Volume 2: Empire Chapter 83: I'll give you some money
Luke's words made the woman's face change greatly, and at the same time she felt something sharp pressing against her lower back. A thin sword stretched out from under the coat of another short follower, and the blade seemed to be fixed in the air. The power transmitted from the tip of the sword penetrated her skin, and any reckless movement would be instantly pierced.
Very strong!
It was the woman's assessment of the rapier's master's strength.
"My name is Maeve Sman." The woman introduced herself, and then asked Luke: "Please tell me your identity and purpose so that I can report to my boss."
"I think it's more appropriate to call you Scorpion." Luke pointed out the woman's other identity. Scorpion was a famous sand bandit in the West, but few people knew that Scorpion was Maeve Siman. Then Luke took out a bottle and said to Maeve Siman, "Give this to your boss. He should meet me."
Maeve Siman, whose identity as a sand bandit was exposed, would have definitely rushed to kill if the sword had not been pressed against her waist. Now she could only obediently take the bottle from Luke. Looking at the pure blue liquid inside, Maeve Siman thought of where she had seen it before.
Essence of water element!
There was news from the Jiaomu Camp outside the Harmutu Basin that an extremely powerful elven magician had passed by there. The elven magician was going to the Ancient Grassland, and in order not to be disturbed by the sand bandits, he took out a lot of water element essence and gave it to the sand bandits.
The people in the Jiaomu camp said that the elf magician could make heavy rain fall in the desert at will, and turn the heavy rain into ice and snow in the heat. Even the orc Ham was afraid of the power of the elf magician and persuaded the sand bandits to accept the kindness of the elves.
The boss of the Slave Corner in Sun City has several bottles of water element essence that flowed through the Scorched Wood Camp.
Is this mysterious man of noble status related to the powerful elven magician?
Maeve Siman bowed to Luke and said, "Dear guest, I will report your visit to my boss now."
Luke raised his hand slightly to let Red Falcon put away his weapon, and then said to Maeve Sman: "Go!"
The sharp feeling transmitted by the midfielder disappeared, Mavisman slowly retreated, then turned and walked into an alley in the residential area.
A group of slave corner guards appeared around them, occupying high points and several key positions, vaguely surrounding Luke and his party. The tense atmosphere accumulated in silence, and even the slaves in the nearby cages sensed the danger and crowded to the far end of the cage.
But there was a little boy standing nearby. He grabbed the fence and looked at Luke, shouting in a weak voice: "Save me, save my mother..."
Luke looked at the boy.
The boy's clothes were tattered and hung on his body in tatters. His hair and skin were covered with sand, but his eyes were full of spirituality. Even though his thin body could clearly see the bones under the skin, his eyes were still full of hope.
Next to the boy was a woman lying with a rag under her. She was motionless and it was unclear whether she was dead or not.
Before Luke could say anything, Kestrel walked over.
She came to the front of the cage, lifted her hood, and looked at the child in the cage.
Asked: "What happened to your mother?"
The child in the cage didn't expect that Hong Jian was actually a girl about the same age as him, with noble temperament and good upbringing.
Hearing Hong Jian's question, the boy immediately said: "She was knocked unconscious while trying to snatch food from me. Can you give me some food and water...
She gave me all the food and water she could find.”
As he was talking, the boy couldn’t help but squatted down and cried: “We have lost our home, our family members are all dead… We have never hurt anyone, what have we done wrong?
Why do you treat us like this?"
"Your mother might need this right now."
A water bag was handed to the boy by Hong Jian. He took it, opened the stopper, and found that it was full of kumis. He immediately crawled to his mother's side. He knelt on the ground, lifted his mother up and let her rest her head on his knees, then slowly fed her the kumis.
Crying while feeding.
Kestrel saw the boy's mother's breathing ease, so he walked back to Luke's side.
"My Lord, I want to save them."
Luke looked at the slaves who wanted to grab the kumis but didn't dare to do it, and said to Red Falcon: "You have saved them once, but you can't save them forever, and you can't save everyone who has suffered the same fate as them."
When Kuaitui saw what had just happened, he couldn't help but think of his own life experience.
“The scarcity of survival resources will lead to a fight for them. This process is cruel and bloody, just like in the West Territory and in the Lower City of Saint Lun.
My experience with you in the lower city of Saint-Lun has taught me that charity cannot solve the problem.”
Falcon seemed to understand, she turned to look at the boy and his mother in the cage. The mother had regained some strength, she held the boy, let him drink kumis, and finally threw the remaining kumis to other slaves.
After a while, Mavisman came out. She was obviously stunned when she saw Hong Falcon. It was obvious that she did not expect that the strong man who could suppress her was just a little girl, not an adult dwarf or goblin.
But Maeve Siman did not delay. She walked up to Luke and saluted respectfully: "Dear guest, my boss wants to see you. Please follow me."
"Let's go!" Luke touched Red Falcon's head and quickly followed Mavisman inside.
The Kestrel gave the boy and his mother one last look before quickly following Luke's lead.
Entering the residential area, it becomes even darker.
The surrounding area is full of two- or three-story rammed earth buildings, with guards on the top of each building. It is like a small fortress. It is filled with slave cells, brothels, casinos, taverns... From time to time, screams and other strange noises can be heard from some doors.
There were also naked slaves tied together and dragged to an unknown place like zombies.
Maeve Siman led Luke and his party through several heavily guarded checkpoints, and after passing through a metal gate, they entered a magnificent house. The guards here were obviously several levels stronger than those outside. There were orcs, elves, barbarians, and dwarves, all of whom looked at the strange visitors with ferocious faces and ill intentions.
Walking on the soft carpet and passing through a heavily guarded corridor, Maeve Sman led Luke into a room full of books.
There was a spacious desk between the bookshelves . A thin wolf man wearing glasses was sitting behind the desk, reading an account book carefully.
Three bottles of water element essence are placed in a prominent position on the desk.
"Mr. Howl, a guest is here." Maeve Sman was in awe of the gnoll.
Howl the Gnoll was the boss behind the Slave Corner in Sun City. He glanced at the visitor, put down the account book , took off his glasses, but did not stand up to greet him.
Instead, he said, "The only person in this city who dares to boast that he can buy Sun City, or even the entire Western Territory, is probably the Governor of Raging Waves City, Lord Meteor."
Luke lifted his hood and walked forward. Maeve Sman tried to stop him, but was signaled to stop by the Jackal's scream.
Luke pulled a chair and sat down opposite Scream Howl. He first glanced at the books in the room, then said with a smile, "I've heard that Mr. Scream Howl is the steward of many famous sand bandits in the West, and manages their wealth in an orderly manner.
Seeing it today, it really lives up to its reputation!"
Screaming Howl, with the temperament of a scholar, said modestly: "The sand bandits make money by working hard. If they die, they will lose everything. If they live, they can barely have food to eat.
Unlike the Governor, who could feed countless people with just a little money slipping through his fingers.
I wonder why the Governor came to Slave Corner secretly today after arriving in Sun City? "
"I'll give you some money."
Luke grabbed three bottles of water element essence on the table and arranged them in a line every ten centimeters.
Howl asked doubtfully, "The Governor knows the elven magician who passed by the Scorched Wood Camp. Could it be that he wants to sell water elemental essence?"
Luke said, "Water Elemental Essence is not complicated to make, but the elf Qingkong will not put his energy into making Water Elemental Essence. And selling Water Elemental Essence doesn't make much money. I came here this time... to discuss a bigger business with you."
Screaming Howl suddenly became energetic.
The Meteorite Governor looks down on the water element essence business, but the Sand Bandits do. Now the Meteorite Governor says that the business he wants to negotiate is more profitable than selling water element essence. It is really a "big" business.
"I am looking forward to the surprise that the Governor will give me."
Luke pointed to the three bottles of water element essence on the table: “The one on the east represents the Crescent Oasis of the Empire, the one in the middle represents the Western Territory nobles, and the one on the west represents the entire Western Territory.
Now the normal trade exchanges between the Empire and the Western Territory have been abruptly cut off by the Western Territory nobles."
Scream looked at the three bottles on the table and asked, "What does this have to do with us?"
Luke said, "Mr. Howl should be well-informed. He must know that I just bought the Halfling wine at the price of one gold ticket per barrel."
"I know about this." When the imperial delegation entered the city, Slave Corner of course sent out all its spies to get information. Screaming Howl said with disdain: "I can't understand why the Governor-General asked for a gold voucher per barrel when one gold coin can buy a barrel of Halfling wine.
Paying five times the price for something, is this the Governor's way of doing business?"
Facing the subtle mockery from Howl, Luke smiled and said, "In fact, in my mind, the price of Halfling wine... should be two gold coupons per barrel."
Screaming Howl's expression changed: "Governor, are you kidding me?"
"I'm not kidding you." Luke crossed his legs and said, "World trade is booming now, and the demand for red wine in the international wine market has always been in short supply, driving the price of red wine up all the way. Especially for high-end red wine, the premium is so much that you can't imagine.
Take Halfling wine as an example: a barrel of Halfling wine is transported to Raging Tide City. After further processing, packaging and repackaging, one barrel can produce about 1,200 bottles of red wine.
Relying on the quality of Halfling wine and the promotion of the Imperial Princess, how much do you think a bottle of this red wine can be sold for?"
Howl said, "I don't know the situation outside the Western Territory, but judging from the Governor's tone... it should be very valuable!
Can it be sold for one silver coin per bottle?"
Luke shook his head and sighed, "You know too little about the changes in the world. The red wine that costs one silver coin a bottle is a low-end product. It is simply a blasphemy to the quality of halfling wine and the imperial family.
The minimum is 1,000 Reichsmarks, which is one gold coin per bottle. This is the wholesale price I give to wine distributors."
Howl did rapid mental arithmetic.
One gold coin for one bottle of Halfling wine, and one barrel is 1,200 gold. Converted into gold vouchers, it is 240, and the purchase price of the Meteor Governor is... one gold voucher!
The Werewolf howled with his mouth wide open, not knowing that his tongue had hung out, and he no longer looked like the scholar he had seen before.
It's ridiculous. I just laughed at Governor Meteorite for not knowing how to do business and spending a gold voucher to buy a barrel of Halfling wine. It turns out that this gold voucher was really just a leak from someone's fingers.
This violent way of making money is faster than robbery.
"Governor, you...you want to talk to me about...the halfling wine business?"
Luke leaned back on his chair and said contemptuously, "Is this kind of small business worth coming all the way here to discuss it with you?"
The howling tongue hung even longer.
"A business bigger than this?" Scream's tone was full of insecurity. He was afraid that he could not handle this mountain of gold that was thrown at him.
Luke said: "The specialties of the West are not only halfling wine, I think mare's milk is also very delicious. Cheese, blankets, olive oil, animal hair...
The trade of these commodities is controlled by the nobles in the Western Territory."
Hearing what Luke said, Scream vigilantly suppressed his greed.
"Governor, I know the purpose of the Empire sending an envoy to the Western Territory, and I admit that you are very tempting to me. However... no matter how much money you have, you can only spend it if you have a life.
Although the sand bandits can roam freely in the desert, they are definitely no match for the nobles of the Western Territory. If you want our swords to be used by the Empire, then you think things are too simple."
Luke said: "I never told you to attack the nobles in the West, and you don't have the ability to do so.
The West is very, very large, and the vast desert is home to the sand bandits. You can completely avoid the territories of the West nobles and open up other trade routes. Break it down into smaller pieces, and connect the Crescent Oasis with the barbarian tribes scattered throughout the West.
I have ordered the City of Raging Fire to set up a Western Trade Office in the Crescent Oasis, and have also ordered the City of Raging Fire to develop suitable means of transportation for operation in the desert as soon as possible.
If you are willing to cooperate, I will register a logistics company for you in Nutao City. The development and operation of the Western Border Trade Route will be handed over to you. Nutao City will give you the maximum trade support and set up a new route development reward fund.
No matter how remote the barbarian tribe is, as long as you connect the trade route to it, I will ensure that your logistics company will make money."
Howl instantly understood what Luke meant.
In the West, the Sand Bandits are definitely the most familiar with the environment. They plunder for survival, know the location of every barbarian tribe, and know every safe road in the desert.
If the sand bandits switch to business, as long as someone is willing to invest a large amount of money, the way of thieves will instantly become the way of business.
