Chapter 754

He Yaofa said, "Even a few hundred thousand is quite impressive. By the way, Manager Yu, when you purchase the vegetables, will you pay in cash?"

Yu Gaoshan said, "Of course it will be cash. Why would I issue IOUs for such agricultural products? I'm not the Grain Bureau."

Yu Gaoshan was telling a joke, but it was precisely this joke that put He Yaofa at ease. In this day and age, when farmers handed over public grain to the Grain Bureau's purchasing department, nine times out of ten they received IOUs. The grain was only worth a few cents a jin, and they couldn't even get cash; they didn't know how long it would take to be cashed out. How were farmers supposed to live like that?

He Yaofa had naturally suffered greatly from IOUs. Now that he heard Yu Gaoshan say he paid cash for vegetable purchases, he was delighted. As a farmer, he was used to being poor; who wouldn't want some ready cash in their hands? He rubbed his hands together and said, "That's great, that's really great."

Yu Gaoshan said, "However, Director He, while I am underwriting, the price cannot be fixed right now. It must follow the market. Vegetable prices fluctuate too much. If I set it too high, I might lose money; if I set it too low, it won't be worth it for you. I think this is better for both of us."

He Yaofa nodded and said, "I understand this principle. It should follow the market, it should follow the market."

Yu Gaoshan said, "I didn't bring my company's official seal today. I will come back in a few days with the seal and the contract, and we will sign the underwriting contract then."

He Yaofa said, "Good, good, good."

After Yu Gaoshan reached an agreement with him, he stood up to leave. He Yaofa insisted on keeping him and Su Xinghui for a meal at his home. Yu Gaoshan said, "Director He, I appreciate your kindness, but I won't eat. I still have to go talk to several other cooperatives about underwriting."

Su Xinghui also said, "Old He, we won't eat. We have other things to do. We will be cooperating for a long time, so there will be plenty of opportunities to eat together in the future."

He Yaofa then nodded and said, "Alright, then we'll eat here next time when we sign the contract."

Yu Gaoshan and Su Xinghui visited several more cooperatives and reached preliminary agreements on cooperation. With the promise of underwriting from Huinong Trading Company, the farmers participating in these cooperatives were given a sense of security, and their enthusiasm for growing vegetables became even stronger.

A few days later, Yu Gaoshan brought the official seal and the contracts back to Pengjiawanzhen and signed vegetable underwriting contracts with the cooperatives he had previously discussed with.

He also told Su Xinghui that he had contacted some vegetable vendors in Jiangcheng and asked them to come to Pengwan to purchase vegetables when the time came. Of course, these vendors had not established companies themselves, so they wouldn't sign any underwriting contracts with the cooperatives. However, there was currently a shortage of vegetable supply in Jiangcheng, and these vendors were worried about where to source their goods. Since Pengwan was so close to Jiangcheng, they would definitely come to purchase when the vegetables matured.

Although the amount each of these vendors purchased wouldn't be very large, they had the advantage of being numerous. If each of them hauled a truckload every day, it would add up to quite a lot.

Besides Jiangcheng, the vegetable markets in Shangjun County and Yulin City could also consume a significant amount of vegetables. Therefore, Su Xinghui wasn't too worried about the current vegetable sales channels. Of course, one must always take precautions; being able to contact more sales channels now would be beneficial for the future development of Pengwan's vegetable industry.

More importantly, after Pengwan's vegetable industry developed, it could also drive the development of the vegetable industry in the surrounding townships. These surrounding townships had 500,000 mu of land, and their geographical environment was similar to Pengwan's, making them very suitable for developing the vegetable industry.

Su Xinghui had an idea: he wanted to let the townships east of Shangjun County grow vegetables and truly develop the vegetable industry into a pillar industry for Shangjun County, making Shangjun County the "Vegetable Township" of Hudong Province and leveraging the advantages of scale. To do this, he had to consider the issue of expanding sales channels in advance.

For this reason, Su Xinghui had already begun to consider the issue of building a vegetable wholesale market in Pengwan.

Pengwan's geographical location was excellent. It was situated at the junction of two highways: one from Shangjun County to Jiangcheng, and one from Shangjun County to Yulin City. One had to pass through Pengwan to get from Shangjun County to Jiangcheng or Yulin City, and the distance from Pengwan to Shangjun County, Jiangcheng, and Yulin City was not far.

Pengwan was only 20 kilometers from Shangjun County, just over 30 kilometers from Yulin City, and only 50-plus kilometers from Jiangcheng. If a large vegetable wholesale market were built here, it could attract vegetable vendors from these places to wholesale vegetables here. This would not only solve many sales channel issues but also increase the GDP of surrounding industries and create employment opportunities.

If a Changjiangdaqiao could be built at Pengwan, then Pengwan could be directly connected by land to Qingyang City, which was separated by the river on the opposite bank. Then the vegetables here could be sold directly to Qingyang City, and the significance of this vegetable wholesale market would be even greater.

Of course, with Pengwan's current financial strength, it was impossible to build a large-scale wholesale market of over 10,000 square meters; that would require at least several million or even over ten million yuan, which Pengwan could not afford. However, it was still possible to build a smaller market first, at least to give those vegetable vendors a place to source their vegetables.

That night, Su Xinghui called Xu Haimin again to ask if he had time, and if so, to invite him to Pengwan.

Xu Haimin was busy every day, but since Su Xinghui had something to discuss with him, he certainly wouldn't say he didn't have time. He rushed to Pengwan early the next morning.

To Su Xinghui's surprise, Xu Xiaoguang also came to Pengwan with Xu Haimin. He said to Xu Xiaoguang, "Xiaoguang, you're here? You finished the project in Yulin City, right?"

Xu Xiaoguang said, "We finished last month. By the way, once when I was returning to the county, I passed through Pengwan and went to the town government to find you. They said you had gone up to the embankment. I paged you, but you didn't reply, so I went back to the county."

Su Xinghui said, "That period was the critical moment for flood prevention. I went up to the embankment almost every day. It rained every day during that time, so it was impossible for me to carry a pager while on the embankment."

Xu Xiaoguang said, "I thought so. Come to think of it, being a town mayor is quite hard work; it's no easier than what we do!"

Su Xinghui said, "Since you're here, I'll call Wu Jun at noon today, and we'll have a meal together. The three of us haven't eaten together in a long time."

Xu Xiaoguang said, "That's great. I heard from my dad that he was coming to see you today, so I specifically came over to meet you all. I didn't find Wu Jun last time either. Is he doing well as a station chief now?"

Su Xinghui nodded and said, "He's doing well. The public security in Pengwan was notoriously chaotic before. In the few months he's been here, the public security in Pengwan has improved quite a bit."

Xu Haimin nodded and said, "That's true. I haven't been here for a few months, and there are indeed fewer idlers on the streets of Pengwan now. Every time I came before, I could always see those hooligan-like young men loitering on the street."

Xu Xiaoguang said, "Then this kid is really quite good." ===== CHAPTER 756 =====