"What, are you the son of the lord of the city?" was rather surprising to Faust - the lord had sent his own son to negotiate the ownership of the town, which was obviously a sign of great importance, and Faust still did not know why the lord of the city attached so much importance to the town.

However, Faust has at least one piece of information - the city lord is now in urgent need of the annexation of Marula, and the only thing Marula can provide is money, and the newly annexed towns have to pay taxes of varying years, and this money is the goal of the city lord.

"So, the lord of the city has been short of money lately?" Faust smiled, "am I right, Your Excellency?"

The other party was shocked, and he couldn't even care about being angry - this was a great secret, and only a limited number of people were qualified to know the current situation of the city lord's shortage of funds, so he blurted out: "How do you know?"

"It's simple. Faust didn't intend to hide his thoughts, he wanted to be open and honest and show his abilities, "You say that the lord of the city is a man who is good at taking the opinions of others, so what is the reason for him to go his own way?"

The bearded gentleman suddenly realized, regardless of the fact that he had regained the proper manners of a nobleman - his face was expressionless, "It seems that I have said a little too much, Your Excellency. ”

"No, no, no, you're not talking too much. Faust hastened to deny his claim—and he was counting on the big mouth to continue to reveal some information—"I can make the right judgment because I am also interested in the small town of Marula." ”

Faust's casual throwing out of his own purpose is also a conversational technique of forcibly attaching two unrelated events to cause and effect, in which the result is often sensational, thus obscuring the stiff logical connection of the whole sentence.

Sure enough, the silly son of the lord fell for Faust's tricks, "Well, you want to go against the lord?" he narrowed his eyes—this time it was no longer a conversation technique, he was seriously threatening Faust.

Faust wasn't afraid, because he was the kind of person who would never go head-to-head with a stronger one, so why bother with a confrontation that wouldn't happen? Faust made a hypocritical look of surprise, "Of course not, how dare I go against the city lord? He is a famous man in the whole empire!"

The silly son of the city lord relaxed his body slightly, and his tone softened a lot, "Your Excellency, please don't throw out too shocking remarks, you know, it's not good for us...... Still, I'm curious, why do you mention it if you don't want to go against your father?" he couldn't suppress his curiosity about it—and he wasn't to blame him, for it was obviously unwise for Faust to guess that the lord of the city was bound to take advantage of the town of Marula, and to still threaten to take the same interest in it.

Faust shook his head—in fact, he expressed his frustration at the intellect of this foolish son, just as he had done to Prince Leoric, "Your Excellency, of course because I have thought of the best of both worlds. This is a very simple reasoning result. "But this stupid son has a lot of experience in dealing with people, and he is an old idiot, unlike a pure fool like Leoric, and Faust doesn't mind educating him in a slightly heavier tone.

"Oh? The stupid son was interested, but he did not know that this revealed a great message—he enjoyed a great deal of freedom in the matter, and Faust could even guess what the lord had said to him, to the effect that "he can get the money." If the stupid son hadn't had the authority to react, he wouldn't have been like this by now—Faust could even smell the constant smell of excited carbonic acid from him.

Knowing the reality of the other party is very important in the negotiation, and now, Faust has almost touched the bottom of the stupid son - the other party's bottom line, purpose, and authority in the hands of the negotiator are all clear, and the stupid son knows nothing about Faust.

If nothing else had gone wrong, Faust would have almost declared the negotiation a success, and he would have turned over and become a local man.

Therefore, Faust smiled heartily, "All the lord needs is money, right?"

The silly son nodded.

"Can ready-made gold be used for money?" said Faust continued.

The stupid son nodded subconsciously again.

Faust spread his hands and took it for granted, "That's not it, I have it." ”

"Oh...... Huh?" the stupid son first looked suddenly enlightened, and then his eyes widened. Seeing his expression, Faust nodded with satisfaction - the other party's intelligence was slightly higher than his initial judgment, and he actually knew the truth that "there is no such thing as a free lunch".

Faust makes a look that you understand, "Of course, money won't be free—anything can be free, but money won't." ”

Without waiting for the stupid son to answer, Faust threw out his own conditions—a flurry of verbal offensive will always make novices unable to think about it, while veterans can quickly judge through experience what are the real questions to think about. Of course, our silly son is clearly a newbie.

"I'm going to buy out the concession of this town, and the taxes for a certain number of years in the future – at the cost of a cart of gold. Faust tried to state his bid and what he wanted to buy as briefly and vaguely as possible.

"Wait, you're talking as if you've made the town part of the Empire. "The stupid son is not stupid yet, and he has found a problem - although this problem is also pitifully stupid.

When Faust said this, it was clear that he wanted to solve the town's problems on his behalf—and besides, as long as the money was in hand and the immediate need was solved, it didn't matter whether the town really surrendered or not.

But as a stupid son, it was not easy for him to think of this problem.

Faust patiently explained, "This matter will be settled by us, and you will only need to collect the money, give me the concession, and use the authority of the city lord to endorse the charter - in short, it must be a useful charter, and I will monopolize the trade between the town and the territory of Redstone, that is, only I can do the business." ”

Faust also detailed his requirements by the way - he was afraid that his stupid son would be wrong, causing his bamboo basket to be empty.

The stupid son did not learn his lesson, but asked unrelentingly: "Then what measures do you have to ensure that we fulfill our agreement? You know, the city lord has the strongest military force in the vicinity." ”

Faust sneered, "Come on, if the military threat is useful, why doesn't the city lord just capture the town of Marula? I'm afraid there are other forces inside the city—maybe there are some outside the city, and the force may be only slightly worse than the city lord's control." ”

Faust and the Silly Son begin to stare at each other, and the verbal exchange quickly cools the atmosphere between the two - but soon, the atmosphere between the two returns to normal.

The first to admit defeat was the young city lord, he relaxed his body again, leaned forward with his whole body, and relaxed on the bar, "At least wait until I see the mayor." He muttered.

Faust smiled, "Please feel free, I look forward to a second meeting with you." With that, Faust walked out of the tavern without looking back.

The stupid son watched Faust go away, and his face was thoughtful—completely forgetting that Faust had finally asked him to settle the bill.