Chapter 121
Luo Lan did not know that Qing Zhen had already ordered people to start looking for him, nor did he know that Qing Zhen was facing subjugation by the consortium's board of directors. He only knew the distant sweet potatoes smelled good.
He looked over to his trusted aide next to him and said, "Well… Tang Zhou, go and see if there are any more sweet potatoes that they haven't dug up from the field."
His trusted aide whose name was Tang Zhou said, "Why don't we just take some from them?"
"What do you know?" Luo Lan scolded angrily, "Am I that kind of person? If the consortium wants me to kill those from the Pyro Company right now, I would do it without batting an eyelid. But what would they say about me if it gets found out that I snatched food from a group of escapees?"
"But the sweet potato field has already been dug clean by them," Tang Zhou said awkwardly.
There were over 3,000 escapees in total. The sweet potato field was not the result of scaled up agriculture, but one that had sprouted up in the wild since who knew when.
It was not easy for these escapees who had been starving for several days to find something to eat. So they would definitely dig up everything they could find. Even if they could not finish eating the sweet potatoes, they could take them with them on the road. At the least, they would not have to go hungry again for the next few days.
Only people who had gone hungry before would understand what it felt like to be starving. Seeing that it was only a few days since their escape, all of the escapees had slimmed down quite a bit.
Only Ren Xiaosu and company did not seem like they had changed much in appearance.
Luo Lan thought about it for a long time. "Those of you who brought money with you, go and buy some from them."
Luo Lan did not have the time to bring anything with him during his escape. Otherwise, he would have put on pants. It was almost the same for the combat brigade soldiers as well. As the earthquake happened too suddenly, nearly all those who had the thought to retrieve their money were buried underneath houses.
The soldiers looked at each other as they pooled their money. Finally, they managed to come up with 4,000 yuan that was made up of whatever spare change they usually carried in their pockets.
Luo Lan looked at the money with glimmering eyes. "Tang Zhou, take some people over and buy the food. Be careful not to get attacked by them."
"Got it." Tang Zhou led a combat platoon with him. The combat platoons that were lucky to survive had been reorganized into new teams. Although the wounded would not have to join the battles, at least two-thirds out of 200 troops could still fight.
Luo Lan did not forget to tell them, "Buy it at 50 times the usual price and don't disgrace the Qing Consortium. We don't take advantage of others."
Food was obviously more important than money at this time, but whether offering 50 times the normal price was worth it would depend on the point of view.
They would get back human civilization someday and might even reach Stronghold 109 in another three days if they walked a bit faster. At that time, they would need money to buy things. Although the Qing Consortium only had a so-so relationship with the Li Consortium, they still had some businesses and assets in Stronghold 109. Therefore, the money issued by the Qing Consortium would still have some purchasing power.
The relationship between the organizations was very complicated. It was not like a stronghold controlled by the Li Consortium would not be influenced by the other organizations. Most of the time, the distribution of influence between the organizations was interconnected in a complex fashion.
As the various strongholds were in different locations, it meant they controlled different natural resources. So there was a mutual dependency between the corporations.
For example, the areas controlled by the Qing Consortium were mainly rich in vanadium titanomagnetite ore, halite, mirabilite, descloizite, sulfur, iron ore, asbestos, mica, gold, phosphorus, limestone, coal, and natural gas; while the Li Consortium-controlled south had nonferrous metals, coal mines, and an agriculture industry that produced an abundance of tobacco leaves.
But the most important fact was that the Qing Consortium was situated in a climate friendly basin. They controlled the planting of food crops such as rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, and cash crops like tea leaves. The Li Consortium had to purchase such food commodities from the Qing Consortium on many occasions. Although they also grew these crops, their own supply was inadequate.
Every organization placed a great deal of importance on agriculture. But it didn't automatically mean that the land they controlled would be suitable for growing such crops just because it was a priority for them. Nature would not bend to suit human will.
Soon after, Tang Zhou and his men returned with a lot of sweet potatoes in their arms. Not many people would dare to refuse the request of the Qing Consortium when they saw their soldiers approaching them with guns and offering to buy their sweet potatoes. Moreover, the Qing Consortium was not lowballing them.
Luo Lan excitedly ordered the soldiers to throw the sweet potatoes into the fire. Then the group waited eagerly for them to be cooked.
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