Chapter 67: 800 Tons of Gold! We've Struck it Rich!

Two days later.

In the most exclusive private club in Mishu.

"Lin, I propose a toast to you."

General Mac walked up to Lin Ran with a crystal glass filled with top-grade amber whiskey.

Not a trace of his previous arrogance remained on his face.

The one ton of penicillin powder brought by Lin Ran had all been sold out.

A full 1 billion... dollars!

A 5% commission amounted to 50 million!

In this era, it could be said to be an unimaginably astronomical sum.

What made old Mac even more ecstatic was that this transaction not only filled his pockets to the brim, but also earned him the highest attention from the military and a sort of implicit, immense influence!

It was a massive windfall!

"Lin, a toast to you as well!"

Old Du walked over, beaming with a glowing face, his voice booming and full of ambition.

Compared to the depressed politician of two days ago, who had been tearing his hair out in his office on the verge of political bankruptcy, he was like a completely different person!

Initially, he had planned to use that 5% commission as a campaign fund, but when he produced 500 kilograms of penicillin powder, the heavyweights were completely dumbfounded.

The lofty bigwigs within the party, including the crippled one, looked at him with entirely different eyes!

Why bother looking for anyone else, you're our man!

The crippled one even declared that he would appoint him as Vice President in the next administration.

Of course, the price for this was that the price of penicillin was driven down extremely low.

1 billion dollars sounded like a lot, but when broken down to the price per gram, it was no more than 1,000 dollars per gram.

And each gram of penicillin powder contained 1 million units of penicillin, which could be diluted into 100 doses.

In other words, a single dose cost only 10 dollars.

This was a price ordinary people could afford if they gritted their teeth.

Yet, they would certainly never get to use it.

Given the predatory nature of these capitalists, anyone could guess with their toes that it would be released onto the market in tiny trickles.

The price would slowly drop from thousands of dollars down to hundreds of dollars.

Until every last drop of profit was squeezed out!

How else could they have sold 1 billion worth of goods in just two days without making dozens of times over in profit?

To put it bluntly, regardless of which family or faction managed to secure a share during these past two days, they would be sitting back and counting money effortlessly for the next few years.

And over the past two days, Old Du and Old Mac had become the hottest rising stars in the upper echelons of the Eagle Nation.

The kind of popular that was practically scorching.

Lin Ran smiled and calmly clinked glasses with the two of them.

This was merely the first step of his plan; much bigger things were yet to come.

"Lin, I'll toast you too."

A crisp, silver-bell-like voice, carrying a hint of childishness yet exceptionally pleasant to the ear, sounded.

A stunningly gorgeous little Lolita walked over, holding a wine glass as well.

Straining on her tiptoes to reach Lin Ran's side, those big, sapphire-blue eyes blinked rapidly, filled with curiosity and... a trace of imperceptible adoration.

Lin Ran felt a throbbing vein on his forehead.

He had only casually mentioned it that day, but he hadn't expected Old Du to actually track down Monroe.

"You're still too young to drink."

Lin Ran snatched the wine glass from the little Lolita's hand.

Little Monroe puffed out her cheeks and protested angrily:

"Lin, I'm already fourteen years old, I'm a grown-up, I can do whatever I want!"

Lin Ran put on a stern face.

"Be obedient, or I'll spank your bottom!"

"Humph!"

The little Lolita stamped her foot and stormed off angrily.

Old Du chuckled and sidled over, wearing an ambiguous smile that every man understood.

"Lin, in our country, fourteen is legal."

Lin Ran glanced at him sideways.

"Your country's laws don't apply to me!"

"Of course, of course!" Old Du hurriedly bowed and scraped. "I wouldn't dare speak for anywhere else, but here in Mishu, Lin, you are above the law!"

Beside them, General Mac curled his lip.

He despised the faces of these politicians the most.

Yet when he turned to Lin Ran, he too couldn't help breaking into a smile: "Lin, the gold you requested is already in transit and will arrive no later than the day after tomorrow."

Lin Ran had decided to convert his US dollars into gold.

The gold standard system was still in effect, and the US dollar was directly pegged to gold.

Gold was priced at 35 dollars per ounce, which came out to about 1.25 dollars per gram.

1 billion US dollars amounted to a full 800 tons of gold!

However, Lin Ran only converted 600 tons of gold, leaving the remaining 200-plus million US dollars to set up factories and purchase weapons and equipment.

"How are the munitions coming along?" Lin Ran put down his wine glass and looked at Old Mac.

General Mac smiled faintly: "All secured, a complete sweep!"

"Whether it's rifle production lines, bullet production lines, or grenade production lines, I've managed to get you two sets of each!"

Old Mac continued, "Also, the 100,000 Garand rifles and 100 million rounds of various types of ammunition you requested are on their way as well."

Lin Ran nodded in satisfaction.

As the saying went, everything is easier when you have connections in high places.

With this military heavyweight backing him, plus penicillin as a bargaining chip, he could basically get whatever he wanted.

And the prices weren't even high.

Each Garand rifle cost less than 100 US dollars, and the ammunition was practically given away as a freebie.

Combined with those production lines, the total cost came out to less than 50 million.

This deal was profitable beyond measure!

At the very least, it spared him from having to consume merit points.

Lin Ran had a hunch that merit points would definitely have other uses in the future.

Nearby, the observant Mr. Du immediately chimed in with flattery:

"Lin, I truly envy your country for having such an outstanding and patriotic businessman!"

Lin Ran smiled faintly: "How are things coming along with the factory?"

Old Du patted his large belly: "The land issue has been resolved. As for the workers... I have already sent out invitations to Chinese communities everywhere according to your requirements. As for whether they'll come or not, I can't guarantee that."

Lin Ran nodded slightly.

The Chinese people living here had a rather difficult time of it; he would help out wherever he could.

At that moment, Old Du recalled a strange term Lin Ran had mentioned earlier and couldn't help asking out of curiosity:

"Lin, you mentioned earlier about setting up some kind of instant noodle factory... instant noodles... what kind of magical thing is that?"

"Could it be some kind of Eastern magic?"

Lin Ran smiled slightly: "You'll find out when the time comes."

...

Meanwhile, Beiping.

Headquarters of the Japanese North China Area Army.

Kazuo Shinozuka sat in a seiza posture before Toshio Tada, keeping his head lowered.

The First Army had lost a third of its combat strength within just a few days, and he had to come and report the situation.

If he didn't explain well, he might very well die on the spot!

"Hai! Your Excellency Tada!"

Shinozuka bowed deeply.

"It is not that this subordinate is shirking responsibility, but the facts show that the Eighth Route Army must have acquired some advanced weaponry."

"For example, heavy machine guns that can be deployed by just two or three men, artillery shells that spew fire from their tails, mortars that can be carried on the shoulder and fired instantly..."

Shinozuka was thoroughly prepared and handed over a document with both hands.

An entire division, three infantry regiments, tens of thousands of Japanese troops—there were bound to be a few lucky ones who managed to escape back.

The weapons brought by Lin Ran had been completely exposed.

Shinozuka finally understood where he had lost; it was no fault of his combat strategy!

Opposite him, Toshio Tada wore a gloomy expression.

Had it been a few days ago, he might have thought Shinozuka was merely making excuses for his defeat.

However, at the thought of those twenty fighter planes that had gone and never returned, a chill crept up Toshio Tada's spine.

According to public reports by the Eighth Route Army, a single fighter plane had shot down twenty of their fighter planes.

It sounded like sheer fantasy!

The Special Higher Police had swung into action immediately.

Through interrogation of former traitors in Zhicheng, they learned that the Eighth Route Army had indeed mastered many miraculous weapons.

And that type of aircraft was called a jet plane.

It had no propellers, yet its speed was twice that of their Type 97 fighters!

And it flew much higher!

How the hell was anyone supposed to fight this?

Toshio Tada raised his head, grinding his teeth:

"Since we cannot defeat them in the field, we will starve them out!"

"We cannot enter the Taihang and Taiyue mountains, and they needn't even think about coming out!"

Shinozuka's eyes lit up.

This was indeed a viable method.

Moreover, Toshio Tada had always implemented a blockade and encirclement policy against the Eighth Route Army.

Only this time, the cage would be much larger.

"Your Excellency is brilliant!" Shinozuka bowed again, his voice carrying a cruel sense of delight.

"When I ordered the various units to evacuate the county towns, I strictly commanded them to burn all food supplies!"

"It is now the dead of winter, and millions of those Chinese dogs in Taihang and Taiyue..."

Toshio Tada finally smiled.

"Yoshi! Shinozuka-kun, you have done a tremendous job this time!"

"I am quite curious, what will those Chinese pigs... eat this winter..."