"Hao Lei, contact your guys. I need them to go online and buy one-kilogram silver bars, to my exact specifications. Give each of them a budget of 28,000, and have each person buy at least four bars for me. Talk to He Yilin about getting reimbursed."

"Also, get in touch with the suppliers we used for the instant noodles and other pre-made meals. I want to place another order, so get them to lower their price."

This was the message Fang Zhen sent to Hao Lei.

Hao Lei immediately understood and got to work.

Afterward, Fang Zhen contacted Manager Yao of Yu Le.

The last time Fang Zhen was at the Yu Le Gold Store, he had bought nearly 700,000 yuan worth of silver bars, clearing them out of stock. But he had kept the manager’s phone number.

The manager of the Yu Le Gold Store had an established network of contacts that included precious metal dealers in Xiahai and the surrounding cities. This saved Fang Zhen the trouble of having to vet them one by one. He directly offered the manager a three-percent commission—or a handling fee, if you will—to acquire all the silver bars he could find in the vicinity, or at least a significant portion of them.

For this endeavor, Fang Zhen budgeted over 2.1 million yuan to continue his Golden Mountain and Silver Sea project.

In addition, he double-checked the details with Hao Lei.

After his last return to the Ashton Territory on the other side of the Light Gate, Fang Zhen had the foresight to realize that his army would need at least another 30 to 45 days’ worth of rations.

The reason for his precise calculation was that he had factored in the harvest time for the crops in the Zambein Kingdom.

The current shortage of rations over there wasn’t because the army was incapable of supporting itself. Rather, they were simply in the lean period right before the harvest.

But in 30 to 45 days, the spring crops in most parts of the Zambein Kingdom would be ready for harvest. At that point, obtaining grain—whether by purchasing it locally or through other means—would become much easier.

Fang Zhen wouldn’t have to keep using yuan from his world to support the Zambein Kingdom’s army indefinitely. He just had to hold out for 45 days at most.

However, by his calculations, supporting roughly 10,000 people—just for rations, not counting anything else—at a standard of seven yuan per person per day meant that the moment he woke up, 70,000 yuan was already gone.

He had to be frugal. ’Even the wealthy are feeling the pinch these days,’ he thought.

Fang Zhen called some sales reps to confirm new local supply channels in Xiahai and proceeded to purchase another large batch of supplies.

He didn’t prepare all 45 days’ worth of supplies at once. A little-known fact—which is really just common sense—is that every region has agencies that monitor commodity prices.

Any unusual movement or shortage of goods, especially a staple as seemingly ordinary yet critically important as grain, would trigger alarms with the relevant authorities.

Fang Zhen was well aware of this; he didn’t want to attract official attention and risk causing unnecessary misunderstandings.

So, he only planned on taking 10 to 20 days’ worth of supplies over for now. That shouldn’t be enough to draw undue attention.

Later, after he completed his current "instance" and its rewards were finalized, he would likely unlock the ability to travel to the Zambein Kingdom at will.

At that point, he could take his time and gradually transport the rest of the necessary supplies over.

’Now is the time for spending, but all this money is an investment.’

’For every 10,000 I spend now, I might get 50,000 back in the future, so I can’t feel bad about it.’ Fang Zhen told himself this as he watched his money flow like water.

Thinking about it that way did make him feel a lot better.

...

The next day arrived in a flash.

Over those two days, Fang Zhen had been intensely busy and accomplished a great deal.

Everything he had set in motion was now bearing fruit.

In truth, Fang Zhen himself wasn’t all that busy. His main job was making phone calls; it was the company employees under him who did the actual legwork.

At that moment, Fang Zhen was reminded of how wonderful it was to have his own company. It was just so convenient.

If he had to run all these errands himself, it would have taken him at least half a month to get everything done.

Collecting resources as an organization was far more effective than doing it alone.

He got in his car and drove to a factory on the outskirts of Xiahai City to pick up the supplies he had ordered.