Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 848 Purchasing a Large Farm
With the help of professional flight attendants, Yang Wendong and his family gradually became familiar with the plane.
The first floor has a total of 3 rooms, a conference room, and 36 additional seats, each of which can be laid flat to become a bed for people to rest.

The tail of the plane can also accommodate four cars, and as for carry-on luggage, it can be carried in tons.
On the second floor of 747, there is also a small bar and a karaoke home theater for entertainment.
Needless to say, all the materials used in the aircraft are top-of-the-line globally, with the highest fire resistance rating. The aircraft also has a more comprehensive fire suppression system, which is the most important aspect.

With a light load and additional fuel tanks, the aircraft's maximum range is 15000 km. From Hong Kong, it can directly reach most cities, except for a few. This saves Yang Wendong a considerable amount of time; previously, the 737 required frequent refueling en route, which was very tiring for the crew.
"This feels so comfortable." Su Yiyi sat down in a chair.

Yang Wendong laughed and said, "Once our cruise ship in Italy is built, it will be even more comfortable."

After purchasing a Boeing 747, Yang Wendong also ordered a 100-meter-long cruise ship in Italy.
However, this is the first case in the world, requiring special design and remanufacturing, which will take 1.5 to 2 years, unlike the fast turnaround time of Boeing aircraft.

A cruise ship that is 100 meters long is much larger than a Boeing 747 in terms of tonnage, and its interior space is also much larger than that of an airplane. Moreover, you can enjoy the ship frequently, unlike an airplane, which you can't just come on to play around with when you have nothing to do.
“Yes, then we can operate cruise ships for global travel, that would be great,” Bai Yushan said with a smile.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes."

With satellite technology and the fact that cruise ships are relatively large, it's natural that they can travel around the world. A full tank of fuel can take a ship 6000 nautical miles, which is enough.

At this moment, a Chinese flight attendant said, "Mr. Yang, we are ready for takeoff."

"Alright, everyone fasten your seatbelts, and the children too," Yang Wendong ordered.
Let alone airplanes, even in cars, members of the Yang family must wear seat belts. This is an ironclad rule, even though the law does not currently require it.

"Okay." Su Yiyi and the others immediately started calling the naughty children to sit down one by one, and the flight attendants also helped.

Soon, the planes followed the control tower's instructions and lined up for takeoff. This is one of the inconveniences of large aircraft, which can only land or take off at regular airports, and are subject to strict control. Even if you have the financial means to do so, you can't excessively affect normal flights, and sometimes you have to queue up. Small planes don't have this problem.

A dozen minutes later, the plane took off. After reaching the stratosphere, the captain issued a green signal, and passengers were free to move around in the cabin.

This is the advantage of large aircraft. First, there are enough radars to detect the weather ahead and avoid turbulence. Second, unless there is a very strong turbulence, it will not have much impact on the aircraft, and both comfort and safety will be much better.

"Dong-ge, have you visited that farm in Texas?" Su Yiyi asked.

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "No, I only looked at the photos. Taking you along is to help us make a decision about whether or not to buy this farm."

In his early years, he rarely got involved in farming, except for running a sugarcane plantation in Malaysia with Guo Henian, but that was also for the sake of sugarcane.
Now that we've entered the 80s, his assets have skyrocketed, he has a lot of money at hand, and with the future value of land expected to rise, it's natural for him to invest.
Of course, the growth rate of farms will not be as high as that of urban real estate or some stocks, but they can be used for family leisure, provide emotional value, and are very stable. After all, the global land area is only so big, and there are not many areas that can be cultivated on a large scale. These resources will not become worthless.

So after he received his gold profits, he commissioned some intermediary companies to find suitable farms.

If you have the money, buying a farm is easy, but large farms are relatively rare. After waiting for so long, there was a potential seller, so Yang Wendong brought his family to take a look.

Su Yiyi laughed and said, "Great! I was shocked when I heard about this farm. It's over 50 acres, more than 2000 square kilometers, which is equivalent to two Hong Kongs!"

“Haha, that’s true in terms of area, but it’s all farmland. In fact, it’s not even as valuable as a building in Central.” Yang Wendong laughed and said, “However, the Waggoner Ranch we’re going to is the only large-scale continuous farm in the United States, which is what I value.”

Many farms are owned by one person or one company, so they are considered one entity, but they may not actually be connected.

While Wolverine Farms is not the largest farm in the United States, they are connected together.

Su Yiyi said, "Well, with such a large piece of land and this airplane, I guess the Hong Kong media will be reporting on it extensively again. Your investment in Apple was reported by the Hong Kong media for several days before."

"Let them be, don't worry about it. These kinds of things will only happen more and more often in the future," Yang Wendong said indifferently.

For the past ten years or so, many of his businesses could be kept hidden, but as they grew larger, they could no longer be kept in the public eye. It was normal for them to be exposed, and some of them were even ones he could expose, since it's better to be proactive than passive.

In addition, he will make large-scale investments in the mainland in the future, which will inevitably attract the attention of Hong Kong media.
He now controls about half of Hong Kong's media, and his relationship with the other half is also alright. As long as these media outlets don't fabricate rumors or deliberately create conflict, he won't care much, since that's what he makes a living from.

Wolverine Farms is located in Texas, a region home to many of the country's largest farms.

It only takes four hours to fly from New York to Texas.

After traveling by convoy from the airport, the group arrived at Worgan Farm at around 2 p.m. The sun was high in the sky, and there was a lot of heat, but fortunately the temperature was not too high, and the surrounding greenery did not add to the smell of the air like in the city.

"This entire farm, the original owner was willing to sell it?" Su Yiyi asked curiously.

“Everything has a price,” Yang Wendong said with a smile. “Besides, a farm isn’t really a good investment. There are plenty of other industries with much higher profits. Maybe they’re eyeing other industries.”

Aside from some treasures of exceptional value, everything on this earth has a price, especially commercial goods. Even a building in Central, if Yang Wendong hadn't known the future, might have been sold for a reasonable price, since the money could be used for other investments. Bai Yushan, holding binoculars, said, "There's a small hill over there. If you're on that hill, you should be able to see the entire farm in its entirety."

"Madam, it's best not to wander around, especially since it's getting dark. There are still wolves in this area," a real estate agent beside her warned.

Yang Wendong asked, "Phoebe, are there wolves? Has no one taken care of them?"

The real estate agent, Phoebe, said, "Yes, it's not just wolves; there are also snakes and alligators in this area. People in the neighborhood often clean it up, but there are just too many of these animals, making it difficult to completely eliminate them."
But you don't need to worry, there are no such animals in the places we live or frequent, as long as we don't wander off.

"Hmm, this is a problem." Yang Wendong frowned slightly.

The United States has a large population, currently around 3 million, but it is still far smaller than the mainland. Moreover, most people in the mainland live in the southeast, and with such a high population density, there are naturally fewer wild animals.

The majority of the US population is concentrated on the East and West coasts, with very low population density in the central regions. Texas, often referred to as the American ranch, has an even smaller population. Moreover, this area is not entirely farmland; it is integrated with the wild environment. In addition, US laws sometimes protect rare animals, so these animals that pose a threat to humans could be a problem.

Phoebe continued, "Mr. Yang, if you're worried, after you buy this farm, you can hire a professional team to clean it up. It only costs a little money, and they can get rid of most of the animals."

"Okay, we'll talk about it later." Yang Wendong didn't seem to mind.

In fact, no matter where you buy a farm, you may face this problem. Large farms in South America, Australia, Southeast Asia, etc., have wild animals inside or nearby.

Comparatively speaking, the situation in the United States is probably better. On the one hand, wolves and alligators are not as dangerous to humans as tigers and bears; on the other hand, there are relatively few venomous snakes. Australia is much worse in this regard. Yang Wendong was warned when he went to Australia before that he should not go into the forest unless necessary because there are too many venomous snakes.
From this perspective, living in Hong Kong or other major cities is not bad.
The group drove forward; in this large farm, transportation was all done by car.
“Phoebe, why did the original owner of this farm sell it?” Bai Yushan asked.

Phoebe replied, "To be precise, this owner is a company. Because of the previous oil crisis, they invested in some stocks, which plummeted, leaving them with a lot of debt to the banks, and their own business was also affected."
He'd been robbing Peter to pay Paul for the past year, but with interest rates so high lately, he couldn't keep going and had no choice but to sell the farm.

"The oil crisis has indeed greatly damaged the US economy, but it also presents us with an opportunity," Yang Wendong said with a smile.

In other words, he knew history and made a fortune from the oil crisis, but from a global perspective, countless people went bankrupt during this crisis.

But there's nothing that can be done about it. The Middle East controls the oil, and the bankruptcy of these people is actually a transfer of wealth. The Middle East will be rolling in oil in the future.

Phoebe continued, "Yes, business has been tough lately, but the farm isn't being used very well, and the previous company wasn't able to develop it much."
If Mr. Yang is willing to invest, the production capacity of grain or meat here will definitely increase significantly. Given the current rise in international grain prices, there will absolutely be a profit to be made.

"I'll think about it." Yang Wendong nodded;
The grain business is actually not bad, but the investment is huge. Whether it's buying a farm or investing in agricultural land, it costs a lot of money. But once the money is spent, the income from grain becomes relatively stable.

In the future, with the development of the Asian economy and the traditional wasteful habits of Europe and the United States, global food prices will continue to rise.

After about ten minutes, the car arrived at a villa estate. Phoebe said, "This is where the company staff are currently living; it has all the necessary facilities."

Several men and women came out, and through Phoebe's introduction, Yang Wendong also met Finn, the person in charge of the negotiations from the farm.

“Mr. Yang, let me introduce the farm to you first,” Finn suggested. “We can go for a walk around the farm tomorrow; it’s getting a bit late now.”

"Okay," Yang Wendong replied.
“Our Wolgen Farm covers 53 acres. Two rivers flow through it, and there is also a large lake with ample water rights. Every summer, there are a large number of birds of all kinds, which is very beautiful,” Finn introduced to Yang Wendong and the group of people. In front of him, there was also a map of the farm.

"Our farm has a total of more than 3 cattle and 7 sheep. The cattle are mainly beef cattle, and the sheep are mainly for wool."

After Finn finished his brief introduction, Yang Wendong asked, "Why not raise dairy cows?"

Finn laughed and said, "Raising dairy cows requires specialized manpower and equipment for milking, as well as storage and transportation. The cost is too high for us unless we invest a huge amount of money to increase the number of dairy cows to more than 100,000. Only then can we maintain a large scale and make a profit."

"That's true," Yang Wendong agreed.
Some businesses can only succeed when they reach a certain scale, but raising beef cattle is relatively simpler.
For the next half hour or so, Finn and Yang Wendong chatted about the farm, and Finn also told them about some interesting things that had happened on the farm in the past.

"Oh, right, we're going out tomorrow, we can go hunting. There are a lot of coyotes around now, and they're quite a nuisance." Finn added, "Do you guys know how to use a sniper rifle?"

"Uh, no." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "I can use a regular handgun, but my marksmanship isn't very good."

You can't play with guns in Hong Kong, but you can in the United States. He tried it when he came to the United States before. His marksmanship is indeed not very good. It takes a long time to practice to master it. How could he possibly have that time?
As for sniper rifles, forget about it.

Finn laughed and said, "Haha, it's alright, I'll teach you tomorrow. I know you bought the farm for fun, and hunting is the most fun activity. Ladies, use compound bows, they might be easier."

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)