Section 114: Fabric Cooperation Agreement
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The clan chief was named Bullish to the Sky, and he was now looking at Li Zhan with an inquiring expression.
Li Zhan asked, puzzled, “Oh? What do you have in mind? Let me hear it.”
Bullish to the Sky gave an embarrassed smile.
“It’s like this. I noticed that you produce clothing on such a large scale, so I assume the cotton you purchase is all used to supply your clothing production. Before cotton can be made into garments, it must first be spun into thread and then woven into cloth. My Bullish Tribe has five female villagers with advanced farming and weaving skills. I was wondering whether I could sign a cooperation agreement with you. From now on, my tribe would weave the cotton we produce into cloth and transport it here to Yanhuang Village-Town. We would earn a modest processing fee instead of simply selling the raw materials as we do now.”
The conversion ratio between cloth and cotton was one to ten. In other words, one cargo ship fully loaded with cloth was equivalent to ten cargo ships fully loaded with cotton. For the Bullish Tribe, located several hundred miles away in Qu’a County, weaving the cotton into cloth before transporting it to Yanhuang Village-Town would both save shipping capacity and increase the value of the goods. It was truly a win-win arrangement.
Li Zhan had actually considered a similar idea long ago. At present, the village-town’s clothing output was insufficient to meet demand, falling short by a ratio of nearly one to twenty, while the number of female villagers with intermediate farming and weaving skills was growing very slowly. Under such circumstances, the best solution would be to free the cotton farmers, spinners, weavers, and even dyers from their current duties and transfer them all into garment production. Cloth could be supplied from outside, allowing the village-town to focus on clothing production and the development of new styles.
That would increase clothing output five- or sixfold. While expanding the market more aggressively, it would also bring the village-town considerably greater profits.
The main reason Li Zhan had been unable to make up his mind was the quality of cloth supplied from outside. The fact that all the inferior cotton produced within the village-town was sold off showed just how strict Li Zhan was about maintaining garment quality. He tolerated no carelessness whatsoever. Thus, although he had long considered obtaining cloth from outside suppliers, he had never put the idea into practice.
Now that he heard Bullish to the Sky mention that the Bullish Tribe had five female villagers with advanced farming and weaving skills, Li Zhan’s heart stirred. Perhaps he could test his idea with the Bullish Tribe.
Although Li Zhan was already tempted by Bullish to the Sky’s proposal, he maintained an indifferent expression. He wanted to put a little pressure on Bullish to the Sky and make him voluntarily enforce strict quality control.
After hearing the proposal, Li Zhan frowned and pondered for a while before slowly shaking his head.
Bullish to the Sky stared fixedly at Li Zhan’s expression. Seeing his reaction, his heart gave a sudden jolt, and he hurriedly asked, “Town Chief Li, what do you think of my proposal?”
Li Zhan replied, “Your proposal is good, but there is one crucial problem that makes me hesitate.”
Bullish to the Sky asked, puzzled, “What problem?”
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“Quality,” Li Zhan said.
“Quality?”
“Correct. The quality of the cloth!”
Bullish to the Sky thumped his chest.
“Town Chief Li, you can rest assured on that point. I, Bullish to the Sky, have always been honest and trustworthy. I never cheat or resort to fraud. Moreover, I will only allow the female villagers under my command who possess advanced farming and weaving skills to weave the cloth. As for its quality, I will personally supervise every batch. There is no chance that defective goods will appear.”
Most of the village-town’s weavers currently possessed only intermediate farming and weaving skills. Li Zhan was delighted by Bullish to the Sky’s promise to use only female villagers with advanced skills.
Once they became familiar with the work of weaving, villagers with advanced farming and weaving skills could produce cloth not only quickly but consistently. There was even a chance that they might produce high-quality cloth. Garments made from high-quality cloth would randomly gain additional attributes.
Because the village-town had always relied on female villagers with intermediate skills to weave cloth, Yanhuang Village-Town had yet to produce a single piece of high-quality cloth. Every garment had been made from ordinary fabric.
Li Zhan nodded.
“Although the issue of cloth quality still makes me uneasy, since Chief Bullish is so confident, I will trust you this once. We will sign a temporary cooperation agreement. As for quality, my requirements are as follows: the defective-product rate must remain below one percent. In other words, if even one defective piece appears among every hundred pieces of cloth, our temporary agreement will automatically be terminated, and a fine will be imposed as punishment. If the quality remains within the permitted rate throughout one thousand consecutive pieces, we will then sign a long-term cooperation agreement. As for the price of the cloth…”
Bullish to the Sky said excitedly, “The price is negotiable. After all, this will be a large-scale transaction, so I will offer you a discount from the market price. The current market price is one gold coin and one hundred fifty copper coins per piece. I’ll sell the cloth I produce to you for one gold coin and one hundred copper coins per piece.”
Yanhuang Village-Town’s purchase price for cotton was slightly higher than the market price: ten units of cotton for one gold coin, compared with the market rate of twelve units per gold coin. One piece of cloth required ten units of cotton.
After processing the cotton, Bullish to the Sky could earn an additional one hundred copper coins in labor fees. Moreover, the demand for cloth in Yanhuang Village-Town was enormous—there was effectively no limit to how much it would buy. He would not have to wait endlessly for a buyer as he did in the open market. All of this left Bullish to the Sky extremely excited.
Li Zhan did not feel that he was losing out either. With more cloth available for clothing production, he could earn even greater profits. One piece of cloth could produce two and a half garments worth seven gold coins and one hundred fifty copper coins. After deducting the one gold coin and one hundred copper coins paid for the cloth, as well as the villagers’ wages, the net profit per piece of cloth would still be six gold coins. Whether it was profitable or not was obvious.
Both sides stood to benefit, and the agreement was reached to everyone’s satisfaction.
While they continued to discuss the details of the transaction, Bullish to the Sky agreed to Li Zhan’s request that if the Bullish Tribe produced high-quality cloth, it would sell it to Yanhuang Village-Town for seven gold coins per piece.
On this point, the two sides signed a cooperation agreement backed by strict system enforcement. If the Bullish Tribe sold high-quality cloth to any other faction or individual, the system would automatically impose a penalty of one hundred gold coins.
As Li Zhan and Bullish to the Sky discussed their cloth-production agreement, wandering players passing nearby stopped one after another to listen curiously to the details of their cooperation. After listening for a while, those who felt the matter had nothing to do with them shook their heads and gradually left.
The remaining wandering players listened with great interest and grew increasingly excited. By the time Li Zhan and Bullish to the Sky had finalized the agreement, more than forty wandering players had gathered around them, all wearing eager expressions.
Seeing that the two men had finished negotiating, the players hurried forward to recommend villagers under their command who possessed advanced farming and weaving skills. One after another, they thumped their chests and loudly promised both quality and quantity at absolutely fair prices.
Li Zhan had not expected this cloth-production agreement to create such a butterfly effect. After finally quieting the excited players, he said to them, “I’m pleased to see everyone so enthusiastic. However, cloth quality is always the most crucial issue. If you have confidence in the villagers under your command and are willing to sign a temporary contract with the village-town—accepting severe punishment if quality problems arise—then we can cooperate. The village-town will provide improved looms and cotton, while you will be responsible solely for producing the cloth.”
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When they heard that severe punishment would be imposed, the wandering players immediately fell silent. One of them cautiously asked Li Zhan, “Town Chief Li, the villagers under our command can weave only one piece of cloth per day. Naturally, we cannot judge quality by the rate among one hundred pieces as the Bullish Tribe does. How will you set the quality standards for small workshops like ours?”
Li Zhan replied, “Your circumstances are indeed very different from those of the Bullish Tribe. First, the cotton you use will be provided by the village-town, which means your processing fee will be lower—provisionally set at seventy copper coins per piece of cloth. Second, the amount of cloth you produce each day will be very limited, making quality control much easier.
“Taking these two points together, the village-town will keep statistics on the cloth you submit, using every ten pieces as one assessment period. If one defective piece appears among those ten, the village-town will issue you a warning and purchase the next ten pieces of cloth free of charge. If defective products appear during two consecutive assessment periods, the village-town will permanently terminate its cooperation with you.
“Of course, you may also pay a substantial fine as punishment in order to maintain your cooperative relationship with the village-town.”
The wandering players whispered among themselves for a while. Then one of them quietly asked, “Town Chief Li, how substantial is this fine?”
Li Zhan smiled faintly.
“One hundred gold coins.”
A wave of gasps immediately swept through the surrounding crowd.
For these wandering players, one hundred gold coins was practically a death sentence. It was clear how demanding Li Zhan was when it came to garment quality.
Even though the players were generally terrified by the prospect of such a heavy fine, the more than forty wandering players still did not leave. They all shared the same thought:
“One piece of cloth a day? Even if I spread out the entire piece and inspected it inch by inch, I could easily manage that. If I examine it so carefully, how could there possibly be a quality problem? One piece of cloth earns seventy copper coins—that’s enough for a week’s income. I absolutely cannot give up such a profitable opportunity.”
Even if each wandering player had only one villager with advanced farming and weaving skills, the more than forty players before him proved that at least forty such skilled villagers would be joining the village-town’s ranks of weavers.
The difference was that they would weave cloth at their own residences, operating as household workshops. The village-town would provide the raw materials, they would process them, and then they would sell the finished cloth back to the village-town in exchange for a processing fee.
Previously, Yanhuang Village-Town had forty-two weavers in total. If cooperation agreements were reached with these wandering players, the number of weavers would double, and production would likewise reach twice its former level.
This would finally solve the chronic problem that had plagued the village-town for so long: cloth production could not keep pace with garment manufacturing.
However, the village-town currently had no spare improved looms. It also needed to send five looms to the Bullish Tribe for weaving.
Ordinary looms produced cloth that was somewhat loose and had low efficiency, so Li Zhan had firmly rejected them. His requirement was that every weaver joining the cooperation agreement must use the improved looms developed by Yanhuang Village-Town to produce cloth.
The joint workshop currently had six craftsmen, not counting Old Tang, and could produce approximately five improved looms a day.
How could he ensure that all the villagers under these more than forty players could begin using improved looms as quickly as possible?
Li Zhan thought for a moment, then came up with an idea.
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