It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"My Lord City Lord, this man is really ungrateful. When I found him, he promised to negotiate terms with you. I didn't expect it to be like this. It's my fault for not doing my job well. Your Excellency, please forgive me..."

I waved my hand and said to him:

"Stand down. Do your job well. Let the next forger come in."

Please welcome the next blacksmith!

Not long after Hantu left, Shayan, the owner of Zhenweilou, walked in with a gentle young man.

He was about thirty years old, well-maintained, and if you didn't look closely, you would think he was younger. But the way he was dressed didn't look like a blacksmith, but more like a businessman. Not to mention that there were no calluses on his hands, and his body was very thin. He didn't look like someone who lived by the furnace all year round, accompanied by hammers and flames.

But Shayan quickly introduced me:

"This is Nicky, Mr. Nicky Gormo, and he is here to talk to the city lord on behalf of the forger Gormo family."

Nicky bowed to me with a smile and said politely:

"Greetings, Lord Mayor. I am a member of the Gormo family. Lord Mayor, you can just call me Nicky. Our Gormo family has been blacksmiths for generations. Today, we have signed agreements with many territories and have provided many territories with excellent blacksmiths. I happened to hear that the Lord Mayor is looking for talents in this field recently. I am willing to act as a bridge between the Lord Mayor and the family to promote this mutually beneficial business."

This young man gave me a better first impression than Tufalu, and I smiled and said:

"Tell me."

Niqi clapped his hands, and a boy held a sheathed sword and handed it to me. I took it, drew the sword and took a look at it, then returned it:

"It's really good. It doesn't pursue luxury but rather practicality. The simple forging method shows the blacksmith's superb skills."

The boy retreated with the knife in his arms. A hint of joy flashed across Nicky's eyes, and he continued:

"We plan to send three batches of blacksmiths to Yuxi City. The first batch will arrive in half a month at the earliest, mainly to meet the daily forging needs of Yuxi City and to show the forging level of our Gormo family to the city lord. The second batch can be used for military purposes, and the third batch will depend on the future development scale of Yuxi City."

"That sounds good. I wonder what you hope to get from Yuxi City?"

Nicky crossed his fingers and said with a smile:

"For now, we can't say we've gained anything. But in the future, as Yuxi City develops, we, as the city lord's partners, will be able to gain more. Right now, we just hope to have some privileges. For example, we hope to deliver iron ore, charcoal and other forging necessities to Yuxi City, but we don't want to be troubled by the checkpoint guards."

I nodded:

"How many blacksmiths can you provide to forge this knife? And how do you calculate the monthly payment?"

Nicky replied:

"Two to three. I need to discuss this with the family. As for the monthly payment...six gold coins a month will be enough."

I tapped the table with my finger, a meaningful smile appeared on my face, and said:

"Okay. Did Mr. Niki bring any kind of agreement or something?"

Nicky hurried over to me and pulled out a bundle of rolled parchment from his arms.

But before he could unfold the agreement, I spoke first:

"There's no rush for the signing... Before that, I have a few more questions I want to ask you, sir."

16. Have other ideas

There were suddenly some changes in the business, and a look of doubt appeared on Nicky Gormo's face.

I leaned against the desk and asked with a smile:

"After talking so much, Mr. Nichi seems to have not yet talked about his family. If possible, I would like to hear the details of the forger Gormo family."

The smile on Nicky's face did not change. He seemed to be prepared and said calmly:

"The Gormo family currently has many businesses. Like other blacksmith families, they train their children to be excellent blacksmiths from an early age. In fact, many of the techniques mastered by blacksmith families are secret. For an ordinary apprentice to learn skills, he must first do hard work for a blacksmith for at least two to three years, and the blacksmith will often keep a secret when teaching his apprentice. But a big family like ours will not do that. So from the actual effect, we can no longer be considered blacksmiths, but a complete business chain. There are people who are responsible for training, people like me who are responsible for negotiating business, and people who are responsible for cleaning up those blacksmiths who have betrayed the family, and so on."

Niki said skillfully:

"So far, our Gormo family has sent excellent blacksmiths to more than five territories, and we are completely trustworthy. If the city lord is not satisfied with the blacksmith we sent, we can replace him or refund the full amount. However, judging from previous situations, most territories are still very satisfied with the people we sent..."

I waved my hand and said:

"Mr. Nitsch misunderstood. I don't really care about these questions. Let me ask directly next."

Niqi stopped talking and bowed to me:

"Please speak, Lord City Lord."

"Which territory does the Gormo family belong to?"

Niqi was stunned for a moment and replied:

"Lord City Lord, with all due respect, I cannot answer this question. Since we have so many businesses, it is better to keep the origin of our family a secret."

I nodded and continued to ask:

"Which five territories have you done business with?"

Niqi also shook his head:

“It’s not easy to say this.”

I nodded and asked:

"Then... the last question is, why did you choose Yuxi City as your next partner?"

Nicky asked doubtfully:

"Hasn't the Lord City Lord asked this question before? Our Gormo family believes that when Yuxi City grows up, the Gormo family can gain more benefits—"

"It is here. How do you know?"

Nicky fell silent for a moment.

I continued:

"Although your statement seems to be fine, I don't think it is the best solution at this stage. Although investing in the weaker party may get a greater return, this cannot be generalized. It depends on what is invested, the investment environment, and the final returns and risks. Since you want to calculate, then I will calculate with you."

I tapped my fingers on the table and said:

"As far as the market is concerned, although Yuxi City is relatively short of blacksmiths, the market in Yuxi City is very small. For example, one extremely hungry person versus a thousand not-so-hungry people, although it seems that the former needs more rice, if they have to choose between the two, the grain merchant will definitely choose the latter as his customer. Because no matter how hungry a person is, the amount of rice he can eat is very limited. Now Yuxi City and Yunyang are in this situation. If you do business with our Yuxi City, it means that your Gormo family intends to give up the market in Yunyang. In my opinion, this is a fundamentally unwise move."

"The second is giving back. Although the monthly payment of six gold coins is not a small amount, I believe that most of you who come from big families don't care about such a small amount of money. In the long run, Yuxi City can't bring you much either. When a large number of blacksmiths pour into Yuxi City, your competitiveness will also be greatly reduced. So I guess there are two reasons why you do this. The first is that you want to use that agreement to completely monopolize the forging market in Yuxi City, and after Yuxi City develops further, you still hold the majority of the market share."

Nicky smiled.

He walked up quickly, unfolded the parchment scroll in his hand, and said slowly:

"How could that be... Lord City Lord is worrying too much. Our Gormo family is not so greedy."

I took a quick look at the agreement, and while I was reading it, Niqi had already spoken:

"We only need about 20% of the market, and I believe this number is not too much for the city lord. In fact, the level of our Gormo family's blacksmiths is indeed worthy of this number. The city lord has just seen our work and should understand this."

Nicky's face was full of confidence. His eyes looked at me and I looked at him. After we looked at each other for a while, I said:

"Then it seems that there is only the second possibility left... I wonder which Anbu organization Mr. Nichi was hired by to come to Yuxi City to gather intelligence?"

Nicky's expression suddenly turned bad. He clasped his hands together and said unhappily:

"We, the Gormo family, have come to negotiate with the city lord with full sincerity... Since the city lord is so suspicious, we might as well not do business with him. You know, our Gormo family has never been insulted like this in hundreds of years! I will go back and report to the head of the family, and see if he will still do business with your Yuxi City!"

Having said that, he flicked his sleeves and prepared to leave with his little follower.

However, someone had already blocked the door.

"Ah... Mr. Nichi, why are you so angry? Since you are in Yuxi City, why don't you let me take you for a cup of tea?"

Frost still covered half of her face, but there was a bright smile in the corners of her eyes:

"By the way, let's talk about one of the two intelligence thefts last month... a case where a foreign blacksmith stole secrets."

Nikki ignored her and tried to leave from here forcefully.

The child beside him drew out the knife in his hand, but before he could swing it at Frost, he heard a clang. A flash of white light, and the samurai sword was nailed directly to the ceiling. A little girl who was half a head shorter than him held a dagger and stood in front of Niqi and his group coldly, with a look of emotionless eyes. The murderous aura seemed to remind Niqi that if he went forward, his head would be in danger.

When performing missions, Shiloh will return to his previous pure killer appearance.

The conversation, which was extremely harmonious a second ago, suddenly became tense, leaving Sha Yan, the owner of Zhenweilou brought by Nicky, stunned.

Nicky looked back at me, squinted his eyes, nodded, and said with tense facial muscles:

"Okay. I want to see if the city lord will change his mind in the future... From today on, not to mention our Gormo family, other blacksmith families will probably no longer have anything to do with Yuxi City."

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I've been a bit busy lately, so I'm sorry for not updating in time. I suggest you don't stay up late to wait for updates in the near future to prevent pigeons. I will resume updating at normal times after I'm done with my work.

Apologies again!

17. New progress

Thanks to Shuang's joining and the introduction of a multi-level supervision strategy, the Anbu organization in Yuxi City has shown a very high level. In particular, thanks to the contrast between Zhaochen in the north and Yunyang in the east, the control of the Anbu organization in Yuxi City can be said to be outstanding.

This was not the work of Shuang alone. Her Anbu system actually relied on the great tree of Bai Huang, and the future generations enjoyed the shade. Before she came, Bai Huang relied on his own skills to clear out most of the pawns buried in Yuxi City from other regions, allowing Shuang and Changqing's work to be carried out very effectively.

As a result, it is now very difficult for outside forces to infiltrate Yuxi City. Especially in highly confidential places such as the demon breeding farm and the northern industrial base, it is almost impossible for outsiders to obtain any effective information from them. They may be able to judge from clues that the breeding farm is raising demons and the industrial base is producing medicinal materials and wine, but no one can find out anything further.

In this era of inconvenient transportation, carriages have to pass through many places. It is unrealistic to ask those who transport goods to maintain high confidentiality outside Yuxi City. Yuxi City is transporting wine to Yunhai and steel to Lingwu. These things can be found out by those who are interested. Therefore, during this period, there are also many people who want to come to Yuxi City to find out.

Unfortunately, most of them were seized by the Anbu organizations.

In this case, Niqi's proposal to ignore the checkpoints seemed to have ulterior motives. In addition, a similar incident happened last month, and no one would believe that there was no trick. There is no such thing as a free lunch, so Niqi was also rejected.

After Nicky Gormo and his followers were escorted to prison by Shiloh alone, Shayan, the owner of Zhenweilou, fell to his knees.

I can understand his current mood very well. His previous Khantu could only be regarded as incompetence at best, but his current situation is almost like a traitor.

But when Shuang took him away, I did not stop him. The Anbu organization in Yuxi City is good at interrogation, but they are unlikely to wrongly accuse good people. If Shayan is not a problem, then he will most likely be released without charge afterwards.

At most, he was just extorted and asked to deliver a few crab roe buns from his own store to Shiloh.

The third forger was an honest middle-aged man who spoke with a northern accent. I had to listen several times before I understood him:

"I know a lot about forging. I heard they were hiring, so I came to check it out... If the city lord can use me, I'll stay. If not, I'll... pack up and go try my luck at the next shop."

He was brought here by a traveling merchant who was quite eloquent:

"Lord City Lord, you have never seen the weapons forged by this guy. They are so good. Whether in terms of quality or price, they are the best of the best..."

The middle-aged man interrupted:

"What? I only know how to forge iron with my hands. I don't know anything else."

The traveling merchant patted his arm and continued to talk to me:

"Lord City Lord, let me tell you, this guy is hardworking and is absolutely suitable for the current situation in Yuxi City. He won't feel tired even if he works sixteen hours a day."

The middle-aged man said:

"Sixteen hours? This, working here requires sixteen hours a day? I won't do it. You can't deprive me of sleep, right..."

The traveling merchant kept giving him looks, but the middle-aged man didn't understand at all.

I thought to myself that this is a hermit master. We in Yuxi City need such a low-key master!

As a result, when the middle-aged man gave me the weapon he had forged, I saw that he was really not modest.

He really can forge iron with his hands. The weapon he made is a little better than the one who made kitchen knives in the city. At least it looks like a weapon, and he can skillfully make green equipment, but that's the limit. But I still asked his name, and he said my name is Ou He, I'm 42 years old, and I don't have a wife. He asked me if I would be assigned a job, and I said no, so he hesitated and wanted to leave.

I said:

"One gold coin a month."

He's back again.

With this monthly salary, if he spends frugally, it won't be a problem for him to find a wife in Yuxi City.

As for why we asked him to come, it’s because Yuxi City is still too short of people.

Of the three blacksmiths this time, the first one did not meet the recruitment needs of Yuxi City in terms of personality or forging skills, and he also had the deduction of beating women for no reason, so he was rejected; the second one had bad intentions at first glance and was planning to spy on military intelligence, so he was rejected; although the third one was recruited, I knew it in my heart.

It is impossible to rely on this Ou He to take on the main responsibility.

To put it simply, the current situation in Yuxi City is that it only needs capable people.

I don't care about personality or background, but I must have ability. Those who are now taking the lead in some aspects of Yuxi City are all young geniuses. He Yue, Fang Shisan, including Filita, Bai Huang, Xi Luo and others, all have their own strengths and can independently support the world. And Shuang, Changqing, Hantu and others who are relatively mediocre in talent also have rich work experience in related industries, which can make up for the shortcomings of Yuxi City.

The key is to have the ability to do things.

Although I know that the recruitment work was not smooth, I still feel a little regretful that the first batch of blacksmiths was in such a situation.