America's Road to Wealth

Abel stayed in this suburban mansion called "Hydra Manor" that day.

Hydra Manor is located on the banks of the Colorado River in Austin, surrounded by beautiful surroundings and charming scenery.

This estate has a breathtakingly large acreage and a unique location, providing its owners with the most enviable views in Austin.

The manor is surrounded by lush trees; the graceful river scenery in front of the house is romantic and charming, allowing the owner here to enjoy the best of life.

The backyard is full of life with a beautiful large pool and fountain.

The interior decoration is classic, noble, novel and unique, with gorgeous mahogany floors, oil painting-decorated walls, arched windows, suspended chandeliers... The attention to detail makes this villa look classy and classy.

After dinner.

Abel and his grandfather Alex were walking on the north side, not far from the Colorado River.

Downtown Austin can be vaguely seen in the distance, on the garden lawn with bustling lights.

"Before you came. I had already agreed upon the details with Herbert."

Alex looked at the Colorado River under the moonlit sky, and the old man said softly:

"The time is set to be after Christmas, the same as when you first met last year. Herbert originally wanted to hold an engagement reception for you at the Bush Manor, but I think this is not good, so I discussed it with Herbert."

"He was very reasonable. He thought my suggestion was good and agreed with my idea."

Alex looked at his grandson next to him. He was already as tall as himself.

"On the day after Christmas this year, we will hold your engagement ceremony here or at Bush Manor or Smith Manor."

"We will invite some Bush relatives, as well as our Smith relatives."

"Other irrelevant people will not be invited to come."

After hearing these words from his grandfather, Abel couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Although he was determined to marry little Laura, he did not want to make the engagement ceremony seem like he was announcing it to the world.

If it is too big, the whole United States will know it, and the whole people will know it.

Then if he wants to steal beauty in the future, he will have to bear the huge cost of public opinion.

This is what Abel doesn't want to see.

Clearly both Alex and Herbert had taken this into consideration.

Abel whispered to his grandfather: "Thank you, Grandpa"

"I should be the one thanking you." Alex smiled.

"Without your presence, Herbert would not have valued me so much, and even his son's achievements have surpassed mine. Without you, Smith is nothing in front of the bush."

"you need to know."

Alex looked at his grandson seriously: "Your existence and your achievements are the real reasons why Shrub chose to do this."

Abel naturally understood this.

He knew that if it weren't for him, even Alex and Alexander, father and son, would still be the commander-in-chief.

It is impossible for me to get as much tolerance as the other side of the bush.

The most important reason why Shrub can be so tolerant to him is himself.

"I know." Abel pretended to be relaxed and smiled at his grandfather:

"Your grandson is the richest man in the world. Your grandson is as rich as any country and deserves anyone's attention."

Alex smiled.

The old man changed the topic to another matter.

"I heard what Herbert and Alexander said. Do you want people from your security company to participate in the fighting in Afghanistan?"

"Um."

"Do you still want a company under your name to appear on the military's procurement list?"

"Um."

"Herbert has already told me. George will help, but not too much. There are too many people joining this time. Those guys pushed George up just to give him a good meal."

"I understand."

Abel knew the biggest backer behind the Bush family.

In fact, it was the Texas consortium headed by Davis Brown.

Specifically, it is part of the military-industrial complex.

Otherwise, it would not have been Herbert who launched the Battle of the Gulf in 1991, and his son who launched another battle ten years later.

Although most of the U.S. commanders took office, the United States launched wars abroad.

But in modern times, there is no doubt that the battle launched by the father and son is the largest and most widespread.

The reason for this is because behind the father and son, there are a lot of cannibals.

The United States' foreign war can bring them the greatest benefits.

Alex, a Texan with a wide network of friends, knows this.

He had no objection to his grandson joining in, but he warned him to be careful.

They were angry at best because their grandson wouldn't join them.

But if the grandson robs their food and robs too much.

Then they are not just angry, but they are so-called destroying people's wealth like killing their parents.

Alex has expressed so carefully many times because of this.

The grandfather and grandson chatted for a long time, and later Herbert also joined in.

Later, Arya and Barbara also came here to admire the moon.

They didn't disperse until very late.

The next day, Abel did not leave the Hydra Manor of the Bush family.

He met an executive from Sotheby's auction house in a small living room here.

This man’s name is Jason Jones, president of Sotheby’s Auction Group America.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Jones."

In the small conference hall, Abel greeted the other party.

Jason Jones immediately responded: "Hello, Mr. Smith."

Sotheby's is a world-renowned auction house founded in London, England.

It is best known for its auctions of art and cultural relics, but also includes more than seventy other categories.

The auction house's auction centers are located in New York, USA and London, UK. Its offices are located in 90 cities in 40 countries. Auctions are held regularly in more than 10 locations around the world every year.

Jason Jones is the general manager of Sotheby's in the United States.

After a brief exchange of greetings, Abel did not talk too much with this person. He directly stated his purpose.

"Mr. Jones. I believe you already know the reason why you are invited here."

Of course, Jason Jones knows that being here means that Smith Group has been in contact with Sotheby’s many times.

After both parties have the intention to cooperate, the representative Jason Jones will be sent over.

Meet Abel Smith, the world's richest man, at the famous Hydra Manor of the Bush family.

Jason Jones wasn’t surprised at all.

Many people are aware of the marriage between the Smith and Shrub families.

"Understood, I understand." Jason Jones said quickly.

Abel nodded with satisfaction: "Then please go tell the Wagner family. For $500 million, as long as they agree, then they don't have to go to the auction to sell their ancestral property."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Smith." Jason Jones also said to Abel: "We will negotiate with Mr. Wagner. But whether they can agree or not depends on what they mean."

"Then I'll trouble you."

Jason Jones left quickly.

Abel took advantage of the situation and took over a piece of farm information handed over by Alan Baker, the leader of the Smith Intelligence Group.

This is a profile of a large fenced farm called "Wagner Farm".

It contains data on various resource points of the Wagner Farm from its peak days to the present.

As for why Abel suddenly cared about the farm.

That was his plan to add another title to himself in the name of providing supplies for the war in Afghanistan.

This title is called - Agricultural Capitalist.

What is an agricultural capitalist?

Agricultural capitalists, like industrial capitalists, are industrial capitalists who engage in capitalist commodity production to exploit wage workers.

The difference is that in industry.

Since products are sold at production prices, industrial capitalists generally only earn average profits.

Industrial capitalists can obtain excess profits only when the individual production price of their products is lower than the social production price.

In agriculture, due to the monopoly of land management, the social production price of agricultural products is determined by the production conditions of inferior land.

At the same time, the monopoly of private land rights also requires agricultural products to be sold at a value higher than the production price.

Therefore, the profits directly obtained by agricultural capitalists after selling their products are higher than the average profits.

The four internationally famous ABCD groups are the largest agricultural capital on the planet.

The C in ABC is the Cargill Group in the United States.

It is one of the top ten private companies in the United States, and its status in the United States is not much worse than that of the Koch brothers.

Among the huge domestic forces in the United States, including military force, finance, energy, media, people's livelihood, and industry.

The people's livelihood sector consists of those retail groups and these agricultural capitalists.

Cargill is one of the best. In other words, Cargill is one of the controllers behind American people's livelihood.

Abel wanted to intervene in people's livelihood, so he opened Pacific Supermarket Company.

But that's not enough, he also needs to have an agricultural group of his own.

In this way, large amounts of agricultural commodities, such as grain, can be produced.

From ancient times, the ultimate means of production on this planet has always been land.

This is why whether it is Buffett, Bill Gates, or Zuckerberg later.

In the end, they all chose to become big landowners.

Only land, land that can produce a large amount of output, is combined with sales channels.

Only when both parties are combined can we be considered a complete people's livelihood giant.

Like Cargill, it is both an agricultural conglomerate and a retail giant.

It was a time when finance was on the right track, the media was beginning to take shape, energy was beginning to develop, and high-tech industry had not yet seen its shadow.

Abel planned to start the people's livelihood.

This plan will be divided into two steps, one is the supermarket.

Construction has begun on the Pacific Supermarket.

Naturally, agriculture cannot be spared either.

The Smith Intelligence Group found some very large farms that Abel could obtain in China and in many places around the world.

This Wagner Farm is one of them.

What Abel was holding in his hand at this time was the detailed information of Wagner Farm.

It contains data on various resource points at Wagner Farm, at its peak, and now.

[Area: Spanning six counties in Texas, covering an area of ​​207,000 hectares (equivalent to 2,070 square kilometers), or 520,000 acres]

In terms of area, the Wagner Farm is the largest fenced farm in the entire United States.

The so-called fenced farm means that there will be a fence surrounding it on its boundary.

This also means that its land property rights are clear, it is not afraid of suffering losses, and it is difficult to take advantage of others.

[Water rights: free use of water resources throughout the farm]

The United States has special water rights laws.

If there is only land ownership but no water rights, the people who own the land cannot use the water resources in the land.

Generally speaking, most farms will have corresponding water rights.

But most don’t get all the water rights.

There is a complete set of legal systems here, including four major types: riparian rights, priority rights of occupation, mixed water rights, and public water rights.

Except for public water rights which are not tradable, the other three types of water rights can be transferred and traded.

And this farm owns all the water rights within the territory.

This is rare on large farms.

For example, in the Sunnis Mountains of Abel, about 30% of the water rights there are public water rights.

He can use it, but so can other people.

For example, if the local government inserts a pipe and uses the public water rights inside, Abel will not be able to refuse.

The Wagner Farm owns all the water rights, which means that all the water in the entire farm's 520,000 acres of land belongs to him.

There are no public water rights.

[Cattle herd: At its peak, there were 16,000 cattle, but now there are less than 7,000 cattle. 】

There are relatively few pastures for raising sheep in the United States, because sheep eat the roots when they eat grass, which has a very bad impact on the pastures.

Except for a few ranches, sheep in the United States are mainly raised in confinement.

Abel's farm also raises sheep, but they actually raise them in pens.

The sheep mainly eat feed on weekdays, and the agricultural output of Smith Farm is mainly corn and sorghum.

These two crops are generally not sold outside, but are made into feed to feed the cattle and sheep on the farm.

That's why Smith Farm is able to raise so many cattle and sheep despite its small area.

That's why Smith Farm needs so many agricultural workers.

[Farmland: The existing cultivated area is 30,000 acres, mainly growing wheat, and the farm’s land area suitable for farming is 150,000 acres. 】

Of the 520,000 acres, 150,000 acres are very good irrigated land.

They can be used for large-scale industrial production of food.

As the son of a farmer, Abel knew what it was like to be in industrialized food production in the United States.

One acre of corn can yield about 150 bushels.

A bushel of corn is approximately 25.401 kilograms.

In other words, if you plant one acre of corn, you can harvest almost 3,800 kilograms of corn.

With 150,000 acres, it can produce more than 570,000 tons of corn every year.

570,000 tons of corn.

Whether it is made into feed, corn syrup, or used as human food, it is a very large number.

[Horses: Horses have always been an important source of income for Wagner Farm, and their contribution to the American Quarter Horse industry has long been recognized. 】

Whether they are pasture horses or show horses, Wagner Farms breeds them well. His performance in various equestrian competitions is outstanding.

Of the 520,000 acres of land, after deducting 150,000 acres for agricultural production, there will still be a large amount of mountainous land that is not suitable for agricultural production.

These areas can be used to raise cattle or grow pasture for rotational grazing of sheep.

Of course, you can also raise horses. Horses are still very popular in the southern and central regions of the United States and are an important means of transportation.

[Petroleum resources: Due to previous disputes over business concepts, old-fashioned mining techniques are still used. The drilling depth is only about 610 meters. After a geological assessment, the Wagner Farm was deemed to have extremely rich untapped oil resources. The buyer will receive 42% of the mining rights. 】

This piece is a bit dispensable.

The reason is because oil has been mined here for decades.

The surface oil that is easy to dig has basically been dug out.

There are 1,200 oil wells still in operation, and the cost of producing a barrel of oil is very high.

Sometimes most of them are shut down, and they only work when oil prices are high.

This is the case 610 meters underground.

Deeper underground, no matter how much oil there is, the cost of production will scare everyone away.

What's more, it's not all, but only 42% of the property rights.

Abel thought this part was the most useless.

[Hunting: The current farm operators in this area are also in an undeveloped state. 】

There are rivers and streams in the pasture, which are perfect for wildlife habitat and reproduction.

Wildlife on the farm now includes deer, turkey, quail, doves, waterfowl and wild boar, making it perfect for recreational small game hunting.

It is conservatively estimated that if developed and utilized, there will be an annual income of more than 20 million US dollars.

If developed well, it can also be used as your own private hunting ground.

The development and utilization prospects of some ancillary resources such as underground saltwater resources and intellectual property resources are also listed at the back.

Looking at these detailed information, Abel felt that although the current large ranch seemed to be run a bit poorly.

But if a lot of money is invested in developing it properly, its output will surely satisfy anyone.

The current situation is that the Wagner family, the owner of this farm, is having a common internal fight among wealthy families.

This feud began with the third generation of Wagner, David Wagner.

With the current fourth and fifth generations of Wagner, the family infighting has reached its peak.

This originally well-developed farm has been neglected and left unmanaged all year round due to internal strife.

I started to make ends meet and kept losing money.

In the end, the internal battles within the Wagner family have reached a consensus in recent years.

That is - sell it and everyone will divide the money.

Like the Taylor family, one of the founding families of Sempra Energy.

The Wagners are not looking for a buyer directly; they want to sell for a higher price.

They approached Sotheby's and offered $800 million.

Since 1999, Sotheby's has been auctioning this farm all over the world.

But it is still the early 21st century, and global inflation is not that serious yet.

Coupled with the sluggish U.S. economy, it has dragged down the global economy.

The United States has experienced Nasdaq one after another, and the recent 9/11.

No one can afford this farm at the moment, it looks too expensive.

In a parallel time and space, the Wagner family later had to lower its price to $725 million.

But for many years afterwards, no one cared about it.

Again, it's too expensive.

Even if it has oil in it.

In fact, the main reason is that its surface oil and gas resources have been dug out, leaving only a little residue that is still being produced every day.

In its deep underground, there may be richer oil and gas resources.

But what is the current international oil price?

The cost of digging oil up from 610 meters underground, including the price of barrels, has exceeded 20 US dollars, about 23 to 25 US dollars.

If the international oil price is like last year, it would be around 30+ US dollars.

That's still somewhat profitable.

Nowadays, the international oil price is only about 20 US dollars, and you will pay for every barrel you dig.

Information shows that all 1,200 oil diggers in its territory are currently shut down.

How could the energy giants be interested in this market?

And agricultural giants have cheaper land to annex.

Before the annexation reaches the point where it is impossible to annex, they will not be interested in such an expensive large farm.

It's hard to sell Wagner Farms.

Abel called Sotheby's auction house and asked them to negotiate with the Wagner family.

Let’s see if we can buy this farm outright for $500 million.

Compared with others, what attracted Abel to this farm was not the oil resources under the ground, nor the intellectual property rights of Wagner's century-old farm.

What he valued was that the farm was large enough and that the ranch had full water rights.

This is exactly in line with his needs in forming an agricultural group.

This led to his meeting with Jason Jones today.

In fact, the farm he wants to buy at this time is not just the Wagner Farm!

There is another chapter to come, satisfying four chapters, but it may be late, so don’t wait.