Village Chief Zheng mysteriously dragged Si Cheng aside, and Yun Xun and the others quickly followed, afraid that Brother Cheng might suffer some loss. Village Chief Zheng saw this but did not stop them, since what they were going to say wasn't a secret anyway, they just didn't want to be disturbed by the other villages.
"Village Chief Si, are you going to deploy your batch of crossbows?"
Si Cheng refused outright, "As you can see, things aren't peaceful outside right now. These are our protective weapons for survival, so we can't possibly use them."
Village Chief Zheng rubbed his hands together. “I know this is a bit unreasonable, but you also know that if we’re just trying to keep what everyone needs, we can’t expect to live a peaceful life. I have to think about the villagers. Please feel free to make any requests you may have, and we will try our best to meet them as much as we can.”
Si Cheng looked at Village Chief Zheng with surprise. These words were a bit too much. Besides these scarce materials, who could possibly make any demands now?
Seeing that Si Cheng remained silent, Village Chief Zheng began to reveal his secret: "Salt, no matter how many times your village comes here in the future, you can take away the amount your village needs free of charge."
Si Cheng glanced at the old man in front of him. "As you know, the food and meat that you need most are easy for us to obtain, but we can no longer get the raw materials for these crossbows."
Although he didn't know what the salt village's reserves contained, he could vaguely guess some of it.
"Aren't these just made of iron and wood?" Village Chief Zheng glanced at the crossbows they had placed on their luggage and thought that apart from being relatively complicated to manufacture, the parts should be easy to obtain.
Si Cheng said, "Wood is everywhere, but the problem lies in pig iron. Now we can't even buy it anywhere. So we have to retrieve every arrow we shoot, and we can't afford to waste even a single bit."
Village Chief Zheng clapped his hands. "That makes things easier. Our village has a batch of pig iron stored up. How about we trade that with you?"
Yun Xun interjected at this moment, "We can't change it. You know that many of the parts here are made by hand, bit by bit. It's very time-consuming and laborious. Besides, we can't go back without protective tools. That would be too unsafe."
"That little fox, Xiao Xun, is setting traps for people again," Zhao Dongwei muttered to Yun Jianying beside him.
Yun Jianying pinched him lightly, "Quiet down, learn something from your brother Xun, don't always jump around like that, or you'll get scolded every time."
Village Chief Zheng smiled ingratiatingly, "With your team's strength, would you care about such a small bonus? Besides, I see you have quite a few firearms. Even if things don't go well, you're still in a much better situation than our village. Let's all help each other get through this difficult time. Our village will remember your kindness."
It seems they came prepared this time, and even did their research.
Sure enough, we heard Village Chief Zheng continue, "I just heard about some of Village Chief Si's heroic deeds, which is why I dared to come here. Otherwise, we wouldn't have dared to even consider it."
Si Cheng thought for a moment, "How do you want to exchange them? And how much pig iron can you provide us?"
Upon hearing this, Village Chief Zheng immediately smiled and said, "It would be best if you could leave us all the crossbows you brought this time. As for pig iron, just name your price, and we will try our best to meet your needs if we can."
The old fox wouldn't easily reveal his true intentions; he would subtly guide Si Cheng to set his own terms.
Si Cheng glanced at Yun Xun and handed over the negotiation power directly, "This is the person in charge of internal supplies for our village, let him discuss it with you!"
Yun Xun immediately squeezed forward, nodded and smiled at Village Chief Zheng, "Yes, I'm in charge of this area. We can discuss it properly."
Village Chief Zheng dared not underestimate this jovial young man, and could vaguely picture certain animals in him.
Seeing that Village Chief Zheng was still standing there in a daze, Si Cheng smiled and turned back to his camp. These salts needed to be transported back, so the frames on the oxen's backs had to be rearranged, otherwise the oxen and horses wouldn't be able to bear the weight.
Yunxun followed Village Chief Zheng in negotiating, and after an hour or so of long talk, they finally settled on the amount to be exchanged.
"Brother Cheng, I didn't expect that the reserves in this small salt village are no less than those in the city. Moreover, I think that old fox has only shown a little bit, and we still don't know how much he really has." After Yun Xun finished negotiating the terms, he immediately went to Si Cheng.
Si Cheng, “Don’t underestimate this place. In the past, thanks to these salt wells, the salt village’s life was considered top-notch. Many large salt users would even use some goods to pay off their debts or give them away directly.”
Yun Xun was somewhat puzzled. "No wonder that Village Chief Zheng spoke with such confidence. Why was he haggling with me just now?"
Si Cheng said, "This is their usual behavior. Even if they owe us a favor, they'll unconsciously reveal it when faced with personal gain. Didn't they not let you suffer any losses?"
Yun Xun was speechless for a long time before continuing, "I thought I had gotten the better deal, but I didn't expect that everything was under someone else's control. He really is an old fox."
Village Chief Zheng was also talking to his old friend, "Compared to those other guys, the young men in our village are nowhere near as good. They're not even in the same league. They really need to be given a good talking-to."
Accountant Liu nodded, "In the future, we should let these young people go out and gain more experience. While we can still manage, we need to help them grow up quickly."
One of the old men sighed, "They still need to be let out more often, otherwise they'll all be like frogs in a well, unable to keep up with the times."
Village Chief Zheng said, "In the past, we couldn't keep up with the technological age; now, they can't catch up with this jungle age. Let's ask ourselves honestly, if we encountered a wolf pack as large as last time, how long could we hold out? And how many of us would survive?"
Accountant Liu said, "Let's not even talk about those difficult ones. Even in our Gaozhuang area, those young people spontaneously go out to find food, while the lads in our village just stand by and do nothing. They're much lazier in comparison."
Village Chief Zheng nodded in agreement, "We let them be too confident, thinking that they can easily get what they want just by holding onto this salt. Don't they even consider whether they can keep it?"
Village Chief Zheng voiced his long-standing concerns: even if Pinghe Village agreed to exchange bows and crossbows for them, it would only be a deterrent. The villagers would still need to practice their archery skills accurately, otherwise, they would just be a laughing stock. Unconsciously, he had also voiced his worries.
"Then let them practice. Everyone has to learn. If they can't learn, punish them. We have to keep pushing them until they learn." Several elders nodded in agreement.
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