My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 75 A Contract is Formed
Zang Ai was completely bewildered. The conversation had gone smoothly just now, and her father had even agreed. Why was Mi Feng suddenly provoking her?

Yes, Liu Feng's loud laughter didn't sound like the joy of a successful deal at all, but rather like mockery of Zang Ba.

Seeing the anger on his father's face, Zang Ai quickly stepped in to smooth things over, saying, "Why are you laughing?"

Liu Feng stood up and looked directly at Zang Ai, saying, "What we discussed earlier was just the purchase of grain. If the Cavalry Commandant agrees, we will naturally gather the money and goods as soon as possible and send them to Kaiyang. If a month is too long, then half a month will also suffice."

"This snow salt and rock sugar is our new business, which we plan to expand to Jizhou in Hebei."

Liu Feng shouted angrily, "Now the Cavalry Commandant is demanding that we exchange all our money for these best-selling goods with just one word, and also wants us to send goods worth far more than the cost of grain. Is this a pretense of doing business, and a blatant robbery?"

The father and son, Zang Ba and Zang Ai, looked shocked, angry, and somewhat guilty.

They had always felt that the Mi family's request for grain put them in a proactive position.

But now it is discovered that the Mi family is not someone Zang Ba can easily manipulate. On the contrary, compared to the other party, Zang Ba is actually the weaker party.

After Liu Feng finished his angry rebuke, he turned around and prepared to leave.

Zang Ai stood there dumbfounded, but his father, Zang Ba, had already come to his senses.

Zang Ba secretly kicked Zang Ai, who snapped back to reality. After meeting her father's gaze, she realized what was happening and quickly stood up to chase after him outside.

"Brother Mi, Brother Mi, please wait!"

Zang Ai chased after him all the way out and finally managed to dissuade Liu Feng at the second gate.

After some apologies and explanations, Liu Feng was finally coaxed back.

Zang Ba's expression changed at this moment. The anger on his face disappeared and he became warm. He even took the initiative to apologize, saying, "It's all my fault for not explaining things clearly, which caused my nephew to misunderstand."

Then, Zang Ba frankly revealed that he was going to send someone to Liaodong to buy horses. In fact, Zang Ba himself knew that this news was already common knowledge in Kaiyang and was not a secret.

When it came to the long journey and the difficulty of transporting goods, he praised rock sugar and snow salt extensively, but in the end, he still expressed his hope that the payment could be settled with rock sugar and snow salt.

If the Mi family agrees to trade in rock sugar and snow salt, they might even be able to squeeze out some more grain.

Upon hearing this, Liu Feng was overjoyed, but he still feigned reluctance, repeatedly emphasizing that these two items were extremely precious and produced in very low quantities. He said that his family would never have allowed him to carry so many goods with him if it weren't for the need to distribute them in Hebei.

This plausible explanation further diminished Zang Ba's suspicions.

As for Zang Ai, he had completely believed Liu Feng's story.

After a fierce exchange, mainly between Liu Feng and Zang Ba, the two sides reached a preliminary agreement on a deal.

Zang Ba sold 40,000 shi of grain to Liu Feng, which could be shipped immediately.

The Mi family deposited two shi of rock sugar and twenty-five shi of snow salt as a down payment, valued at five million coins, with Zang Ba, and allowed him to use these supplies at will, with the final payment being offset by the price of grain.

Meanwhile, within a month, the Mi family agreed to transport another two shi of rock sugar and twenty-five shi of snow salt to Kaiyang and deliver them to the Zang family as collateral for the full amount of 40,000 shi of grain.

The Zang family only had the right to guard the second batch of rock sugar and snow salt; they could not use them.

By March, the Mi family would begin transporting grain to Kaiyang, and by early April at the latest, they would settle accounts for the amount of grain transported and return any remaining portion of the rock sugar and snow salt.

The price at which the Mi family purchased grain was set at three hundred coins per shi (a unit of dry measure) of millet.

The repurchase price in April was 200 coins per shi of millet, significantly lower than the market price, serving as one of the extra compensations for the Zang family's payment of 40,000 shi of grain. In other words, even if the Mi family repaid the grain, the Zang family could still earn 100 coins per shi in loan fees out of thin air.

If the Mi family's grain is not delivered on time before the beginning of April, the Zang family has the right to dispose of the rock sugar and snow salt at will.

If a price difference arises between the two parties during the agreed transaction process, it is agreed that the transaction will be settled at the market price using cash and goods.

This agreement is a win-win situation for both parties.

The Mi family received a large quantity of much-needed grain, but in return, they paid with goods, mainly rock sugar and salt, rather than cash.

Although the Zang family sold a large amount of grain, the price was extremely high. Moreover, they were able to obtain high-value, easy-to-hide, scarce, easy-to-sell, and convenient-to-transport high-grade hard currency such as rock sugar and snow salt. They could set off immediately to Liaodong to purchase warhorses.

Both sides felt they had won big, and the atmosphere began to become more harmonious.

Finally, Zang Ba forcibly persuaded Liu Feng and Mi Lu to stay, and held a grand banquet to entertain them.

That night, the banquet at the Zang residence lasted very late.

Zang Ba and his son invited Liu Feng and Mi Lu to stay overnight.
Liu Feng and Mi Lu were very obliging and slept with him for one night. The next day at noon, after thanking the Zang family for their banquet, they were finally able to leave the Zang residence.

Back at the inn, Mi Lu asked Liu Feng, "When you rebuked Zang Ba earlier, I was on tenterhooks. Weren't you afraid of angering Zang Ba?"

Liu Feng shook his head, Mi Lu was clearly blinded by his own involvement: "Old Lu, we're here to do business. Even if we're buying grain, it's for the sake of the Prefect, not to suffer losses without any bottom line."

"You seem to have something on your mind, which makes you guilty. Such unusual behavior is quite unusual; how could Zang Ba, being so astute, not notice?"

Mi Lu suddenly realized that his life experience had been completely overshadowed by Liu Feng.

Indeed, he was too eager for quick success and too humble yesterday, which almost ruined everything.

If Liu Bei agreed to Zang Ba's conditions, given Zang Ba's shrewdness, he would obviously think that either Liu Bei had given the Mi family a huge benefit, or that the Mi family's purpose in collecting grain was impure and that there was a conspiracy behind it.

Could Liu Bei offer the Mi family such great benefits?

Of course not, because Liu Bei himself didn't have any.

That leaves only the second possibility. Given Zang Ba's caution, even if he couldn't figure out the scheme behind it, he could at least refuse to sell the grain.

As long as they don't sell grain, the initiative will remain in Zang Ba's hands.

What followed went very smoothly.

As Zang Ba had promised, the Zang family began the handover process.

Having regained his composure, Mi Lu also demonstrated his shrewd experience and business acumen, changing his previous easygoing demeanor and becoming somewhat calculating.

After the rock sugar, snow salt, and other items brought by the Mi family caravan were delivered to Zang Ba's treasury, the granaries in Kaiyang County were also opened to the Mi family, and began to send out grain continuously.

However, the caravan was short-handed and could only transport a very small portion of the goods. At the same time, they sent someone back to inform the Mi family that the transaction had been successful and to request that the Mi family send more people.

Zang Ai has been coming over to visit whenever he has free time these past few days, drinking and chatting happily with Liu Feng, clearly considering Liu Feng a friend.

(End of this chapter)