Chapter 732: Hiring the Suiren Tribe (2)

Baoxi was greatly shocked: "You have already hired people from the Xuanyuan Tribe?"

Zhigui nodded: "Yes, we have hired five or six thousand of them. This is basically all the labor force their tribe can spare; even if we wanted to hire more, there is no way."

Hiss...

Baoxi began to ponder. Is the relationship between Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe this good now? With his Suiren Tribe caught between Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe, if he were to make any more mistakes, he feared they would be directly partitioned by them together.

But with the Suiren Tribe as it is now, he feared they couldn't even defeat Huaxia alone. No, they definitely couldn't defeat them. Huaxia not attacking them was likely because they were unwilling to expend too much combat power; their population had always been very tight. If they attacked them, then Huaxia's population would inevitably decrease significantly, and if the Xuanyuan Tribe then turned around to attack Huaxia, it would be even easier.

The reverse was also true; the Xuanyuan Tribe dared not rashly attack him, otherwise, it was possible they would be counter-attacked by Huaxia. As long as Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe did not unite, then he was safe. If he united with one of them, there would be even more opportunities to partition the other tribe.

Baoxi quickly set his brain to thinking. After a short time, he knew what he should do: he should actively contact both tribes and not just think about uniting with one. He believed that Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe certainly were not that intimate; interests were what mattered most.

But if he had no contact with these two tribes at all, then he would be excluded by them, and being partitioned was a certainty. Moreover, uniting had another benefit, which was being able to closely monitor the movements of these two tribes; only in this way could he ensure the safety of his Suiren Tribe.

Thus, Baoxi immediately decided to say: "If it is about hiring, that is perfectly fine, but what is the price you are offering?"

Discussing business certainly required bargaining, so Zhigui stated the price given to the Xuanyuan Tribe and said this was their standard price, to see what Baoxi thought.

Hearing that they could have such good treatment every day, be able to eat their fill, and earn so much grain for the tribe, Baoxi was naturally somewhat tempted. But he felt this price should be higher; after all, with that amount of grain, plus only hiring a few thousand people, the help to the entire tribe was still not enough, and the gap with the Suiren Tribe could not be widened too much.

Furthermore, he had to consider whether Huaxia was truly prepared to do this, whether his tribesmen could return after going over, and whether it was a scheme by Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe to use this method to trick away a portion of their Soldiers so that their future attacks could be even easier.

These were all things Baoxi was uneasy about. He felt he had been blinded by such a good deal, so he asked: "What kind of agreement did you make with the Xuanyuan Tribe? Aren't they afraid that after you take their population back, you won't send them back, causing them to lose so many people for nothing?"

Zhigui was naturally prepared for Baoxi to ask about this aspect, so he explained the matter of them signing a contract, reporting it to the Heaven gods, and having the Dao bear witness, and indicated that they could also sign such a contract with the Suiren Tribe to put the Suiren Tribe at ease.

But what he did not expect was for Baoxi to ask them in return: "Do you really think a piece of paper can have such great power, or are you really under the impression that the Heaven gods will punish those who violate a contract?"

"This, this..."

Zhigui suddenly felt it was very difficult to continue speaking, because after so many attempts, Baoxi had long since ceased to trust the Heaven gods that much, and as for any punishment from the Heaven gods, he had even less fear. As for morality, they felt it should be discussed with civilized people, but for a tribe that relied primarily on gathering and hunting, even if they were very powerful, it was estimated that the constraints of morality would not be very strong for them.

Thus, Zhigui changed his approach and said: "If you do not believe in the contract, we can pay the wages for the thirty days for those being hired all at once, as a form of guarantee, how about that? For the Xuanyuan Tribe, we only gave them fifteen days' worth; for future wages, we will come to deliver them every thirty days."

Baoxi quickly calculated and felt it was still a huge loss. That bit of grain was far too little compared to the value of a person. Even if Huaxia gave sixty days' worth at once, he would still be losing a lot.

So he continued to shake his head and refuse: "No, no, the price is too low, I cannot accept it. That grain is not even enough to buy a Slave, let alone my own tribesmen. If you could give one hundred days' worth at once, I might consider it."

The demand Baoxi put forward made Zhigui feel very troubled again. Although Baoxi's worries were indeed very reasonable, they had never done a hiring deal where they paid for such a long time all at once. Even their own wages were paid very steadily every thirty days, and they had never felt that Huaxia would owe them wages and not pay; Huaxia's tenant farmers also trusted them very much.

Zhigui could not give Baoxi a definitive answer for the moment. Although he was the lead in this negotiation, on these major issues, he still had to discuss it with others; he could not make the decision alone. The people from the Ministry of Revenue had more say in these aspects.

Zhigui turned to the side and whispered with a few people from the Ministry of Revenue to discuss how to handle it. The people from the Ministry of Revenue suggested giving Baoxi some sincerity, which was to increase the price. The price currently offered was the lowest price, and it was still halfway to the maximum limit; in other words, this distance was their bargaining chip for negotiations with the Suiren Tribe. By slowly raising it, Baoxi would eventually be tempted. Huaxia had shown sincerity, and the Suiren Tribe should also show their own sincerity.

Thus, Zhigui turned and said to Baoxi: "Tribal Chief Baoxi, how about this: to express our sincerity, we are willing to increase the daily wage for each person by another one tael. This is not a small amount. Think about it, for one thousand people, that is an extra one hundred catties of grain earned back every day. How long can this one hundred catties of grain feed you? But we still insist on only paying for thirty days at once; after all, this amount is not small."

Baoxi began to calculate again. In his view, a strong man in their tribe, even if sold, would be worth four or five hundred catties of grain. The price of a Slave and a tribesman were completely different. If it were an excellent hunter, he would be reluctant to sell even for one thousand catties of grain.

The price Huaxia was offering now was merely an extra three thousand catties of grain paid at once. For him, the risk was still too high, but since Huaxia was willing to raise the price, it showed there was still room for further negotiation.