ushernet Chapter 198 Courage
Chapter 198 Courage
Unexpectedly, Chen Er suddenly said, "This price is within my acceptable range, but Mr. Hu, as you know, it's always best to compare prices. Your goods look pretty good to me, but as you know, what we merchants care about most is price and quality. So I still need to check out other people's silk. If I finally decide that your silk is the best, then we'll buy from you."
Upon hearing Chen Er's words, the shopkeeper assumed that the price he offered was inappropriate and quickly said, "The price is negotiable. If you think it's too expensive, we can discuss it further."
Little did he know that Chen Er wasn't actually there to do business. He only heard Chen Er say, "Boss Hu, I need to go check out the other shops first, and I also need to discuss things with a few other brothers, so please forgive me."
As the saying goes, one is most swayed by a smiling face. Hu Ming was a businessman, and he knew that his price was too high, so he couldn't stop Chen Er and his group. He could only say, "If you are willing to buy from us, I can give you a 20% discount."
"Good, Mr. Hu has guts."
After leaving Hengyuanfang, Chen Er said to Zhao Yun and Wang Hui, "You both heard that just now, right? That shop must have been doing very well."
"Why?" Zhao Yun was a little confused. How come he hadn't noticed?
"If Hengyuanfang's business wasn't doing well, given our strong desire to buy as we just showed, how could they have let us leave so easily?"
"That boss named Hu Ming just now, it's obvious that their business is very stable. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tried to retain us with a lower price after he knew that his price was too high and he failed. He only gave us a relative discount. I'm sure that after the discount, it was their normal selling price."
"The price just now was just an attempt to take advantage of people who were actually doing business in Shouchun for the first time."
Chen Er gave a simple explanation. As for Zhao Yun's question about why Chen Er was able to understand these things, he wouldn't say that he had seen too many such things in his previous life.
However, this is also a good thing, as it shows that Yangzhou's commerce has not been greatly affected, and general trade is still going on as usual, as evidenced by the vendors coming and going on the streets.
Chen Er smiled and said to the two of them, "Shouchun's geographical location has given this place enough opportunities for development. We have reason to believe that Shouchun is very likely to become the trade center of the south in the future."
Hearing Chen Er's words, Zhao Yun and Wang Hui were somewhat skeptical, but they wouldn't refuse Chen Er's request, so they could only nod in agreement.
Several years later, when Shouchun truly became the core of the southern trade transit hub, Wang Hui and Zhao Yun realized that Chen Er not only had outstanding talent in organization but also had a keen eye for business.
At the same time, Li Zhong's intelligence department and spies in the southern organization area also began to take more active actions, more intensively spying on Liu Bei and his subordinate teams. As for the meeting area, it had been thoroughly searched by the scouts and spies in the area he had managed, all in order to ensure that the meeting would go smoothly.
"My lord, Xiahou Jiang has sent a letter saying that two divisions drawn from the thirteenth and fourteenth organizations are ready for battle and are stationed near two counties close to Jingzhou, ready to support us at any time."
Zhao Yun reported the latest preparations to Chen Er: "In addition, Xiahou has gathered all the cavalry from the entire southern region and they are following us about 100 miles behind."
“Yuan Rang is too cautious,” Chen Er said.
Zhao Yun nodded, then immediately shook his head, saying, "My lord, your safety is related to the future of nearly 30 million people in the district I govern. None of us dare to be careless."
"You guys..." Hearing Zhao Yun say this, Chen Er didn't know what to say anymore. After all, they were all doing it for his own good. He couldn't very well say that they were wrong, or he would discourage his subordinates.
Chen Er said to Zhao Yun, "After entering Jingzhou, place the scouts fifty miles away from the main force. We are all cavalry, and as long as we discover the situation in time, we can retreat very quickly with the speed of our cavalry."
To avoid attracting more attention, Chen Er chose to leave Yangzhou and enter Jingzhou from Anfeng. The place where Chen Er and Liu Bei agreed to meet was Shiyang, a small county town next to the river.
Few would notice this place, but in case of an accident, Chen Er could easily evacuate. The route from Shiyang to Anfeng is mostly flat plains with no obstructions, making it ideal for cavalry movement.
It takes about a week to travel from Shouchun to Shiyang. On the way, Chen Er truly witnessed the desolation of the southern region in this era. He traveled for one or two hundred miles without seeing a decent village. He only found a few scattered villages, each with at most thirty or forty households, which were really sparsely populated.
"The population in the south is mostly concentrated along the banks of the river, so controlling the river is crucial to consolidating our organization's rule in the south. My lord, in my humble opinion, shouldn't we strengthen the water management of our southern organizational area?"
Although Zhao Yun was famous for his expertise in cavalry, it did not mean that he only knew about cavalry. As an outstanding general, Zhao Yun knew that the coordination of multiple troop types was the attitude that a strong organization should have.
"I never expected that Zilong would now be studying its water structure."
Chen Er said to Zhao Yun, he really didn't expect that Zhao Yun would now be studying water-related matters.
Zhao Yun smiled and said, "Although cavalry is powerful, it is not omnipotent. In a place like the South with its dense network of waterways, water-based organization is more important."
"We must pay attention to everything on the water and on land, and in the future, we must also pay attention to the sky."
Chen Er said to Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun could understand the first part, but he didn't quite understand the second half of Chen Er's sentence. Why should the sky be taken seriously? Was it just that hot air balloon developed by the arsenal? What use was that?
Chen Er said to Zhao Yun, "Zilong, remember what I'm saying now: the future belongs to those who can control the blue sky."
Hearing Chen Er's words, Zhao Yun became increasingly confused. However, Zhao Yun only understood one thing: Chen Er's prediction must be correct, ever since he joined the district organization team he was in charge of.
Chen Er's words always came true. Out of curiosity, Zhao Yun asked Chen Er, "My lord, I know that the hot air balloons manufactured by the district arsenal I manage can fly, but these hot air balloons don't seem to offer any direct help in combat. Has the arsenal developed some new equipment? Or have you come up with another bold design, my lord?"