xymnovel Chapter 129 Trade Begins
Chapter 129 Trade Begins
Han Song's question, "Do you need any help?" immediately made the atmosphere tense.
This illustrates two points!
First, Han Song possessed a great deal of intelligence, at least roughly knowing the current situation between Li Zhao and Yuan Shao.
Secondly, he must have made ample preparations, so he had no intention of hiding anything.
Neither Xu Shu nor Li Zhao spoke, quietly waiting for Li Zhao's reaction.
"Let's skip the help..." Li Zhao slowly got up, dusted himself off, and walked straight outside.
"If there's anything else, talk to them. I'm going to change my clothes!"
"Goodbye..."
Done.
He left without giving the other person a chance to speak.
Han Song remained seated, watching Li Zhao's departing figure thoughtfully.
This person's style of doing things is really hard to figure out!
He had only made a casual probe before getting up and leaving.
I didn't care about etiquette, nor did I consider what he would think.
"Don't mind me, Han. My lord is rather easygoing..." Xu Shu smiled and casually explained.
"It's alright, it was I who misspoke!"
"It's not that bad. Let's take Han to rest, and we can talk about it later!"
"Okay, please..."
"please!"
The two politely saw Han Song off, and only returned after everything was settled.
Pushing open the door to the study, Li Zhao found that he had already changed his clothes.
There were many papers laid out in front of him, all of which were related to Jingzhou.
This includes, but is not limited to, things that Jingzhou is rich in and lacks, as well as troop deployment, etc.
"My lord..." Xu Shu and the other man walked in.
"Find a seat yourself!" Li Zhao pointed to the seat next to him without even looking up.
Xu Shuwu sat down directly to the side, while Chen Gong walked straight up to him.
He paused, then spoke softly, "My lord, Han Song's arrival was quite opportune..."
"We had just settled down in Ye City when he arrived. In my opinion, it must be Liu Biao who wants to do business with us, since Jingzhou is short of iron and millet, as well as horses from the north."
"But that shouldn't be his main purpose; he wants to probe our strengths and weaknesses!"
Xu Shu nodded in agreement, saying, "You're right, Liu Biao probably wants to see our true strength!"
"If we can win them over or utilize them, then they'll cooperate with us. But if they're all bark and no bite, not as powerful as the rumors suggest, then we'll have to start thinking about other things!"
Both of them had spoken with Han Song and easily obtained this information through brief conversations.
"Then in the next couple of days, we'll show him around properly..." Li Zhao flipped through the papers in front of him.
He didn't seem very interested in it and didn't take Han Songtai to heart.
"Then..." Xu Shu paused for a moment, then asked, "Does my lord wish to do business with them, or let things take their course?"
"Jingzhou is rich in medicinal herbs and silk, which are exactly what we need!"
"If the opportunity arises, let's do business together; it's always good to have something mutually beneficial!"
Li Zhao took out several lists and gestured for the two of them to take them back and look at them at their leisure.
It was only then that they realized Li Zhao seemed to have been prepared all along...
……
As time passed, while Xu Shu and Chen Gong were busy dealing with Han Song, the business dealings with Yuan Shao began to falter.
Because Yuan Shao had nothing left to offer.
Even if Li Zhao deliberately lowered the requirements, giving them the opportunity to get something for nothing, it was still impossible to maintain the previous scale.
Real estate and fertile land will eventually be sold out!
Meanwhile, Cao Cao had been refusing to provide any supplies for more than ten days.
They even arrested all the men Yuan Shao had sent out to demand the return of the goods!
Their brief partnership collapsed completely.
Yuan Shao did not make any further moves, acting as if nothing had happened.
The trigger for all of this was his withholding of the benefits that should have been given to Cao Cao.
At first it was 20-30%, but in the end it was no longer given at all!
Yanzhou.
The Sikong Mansion.
Cao Cao held the list in his hand, his face ashen.
The decision to help Yuan Shao was made out of necessity, primarily to stabilize the situation.
But he underestimated Yuan Shao's greed; after receiving their help, Yuan Shao even managed to withhold the benefits that were originally supposed to be shared with them.
It's one thing to deduct from their pay, but later they simply stopped giving them anything altogether, essentially getting something for nothing!
Aside from the initial so-called benefits, their losses over the past two months have been enormous!
"That damned old thief, I wish I could chop him up with my own hands!" Cao Cao slammed the list in front of him on the table and said angrily.
Xun Yu, Guo Jia, and the others also looked grim.
It was indeed a risky move, but under those circumstances, it was the best option.
But they didn't expect that Yuan Shao's greed and shamelessness had absolutely no bottom line.
Now look what's happened. They've sacrificed a lot of horses and weapons, only to receive a meager amount of food, which won't last long.
"This can't go on any longer!" Cao Cao's icy voice rang out.
"I swear to kill that old scoundrel Yuan Shao!"
Xun Yu took a deep breath, suppressed his emotions, and stepped forward to say, "My lord, please calm down. Now is not the time to act impulsively!"
"Yuan Shao is certain that we won't easily turn against him, which is why he dares to act so recklessly."
"Are we just going to let him run rampant because of this?" Cao Cao roared.
Xun Yu opened his mouth, but saw Guo Jia winking at him.
He swallowed the rest of his words and stood back up.
Guo Jia seized the opportunity to step forward and said softly, "My lord, the best approach right now is to establish a relationship with Li Zhao. Isn't he doing business with many people?"
"Since it's going to be like this anyway, why let others benefit from it?"
"In my opinion, this Li Zhao does not seem to be the kind of person who only cares about seizing territory, expanding his army, and starting wars indiscriminately."
"so……"
Cao Cao's eyes flashed, and he looked up at him, "What makes you so sure?"
"My lord, how could you forget? I personally visited Linzi. The people there live in great peace and stability; at least they have a full meal every day!"
"Li Zhao has made many moves, mostly related to business, so I judge that his intentions are different from ours."
Guo Jia's voice was as calm as possible, and his slightly pale face had a sickly flush.
Seeing that Cao Cao hadn't spoken for a while, he coughed lightly.
"Since you've been there in person, I'm afraid it will be troublesome for you to make the trip again!"
"Go and find out what's really going on behind the scenes, and at the same time, go ahead and do business according to your plan."
"There's only one requirement: we must get real, tangible benefits!" Cao Cao waved his hand lightly.
"I understand!" Guo Jia quickly turned and left.
Only after his figure had completely disappeared did Cao Cao suddenly raise his head, look at Xun Yu, and ask, "When he came back last time, didn't he say that Li Zhao seemed to have known him for a long time?"
Xun Yu's eyes flashed. "No, my lord must have misremembered!"
"..."
……