Chapter 303: Why do you need a knife to cut leeks?
Sim thought he was a genius.
Relying only on some data on paper, he judged his neighbor's next move.
After discovering the situation, he immediately arranged for his salesmen to go to nearby mines to purchase stocks of copper ore, sulfur and other war supplies.
Currently, Horseshoe Trading Company has 200 tons of copper stored in its warehouse. According to his calculations, the full-power bomb produced by the New Alliance requires about 16 to 17 tons of copper.
To fight a local battle, one or two million rounds of ammunition are necessary. To defeat the entire Xizhou City, at least one or two million rounds of ammunition are needed.
After all, predators are not fools.
Under the training of those legion instructors, these people have learned to dig trenches and squat in bunkers. They have fought with the Snake Clan for several months in Honghe Town and have already learned how difficult those people are.
Because Horseshoe Trading Company has raised its inventory reserve line, increased the purchase of copper ore and other materials, and reduced shipments, the price of copper ore in Honghe Town has increased by 20%, and the price of sulfur has also increased by more than 30%.
.
And this is just the beginning.
He is still in the stage of sweeping goods. When he finishes sweeping goods, the warehouse will be full of copper ore. Then he will pinch the source of shipments and use the time difference between mines to increase production. It will be okay to double or triple the price of copper in a short period of time.
question.
Of course.
He cannot do this business alone.
The trading houses did not have the right to issue tickets. It was the mine owners who could issue tickets, and they were just dealers sandwiched between the slave owners and the merchants.
If you want to drive up the price of copper mines, you must at least recruit one or two mine owners with sufficient influence to cooperate with you.
But this is easy for Sim.
He has always had a good relationship with the nearby mine owners, and this is not the first time they have cooperated.
…
The meeting hall of the Horseshoe Firm.
After listening to Sim's suggestion, the man in luxurious clothes frowned slightly hesitantly.
"...This idea does sound good, but it's not very good, right?"
The name of the man who spoke was Dempsey. He had a lot of say in the local area of Honghe Town and even the Mining Association. The guarantee for all this was his 500 vicious thugs and the garbage mountain that made a lot of money every day.
He admitted that the pie drawn by Sim and himself was indeed very tempting. Even if it didn't double or triple, it would only increase by 20 to 30%, which would be enough for him to make crazy money.
However, he still had some worries in his heart.
The bone-chewing tribe is the common enemy of all survivors.
If the new alliance plans to attack the Bone Chewing Tribe, it will definitely be a good thing for Red River Town, both from a strategic and business perspective.
Xizhou City was defeated by the New Alliance, and the left half of the Snake Clan was sitting on the bullet holes of those blue coats. The pressure on Red River Town will be much less.
Although the cake Sim drew for him was very tempting, Dempsey still instinctively felt that it would be unkind to backstab his "ally" at this time.
Dempsey knew very well that he didn't have the brains, so he had better let those who knew better worry about it.
He just needs to know that he can make more.
Looking at Dempsey who nodded in agreement, Sim stood up overjoyed and stretched out his right hand.
“Wish us happy cooperation!”
“A pleasure to work with!”
Send the mine boss away.
After returning to the office, Sim finally couldn't hold it back and laughed wildly.
"Hahahahaha!"
Every time he dealt with those mine bosses, it was the happiest time in his life.
Although I just gave them a sip of soup, every time I told them, "You can take the big one," they would nod with conviction.
"Copper ore, sulfur...it's a pity that they can produce steel and aluminum themselves."
Sim stopped laughing, walked to the wall, stared at the map for a moment, and continued thoughtfully.
"But what a surprise... I thought they were going to expand westward."
To the south of the New Alliance is Boulder City, and to the east is nearly a hundred kilometers of wasteland with no water source.
Compared with going north, the benefits of going west are obviously greater.
After all, Qingquan City is located in the middle of the southern plain zone of the River Valley Province. There are lakes and rivers going west, and it is mainly plains and forests, with only a few hills.
If you go north, you will be heading into the mountains.
Why bother?
What treasures could there be there?
At this time, a knock on the door of the office interrupted Sim's thoughts.
"Please come in."
The door opened.
His subordinate Enjiet came in from outside with a list in his hand.
"Boss, today's inventory data is out. Our copper reserves have increased to 500 tons!"
"very good!"
Sim's face was filled with a bright smile, and he was a big step closer to his 1,000-ton plan.
"By the way, boss... we went to the caravan in Dawn City and heard a rumor there. I think you might be more concerned about it."
Sim: "What rumors?"
Enjiet hesitated for a moment and whispered.
"...They heard from people in the tavern that a copper mine with reserves of one million tons was discovered in the mountains north of Yuanxi Town."
Sim was stunned for a moment, then laughed and cursed.
"That's nonsense!"
These cunning blue gophers are pretty smart.
It had only increased by 20%, and I realized that someone was following them to buy goods.
However, this counterattack method is really childish.
Is it possible that the New Alliance actually discovered a million-ton copper deposit?
Of course!
But this possibility is too small, and the timing is too coincidental!
If you didn’t discover it earlier, you wouldn’t discover it later, but you discovered it just when the price of copper was rising?
And it's still a million tons, so it has to be a big vein.
What a liar!
If they really discovered a copper mine with such a large reserve, given their demand for copper, they would definitely build the road there as soon as possible, and then go to the outpost...
etc.
road?!
Sim's expression changed slightly, and he returned to the map, staring at the railway line on the map.
According to the information collected by the caravan under his trading company, the New Alliance has been laying a railway to the north. The railway has currently been laid from the industrial area of Shuguang City to the edge of Yumu District.
He had never been able to figure out why the New Alliance had to go north in such a thankless manner.
And now, he vaguely guessed their intention to do so.
If that rumor is true...
"Are the rumors reliable? Are there any other clues?"
Looking at the ugly-looking boss, Enjiet shook his head quickly.
"there is none left!"
With his arms folded in front of his chest and his back turned to his men, Sim bit his thumb while staring at the map, his mind racing rapidly.
After a while, he calmed down.
So what if copper ore is discovered?
Mining always takes time.
Looking back at his men, Sim immediately ordered.
"Let our caravan pay more attention to this news, I need to know more information!"
Enjiet nodded quickly.
"yes!"
…
"Have you heard? A copper mine was discovered in Yuanxi Town!"
"real or fake?"
"I don't know! I also heard it from the drunkard in the hotel in Highway Town! I heard from those people that those blue coats have the first geographical information data of the Internet era. They have already discovered the copper mine in Yuanxi Town, but they have not been able to find it.
I didn’t make any announcement about it, I just came out recently because I couldn’t hide it any more!”
"I think it makes sense...why else would they build the railway all the way north? Is there anything that needs to be transported there?"
"Speaking of which, have any of you been to Yuanxi Town?"
"Why go to that place? There isn't even an inn, and further north of Yuanxi Town is Bone Chewing. The people stationed there are all New Alliance soldiers. Wandering around there, be careful of being caught by spies who think they are plunderers.
Then I will have to explain for a long time."
Dawn City.
The entrance to the trading post.
Several merchants waiting for the delivery of goods were queuing up and bragging.
They are all merchants from Honghe Town, but they do different business.
While they were chatting, an "electric mule" drove into the trading post.
Seeing the drum-shaped equipment that the loading and unloading workers unloaded from the carriage, many people who knew the goods had surprised expressions in their eyes.
"Multi-cylinder hydraulic crusher?"
"I've seen this thing before. It was imported from Boulder City. I heard that second-hand equipment costs 20,000 chips."
"...It seems to be true."
Next to the truck with the emblem of the Horseshoe Trading Company, the caravan captain's face looked a little solemn.
That night, he reported the news to the person in charge of the trading house.
In fact, there is no need for him to report at all.
Within a few days, the news of the discovery of a huge copper mine in Yuanxi Town spread to Honghe Town along the trade route.
As one of the major buyers of copper mines produced in Honghe Town, the discovery of copper mines by the New Alliance was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for those large mine owners who relied on exporting copper mines in exchange for bullets, artillery shells and other industrial products.
.
When the wave broke out in Qingquan City before, the New Alliance increased the purchase volume of copper mines. They made a lot of money from copper ore trading, and some powerful mine owners took the opportunity to increase production.
If the price of copper mines fluctuates significantly in the future, or even goes all the way down...
Regardless of whether production is reduced in the next quarter, the top priority for those mine owners now is to take advantage of the "inflated" copper price to get rid of their inventory as much as possible.
Yes.
It seems that the new alliance is going to fight, but after all, it hasn't happened yet.
War was expected, and so was the discovery of copper.
These are clues they analyzed based on limited intelligence, not official documents written in black and white.
The increase in copper ore purchases can be interpreted as an increase in arms reserves. Of course, it can also be interpreted as an increase in power equipment, nitrate, sulfur and acid. The use of acid is not only for making artillery shells, but also can be used in many industries such as steelmaking and pickling.
.
There are pros and cons to any logic.
But one thing is likely to happen.
If the New Alliance does discover copper...
If the war doesn't go well, we have to slow down for a while.
There is not only one trading house in Honghe Town, nor only one mine.
When the price rose before, many people tacitly followed Horseshoe Trading Company to buy goods, but now they have tacitly lowered the reserve line of copper mines and threw the copper in their hands off the market.
When the growth rate of shipments significantly exceeds the growth rate of demand, it is obvious what will happen next.
Sim soon vomited blood and realized that before he could stab his neighbor in the back, he was stabbed in the back by one of his own.
These idiots sold out without any rules, knocking down the 20% price he had finally raised.
The Horseshoe Company's warehouse is now filled with copper.
Just because of that unknown copper mine, all the mine owners and business owners in Honghe Town became idiots.
Yes.
Just stupid.
At least in Sim's eyes, these people are just a little smarter than donkeys, not much more.
"Can't these idiots just wait a moment?"
"So what if they have copper mines? I'll just assume they do! Can copper ingots grow out of the ground by themselves tomorrow?"
The office was filled with angry roars.
Enjiet, who was standing aside, held his breath, not daring to take a breath.
Finally having vented enough, Sim looked at him and spoke word by word.
"How much budget do we have!"
Enjit answered quickly.
"Without affecting other businesses... we can still purchase about 700 tons," Njiet looked at the boss carefully, "Actually, we could only buy more than 400 tons, but recently the copper price has dropped a bit, so we can
Bought more..."
700 tons!
Compared to the nearly 10,000 tons of reserves released by these idiots, it is simply a drop in the bucket!
Sim, who was so angry that he almost vomited blood, took a deep breath to calm down.
Excluding these procurement budgets, he no longer has enough coupons to purchase more copper ore from the mine owners.
Borrow someone else's ticket to buy it?
No amount of borrowing is enough!
Moreover, even if he could borrow it, he would not be able to rely on his own firm to absorb all the goods that overflowed from other firms and mine inventories.
Once he does this, his fate will be from a person who cuts leeks to a person who is cut.
Who is most worried about falling copper prices?
That must be the person who bought it with N times leverage.
Once other trading houses find out that he has a warehouse of copper mines with a lot of debt, they will definitely laugh like crazy and sell more copper mines to him decisively.
In fact, there is no need for N times. As long as 80% of the copper in the market is in his hands, no matter if he adds 80% leverage or 800% leverage, he will be the taker.
"These damn blue gophers!"
Sim held it in for a long time, unable to figure out how to scold those people in the northern suburbs, and finally squeezed out these words through his teeth.
To this day, he still firmly believes that the new alliance will definitely send troops to the Bone Chewing Tribe.
But what's the use of just believing in him?
Can the market be influenced by one person's perception?
"Boss," Enjiet said cautiously, "are we still buying it?"
"Buy it!"
Sim couldn't help but curse.
Looking at his helpless men, he took a deep breath and controlled his emotions.
"The inventory reserve line remains unchanged..."
Enjiet hesitated and said: "The copper in the warehouse..."
Sim said through gritted teeth.
"Keep it!"
He is a man who makes a lot of money.
Those stupid donkeys who have failed to achieve anything but fail can sell it if they want. Even if the copper ore drops to the same price as the iron ore, they will not sell it.
This battle will begin sooner or later!
Sooner or later it will grow back!
…
"Don't you want to make a fortune with your brothers?"
"Don't blame your brother for not helping you, buy it quickly, otherwise you won't be able to buy it!"
Looking at the report sent from the Honghe Town military base, Chu Guang couldn't help laughing.
The news was that he was right, but he didn't expect it to be so effective.
Copper ore prices fell 37%!
The supply has been increased four times!
And this was based on two weeks ago. The effect of the smoke bomb far exceeded Chu Guang's initial expectations.
His original intention was to hope that prices would "return to rationality." As a result, when the mine owners and business bank bosses heard that the new alliance had discovered copper mines, one by one they lowered the copper reserves in their warehouses and not only followed him to buy copper.
The Horseshoe Trading Company in the mine was full of goods, and the caravans formed by the new alliance were also filled with cheap copper ore.
Since copper ore mostly exists in the form of sulfide, the price of sulfur has also been affected.
Considering that their big customers may no longer buy these two items from them in the future, it is the safest choice to reduce their inventory while they can be sold at a good price.
But once the sell-off begins, emotion, not logic, is likely to dominate the market.
Later, not only the major trading houses were selling off, but the caravans coming to Honghe Town also chose to wait to see if they could buy cheaper ones.
And large copper consumers like New Alliance have naturally become the biggest winners.
In fact, taking down Honghe Town is certainly an option, and it won't be difficult.
Chu Guang, who is a bit more sinister, directly issued a mission, asking the players on the front line to support Honghe Town to turn their guns to attack the surrounding NPCs, directly tearing a gap in the defense line, put the Snake Clan's predators in, and then send out troops to clean up the mess.
.
The strength of one regiment is sufficient.
The only risk is that the Ya clan gets the news from the Snake clan and takes the opportunity to go south to fight against the autumn wind and encircle Wei to rescue Zhao.
After all, it is not a turn-based game. When you do it yourself, the probability of others standing still is very small.
But here's the problem.
Since it is not a turn-based game, the war still has to be based on the object of the war, and the means and reasons must be calculated.
This reason is divided into two types: internal and external.
Internally, the reason for liberating slaves is enough. The residents of the New Alliance support him from the bottom of their hearts. For the players, it is just an expansion pack.
Using the planner's vest to issue a "declaration of war" eliminates the need for explanations. This is the best place for players to use it. If you can explain it, use the plot to justify it. If you can't explain it, use the settings to explain it.
The filial son of Lordaeron can kill his father with a sword. My manager is in a bad mood today. What's wrong with going black and stabbing a teammate? He didn't sign an alliance. This makes sense!
But externally, this reason is difficult to explain.
From Boulder City to Garbage City, and to other distant survivor settlements, although they all opposed the plunderers, none of them were anti-slavery. Some only recognized the legality, and some allowed trading but not private executions.
Many slaves in the mines of Honghe Town were themselves plunderers captured by other survivor settlements.
To use the reason of liberating slaves to declare them, it is better not to use this excuse at all, start a fight over a disagreement, and finish the fight when others are confused, and the impact of expansion will be smaller.
If the abolition of slavery is used as an excuse for war, the "diplomatic punishment debuff" may be higher than that of the bone-chewing tribe.
Some things require soil, and advanced people can be equipped with advanced ideas. Whether it is Vault 117 or Vault 401, the reason for their ultimate failure is ultimately only one, that is, they did not consider the actual situation of the wasteland, or
I took it into consideration but could not let go of the reserve of civilized people.
What they think is good may not be what others think.
They can see things ten years from now, but the people they manage may just want to live in the present.
Just like Boss Xia always liked to be lazy in the past, Chu Guang teased her a lot, but never really threw her out.
He was not born to be a manager. Having lived at the bottom, he understood very well what it was like for her to be in that position.
Not everything is right or wrong.
On the contrary, Xiaoyu's cute and sensible appearance sometimes makes him feel distressed.
Looking at the manager with optimism written all over his face, old Charlie still looked a little worried.
The drop in raw material prices is certainly cause for joy.
But if they fall too fast, they will eventually hurt themselves.
"I must remind you that the price of copper mines and sulfur has fallen because of the release of inventories, not because of the increase in production capacity. If those mine owners reduce production as a result, the price of copper mines in a few months will probably be higher than before.
high."
"You are right, so we ultimately have to rely on ourselves to supply raw materials."
Chu Guang put down the report in his hand and looked at old Charlie standing opposite the desk.
"According to the data fed back by the logistics department, we have reserved 700 tons of copper, and there are about 1,200 tons on the way. These resources are enough for our consumption in the next three months!"
At the current production efficiency of the industrial zone, 16.7 tons of copper are needed to produce 1 million bullets.
Just to make bullets, these 1,200 tons of copper can make more than 71 million bullets.
It is impossible to use so many bullets to attack Xizhou City, not even half.
At the beginning, he only planned to prepare 5 million rounds of ammunition, and later he could produce them while shooting.
It is expected that by the end of the war, the total consumption of ammunition will not exceed 10 million rounds.
"...You really didn't leave any escape route for yourself."
Looking at the surprised old man, Chu Guang smiled faintly, stood up and walked to the wall, looking at the markers on the map and saying softly.
"I will liberate Xizhou from the bone-chewing tribe within a month."
"Our mining team will set off with the equipment and the artillery shells we send to the front line."
"Whether the copper and sulfur sold in our neighbors' homes is expensive or cheap from now on, it has nothing to do with us."