"Your noodles." The owner of the small restaurant - actually a temporary shed with a few chapters of tables - brought up a bowl of noodles with a few leaves floating on it.

Gao Jinzhong looked at it and saw that the color of the noodles turned black. He was currently working with others in his hometown to build a machine mill. He knew very well what this color of noodles meant. This is a semolina mixed with a lot of impurities such as wheat bran! In the northern Zhenhai County and Xihu County area, this semolina, commonly known as black noodles, is generally exported to Brazil. Local farmers will buy them back in large quantities to make black bread and then distribute it to slaves for food.

In other words, this is a slave food even in Brazil. On the east coast, where the average living standard is higher than that in Brazil, there are not many people who are willing to eat this crude food. Agnelli is eating these things now, which makes Gao Jinzhong admire very much - obviously the delicious food and drinks on the east coast in recent years have made him forget the difficult time he was in Shandong, and at that time he couldn't even afford these things.

Agnelli and Gao Jinzhong once served in the same company. Agnelli joined the army two years ago and had a very good relationship. After Agnelli retired from the army, the contact between the two sides gradually decreased due to various reasons. Unexpectedly, the two met again in a remote town in Hejin Fort. The wonders of the world are nothing more than this.

Gao Jinzhong recently built a steam mill in Tuzidong Village. The equipment was introduced from Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory and is a simplified version of the machine powdering line of Dafeng Food Factory, but the price is still not expensive. Gao Jinzhong himself went to the county soldier committee for this purpose, and recruited several veterans who didn't know how to invest, and invested with them to build this machine powdering line.

Of course, the price of a full set of steam equipment is quite expensive. Therefore, they inevitably have a lot of loans. However, Gao Jinzhong and others are not worried. Because the Ministry of Transportation Construction Team, which is building Highway 2, has already provided them with the business of supplying flour to the construction site. As long as they can supply the flour needed for the construction team's two thousand people in quality and quantity, they will not have to worry about whether there is any business to do this for at least one year.

Nowadays, domestic control over the grain market is gradually relaxed. In addition to requiring grain farmers to sell rated amounts of wheat to the national reserve grain warehouse, the remaining grains in their hands are basically left unattended. Letting them not be careless as long as the grain does not flow out of the country, then you will sell to whom you like to sell to, and you can sell to the national reserve grain warehouse. They will also accept all of them according to the latest price. Of course, you can also choose to sell these grains to familiar millers or traders, which is no problem.

This policy undoubtedly made the private millers in China breathe a sigh of relief, because it means that they no longer have to buy grain from the national reserve grain warehouse, nor have they had to trade privately with grain farmers at the risk of being reported. Now they can openly sign purchase agreements with farmers in the village, then pull tons of grain back to their barns, start processing into refined flour, and sell them everywhere to make profits.

However, now that the domestic grain market has just been relaxed, most farmers are still accustomed to selling grain to the national grain reserve warehouse. The grain reserve warehouse has also become the largest grain "merchant" in China with its powerful network and golden signs. In addition to supplying a large amount of grain to the Dafeng Food Processing Factory, they also sell grain to millers of all sizes in China, making a lot of profits.

Of course, millers and Dafeng Food Processing Factory and other units are not fools. They are both enterprises, so they naturally know the importance of controlling costs and also know how important it is to control a stable source of raw materials for production. Therefore, they began to bypass the national grain reserve warehouse and directly contact grain producers.

The "luxury" flour production line of Dafeng Food Processing Factory can consume more than 8,000 tons of wheat a year, accounting for almost one-sixth of the total wheat production in the country. Therefore, they sent a large number of agents to purchase wheat everywhere across the country. At the same time, they also extended their tentacles to the countryside through the relationship between some flour sellers, trying to directly purchase the surplus grain from farmers.

They are really optimistic about the future of refined flour, because a while ago, many merchants ordered a total of about 3,000 tons of refined flour at the Qingdao Autumn Commodity Expo. In addition, the Genoese and the Dutch West India Company also placed orders of about 1,000 tons, which have removed more than 90% of the factory's production capacity in a year. The factory has obtained a special loan from the United Industrial Credit Bank to prepare for a second flour production line. In order to produce raw materials after the production line is completed, the factory is now hoarding wheat crazily, which has rapidly reduced the supply of wheat in the market and the prices have begun to gradually rise.

The rise in wheat prices inevitably spread to the terminal consumer product flour, and this irresistible price increase has also helped many farmers to be reluctant to sell. Especially in Xihu County, the largest grain production base in the country, and also the county with the highest degree of agricultural commercialization, farmers are more rude to sell. They hold the grain in hand and decide to wait, thinking that they will seek greater benefits.

In such a situation, major private millers and grain processors suddenly complained. They complained that the government exported wheat to foreign countries every year, but the domestic grain prices rose. This was simply outrageous! But complaining was just complaining. In order to continue to open their own small workshops, small businesses, and to make profits, they had to show their magical powers across the sea and try every means to make wheat on the market. Some people even traveled far away to try their luck in order to purchase wheat, and Gao Jinzhong was obviously one of them.

Gao Jinzhong was a lame man. One of his legs was injured in the war and was still inconvenient to move, but he still came to the south without fear. He first ran to the Rongjun Farm in Luoqia County and used his special identity as a disabled soldier to buy fifty or sixty tons of wheat from farmers who were also disabled soldiers. This number almost envied the millers of all sizes in China.

After purchasing these wheat, Gao Jinzhong found that he still had some extra money at hand, so he took the train and a steamboat to Hejinbao, hoping to try his luck in these towns that are not traditional agricultural areas to see if he could buy some extra grain. In today's Eastern Republic, the machine grinding market is far from saturated, and the Dafeng Food Processing Factory, with the strongest production capacity, is currently focusing on the foreign market with the highest profit margins, while many private small mill owners are fighting fiercely in the domestic market.

No one is a fool. At present, leading domestic companies like Dafeng Factory have begun to build a second powder making line. If this line is installed and debugged, although they may still be in the export market, they will still put huge competitive pressure on many small mill companies in China. Therefore, when such giant companies have not yet taken into consideration the country, fierce competition has begun among many private enterprises in China, and bankruptcy incidents occur almost every week.

Originally, almost every village was merged into two or three villages, and then this year, there may be only a few villages in a township, which shows the fierce competition. Moreover, traditional animal power, hydraulic power and wind power mills have been gradually eliminated because they are not suitable for the market. At present, especially mills that are slightly larger in the northern region, have begun to use steam power to purchase mechanized production lines - of course, this is limited to enterprises started by veterans who are not short of money and are willing to spend a lot of money to make early investments.

The mills of Gao Jinzhong and others were further developed after competing with the two mills in the neighboring villages. Then they were lucky enough to get orders from the construction team of Highway 2, so they immediately began to introduce new investors, purchase machinery and equipment, expand production capacity, and cope with increasingly fierce market competition. Several of their partners had a foreshadowing that with the great development of the domestic infrastructure industry, when transportation conditions improve greatly in a few years, the originally closed and semi-closed markets will gradually be integrated, and the logistics and transportation costs will be greatly reduced. At that time, the scale of the enterprise may be further expanded.

Building a business is like sailing against the current, and if you don’t advance, you will retreat. This is what Gao Jinzhong heard from a time traveler who invested in them. Therefore, their only idea now is to seize the precious time, expand production capacity and further reduce costs. They even burn wood for steam boilers to save fuel costs, and then continue to develop, because the leading company of Dafeng Factory puts too much pressure on everyone. If they cannot get bigger and stronger while the market is not saturated, they will inevitably be squeezed out of business in the future.

"So you came here to buy wheat?" Agnelli shook his head and said, "Gao, you're wrong. This township could not even be self-sufficient in grain last year. Although the wheat harvest this year is good, it is just self-sufficient. Some farmers may have surplus grain at home, but they may not be willing to sell it. They may choose to raise a few large livestock."

"There is nothing here, and there is even less Tieling Fort." Gao Jinzhong seemed to have expected this result for a long time and did not look very disappointed.

"You should try your luck in Ningjin Fort or Onuma Township in the south. There should be some farmers there who are eager to cash out their food. Many of the residents there are Frenchmen who are happy to exchange their food for money and then buy something else to enjoy. I have been there, and I know their virtues very well. Believe me, Gao, this is the conclusion that a pot maker who travels all over the world has come to through his own eyes." Agnelli skillfully ate with chopsticks and fork noodles, and then said.

"Okay, I'll go there and have a look." Gao Jinzhong said, "But seriously, old man, you can't do the business of a pot maker for a few years. Why don't you come to help us? At least you are familiar with the situation everywhere, which is very important to us."
Chapter completed!