Chapter 723: The Cheapest Simple Tents, An Invitation from the Wealth Fruit Merchant Guild

After putting away the money box, Jier personally led the Steward of the "Starry Sky" tent shop, who had been waiting to the side, to walk through the open space prepared for them by the Duoen Town Chamber of Commerce Union.

Watching the young men and women sitting on the ground resting and talking, practicing simple martial arts, flirting, or bickering with one another, the Steward frowned: "Sir Knight, do you not even have a single tent here?"

Jier gave an awkward smile: "I do have one tent that can sleep one person."

"But how did you handle it when it rained the other day? You didn't hide in the Shulin to avoid the rain, did you? What about at night?"

Facing this question, Jier smiled even more awkwardly: "Avoid the rain? Everyone just huddled by the fire, getting rained on while roasting by the flames; that was the only way."

"Sigh."

The other party let out a breath: "Having come to see the site, I finally understand what kind of tents you need most right now. But regarding the price, could you be a bit more flexible?"

Jier turned serious: "The price is not negotiable. As you can see, unlike simple rain cloaks, camping tents are not cheap. The money to buy tents from you still depends on how the sale of the spoils of war goes earlier."

The young shop Steward scratched his head, not knowing what to say. Although this person was young, his family was in business, and he had long since seen that Jier, this young Knight, certainly had money, but simply did not want to invest his own funds into this Refugee Team of several hundred people.

If this were him, he would have done the same.

"I understand. A low price is the top priority, followed by the basic functions of a tent, and most importantly, it must be able to accommodate a large number of young Refugees."

The young Steward muttered to himself, following Knight Jier as he wandered around the open space, carefully observing the situation of the young Refugees.

He discovered that most of the Refugees were gathered in their own separate groups, rarely communicating with those sitting in other circles. He asked the Knight about this and learned that the Refugees did not come from one place, but were Villagers from various remote and unprotected villages in the local area.

"So that's how it is. Let me see, in terms of quantity, there are about ten to twenty people gathered together. A tent of this scale—I have it!"

The young Steward slapped his head, having figured out what to do, so he hurriedly squatted on the ground and used his own Dagger sheath to draw on the ground, not only planning the size of the envisioned tent but, more importantly, calculating the material costs based on the scale of the tent.

Jier did not disturb him, just watching as he squatted on the ground, muttering in a low voice.

After a good while, the young Steward stood up with a flushed face, taking a deep breath, appearing somewhat nervous.

Jier tilted his head: "Speak."

The young Steward clasped his hands inside his sleeves and gripped them tightly to ease his tension; after all, he had calculated the costs right in front of the man, and he still had to add the shop's profit margin to the various tent materials on the spot, which made him somewhat nervous.

Even though he understood that this Knight probably didn't grasp what he had just been doing.

"It is like this, Sir Knight. Combining the situation I observed with the requirements you proposed, I understand that the tent specifications currently available in our shop naturally exceed your requirements. Therefore, I intend to redesign a set of simple-style tents that can basically meet the requirements for camping in the wild."

Jier crossed his arms, signaling for the other party to continue.

"Well, Sir Knight, this tent I have temporarily designed first removes the decorative patterns on the tent fabric, using undyed waterproof tarpaulin for the entire construction."

Jier nodded: "That should be the case; other than looking good, patterns don't have much use."

The young Steward twitched his mouth and continued: "Secondly, I do not intend to put the thick waterproof tarpaulin that forms the main body of the tent through an insect-repellent process. By omitting this step for wild camping, your subordinates will have to manually perform a set of insect-repellent work when setting up camp."

Jier shrugged: "It was like that before, it's nothing. I will have everyone remove the wild grass from the plot when setting up camp in the future, then stomp on the ground to collapse the small insect tunnels in the soil, and then sprinkle the campfire ashes that every team carries to drive away any insects that might approach."

The young Steward continued: "The first two items can save some costs. Then, here."

The Steward pointed with his toe at the main body of the tent he had drawn; it was a support pillar located at the center of the diamond-shaped tent.

"Here, I have abandoned the traditional square or long-strip large tent configuration, and I have not chosen a circular tent that requires many auxiliary support pillars. You see, a cylindrical main support pillar, half-buried in the ground—it is just a simple, cheap wooden pillar that can be seen everywhere. Although it is heavier in weight and requires an extra cart to transport, I see that you still have two carriages."

"Secondly, for the diamond-shaped auxiliary supports around it, I only use four shorter, thinner simple wooden pillars to support it, maximizing the space of the entire tent while keeping costs low."

Jier nodded.

"For the ground nails to fix the tent, I recommend using Wooden Nails. Although their service life is very short, generally no more than a few months to half a year, I believe that during this time, you and the people you lead will surely find a suitable and safe place to settle down."

Jier smiled: "That is certain, at most one month, no longer than that."

"As for the Rope, I recommend using ordinary hemp rope that has not been soaked in oil. This will barely suffice; as long as you use them every day when setting up camp, they will not be easily damaged even if you encounter wind and rain for a short time."

Jier clapped his hands, the metal armor plates clashing back and forth, making a loud and crisp sound: "Very good. Then, for several dozen sets of tents for over seven hundred people, how much does each set cost, and how much is the total?"

As soon as Jier finished speaking, the young Steward answered immediately. It seemed this answer had already been rehearsed in his mind several times, and he spoke quickly and fluently.

"Such simple tents cost only five Silver Coins each! In total, one tent can fit twenty to twenty-five people. Considering the number of your subordinates, at most thirty tents, roughly fifteen Gold Coins, and you can take them all."

Jier smacked his lips. A tent didn't seem expensive at five Silver Coins; it was already very cheap. After all, his single-person tent "cost as much as" three Gold Coins, enough to buy six tents that could house over a hundred people. But the total cost of fifteen Gold Coins still made his heart ache.

He knew this was definitely not the lowest price, but he had asked before, and the small tents for several people used by merchants cost one Gold Coin each and could only fit six or seven people at most. Looking at it this way, if he used those small, ready-made tents from the shop, seven hundred people would cost over a hundred Gold Coins.

Compared to that, fifteen Gold Coins looked cheap and affordable.

"Very good, that is the price."

Just as Jier said this, the young Steward in front of him became excited. He hurriedly asked: "There is only one problem now. In the two days we are resting here, can your shop produce enough tents?"

"No problem! Guaranteed no problem! I will go back and start gathering people to cut and sew the main waterproof fabric for the tents. As for the other things, since they are simple, they are not very difficult to prepare."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's sign the contract and start preparing. I hope that by tomorrow morning, there will already be tents delivered."

"Sir Knight, tonight! I can deliver up to five tents to you tonight! But you need to provide half the cost as a deposit first. That way, I can also show it to my father at the shop when I go back."

The young Steward nervously rubbed his fingers, and Jier chuckled: "A family shop, eh."

While Jier was talking and negotiating with the young Steward to draw up the contract, the Shop Assistant who had pushed the Handcart over took the opportunity to unpack the single-person tent Knight Jier had purchased and assembled it on the spot.

Although it was a single-person tent of less than ten square meters, because there were quite a few things inside the set, the assistant was busy for quite a while before getting it set up.

The finished dome tent was brightly colored, looking very lively and eye-catching.

Jier walked around the tent a few times, then crawled inside and took a deep breath; sure enough, he didn't smell anything special. But as the shop advertised, the flies and flying insects that had been dancing in the open space did not approach Jier's tent.

Moreover, the dozens of birds that had been following the team, picking up food scraps and particles they dropped on the road and at the campsites, did not land on the high top of this tent either, but instead stood and stayed on the surrounding carriages and the fences of the open space.

The insect and bird repellent effect, it seems, was not a boast, but truly a fact.

Having received the contract and the deposit, the young Steward immediately called the assistant with the cart and left in a hurry. He was quite curious about the spoils-of-war sale at the gate of the open space, but thinking of the shop that hadn't sold a single tent for quite a while, he hurried his pace, preparing to complete this transaction perfectly.

The order amount for these tents was not large, and the quantity was not small, so the profit was very limited.

But this was only on the surface. What was truly important was that there were too many raw materials for various tents in the shop's warehouse, which were sitting there uselessly occupying a lot of money. Now, taking some of them out to sell and use was the greatest benefit to the shop in this transaction.

After all, being able to use up a large amount of raw materials at cost price in the current depressed trade situation, or even exchanging them for cash, was already a huge profit.

After all, their shop had many raw materials, many goods, and lacked cash, and the other shops were the same.

Everyone was struggling, selling various goods at low prices. At this time, whoever had cash in hand could buy goods that were usually expensive at a low price.

A huge profit!

Thinking of this, he stopped looking at the passing sale and quickened his pace.

After Jier played with his new tent for a while, he had the people directly under him bring his carriage over, gather around this tent, and sit down to rest.

He loudly told the people around him about the tent, and after finishing in one spot, he went to the nearby area to speak, until everyone knew about the matter, only then did he come to the front of the open space.

The open space, filled with spoils of war, was surrounded by a full circle of Merchants.

They opened their eyes wide, picking and choosing, discussing among themselves. Whoever took a fancy to a certain item would have Jier's men randomly take one out of the box for them to examine closely.

Mr. Bafute was busy running back and forth, moving through the various spoils of war without a moment's rest, negotiating the sale and barter of goods with the Merchants who summoned him.

The matter of bartering exceeded Jier's expectations; as soon as it was proposed, the Merchants nodded in agreement immediately, as if asking them to bring out real gold and silver was like taking their lives.

And bartering made them much more satisfied.

Jier walked behind the circle of people, quietly listening to the Merchants' conversations, and discovered that, contrary to his expectations, the prices of various non-essential local goods were not rising, but falling.

In the past, a small box of Iron Nails cost at least thirty copper coins; now, not only was the quantity of Iron Nails in a box greater, but the price had actually fallen to twenty-two copper coins. Even then, the Iron Nails in the blacksmith shops could not be sold.

In the past, this item was the easiest thing to sell in villages everywhere.

Because the Farmers in rural areas mostly knew a bit of carpentry, and Iron Nails were the most important metal tool for reinforcing wood.

Moreover, if there were blacksmith apprentices in the village, they could barely forge the Iron Nails into arrowheads for a Hunter's bow, or metal spikes for the tips of long wooden poles.

In chaotic times, this was also an important metal raw material for various makeshift weapons in villages everywhere.

But now, powerful Merchant Guilds could barely manage to transport grain and Iron Ingot to Duoen Town from outside, but they didn't really need other things.

Various local handicrafts could not be shipped out, and other raw materials from outside could not be shipped in.

This caused the large local Merchant Guilds to make a killing, while the small and medium-sized Merchant Guilds, lacking the strength to travel freely on the Shanglu, could only stare blankly at the various inedible, unwanted goods in their warehouses and shops.

However, to say that the local Merchants had no money in their pockets would, of course, be impossible. It was just that not making money was, to the Merchants, a thing even more unbearable than losing money.

After all, losing money in business for a while was nothing; there were losses and gains, as long as they made a profit when settling the accounts in the end. But being stuck in the town, unable to go out to trade, and having no customers coming to the local shops to buy things—this situation of eating away at their savings was what the Merchants could not stand.

Therefore, bartering became the best method they could accept.

Using various idle goods and materials in their own hands, or those of friends, that could not be converted into money and were just sitting blankly in the warehouse, to exchange for the various boxed goods of higher value before them—wouldn't they make a big profit once the trade routes were clear in the future?

Since everyone was idle now anyway, it was certainly a good thing to use goods to acquire these spoils of the Knight at a low price.

Jier saw that deals were being made from time to time, and Mr. Bafute would have people move a certain box of goods from the open space separately and place it next to where Bata'er Jiaoshi was.

A mark would be made on the box, and at the same time, a contract would be verbally agreed upon.

Jier and his group did not have that much paper and ink, so at this time, with a large number of transactions, they could only agree verbally.

The Merchant who decided on the goods would then instruct their followers to return to the town and bring back other goods or materials they had on hand to exchange for the designated spoils of war.

Jier did not go up to disturb Mr. Bafute, who was busy as a bee, and exchanged a glance with the bewildered Bata'er Jiaoshi; Jier shrugged, and the Priest also rested his hand on his forehead and let out a deep sigh.

At this moment, at the entrance of the open space, a carriage fully loaded with small pieces of firewood stopped; Jier smiled as soon as he saw it—the firewood he had requested from the Duoen Town Chamber of Commerce Union had arrived.

Not early, not late, it arrived just now, after the sale had begun.

Jier shook his head and strode toward the gate, where the carriage transporting the firewood was firmly stopped by his men.

"Lord Knight, this is fuel wood for you and your team to keep warm and cook, gifted by Senior Steward Deripari on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce Union."

The person speaking was a young Shop Assistant who had jumped down from the driver's seat of the carriage.

However, this Shop Assistant was not like the usual Shop Assistants; he was dressed even better than the Stewards of ordinary Merchant Guilds. One could only say that he was worthy of being someone who managed several large Merchant Guilds in Duoen Town; his status and wealth were superior to others.

At the same time, this young Shop Assistant specifically placed heavy emphasis on the word 'gifted'.

Jier secretly spat, then smiled and said to the young Shop Assistant, who was a few years older than him: "Thank you! Thank you to the generous Chamber of Commerce Union, and also to the equally noble Senior Steward Deripari. I represent myself and all the Refugee people who benefit from this in thanking you."

The young Shop Assistant then took out a deep red invitation from a flat Wooden box at his waist: "Lord Knight, this is our Merchant Guild's invitation to tonight's banquet, held specifically for you. Please, you must come. It will officially begin tonight when the moonlight first rises. And I will wait here for you to guide you to the location where the banquet is held."

Jier took the banquet invitation and discovered that on the invitation was a golden hanging branch with fruit. When he pinched it with his hand, this Merchant Guild mark on the invitation was actually made of real gold.

Although the amount used was not much, it fully displayed the financial strength and importance of the 'Wealth Fruit' Merchant Guild.

"Very good, then you may come in and wait for a while; you can watch the lively sale in front to pass the time. I have to arrange for people to distribute this firewood. Although it is still afternoon, cooking doesn't care whether it's early or late, right?"

Jier then let the Shop Assistant pass, allowing him to walk around freely, and then he directed the carriage driver to drive the carriage to the middle of the open space, where it would be easier to distribute the firewood.

Although the Shop Assistant was told he could look around freely, the other party also had a sense of propriety, staying only within the crowd of the sale, watching what was being sold at the sale while his gaze never left Jier.