Protect Our Patriarch-Chapter 84Book 5: : Riches and honor dig at the corner of the immortal’s wall

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After the two parties exchanged greetings.

Zhao Xiqing finally looked Wang Fugui up and down and said, "Fugui, why are you holding the Fourth Princess Token? You must know that this is not something to joke about."

In her eyes, although Wang Fugui had a noble status and was said to be quite outstanding, he was still just a young boy. How could he possibly possess the Fourth Princess Token?

"I happen to know a bit about this matter," said the King of the South, Yun Xiayang, who had been silent until now. He looked at Wang Fugui with a smile and said, "I heard there was quite a commotion at the Northern Territory Wang Mansion recently. Although the Northern Territory Wang suppressed the news for the sake of face, many elders of the Yun Clan have heard that the Fourth Little Princess has someone in her heart. Young man, you have quite the skills."

"This is His Highness, the King of the South," Zhao Xiqing introduced in a low voice.

"Greetings, Your Highness," Wang Fugui cupped his hands in salute. "Mengyu and I are like-minded friends. Please don't believe the rumors, Your Highness."

"Friends are friends. After all, you are still young, and who knows what the future holds," the King of the South said with a nonchalant smile. "But why have you come with the Princess Token this time?"

"It's actually not a big deal," Wang Fugui said, cupping his hands. "Our Changning Wang's Clan has some unique insights in the refining industry. We have shared technology with the Great Qian's military and the Gongye Clan of the Great Qian to jointly develop a new type of armor."

"This is Senior Luo Yuqing, our product promotion ambassador stationed in the Immortal Dynasty. She has been quite successful in promoting various products and building channels, except for encountering many obstacles with the new armor."

The King of the South's face gradually darkened. "So, you used Mengyu's Princess Token and your special relationship with Zhao Xiqing to pave the way?"

Although Yun Mengyu was from the Northern Territory Wang Mansion, any princess was theoretically a princess of the entire Han Yue Immortal Dynasty. From the King of the South's perspective, whether it was Princess Jing'an or the Fourth Little Princess, they were all juniors of the Yun Clan.

"The King of the South guessed correctly," Wang Fugui calmly said, ignoring the King's anger. "However, even with these two relationships, whether the Black Armor Department adopts our new armor depends on the quality of our product."

"Good," the King of the South said with narrowed eyes, a smile playing on his lips. "I want to see how good the quality of your so-called new armor is." He thought to himself, it's a good thing I didn't avoid this; otherwise, who knows what backdoor this kid would have taken.

"Director Zhao," Wang Fugui politely addressed Zhao Xiqing, "we have brought ten sets of new armor suitable for Lingtai Realm cultivators. We need you to arrange for ten people to test the armor."

"Fugui, relationships are relationships, but because of our relationship, I will be even stricter in assessing your product," Zhao Xiqing said seriously. "I hope you are mentally prepared."

With that, she waved her hand, summoning ten Lingtai Realm guards.

"Wait, Xiqing, you find five," the King of the South said, waving his hand. "I'll find five servants from the mansion."

The Northern Territory Wang Mansion was a place where even a qualified servant was at the Lingtai Realm, and the family soldiers and servants accompanying him were at least at the Celestial Realm.

This was the terrifying foundation of an Immortal Dynasty's mansion.

Yet, even so, most of the main forces of the Immortal Dynasty's army were still primarily composed of Lingtai Realm cultivators.

An hour later.

The ten Lingtai Realm testers were finally assembled.

Luo Yuqing also presented ten sets of new armor for testing. These armors, like the Immortal Dynasty's standard black armor, exuded a dignified black aura, but structurally, they seemed more delicate.

"This is the Wang's Clan's ninth-generation modular black armor flagship version," Luo Yuqing explained carefully. "Unlike the original one-piece design, the Wang's Clan's black armor uses a standard modular design and manufacturing process. The entire set of armor has twenty-one modules, each of which can be quickly replaced individually if damaged, and it is upgradeable."

Under Luo Yuqing's guidance, the testers began to wear the new armor and start testing. She continued, "The flagship version uses a reinforced black iron frame at critical points, and for other parts, depending on the protection level, it uses third to fifth-tier fierce crocodile leather as the main material."

"The lining and joint areas use the soft yet tough belly skin of the fierce crocodile."

"The overall weight is half of the standard black armor, with overall defense reduced by twenty percent, but flexibility and speed increased by thirty percent."

As Luo Yuqing introduced, the testers, guided by the Black Armor Department's specialized personnel, began various performance tests. As expected, the data was almost identical to what Luo Yuqing described, and the actual performance was even slightly better.

"The outer side of the leg components has two embedded small lightweight rune slots. By injecting profound energy, one can become as light as a swallow, enhancing battlefield mobility."

"The elbows have external spiritual tool shield and spiritual tool crossbow slots, allowing different spiritual tools to be mounted as needed, significantly increasing blocking defense and long-range attack capabilities."

Gradually.

Luo Yuqing and the King of the South's eyes began to light up. Although the overall defense was slightly lower than the standard black armor, the overall performance seemed to be higher.

"This set... Wang's Clan what version?" the King of the South asked. "How much black iron does it use?"

"Wang's Clan's ninth-generation modular black armor flagship version," Luo Yuqing quickly replied. "The black iron usage is thirty percent of the standard black armor, with the rest being various tiers of fierce crocodile leather."

The King of the South's heart stirred. Thirty percent black iron usage! With the current skyrocketing black iron prices, isn't this extremely cost-effective?

"Why don't you use all black iron?" Zhao Xiqing also asked. "You know, on the battlefield, defense means survival."

"Director Zhao, let me answer that," Wang Fugui said. "The Wang's Refining Headquarters has been researching armor for a long time, but has always been troubled by one issue, which is materials. As we all know, our Great Qian is a 'barren land,' with relatively low black iron ore production. The Great Qian military even imports black iron ingots from the Immortal Dynasty at high prices to make up for the shortfall."

"But the problem is that black iron prices have been rising steadily over the years, and our Wang's Clan 'just happens' to have a fierce crocodile breeding industry, so naturally, we should go with the plan of reducing black iron usage and increasing the use of fierce beast leather."

Wang Fugui spoke eloquently, "Moreover, my Ancestor Grandfather said that black iron is a non-renewable resource. Even the Immortal Dynasty's official black iron mines have been largely depleted, and the further we go, the lower the black iron production will be, and the higher the prices will rise. Reforming armor is an inevitable trend."

"But the fierce crocodiles we breed are different. Although the current cost is still not low, as the breeding scale and production increase, the unit cost will only get lower. Moreover, this is a renewable resource, which can continuously strengthen our human defense."

"That makes sense," the King of the South pondered. "In fact, our Immortal Armament Division has long tried to replace black iron with leather armor, but the cost of obtaining fierce beast and spiritual beast leather is far higher than mining and smelting black iron. Even though black iron prices have reached such a staggering level, the cost is still far lower than breeding fierce beast leather."

"The King of the South is right. From what I know, the Immortal Dynasty has also made achievements in the breeding industry. Some high-end commanders and generals use breeding-type dragon leather armor, but the cost is extremely high, making large-scale promotion in the army almost impossible," Wang Fugui said. "But our Wang's Clan is different. We first made significant improvements in the unit yield and unit cost of food crops."

"When the unit cost of food is low, the unit cost of the meat pigs and meat cattle we breed is low, and the cost transferred to the fierce crocodiles will reduce the breeding cost. At the same time, we use a large-scale semi-free-range method to breed fierce crocodiles, further reducing breeding costs."

"In addition, we have continuously researched and improved slaughtering, leather classification, tanning, and armor-making processes, further reducing costs..."

One thing Wang Fugui didn't mention was that in the production of black iron components, the Wang's Clan had long adopted stamping technology. After stamping out the components, they were finely processed by trial equipment makers, greatly saving the consumption of trial equipment makers.

And trial equipment makers didn't need to master the crafting of every component but worked in a division of labor. Each trial equipment maker focused on crafting one component, greatly increasing their proficiency bonus.

But even so, the King of the South's eyes were already shining. "What's the price of this new armor set?"

"Two thousand Immortal crystals," Wang Fugui said calmly.

"What?" The King of the South's eyelid twitched violently. "Even with the skyrocketing black iron prices, if we purchase high-priced black iron ourselves and have the Black Armor Department craft the armor, the total cost of a set is only thirteen hundred Immortal crystals. Why should we buy your new armor? No wonder you can't sell your armor!"

"Your Highness, that's not correct," Wang Fugui said calmly. "Our Wang's Clan's ninth-generation modular black armor flagship version has greater advantages compared to traditional standard black armor."

"If it has so many advantages, why not arm the Great Qian military?" The King of the South glared at Wang Fugui angrily.

"The Great Qian court is too poor to afford it, and most of the Great Qian military are Qi Refining Realm soldiers who can't handle such high-end armor," Wang Fugui said frankly. "We need to earn more money from the Immortal Dynasty to quickly expand production and further reduce costs. Meanwhile, the Great Qian military also needs time and resources to grow to be worthy of such armor."

"So your Wang's Clan plans to treat our Immortal Dynasty as a fool, to pay for your high upfront costs," the King of the South said, half-laughing, half-crying. "Do you think we have more money than sense?"

"Your Highness, we are all part of the human race, so why be so petty? The Immortal Dynasty is so vast and powerful, even a single hair is thicker than the Great Qian's thigh," Wang Fugui sighed. "Although our Great Qian is weak, we have always fought hard on the outer region battlefield, striving to fulfill our responsibilities. Since founding the nation, we haven't hesitated to sacrifice lives on the outer region battlefield. We also want to grow stronger quickly to share more of the Immortal Dynasty's burden."

The King of the South paused. The Eastern Qian Kingdom had indeed been doing its best on the outer region battlefield. Moreover, this time, the Wei Clan and the one behind them had gone too far. Rather than letting the Wei Clan benefit, it might be better to...

For a moment, the King of the South was tempted.

Suddenly, he thought of something and stared at Wang Fugui. "You, do you know something?"

"Yes, I know," Wang Fugui nodded honestly.

"You know what I mean when I say you know something?"

"Yes, I know you know what I mean when I say you know something."

"Speak plainly!" The King of the South rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Your Highness. I know that a group of black iron mine owners, led by the Wei Clan, have been hoarding and manipulating black iron prices for a long time," Wang Fugui said honestly. "Do you want to know how I found out?"

"The reason is simple. I compiled the Wei Clan's mining tax records and production registration records for nearly three hundred years, as well as the tax deductions for personnel costs and other expenses, into a big data table. From the table data, I deduced that their expenditure costs should be about thirty percent higher than their production registration... From the data anomalies, I calculated... Then I combined the tax records of other clans... and the labor efficiency ratio..."

"Your Highness, that's the simple process."

"Simple..." The King of the South was speechless. He seemed to understand every word Wang Fugui said, but in reality, he didn't understand at all. After staring for a long time, he could only squeeze out, "So, you're here to take advantage of the situation? How are you any better than the Wei Clan?"

By this time, the King of the South no longer dared to treat Wang Fugui as a child.

"It's different. Our high price is due to high costs and good performance, while the Wei Clan is maliciously profiting from national disasters," Wang Fugui said calmly. "Actually, I have a plan that can make the Wei Clan go for wool and come back shorn, not only making them return their ill-gotten gains but also reducing our cost by three hundred Immortal crystals."

"What brilliant plan? Tell me quickly," the King of the South said, his spirits lifted. To be honest, he was already fed up with the Wei Clan, and before Wang Fugui appeared, he was ready to accept the Wei Clan's extortion.

"This plan requires some cooperation from the Black Armor Department..." Wang Fugui pulled the King of the South and Zhao Xiqing aside and whispered to them.

Soon.

The King of the South and Zhao Xiqing looked at Wang Fugui with eyes full of astonishment.

This wasn't a brilliant plan; it was a vicious one. Could he be any more ruthless?

"No, no, if this plan succeeds, your Wang's Clan will make a huge profit," the King of the South grabbed Wang Fugui and said righteously, "Our Immortal Dynasty may be vast and wealthy, but we also have many expenses and consumptions. I can cooperate with your vicious, no, brilliant plan. But your armor must be discounted to fifteen hundred Immortal crystals. We have an order for a full three hundred thousand sets!"

"No," Wang Fugui shook his head. "Our raw materials and manpower can't handle such a large order. We can produce at most one hundred thousand sets, and the remaining two hundred thousand sets are beyond our capacity. After all, both fierce crocodile breeding and trial equipment maker training are not things that can be done overnight."

"The shortage of fierce crocodile production can be solved. Our Immortal Dynasty also has some fierce crocodiles in the wild. I can send troops to hunt them down, but this is a temporary measure. You need to speed up breeding to reduce costs," the King of the South said through gritted teeth. "Your Ancestor is right; black iron resources are gradually falling behind, and reform is imperative."

On the battlefield, although some resources could be recovered, there were often cases where an entire army was wiped out, and nothing could be brought back.

"As for trial equipment makers..." The King of the South hesitated slightly.

"We have a large number of idle trial equipment makers in the Black Armor Department," Zhao Xiqing said, her eyes rolling as she chimed in. "Instead of letting them idle, it's better to involve them in the new armor production to speed up progress."

"But our factories and production lines are all in the Great Qian," Wang Fugui said, blinking.

"That's even better, no, no, I mean, we can send trial equipment makers to the Great Qian to work. We can send at least two thousand, including some at the Celestial Realm and Purple Mansion Realm," the King of the South said, determined to make this order happen, not letting the Wei Clan succeed.

Moreover, if Wang Fugui's vicious plan succeeded, the Wei Clan would be in big trouble, allowing the King of the South to vent his anger.

"But the Great Qian is a barren land with harsh and simple conditions. Will the trial equipment makers complain and affect the order progress?" Wang Fugui said worriedly.

"I will give you enough authority," the King of the South said heartily. "Before completing this order, these two thousand trial equipment makers will be under your Wang's Clan's jurisdiction. Anyone who dares to mess up at this time will be punished."

"Sigh~~ But I'm still worried," Wang Fugui said with concern. "What if the trial equipment makers go to the Great Qian, fall in love with the simple customs, and refuse to return to the Immortal Dynasty?"

The King of the South almost spat out blood, glaring, "You young kid, why do you have so many problems? I know what you're up to. You're definitely eyeing our Immortal Dynasty's excellent trial equipment makers, trying to recruit some."

"Your Highness is wise; nothing can be hidden from you," Wang Fugui said, somewhat dejected and disappointed.

"Hmph, in front of this King, you'd better keep your little tricks to yourself. I've eaten more salt than you... Forget it..." The King of the South impatiently waved his hand. "If your Wang's Clan has the ability to recruit, then go ahead. After completing this order, anyone who wants to stay in the Great Qian and not return to the Immortal Dynasty, this King will not make it difficult for them. Let them choose to stay or return."

He thought to himself, given the conditions in the Eastern Qian, even if they tried their best to recruit our proud trial equipment makers, how many could they recruit?

Who would want to stay in the countryside instead of the Immortal Dynasty?

Could they recruit dozens? A hundred?

Heh, let them play their little tricks. If anyone is really recruited, consider it a way to support the Eastern Qian Kingdom indirectly.

Wang Fugui was overjoyed, bowing deeply, "Fugui thanks Your Highness for your great kindness, but this promise must be included in the order contract."

"Bah, you really are a petty person with a gentleman's heart. This King always keeps his word," the King of the South said disdainfully.

"Fugui always believes in being a petty person before a gentleman. Since Your Highness won't break his promise, let's sign it."

"Sign it, then."

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