The Cycle of Reincarnation in the Four-Courtyard House: A Journey Through the Heavens

Li Xiao replaced the magazines on the two pistols and quickly inspected each of the fallen Japanese soldiers.

Li Xiao fired a bullet into the forehead of every Japanese soldier who had been shot, regardless of whether they were dead or not.

Just then, Li Xiao suddenly sensed danger coming from his side and rear. Without hesitation, he performed a standard side roll and pulled the trigger of his gun, aiming it directly at the source of the danger.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Li Xiao only pulled the trigger once, but two gunshots rang out.

Li Xiao hid behind a truck, sticking his head out to look at the spot where he had fired his gun.

There was a Japanese officer in a major's uniform, holding a Nambu Type 14 pistol in his hand, with a wisp of smoke rising from the muzzle.

A bloody hole appeared on the forehead of the Japanese major, and his body slumped limply to the ground.

"Pah!"

Li Xiao spat at the Japanese major.

"You bunch of bastards, you just love sneaking around and stab people in the back, damn it!"

Li Xiao cursed and swore as he quickly finished off all the Japanese soldiers before heading towards the second truck.

This convoy consisted of twelve trucks in total, with the first and last trucks being troop carriers, and only the ten trucks in the middle carrying supplies.

Li Xiao lifted the tarpaulin curtain and stepped into the carriage.

Bags of grain suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Li Xiao squinted and scanned the carriage, cursing inwardly, "This whole carriage is full of rice. I wonder where these bastards got it from!"

The second cart was also full of grain, but this time it was all wheat flour.

According to Li Xiao's memory, during the Japanese occupation, the Chinese people were not allowed to eat rice and wheat flour. They could only survive on coarse grains such as cornmeal, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

These two trucks carry at least eight tons of grain in total.

After a thorough examination, a smile finally appeared on Li Xiao's face.

Today's harvest was quite substantial. Of the ten trucks, four were carrying grain, including two trucks of flour, one truck of rice, and one truck full of large barrels of cooking oil.

In addition, there are various medicines, medical equipment, cotton-padded clothes, cotton-padded shoes, weapons and ammunition, and other supplies.

Among these medicines, Li Xiao also found two large boxes of sulfonamides, which are currently the most sought-after and scarce medicines.

I heard that in Shanghai, one vial of sulfonamide can be exchanged for a small yellow croaker, but I don't know if it's true.

Li Xiao also found a box made of Phoebe zhennan wood inside the truck that the Japanese major had been riding in.

When Li Xiao opened the box, he was immediately enveloped in a golden light.

"It's true what they say: 'No man gets rich without unexpected wealth, and no horse gets fat without night grazing!'"

A happy smile appeared on Li Xiao's lips.

This nanmu wood box contained two hundred rolls of silver dollars.

Li Xiao tore open one of the rolls of silver dollars and counted them; there were exactly fifty Yuan Shikai silver dollars inside.

So these two hundred volumes would cost a full ten thousand silver dollars.

In his previous life, Li Xiao had looked up the valuation of the ocean online.

According to the conversion, one silver dollar today is roughly equivalent to the purchasing power of 500 yuan in today's world.

Therefore, at that moment, 10,000 silver dollars would be equivalent to 5 million in later times.

In addition, there were fifty large yellow croakers and one hundred small yellow croakers in this nanmu box. The dazzling golden light that appeared when the box was opened was emitted by these little cuties.

At the current exchange rate, a small yellow croaker can be exchanged for 30 silver dollars, while a large yellow croaker can be exchanged for 300 silver dollars. These yellow croakers, large and small, are worth a total of 18,000 silver dollars.

In the corner of the box, there was an object wrapped in yellow silk cloth.

Li Xiao lifted the yellow silk cloth and found that inside was a dark, rotten piece of wood, about the thickness of a baby's arm.

The surface of this rotten piece of wood is jagged and uneven, and at first glance it looks like a piece of rotten wood that has been struck by lightning.

Li Xiao was a man of wide experience, and he didn't believe that these Japanese devils would place a piece of rotten wood so preciously in this large box made of Phoebe zhennan wood.

Li Xiao picked up the dark, rotten piece of wood and tapped it with two bent fingers.

As he struck it, the rotten wood surprisingly produced a crisp, metallic clang.

A dazzling light flashed in Li Xiao's eyes.

He immediately pulled out a military dagger and carefully scraped the corner of the piece of wood a few times.

A layer of brownish-yellow powder drifted into his palm.

Li Xiao brought his nose close to his palm and smelled it, his face immediately showing a mixture of surprise and delight.

"It really is this treasure!"

"Hahaha~"

Li Xiao could no longer contain his excitement and burst into laughter.

It turns out that this piece of rotten wood is the legendary agarwood.

Moreover, according to Li Xiao's identification, this piece of agarwood, weighing more than three kilograms, is the highest grade of agarwood, Qinan agarwood.

Qinan agarwood is known as the "diamond of woods." Its formation requires three demanding conditions: tree species, fungi, and environment. It also needs to undergo decades or even hundreds of years of natural aging to take shape.

Qinan agarwood has an extremely high density and sinks immediately when placed in water, which is why it produces a metallic clang when struck.

The uses of Qinan agarwood cover multiple fields, including medicine, incense appreciation, collection, and health preservation.

According to scientific research, agaricol in Qinan agarwood can activate GABA receptors across the blood-brain barrier, significantly improving sleep disorders.

Clinical data shows that continuous use can increase deep sleep time by about 1.2 hours.

This magical wood also has the effect of promoting qi circulation and relieving pain.

In addition, drinking water boiled with this agarwood can provide immediate relief for women with cold constitutions and heart disease patients.

Infusing alcohol with agarwood can warm the body and kidneys, making it an excellent tonic.

The benzylacetone in the volatile oil of Qinan agarwood can also promote the contraction of intestinal smooth muscle, with an improvement rate of up to 82% for functional dyspepsia, and can relieve symptoms such as angina pectoris.

Kyara agarwood can also be used as incense. Its aroma is rich and layered, with a refreshing and cool top note, a sweet and frankincense middle note, and a lingering sandalwood base note. Even just 0.1 gram can achieve a deep relaxing effect when diffused over a flame.

According to Li Xiao, there was once a piece of Vietnamese white agarwood weighing 908 grams that had a starting bid of 400 million yuan, with each gram worth more than 2 yuan.

Upon careful examination, the piece of agarwood in Li Xiao's hand was actually yellow agarwood, which is even rarer and more precious than white agarwood.

According to historical records, Huang Qinan was already a royal tribute item worth "ten thousand gold pieces" during the Song Dynasty. Later, due to the gradual depletion of wild resources, Huang Qinan became "valuable but unavailable".

The Huang Qinan that occasionally appears in later generations are basically all old antiques left over from the past; there are no new ones anymore.

According to Li Xiao, decades later, the price of this kind of yellow agarwood would start at least at 20,000 yuan per gram, and the best quality ones had even sold for a sky-high price of 50,000 yuan per gram.

Based on the weight and quality of this piece of Huang Qinan in Li Xiao's hand, it would definitely be worth no less than 50,000 yuan per gram at auction in later generations.