Chapter 695: Taking on the Project

Since business had come to his door, Baifeng was certainly going to accept it, but he truly could not satisfy the demands Dahong had made, so he could only inform Dahong truthfully: "Of course we can help you build a Matou, but we really cannot do anything about preventing an Ice Jam. Our current Matou cannot withstand an Ice Jam at all; it would certainly be completely destroyed. Therefore, no matter how well we build it for you, or how thick we lay the Cement, I can guarantee it will not be able to resist an Ice Jam."

"It is not that I am unwilling to build the best for you, but the facts are just like this. The power of an Ice Jam is too great; we cannot reach that level."

Upon hearing this, Dahong was instantly deflated. After all, the biggest requirement for building a Matou was the ability to resist an Ice Jam; otherwise, if they built it every year, what if there was an Ice Jam every year? Since they were told this result, should they still build their Matou?

Seeing that Dahong was in a difficult position, Baifeng also explained the pros and cons to him: "The matter of an Ice Jam is purely a matter of luck. Look at how many years you have lived; how many times have you seen one? An Ice Jam does not happen every year, and the frequency is relatively low, but no one can say for sure which year one will occur."

"You certainly need to build a Matou. Even if we do not build it, you would have to build it for your own convenience. As for Huaxia, our construction speed is fast, the quality is good, and the functions are complete, but the consumption is relatively high and the cost is great. In the absence of an Ice Jam, it can be enough for you to use for decades without needing repairs, and it can also withstand small floods."

"We cannot satisfy your requirement for resisting an Ice Jam. It just depends on whether you are willing to build a more convenient Matou, even though you might have to rebuild it next year if it is finished this year."

Dahong was very conflicted. After considering it repeatedly, he decided to ask what price Huaxia would propose before making a decision. The scale of the Matou was to be calculated as half that of the Huaxia City Matou.

The people from the Ministry of Revenue also hurriedly performed calculations, accounting for labor and materials, and finally tallied a price. This price, after deducting costs, would still allow Huaxia to earn a huge sum, enough to earn back the wages of those three thousand Laborers for half a year.

They handed the price to Baifeng to take a look, with the costs also marked on it for Baifeng to make a judgment on whether they should ask for more or less. After reading it, Baifeng felt the price given by the Ministry of Revenue was very appropriate, so he did not show it to Dahong—Dahong would not recognize it anyway—and simply stated the price directly.

Upon hearing this, Dahong felt relieved instead. Now he could make a decision, because the price Baifeng gave was half of the budget he had come to negotiate with this time. If he had to use the full price to exchange for a Matou that could not meet their expected effect, he would probably have refused directly, but for only half the price, they could obtain a very good Matou. Although how long it could be used depended entirely on luck, it was something the Xuanyuan Tribe could accept.

The water transport of the Xuanyuan Tribe was also very busy now; not only did they have to transport supplies back and forth, transport wood from upstream, and transport prey, but they could also dispatch more fishing boats to catch fish and shrimp to obtain food for the Xuanyuan Tribe.

Therefore, a high-quality Matou could reduce too many of their troubles. Without suitable tools, it was quite laborious for them to even make a wooden board, and the entire Matou was built with wood and stone, so the quality was not very good.

If Huaxia could build one for them according to the standards of the Huaxia City Matou, it would not only save them the labor and material costs of building it themselves, but it would also be more convenient to use. This was also a relatively good deal.

Moreover, the Xuanyuan Tribe had also started to gradually reclaim wasteland upstream. Once the grain matured, everything could be transported via the waterway, and the requirements for the Matou would only be higher in the future.

Therefore, Dahong no longer hesitated this time and said very straightforwardly: "Good, I agree to this price. I am willing to hire you people of Huaxia at this price to build such a Matou for our Xuanyuan Tribe. However, I still want to ask, how long will it take to build such a Matou?"

Dahong was very afraid that it would take half a year to build, as that would have a somewhat large impact on the Xuanyuan Tribe during those six months, and the time they could use it would also be less.

The people from the Ministry of Works inquired about the water depth at their Matou location, and based on the size of the Matou and their work experience, they gave Dahong a time: "Twenty to thirty days. As long as we do not encounter unavoidable problems like the weather, we can guarantee it will be built within thirty days. We will build it at the fastest speed, but this does not include the time spent on the road."

This time completely exceeded Dahong's expectations. He thought it would be very slow; if it were this fast, that would be great. So he immediately decided to sign a contract with Huaxia and finalize this matter.

The people on the Huaxia side were also very happy. Going on a business trip for a month could earn them back so much wealth. The people from the Ministry of Works still felt they had a lot of face. The costs of hiring the Xuanyuan Tribe suddenly did not count for much; after all, the Xuanyuan Tribe sent three thousand people who worked for a year to earn that little, but the Ministry of Works, let alone a thousand, did not even need two hundred people to earn back half of that.

The Ministry of Revenue immediately began to look for paper to write the contract. Although they could not use the Xuanyuan Tribe's writing this time, Cangjie was now able to recognize Huaxia's characters, so it could be written in Huaxia's characters, sent to the Xuanyuan Tribe, and after being confirmed by Cangjie, signed by Xuanyuan, and this contract would be considered effective.

When the people from the Ministry of Revenue were writing the contract, they even considered some problems that Dahong had never thought of. For example, the price they gave was all-inclusive, meaning the Xuanyuan Tribe did not need to pay extra fees. Dahong had not thought of this at all; if he had muddled through and let Xuanyuan sign it, and then Huaxia said that the price was only for labor and materials had to be paid separately, the Xuanyuan Tribe would have had to accept it.

The food for the Workers was also the responsibility of Huaxia, mainly because they were not used to the food of the Xuanyuan Tribe, so it was better to bring their own food and cooks.

Furthermore, the construction period was also specified. It did not write a minimum, but it wrote a maximum: at most thirty days. If it exceeded thirty days, a certain amount of the fee would be deducted for every day exceeded, but there would be no extra pay for finishing early.

To Dahong, this sounded like they were completely considering the interests of the Xuanyuan Tribe. He was instantly extremely grateful to Huaxia, feeling that Huaxia was a first-class good ally and good brother. In the future, when they did business with Huaxia, they would also have to carry forward this spirit of Huaxia and consider more for their allies.

The contract was written in triplicate. After reading it, Baifeng signed and stamped all of them. As long as Xuanyuan went back, checked it, and signed it, this contract would be officially established.