kvmb Chapter 485 Half-price Chicken
Chapter 485 Half-price Chicken
“Normally, it takes three to five months to one or two years to train a new recruit into a qualified soldier.”
Zheng Qing replied, "This timeframe is too long; we can't afford to wait."
These days, the physical fitness of ordinary people is generally poor. It would be impossible to train a decent young man into a qualified soldier in less than several months.
In such a long time, let alone accumulating military power, Zheng Qing's grave would probably be overgrown with weeds by now.
After all, even though the imperial court was incompetent, it was impossible for them not to react within months of Zheng Qing refusing to carry out the additional tax order.
By then, the imperial army, plus the existing Qingzhou prefectural army, would be able to scatter Zheng Qing's ashes to the winds.
"Therefore, we need to speed up the training of new recruits."
Zheng Qing looked directly at Chen Dao: "And the Blood Feather Chicken is the key to accelerating the training speed!"
This statement was Zheng Qing's true purpose in coming to Chenjia Village.
The reason why basic training for recruits is so slow is that ordinary good boys are not physically strong enough to withstand high-intensity training. At most, they can only do drills once every three days.
But if one could have enough Bloodfeather Chickens...
As is well known, the blood of the Blood Feathered Chicken has excellent effects. Whether you are a martial artist or an ordinary person, after expending a lot of energy, you only need to drink a small bowl of Blood Feathered Chicken blood to quickly restore your strength.
Furthermore, with enough Blood Feather Chickens, Zheng Qing even planned to popularize martial arts in the soon-to-be-established Taicang Army. He couldn't provide mid-grade and high-grade martial arts, but the Zheng family had plenty of low-grade martial arts, which they could readily offer to the new recruits for practice.
If some martial artists emerge from among the recruited soldiers, it will be worthwhile and will further enhance the combat strength of this new army.
"So it was for the Bloodfeather Chicken."
Chen Dao suddenly realized that Zheng Qing's idea was excellent. Using Blood Feather Chickens to enhance the physical fitness of new recruits and speed up training was similar to the training methods of the Chen Family Army.
Of course, the number of people in the Taicang Army that Zheng Qing wanted to build was not small, so it was impossible for everyone in the Chen Family Army to become a martial artist.
"How many Blood Feather Chickens does Lord Zheng want?" Chen Dao asked.
"The more, the merrier."
Without hesitation, Zheng Qing said, "I hope that young friend Chen can provide me with at least 2000 Blood Feather Chickens every month. In addition, the price should be reduced, preferably to 10 taels per chicken."
"10 taels!"
Chen Dao's expression changed. The price of blood-feathered chickens sold in Chenjia Village had always been 20 taels each, and this sudden price drop of half inevitably made Chen Dao feel a little heartbroken.
Although providing 2000 blood-feathered chickens a month is not a problem for Chenjia Village and the profit is decent, if each chicken is cheaper by 10 taels, that's 20000 taels of silver in profit. How could Chen Dao not feel the pinch?
"Lord Zheng, isn't this price too low? Ten taels of silver per animal! Chenjia Village will lose money!"
Chen Dao said with a pained expression.
"Little friend."
Zheng Qing gave Chen Dao a deep look and said, "We are now in the same boat. Do you still intend to fool us, young friend?"
"This one……"
Chen Dao, whose thoughts had been exposed, began to stammer.
Zheng Qiuyan rolled her eyes at Chen Dao and said, "As far as I know, the cost of raising Blood Feather Chickens in Chenjia Village is not high. It's just a little bit of grain and some medicinal herbs. The cost of one Blood Feather Chicken is no more than 5 taels of silver. But Young Master Chen said that selling them for 10 taels of silver would result in a loss. It seems that Young Master Chen has never considered us as his own people!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiwen and Li Qingyun looked at Chen Dao with strange expressions. A blood-feathered chicken that costs less than 5 taels of silver to produce is being sold for 20 taels of silver apiece. This young friend Chen is simply a profiteer.
Of course, everyone knew that the most valuable thing about the Blood Feather Chicken was not its breeding cost, but its breeding method. Therefore, they could accept the high price of 20 taels of silver.
After all, compared to herbs of the same grade, Blood Feather Chicken is more effective and cheaper.
"You can't say that."
Chen Dao somewhat embarrassedly argued, "Breeding blood-feathered chickens also requires technology and manpower; we can't just calculate the cost based on the price of grain and medicinal materials."
"Of course I know this."
Zheng Qing nodded in agreement: "However, young friend Chen should also know that although my Zheng family is wealthy, money and food are not inexhaustible. Even if my Zheng family had mountains of gold and seas of silver, we still couldn't afford to buy 2000 blood-feathered chickens every month at a price of 20 taels of silver!"
Zheng Qing plans to build a Taicang army of about 5000 people. These 5,000 people will require a lot of money and food for food, drink, and shelter, as well as weapons and equipment. Therefore, Zheng Qing must keep the price of Blood Feather Chicken down.
Otherwise, no matter how wealthy the Zheng family was, they probably wouldn't be able to support the expenses of five thousand troops.
"Ok."
Chen Dao hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded: "I agree to sell you 2000 Bloodfeather Chickens per month at a price of 10 taels each, but..."
Chen Dao changed the subject, saying, "I need Lord Zheng to give me a promise that these 2000 Blood Feather Chickens will only be used by the army and will not be sold!"
If Zheng Qing were to sell 2000 blood-feathered chickens on the market each month, it would inevitably cause a significant drop in the price of blood-feathered chickens, resulting in Chenjia Village losing substantial profits from the sale of its chickens. This would be unacceptable to Chen Dao.
If the blood-feathered chickens cannot fetch a high price, where will he get the money to pay the villagers of Chenjia Village's wages? Where will he get the money and food to continue building up Chenjia Village?
"Of course that's no problem."
Zheng Qing, whose wish had been fulfilled, smiled and agreed.
Seeing this, Xu Zhiwen and Li Qingyun also took the opportunity to speak up: "Young friend Chen, we also need a Blood Feather Chicken for 10 taels each."
"..."
Chen Dao was speechless, feeling as if the price reduction trend had been unstoppable once it was started.
"Lord Xu, Lord Li, you just heard it too. These 10 taels of silver worth of blood-feathered chickens can only be used in the army and cannot be sold. What do you need so many blood-feathered chickens for?"
"Although we do not have an army, we do have a city guard."
Xu Zhiwen stroked his beard and said, "The city guards are crucial to the safety of the county, so I naturally need to train them well. I don't ask for much; you only need to sell me 200 Blood Feather Chickens every month for 10 taels of silver."
"I also need 200."
Li Qingyun also said that ever since the last time the army was routed, he had developed a fear of insufficient martial power. If the city guards of Ding'an County were like the Chen family army, with everyone being a martial artist, why would he, Li Qingyun, be so troubled by those thousands of routed soldiers?
It was precisely because of his fear of being unable to fight that Li Qingyun took the opportunity to request to buy Blood Feather Chickens at a low price, intending to go back and properly train the city guards who were loyal to him and to Ding'an County.