Stern looked at Laura and said, "Miss Laura isn't joking, right?"
Laura smiled faintly and said, "How could I joke about this matter, Elder? I really did find a source of food, but this food is somewhat different from what we have eaten before."
She clapped her hands and Searle immediately brought two bags in. Laura opened the bags and said to Stern, "This is the food I found. This is how to make the food, very simple." While speaking, she gave the recipe written down by Zhao Hai to Stern.
Stern blankly took the paper from Laura's hand, but his eyes never left the bag of corn stubble and cornmeal. Stern had seen a lot of things, but this was the first time he had seen such food.
After a while, Stern recovered and carefully looked at the paper in his hand. There weren't many words on the paper, and the recipe was very simple, so Stern finished reading it.
After reading it, Stern put down the paper and looked at Laura. "Miss Laura, how much of this food do you have? What is the price? "
Laura smiled faintly and said, "This food belongs to a friend of mine. He said that he didn't want to see the commoners of the Purcell Duchy suffer, so he took it out. There is a total of more than two million jin, and the price is the same as ordinary bamboo rice."
Stern's breathing was a bit rapid, the key point was that he was too excited. He immediately said, "Miss Laura's friend, can you let me see him?"
Laura looked at Stern and knew what he was thinking, but she shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, Elder. My friend doesn't like to contact people, but Elder doesn't have to worry. I can guarantee that he does have the food in his hands."
Stern also knew that he was being a bit abrupt, so he immediately said, "Well, then I'll have to trouble Miss Laura. I don't know if Miss Laura needs any help?"
Laura nodded and said, "Stern elder also understands that once the situation in the Ica plains is publicized, the entire Purcell Duchy will certainly fall into a panic. In this case, what we merchants can do is really limited, so we can only ask the Purcell clan to come forward." Laura nodded and said, "Elder Stern also understands that once the situation in the Ica plains is publicized, the entire Purcell Duchy will certainly fall into a panic.
Stern nodded and said, "That won't be a problem, Miss Laura can rest assured. But to be honest, Miss Laura, 2 million jins of food isn't enough."
Laura smiled and said, "Don't worry, Elder. My friend said that after the 2 million jin of food is sold out, he can provide us with 350,000 jin of food every day. Is that enough?"
Stern laughed and said, "That's enough, that's enough. Miss Laura, you have to thank your friend for me."
Laura smiled faintly and said, "Elder, rest assured, Laura knows what to do. Then it's settled. Three days later, I'll go and get the grains. However, I'll have to ask Elder to help me with this guard job."
Stern also understood what Laura meant. His eyes flashed coldly as he said, "Miss Laura, please rest assured. In the Purcell Duchy, no one can do anything to the Purcell clan."
Laura nodded and stood up. "Then Laura will take her leave. Please rest assured, Elder. Although my friend has a little friction with the Purcell clan, he won't joke about this matter. I can guarantee it with my own life." Then she bowed to Stern and turned to leave.
Stern was surprised by Laura's words. He didn't quite understand what Laura meant. Listening to Laura's words, her friend should have a grudge with the Purcell clan, but their relationship seemed to be very good.
Thinking of this, Stern's face couldn't help but change. He thought of a person who had made the Purcell clan eat a loss some time ago, and that person was still living outside of Casa City.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was right. Only that person had a grudge against the Purcell clan. Similarly, only that person had a good relationship with Laura. Some time ago, Laura had been in contact with that person and had obtained a particularly good quality magic radish from him. He knew this, but since that person had saved Laura's life, it was normal for the two of them to have some contact, so he didn't care about it.
Now it seemed that Laura's food was most likely given to her by that person. Thinking of this, Stern couldn't sit still. He immediately stood up and said loudly, "Quickly, send someone to check who Laura has been in contact with recently."
After a while, someone came to report to Stern. Among the people who had been in contact with Laura recently, it was worth noting that they were Zhao Hai's warriors. When Stern heard this, he understood that Laura's food must have come from Zhao Hai's hands.
After confirming this, Stern's face couldn't help but become more ugly. He understood what Laura's words meant before. Laura knew that he would be able to find out where her food came from, so she said those words to him. But could these words really make Stern feel relieved?
The answer was no!
At this time, how could Stern completely trust an enemy? He immediately reported this matter to the Purcell clan's elders. This matter was beyond the scope of his management.
Laura had long thought that the Purcell clan would send someone to investigate the source of the food, but she wasn't worried. The Purcell clan only had this method now. If they didn't cooperate with her, they could only helplessly watch as the merchants cut off their flesh. This was something the Purcell clan couldn't tolerate.
Great aristocrats had their pride. This time, the large firms had joined forces. Although the Purcell clan couldn't use force to deal with them, they couldn't just sit back and watch as they suffered a loss. Now that there was an opportunity to fight back, how could they miss it?
The Purcell clan's decision was within Laura's expectations. Compared to their hatred of Zhao Hai, the large firms had gone too far this time. Therefore, the Purcell clan decided to solve the problems of the large firms first. Zhao Hai's matter could be put aside for later.
In the eyes of a great aristocrat like the Purcell clan, there were no eternal enemies, only benefits. For the sake of the clan's benefits, they could sacrifice everything. Not to mention that Zhao Hai had exterminated more than a hundred people, even if Zhao Hai had exterminated a thousand people, as long as it brought them great benefits, they would immediately become friends with Zhao Hai. This was the law of survival for a great clan.
Therefore, on the second day of Laura's visit to the Purcell clan, Stern came again. This time, Stern came to discuss cooperation with Laura.
Looking at Stern's current performance, Laura understood the Purcell clan's decision. She didn't say much, she just discussed some details of their cooperation with the Purcell clan.
After Laura and the others finished their discussion, Laura immediately sent people to Stony Mountain to get food. Of course, this time, there were experts sent by the Purcell clan to protect them. Zhao Hai's eyes lit up.
Just as Laura's convoy was about to depart, the Purcell clan announced to the public that the Ica plains had been hit by an insect infestation. The entire Ica plains had stopped producing food.
When this news came out, the whole world was shaken. Not only was the Purcell Duchy affected, but even the surrounding areas were affected. The people in the surrounding areas understood why some time ago, there were people who bought grain at a high price. For a while, people who had grain in their hands no longer sold it.
But then the Purcell clan announced that although the Ica plains had stopped producing food, there was no problem with the Purcell Duchy's food supply. The normal supply was guaranteed.
Although this was said, the consumption of food in the Purcell Duchy had soared. Moreover, the price of food had begun to slowly rise, but it didn't rise too much. This was because the Magic Lily shop and the Purcell clan had started to sell food at a fair price. However, the Purcell clan had made a certain restriction. All the people who bought food from the Magic Lily shop and the Purcell clan's shop must have a Purcell Duchy household registration certificate. Moreover, the amount of food each person could buy was also limited.
This was the method that the Purcell clan and Laura came up with. They took the initiative to talk about the situation in the Ica plains, and then began to sell food at a fair price. In order to avoid those big merchants who would buy food at a fair price and then resell it, they thought of using the household registration certificate. At the same time, they also limited the amount of food each person could buy.
This move really caught the big firms off guard. They didn't think that the Purcell clan would actually take the initiative to say that they were out of food. This kind of unconventional approach caused them to be in a state of chaos.
What was even more unexpected was that this time, the Purcell clan actually used war provisions to deal with the emergency. When they wanted to raise the price of food, the price of food was quickly stabilized.
War provisions were something that every country had. No matter if it was a big or small country, they wouldn't use war provisions unless it was absolutely necessary. This was because war provisions were specially designed for war. If war provisions were easily used, in case of war, the soldiers wouldn't have any food to eat. Naturally, it would be impossible for them to have any fighting strength, which would lead to the fall of the country.
Although it could be said that the world was still peaceful, the Purcell Duchy shouldn't use war provisions. The Purcell Duchy was in the north of the Aksu Empire. To the east was the Black Waste, so it was impossible for there to be any war. To the west and south were the fiefs of the other two aristocratic families, the Iksa clan and the Bolton clan. To the north was the Beastman Prairie, which wasn't so peaceful.
The beastmen were warlike. Although they were getting along well with the humans, the environment of the Beastman Prairie wasn't very good. The beastmen were mainly herders, so once they encountered a natural disaster, their lives would be very difficult. At this time, the beastmen would go south to loot.
These years, the Purcell clan wasn't like the other big clans on the continent. They didn't develop quickly because of their proximity to the beastmen. They had to raise a large number of troops to guard against the attacks of the beastmen.
However, in recent years, the situation in the Beastman Prairie was very good. They didn't go south to loot. On the contrary, they did business with the Purcell clan, which made the Purcell clan earn a lot of money.
But even so, the Purcell clan shouldn't use war provisions. This was risking the safety of the clan just to save some gold coins. It wasn't worth it.