Chapter 2030: Chapter 1484: This Deal Is Huge! You Can Go Back for the Money..._2
"Haha, don’t you still have those new square ships? These small merchant ships, sell them to me just like last time! Twenty jin of gold for each!"
"Chief! This... these are my last three merchant ships..."
"Sen, come on, sell me two ships! I’ll add another ten jin! Fifty jin of gold for two ships, cash on delivery!"
"Buddha! Fifty jin of gold?!..."
Facing such a "sincere" price increase, Mori no Kiyoshi trembled all over, and his expression changed. He opened his mouth, and the words of refusal reached his lips, but he couldn’t utter them. At that moment, he didn’t seem like a seasoned merchant from Kansai, but like an indecisive lady who had never left home. After a while, looking at the "earnest-faced" Golden Chief, he let out a long sigh with a complex expression.
"Alas! Chief, my friend... I can only sell you one ship, and it’s not even a good one... do you still want it?"
"Hmm? Only one? Chief Divine is my witness, that works too! Sen, be quick about it, give me both the ship and the cargo!"
Under Zuwaro’s watchful gaze, Mori no Kiyoshi finally took a deep breath, nodded, and agreed with a bitter smile.
"Alright, alright! Buddha bless, I’ll sell you one ship with all its cargo!... One of our merchant ships got damaged on our way here, so it sails slower... but as long as it’s towed by other ships to the port and repaired properly for seven or eight days, it should be ready before the freeze..."
"Oh yes! Among the craftsmen we brought this time, two are capable Omi Shipwrights. Once they reach your port with sufficient timber, they should manage fine... Hmm, among the craftsmen, there’s also a carpenter, skilled in board-making, and they’ve all come with a full set of tools. Although I charge high prices for the craftsmen, the tools are free for you..."
Mori no Kiyoshi rambled on for a while before taking a deep breath, calming his emotions, and looking toward Zuwaro. At this moment, he once again raised a smile on his face, and his voice was much steadier, as he gently and naturally asked.
"Chief, my respectable Shandan Chieftain! This time, we have brought a lot of goods! Especially the craftsmen you need, all are genuine Kansai craftsmen, without any filler family members... if you want them all, I’m afraid the amount of gold needed will be quite substantial!"
"Additionally, Chief, according to your request last time, I’ve collected for a long time... and finally brought a remarkable Han Fang Great Medical Master for you! A real one from Jisheng Hospital, who specifically treats nobility from the Lee Dynasty—the ’Korean Medical Woman’!"
"...? Korean Medical Woman?!"
"Indeed! Chief, whether in our Japan or in Korea to the west, medical craftsmen hold a very high status. Outstanding Great Medical Masters and Great Medical Officers have close ties with local nobles, equivalent to the nobility and Martial Family! They are not easy to ’invite’, and forcibly ’inviting’ them carries high post-risks... Fortunately, my connections with Tiantai Sect always hold weight in the West Country Kyushu among various clans..."
"Buddha bless! After countless twists and turns, I found two brokers to guarantee, only then did I ’exchange for a heavy sum’ a ’Korean Medical Woman’ from the Matsuura Party! This Medical Woman possesses the skill level of a Great Medical Master! She was captured with great difficulty over four years ago when Matsuura Party ventured deep into Gyeongsang South Province to raid Juchang County. It’s said she served the Princess of Yanshan Jun, Juchang County Lady Shen Shi... She truly comes from the Korean royal medical background, her skills are comparable to the Great Medical Officers in the Capital City’s public house!..."
Mori no Kiyoshi boasted wildly, speaking of this Korean Medical Woman’s skills as almost equivalent to "Medical Ancestor" Danbo Kanglai. Of course, he did not tell Zuwaro, that in the rigid, male-oriented Korean Kingdom, so-called medical women, no matter how good their medical skills, couldn’t change their low status. Even though they were trained by official medical academies, in Li’s Korea, they couldn’t compare to male doctors at all. More often than not, their work wasn’t about treating nobles, but being used as medical courtesans for nobles. The newly ascendant King of Korea, Yanshan Jun, known for his hedonism, had a penchant for this...
"Ahem! Before Buddha, no false words! The reason why the Matsuura Party took this Korean Medical Woman during the raid wasn’t due to her medical skills, but because of her youth and exceptional beauty... To make the Family Head of the Matsuura Party, Matsuura Toyohisa, reluctantly part with her, I indeed gave him two... ahem... ten jin of gold!... And both brokers who guaranteed it, they each needed a share, yes, each one was... hmm... ten jin of gold! Not to mention, I transported her from the southernmost Kyushu to the Northern Country’s Ezo land over long distances..."
"Sen! As long as this respected Medical Master has real skills, knows the ’Miracle Technique’ of smallpox vaccination... whether a man or a woman, Chief Divine will bless her! Let her come and demonstrate her medical skills!... As for the price, I remember I’ve already given you a deposit of twenty jin of gold, right?..."
"Well, Chief, my respected Golden Chief!... We agreed then, twenty jin of gold as the deposit. But this time, my expenses are already two or thirty jin of gold... you must let me earn something..."
"Enough! Bring the person here first! I need to ask whether this Korean Medical Woman, can indeed perform smallpox vaccination, and can resist the wicked smallpox epidemic!..."
Zuwaro’s eyebrows rose, interrupting Mori no Kiyoshi’s price hike. At this moment, his face showed unprecedented seriousness. This was a paramount matter, prophesied by His Majesty and specially emphasized in a letter by him; no amount of gold was too much to spend!
"Chief Divine as my witness! Sen, if she truly has excellent medical skills... don’t just talk about twenty or thirty gold talismans... I’ll directly give you fifty this time, fifty jin of gold! And as for this Korean Medical Woman, I want them all!..."
"Hiss! Fifty jin of gold? Six thousand eight hundred stones of rice? The annual income of two hundred lower-ranked samurai?!..."
Hearing such an incredible price, Mori no Kiyoshi gasped. At that moment, the words he had prepared were stuck in his throat for quite some time. After a while, he spoke with a slight pant, his eyes slightly reddened, asking as if naturally, a question he had been preparing for some time.
"Chief! Do you really have that much gold? The goods we brought this time, ranging from books, craftsmen, rice and salt, military supplies to ships, are two or three times more than the last transaction, it’s likely amounting to several hundred gold talismans!..."
"Buddha bless! If you don’t have enough gold, we could trade a portion first... then we’ll wait here for you to send ships back to fetch more gold..."
