Chapter 258: Crazy money-making, dangerous ideas
The discussion on the details of the fire-condensing oil transaction did not last long.

It was over in just over an hour.

“I’m rich, I’m rich. Now, all my problems are solved…”

When Xia Chuan came to the pharmacy to find Xia Hong, he looked extremely excited and had a constant smile on his face, which showed how much shock this discussion had brought to him.

As if he had thought of something, his face froze, and a trace of regret immediately appeared in his eyes. He muttered to himself, “No, no, I’m stupid. The offer should be a little higher. They are all waiting for the fire-condensing oil to save their lives. If I raise the price a little more, I think they will agree. How stupid, too stupid…”

“Tell me how you make money!”

Xia Hong took a look at the jade bones in the iron pot and estimated that it would take another five or six hours to cook, so he took Xia Chuan back to the hall and asked with a smile about the result of the discussion.

Xia Chuan rubbed his hands and said excitedly: “I told them that Daxia currently has only 5000 pieces of fire-condensing oil in stock, and we have to keep some for ourselves. We can only sell 2000 pieces at most. They probably didn’t believe it in their hearts, but there was nothing they could do. They could only let me make the price.”

It’s only 5000 yuan in total, you really dare to say that…

Xia Hong had an extremely strange look on his face. He had learned from Qiu Peng before that Da Xia had more than 90,000 pieces of fire-condensing oil in stock. This time, a total of 50,000 pieces were brought to Longyou, 20,000 pieces were left in the Beehive, and Wu Shuang had 30,000 pieces.

Last night, we used about one kilogram of fire-condensing oil to rescue more than 2200 people. Each piece of fire-condensing oil weighs five kilograms, so at most 27800 pieces were used. That means Wu Shuang has at least pieces of fire-condensing oil left.

“Coal, iron ore, silver, gold, jade bones, cold beast meat, and the eleven kinds of medicinal materials that my eldest brother said were used to boil jade bones, as well as the special resources of Longshan and Zhaoyang that the two of them showed me. I set prices for them all in different categories. They had no objections the whole time. Now when I think back on it, I feel a little regretful. They were in a hurry to go back to save people and were afraid that we would not sell. How dare they bargain with us? I should have set a higher price!”

“How did you quote the price? Tell me.”

Seeing Xia Chuan’s regretful face, Xia Hong thought that he really had given the price too low, so he asked curiously.

But as Xia Chuan listed the prices one by one, his thoughts changed instantly, and the more he listened, the more shocked his expression became.

“两家各拿1000块凝火油走，我直接报了一口价，玉骨100斤、铁矿石2000万、煤石5000万、白银10万、黄金1万、兽肉300万、寒苹玉露30滴、白霜草90株、朱银花90株、赤阳果30枚、寒须草…………”

“You really dare to ask, they can’t possibly agree, right?”

Xia Hong couldn’t help but interrupt Xia Chuan before he finished listening.

This price is too outrageous!
Fire-condensing oil is indeed a magical object, but it is not a must-have for dealing with monsters.

Silver can also be used to deal with monsters, and he can basically conclude that the dew plague can also be treated with silver, because when Li Xuandu and Hou Quan just came, he used the Eye of Truth to see that neither of them had the fiery red substance after being infected by the dew.

Almost all the people who appeared in Hulu Valley before were infected. Li Xuandu was one of them. He returned to Longshan and the virus was gone. This proved that Longshan used silver to remove the dew on his body.

The same goes for Hou Quan. After Hou Tong and his men returned to Zhaoyang, they must have brought the Dew Plague back with them. Hou Quan did not have it on him, proving that Zhaoyang also used silver.

He had been in Longyou for so many days that he had already found out that he didn’t know whether Longshan and Zhaoyang had gold mines, but he was sure that they had silver mines.

Not to mention the horrific price set by Xia Chuan, the types of materials alone, including silver and gold, are outrageous.

“Of course not!”

Xia Chuan answered immediately, and said with a grin, “I just tried it on purpose to see their attitude towards silver and gold. As for the other things, their expressions were quite normal, but they reacted the most to silver and gold.”

Hearing this, Xia Hong was stunned at first, then looked at Xia Chuan, his face suddenly full of approval.

This time he only wanted to use the fire-condensing oil to exploit the resources of the two families, but he really overlooked this point. He could indeed take advantage of the opportunity of the fire-condensing oil transaction to find out about the two silver mines and gold mines.

Fortunately, Xia Chuan thought of it.

“They should have seen through my intentions and said that they didn’t have any gold mines and couldn’t produce gold, let alone 10 kilograms of silver. They told me directly that raw silver ore would dissolve into liquid when placed in an extremely low temperature environment. This liquid could also be used to treat the dew plague. That’s how the dew on their bodies was treated. If they could produce 10 kilograms of silver, they wouldn’t have to come to us to exchange for fire oil. They could just use silver to save everyone.”

If raw silver ore is placed in an extremely low temperature environment, will it dissolve into liquid?
Xia Hong immediately became very interested in the silver resources that he had never come into contact with before.

But now is not the time for him to be interested.

“There are two possibilities. One is that silver is too precious and both families could afford it but were unwilling to, so they made up a lie to deceive us. The other possibility is that neither of them lied. The Longshan and Zhaoyang families really don’t have much silver on hand and really can’t afford 10 kilograms.”

Hearing Xia Hong’s words, Xia Chuan nodded immediately. Of course, he would not be so stupid as to believe the two of them. He had considered these two possibilities.

“I thought of that, too. No matter which possibility it was, they really wanted the fire-condensing oil. I stalled with them for a while, and finally the two families couldn’t help but agree to give out 200 kilograms.”

Xia Chuan smiled as he spoke. This was the advantage of being in an advantageous position in the negotiation. Both families were waiting for the fire-condensing oil to save their lives. He had grasped this point and knew that no matter how the negotiations went, he would surely make a profit.

“I can see that 200 kilograms is basically their limit. The method of melting silver into water to save people must be very painful for them. They would rather give us 200 kilograms in exchange for fire-condensing oil. This proves that silver is really important and rare.”

Xia Hong nodded and continued to ask: “You reported so many supplies, how exactly do you want to trade?”

The jade bones and the other eleven medicinal materials were easy to transport, as anyone could bring them. However, the others were not so easy. 2000 million pieces of iron ore, 5000 million pieces of coal, and 300 million pieces of animal meat. Just these three items would require a lot of manpower and material resources to transport, and of course it was impossible to deliver them all at once.

Xia Chuan replied, “I gave each of them 100 pieces of fire-condensing oil to take back first. They will bring back jade bones and medicinal materials immediately after they return. The three largest types of materials, animal meat, coal stone, and iron ore, will be sent to Wu Shuang in five batches. The deadline is one month.”

The two companies must have a lot of coal and iron ore in stock, but it is probably not easy to take out so much at once.

As for animal meat, it is a little more difficult. It is not that I doubt the hunting ability of the two families. Xia Hong has been to Pinggu. The hunting ability of Zhaoyang Camp is definitely better than that of Daxia. 300 million kilograms of animal meat is not too difficult for the two families.

The difficulty here refers to the need to take out so much at once. Zhaoyang has a population of more than 1 and Longshan has more than 200. A large population means a large consumption of resources. Even if it is calculated at catty per person per day, their monthly meat consumption is more than million. No matter how strong their hunting ability is, they cannot have too much meat in stock.

300 million kilograms of animal meat should be more than enough in one month.

“With 100 pieces of fire-condensing oil, according to what happened last night, they can only save more than 900 people at most. After these two go back, they should bring the jade bones and other medicinal materials, including silver, here soon. Even if we give them the remaining pieces directly, it is likely that they will still not be enough. As long as they provide the subsequent beast meat, iron ore, and coal mines, we can continue to release some fire-condensing oil. Anyway, our inventory is sufficient. As long as they are willing to take out resources, we can sell fire-condensing oil continuously…”

The more Xia Chuan spoke, the more excited he became. He couldn’t help but sigh, “I now feel that strange things are not such a bad thing. This White Dew Plague came at the right time. Our Great Xia population has just exploded, and there is a big gap in resources. I now hope that this Dew Plague can last for a while longer!”

Hearing Xia Chuan’s words, Xia Hong’s expression became slightly serious and he scolded:
“There should be a limit to grabbing resources. Don’t have such thoughts. Those who play with fire will get burned. Although I have killed the Bai Lugui, the dew plague has lasted for a long time. I don’t know what will happen in the future. Da Xia is now a member of Longyou. We should look at the long-term. The more than 130,000 people from Longshan and Zhaoyang will sooner or later be Da Xia’s people. Killing them all will be a loss for Da Xia!”

Xia Chuan was stunned when he heard this. He lowered his head and thought for a moment. Then he gradually came to his senses and said with a hint of fear: “I was thinking the wrong thing. Thank you for your advice, big brother.”

Seeing that Xia Chuan had really woken up, Xia Hong nodded slightly and his expression relaxed a little.

It’s no wonder that Xia Chuan’s idea is very feasible for Da Xia, which owns the magical item like Fire Condensing Oil. As long as they leave the monsters alone and use the Fire Condensing Oil to exchange for resources from other camps, they will be able to succeed in everything.

But this idea is also dangerous!

Once Daxia really gets used to grabbing resources in this way, it will inevitably encourage everyone in the camp to be lazy and unwilling to work. After all, everything can be exchanged for it. Then who would go hunting, logging, or mining?
This is not the most dangerous thing. The key is that leaving the monsters alone is an extremely dangerous and terrifying thing in itself. Once the right degree is not grasped, it will end up hurting others and yourself, and Daxia will inevitably suffer a great disaster.

Of the three monsters encountered so far, which one is a simple one?
Take the most recent Bailu ghost for example. On the night of Hanqiong, after Xia Hong was killed and escaped, it realized that there was no threat anymore and immediately started slaughtering in Hulu Valley. Even Li Xuanling and the other eleven cold-resistant level ones were scared away by it.

If Xia Hong had not learned the details from Xia Chuan and others in time, and rushed back to Xiacheng to get the Hanxu Ding, and killed him in Hulu Valley, the final outcome in Longyou would probably be completely different from what it is now.

Therefore, Xia Chuan’s idea must be nipped in the bud.

“You continue to be in charge of the transaction. Wait for the two to deliver the items, and then come back and hand them over to me.”

Xia Hong waved his hand to dismiss Xia Chuan, turned back to the back room, and waited quietly for news from the pharmacy.

Li Xuandu and Hou Quan acted quickly. In less than two hours, they rushed back to Wu Shuang from their respective camps. After they left, Xia Chuan immediately rushed 200 kilograms of jade bones and various medicinal materials sufficient to make 180 kilograms of jade bone medicine and delivered them all to Xia Hong.

“60滴寒苹玉露，白霜草180株、朱银花180株、赤阳果60枚、寒须草120株、赤阳果60枚、双彩液灵果120颗、盘香叶60片、玉灵草180株、冰魂液60滴、阴阳花180株、玲珑果60枚，这全部的药材，足够配出180份玉骨大药，陇山和昭阳，还是富余啊，啧啧…………”

Looking at the dazzling array of medicinal herbs on the ground and hearing Xia Chuan’s sigh, Xia Hong couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. During the two days he was in Pinggu, Hou Hu pretended to be poor a lot, and kept saying how precious the jade bones and Hanping Jade Dew were, and how rare these materials for refining the jade bone medicine were.

But now, I can take out so much in one breath.

“Both families have quite a few people at the late stage of the Cold Resistance level. Where did they get them? They must have a fixed output of Cold Apple Jade Dew. I suspect they also have fixed channels to obtain the other eleven medicinal herbs, but they are all hidden deep, so we don’t know about it.”

After Xia Hong finished speaking, his eyes turned to the back of the medicinal materials.

Behind the medicinal herbs, there are two silver stones the size of a baby’s fist.

The stone is irregular in shape and emits a holy silver light. It sparkles brightly under the firelight in the hall, making people unable to help but look sideways.

“200 jin of silver, but there is only such a small piece, not even one-tenth the size of a palm. These two pieces weigh 400 jin, but they are not even enough to make a dagger.”

The moment he saw the silver, Xia Hong immediately realized why the two families did not use silver to save those infected with the Dew Plague.

Just look at the volume. Even if the silver is melted into water at low temperature, it would probably only be a tiny bit. How many people can it save?

Xia Hong stepped forward and pinched the silver. After applying a little force, his mind moved slightly.

“Its hardness, density, and weight are all far beyond iron ore. The difficulty of melting and forging must be much higher than iron. With this volume, the weight of a piece of silver is probably far beyond imagination. No wonder…”

Recalling the time in Hulu Valley, only Li Xuanling was holding a silver sword, while the other ten Cold-Resistant-level warriors only had a silver dagger. Xia Hong’s eyes suddenly showed a hint of understanding.

At first he didn’t understand. Since there was a silver mine, why only such a small dagger was produced? Considering the density of silver, it was so exaggerated.

Judging from the volume and weight of the two pieces of silver in front of us, the daggers in the hands of the ten cold-resistant-level warriors must weigh at least a thousand pounds.

“I have given them the remaining 900 pieces of fire-condensing oil. It depends on whether the supplies for the next two families can be delivered in full.”

Xia Chuan spoke with a smile on his face. In fact, the moment this batch of supplies was delivered, Da Xia had already made no loss in this transaction.

Of course, the next 300 million kilograms of animal meat, 2000 million kilograms of iron ore, and 5000 million kilograms of coal are also very important, and he does not want the two parties to break their promise.

“It’s highly unlikely. As long as they are not stupid, they can guess that we still have fire condensing oil. If they want it later, this batch of supplies must be delivered in full. Looking at the exaggerated volume of silver, I estimate that they will soon come to ask for the second batch of fire condensing oil. Wait, the supplies will be delivered soon…”

“Leader, Yuwen Tao and Yuan Cheng are here!”

As Xia Hong was speaking, Luo Yuan’s voice suddenly came from outside the door.

Hearing that Yuwen Tao and the other man who were recuperating in the Beehive had arrived, Xia Hong immediately smiled and said, “Bring them in!”

The Jade Bone Medicine will be ready soon. These two people are lucky to arrive there.

(End of this chapter)