Chapter 172: Promoting Trade

Fred's business sense is not very good; he couldn't quite wrap his head around it for a moment.

Everyone is currently going to the Royal Capital to sell supplies and purchase goods, so why should he transport his cargo to the Port City to sell?

Knowing that Fred is the type who simply doesn't keep up with current events, Yun Xiao took out a newspaper and said, "Don't you know we are currently at war with the barbarians? The horns sound every day before dawn."

"Of course I know, but to be honest, I am very worried that water transport will have problems. After all, our river is connected to Gannaer, and those Believers of the God of Death could arrive here at any time," Fred said with a fearful expression. "So I think using a Train is safer."

"If they can really fight their way to the pier, then we certainly have no reason to stay here anyway. Besides, the Port City is only a one-day voyage away, and there are personnel from the Storm Church there. At worst, we can just run out to sea. What are you afraid of?" Yun Xiao really wanted to help this good brother of his.

In the game, Fred is a pretty good partner.

If it weren't for him, Yun Xiao and the others wouldn't have been able to gain a foothold on Bar Street in the beginning, and Fred is never ambiguous when it comes to paying wages.

It's just that his business sense makes one wonder how he managed to run his business like this.

Relying solely on that winery—to be honest, Yun Xiao has tasted that wine, and it's not even as good as the fruit wine that Mengmeng and the others brew themselves.

Yet it has stable sales, which is truly somewhat absurd.

"What you say makes sense, but I really don't know how to sell those ceramic wine jars. I shouldn't have chosen to store the wine this way in the first place," Fred said with some regret. "There are still a lot of them piled up in the warehouse now."

"But they are very suitable for selling to Sailors; they need these things to store supplies. Many people by the sea only have sacks and wooden crates patched together from scraps. Isn't it great to use these jars to store fresh water? If it's wine, and if it's cheaper..."

"That won't work, no, no, no. My wine is of high quality and absolutely cannot be sold at a low price," Fred said in a firm tone. "And if you use jars to store it, once they break, it's not a good thing for those Ships. I heard those Ships are all powered by coal."

"Also true. In any case, trust me, the Port City is full of business opportunities right now," Yun Xiao advised.

"I still hope to sell my wine. Don't you have any good ideas?" Opening a bar is also for the sake of selling his own wine, but Fred really can't sell it.

By comparison, Yun Xiao, who blends his own wine and then sells it, has instead made a fortune.

Clearly his wine has a fixed audience, so why is no one willing to buy it?

Yun Xiao scratched his head, "Perhaps we can package it in another way."

"I have already chosen tin wine flasks, and I have also purchased some oak barrels. Those wooden barrels are just too expensive; our Tana City doesn't have any oak," Fred said mournfully. "It seems I really don't have a talent for business."

"The packaging I'm talking about isn't this," Yun Xiao said with a smile. "We can hype it up. After all, Tana City has made the headlines now."

"Made the headlines?" Fred doesn't understand these things at all. "What do you mean by this headline you're talking about?"

"It's the newspaper. The Royal Capital's newspapers have been reporting on Tana City's affairs frequently lately. On one hand, it's the issue of the War, and on the other, it's that we have people who have become famous in the Royal Capital. Do you know that lady Luolita? Because she helped the Sun Church defeat a Mutated octopus in the Royal Capital, she has been interviewed by many newspapers there," Yun Xiao said to Fred. "If you can get her to endorse your wine, and say that this wine is an ancient recipe, a vintage from Tana City, and that even Lady Luolita says it's good, maybe it will become a hit in the Royal Capital."

Yun Xiao has already mastered the essence of the Wealth Church, which is to bluff.

It must be said that he bluffed very successfully.

Fred has also read the newspaper, and he just gave a knowing smile regarding Luolita's matter.

He does not know Luolita's influence in the Royal Capital.

As a small winery owner like him, even if he really wanted to hire an endorser, he would certainly hire a nationally renowned actor.

But he can't right now, because he doesn't have that much money to hire expensive actors.

"What you say makes sense, I can try. I don't know how much of an endorsement fee Miss Luolita needs. I might not have much right now; after all, my business has been doing quite poorly lately, and the bar can only maintain its revenue." Because the War has come again, those thugs who often come to the bar are now unwilling to come and spend money.

It's not just Fred; even Yun Xiao's bar hasn't had an optimistic business outlook lately.

There are even bars on Bar Street that have closed down, just because there are far fewer people coming to spend money recently.

There are also players who want to take over the shops here, but thinking about the poor business lately, the players have some ideas about changing Bar Street into a milk tea business.

It's just that there are too few cows in Tana City, so it doesn't seem very cost-effective.

"We can go talk to her; I don't think she will have any objections," Yun Xiao reminded him.

As soon as Luolita left the Chamber of Commerce, she directly used her Transcendental Power.

Regarding things like Qi Luck, she feels that as long as she uses it early, she can recover it early.

Anyway, she has already awakened, and this skill requires waiting for a cooldown, so why bother waiting?

As a result, just after using it, she saw Yun Xiao bringing Fred over, the two of them determined to have her be their endorser.

An endorser for alcohol, and they even want to take the advertisement to the Royal Capital.

Although the endorsement fee is not high, the endorsement period is not long either; it only requires one year.

One can get an endorsement fee of 2000 Sid, plus a 3% commission.

This price, for Fred, definitely counts as high.

But for some reason, he was persuaded by Yun Xiao, insisting on hiring Luolita to endorse it.

"This is too much, we can't bully an honest person," when signing the contract, Luolita asked Yun Xiao in her native language. "This NPC is really quite honest; the players all like him very much."

"That's why we can't let him suffer a loss. You will definitely help him; after all, your reputation is very loud." Taking advantage of the fact that Luolita is still a topic of conversation in the Royal Capital, Yun Xiao intends to help Fred out properly.

After all, Fred helped him back then.

"That's no problem, I can directly find Feng to help. By the way, he is no longer the clerical staff responsible for interfacing with the police station. Because of his good performance this time, the Wealth Church let him interface with the Royal Capital port's business. If we have any logistics transit or similar business that needs help, we can go directly to him."

"The port?"

The Federal Royal Capital has a port, and it is the ice-free port in the far south.

The players now have a rough grasp of the Federal map. This place belongs to the Southern Hemisphere; the north belongs to the tropics, the south belongs to the frigid zone, and Tana City is like spring all year round because it is close to the equator.

Those barbarians from the north are the guys near the equator; these people are naturally keen on fighting, but have no interest in farming.

After all, they don't need to farm to obtain infinite amounts of food; just scatter a handful of seeds, and it will become Grain.

Likewise, Gannaer is in a similar situation, which is why they started the War.

For the players, these people are just bored; they won't consider the matter of a divine war.

The Royal Capital does not believe that the barbarians will fight their way into the interior of the Federal. Not to mention the combat power within the Federal, just speaking of the Federal's seasonal climate, it's not that the barbarians haven't attacked this land in history, but they really couldn't adapt to the climate here.

"In any case, he can be considered to have had a blessing in disguise. After all, being a captain in Tana City is not as good as managing port trade. Although the Royal Capital's port is far less prosperous than the railway, I think the port is still very useful."

Because of the development of technology, the Federal is slowly abandoning sea transport.

On one hand, it is because of issues like the speed of sea transport not being developed, and so on.

On the other hand, it is the Sea Monsters, and the intersection between the Federal and Storm is not much.

The ones that have developed best here are still those land-based divine religions; a church like Storm that only develops in the ocean cannot gain a foothold in the Federal at all.

Since there is a better way to trade, why still use sea transport?

Could those outside countries be more developed than the Federal? Trading with them is purely out of pity...

The arrogant Federal would never think that trading with those small countries could earn much money.

At least they do not think so at the moment.

"It's more than just useful." As a player, Yun Xiao possesses more knowledge reserves.

The Federal is gradually implementing a plan of isolation; if they can be shown the benefits of trade, naturally no one will want to abandon the Port City.

"I have confirmed everything, happy cooperation." Fred completely ignored the conversation between Luolita and Yun Xiao, and after reading the contract, he solemnly signed his name.

This contract is very heavy for him, with much greater pressure than investing in the bar.

The bar did not cost much money, but the endorsement fee for Luolita is real and substantial.

And he also has to share profits with the other party, which is something an ordinary merchant would not do.

But Fred can; he does not mind doing this, as long as it allows him to make money.

"Very good, happy cooperation. I will write to Feng of the Wealth Church as soon as possible to have him help us complete the follow-up promotion plan." After Luolita finished speaking, she seemed to have thought of something, "I will also find Ai Ai to do some advertising design for us; believe me, no one can design better than her."

Fred listened in a daze; he is still feeling dizzy now and is not quite clear why he must cooperate with Luolita.

But there is a voice in his heart telling himself that cooperating with her will definitely make a lot of money.

Even the matter of selling wine jars that Yun Xiao mentioned earlier, he agreed to it and handed this part of the business over to Yun Xiao as well.

Anyway, as long as he can clear out his inventory, the next step is to sell the wine.

After finishing the Painting for Miss Amy Hilton, Ai Ai rested in the room; she had You'eryuan order desserts from Mengmeng's shop for her, and at this moment, she is reading a current bestseller.

Yes, it is a Federal bestseller, titled "The Lady in the Grass Skirt."

She is learning the Tana Language by reading these romance novels; as one of the first to arrive in the game, a relative of the developer, and also one of the first to learn how to read, reading this kind of romance novel is not difficult for Ai Ai.

She even feels that she should post this book on the forum; this book is simply too good, and she has almost finished reading it in two hours.

Who would have thought she would waste two hours of game time in the game reading a book?

"Please come in." Hearing the sound, Ai Ai hurriedly put down her book; she did not know who was coming and hurried out of the workshop.

Recently, many nobles have come to visit, especially those noble young ladies, each wanting her to complete a Painting exclusive to them.

"Ai Ai, we have introduced a business to you." Hearing a familiar voice, Luolita greeted, "You scared me to death; I thought it was those noble ladies again."

"What is there to worry about?" Luolita walked into the studio and then exclaimed, "Your place is too messy."

"The studio is naturally messy; I always have to find the right train of thought." Ai Ai explained; she did not expect that even a friend in the game would let out the same exclamation as the noble ladies.

Is it really that messy here?

"This is Mr. Fred, whom you should have heard of on the forum, the first pot of gold of a Wealth Church Believer." Luolita said with a smile, "We need your help to draw advertisements, preferably ones that can be used directly for printing; if they can be used on packaging, that would be even better."

"200 Xide, you know I don't haggle." Ai Ai gave the price she had in mind.

"No problem." Unexpectedly, the price was not expensive, and Luolita paid the deposit directly.

"Then leave it to me; I will give you the first version the day after tomorrow." Ai Ai said confidently.

……

Fuling is one of the first players to register and be allowed to go out to sea.

Last time she brought back news of the Port City, it stimulated quite a few people; even many players working in the bar planned to go to the Port City with her to take a look.

If there are Sea Monsters that cannot be caught, there must be ones that can.

Anyway, business in the bar is not very good right now, so going out to take a look is a perfect thing to do; what if one could earn a large sum of money?

So this time, Fuling's team increased to twenty people.

And Fuling also prepared quite a lot of clothing; this time it was a full half-cabin of clothes.

The children and women taken in by Andrew really work very fast; she had only just started building the factory, and these hardworking people had already produced over ten thousand qualified pieces of clothing within a week.

The accessories are the same; a female worker can manufacture over 200 accessories in a day, with movements so nimble it is frightening.

And they also work overtime, even working more than 14 hours a day.

If Fuling had not discovered this problem, they would even have taken some materials home after work to have the children at home do it together.

So this time, what Fuling brought were mostly accessories: those simple-looking wooden combs, wooden hairpins, wire hair clips, and some odds and ends.

(End of this chapter)