Post by Sun Dao on Feb 2, 2011 8:28:23 GMT
This was not an easy job. Sun Dao had spent weeks in and around Luo Yang speaking to farmers, merchants and occasionally having to deal with the seedier, more illegal side of society and he was enjoying every moment of it.
His current task was simply to slightly begin a shift in trade away from Li Jue and Guo Si in the west, and instead convince the rice, grain and other food supplies to head east into the territories of Wei. War was coming, and Luo Yang being a city of the size it was, trade is important for all neighboring regions. While it would not have any profound effect upon the gathering of supplies to Wei's newly declared enemies, when the tallies are in, Li Jue and Guo Si will find themselves with slightly less total imported food, while Wei will have a tiny bonus.
"From such small beginnings are great victories crafted." he muttered to himself, smiling slightly at a lonely cloud floating in the afternoon sky. "I.. Pardon?" the man across the table was looking at Sun Dao with a rather puzzled expression. Snapping back to the present Dao smiled at the man, "My apologies, sir. I seem to have become wrapped up in the moment" he motioned the the parchment on the table, "Now, as we discussed this revised agreement will change the destination of five percent of your total trade from Chang An and it is to instead be added to the regular shipments to Chen Liu. Is this what we agreed upon?"
"Of course it's what we agreed upon," the other scoffed, tapping a finger impatiently on a line of the text "you wrote it right here not ten minutes ago." This particular merchant was one of the largest exporters of grains to other provinces, and also one of the most frustrating to deal with. "I know, sir, I just need to make sure that what I have written corresponds with what you have in your mind. If there are no further complaints with this agreement, are you prepared to sign?" Dao offered the man a quill, and he quickly scratched his name near the bottom while muttering something about overly proper aristocrats.
"Now," the man pushed the parchment back across the table "as to the other part of our bargain." Sun Dao met the flat glare of the other, turning away quickly as he rolled the contract up and slid it into a leather tube along with a dozen other papers of a similar nature."Of course. I know the man you speak, and his central warehouse is conveniently on my way back east. I'll be paying him a visit before I head home to implement these contracts." Dao stood up, shaking the other man's hand, "He and I could not find common ground when I approached him a week back, I will make sure that his business center suffers a major setback. A few of his suppliers are already willing to contact you in such a sad event."
"Glad to hear it."
"Of course, I look forward to many years of friendly business between us." And with that Sun Dao was off. He only needed to make a quick stop before visiting one Shi Chao.
Favors upon favors upon favors. It was how he had been spending the majority of his time here, and finally it was all coming to fruition. Five Percent! Dao thought to himself, That is the largest deal I have made yet, and with the largest trader in the city! The hot afternoon sun made a pleasant companion. The network of favors Sun Dao had worked through had arranged a few simultaneous factors to be in place today. The first, where he was headed now was an unusually tall cart loaded with stone, and a team of four horses to pull it. The second was that Dao's destination, a grain distribution center just outside the city, suffered from hooligans who had a bonfire against the rear wall last night. The fire was luckily reported to the guards and it could be extinguished before spreading to the rest of the building, unfortunately it had cracked the stone in a few places since the fire was unusually hot. And the third was some as yet unknown interior damage to the supporting beams in the warehouse ceiling. Finally, a report had been submitted to the guard that the merchant Shi Chao had been smuggling food supplies to rebels who wished the Emperor harm, so the center was to be closed today due to Shi Chao spending the day in the local magistrates office clearing his name.
"It is absolutely lovely when things work out just as you plan them." Dao spoke to himself quietly as he reached the cartload of stone, precisely where it was supposed to be. From there it was only a short walk, leading the team of horses to his target. There were only a few travelers and a patrol of guards as he stopped the cart in front of the warehouse. Using the moment to pretend to be inspecting a wheel, Sun Dao waited until the guards were out of sight, and pulled the cart around back.
The spot where the fire was, was quite obvious. It had been scrubbed lightly to inspect the extent of cracking, but otherwise was stained black where it had yet to be properly cleaned. Pulling the cart up alongside this spot, he was luckily out of sight of the main road, a stand of trees lay across the field behind the warehouse and inside was waiting the owner of these horses, Sun Dao could barely make out the man's shadow sitting against one of the trees inside.
Moving to the wheel next to the wall, Dao knocked the pin holding the wheel to the axle off with his blade. A poor system for a cart that holds its load so high off the ground, especially a cart filled with large stones, but accidents do happen.
A heavy rope was quickly fastened to the bottom of the wheel, led over the top of the cart and out toward the field. He unfastened the team of horses from the front of the cart, and instead hitched them to the rope. One last glimpse backwards, and Dao slapped the lead horse across the flank with the flat of his blade.
There was a pop as the wheel snapped off of its mounting, and Sun Dao stepped aside as the rope and chunk of wheel left tied to the rope whipped past him, the horses speeding off toward the treeline. He had enough time to admire that his knot held so admirably before he turned to run after the horses. The cart leaned, and all its weight tipped against the center of the weakened stone wall collapsing it, creating a sudden lack of support to the ceiling beam above that had quite mysteriously been sawed nearly through quite recently. There was another snap as the beam gave way and two walls and the entirety of the ceiling came tumbling to the ground.
Out of breath, Sun Dao reached the trees, his "friend" had already caught the horses and was removing their harnesses to lead them back without anybody wondering what they were pulling.
"What a shame, I was hoping for total collapse. Oh well." Dao said to the other, who simply grunted and began to walk away. "Oh come on," he called after, "The least you could do is compliment a man on a job well done!"
No response.
Sun Dao laughed aloud, and turned to go his own way. His own horse was tied on the other side of the trees, in front of the small house of a farmer. He needed to leave the area, and quickly. Those guards would have heard the noise, and some civilians were already rushing around the back of the building to find out what had happened.
"What a wonderful day." He said to himself as he mounted his horse and sped off toward Wei. It was a lovely day indeed, hot but not unbearable, only a few clouds in the sky, and the wind rushing past as his horse flew along a small dirt road was enough to make a man want to ride forever.
Sun Dao tried not to think about the headache awaiting him when he reached home. Adjusting and implementing changes in trade was always a frustratingly long and complicated process.
This will only make a small difference, the amount of trade shifted away from Wei's enemy being minimal. But every difference counts, and this is only the beginning.
His current task was simply to slightly begin a shift in trade away from Li Jue and Guo Si in the west, and instead convince the rice, grain and other food supplies to head east into the territories of Wei. War was coming, and Luo Yang being a city of the size it was, trade is important for all neighboring regions. While it would not have any profound effect upon the gathering of supplies to Wei's newly declared enemies, when the tallies are in, Li Jue and Guo Si will find themselves with slightly less total imported food, while Wei will have a tiny bonus.
"From such small beginnings are great victories crafted." he muttered to himself, smiling slightly at a lonely cloud floating in the afternoon sky. "I.. Pardon?" the man across the table was looking at Sun Dao with a rather puzzled expression. Snapping back to the present Dao smiled at the man, "My apologies, sir. I seem to have become wrapped up in the moment" he motioned the the parchment on the table, "Now, as we discussed this revised agreement will change the destination of five percent of your total trade from Chang An and it is to instead be added to the regular shipments to Chen Liu. Is this what we agreed upon?"
"Of course it's what we agreed upon," the other scoffed, tapping a finger impatiently on a line of the text "you wrote it right here not ten minutes ago." This particular merchant was one of the largest exporters of grains to other provinces, and also one of the most frustrating to deal with. "I know, sir, I just need to make sure that what I have written corresponds with what you have in your mind. If there are no further complaints with this agreement, are you prepared to sign?" Dao offered the man a quill, and he quickly scratched his name near the bottom while muttering something about overly proper aristocrats.
"Now," the man pushed the parchment back across the table "as to the other part of our bargain." Sun Dao met the flat glare of the other, turning away quickly as he rolled the contract up and slid it into a leather tube along with a dozen other papers of a similar nature."Of course. I know the man you speak, and his central warehouse is conveniently on my way back east. I'll be paying him a visit before I head home to implement these contracts." Dao stood up, shaking the other man's hand, "He and I could not find common ground when I approached him a week back, I will make sure that his business center suffers a major setback. A few of his suppliers are already willing to contact you in such a sad event."
"Glad to hear it."
"Of course, I look forward to many years of friendly business between us." And with that Sun Dao was off. He only needed to make a quick stop before visiting one Shi Chao.
Favors upon favors upon favors. It was how he had been spending the majority of his time here, and finally it was all coming to fruition. Five Percent! Dao thought to himself, That is the largest deal I have made yet, and with the largest trader in the city! The hot afternoon sun made a pleasant companion. The network of favors Sun Dao had worked through had arranged a few simultaneous factors to be in place today. The first, where he was headed now was an unusually tall cart loaded with stone, and a team of four horses to pull it. The second was that Dao's destination, a grain distribution center just outside the city, suffered from hooligans who had a bonfire against the rear wall last night. The fire was luckily reported to the guards and it could be extinguished before spreading to the rest of the building, unfortunately it had cracked the stone in a few places since the fire was unusually hot. And the third was some as yet unknown interior damage to the supporting beams in the warehouse ceiling. Finally, a report had been submitted to the guard that the merchant Shi Chao had been smuggling food supplies to rebels who wished the Emperor harm, so the center was to be closed today due to Shi Chao spending the day in the local magistrates office clearing his name.
"It is absolutely lovely when things work out just as you plan them." Dao spoke to himself quietly as he reached the cartload of stone, precisely where it was supposed to be. From there it was only a short walk, leading the team of horses to his target. There were only a few travelers and a patrol of guards as he stopped the cart in front of the warehouse. Using the moment to pretend to be inspecting a wheel, Sun Dao waited until the guards were out of sight, and pulled the cart around back.
The spot where the fire was, was quite obvious. It had been scrubbed lightly to inspect the extent of cracking, but otherwise was stained black where it had yet to be properly cleaned. Pulling the cart up alongside this spot, he was luckily out of sight of the main road, a stand of trees lay across the field behind the warehouse and inside was waiting the owner of these horses, Sun Dao could barely make out the man's shadow sitting against one of the trees inside.
Moving to the wheel next to the wall, Dao knocked the pin holding the wheel to the axle off with his blade. A poor system for a cart that holds its load so high off the ground, especially a cart filled with large stones, but accidents do happen.
A heavy rope was quickly fastened to the bottom of the wheel, led over the top of the cart and out toward the field. He unfastened the team of horses from the front of the cart, and instead hitched them to the rope. One last glimpse backwards, and Dao slapped the lead horse across the flank with the flat of his blade.
There was a pop as the wheel snapped off of its mounting, and Sun Dao stepped aside as the rope and chunk of wheel left tied to the rope whipped past him, the horses speeding off toward the treeline. He had enough time to admire that his knot held so admirably before he turned to run after the horses. The cart leaned, and all its weight tipped against the center of the weakened stone wall collapsing it, creating a sudden lack of support to the ceiling beam above that had quite mysteriously been sawed nearly through quite recently. There was another snap as the beam gave way and two walls and the entirety of the ceiling came tumbling to the ground.
Out of breath, Sun Dao reached the trees, his "friend" had already caught the horses and was removing their harnesses to lead them back without anybody wondering what they were pulling.
"What a shame, I was hoping for total collapse. Oh well." Dao said to the other, who simply grunted and began to walk away. "Oh come on," he called after, "The least you could do is compliment a man on a job well done!"
No response.
Sun Dao laughed aloud, and turned to go his own way. His own horse was tied on the other side of the trees, in front of the small house of a farmer. He needed to leave the area, and quickly. Those guards would have heard the noise, and some civilians were already rushing around the back of the building to find out what had happened.
"What a wonderful day." He said to himself as he mounted his horse and sped off toward Wei. It was a lovely day indeed, hot but not unbearable, only a few clouds in the sky, and the wind rushing past as his horse flew along a small dirt road was enough to make a man want to ride forever.
Sun Dao tried not to think about the headache awaiting him when he reached home. Adjusting and implementing changes in trade was always a frustratingly long and complicated process.
This will only make a small difference, the amount of trade shifted away from Wei's enemy being minimal. But every difference counts, and this is only the beginning.
