I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 495: Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-One: Method

Three hundred miles east of Red Cloud Mountain, six streaks of multicolored light cut across the sky.

A pure white Cloud Piercer carried Tang Luo, a red Flame Deer carried Cui Dayou, along with four Fierce Realm strongmen who could traverse the sky.

This was the entirety of the personnel from Red Cloud Village to Lin Chuan’s trading caravan. Frankly speaking, Cui Dayou was still bewildered up till now.

He initially thought that he would be sternly disciplined in the law office, even stripped of his manager duties. He had reconciled with this outcome.

Learn from one’s mistakes. As a subordinate, when a superior puts forth a request that one cannot meet, one should not argue. Instead, one should graciously accept and give it their best effort. The superior would then realize that the demands were unreasonable and propose amendments themselves.

Insisting on showing off one’s own abilities as if one is omniscient, has already annoyed one’s superior. This punishment is well-deserved.

Among the children who have come out of the Virtue Hall to learn commerce, he may not be the most intelligent or the hardest working, but he is one of the very few who become a manager before the age of forty.

The key to this achievement was not else but the mentality of accepting all setbacks and learning from them. By every defeat and pain, he saw it as an experience gained, from which he could extract the essence.

If one could become wiser from making a mistake, then the originally mediocre him, after twenty years of ups and downs in a sea of commerce, is now wiser than most people.

Starting from scratch, Cui Dayou thought ambitiously. After mentally preparing himself, he became calm, silently waiting for Tang Luo to announce his fate.

But the expected punishment did not come. The famously proud prodigy helped him up, looked into his eyes, and earnestly instructed, “Manager Cui, you are a true professional. I am entrusting you with the task of buying grain from Lin Chuan. The four warriors, including myself, will act as your bodyguards. Please proceed with all your effort, gather as much grain as you can within 15 days.”

A dumbfounded Cui Dayou had never anticipated this approach, and for a moment, he stared blankly at Tang Luo, not knowing how to respond. Tang Luo simply smiled and added, “Manager Cui, you have been in business for many years, you must have heard of the Void Stomach supernatural ability. As it happens, I possess this ability, so you don’t have to worry about carrying and transporting money.”

Having finished speaking, Tang Luo then led Cui Dayou out of the Martial Hall, where he met the four Fierce Realm warriors who were introduced as his protectors.

Not knowing how he ended up on the Flame Deer, and unsure of what he was thinking, Cui Dayou dazedly led the group east for three thousand miles, and it was now close to midnight.

As the bright moon hung in the southern sky, Cui Dayou finally came to his senses and said, “Minister Luo….”

“Manager, are you tired and want to rest?” Tang Luo, who was riding a beast beside him, asked with a polite but forced smile.

“No, no, no.” Cui Dayou, who had regained his senses, kept waving his hand, “We’ve only just begun. Since Minister Luo trusts in me, I will do everything in my power to succeed!”

“Then I’ll leave it to Manager Cui.”

Once Tang Luo decided to entrust the task to Cui Dayou, he wouldn’t interfere.

If you trust someone, do not doubt him; if you doubt him, do not use him. Letting Cui Dayou explain his every move, motive, and goal would only be a waste of time and lead to nothing. It was better to let him do his best.

There are countless different inherent abilities in the world, but not all of them are suitable for battle. For example, Tang Luo’s awakening of the Void Stomach.

Being able to transform everything sounds incredibly majestic, but in reality, it’s just the ability to eat anything. It certainly ensures survival, but has almost no combat capabilities whatsoever.

But the world never lacked those with ingenious ideas. There was a legendary merchant in the Yun Clan named Heishi.

He traveled alone to every region in the Great West, collecting countless treasures, and was seen as a respected guest by all the sects. He relied on the Endless Void Stomach ability.

Therefore, every person in business with ambition would force themselves to cultivate to the Metamorphosis Realm, hoping to awaken the Void Stomach supernatural ability.

One could say that every person in business has thought about how they could use a personal space to their advantage. What Tang Luo was doing now was actually loaning his Void Stomach to Cui Dayou.

He believed that the diligent and responsible manager wouldn’t let him down and thus, didn’t need to interfere too much.

But the nonchalant look on Tang Luo’s face made Cui Dayou anxious. As there were many things that required Tang Luo’s cooperation in the upcoming events. Although Tang Luo had said that he could treat him as a fellow worker, Cui Dayou dared not take him at his word. Seeing no other option, he gently said, “Minister Luo, I would like to discuss the plan to buy grain with you…”

“Manager Cui, please say what you need to say.” Tang Luo turned his head, the conflicted look on Cui Dayou’s face told him that he was still unable to overcome his inner obstacles. All he could do was cooperate.

Cui Dayou was relieved and said cautiously, “I was thinking, purchasing large amounts of grain differs from regular procedures, usually traders would buy from grain shops. There are enough workers there to load and unload. However, there’s a limit to grain shops storage capacity. For a regular grain shop, storing a million catties of grain is already impressive. If we’re to gather the grain from grain shops, we might not be able to meet the target of three hundred thousand catties in fifteen days. Therefore, I feel that since Minister Luo has the Void Stomach and four Fierce Realm followers, why don’t we go directly to the constant grain shrines in the hinterland of Lin Chuan for grain. What do you think?”

In vast grain-producing lands like Chuanyuan and Da Lin, the annual grain output is indefinitely more than the local population. Most local businesses are involved in the exporting of grain. Despite the massive grain exports each year, there is still a significant grain surplus.

The local clans established constant grain shrines to prevent “cheap grain hurting farmers” and “expensive grain hurting the people”. During times of low market grain prices, they would increase the grain price and buy in large quantities. Not only would this fill up the clan’s grain storage, but it would also keep the people from losing faith in farming.

The constant grain shrines were always open, buying and selling grain. Thanks to their existence, the grain price in Lin Chuan has remained stable for centuries. Regardless of whether it was a year of famine or harvest, the merchants from all over Longzhou could buy reasonably priced grain from Chuanyuan. Furthermore, the cities surrounding Lin Chuan had given up farming entirely and instead bought grain from the two grain shops.

Tang Luo heard about the existence of a constant grain shrine in Lin Chuan for the first time. If it wasn’t for Cui Dayou, he might have blindly gone from grain shop to grain shop, inefficiently collecting grain and wasting time. It was indeed wise to leave the task of procuring grain to a professional. “I think it’s a good idea. Let’s do as Manager Cui suggests.”

Hearing Tang Luo’s agreement, Cui Dayou was relieved, and gathering his courage, he said, “Thank you for supporting me, Minister Luo. But to collect grain from a constant shrine, we’ll need some cooperation from everyone. I don’t know if…”

“Manager Cui, whatever help you need, feel free to ask for.”

“Then I’ll speak frankly. Although the grain at the constant shrine is cheap, they only sell to local Lin Chuan merchants. Luckily, I have a contact in Da Lin who can help us buy the grain. However, the merchant clans in both locations are very xenophobic, so once we enter the Da Lin territory, I must ask Minister Luo and the esteemed warriors to refrain from speaking. If our foreign accents are exposed, it could lead to unnecessary complications..”