Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 18, Quality Needs to Be Lowered

The atmosphere in the meeting room was serious. The large screen had been updated with a map of the power relationships within Lin'an City based on Lin Zhou's dictation. The forces of Sihou Xu Ping were marked in blue, Qin Party Cao Wenda in red, the orphans outside the city in green, and the location of the shop Lin Zhou had just acquired was also clearly marked.

Director Zhao chaired the meeting, which was attended by Professor Wang, strategic analysis expert Li Han, experts from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, engineer Sun from the Institute of Materials Science, and policewoman Chen Wei.

Lin Zhou gave a detailed account of how he was publicly "abandoned" by Si Hou, how he was won over by Cao Wenda who gave him a shop, funds, and asked him to prepare "70,000 doses" of medicine.

He emphasized the nonchalant way Cao Wenda held up seven fingers and said "70,000," as well as the shock and unease he felt when he received the heavy goldfish bag.

"You know, at that moment, only one sentence came to my mind: 'Fate has already put a price tag on every gift.' Once I accepted the money, there was no turning back." Lin Zhou rubbed his face and sighed, "It's so difficult, you big shots. You know what level I am. Being surrounded by these shrewd people every day, I'm really panicking."

Li Han, who had just been disciplined, rested his chin on his hand and quickly sketched on his notebook: "Si Hou's abandonment act used the persona of a greedy, incompetent, and ostracized foreign merchant to give Lin Zhou a perfect disguise, making it reasonable for him to be recruited by the enemy and successfully infiltrate their ranks. This move was ruthless but efficient. It must be said that while their productivity is low, their wisdom is top-notch."

She continued, "Cao Wenda's massive investment aims to transform Linzhou into a reliable conduit for generating 'political achievements' and 'rare commodities.' They prioritize results and profits, not the technology itself. The demand for 70,000 doses of medicine indicates that Qin Hui's faction intends to seize control of the entire southern epidemic prevention effort as a political bargaining chip. It's highly likely they intend to promote someone they've chosen, placing them in the inner circle to better control the government."

"Therefore, Comrade Lin Zhou now faces both risks and opportunities. He has obtained legal status, solving the material foundation for his survival and business expansion. He has successfully entered the periphery of the Qin Hui Group, gaining access to observe and influence the group at close range." Li Han sighed at this point, "But at the same time, he is completely exposed to the Qin Hui Group's vision and is under close surveillance. His freedom of movement is currently restricted, especially in that he can no longer easily visit and protect the war orphans outside the city. The task of procuring medicine is extremely stressful, directly related to his value and personal safety."

At this point, Li Han raised her head and said, "That concludes my summary."

"Hmm, very good." Director Zhao leaned back in his chair, stroking his chin and frowning. "Do the other experts have anything to add?"

All the experts said they had nothing to add, except for the CDC expert who coughed and said, "Based on the description, the outbreak there is most likely dysentery. It's actually quite simple, but the dosage of medicine is quite large. I remember Comrade Lin Zhou saying last time that his cooldown time for time travel was determined by the weight of the cargo. I think we should change the regular medicine to highly concentrated medicine, and then repackage it ourselves with flour or starch after we get back."

"Alright, I understand the general situation now." Director Zhao leaned back in his chair. "Professor Wang, do you have anything to say?"

Professor Wang chuckled and said, "Actually, we can see from this short exchange that Si Hou was completely on the defensive. His skills and methods were completely insufficient to deal with his opponent's abilities. He had a good heart, but his abilities were somewhat lacking."

"That old fox of a man..." Lin Zhou's eyes widened, "He even treated me like a dog."

"Isn't he the one being played like a dog?" Professor Wang sighed. "A wise man is not good at scheming, young comrade. The platform we gave him was completely beyond his control, but he also knew his own position, so he simply pushed you into the other camp. This tactic of retreating to advance was correct."

"A marginalized military officer like Zhao indeed had limited opportunities to make a difference in that environment.

"Yes, Professor Wang."

"This time, I think we can let Comrade Xiao Lin go a little further and allow him to quickly make a breakthrough with the Qin Party. So we can't just follow the Lord Si's lead; we need to be bolder. Before, the Lord Si was worried that Comrade Xiao Lin would be exposed, but now that he has been exposed, we might as well go all out."

Li Han raised her hand: "I agree with Professor Wang's point of view, let's be bolder."

"Okay, I understand." Director Zhao nodded and said, "The supplies will be in place by tomorrow morning, but as for the medicine, I think Xiao Lin can keep it a secret for now. We can't hand over all the medicine at once. We need to maintain its preciousness, like the scarcity marketing strategy used for wheat. We can't let them have their fill all at once. And then, we should try to maximize the greed and greed of the common people to increase credibility."

"I understand, but how do I explain the source of the goods? I can only give a vague answer for now."

"No explanation." Director Zhao pushed up his glasses. "One lie requires a hundred lies to cover it up. No explanation is the best explanation. Let them investigate themselves. If they can't find the answer, they'll make it up themselves."

"Making it up?" Lin Zhou didn't understand, but he was greatly shocked: "You can really make it up?"

"Yes," Director Zhao said with a smile, "it will sound even more real than what you made up."

"I understand!" Lin Zhou immediately realized, "It seems I have a good grasp of this."

Everyone smiled without saying a word, and then left their seats one after another.

The next morning, the supplies Lin Zhou needed were already prepared. Looking at the truck full of things, he silently calculated in his mind that the cool-down time for this trip would be at least three days. Last time he brought so much stuff over there, he had to cool down for three whole days. And this was probably much more than that last time.

When the list of supplies was sent to him, the variety of goods, in addition to medicine, had greatly increased. Previously, many things could not be brought because of the need to avoid the risk of investigation, but now the strategy had changed, so the abundance of supplies left Lin Zhou speechless.

There were even a few sets of old-fashioned mechanical grandfather clocks, which were specifically intended as gifts.

"Be careful on the road." Director Zhao patted Lin Zhou on the shoulder. "The cooldown period is long, so be careful."

"Don't worry, I'm still quite valuable now, and I'll try to be successful in both directions."

With his ability activated, Lin Zhou pulled the cart back to Lin'an City. This time, he dared not go to the deserted village again, but instead chose a main road and began to pull the cart into the city.

On the way, he ran into an old acquaintance, none other than Xu Shang, who was known as Black Bun.

"I've been looking for you for a long time." When Xu Shang saw Lin Zhou, although he still looked cool, his tone was filled with undisguised anxiety: "Do you still have those medicines? In the southern part of the city, dysentery is rampant, and the doctors in the city are helpless. More than a hundred people have died, mostly the old and weak."

"Don't rush, don't rush, Brother Xu, don't rush." ​​Lin Zhou frowned after hearing this and said, "I'm going to get the medicine right now."

"We can't wait any longer. Do you have any medicine on hand? We need to treat those children first."

Seeing his anxious look, Lin Zhou took a deep breath: "Then why don't you wait while I go and ask for instructions? The medicine I'm currently preparing was also ordered to be prepared by the imperial court. I'm afraid I'll be punished if I administer the medicine privately."

"This is troublesome!"