After the transaction was concluded, Devon Energy announced the transaction amount and details. Of course, the identities of Qi Zheng and others are still unknown.

The huge transaction amount is enough to make people's eyes widen, not to mention the mysterious identity of the lucky winner on the other side, which instantly attracted the attention of many media.

Qi Zheng didn't want to be exposed to the media so early.

In order to avoid the limelight and plan for the next step, he and Zhang Zehong bid farewell to Zhu Kai in Houston and went to California on December 1.

If you want to say where in the United States agriculture is the most developed? I'm afraid it's California.

Even within the United States, California is a place full of strange atmospheres.

Culturally, not only white Americans, but also blacks, Mexicans, Chinese, and other ethnic groups are also very diverse, and they are very diverse from the East Coast.

Economically, California, where Silicon Valley and Hollywood are located, surpasses France in terms of total economy and is the sixth largest economy in the world. Four of the world's top 10 companies are headquartered in California;

From an agricultural point of view, the output of sugarcane, vegetables, and fruits occupies a prominent position in the United States, the output of cotton is the second, the output of rice is the second, it is an important milk, egg, and meat producing area in the United States, and the Central Valley is the richest agricultural zone. It has a well-developed forestry industry and is one of the three major timber producing states in the United States. The fishery industry is the largest in the United States, with San Francisco, San Diego and San Pedro being important fishing ports.

Although the farms in California are relatively expensive, relying on the developed economy and huge market, coupled with the fact that this is the largest concentration of Chinese in the United States, Qi Zheng still plans to start the Jiagu American Company in California.

Qi Zheng, the U.S. branch of Jiagu, has entrusted the relevant agency to register. Now Qi Zheng and Zhang Zehong are coming, on the one hand, to find a manager for the company in the United States, and on the other hand, to buy a farm.

The headquarters of Jiagu USA is located in Irvine, a new development area in Los Angeles, and the surrounding environment is more modern and clean than the surrounding area of Los Angeles, which has become the choice of many Chinese people to buy a house and settle down in recent years.

Zhang Zehong rented a very ordinary-looking small building as an office location.

"Zehong, how many people have been recruited in the company?, have you started the official office?" Qi Zheng stood on the second floor of the small building, looked at the monotonous scenery outside the window, and asked.

Zhang Zehong had previously paid attention to the negotiations in Houston, and at the same time took time to come to Los Angeles to confirm the registration of the branch and the lease of the office building.

"Only a few clerks and cleaners were hired, and no one could do it. Zhang Zehong replied.

Qi Zheng nodded, "I made an appointment with a few managers introduced by the headhunting company to come over for an interview tomorrow, we have to find the manager of the branch as soon as possible, and then he will build the branch." ”

"That's a good feeling, these trivial things just drive me crazy. I only now understand Xie Kaiji's ability, he is the real master of these things. Zhang Zehong was relieved when he heard this.

Qi Zheng smiled, "After all, there is still someone to guard the house, let's hurry up and get the American stall right." ”

......

It's a pity that the interview on the second day didn't go well, and several managers didn't quite meet the requirements of Qi Zheng and Zhang Zehong.

Adhering to the principle of preferring shortage to abundance, the two had no choice but to go to see the farm to be sold with the farmers who had made an appointment.

California is bordered by forests and hills on the northern edge of Oregon, the Nevada Mountains on the east, and the Mojave Desert on the southeast, separated from Arizona. Inside California, there are a series of mountains and inter-mountain basins, the largest of which is the Central Valley, which is the main concentration of California farms.

Then, it was not until the seaside part that California had coastal flatlands that could be exploited on a large scale, and after the completion of the western development of the United States, two well-known metropolitan areas, San Francisco and Los Angeles, were formed.

In the next two days, Qi Zheng and others traveled to more than a dozen large and small pastures for sale in the vicinity, and they had enough understanding of the development of agriculture and animal husbandry industry near California, and also set several good goals.

The last farm is the closest to Los Angeles and is located in Ontario, Southern California.

Located more than 60 kilometers from Los Angeles and with a population of about 170,000, Ontario is a medium-sized city in Southern California.

Coming to the outskirts of the city, Qi Zheng and they went directly to the farm.

The farmer is Chinese. After Qi Zheng and Zhang Zehong arrived at the farm, a Chinese couple greeted them, waved enthusiastically and asked in Mandarin, "Is it Mr. Qi and Mr. Zhang from China?"

The two sides greeted each other and then made an introduction. The farmer's name is Lu Zhiwei and his wife is Song Qing, and the two are the second generation of immigrants to the United States. Their parents, who immigrated to the United States before the founding of the country, came to Ontario and bought the farm.

After the meeting, Lu Zhiwei first took them to a small winery to drink a glass of red wine made by himself. There are about 100 acres of vineyards on the farm, where some table grapes and wine grapes are grown, and they are sold while eating them to generate some profits.

While drinking, Lu Zhiwei introduced the two to their farm, which is called "Dadi Farm", which now covers an area of 1,600 acres.

This area is not large in the United States, but it was earned by the hard work of two generations of Lu Zhiwei. When their parents first came to Ontario, they bought only 100 acres of farms, but they slowly acquired the surrounding farms to get what they are today.

They are all Chinese, and the topic of drinking is discussed.

Lu Zhiwei did not immediately promote his farm, he groaned for a while and said: "Two little brothers, we are all Chinese, as the saying goes, a strip of water is a strip of water. Although my husband and wife were born and raised in the United States, we have never forgotten where our roots are. No matter how far away our hometown is, we are all our own people now. So, I want to ask you more, do you want to immigrate to the United States?"

Qi Zheng and Zhang Zehong glanced at each other and shook their heads: "No, we are also engaged in agriculture in China, and now we just have a little spare money on hand, and we plan to invest in American farms to engage in organic food, and learn some advanced agricultural technologies and concepts by the way." ”

Lu Zhiwei was relieved: "Although I do not encourage my current compatriots to immigrate to the United States, because the United States is not the paradise they imagined at all. But if you have spare money and want to start a farm, that's not bad, and now there is a good room for farm land appreciation in California. As the saying goes, money always depreciates, but land always increases. ”

With the increasing number of Chinese immigrants, many of them are also focusing on investing in farms, and the price of farmland in California has risen year after year, and farms have risen by more than 20% year after year.

According to a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farm values can grow steadily in the future.

In fact, not only California, but most of the farms in the Mideastern United States are also rising, but not as dramatically as California.

This reason has also contributed to the trend of domestic investors buying farms in California for immigration purposes.

Lu Zhiwei and his wife shook their heads when they talked about this, immigration is a besieged city, people in the city desperately want to get out, and people outside the city desperately want to squeeze in.

"I have been back to China to see, now that our China is developing faster and faster, the employment situation is also good, and the standard of living is also improving, we all think that the future of development in the motherland is brighter. Why do so many people leave their homes and come to the United States to suffer and find sin to eat?"

Qi Zheng shrugged his shoulders and said with a wry smile: "This is probably because my own food is always not as fragrant as other people's." There is indeed a gap between the level of development in China and that of developed countries, and developed countries like the United States are too attractive to those people, with beautiful environment, advanced concepts, advanced technology, and democratic progress. ”

Listening to Qi Zheng's words, Lu Zhiwei shook his head and said, "Alas, they only saw the present, not the future. It's never easy to integrate into the United States. ”

He paused and stopped mentioning the topic: "Since we are friends, then I will give you a real price, my farm only needs 4,000 US dollars per mu, and it only adds up to 6.4 million US dollars, all of which are sold to you together with land, houses, machinery and equipment, irrigation facilities, etc." ”

Hearing this price, Qi Zheng blinked, and Zhang Zehong asked tentatively: "Forgive me for asking directly, why did you come up with such a low price? This does not meet market standards." ”

The farms I inspected earlier, such as this well-equipped farm, have a starting price of at least $5,000 per mu, which is also the basic price standard for California farms, and the price offered by Lu Zhiwei is abnormal.

Lu Zhiwei smiled bitterly and said: "Don't worry, I will tell you if you don't ask, I won't pit you, I'll show you the farm and you'll know the reason." ”

So a few people went out to visit the farm.

When they went to the farm, Qi Zheng and Zhang Zehong were taken aback, only to see a barren scene in front of them, most of the crops planted on the farm land were burned to ashes, and the fruit trees in the fruit forest were burned black, so devastated that it was difficult to recall that this was once a lush and vibrant farm landscape.

"Is this ......," Zhang Zehong asked, pointing to the scene in front of him in astonishment.

"California wildfires!" Lu Zhiwei replied in a heavy tone.

When Qi Zheng heard this, he instantly remembered the news that was once swiped by the California fire in later generations.

The most straightforward description is: "In recent years, it is likely that due to the effects of global climate change, the frequency of fires in California is very high. The California governor even warned that wildfires are the new normal in California and that this could happen every year. ”

Heaven is sometimes right next door to hell.

While California is deeply tied to Hollywood as a cultural icon, it is not a natural dream in its own right.

Leaving aside the fact that the Seismically Active Plate is located for the time being, its closed interior, low latitudes, and proximity to desert areas, the combination of various natural factors has brought a lingering shadow of drought to California.

And when the timing is right, these factors can become accelerators for wildfires.

There is a kind of air flow called "Great Devil Wind" in Northern California, which is simply the cold air flow from Nevada on the east side of the country through the geographical environment, turning into a hot and dry foehn wind blowing towards Northern California, which has a great effect on the formation and spread of fires.

As for Southern California, including Los Angeles and Ontario, it corresponds to the "Santa Ana wind". It is also formed by the difference in air pressure between the Nevada land air and the Pacific ocean surface air. After passing through the dry Mojave Desert, the airflow is no less dry than the "Great Demon Wind".

With these two dry currents in hand, wildfires in California are hard to think about.

Fires have caused huge economic losses to California over the years, but the situation is still small.

With the abnormal weather, the California fires will slowly become the most famous fires in the world.

After all, the "Great California Escape", in which many rich and famous people have to join, almost becomes a horror scene that is staged every year. This is sometimes what the people who eat melons like to see.

In those shots, it's hard to tell whether it's this year, last year, or the year before that.

......