Chapter 492 - 488: Divine Powers Triumph Over Natural Disasters
Chapter 492 - 488: Divine Powers Triumph Over Natural Disasters
Chapter 492: Chapter 488: Divine Powers Triumph Over Natural Disasters
Although Tang Luo has always been known for his unconventional ways, Du Ting could never have imagined that the task, which he deemed almost impossible, would be completed so effortlessly in a short time.
During a natural disaster, nothing was more valuable than food. A bag of grains that might usually cost a few tens of gold, now, could not even be bought for thousands or tens of thousands of gold.
Grains priced at millions of gold in normal times are worth tens of billions now. Was the Xiao family giving in so easily? The three elders of the Du family were simply incredulous.
Seeing the same bewildered expressions on the faces of the three elders, Tang Luo furrowed his brows and asked, “Is there a problem?”
“No, no,” Du Ting replied, his face still showing shock as he, Du Wei, and Du Ling headed out to fulfill their duties.
Everyone present in the council hall was surprised to see how obedient the three elders of the Du family were towards Tang Luo. The figures present, all influential individuals of Xiling, knew all too well how domineering these three elders were. They were the ones who suppressed Du Sha and stripped him of his chieftain status when he decided to open the granaries and help the common people during the disaster. Moreover, they were also the ones who called back all the warriors of the Du family, halting all aid to the civilians.
All thought that Tang Luo had just reached some agreement with the Du family to be the lord of Red Cloud Mountain but, from the looks of things, it seemed like the entire Du family was now under Tang Luo’s command.
The taming of the three tigers and their conversion into allies were indeed joyful news. But these influential individuals knew very well that only a formidable dragon could subdue the tigers. The idea of working for this formidable dragon in the future, and building an Unparalleled City for him, left them feeling overwhelmed. Everyone’s expressions were complex, all except
Ou Yu.
After giving his orders to the three elders, Tang Luo turned back to the crowd in the council hall, raised his hands in salutation and said, “I will leave the matter of the citizens and the Unparalleled City in your hands until I return with the purchased grains.”
Everyone in the council hall responded with murmurs of agreement. Despite knowing they were working for a formidable dragon, as long as they could solve the food problem, constructing a city was a trivial matter.
The influential individuals began to leave the council hall one after another, leaving only Sun Jinfang and Du Sha behind.
It was easy to understand why Du Sha remained behind, but the reason for Sun Jinfang’s staying was somewhat surprising. Out of curiosity, Tang Luo asked, “Master Sun, are you not going with them to discuss how to control the epidemic and negotiate the details of the grain distribution for disaster relief?” -No need to rush that,” Sun Jinfang replied, his face filled with worry. “I just want to ask, with floods everywhere, where is this grain coming from?” The areas along the Longjiang River, previously rich and fertile, were now flooded. Given that Xiling was entirely covered by the floodwater, he wondered from where could they buy grains?
Sensing the cause of Sun Jinfang’s worry, Tang Luo comforted him with a hint of a smile on his face, “Master Sun need not worry. Since I have made such a promise, I will make sure to fulfill it. You only need to distribute the grains adequately. I assure you that I will return within twenty days, there won’t be any problem with the supply of food and fodder.”
Words coming from a renowned person and an unknown person have completely different effects. The same applies to positions – empty talk coming from a low-ranking person might be taken as a rule of thumb when coming from a successful person.
Sun Jinfang was skeptical because he couldn’t figure out where the grains would come from. But since Tang Luo promised, he chose to believe that Tang Luo could create miracles.
This was Tang Luo, a unique figure who had risen to prominence against all odds even when confirmed as someone with an Innate Hollow Body by a disciple of Martial Saint Mountain. Creating another miracle shouldn’t be too much for him.
“Then, I will remain at the central courtyard, awaiting the good news from you!”
Just as Sun Jinfang stepped out of the council hall, he encountered the three elders of the Du family who immediately showed their respects but passed by him even before he had a chance to utter a word, heading straight into the council hall.
“Alright, since the three elders of the Du family have already taken care of family affairs, come with me,” Tang Luo said casually as he stood up, addressing the three elders who had just entered.
The three elder’s lives had never been as busy as they were now. But since they had pledged their loyalty to Tang Luo, they had to obey his commands, as that’s the basic duty of an underling. So, Du Ting simply asked, “Where to?” “We are going to North Mountain first, and then to Lin Chuan Plain,” Tang Luo replied lightly.
Even a toddler in Longzhou knows this popular refrain: Chuanyuan and Da Lin are rich in grains, Yancang and Mubai lie south; immense wealth can be found in Chao Chang looking southwest, with Kunwu Divine Mountain seated in the center.
The flooding of the Lingjiang river had only affected over a hundred cities in western Longzhou. Although the Xiling Plain can be counted as a decent food base, it pales in comparison to the truly prosperous areas.
Tang Luo intended to buy grain from the cheapest place and solve the problem of millions of people’s livelihood.
And the place in Longzhou where grain is the cheapest has to be Chuanyuan and Da Lin.
Thanks to several large fertile plains, the cost of grains in these cities are even lower than in Xiling.
However, after hearing Tang Luo’s plan, Du Ting and the others were shocked, and even Du Sha was taken aback.
“Indeed, Lin Chuan is rich. But it’s over ten thousand miles away from Xiling. With the floods cutting off all routes, no beast carts can get out, and no merchant caravans can get in. I wonder how Young Master plans to purchase grains from there?” Du Ting asked, his face a bitter smile.
By estimates, the consumption of grains sufficient for one hundred and srxty million people would be enough to cover for a year’s loss.
If we consider an average consumption of one pound of grain per person per day, that makes three hundred and sixty pounds per year for each person. For one hundred and sixty million people, that is almost six bilhon pounds of grain a year. According to a standard measure of one hundred pounds per bag, this would amount to sixty million bags, a truly colossal number.
Without considering how much gold and silver would be needed to buy this amount of grain, just the idea of organizing such a huge caravan is near impossible.
With the floods cutting off all routes, and thousands of miles of flooded areas, transporting sixty million bags of grain from thousands of miles away back to Xiling seems like a task that’s impossible. Regardless of how Du Ting thought about it, the whole plan seemed doomed to failure.
Forget about sixty million bags, even six hundred thousand bags would be impossible. Du Ting, a look of alarm on his face and suddenly feeling at a loss, asked for clarification.
-What’s there to panic about?” Tang Luo reassured him, “A distance of ten thousand miles is but three days’ journey for a cloud-cracking beast flying day and night. As for me, I have the Divine Storage Void Stomach. Even storing a few bags of rice in it would be easy.”
Having read many ancient books, Tang Luo was becoming increasingly confused about his own body. The recordation that the earth’s spleen divine storage would open the Void Stomach in the Undying Battle Body was there in the scroll, but no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find any mention of a predecessor who had awakened as many quantities of Void Stomach as him.
A total of 999 small stomachs hang like grapes in his original stomach position, each with its own independent space about the size of a room. Having a storage warehouse with oneself is extremely convenient. How would one describe having a large hotel with oneself?
Were it not for his low level of cultivation and his Void Stomach being not big enough, Tang Luo would like to get to the mouth of the Longjiang flood and drink the floodwater dry….