble.

What if someone captures Ninth Master and his men and forces them to hand over all their money? What can they do then?

He can't stay on Hong Kong Island forever; if any problems arise, they'll have to solve them themselves.

Thinking of this, Wang Feng said seriously, "Ninth Master, you are right. I was too hasty. Just do it your way, and prioritize stability."

"Yes, Young Master Wang."

After explaining everything, Wang Feng waved to Ninth Master and said, "You can go now."

Ninth Master nodded respectfully to Wang Feng, then left the study, closing the door behind him.

After Ninth Master left, Wang Feng brewed a pot of tea and, while drinking it, pondered whether there had been any flaws in his arrangements.

Unfortunately, he cannot fully trust Ninth Master and the others. If he could control their lives and deaths, he could use the Water of Life to cultivate several super soldiers.

If there were a few super soldiers, even if they couldn't reach his current level, as long as they could reach 2,000 jin of strength, they would be basically immune to ordinary bullets. One person could easily sweep through an entire gang.

As long as they are not afraid of ordinary bullets, it is difficult to capture such people unless they encounter the army. If they cannot be captured, they will not reveal their secrets because they cannot withstand the torture.

In his mind, a person might die for their boss or brothers out of loyalty and righteousness, but they certainly couldn't endure torture that was worse than death. After all, of all the people he had arrested, not a single one could withstand the torture without revealing the secret.

No one should argue with him. You may not be afraid of death, but if someone prevents you from dying by pricking your fingers with needles, branding you with hot irons, pulling out your nails, pulling out your teeth, skinning you, subjecting you to slow slicing, sprinkling salt on your wounds, or physically castrating you, doing it one by one, who can endure that?

The young officer Yamada Masakazu, wasn't he tortured by Yamamoto Ichiro in various ways for hours without confessing? In the end, he was frightened by the physical castration and revealed all his secrets. He was the most resilient person Wang Feng had ever met.

However, he had recruited over a thousand people this time, and he planned to return to Beijing so he could start researching poisons. With so many people conducting live experiments, he refused to believe he couldn't develop a poison that could control the life and death of others.

As long as he makes the poison that controls the life and death of others, and trains Lao Liu and the other four into super soldiers, their chances of being captured are very low. Since he can control their lives and deaths, plus control their wives and children, he's basically set.