Chapter 325: This Battle, What a Thrill

Qi Fu asked, "Lao Kuang, you got boron fertilizer because we can buy rapeseed?"

The well-informed Kuang Qingwei answered, "Right, I got reliable word that at this autumn's agricultural products trade fair, the Territory Management Department will sell Yellow Lantern rapeseed, and each territory can exchange or buy half a jin at a preferential price."

Hearing Kuang Qingwei say that, the others all ordered boron fertilizer too, at 30 credits per jin.

Luckily the amount of fertilizer needed wasn't large, otherwise they'd all have had to think hard about whether to plant rapeseed.

Rapeseed doesn't just need boron fertilizer, it needs other base fertilizer too. Now the lords, already short on fertilizer, were even shorter.

Number Nine Territory's assistant Xiao Liu seized the moment and came online: "The corn stalks and field grass you lords harvest are both excellent raw material for fermenting plant-stem-and-leaf organic fertilizer. Corn stalks are very tough — without high-efficiency compost microbial powder it's hard to get them fully decomposed. Have you all run out of compost microbial powder?"

Xia Qing, who was washing dishes, chuckled, "Boss, your sis here is pretty clever, right? From now on we'll never buy Number Nine Territory's microbial powder again."

Kuang Qingwei replied politely, "Assistant Liu, can the price of the microbial powder come down a bit? Now there are people in the safe zone selling microbial powder too. It's not the high-efficiency kind, and the fermentation time is longer, but a jin only costs 10 credits, and diluted with water it can ferment 2 cubic meters of fertilizer — ten times cheaper than yours."

With microbial powder now ten times cheaper, who could not be tempted?

Xia Qing dried her hands, went up to the top of the rack building to guard the corn together with Sick Wolf, and waited for Xiao Liu's reply.

Assistant Xiao Liu's manner remained professional and friendly: "Mr. Kuang, our high-efficiency microbial powder has an exclusive patent — high live-bacteria count, short fermentation time, and it also has a certain sterilizing and deodorizing effect."

Hearing that Assistant Xiao Liu refused to lower the price, Kuang Qingwei fell silent.

Shi Zhong asked, "Lao Kuang, how's the effect of this microbial powder you mentioned?"

Kuang Qingwei answered, "The Battle Alliance uses this kind of microbial powder to ferment animal manure — they're already starting to sell the fertilizer to outsiders."

Assistant Xiao Liu asked, "Is the Battle Alliance's fermented manure fully decomposed? Are the weed seeds, pathogens, and insect eggs in the manure all killed off?"

Once Assistant Xiao Liu asked that, everyone lost confidence again.

In the lord channel, a voice everyone found unfamiliar rang out: "Assistant Liu, I'm Xie Yu from the Battle Alliance. The manure we sell has passed professional testing by an authoritative department — every index meets the new post-disaster fertilizer standard. The kill rate for grass seeds, pathogens, and insect eggs in the compost raw material has all reached 95%. May I ask what kill rate your territory's microbial-powder-fertilized product can reach?"

Xiao Liu had publicly questioned the Battle Alliance's manure quality, and Xie Yu, a councilor of the Battle Alliance, happened to hear it — of course he had to give an explanation.

Assistant Xiao Liu answered, "Ours is 90%, not as high a kill rate as your alliance's. However, the plant stems and leaves the lords use for composting are all grown inside greenhouses, so the content of those three harmful substances you listed is over 80% lower than in raw materials gathered from the Evolution Forest. So a 90% kill rate is sufficient."

After making clear the Battle Alliance's fertilizer had no problems, Xie Yu didn't make things hard for a mere assistant and replied politely: "Relying on microbial powder alone to reach a 90% kill rate — your territory's microbial powder really is higher quality than the one we use. We combined microbial powder with other kill processes to reach 95%."

Xie Yu had just finished speaking when Xu Pin from Number Two Territory also came online: "Hello everyone, I'm Xu Pin from the Battle Alliance. As Councilor Xie said, our alliance's fermented, fully decomposed animal manure is of very high quality. If anyone needs it, you can order through the patrol convoy — two jin for three credits, shipping costs on us."

The lords were all stunned.

What was going on? The vice captain of the Sufeng Squad, ranked first at Hui-Three Base — Xu Pin — and the two vice captains of the Qinglong Squad, ranked second — Xie Yu and Luo Pei — how had they all ended up in their little patch of territory?

Assistant Xiao Liu's manner remained professional: "Lords, I've already reported to the lord the situation of a competing quality microbial powder appearing in the safe zone. We'll adjust the price of the high-efficiency compost microbial powder, and we'll notify everyone as soon as there's a result."

Zhang San spoke up lazily, "A microbial powder that can only kill nine-tenths of those three types of harmful substances — there's no real technical content there, anyone can throw it together."

This was a direct denial of Li Si's "exclusive patent" — the crowd went wild.

Xia Qing patted Sheep Boss's head with a slap: "Boss, you hear that? That's the madman Zhang San — my idol!"

Sheep Boss narrowed its eyes and kicked Xia Qing flying on the spot. Luckily it still knew they were on the rooftop, so it didn't use too much force.

"Third Brother, can Number Eight Territory / Number One Territory / the Battle Alliance cooperate with you to produce compost microbial powder?"

Seeing Xin Yu, Xie Yu, and Xu Pin all spoke almost at the same time, all wanting to cooperate with Zhang San — even their words were identical.

If the territory policy promotion went smoothly, agriculture-related industries would definitely develop fast, and anyone with vision and ability wouldn't let this business opportunity slip.

What was interesting was that Luo Pei said "Number One Territory" would cooperate with Zhang San, while Xu Pin chose "the Battle Alliance."

Before Zhang San could speak, Assistant Xiao Liu came online: "Our lord has already approved — Number Nine Territory's compost microbial powder is reduced to 30 credits per bag. If anyone needs it, you can order directly."

Number Nine Territory's microbial powder comes in four-jin bags, meaning the price per jin dropped from the original 50 credits to 7.5 credits.

That price cut made the lords who had bought Number Nine Territory's microbial powder at the high price wince.

That price cut also showed that Number Nine Territory — or rather the Blaze Squad behind Number Nine Territory — would not give up the compost microbial powder business.

The Blaze Squad, ranked first in strength at Hui-One Base, had shown its attitude. Whether it was Sufeng Squad's Xu Pin or Qinglong Squad's Luo Pei and Xie Yu, they all had to think it over — but Seeing Xin Yu didn't hesitate at all.

After Assistant Xiao Liu's words faded, she sent out another cooperation invitation: "Third Brother, can we cooperate?"

"Sure." Zhang San replied lazily. "Using my technique, you can raise the kill rate of those three types of harmful substances in the fertilizer brought out of the Evolution Forest to over 96%."

Yo-ho-ho-ho! That quality is even better than Li Si's high-efficiency microbial powder — wouldn't that count as top-grade microbial powder? When it comes to being wild, you still have to look at Number Seven Territory's Zhang San!

Xu Pin immediately put in a request: "Third Brother, can the Battle Alliance cooperate with you?"

Seeing Xin Yu followed right after: "Third Brother, do you have time now? I'll come to your territory to discuss the details of the cooperation."

Li Si came online, her voice ice-cold: "When did Third Brother get interested in microbial powder research?"

"Just now." Zhang San replied Li Si lazily, then answered Seeing Xin Yu, "Come on over, bring a pot of Green Lantern edible roses."

Seeing Xin Yu: "Okay."

Everyone… Roses, Green Lantern, and edible too? Number Eight Territory's stuff really is more outlandish than the last.

Just from Seeing Xin Yu's attitude, by next spring at the latest, the lords would be able to use the special-effect compost microbial powder produced by Number Eight Territory, with a kill rate for grass seeds, insect eggs, and pathogens as high as 96%.

Xia Qing used a pebble to knock down two crows that had landed on the roof trying to peck the cover, and sighed, "Third Brother really is a good person, Seeing Xin Yu is quite an exception — this battle, what a thrill."

In Number Two Territory, Xu Pin, who had been completely ignored by Zhang San, had a face black as the bottom of a pot.

In Number One Territory, Xie Yu scratched the curls on his head: "Brother Luo, Seeing Xin Yu coming to Hui-Three Base territory — she's not here for Zhang San too, is she?"