Looking at the remaining fifty million in his bank account—let's just round it up to fifty million—Jiang Hai couldn't help but feel distressed.
According to what he had said earlier, he wanted to buy twenty thousand cows, and the price for a mature cow was around one thousand US dollars. This was the information Jiang Hai had gotten from Robbins. These weren't dairy cows but beef cattle, specifically Angus cattle, which are the most common in the United States.
One thousand US dollars per cow, and twenty thousand cows, that's twenty million US dollars. Adding the cost for the supporting vehicles, feed, carts, and machines, it would cost almost another ten million a year. Raising cattle would cost him thirty million US dollars in total. Compared to that, the salary he was paying Robbins and the others was relatively minor—less than two hundred thousand dollars—just a small amount.
However, the cost of raising cattle was consuming two-thirds of his money, which made Jiang Hai anxious. What worried him even more was that he might have to pay taxes, and he would need to set aside about ten million for that. He had learned from his research in the United States that the tax bureau was the most important entity to avoid offending. If you pay even a penny less, they wouldn't hesitate to arrest you and auction off your property.
It may seem fair on the surface. Once your property is auctioned, they deduct what you owe, and the rest is returned to you. But Jiang Hai wasn't convinced that the auction price would match the original value of his farm. He didn't believe the United States was truly fair; anyone involved in politics was likely to be corrupt.
Therefore, Jiang Hai dared not owe the tax bureau anything. This meant he could only use the ten million US dollars in liquid funds he currently had.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" Looking at the rough calculation of what he could spend, Jiang Hai felt distressed.
He had started with 330 million, and now only 10 million remained. This amount seemed insignificant now.
In fact, this was primarily Jiang Hai's own problem. What other choice did he have at the beginning? This project had turned into a hot potato. But what could he do? He could only bite the bullet and move forward, but his original plan needed to change.
The cattle could still be raised, since all the workers had already been hired. But the wine estate and fishery would likely have to be postponed. Raising fish was expensive too. The boat and fish fry alone would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Raising species like cod and herring required feeding, and the small octopus and squid also cost money.
To catch fish, he'd need to buy a fishing boat. So the cost of raising fish was much higher than raising cattle.
Jiang Hai felt helpless about this. It seemed he would have to wait until more funds were available.
"Fish, we'll raise them next year!" Jiang Hai closed the computer and went to bed.
When he woke up the next morning, Jiang Hai realized what was going on. Despite having hundreds of millions of US dollars, he had to put his plans on hold. There seemed to be plenty of money at first, but now he had to pause everything.
Unless Jiang Hai found a way to get more money, but after thinking for a while, he couldn't come up with anything.
He had already searched the cave and was sure that all that was left was glass, which could only be crushed.
As for his current abilities—physical fitness at the peak of human limits and the ability to breathe underwater—there was a way to deal with it: finding a sunken ship. A commercial sunken ship could contain millions, or even hundreds of millions of US dollars worth of goods.
But the problem was, he couldn't take that risk. He was just a human. What could he do in the sea with physical limits like his? He didn't believe that sharks, whales, or giant squids would just leave him alone.
If he bled, he would be the perfect target in the sea, and he might be eaten up without a trace. That was why Jiang Hai dared not venture into the water. In fact, he wasn't very brave.
He could be courageous and fight fiercely without risking his life, but he couldn't bring himself to search for a sunken ship in the sea. Since he couldn't generate income, he had to focus on conserving his resources.
But there was always a way out. Even though he wasn't raising fish now, he could still fish.
He had visited the foot of the mountain yesterday and noticed that the underwater resources in his sea area were still very rich. Even if he didn't farm them, the fish could still be sold for millions. If he used his blood to nourish them, they would likely fetch an even higher price. If he bought a fishing boat and fished in his territory first, there would be no issue.
After thinking it through, Jiang Hai decided to put the drastic improvements on hold for now.
"Take it slowly." After all, he had bought this place, and he had to run it.
Seeing that Jiang Hai wasn't in high spirits, Robbins said nothing but drove to Winthrop's law firm, where the four cowboys who had been found last night were waiting.
Jiang Hai forced himself to perk up and signed the cowboy employment contracts with the four men. The contracts were for one year, which worked out for both Jiang Hai and the workers. After the contracts were signed, the four men visibly relaxed.
In the United States, the cattle breeding industry had been moving westward, to places like Texas and Montana—best suited for grazing. The east coast, on the other hand, was losing most of its farms, which had been turned into residential areas. Even family farms were no longer hiring people.
Most Americans didn't value returning to their roots like the Chinese. They weren't willing to move to strange cities for a job unless absolutely necessary. However, Jiang Hai was able to hire people here, and they seemed happy about it.
"Boss, when do we start working?" After leaving the law firm, Philemon Turner, a little restless, asked excitedly.
For others, money might not be an urgent issue, but for him, it was. After all, his family was waiting for him to bring home money to buy food.
"The sooner, the better. You can move to my place tonight. I have a single-family villa, big enough for you to live in. It's fully furnished, so just bring some personal belongings. If you have family members, they can come along too. This will save on rent." Jiang Hai smiled as he spoke to them.
"That's great, boss!" Philemon Turner exclaimed excitedly.
In the United States, most people didn't save money. This was similar to Europe—people spent as much as they earned. Buying a house required a loan, but banks wouldn't lend much to people without a strong reputation. After the subprime mortgage crisis, even companies struggled to get loans, let alone individuals.
Therefore, it was almost impossible for ordinary employees to buy a house. Fortunately, renting was cheap, as homeowners were taxed annually if they didn't rent out their spare houses. The average annual tax rate was about 2%, which meant a house worth at least 500,000 US dollars would have to pay around 10,000 US dollars in taxes every year, in addition to property management fees and other expenses.
Philemon and the others were clearly not the types to save money, and that was the reality.
Except for Burke-Dale, who owned his house, the others rented.
Now, hearing Jiang Hai's offer of ready-made housing, their faces lit up with different smiles.
"Then go prepare quickly. Robbins and I will buy some things. We'll have a small welcome party tonight." Jiang Hai smiled, watching their excited faces.
As soon as they heard Jiang Hai's words, the group quickly left in their cars. In the United States, though car prices were cheap, a person still had to pay taxes on them every year. However, the low cost of cars made them desirable, and many people were willing to buy cars despite the taxes.
Jiang Hai watched them drive away, contemplating whether to buy a car himself. He had a driver's license, but it wasn't an international one, so for now, he could only look at their cars with envy.
"Once I upgrade… but wait, I don't have the money to upgrade." It wouldn't be hard for Jiang Hai to upgrade to an international driver's license. He had even made an appointment through the Centurion bank card. But the test wasn't until next month. With a helpless pout, Jiang Hai decided to head to the town supermarket with Robbins to buy some food. His fridge was empty, and with a car and some free help, he planned to stock up.
"Hey, boss, didn't you say yesterday that you wanted to find some crew members? Do you still need them?" Just as Jiang Hai was about to leave with Robbins, Philemon's truck stopped beside them and asked.
Jiang Hai paused. Originally, he had planned to develop the fishery, but with the lack of funds, he was focusing on a slower approach. He only intended to buy a fishing boat to catch fish in his territory and sell them. This didn't require too many people, but at least a few helpers would be necessary.