Don't disturb my farming Chapter 62 Friendly Negotiations
When Xiao Yun was in high school, his classmates invited him to karaoke. He found that the most active person at the scene was not the one who paid the bill. Some classmates gathered closely around this most active person, another group only played with the classmate who paid the bill, and there were also some who didn't care about either side and just followed to eat and drink. They were obviously classmates sitting in the same classroom, but the same group of people had so many completely different performances outside the school gate. At that time, I thought it would be really interesting if people formed groups.
During the senior year graduation season, everyone had a crazy party after the exams. A group of drunk high school students clashed with social people. The most active student wilted before the fight even started. The student who paid the bill wisely called the police and asked the KTV manager to resolve the conflict. Xiao Yun, who had just turned 18, realized the importance of the core leader of a small group to the group... Even a very loose group of high school classmates who "broke up" after graduation cannot do without such a core figure.
After entering the small society of the university campus, Xiao Yun felt it even more deeply. Whether it was interest groups, COS or game enthusiasts groups, or even student union cadre groups, the influence of leaders on the groups was very obvious.
So when he was a sophomore, Xiao Yun bravely joined the student union, dealing with a group of student cadres, learning social experience in advance, or in other words, learning how to steal from others' experience in organizing teams, and figuring out how to legally cheat people without breaking the rules - don't underestimate college student cadres, there are all kinds of intrigues among them, if you get an "official hat", it's a big deal, a student union chairman can put on the style of a national president. Xiao Yun, who was hanging around in the student union, met such a "minister", and he didn't know where he learned the official tone from. If anyone didn't mention the title when calling him, he would definitely scold you, and the average-looking female classmates who were scolded and cried could form a reinforced platoon. With such a strange person appearing in the boring university life, Xiao Yun was naturally very excited to play a battle of wits and courage with him, flattering and flattering him in a roundabout way, inflating the vanity of this student leader infinitely, and then smilingly sent this guy who was so arrogant in the student group into society...
And then, nothing happened. This guy's parents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless favors to get him into a state-owned enterprise. When Xiao Yun graduated, this guy had been unemployed for almost half a year... Student cadres' ridiculously childish self-centered theories thought they could get by in a state-owned enterprise? They were just dreaming.
After graduating from university, Xiao Yun was well aware of the Chinese people's deep-rooted idea of officialism. Knowing his family background, Xiao Yun did not try to squeeze into the single-plank bridge of state-owned enterprises, nor did he follow the crowd to join the so-called sunrise Internet industry which was booming at the time. Instead, he happily submitted his resume to a provincial construction company.
Working in the provincial construction industry was hard and poor. It was very difficult for Xiao Yun, who had no background, to gain a foothold in it. However, this job was not without benefits. In this industry, one had to deal with local governments, with messy building material suppliers in the middle, and contractors who were as cunning as hairless foxes. It was a very challenging job. After working for a few years and accumulating some basic knowledge and at least some connections (getting familiar faces and getting business cards counted as connections, at least knowing how to contact people), Xiao Yun simply resigned and invested in the home decoration field of the building materials industry. He worked there for nearly ten years, climbing from a salesperson to a regional manager. Apart from the chief officer who was parachuted in from the head office and always gave him trouble, there was basically nothing to worry about.
Then, he traveled through time.
The past is untouchable, but it is not a passing cloud. At least Xiao Yun's more than ten years of workplace experience have not been wasted. He can roughly know how to do things and judge people. Look at the five people standing in front of him. Caravan? Businessmen? Haha... Pretending to say that an angel baby is a business woman can only fool elementary school students. Junior high school students will roll their eyes at you.
However, Qingyan was able to bring people to the tribe, which showed that these five people at least had no bad intentions, otherwise Qingyan would have torn them apart long ago - the snow wolves were not on guard against humans, but Qingyan, who came from the cat tribe, was different. Humans believed in the cat tribe's seemingly harmless appearance, and when they came to the grassland, they set up trading places in the cat tribe. After all, he was a cat warrior and could not be naive.
So Xiao Yun didn't expose them on the spot. He smiled and nodded to the five people as a greeting, and said to Qing Yan: "Help me take over, I will greet the guests."
"Okay." Qingyan nodded and walked towards the composting yard.
"Ayue, help me find Hongye, Languo and Maomao. If they can't get rid of the stuff they have on hand, it's fine. But if they can find someone else to take over, they can come to the mobile home to find me." Xiao Yun said again.
"Okay." A Yue turned around and left.
"Dear guests, please follow me." Xiao Yun turned politely to the five humans again.
Carlisle nodded to his companions and took the lead. The cub had undoubtedly seen through him as the leader, and it would be rude to let Dan replace him.
Darren took a step forward and followed Carlisle. Yumi was a little slow to react, but she quickened her pace and walked to the middle of the team. If a conflict really broke out, she, a mage, would be an important fighting force.
Xiao Yun led the way nonchalantly, he had never been scared in front of Green Dragon, so there was no need for him to think about the saying "a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall" - the worst that could happen was that he could just roll on the ground and turn into a wolf, he couldn't even be taken hostage.
Going around the greenhouse area from the other side, Xiao Yun saw that the door of the mushroom shed was only made of reed stalks to block the light and provide ventilation, and he felt relieved.
They walked slowly into the center of the tribe. Hongye and the others that A Yue had called had also arrived. They all looked at these human guests curiously... The caravan only got close to cats when they came to the grassland, and it was the first time for Lan Guo, who had never left the tribe, to see a human other than Thrall.
The group of people were amazed by the ten dormitories lined up in rows, two by two. When they got closer, they found that the walls of these houses were also integrated stone surfaces (that is, cement walls). Although it felt strange without windows, the fact that this building material used to pave the square can be used to build houses shows its practicality.
The mobile home, which had a cement floor, most of the floor covered with carpets and only a set of tables and chairs in the corner, helped the group of five people regain some confidence as visitors from civilized society. Even rural nobles would look down on such crude interior furnishings. When Ayun asked them to sit on the carpets, the five people remained expressionless, and in their hearts they complained that they were indeed a backward tribe that only allowed guests to sit on the floor.
Xiao Yun sat down cross-legged and asked Hongye and the others to sit behind him. He turned around and pointed at the table and chairs, "It's not that we Snow Wolf people don't know how to entertain guests. That table and chairs are prepared for the Green Dragon Lord next door who occasionally comes to visit. Dragons have strong possessiveness. He will be unhappy if he knows that someone else has sat in his seat."
Carlisle and others: "……(o言o)"
It's common to brag about having eaten at the same restaurant with a certain boss and then use it to boost one's status...If you move here, you can just make use of that heartless scumbag.
"Your tribe really has a wide range of friends." The alchemist, the hipster man with glasses, smiled stiffly and flattered him. Isn't it true? There are cats and dwarves. Now tell them that there is also a green dragon visiting...
Xiao Yun nodded with a smile, accepting the flattery without hesitation, and his eyes fell on Carlisle who was sitting in the middle: "Guest who came from afar, what should I call you?"
Carlisle met Xiao Yun's gaze, hesitated for a moment, and then rejected the previous negotiation drill. The way this cub looked at people was completely different from those of the snow werewolves. Although he doubted how a cub could be as qualified to make decisions as a tribal leader, Carlisle did not think it was right to use lies and deception at such an important moment to establish a first impression. So he hesitated for a moment and formally introduced himself: "My name is Carlisle Harvey Ferdinand, the leader of this mercenary group. We are employed by the Southern Kingdom Merchants Group to come to the grassland to find new trade routes and sell spices and cotton cloth produced in the Southern Kingdom."
This self-introduction was not a lie, but it was obvious that what was revealed was only the surface purpose. Xiao Yunchao understood that it was idiotic for an adult to tell a stranger everything as soon as they met, but as a negotiating party, it was necessary for him to try to find out the other party's details during the conversation, so he showed a slightly surprised look:
"With a middle name... Mr. Ferdinand is a noble?"
When Xiao Yun first tried to talk to Sar, he knew that in this world, one cannot use random names, and one cannot just pick up anything as one's surname - ordinary people have names but no surnames, and only when their parents have made contributions and are recognized by the society they live in can they have a surname and pass it on to the next generation. Before the Han Dynasty, Chinese civilians did not have surnames. It was only after the Qin Dynasty destroyed the six kingdoms and started the military merit system to slap the aristocratic families in the face that civilians gradually began to have surnames.
Middle names are even more particular. For those who have middle names, the origin of these middle names can be traced back: the children of noble families made great contributions to their country and were awarded by the king, or they had a particularly awesome teacher who recognized them as excellent students and gave them a middle name, or they were baptized by some high-ranking priest and received their baptismal name - to give a simple example, when the aristocratic families were at their peak, only the literati could give them names. At the end of the Han Dynasty, when rituals and music were in decline, the least people who could call out names and titles had to be distant branches of the Han Dynasty, such as Liu Xuande.
Carlisle was speechless for a while... It would be strange if he didn't know the trick of using questions to draw out more information, but he couldn't really reveal the answer, so he could only nod in agreement.
There was something wrong with Xiao Yun's eyes at that time...
In ancient China, people would brag about their background when they met each other. For example, Emperor Liu would say to everyone that he was a descendant of King Jing of Zhongshan. In modern China, it is no longer popular to brag like that, but the company and position of employees must be printed on the business card handed out when meeting someone. This guy came up and gave his middle name in a low-key manner, so he set up an excuse for him to brag about his family background, but he actually stopped pretending. What's going on?
There can only be two possibilities : one is that this guy's family has fallen into decline, and it's tearful to talk about it, so he doesn't like to mention it; the other is that this guy's identity is not that of an ordinary noble, so it's not convenient to mention it.
Xiao Yun's mind raced, and he put the issue aside with a smile, and continued, "Mr. Ferdinand, what goods does the merchant group that hired you want to sell on the grassland?"
Carlisle quickly signaled Yumi to take out the white cotton cloth and spices from the space ring...
Please note that the so-called spices do not refer to luxury goods such as incense, essences and fragrances, but edible spices. In periods of backward productivity, infrastructure construction and transportation, seasoning spices are often hard currency. Ginger and garlic are also considered spices... Do you remember the Italian mafia speculating on and hoarding garlic a few years ago?
Xiao Yun saw that the first spice that the female wizard took out was olive oil... That's right, before agronomists developed high-yield genetically modified soybeans and made soybean oil popular in thousands of households, olive oil was indeed the most common edible vegetable oil.
Then the female wizard took out small bags of edible spices including ginger, garlic, peppercorns, onions, two kinds of air-dried chilies, fennel seeds, star anise, orange peel, nutmeg, etc.
As soon as the samples were displayed, Xiao Yun believed in the sincerity of these people in doing business. At the same time, he also deeply doubted their identities and origins - they were mercenaries hired by a merchant group to open up trade routes. There was nothing wrong with this setting, but how bold must this merchant group be to spend a huge amount of money to hire such a group of mercenaries who didn't even have any business elements, and not send their own family members to follow them, and so confidently let these people bring samples to make decisions for them whether to trade or not?
Even if this group of people really succeed in opening up a trade route, the merchant group that hired them won't gain much... The original caravan took away large quantities of curved-horn cattle with that black mud and green salt, and now you're "breaking" the rules and selling the best edible spices to them. Aren't you ruining their financial resources? Aren't you going to be so stupid as to beat the pigs out of their wits?
The Chinese dumping of goods all over the world has forced the global giants to rise in isolationism...
Xiao Yun silently looked at the samples lined up for a few seconds, and when he looked up at Carlisle again, his business smile was gone.
Carlisle: “???” Wasn’t he fine just now? What’s happening?
"I believe that your merchant group does have the sincerity to do business with the grassland people. But I also want to tell your merchant group frankly that we grassland people will not go to war for others." Xiao Yun said bluntly.
"Ayun...Sir, our employer is just a businessman and has no intention of starting any war." Carlisle hurriedly clarified.
Xiao Yun shook his head. "I can understand that you want to take food from the caravans that monopolize the grassland trade. If you trade a small bag of green salt for an adult curved-horn ox, the entire grassland will be no different from a gold mine. But... do you... do the caravans behind you really have the strength to deliver large quantities of goods to the depths of the grassland?"
Hongye, Languo and Yu showed horror on their faces. This guy's IQ was above average, but if Ayun hadn't pointed it out, they would never have imagined that there were so many things behind the deal!
Carlisle's heart trembled, and the look he gave Xiao Yun suddenly changed...
"Excuse me for asking, how much representation power does your mercenary group have? Can you decide the transaction amount and price of the merchant group?"
Carlisle said with a stiff upper lip: "The president of the Merchant Group has entrusted me with all the agency rights."
Then he saw Ayun's eyes were full of sympathy...
"Excuse me for asking, Mr. Ferdinand, do you have a certain status in your country that makes it impossible for your political enemies to get rid of you directly?"
Carlisle and others & Hongye: “???”
"With samples that can destroy the existing grassland trade market, and with full agency rights, you can go deep into the grassland with a few people. If you die anywhere, even your king can't speak up for Mr. Ferdinand. Have you been attacked after landing? Now that you are fewer in number, you can move more flexibly. In the future, when you bring goods ashore, can you still escape the pursuit of competitors?" Xiao Yun said with a sigh. If the original merchant group didn't have some strength, it wouldn't be able to monopolize the grassland for so long. It's not so easy to snatch meat from the mouth of a crocodile.
Carlisle's face turned green on the spot, and several of his companions looked at him strangely...
Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents . The Americans on Earth are so angry that they have forced their younger brother to detain Huawei's female crown prince. Relying on goods and such a small number of manpower, they want to rush in and grab the cake. Either the person who came up with this idea is too naive or expects to use the grassland tribe as a gun. Xiao Yun was still very tempted by the cotton cloth and spices they brought, so he didn't say anything too harsh. He just revealed that he was definitely not a fool. It depends on whether this guy has this understanding - he agrees with the deal, but if the deal affects his farming, there is no need to talk about it.
Carlisle clenched and unclenched his hands on his knees, and clenched and unclenched them again. He found that he had indeed taken it for granted and had rushed in rashly without considering all the possibilities - how many fools are there in this world!
People have already said that the grassland tribes are being exploited as gold mines by the Lamia Caravan. Does he still expect others to do everything according to his ideas?
With a wry smile, Carlisle had to honestly admit: "The Southern Kingdom has inland merchant ships, and our fleet can safely deliver the goods to the grassland coast..." It's hard to say once you get ashore, because there are patrols of the Lamia Caravan wherever the cargo ships can dock.
Xiao Yun raised his eyebrows, which meant that these people from the southern kingdom were indeed incapable of delivering goods to the depths of the grassland: "So, are you planning to set up a trading location on the coastline?"
Carlisle... What else could Carlisle say but nod. The part about "giving concessions" originally made it sound as if the grassland tribe was accommodating them now that he said so - the initiative had been taken away by this cub!
The most important thing is that with this conversion, they have to build their own docks and protect their own trading points on the coastline! This investment is not just a little bit more, Carlisle's scalp is about to explode when he thinks about it.
Xiao Yunke didn't understand the other person's embarrassment at all. How could one expect to spread the costs to the customers right from the start of doing business? Even if the wool comes from the sheep, it has to be based on mutual consent!
In fact, Xiao Yun was already planning to borrow someone else's hens to lay eggs... Goods are called commodities only when they are circulated. If they are not circulated, they are just garbage taking up space. These people only have the ability to deliver the goods to the coastline, and they can't deliver them to the depths of the grassland like the original caravans did, so there are more operational processes in between.
After roughly estimating the benefits that his family could gain from this "trade route", Xiao Yun relaxed his facial muscles and put on a business smile again: "Mr. Ferdinand, I think we need to discuss in depth the details of your group's grassland trade. First of all, I want to know about the pricing of the goods. What is your expected price range?"
Willing to discuss details meant that the other party showed cooperation intentions. Logically, this meant that Carlisle's goal had been achieved, but he just couldn't be happy...
The initial bargaining was naturally unsuccessful. Carlisle realized that relying on middlemen to resell the goods would reduce profits, and keeping the coastal trading point under the siege of Lamia would greatly increase costs. He naturally increased the expected profit to thirty times. However, Xiao Yun would definitely not accept this "lion's mouth". Your wholesale price is so high, how much difference can we make? The grassland tribes are very poor, and your spices are luxury goods after all, not as essential as salt!
That's right. After Xiao Yun hinted several times not to touch the salt market, Carlisle understood what he meant. It is better to leave some room for competitors when entering the market in the early stage. What kind of business is it if you start fighting and killing right from the start?
Xiao Yun still needs a few more years of peace to farm! How did the grassland pattern come about that all tribes are poor, but only the tiger tribe is rich? Did the protection fee paid by the Lamia Merchants Group to the tiger tribe be paid in vain?
Although the Lamia Caravan has played many tricks on the grassland, such as getting close to the cat tribe and giving money but alienating the tiger tribe, when their own foundation is touched by others, they will do anything to seek the skin of the tiger~
Hongye, Languo, and Yu were all confused, while Darren, Dan, Yumi, and the literary alchemist were trembling...
"Carlisle actually expects me to negotiate directly with the grassland people on his behalf. Do he think I am so wise and powerful?" Dan Claudy whispered to Darren.
Darren: “…”
After a heated debate, the two sides reached a consensus on win-win cooperation, had an in-depth and friendly exchange, and expressed their own opinions. Xiao Yun then said, "It is definitely difficult for both sides to make a hasty decision on such an important matter. So, our human friends should rest here for a few days, and we can talk slowly. Let the Snow Wolf people also represent the people of the grassland to show their hospitality."
Carlisle wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was very tired and really needed to relax, so he agreed immediately.
Xiao Yun glanced at the sky outside and said with a smile: "It's still early, why don't you take a look around our tribe? We Snow Wolf people are a race that is very willing to get along with humans in a friendly manner. I personally also hope that my people can communicate and understand more with the friends who have come from afar, and establish an unbreakable friendship..."
"Of course, of course!" Dan couldn't control himself and raised his hand excitedly, "Mr. Ayun, my name is Dan Claudy, I like your tribe very much, please give me a chance to make friends with the people of your tribe!"
"That's great." Xiao Yun clapped his hands. "Come on, Hongye, take Mr. Claude around and introduce more of our tribesmen to our human friends."
Dan Claudy didn't give his companions any chance to grab him, he just jumped up and ran away...
Xiao Yun's eyes fell on the man with glasses and Darren. "You two, would you mind letting Lan Guo from our tribe show you around?"
The hipster man with glasses and Darren looked at each other and stood up one after another... How could they refuse?
Look at the last beauty: "This one..."
"I want the one with the scar on his brow bone, the one with longer hair ends and a pigtail!" Yumi Hockley almost pounced on Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun's mind suddenly flashed with Da He's most handsome face in the tribe... The corners of his mouth twitched, and he turned back and winked at Yu: "Maomao, take this lady to find Da He."
"Is his name Dahe? Wow, it sounds so nice." Yumi held her hands to her heart and followed Yu.
Finally, he looked at Carlisle with a smile: "Mr. Ferdinand, there is also a guest from the human kingdom living in our tribe..."
Carlisle Harvey Ferdinand had a blank expression on his face, but he was extremely calm inside. Yes, the contempt deeply hidden behind the seemingly polite smile of this cub was not wrong. The team he brought with him was totally unreliable - he worked so hard to conceal his identity, but Dan and Yumi could turn around and sell him out!
Uh… Actually, Xiao Yun really didn’t think so much about it. He let Hongye deal with the young knight casually, and the same with the husky in a beautiful woman’s skin. The literary man with glasses and Darren would never get anything out of Lan Guo who practiced the silent meditation. His breakthrough point was still on Carlisle…
