The blonde translator listened to his words and quickly translated, "Sir, he says he wants to buy all the soap and asks how much cargo we brought."
Ba Le Meng Gan raised his eyebrows, contemptuously pointing at the boxes on the carriages. "Five hundred per box. Ask him first if he can afford a few boxes!"
Of the thirty horse-drawn carriages that entered the city this time, ten were carrying essential supplies. The rest were all soap!
Each carriage had ten boxes, meaning five thousand soaps per carriage. With twenty carriages, that's a hundred thousand soaps!
At five gold coins per soap, that would be a full five hundred thousand gold coins!
He didn't believe this fellow could produce that much money!
As expected, upon hearing the quantity per box from the translator, Xididesunzi began counting, finger by finger, how many carriages there were.
The more he counted, the more his expression soured. Within his understanding, he could never have imagined anyone being this wealthy!
The entire population of Moshierburg was less than ten thousand. Excluding the guards, the remaining citizens could only provide him with one gold coin in taxes annually.
This meant that to buy all the soap before him, he would need to save for at least fifty years!
With this thought, he couldn't help but entertain other ideas. He said with a fawning expression to the blonde translator, "Please tell your leader that this lord recently purchased a rare treasure, and therefore does not have so much gold. This lord will buy half a carriage of soap first. If your leader is willing, please ask him to stay in the city for a few more days, and this lord will soon be able to gather the gold to buy all the soap!"
The blonde translator shook his head. "Oh no, Lord, our leader does not like to do small business. In his eyes, a transaction is at least on a per-carriage basis!"
One carriage, meaning five thousand soaps, would cost twenty-five thousand gold coins.
Xididesunzi was a little dumbfounded. Indeed, merchants from the mysterious East were so generous! If it were himself, wouldn't he sell as much as he could, one by one? Look at them, they wouldn't sell less than a carriage!
His eyes darted around. He pointed to the vegetable market in the distance of the square. "Please tell your leader that this lord is willing to use the taxes from there as collateral, plus ten thousand gold coins, to exchange for one carriage of soap."
The blonde translator shook his head again. "No, no, no. Lord, you might have a misunderstanding of the East! The filth in the city makes our leader very uncomfortable. Compared to here, he prefers to stay outside the city. If Lord is willing to use land as a bargaining chip, I believe our leader would consider your proposal. Lord may not know, but our leader from the mysterious East has an incomprehensible passion for land. If Lord agrees, our lord is willing to purchase the land outside the city at a price of ten gold coins per mu, which is two soaps per mu. Oh, and by the way, the size of one mu is equivalent to one hundred meters in length and width. If Lord can let our leader choose the land himself, one mu can be exchanged for five soaps!"
He was not doing this for the first time, and he was very skilled at doing business. After speaking, he took out a ruler from his carriage and handed it over. According to the Eastern standard, this ruler was one meter in length.
Xididesunzi was overjoyed. The lands outside the city, to him, being able to exchange them for soap was like a pie falling from the sky.
However, bargaining was a human nature, unless one was extremely arrogant. Clearly, their lord was not. He tentatively asked, "For the land designated by this lord, three soaps per mu. If your leader chooses himself, then ten soaps per mu!"
The blonde translator remained noncommittal. After whispering a few words to Ba Le Meng Gan, he turned back and smiled at him. "Respected Lord, our leader very much wants to be friends with you, so he generously agreed to your conditions!"
After speaking, he took out a leather scroll from his embrace and opened it, displaying it to Xididesunzi. "This is the land our leader has taken a liking to. It has abundant water sources, and our leader plans to plant some spices from the East here. Calculated by area, it is enough to exchange for seven carriages of soap. Now it depends on whether Lord agrees."
On the sheepskin scroll, Moshier Castle was prominently marked in the center. Several lines drawn with a pencil extended from Moshier Castle, with distances also marked. Several pieces of land were colored red, which were precisely Ba Le Meng Gan's targets for this trip. The map showed no mountains or rivers, and apart from distances and directions, there was no other reference material.
Xididesunzi couldn't understand it well. He vigilantly asked the translator what the marked characters meant. After receiving the answer, he searched his mind for these marked plots of land. However, even if his territory was small, it was equivalent to a county in the Great Tang. Furthermore, this was the first time he had encountered the unit of length called "meter." After racking his brains for a long time, he still couldn't figure out which piece of land they wanted.
"Oh, I'm truly sorry. This lord has been too busy with official duties these past few days, and my mind is a bit slow. Looking at this map, I really don't know where you want the land from. Could you have your leader send someone to bring this lord's guards to see it in person?"
The translator pretended to be generous and smiled. "Of course, respected Lord, your thoughts are understandable!"
Several guards were selected, and Ba Le Meng Gan also chose a few personal guards. The group set off towards the outside of the city.
Viewing the land would take at least one or two days. Ba Le Meng Gan cheerfully took out ten soaps and rented this square, which covered an area of about five to six mu, from Xididesunzi. He had no choice; although accommodation could be found in the city, the smell was truly unbearable.
As they began to set up camp, Xididesunzi's gaze fixed on the pile of transparent food containers that the Tianmeng tribe had just used. "Oh, dear interpreter, could you ask if your leader is willing to sell such exquisite tableware?"
As the saying goes, there is no business for those who are too eager. And the blonde translator had been following Ba Le Meng Gan for some time, so he naturally understood this principle. He feigned difficulty and shook his head. "Respected Lord, this may disappoint you. These food containers are all made by the finest craftsmen from the East, and each one is more precious than any gold product of the same weight! Not only that, but when these food containers are filled with hot food, they emit a unique aroma that can stimulate appetite. At the same time, the containers are rich in many beneficial substances that can permeate into the food, and long-term use can prolong life. These food containers were bestowed upon our leader by the Emperor of the East, representing his noble status and position! Therefore, it is likely that our leader will refuse to sell such treasures!"