As the most powerful duke in the Kingdom of Danga and the younger brother of King Bennett, he is more willing to use his brain than other orcs, and he does not believe in pie in the sky.

The story begins an hour ago.

Ever since the Red Leaf Caravan arrived in Danga Royal City, it has attracted a lot of people's attention.

After all, at a time like this, the caravan that can get here is either lucky or capable, so it is normal for them to attract attention.

Especially when people heard that this caravan was doing a wide variety of business, including grain, salt, ironware, clothes, spices, etc., this aroused the interest of many people.

It would be nice if I could buy the supplies I want from them without having to risk going out.

However, the origin of the Red Leaf Caravan was unknown, and no one dared to contact them without knowing whether they were enemy spies.

For three days, no one disturbed Shu Daqiang, which made him very happy. After all, he was not really here to do business, but to gather information.

After the orc captain brought them to the Danga Royal City, there were not many restrictions. Except for places like the royal palace, which were not allowed to enter, there were no other places that restricted the rats.

Shu Daqiang didn't hold back and took his men wandering around the city for the next three days.

Instead, they openly asked various questions about population, customs, lifestyle, etc.

The more frank he is, the less likely he is to arouse suspicion.

If they were asking around secretly, some people would definitely suspect they were spies, but since they were so open and aboveboard, everyone instead thought that these businessmen might be conducting some kind of investigation.

Before doing business, businessmen cannot make decisions on a whim. They must investigate the market first, so everyone thinks it is very natural.

Three days later, someone finally couldn't help it. His name was Raman, and he was the younger brother of King Bennett of Danga.

The royal family of Danga Kingdom is a tribe of snake beastmen. Judging from their appearance, they seem to be extremely cunning and even heartless, but in fact, this is not the case. Although they are cunning, King Bennett has a good relationship with his younger brother, Duke Raman.

The two brothers jointly ruled the Danga Kingdom.

Laman naturally saw the current predicament of the Danga Kingdom. When he heard that a caravan was coming to the Danga Kingdom, he became interested. When he heard that these caravans seemed very powerful, he found Bennett.

He said he wanted to think about the Red Leaf Caravan and see if there was any possibility of cooperation.

King Bennett naturally agreed, but as the king of Danga, it was impossible for him to meet a businessman in person. This was inconsistent with his status as a king. So, Raman volunteered to meet this mysterious Red Leaf Caravan in person.

As the duke of Danga whose status is second only to His Majesty the King, it is definitely a face-giving act for him to meet a caravan. It can show Danga's importance without making people feel that Danga has lost face.

After all, if a king went to meet them in person, their people would find out and would simply feel it was a loss of face.

When Duke Raman saw Shu Daqiang and his group, his expression became much more serious.

He could tell from their figures, clothing, and even temperament that these orcs were completely different from them.

Raman could clearly see that the place where these people lived was definitely a place with abundant supplies.

Each of them is strong and ruddy, which is very different from the orcs of Danga!

"Everyone, this is Grand Duke Raman of our Danga Kingdom."

The orc captain introduced the two sides to each other.

"This is the captain of the Red Leaf Caravan, Shu Daqiang."

"Hello."

"Hello."

Both parties greeted each other politely.

Duke Raman is rather fat and looks very kind. If you ignore his cold eyes, there is none of the viciousness of a snake orc.

He was very talkative and soon started communicating with Shu Daqiang. If you didn't know them, you would think they were good friends for many years.

However, in his words, he would occasionally dig some traps, trying to find out Shu Daqiang's background.

In this regard, Shu Daqiang accepted all the offers, but his words were very precise, as these things were nothing to him.

On the surface, the two seem to feel sorry for not meeting each other earlier, but secretly, things are turbulent.

This made the orc captain next to him feel a chill on his back.

Finally, after chatting for a full hour, Duke Raman began to get to the point.

"I heard that your caravan has a wide variety of goods? You can buy anything? Is that true?"

Duke Raman asked curiously.

"Of course, our Red Leaf Business Alliance is very powerful. As long as we have enough gold coins, we can buy anything!"

Shu Daqiang spoke proudly.

He was not pretending, he was really proud, because in his eyes, many things could be bought in Hongye City, for example, the airships that could fly into the sky were even produced in civilian version.

If you can go to heaven, what else can’t you buy? “What’s the price of food?”

Raman asked expectantly.

Danga is not short of food for the time being, but it is only temporary. Once the war really affects it completely, food will definitely be a big problem. Two days ago, he discussed with Bennett whether they should go out to find some food.

"There are so many types of food, and the prices are all different. Just look at what you want."

Shu Daqiang shook his head and said with a smile.

"Huh? Too many kinds? What do you mean? Isn't it rye?"

In such a cold place, everyone's staple food is basically rye bread made from rye.

I thought that the rye in this world was more cold-resistant and drought-resistant, and could survive tenaciously even in bad weather. Although the yield was very low, it was good to have something to eat, and neither humans nor orcs were qualified to be picky.

In fact, rye is not very unpalatable. Those distinctive rye breads taste bad because of the production method and the things mixed in them.

So the default grain is generally rye.

"Of course not all of them. In addition to rye, we also have barley, wheat, oats, rice, millet, corn, sorghum, soybeans..."

Shu Daqiang spoke with great pride.

Except for the native rye, all other things were obtained by Lord Zhang Feng. These grains not only enriched everyone's food variety, but also increased the total amount of food several times.

In the Far North, there have been no people starving to death for a long time. It is estimated that it will not be long before the people of the entire vast Buck Kingdom will no longer lack food.

Lord Zhang Feng is truly a god-like person! Shu Daqiang sighed silently in his heart.

As Raman and his group listened to Shu Daqiang's words, their mouths widened.

What are these? What are barley, wheat, and oats? I have never heard of them!

From the name, rice should be grown in water. Maybe it is what they commonly call polished rice?

What is millet? What is corn? What is rice? What is sorghum and soybean? Raman felt like he was going crazy.

What the hell is going on!

After Shu Daqiang finished speaking, he saw that everyone was in a daze. He smiled and explained:

"Perhaps you haven't heard of it, so let me explain it again. Barley, wheat, and oats are also a kind of wheat. They are different from rye and have a different taste. The bread made from them is snow-white and is loved by people from all walks of life. Rice is commonly known as refined rice, which we call rice. Millet is 'small rice' and we call it millet. Corn is a kind of yellow coarse grain, which is very sweet. I like it very much..."

It would have been better if Shu Daqiang didn't explain, but this explanation made the Raman people feel a little itchy.

Some people even drool just listening to it.

"What about the price of these grains?"

Raman asked carefully.

After hearing Shu Daqiang say such good things about it, he even doubted whether he could afford it.

"As for the price, it's not expensive. One hundred kilograms of rye costs one gold coin. Oh, and one hundred kilograms means a full sack of the kind you use."

Shu Daqiang explained.

In Hongye City, the price of rye is one gold coin for every 200 kilograms, which is half cheaper than the price he quoted now.

But this is not the price of Rat Daqiang Black, but in the Orc Kingdom, rye is this price, or even more expensive.

The price of one gold coin per hundred kilograms is definitely cheap. After all, Shu Daqiang didn't even calculate the cost of manpower and material resources for transportation.

Raman nodded after hearing this. This price was indeed not expensive, and this price was in peacetime. Now because of the war, the price of food has been rising. This Hongye caravan came all the way here, but they didn't raise the price. This was really conscientious! Raman immediately made the decision.

"I'll buy 10,000 bags of rye first! If it's possible later, I'll continue to buy!"

Ten thousand bags equals one thousand tons and ten thousand gold coins.

It is not a small amount, but it is far from enough for a country. Raman wants to see the goods first. If the quality is up to standard, he will place another order.

However, Shu Daqiang spread his hands.

"Sorry, we don't have that much rye at the moment."

"Ah? Not so many?"

Raman was a little bit unbelievable. Just now Shu Daqiang said that they had everything, so how come they had nothing now?

"It's like this. Because there are not many people eating rye in our area now, so there is not much rye planted. So if you want so much rye, you have to order it in advance. It will take at least half a year, or even longer, for it to be delivered. Of course, if you only need a few hundred bags, we still have stock."

Shu Daqiang seemed a little embarrassed when he spoke, but he was actually smiling from ear to ear.

This trick was taught to him by Lord Zhang Feng - using low-priced items to attract traffic.

Of course the price is real, and the product cannot be fake, but it is out of stock!

Either you wait, or you choose another option.

Sure enough, after hearing what Shu Daqiang said, Raman felt that it seemed to make sense. After all, people already had so much grain, so it was understandable that they did not plant these rye with mediocre taste.

Then he said:

"What are the prices of other foods?"

A bright smile suddenly appeared on Shu Daqiang's face.

"The other grains are what we mainly grow, and the quantity is much larger than rye. One hundred kilograms of barley and wheat cost fifty gold coins, one hundred kilograms of rice costs one hundred gold coins, one hundred millet costs one hundred and twenty gold coins, and corn costs two hundred gold coins..."

Listening to Shu Daqiang's offer, the fat on Duke Raman's face trembled unnaturally.

The price of barley and wheat has increased by 50 times! Rice is even more expensive by 100 times, and corn is 200 times more expensive! Is this a business? This is a robbery! However, before Raman could say anything, Shu Daqiang spoke again: "This price is already very favorable. It is only a few gold coins more expensive than ours. It is enough to earn money for travel expenses. Whether it is nobles or ordinary people in our place, basically everyone eats these."

After hearing what Shu Daqiang said, Raman was unable to utter the word "swindler".

Didn't he hear that ordinary people there eat this and the price is the same? If he says it's expensive, doesn't that mean he's not as good as ordinary people? As the Grand Duke of the Danga Kingdom, Raman doesn't allow himself to be looked down upon.

But the price was too high. The cheap rye was out of stock, and the ones that were available were too expensive. It was a difficult situation! Seeing that Raman was in a dilemma, Shu Daqiang gave him a way out at the right time:

"How about this, Grand Duke Raman, after all, you have never eaten our food, so you don't know what it tastes like or whether it's worth the price. Tonight, we will treat you to a meal with our own food, and then you will know whether it's worth it or not."

"Yes, sure!"

Raman breathed a sigh of relief. He found this Shu Daqiang more and more pleasing to his eyes.

If he thinks it's too expensive, he can just say in the evening that he can't get used to the food, and both parties will be able to save face.

Now that they understood the food, Duke Raman started talking about other things.

First, the clothing.

Raman had long been jealous of the exquisite clothes worn by Shu Daqiang and the others.

When it comes to clothes, Shu Daqiang gave Raman a set without saying a word, and never mentioned the money, which made Raman in a good mood.

There seems to be no shortage of clothes at the moment. After all, orcs are resistant to cold. This is just Raman's personal preference.

After talking about clothes, let’s talk about ironware.

Ironware, like food, is a consumable item that the Danga Kingdom needs to stockpile.

For orcs, iron has basically only one use, which is to make weapons.

Shu Daqiang simply took out several heavy weapons such as hammers and axes, which were made of ordinary iron and steel. They had simple shapes and were obviously practical.

As soon as Raman got his hands on it, he fell in love with the steel axe.

"The price of this axe is thirty gold coins. If you want a large quantity, I can give you a discount."

The price of thirty gold coins made Raman very tempted.

He just tried it, and the machete in his guard's hand broke into pieces when it touched the axe. They were not at the same level at all! If their Danga army had this kind of weapon, their combat effectiveness would definitely be improved by several levels! Duke Raman felt that the thirty gold coins were totally worth it, but the problem was that if he wanted to equip all the soldiers, it would cost a fortune! He also had to buy food, and weapons and food were consumables, so the cost was huge! "Everything is good, but because of the war, I don't have many gold coins..."

Raman spoke with some hesitation.

What he meant was, could we talk about the price?

However, Shu Daqiang spoke directly:

"Gold coins? No problem, we can lend you gold coins."

"Hmm? You guys lend me gold coins?"

Raman widened his eyes, his yellow vertical pupils full of disbelief.

He suspected that he had heard wrongly. The other party was selling his things and lending him money? Was there such a good thing in the world?

"Of course, if you need."

Shu Daqiang shrugged as if he was talking about a trivial matter.

Raman's face turned serious, he knew there is no free lunch in the world.

"So what do you need, and what do you want me to give?"

"It's very simple. We charge interest. You can borrow money from our bank and we will charge about 5% interest per year."

Raman was relieved when he heard about the interest. It was right for others to make a profit. If they really said that it was for their own good and it was a free contribution, then he would have to doubt the other party's purpose.

"Of course, if you are really short of money and don't have the gold coins to repay the loan, or even can't pay the interest, we have other options, such as mortgage."

Shu Daqiang opened his mouth temptingly.

“What is a mortgage?”

Raman is confused.

"For example, you can mortgage us the land in your country. Of course, it can be something else, as long as it is valuable."

Raman laughed after hearing Shu Daqiang's explanation.

"Land? No problem!"

Although Danga is not big, they have a lot of desolate land. Let alone mortgage it, what's wrong with giving it to them? "By the way, if you want a loan, you should borrow from our Red Leaf Bank. So before that, we need to open a bank in the best location here, what do you think?"

Shu Daqiang said again.

"No problem! It's just a small matter!"

Duke Raman patted his chest and said.

The best location is naturally the center of the royal capital. He just needs to say hello to King Bennett.

"Very good, then wish us a happy cooperation in advance?"

“It’s a pleasure to work with you!”