Chapter 104 – Visiting Ding Yuan
June 15th. Jinyang City.
Ding Yuan was sitting on the throne of the City Governor in the government hall. He was reading two reports from scouts.
On the right report, an army of Dong Zhuo was approaching from the south. However, it carried white flags with them. The scouts also made a contact with the group to inquire about their objectives, and the answer they got was that Zhang Ji and his men were paying Ding Yuan a visit. They wanted to give him gifts to form up a friendly relationship between the two Lords. They were expected to be here tomorrow.
On the left report, it described the details of the incoming visitors from Julu City. The leader of the caravan was Zhang Tong and his aide Zhou Cang. They came with 2,000 escorts. However, there was a special note that these people traveled light without a provision cart or any caravan with gifts behind them.
Currently, they were escorted into the city and were waiting for an audience with Ding Yuan.
After finished reading the left report, Ding Yuan harrumphed in a bad mood.
What irked him was that these people traveled light. There was neither a convoy of provision nor a gift, which was unusual for an ambassador group.
'This little boy is looking down on me. He said that he wished to form an alliance, yet he didn't bring any gift. Does he even know how the world works?'
Although he was annoyed by the news, he was mature enough to differentiate between personal interest and politic. He ordered the guards to allow Tong and Zhou Cang inside.
Two people were led inside. One of them was a bald man with imperial armor suit, while the other one was a young man who was not even in the 20s yet. However, the young man had a majestic aura as if he was a prince. His eyes also showed a depth of a politician.
'That bald man must be the escort. The young man must be Zhang Tong.'
'To have that aura at such age, he has more potential than Fengxian.'
Tong stepped in forward and bowed to Ding Yuan as a courtesy. Zhou Cang also bowed, but he kept his silence.
"Greetings, Lord Ding Yuan. I'm Zhang Tong, son of Zhang Jiao. I've come as an ambassador of Julu City."
Ding Yuan nodded.
"Please rise. Make yourself at home. You've come a long way."
'At least he possesses a good manner. I wish Fengxian has half of his.'
Although Tong did not bring any gift with him, Ding Yuan still welcomed him as he did to other guests as he was a practical politician.
Tong raised his head up to look at Ding Yuan, then he bowed his head down again.
"My apologies for the inconsideration. I've brought gifts with me, but I forgot to order my servants to carry them here. I beg you for your forgiveness."
Ding Yuan raised his eyebrows in surprise. The scouts clearly reported that Tong did not have a gift or any provision with him. Then where could Tong procure the gifts?
Zhou Cang had seen Tong's signal. He bowed and rushed out of the hall. After a minute of waiting, a carriage which carried barrels of beer and whiskey was brought in front of the government building. There were also large wooden boxes that had soap bars in them.
Ding Yuan stared at the carriage in confusion. He turned around and glanced at his scout leaders, who were terrified by the reprimand gesture.
'A bunch of fools! Zhang Tong has been carrying tributes with them. Why did you moron report that he doesn't have any!? I guess I need to discipline my scout teams again.'
…
The gifts were taken by Ding Yuan's servants and a barrel of beer was carried inside the government hall. Tong personally served the beer to Ding Yuan himself as it was the specialty product of his city.
"This is good wine! It's soft and light. What does this call, young master Zhang?"
"It is called 'Beer', Lord Ding. Unlike common rough wine, we won't get drunk easily."
"Oho? So this is your city specialty that I've heard of."
"That's correct. There is still another beverage that I've gifted you. However, it was too heavy for a happy occasion like this. I believe you should enjoy it in private."
"Hoho! Well, indeed. A hard drink is not something to be enjoyed in public. You are very good, young master Zhang."
Both of them exchange pleasantries as they enjoyed a simple welcome banquet that Ding Yuan held for Tong in exchange for the gifts.
Ding Yung's mood got much better after he thought that his scouts made a mistake about Tong's gifts. As a result, Tong managed to persuade him to form an alliance easily.
Furthermore, Jinyang City surrounded by mountains with stone, coal, and iron mines. Tong did not forget to strike a deal with Ding Yuan.
"500 Gold for a ton of iron ore, and 100 gold for a ton of coal or stone. How is that sound?"
"You are very kind, Lord Ding Yuan. We'll buy you with that price. Also, we would like to make a reservation for the trade right away. How many stones, irons, and coals you have right now?"
"About 100 tons each. Unfortunately, it's in the middle of planting season right now. We don't have many miners at the moment."
"We'll take all of them. I also have enough gold with me here. We can finish our transaction today."
"What!?"
Hearing that Tong had enough gold for the 100 tons of each rare resources, Ding Yuan was shocked speechless. If it was true, then Tong had more than 70,000 gold with him!
If the deal was successful, Ding Yuan would acquire this large sum of gold. He would not worry about the taxes or the food problem in this city as he would have plenty of ways out.
Thus, Ding Yuan agreed to form both trade alliance and army protection alliance. The documents and signature were signed by both parties.
Because it was late today, Tong's men were guided to guest houses while Tong himself was treated as VIP.
Meanwhile, Tong had been grinning from ear to ear since he had heard that this city had several mines. Another project aspired in his mind.
'With a steady supply of coal and iron ores, I should build a steel factory soon.'
'Then I'll upgrade our armors and weapons with the steel!'
…
The 70,000 taels of gold from Tong was delivered to the city hall of Jinyang the next day. Tong used the same tactic as yesterday by unloaded his gold into carriage beforehand and had Zhou Cang led the servants to bring them to the city hall.
Ding Yuan was also efficient in his job. All resources were loaded in well-prepared carts and were on standby to be delivered to Julu.
Today, Ding Yuan's adopted son, Lu Bu, was also present. He was summoned back from the front line to guard Tong's gold caravan and the ore caravan.
When Lu Bu heard the summon order, he was frustrated. He was having a good time with his wife in a temporary house on a mountain, which was his personal holiday resort.
Most importantly, his wife had just given birth to his daughter, Lu Lingqi, a few months ago. She needed extra care from her husband and servants. Therefore, Lu Bu was not in the mood to go to work at the moment.
Despite his discontentment with the summon, after he heard that he had to guard a caravan which carried over 70,000 gold, Lu Bu rushed here to see it.
The sight of a massive pile of gold bullion nuggets and gold ingots astonished Lu Bu. He was born in a farmer family and was adopted by Ding Yuan after his father died, so he had never seen such a large amount of gold before in his life.
"Father, this?"
Lu Bu looked at Ding Yuan while he still had a surprised look on this face.
"It's from our new friend. Be sure to treat him with courtesy."
Ding Yuan gestured Lu Bu in the direction where Tong and his men were. At the direction of his gesture, Tong was giving orders to his subordinates.
Lu Bu turned and looked at the direction, then he found Tong.
"It's that man?"
"Yes, it's him."
Lu Bu squinted his eyes as he gazed at Tong. He had detected a faint sinister aura coming from Tong. From his perspective, only someone who had been through many battlefields would have it.
Lu Bu thought of this aura as a warrior aura. His subordinates, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, had it as well because they had been through thick and thin with him on the mountain battlefields for years. However, the aura they had was still not as thick as Tong.
'I've heard he had fought with Guo Dian. But it was just one battlefield. How can he has that aura?'
As Lu Bu was puzzled and unable to come up with any explanation for this event, he walked up to Tong and …
"Hey, brat. Spar with me!"