Section 043: Cotton Supply Plan

After both parties signed, Li Zhan paid five units of gold, and the system formally backed up and archived the contract. Its seriousness even surpassed that of official notary agencies, because the system was acutely aware of every player's situation—bankruptcy or breach of contract would be detected immediately. Thus, the binding power of this contract was absolutely authoritative.

Now that Pig-Is-The-Thought-That-Has-Passed had become an honorary merchant of the Yanhuang Tribe, Li Zhan no longer maintained strict vigilance against him. At Pig-Is-The-Thought-That-Has-Passed’s request, Li Zhan led him through all the steps of clothing production, introduced him to Ruoyan and Zhou Min, so the three could handle clothing purchases even when Li Zhan was absent from the tribe.

After the tour, Pig-Is-The-Thought-That-Has-Passed felt his worries dissipate further, and his confidence in Yanhuang Tribe’s self-produced clothing grew. When the visit ended, he proposed to purchase fifty sets of villager clothing to test their sales at the Danyang market, and Li Zhan agreed.

By then, night had fallen. The day’s production had filled the warehouse with fifty-two sets of villager clothing and eight sets of militia uniforms. All the tribe’s fabric had been used for clothing production, leaving none in stock. There were fewer than eighty bundles of cotton thread remaining (five bundles of thread equaled one bolt of fabric), and the cotton supply was zero.

Li Zhan and Ruoyan counted and handed over twenty-five sets each of male and female villager clothing to Pig-Is-The-Thought-That-Has-Passed, who paid 145 gold pieces, with Li Zhan rounding down the change. Delighted by Li Zhan’s generosity, Pig-Is-The-Thought-That-Has-Passed boarded Zhang Chong’s fishing boat with two villagers newly dressed in the fresh clothes, all three cheerfully heading back to Danyang county.

With Pig-Is-The-Thought-That-Has-Passed gone, only Li Zhan and Ruoyan remained at the shipyard. Ruoyan said to Li Zhan:

“Our cotton output is far from keeping up with clothing production, and even fabric creation is restricted. This is extremely detrimental to clothing manufacture. We really need to find a solution quickly.”

Li Zhan nodded; he had long considered this problem. The new clothes were rare commodities—while competitors had yet to appear, it was a golden opportunity to amass wealth. Yet, cotton shortages hindered clothing production, causing them to miss this prime moment. Walking with Ruoyan toward the center of the tribe, Li Zhan said:

“I’ve thought about this too, but haven’t found a good solution yet. Do you have any ideas?”

Ruoyan replied, “What else can we do? Just buy cotton directly, like we did with dyes.”

Li Zhan smiled and shook his head. “I considered that, but it’s not ideal. Imagine: bundles of cotton shipped in by boat—surely we can’t inspect each one? That makes quality hard to guarantee. Moreover, transport costs vary by region, inflating cotton prices and shrinking clothing profits.”

Ruoyan pondered this. She was not as meticulous in trade as Li Zhan, but his explanation illuminated the issue, and she looked at him in the darkness with newfound admiration. Then she asked,

“So what’s your ideal solution?”

Li Zhan paused, gazing into the distant night, and spoke slowly:

“I hope we can find a few tribes within Danyang County willing to supply us with cotton on a long-term, stable basis. These tribes, like Wu Fan with his dye crops, should devote all their efforts to cotton cultivation and provide us with large amounts of high-quality cotton over time. If needed, we can send experienced cotton farmers to assist them. But in this game, players who choose tribe leader roles usually have strong ambition—they won’t want their tribe to become someone else’s raw material supplier. Unless, perhaps, they're new players with no desire for conquest…”

At this point, Li Zhan suddenly remembered something, his eyes widening as he turned to Ruoyan. Almost in unison, they exclaimed:

“The four government-affiliated tribes!”

After registering at Danyang County last time, Li Zhan had, at Ruoyan’s prompting, told her bits of what happened. He mentioned four tribes who preferred to be “colonies” under government patronage. Li Zhan had laughed, thinking those tribe leaders chose the wrong profession. Now, as he confided his thoughts to Ruoyan, he realized that among all seventeen tribes in Danyang County, those four government-affiliated tribes were the most likely to willingly supply him with cotton.

Excited, Li Zhan clenched his fists. Tomorrow was the fifteenth, the day when the seventeen tribe leaders gathered at Danyang County’s Guest Immortal Tavern for their bi-monthly meeting. It was the perfect opportunity to explain his plan to the leaders of those four tribes. If even two of them joined as cotton suppliers for the Yanhuang Tribe, combined with Yanhuang’s own cotton output, the supply issue could be temporarily resolved.

In his excitement, Li Zhan carefully mapped out tomorrow’s schedule in his mind. Once everything was planned, he felt relaxed, continuing his walk with Ruoyan toward the tribe’s center, chatting casually along the way.

“Hey, that player who signed the contract today—how did he come up with his name? I still can’t remember it, just that it starts with ‘Pig’ something something,” Li Zhan said, puzzled.

Ruoyan burst into silvery laughter after Li Zhan finished.

“Just try reading his name backwards,” she said.

Li Zhan, still confused, solemnly pulled up the contract from the system menu and read the signature aloud, reversing it:

“Reading it backwards is ‘Pig’… You little rascal, trying to trick me? Watch how I deal with you!”

With that, Li Zhan playfully lunged at Ruoyan.

Ruoyan had already anticipated this and darted through the wooden gates of the village. She knew Li Zhan had to maintain the dignity of a tribe leader before the villagers and wouldn’t chase her further. So, after running through the gates, she deliberately turned back and teased him:

“Who told you to be so silly? You really are a big silly pig! Big silly pig! Hahaha…”

…

The next morning, Li Zhan rose early, bringing Ruoyan, Wang Hui, and another craftsman, Feng Gang, aboard Zhang Chong’s fishing boat to head to Danyang County. Li Zhan also brought a sheet of coarse cowhide and one of fine cowhide, intending to see if any craftsman in Danyang County could process them into leather armor. If so, Feng Gang would stay and learn from them. The tribe’s weaving machines now numbered seven, but due to limited cotton thread, only four operated daily—more than enough for current needs. Feng Gang had little to do in the tribe, so a trip to Danyang would broaden his horizons.

Before departure, Li Zhan instructed Zheng Jun to quickly finish building the other two watchtowers. Once completed, he would select six talented villagers for militia training, who, together with Zhao Ming and the five other militiamen, would handle patrols and watchtower defense.

Having given these instructions, Li Zhan and his companions boarded the fishing boat and set off for Danyang.