I See through Everything

Chapter 277: Chapter 146: Returning from a Long Voyage

Seeing He Youwei had misunderstood, Shuya smiled and explained, "Youwei, you’ve got it wrong. He caught several boatloads of fish."

"Oh, I see," He Youwei said as she brushed a layer of barbecue sauce on a chicken wing. "But that must have been quite expensive. The market price for salmon shouldn’t be that high right now, should it?"

"This is for breeding stock," Jiang Miao said. He cut open a thawed sockeye salmon. The flesh inside was a vibrant red, but he wasn’t a fan of eating it raw, so he sliced it into two pieces and placed them on the griddle to cook.

Hearing that it was for breeding stock, He Youwei finally understood. She knew Jiang Miao wouldn’t spend twenty million for a few boatloads of fish for no reason. "Teacher, didn’t I hear that a Norwegian company was planning to invest in a salmon farm in Shanmei? Are you working with them?"

Jiang Miao shook his head. "No. That project is most likely just vaporware. They’ve been talking about it for years, but there’s still no news of it actually starting."

"I see."

"Ah Miao, is this salmon too? The color is so light! Isn’t salmon meat supposed to be orange-red?" Shuya asked, looking at the pink salmon he was cutting.

"This is a Pacific pink salmon. As the name suggests, its flesh is pinkish. The flavor isn’t as rich or fatty as King Salmon or Atlantic Salmon; it has a lighter, more refreshing taste and texture."

A little while later, his brother-in-law and sister arrived with their family.

The grilled salmon tasted pretty good, especially when eaten hot. The five types of salmon each had their own unique merits and distinct characteristics.

Watching his family eat.

Jiang Miao, holding a soda water, stood with his brother-in-law in the pavilion, watching the crimson clouds on the horizon.

His brother-in-law sat on a stone bench in the pavilion and took a sip of hot sugarcane soup. "Ah Miao, what are your plans for farming the salmon?"

"The first batch we’ll farm will be the pink salmon. They’ll probably lay three to four million eggs this June or July," Jiang Miao said casually, explaining the situation.

Zhang Xincheng had already looked up the relevant data. He rubbed the prickly stubble on his chin. "During the fry stage, you can raise 100 to 200 salmon per cubic meter of water. After that, you have to keep increasing their space. For adult fish approaching market size, it’s usually three to five fish per cubic meter. Looking at it this way, you’re going to need a huge farm!"

"Of course."

"Using the high-end estimate of four million fish, at three fish per cubic meter, you’d need about 1.33 million cubic meters of water." Zhang Xincheng took out his phone to use the calculator. "Assuming the breeding ponds are 10 meters deep, that’s 133,000 square meters—about 200 mu—for a high-spec indoor farm."

"Brother-in-law, what do you think of Chicken Cage Mountain?"

"What? Chicken Cage Mountain? The one west of Magong Town?"

"That location is perfect for building a terraced farm. It’s by the sea and at a river mouth, so both freshwater and seawater are easy to get."

"A terraced farm? Are you planning to do hydropower again? Will there be enough time?" Zhang Xincheng was a little worried. After all, there were only a little over four months until the spawning season.

Jiang Miao took a sip of his soda water and began to explain. "My idea is to use the western face of Chicken Cage Mountain, the side facing Cheung Sha Wan. We’d use a stretch about a kilometer long and 300 meters wide, with a vertical drop of around 100 meters. The construction would be semi-subterranean: we’d excavate 5 meters deep and then build a 7-meter dam, giving us a total usable depth of 10 meters."

"Plus, the fry need to be cultivated in freshwater for the first three months. Since they’ll still be small, we can raise them in the freshwater ponds at the Nanhu Breeding Farm. That buys us over seven months."

Zhang Xincheng estimated the amount of work. "If that’s the case, then there should be enough time."

Jiang Miao continued, "Considering the need for sturdy dikes and to ensure safety, we’ll have to install a sufficiently thick waterproof layer to prevent water from seeping into the ground and causing landslides. With that, this area can hold a maximum of 1.6 million cubic meters of seawater."

"Are we giving this project to Jianfang Company again?"

"Yes, let’s give it to them. Have them draw up a proposal as soon as possible and apply for all the necessary permits at the same time."

Jiang Miao wasn’t worried about funding. Starting this year, the Hailufeng Company would be receiving about 3.2 to 4 billion in technology licensing fees annually.

The Chicken Cage Mountain project was much smaller than the Bamboo Mountain project and didn’t require dams that were as high. Therefore, the entire project would probably only cost about 1 billion yuan.

Considering that the other four species of salmon would eventually need to be mass-produced, Jiang Miao realized the Chicken Cage Mountain project wouldn’t be enough.

"We also need to increase the scale of our investment. On the southwestern side of the Zhe Lang Peninsula facing the open sea, in the area around Big Hat Mountain and Maling Mountain, we’ll build an even larger terraced farm. The total area needs to be 2.5 million square meters, with a water volume of 20 million cubic meters, enough to raise at least 60 million salmon at once."

GULP! Zhang Xincheng swallowed hard. "Ah Miao, isn’t that scale a bit too massive? Add that to the 6 million cubic meters of water at Bamboo Mountain, and we’ll be able to raise 80 million salmon."

Jiang Miao shook his head. "It’s not that big. Norway produces several million tons of salmon a year. We can’t fall behind. Besides, if the company’s money isn’t invested, it just gets taxed. We might as well pour all the patent licensing fees from this year and next into these two projects."

The deep pockets of the Hailufeng Company gave Jiang Miao the confidence to make such an investment.

The Norwegian company’s PPT about investing in and building a salmon farm in Shanmei City painted a magnificent picture, but in reality, the project had been stuck in the planning and demonstration phase.

Hailufeng Company, on the other hand, was playing for real.

By the time that Norwegian salmon company finished its internal squabbling and got its act together, Hailufeng Company’s salmon would probably already be on the market.

If everything went smoothly, the first batch of pink salmon would reach maturity around the Lunar New Year. After setting aside some for broodstock, about two million-plus pink salmon would be ready for market.

Pink salmon are the smallest species of Pacific salmon, so their average weight is only about 1.5 kilograms. Two million-plus fish would be roughly three million kilograms, or about three thousand tons.

Moreover, these terraced farms could also function as pumped-storage reservoirs. Whether they were leased to Southern Power or used by the company itself, it was a worthwhile investment.

The two of them discussed for a while longer, nailing down more of the details.

After the Lunar New Year, they would begin making arrangements for these projects.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!