Iron Powder and Spellcaster
Chapter 324 Negotiation
The perspective returned to the guild farewell party. In the ocean of Plato dialects, three Veneta people using "Hailan Yayin" seemed to be talking in an encrypted manner.
Mr. Leo looked at Winters, visibly confused by Andre's metaphor.
Winters sighed and told Mr. Leo the puzzle question.
"What a wonderful metaphor." Mr. Leo laughed endlessly: "The first step is to take the sheep across the river?"
"That's right." Andre suddenly became interested: "How do you know?"
Mr. Leo seemed to have great enthusiasm for solving problems: "Second step? Bring the sheep back? Well, no, the sheep will eat the turnips..."
"Of course it won't work." Andre was quite proud: "The second step is the key. It took me a long time to figure it out."
Winters' brain ached. He has already seen that Fernando Leo has always talked about people and ghosts. He seems to be eloquent, but in fact he has no leaks.
If necessary, the Navarre partner could discuss crossing the river with André for three days and three nights without revealing a single bit of valuable information.
"What a mess of old men and wolves!" Winters put down his glass and told Andre bluntly: "Everyone gets what they need."
Mr. Leo picked up the wine glass and took a sip.
Now it was Andre's turn not to understand.
"What do we lack most now?" Winters asked Andre.
"Does that need to be said?" Andre replied without hesitation: "Eat."
Because farmers fled and a large amount of land was abandoned, Tiefeng County was already on the edge of the precipice of famine.
According to Senior Mason's calculations, if the grain rationing system is strictly implemented, Tiefeng County may barely be able to survive until next summer's harvest.
However, the large-scale attack by the Terdun Department was equivalent to pushing Tiefeng County further down the cliff.
Nowadays, Senior Mason holds his account book and sighs all day long. Counting the hair on the pillow has become a must-have homework for the senior every morning.
Winters felt nothing.
When he took inventory of the warehouse last year and learned that there might be insufficient food, he was still a little anxious.
Now that it was confirmed that the food was definitely not enough, Winters let go.
Is there not enough food in Xiaoshi Town? Allocate military rations.
Are the prices of Rewardin flour still rising? Then distribute free bread to the poor in the city.
According to the current consumption rate, Tiefeng County's grain reserves will not be able to survive this winter, let alone until next summer's harvest.
"Originally, I planned to buy grain from Baishan County." Winters looked at the golden liquid in the cup - the fermentation liquid was also made from bread. It was really a luxury to think about it.
"Buy shit." Andre snorted: "How can we have the money? Just--well, that's fine."
Mr. Leo looked at his nose and mouth, holding the wine glass, as if he heard nothing, as if it did not exist.
"We can find ways to raise funds." Winters blinked: "Besides, we still have 'that'."
Andre thought for a while and said, "It doesn't mean that we have money. We want to buy it, but what if they don't sell it?"
Winters took a sip of the fermented liquid and said, "They will definitely sell it."
Andre was stunned for a while, then laughed angrily: "This...isn't the same thing?"
"No, in terms of nature, extortion and robbery are two different things." Winters replied sincerely: "If you give money, it is not considered robbery, it can only be considered a forced purchase."
"Hi!" Andre said in a rough voice: "What am I saying! The army has not been disbanded yet, something must have happened! Anyway, after seeing our strength, I understand that the bald man will not dare to fight with us."
The militia troops recruited from Central Tiefeng County and Lower Tiefeng County currently implement the "freedom to stay and leave policy."
That is to say: if the recruited militiamen want to go home, they can receive a share of dry rations and register to leave; if they do not want to leave, they can continue to stay in the military camp and get a share of military rations.
A considerable number of militiamen chose to stay in the military camp temporarily, such as Monkey and Doug.
Winters' eyes dimmed a bit and he didn't intend to explain too much.
However, Mr. Leo on the side took the initiative to speak out: "In my opinion, many militiamen in your army have become homeless."
"So?" Andre raised his eyebrows.
"Young and middle-aged men who have no family, no property, no food, and have seen the battlefield." Mr. Leo shrugged: "If we forcefully drive them away, I'm afraid big trouble will happen."
Andre sneered and looked directly at Mr. Leo: "You said you have settled the deal, what do you have to do here?"
"Me?" Mr. Leo replied with a smile: "I am a sheep - or a cabbage."
"Okay." Winters didn't want to see Andre being led by Mr. Leo again, so he explained it to Andre in detail.
Things are actually not complicated. There are currently four players on the poker table:
First is Tiefeng County, which holds horses and is in urgent need of food;
Next are the Veneta woolen merchants represented by Mr. Leo, who have money and are in urgent need of wool and trade routes to transport it;
Next is the Veneta Army. The amount of funding for the Veneta Army is unknown, but it can provide food and needs war horses;
Finally, there are the feudal officials of Plato. They have everything, but they won’t give it away in vain.
Winters' original plan was to raise funds and forcefully purchase grain. If necessary, trade horses for grain. There were so many captured horses that they couldn't afford to keep them anyway.
Mr. Leo believes that the turnaround of this plan is too slow and it is a one-time deal and cannot continue to import grain for Tiefeng County.
Leo provided Winters with an imaginative plan-ladder transportation.
In the past, Leo had been actively involved in the traditional business of Veneta and Plato: the mule and horse trade.
As the saying goes, "you, salt, sauce, vinegar and sugar come from the east, and cattle, horses, mules and sheep come from the west." Horse traders all know that horses cannot drive directly from the high-altitude Plato to the low-altitude Veneta.
If the horses were transported directly to Veneta by ship, the horses would suffer from serious fat loss, or even die from illness.
Therefore, a common method is to set up a series of horse farms along the decreasing trend of altitude to drive the horses down the plateau like steps.
First, let the horses gradually adapt to the air and environment of the lowlands, and second, change the horses' feed step by step.
Just that, it means "there are always some horses in transit" that cannot be sold.
It's not a big deal for pony traders, because pony traders traffic a group of horses at a time and do business in one fell swoop.
But for large mule and horse dealers, "there are always some horses in the process of transportation" means that "there is always a part of the funds occupied", resulting in a significant compression of cash flow.
Over time, well-funded mule and horse merchants no longer went to the higher-altitude western Plato to buy horses, but directly purchased horses from the lower-altitude eastern Plato.
Although the price is more expensive, it saves a lot of transportation time and the funds are returned faster.
Some mule and horse merchants with good hands and eyes could even buy horses directly from the military horse farms and even the garrison in Plato.
The military horse farms that sold the horses got money, and then purchased horses from the west at low prices to replenish their stocks, easily making a profit from the price difference.
This information is only the tip of the iceberg of the inside story of the "Platto-Veneta" horse trading business. It is not a secret to insiders, but to outsiders it is like a mountain.
Without Mr. Leo's explanation, Winters would never have imagined that someone would be so bold as to sell military horses privately.
The information that shocked Winters even more was yet to come. According to Mr. Leo, most of the war horses of the Veneta Army were bought this way.
Finally, Mr. Leo asked Winters to ask Antonio a few questions: "How many horses do the Veneta Army need? How do they want to buy them? And what are they willing to provide?"
…
Antonio's tent.
Leo didn't know the number "three thousand horses," but Winters did.
So the answer Winters got was: "Three thousand horses is a number that takes into account the loss of horses during long-distance and short-term transportation. The more horses Tiefeng County can provide, the better, but the minimum amount for a transaction must be Arm two squadrons—that is, four hundred horses.”
As for what the Veneta Army can put on the scale: "As for money, the annual budgets of the army and navy are shrinking (Antonio sighed deeply). If it is food... maybe it can be accounted for in another account."
…
Mr. Leo's guest room.
"Food is not good." Leo slammed the table and became a little excited, his fat face turned red: "Food is not something that can be transported over long distances, unless it is transported by water! What is the use of food? Ordnance! Ordnance is about the same!"
Later, Leo told Winters a formula that merchants used to estimate shipping costs.
There is a sentence in it: "I transported food for three hundred miles and went home crying."
This means that "when food is trafficked by land, every time it travels 150 kilometers, the freight will be equal to the price of the food itself. The people who sell food will lose everything and go home crying."
This is a lesson learned through blood and tears by merchants - food cannot be traded over long distances unless by water.
"Go and ask General Serbetti." Leo pondered: "Can you bring out the ordnance? What's the price?"
…
Antonio's tent.
"Ordnance?" Antonio looked at Winters and fell into deep thought: "No."
…
Mr. Leo's guest room.
"No?" Leo sneered: "Then there's no need to talk. Tell General Serbetti that without ordnance, there will be no war horses!"
"Wait a minute." Winters stopped Mr. Leo, who was in the middle of the show, and asked with a frown: "You want me to be the mouthpiece every time? How about this, how about you go and negotiate with General Serbetti on my behalf? "
Mr. Leo was suddenly discouraged and shook his head vigorously: "No, no, if I step forward, it is not a negotiation, and there is no way to negotiate. Only if you step forward can you sit on an equal footing."
…
Antonio's tent.
"Ahem." Winters plucked up the courage and looked directly at his adoptive father: "There are no weapons! There are no war horses! Go back and bring them to my aunt for me."
…
Mr. Leo's guest room.
"Half food," Winters told Leo: "Half ordnance, no room for negotiation."
Leo paced, his right hand unconsciously scratching his cheek. It was obviously winter, but he was sweating profusely: "Half and half? It's not impossible, but the food will have to be discounted!"
…
Antonio's tent.
"You may not know that for every 150 kilometers of food transported, the freight is more expensive than the food." Winters took out his notebook and seriously calculated the accounts for his adoptive father: "If the food is not discounted, I will be at a huge loss. "
Antonio couldn't help but reached out and knocked Winters on the head.
Winters was stunned because no one had done anything similar to him in a long time.
"You, silly boy!" Antonio didn't notice Winters's mood swings, and he hated the iron. "Mr. Leo is Mrs. Navarre's partner, not your partner! You haven't given me anything yet." He’s becoming a son-in-law!”
"Oh?" Winters didn't come back to his senses: "Huh?!"
Antonio prompted: "You think Mr. Leo is yours, but in fact he is also a party to the negotiation. If the carriage comes with a full load, will it go back empty? Tell him to stop hiding behind you and start talking. Bar."
Winters walked slowly out of the tent and reached the curtain. He was about to open the curtain but stopped. He looked back at his adoptive father and asked coquettishly: "Mrs. Navarre... what is her attitude?" ...What do you think of Anna..."
Antonio's movements stopped, and his smile was complicated, mixed with relief that "I finally know how to serve cabbage" and reproach that "Why are you serving cabbage so randomly?"
Antonio put down the cup and sighed softly: "How can I see it? How else can I see it? Do you know how much trouble you have caused?"
Winters stood dejected.
It should be noted that free love is generally a tonic for married life.
From well-known nobles to craftsmen and farmers, marriage has always been a contract of property, status, and power, not the end of love.
The "kidnapping" of an unmarried lady of the right age - two to be precise, was of such a bad nature that it was enough to cause the two families to forge a blood feud that would last for several generations or even more than a dozen generations. Even "paying the vote" would be useless.
Mrs. Navarre might even send a hitman to kill Winters directly - this is an honorable tradition in Veneta.
And Winters would never say rubbish like "Anna came here on her own, I didn't abduct her."
"Kesha went to Mrs. Navarre in person to apologize." Antonio sighed again: "You may not know that the two of them have not seen each other for almost twenty years... Hey, this is all us It’s a thing of the past for this generation, so don’t mention it.”
Winters didn't know what to say.
"This kind of thing, for a man, may become a romantic affair that can be boasted for a lifetime. But for a woman's reputation, it is a devastating blow." Antonio stretched out his hand to warm the fire, not looking directly. Winters: "So, what do you think?"
"Now please go to Navarre's house to propose marriage." Winters asked bitterly, "Is it too late?"
Antonio glared at his son: "That only requires someone to agree."
Winters was startled because he noticed the second meaning of his adoptive father: "You mean, this matter... there is room for relaxation?"
Antonio fiddled with the fire: "Nominally, Miss Navarre and Miss Catherine are currently serving as novice nuns at the Blue Mountain Convent."
For a moment, Winters just wanted to shout three long lives for Mrs. Navarre.
"But I'm afraid I can't hide it for too long." Antonio sighed heavily: "You still have to talk to Mr. Leo about this matter. His coming here means that he fully represents Mrs. Navarre."
"But..." Winters said hesitantly: "Mr. Leo didn't mention anything about Anna."
Antonio half-smiled: "He didn't take the initiative to mention it, so this matter doesn't exist? Have you ever thought that maybe he is waiting for you to speak?"
Winters was speechless for a moment.
He would rather jump naked into the cold river than face such endless and unclear troubles.
After thinking about it, Winters felt that it was better to use the simplest method. He carefully sat down next to his adoptive father: "What do you think...what should I do?"
Antonio gave a strange answer: "That depends on you and Ms. Navarre."
"I don't understand." Winters was puzzled.
"In the final analysis, this is a matter between you and Ms. Navarre." A trace of nostalgic smile appeared on Antonio's face: "If you are determined to get married, then the process, the result, and what other people think are irrelevant. It’s urgent.”
Antonio patted his son on the shoulder: "In contrast, I am more worried that the two of you will eventually become tired of each other and lovers will become enemies. You know, married life is not always so happy."
Winters' cheeks were hot and he retorted: "Aren't you and your aunt very happy?"
"Silly boy." Antonio stirred the campfire and said leisurely, "That just means you don't know how much sacrifice we have made."
[Heavy! new! Certainly! righteous! Of! Technique! ]
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