Chapter 723 Happy cooperation
No one would dislike weapons, especially in a place like the gra.s.slands where fighting and killing were common, and even tribes could be destroyed at any moment.
In the gra.s.slands, whoever had guns would have a louder say than the others. In the early years, this was the reason why those large tribes became large tribes.
However, the dilapidated guns in the hands of the large tribes could not even be compared to the brand-new weapons in front of them. The quant.i.ty of weapons was also incomparable.
Xu Man, who was standing behind Su Lei, took out an automatic rifle from a wooden box and casually aimed it at a rock a 100 meters away. With two shots, the rock shattered into pieces.
“The effective range of this firearm is 400 meters, with a maximum range of 600 meters.” Xu Man said, “There are a total of 300 automatic rifles here, 20,000 rounds of ammo, a 1,000 grenades, and two heavy machine guns with an additional 20,000 rounds of ammo. It’s just that we came here in a hurry this time, otherwise we would’ve brought even more with us. We can make another transaction at the same time next month. At that time, we can even get artillery if that’s what you need.”
Su Lei was secretly shocked when he heard that. As expected, the Qing Consortium’s people were far more confident with their promises. They were even planning to transport artillery to the gra.s.slands!
Xu Man said to Ha.s.san with a smile, “Actually, we can get you armored vehicles as well, but there’s probably no way to build a supply line in the steppe for armored vehicles. So it wouldn’t be feasible even if we gave them to you. But it won’t be too late to talk about it after you all have unified the gra.s.slands.”
Ha.s.san was looking down at Xu Man from his horse. He suddenly said with a smile, “My master said that if the consortiums in the South were smart, they would have their people tag along for this deal. He told me not to ask who you are and only wanted me to pa.s.s you a message. He says that he likes being friends with smart people.”
Xu Man laughed out loud. “Similarly, we also like being friends with smart people. Consider this batch of weapons our meeting gift.”
When Su Lei heard that, his expression immediately turned bitter. How was he going to make money now that the weapons had been given away? Ha.s.san also said, “Then please accept the goods that we brought this time as a gift to you all as well. In the future, when you all visit the gra.s.slands as our guests, I, Ha.s.san, will personally slaughter goats and cows to serve you, my new friends.”
“Deal,” Xu Man replied.
Su Lei was overjoyed. Ha.s.san had brought along quite a lot of fur hides this time, and Xu Man would definitely not be interested in the things. In the end, they would still end up in his hands.
By being the broker just this once, he could already receive such ma.s.sive returns. Su Lei suddenly had an even higher expectation of the future.
As for the reason why Xu Man had given the weapons as a gift, that was because while the items might be in demand in the gra.s.slands and were very coveted by Su Lei, they were not worth much to the Qing Consortium.
He was basically giving them away by the tens of thousands of bullets and hundreds of automatic rifles. What was that number to the Qing Consortium?
To be honest, Xu Man also realized the master Ha.s.san was referring to was a smart person. What he was trying to find the most right now was also a smart person. Without someone like that, it would be impossible to keep the w.a.n.g Consortium in check.
At this moment, Xu Man even regretted that he had brought too few weapons with him!
Be it Xu Man or Ha.s.san, both of them were happy with this deal. However, Su Lei suddenly asked, “I’m afraid y’all have brought too few horses with you. These firearms are quite heavy. Can you transport them?”
Xu Man added, “If it’s difficult for you all to transport them, we can also help with that. And if you don’t know how to use these firearms, we can provide you with instructors as well.”
Xu Man was hoping the gra.s.slands would quickly get consolidated by these nomads. Only then would they have greater ambitions to spread into the Central Plains.
In the end, Ha.s.san said with a smile, “We’ll talk about the matter of the instructors during the next transaction. As for how we’re going to bring the goods back, my master told me before we set off that Su Lei would definitely bring a lot of things with him this time. So I’ve also brought quite a lot of people with me.” With that, Ha.s.san ordered a tribesman next to him to take out a horn. The melodious and sorrowful call of the horn drifted across the Shenmu River as though it were trying to blow the thick fog away. Ha.s.san felt a little emotional. His master had said there would be people from the consortiums coming this time, and it really came true. His master also said Su Lei would bring a lot of items with him, so he specifically instructed him to bring more people along for the trip. In the end, it was really as his master had said.
That young lord was a seer, always capable of seeing ahead of Ha.s.san at all times.
The divine predictions he made caused Ha.s.san to revere him like a G.o.d.
Currently, Ha.s.san was Yan Liuyuan’s most loyal believer. Moreover, he felt that more and more people in the gra.s.slands would become devout believers like him as well.
It seemed that Yan Liuyuan’s power was born just for this, and it made the nomads unable to resist his rule.
The galloping of horses came from the north. Xu Man saw several hundred strong men riding on tall horses break through the fog and arrive in front of them.
Xu Man was a soldier. He sized up these men and was surprised by the valiant aura they exuded. At some point, Xu Man even wondered if it was the right decision to provide weapons to the steppe. These people were natural-born warriors.
After Ha.s.san left with a full load of goods, Su Lei stood beside Xu Man and said, “Sir, what do you think?”
Xu Man glanced at Su Lei and said, “You don’t have to be so polite with me. You may take full authority starting from the next deal. You only have to report to me after each transaction is completed.” “I have another question.” Su Lei asked, “Is it worth giving away all those things at once? The other party seems to be too smart. Will there be any problems if we send those weapons to the North like this?”
“I’m just afraid that he’s not smart enough and can’t make good use of the weapons.” Xu Man smiled and patted Su Lei on the shoulder. “What I fear the most is that I’m helping out an idiot. If you help a smart person, you can support him with 10% of your strength, and he’ll amplify that by 10 times. If it’s an idiot you’re helping, even if you support him with a 100% of your strength, he’ll only be able to use 10% of that. The remaining 90% will all go to waste!”
“Then these fur hides…” Su Lei said tactfully.
“They’re yours to keep.” Xu Man said with a smile, “The Qing Consortium has never mistreated anyone who works for them. But I have a question for you. You said the young lord seems to know a great deal about the South? Then do you have any idea if he’s been to the South before or if he was originally from there?”
Su Lei carefully thought back and said, “I guessed he was from the South because his complexion wasn’t as rough as Ha.s.san’s. He looks really delicate.”
Xu Man fell into deep thought. If the other party was a Southerner, why hadn’t he heard of anyone with such capabilities before?
At this moment, Ha.s.san was leading a group of several hundred people and heading towards the Northern Plains. Just a month ago, he probably would not have been able to transport so many goods back. But it was different now. Their tribe had seized a new opportunity under the leaders.h.i.+p of their master, and the number of people in the tribe had suddenly increased by severalfold.
He had to hurry back to the tribe to help his master deal with the chaos in the steppe.