Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 454 Mining Negotiations: A Cunning Maneuver
Among the military disciplines inherited from Dongxia, the rule that all spoils of war must be turned over to the public is an ironclad law that must be strictly enforced.

This isn't about the distribution of property; it's about human nature.

The military is a machine of violence, and you cannot expect a machine of violence to be entirely self-restrained by morality.

In short, as long as you dare to open this door and allow soldiers to obtain the enemy's spoils, the enemy's outer perimeter will be continuously expanded.

In conventional warfare, the opposing soldiers are the enemy.

But as the fighting goes on, even civilians on the other side can become "enemies".

The wealthy merchants and noble families on the other side must be considered "enemies".

If things continue to develop this way, one day even people like you and me from our own country may become their "enemies".

Han Hai could not allow the soldiers of Jinghu to plunder privately, nor could he accept paying for it but not having actual control over the troops.

The Kingdom of Mirror Lake had no reason to simply hand over its own troops to others.

This became the focus of the negotiations between the two sides.

Chen Chuting could see that the other party was respectful throughout, saying "okay, okay" and "yes, yes, yes" to everything! But when it came to specific tasks, it was all about "I'm poor" and "I have no money"!
Is it asking for a price? Or making excuses? Or... playing both sides?
That evening, Chen Chuting gave a detailed report to his lord over the phone.

After carefully listening to the explanation from the front-line negotiation team and selectively referring to some audio clips, Chen Mo expressed his approval of King Jinghu to a certain extent.

"I have some respect for the ruler of a country to lower himself to this extent."

"Compared to those so-called nobles I knew before who were obsessed with saving face, they are much better. Let's lay things out on the table, let them name their price, and make things clear. If it works out, great. If not, I'll leave them a channel for purchasing grain for future cooperation."

For Chen Mo, money is no longer an issue. Not to mention the support of a super-powerful force like Dongxia, even without using his family's money, the wealth a lord can mobilize has reached a new level after the "Wangyue Golden Pavilion" was established.

After all, there's no China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) overseeing this place, so theoretically, Chen Mo can withdraw as much money as he wants from this system.

"Yes, we can concede some money, but we must hold onto control tightly and have backup plans in case of extreme unforeseen circumstances."

Chen Chuting nodded slightly.

With the Lord's guidance in mind, the two sides began the second day of negotiations.

As a result, the attitude of Jinghu left Chen Chuting somewhat dumbfounded.

The other party's attitude was as respectful and sincere as ever, but when it came to money, whether it was Gulian, Lucien, or other officials of all ranks in the court who came out to support them, they all sighed and complained endlessly.

"Special Envoy Chen, Jinghu is poor, really poor. To be honest, the food we are serving your delegation today was borrowed from the Lu family."

"borrow?"

"Yes, yes, we're mostly mercenaries who beg for food outside, and we can save up some grain at home, making us one of the wealthiest families in Mirror Lake! The King borrowed three loads of rice and flour, and six pieces of smoked meat from my family..."

Chen Chuting looked at Lucio with a half-smile, "What a mess! If we had just said your country was in such dire straits, we would have brought more food ourselves!"

"While Mirror Lake is poor, how can we expect our guests to bring their own food!" King Gulian declared righteously. "However, Mirror Lake is truly powerless to undertake this 'investment,' so perhaps... perhaps the Vast Ocean could allow us to owe them some money first..."

Chen Chuting pinched the stack of documents in front of him with his fingers and silently put them away.

These are the business cooperation terms drafted overnight by the Hanhai government department after a preliminary understanding of the situation at Jinghu Lake. They involve two main areas: resource extraction and road construction.

Resource extraction mainly targets some of the existing mining areas in Jinghu. In this plan, Hanhai will provide funds and equipment, while Jinghu will provide land and manpower. In principle, the two parties will share the future profits at a ratio of about 50% each.

The same applies to road construction. Hanhai invested money, and Jinghu contributed labor to build a highway that runs directly from the initially selected mining area to the southern Silver Moon Forest, serving as the main channel for transporting ore out and grain in the future.

Even while this avenue was being planned, HanHai had already put the plan to build a freight railway in the future on its agenda.

For Chen Chuting, who had some understanding of economics, these conditions were already incredibly generous. Therefore, in exchange for the two items mentioned above, Jinghu needed to provide Hanhai with a larger number of mercenary teams of higher quality and reliability.

But unexpectedly, we got stuck at the very first step.

Take the coal mine cooperation in the Jinghu Wuseshan area as an example. Hanhai undertook the early exploration and equipment investment of the mine, the technical team and washing and beneficiation workshop in the middle stage, and the ore procurement and external transportation in the later stage.

Jinghu is responsible for providing the mountainous area for the mine, recruiting mining personnel, organizing security for the mine, and providing escort protection when the minerals are transported out in the future.

Because coal mines have low net profit margins and long cost recovery periods in the assessment, Chen Mo proposed that Hanhai Investors hold 65% of the shares and Jinghu Investors hold 35%.

This condition can be considered quite generous, considering that Hanhai also needs to purchase all the mineral output from the mine in full, which is equivalent to spending real money on the product side.

As a result, Jinghu readily agreed to the conditions, providing enough land and manpower, but they couldn't afford any expenses.

"Special Envoy Chen, we have felt the sincerity of Han Hai's terms, and we are truly grateful. However... we have people, there are people everywhere who want to make a living. But this 'trap' is not something that can be resolved by simply sending people to the mines."

"We need food, clothes, tools, medical treatment when we are injured, shelter when it gets cold... These expenses are simply too much for us to bear."

In other words, Jinghu can find people, whether they are miners or security guards, but it cannot provide them with food, clothing, or other necessities.

We'll have to ask Hanhai to pay for it...

Hanhai's negotiation team almost laughed out of anger.

Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Jinghu quickly said that they were really poor, but if they had any other options, they would have found a way.

As for the land, just circle it if you like it, as long as you don't include the ancestral tombs of Jinghu or the royal forbidden area, you can do whatever you want with the rest.

You can pick anyone you want. Commoners will be fed, professionals will be hired at the lowest possible price, and those of us in the imperial court can work for free!

In any case, mining is money. Although Hanhai spent more in the early stages, it can always recover its losses. Please understand the difficulties of Jinghu.

Chen Chuting tore the cooperation agreement in half with a rip.

Whether the other party is poor or not, they are definitely poor. This is well-known far and wide, and all the surrounding countries know what kind of situation Mirror Lake is.

But to say that such a large kingdom couldn't even afford a single investment in a mining area would be a joke.

Jinghu also has nobles and aristocratic families.

Chen Mo casually left behind several properties in Xiyue, and many tribal elders fought over them, all driven by self-interest.

Jinghu's attitude is simply because it sees no benefit and is unwilling to spend money.

Since you're all so "unyielding," then you can't blame me for going against the lord's good intentions.

Those who try to gain an advantage when dealing with Han Hai always end up losing out; Chen Chuting has never seen an exception.

Chen Chuting picked up another stack of papers and carefully calculated the accounts for Jinghu.

"King Gulian, you are right, minerals certainly have value. But why is it that your country's coal is of good quality and not difficult to mine, yet no one is willing to mine it and turn it into money?"

Gulian gave an awkward smile but did not answer.

Chen Chuting didn't wait for his answer, but instead bombarded him with a series of questions.

"Would your country give us its most valuable silver and copper mines? Obviously not!"

"Then what we, Hanhai, can obtain are either undiscovered mines hidden deep in the mountains and forests, requiring us to spend a lot of money to explore them, or the worthless coal mines and stone mines mentioned in the information provided by your country, and of course, these colorful dirt and slag."

He casually pulled out a few sheets of paper, which rustled as he shook them, his tone filled with resentment.

"King Gulian, do you want us to abandon all that deceptive talk and search for new mines? How many people, how much time, and how many gold coins will we have to send to find precious minerals that your country has yet to discover on this land where you have lived for hundreds of years?"

"I'd rather gamble this money at the dwarf's casino than scatter it in these mountains!"

"If there are no new mines, relying on these worthless junk mines, which will lose money if transported even a little distance, how long will it take for us to earn back our investment?"

Chen Chuting used coal mines as an example and quickly drew up an investment budget table.

Exploration, shafts, tunnels, ventilation, drainage, support, mining, crushing, conveying, transportation... this is just the initial equipment investment. Mining, mine protection, management, quality control, technical guidance, and escorting along the route require a large number of personnel.

"Your country is mountainous with few roads and extremely poor transportation. To transport large quantities of products out of Jinghu and to places where these resources can be processed and used, we need to build or reinforce roads, form a large transport fleet, prepare for road risks, and pay for all possible expenses."

"On paper, this transportation cost alone will eat up most, or even all, of the profits from these products."

"If we don't lose money, then we have to say that Hanhai has managed things well!"

Finally, there is one more risk issue.

“King Gulian, we have invested tens of thousands of gold coins in the mountains and fields of Mirror Lake. If suddenly an official in the Mirror Lake court says a few bad things about Han Hai to you, and you suddenly regret it and send troops to take over the mines, wouldn’t we lose everything?”

Gulian waved his hands repeatedly: "No, absolutely not! We have long admired Lord Chen Mo and have received a lot of help from the Vast Ocean. How could we do such a thing?"

As he spoke, he also gave a signal to those below with his eyes.

The civil and military officials of the Mirror Lake Kingdom below echoed this sentiment, speaking earnestly and humbly, expressing their heartfelt stance that although Mirror Lake was poor, it was reasonable and trustworthy.

Chen Chuting shook his head.

"Some people have integrity, some don't, but how can cooperation between nations be based on integrity?"

"If all human nations valued integrity, the elves wouldn't be hiding in the Silvermoon Forest eating mushrooms today!"

Gulian blushed slightly.

The former king of the Mirror Lake Kingdom also rose to power by besieging the elves. In the words of the elves, the birth of every human kingdom originated from a leech that had been sucking blood from an elf.

For a fleeting moment, Gulian wavered.

But soon, the king regained his senses.

There's a reason even the dwarfs look down on this place. They've been studying these things for years, and the future profits from this mine are nowhere in sight. The money invested in Mirror Lake is very likely gone for good…

His lips moved slightly, and Gulian lowered his voice, seemingly ashamed: "This... really, there's no other way. Otherwise, I'll send more people to serve you?"

Chen Chuting silently rubbed his temples and gently pushed the file towards the center of the table.

"To be honest, whether it's according to normal business thinking or the government's actions, we shouldn't have come to Jinghu and invested such a huge sum of money to operate such a worthless project that is destined to lose money."

"But there's nothing we can do. Our chairman specifically instructed that in previous wars, many soldiers from Jinghu had indeed been wounded and bled for Hanhai."

"As you probably know, our chairman is a very sentimental person."

"If I mess this up, I'm afraid that when I return to Hanhai, my future will be ruined."

"Therefore, I will overstep my authority this time and make one last demand. If this still doesn't work, we'll part ways here, and I'll have no choice but to go back to the Chairman and apologize."

King Gulian quickly raised his hand in an apologetic gesture: "It's not that bad, Special Envoy. Please speak. If we can do it, we will definitely cooperate fully!"

Chen Chuting stretched out his right hand and pressed it on the Mirror Lake map on the table.

"Although these mines in this area are not very valuable, since we have already invested so much, we can only pick up as much trash and scrap as possible, and every penny we find is a penny we can get."

"Therefore, all these mountains, forests, and quarries must be incorporated into our mining association."

Gulian and the old bureaucrats of Mirror Lake exchanged glances.

Well, that area has no gold, no silver, no iron, just mountains and rocks... No problem!
"That's exactly right!"

"We will independently undertake all investments, including equipment, personnel, and transportation. Of course, during the term of the agreement, all output and all profits will belong entirely to Hanhai and have nothing to do with Jinghu Kingdom."

"I'll follow Special Envoy Chen's arrangements!" This time, Gulian agreed even faster.

Anyway, I wasn't expecting any profit, so I figured I might as well give them the shares since they're such an intangible thing.

"Hanhai's exclusive operation is for thirty years. If we can't hold on, we can withdraw at any time. Hanhai has the right to take away or destroy the fixed assets already invested, and Jinghu cannot stop us. If we are lucky enough to last for thirty years, we can discuss the subsequent cooperation then."

"No problem! It can be even longer, fifty or sixty years is fine!"

Chen Chuting shook his head helplessly and made his final request.

"If any looting or sabotage occurs against our mines, convoys, or personnel on the land of Mirror Lake, regardless of whether it was done by your country's official authorities, the Kingdom of Mirror Lake must bear full responsibility for compensation! If you cannot provide compensation... my Han Hai is qualified to send troops to pursue the losses!"

"By the way, as compensation for the above conditions, the basic requirements we previously agreed on regarding the mercenaries that Mirror Lake will provide to Vast Ocean remain unchanged, but the number of them must be doubled!"

"These are firm conditions, there's no room for negotiation!"

After saying all this, Chen Chuting seemed to have exhausted all his strength. He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and pressed his brow with his fingers.

It seems that for this young envoy, whether the deal goes through or not, it's not a good thing. He's been cornered and is at a loss, so he has no choice but to use these extreme conditions to try to save face and "achievements" for himself!
It has a bit of a "what's the use" vibe to it.

"Please wait a moment, Special Envoy Chen!"

The key figures of Mirror Lake—the king, the prime minister, the finance minister, the military officers, and so on—went to a secret room behind the main hall for an emergency meeting.

The conclusion of the discussion was obvious: it was just some coal and rocks, and the possibility of it being robbed was not high. We could just send a few people to escort it. Even if something did happen, we wouldn't have to pay much money.

Once the other party starts operating this mine, the construction of roads and houses, and the feeding of people and horses will cost a huge sum of money, all of which will be spent on the land around Mirror Lake.

After considering all the details, even though it was the other party who set seemingly harsh conditions, the people of Mirror Lake couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for them.

Back at the negotiation site, Gulian readily agreed to Chen Chuting's request: "Special Envoy Chen, we have carefully discussed the conditions you proposed. Although some terms are quite harsh, considering Han Hai's investment and risks, we agree to them all!"

Is it demanding?

The finance minister immediately slapped his face: "No, no, it was a slip of the tongue, it was 'meticulous,' 'meticulous'!"

It has to be said that these people adopted a very humble attitude, leaving Chen Chuting with no room to retaliate.

After a moment's pause, the young Hanhai officer sighed deeply and instructed his entourage to fetch the seal, register it first, and then affix the stamp.

Han Hai Ling thus acquired its own mine deep within Mirror Lake.

The produce here is common coal, ubiquitous rocks, and what Chen Chuting called "colorful bits of dirt."

Light green and yellowish-green, colors that look like they've gone moldy and are rather tacky.

Currently, no one knows that Jinghu is the real reason why Hanhai is making a large-scale investment here.

Although this ore is currently useless to Mirror Lake, it's available in the Vast Ocean. After receiving the sampling report, Chen Mo genuinely intended to "develop together" with Mirror Lake.

Unfortunately, they didn't want it!

The multispectral automated analyzer brought by HanHai's technical staff clearly displays the device's identity—

apatite.

For Chen Mo, this stuff is more useful than any special industrial mineral. After all, it takes a long time for an industrial chain to take shape, but apatite is a prime example of the large-scale application of industrial products in agriculture.

Once a product is developed, it can immediately benefit the agriculture of the entire alliance.

That's right, the primary use of apatite is in the manufacture of fertilizers.

At the celebratory dinner following the collaboration, Jinghu, for the first time ever, brought out several bottles of wine that had been treasured for who knows how long.

The wine glasses clinked together, their clear sound reflecting the flickering firelight in the hall. The young Hanhai officer remained expressionless, only a faint glimmer in his eyes hinting at a touch of melancholy.

Or perhaps... pity?

(End of this chapter)