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Outpost in the Sand

Most humble administrator, like our revered leader, your wisdom has only become sharper with age. Emperor Wu Di now has need of your talents in the far western reaches of the Han Empire. There on the southern edge of the lonely and forbidding Taklamakan desert, he wishes to establish a trading village along the Silk Road. You can buy quantities of precious silk from such Chinese cities as Chang-an and Chengdu, and then pass it along to Kashgar for a hefty profit.
The land is harsh in the desert, and the rains unpredictable. Even the skies are dangerous, patrolled by hungry vultures. It will not be an easy task for your people to grow enough food from the barren turf. Crops of millet can be cultivated, and the arrows of hunters should be able to find targets, but you may still find it necessary to import some food for your citizens to thrive. Go now, to the village of Loulan in the Taklamakan Desert, 'the land of no return' -- but strive not to lets its ominous name come true!

City - Loulan
Starts Feb 95 BCE
11,200 starting cash at Very Hard

Requirements:
  • Population of 1600
  • 5 trading partners
  • Yearly profit of 2500

I found this a fairly straightforward mission. I built a 45 house common housing block near the entrance. Eventually I evolved all the housing to Spacious Dwellings which gave me a population of 1845. I could have evolved the houses further to Elegant Dwellings if I had supplied them with ceramics, but instead I sold the small amount of ceramics that I made to Yin.

Food and hemp farms and some hunters tents were the first things I built after housing. Trade routes to Kashgar and Changan are open at the start of the mission. I asked all cities except Xiongnu (who I ignored hoping to avoid any trouble from them) to open trade and Chengdu, Guangzhou and Jiaozhou agreed. Yen, Lo-lang and Fuzhou wouldn't and were Apathetic. This met the 5 trading partner goal, though I later gave a gift of 8 ceramics to Yin and they then also agreed to trade.

I decided not to bother calling a hero as I felt none offered any real benefits in this mission compared to the homage that would be required.

To meet the profit goal I was importing, carving and selling jade. I also onsold silk at a higher price, sold salt, wheat, millet and eventually ceramics. I was also importing a small amount of wood for my tax offices and taxing at Outrageous, combined with Very High wages as is my usual practice.

I went into heavy debt for a short while early in the 2nd year when I was importing silk to onsell but that didn't last very long. In the 2nd year I was just short of the profit goal, making a profit of 2341.

After 3 years, in Jan 93 the last goal of profit was met. That year I had made a profit of 7763, had 6 trading partners and a population of 1845.

Trade
CityBuysSells
Kashgar24 Silk
*12 Salt
12 Lacquerware
#12 Carved Jade		12 Spices
24 Jade
Chang-an#12 Carved Jade
12 Rice
12 Lacquer
12 Spices		12 Lacquerware
12 Silk
12 Wheat
12 Iron
Chengdu*24 Wheat
24 Weapons
*12 Salt		36 Rice
12 Lacquerware
12 Silk
24 Wood
Yen24 Lacquerware
*12 Ceramics		24 Bean Curd
36 Millet
12 Hemp
Lo-LangRiceWeapons
Bean Curd
Fish
Salt
FuzhouSilk
Iron
Lacquerware
Weapons		Rice
Salt
Wood
GuangzhouIron
#Carved Jade
*Wheat
Bean Curd		Salt
Rice
Weapons
Jiaozhou*Millet
*Wheat
#Carved Jade
Weapons		Lacquer
Rice
Game meat
Hemp

*Can produce
#Can produce if raw materials are imported

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