Chapter 236: The Map Exhausted, the Dagger Appears

Great King contacted Zhu Ti that evening and already knew the outcome. This matter was also perfectly resolved, and he even earned an unexpected windfall; Great King was very satisfied.

"When you come back, you don't need to rush; just take your time returning. Your affairs… I will take good care of them for you!"

Zhu Ti believed it and nodded, "Then we'll pose as a merchant house and swing by Gunzhou to have a look; the sea goods in the warehouse can be sold in a batch there. What we took from the Wang family, we still have some obvious assets in hand; on the way back, should we exchange them for goods?"

Great King thought for a moment, "In this world, nothing is useful except food; let's exchange it for grain and bring it back. You also need to be careful when you're out… wait, Gunzhou? On the way, please deliver the horses owed to Prince Qinghe; only a few nearby commanderies' debts remain."

When Great King sold it then, he collected the money happily; cashing in required those nobles' letters to urge.

Prince Guangling sent two consecutive letters scolding him, only after the horses arrived…

Great King took over Zhu Ti's work—no need to say more—the amount of silver passing through his hands each day was considerable. He also didn't quite understand: with so much money, how could they still be poor?

That day, the silver mine delivered half a month's output, a full twenty thousand taels. The earlier portion was deposited into Great King's private treasury, and later he withdrew it, directly adding it to the previous two months' amount, for a total of one million taels all credited to the Ingot Card.

Great King finally splurged!

Because that same day, he heard from Zhu Ti's intelligence division that his father the emperor's great army had reached Anding Commandery.

Great King also saw the light: given the situation of Great Jin, hoarding silver is worse than arming himself. Otherwise, who knows who that silver will end up cheapening in the future.

After stockpiling grain for two years, there's plenty; let's stockpile weapons instead.

Though he had resolved to do so, he didn't want to delay Great King's worried muttering: "Mengmeng, you're also doing well now; I've already splurged on you. Before this year, could you even dare imagine it? I couldn't even dare imagine!"

Bai Ze heard this and said, "That's true; this spring the iron tree should be able to bloom."

Great King: "... Hmph! Although I didn't understand, it's definitely not anything good."

Adding the ten thousand from Liaodong, if the fifty-thousand-strong army were all equipped with sturdy weapons from Myriad Worlds, Great King would still have a shortage of twenty thousand weapons. Relying solely on that copper mine is too slow.

Great Jin's weapon manufacturing still relies on artisans hammering out each piece by hand; Great King disliked that slowness, so he turned his attention back to John Pu.

Moreover, the main reason is that John Pu's two new products are truly fragrant.

The Wolf Fang Halberd is suitable for cavalry battlefield use; that straight sword can not only be used on the battlefield but also serve as a sidearm in peacetime.

After receiving samples and trying them for two days, Great King fell in love; the Owl Cavalry also has many who find the Wolf Fang Halberd handy—no more talk, just spend the money and buy!

His maternal grandfather, far away in the southwest and a worry, also wanted to get two good items for him.

On the battlefield, a good weapon can exchange for life.

Great King appeared at the entrance of the homeland weapons shop with his hands behind his back; John Pu almost burst out laughing like a sunflower.

Serving tea and water, inviting him to the seat of honor—all that was left was to massage his legs.

Great King took a sip of the tea he brought up, and almost spat it out in one gulp. It was bitter, astringent, and sour—Great King hadn't tasted such an exotic flavor in years. "... What is this?"

John Pu hurriedly switched it for him, "Really sorry, Your Highness the Prince, I got overexcited and mixed it up—this is my black coffee!"

Great King sighed, "Forget it, I don't want to drink. I don't want anything at all—I'm not in the mood."

When John Pu heard that his biggest patron, Daddy, was unhappy, oh no! He inquired before and after why Great King was unhappy, hoping to ease things a bit.

Great King then launched into his worries: foreign tribe invasions, his father leading a personal campaign—he was anxious, unable to eat or sleep well. He feared both for his father's safety and that his neighbors might take the opportunity to move south, and so on.

The matters are real, but in fact Great King has already finished worrying.

John Pu almost burst out laughing upon hearing that—no, he had to struggle to keep a straight face. "Your Highness, as your best friend in the homeland, I must speak frankly: just worrying is useless; you need to arm yourself well to resist foreign foes! To be frank, only by becoming strong yourself can you help His Majesty the King!"

Great King sighed, "I know, I also know that equipping the army well gives a chance of victory. But I have no ingots—otherwise I wouldn't have to painstakingly hammer weapons slowly myself; buying them from you would be much better!"

John Pu delighted, "No no no, forging yourself is too troublesome; your friend John Pu can completely take over the labor, I can sell to Your Highness at a discount!"

"Can't afford to buy."

"Present-day Great King can't afford to buy."

"My country is in turmoil, and I have no extra budget either."

"Forging them myself only needs labor; I have copper and iron myself. By the way… John Pu, can I exchange copper with you for weapons?"

John Pu: "Huh?"

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John Pu is used to being straightforward; the longest road he's walked in his life is probably Great King's scheme.

Great King saw John Pu dazed from his circling and then explained, "I've already inquired about this: copper, as a base metal, is a very stable and durable metal, with wide applications and stable nature, usable anywhere, especially in advanced places. I have no money but I do have copper—can't I exchange copper with you for weapons? Don't your alloys contain copper?"

John Pu reacted and began to seriously consider the problem, "There is, there is…" Although copper can be recycled through craftsmanship, that's limited to pure copper. Once it's made into an alloy like their weapons, it can't be reverted. So the copper there is also valuable.

But, "What a hassle, Your Highness! If you turn copper into money, then exchange it for ingots to buy weapons from me, isn't it the same?"

Great King was speechless, thinking, "Do you think I don't know that?"

"My father merely went to the battlefield; he's not dead. The mineral deposits in our territory belong to the state, that is, to my father the emperor, not to me as a feudal prince. Selling copper in large quantities? No, that's illegal."

The reason he didn't say it is that his brother Bai Ge analyzed that John Pu's place might be more developed than they imagined; if it reached that level, such mineral deposits might already be nearly exhausted, and pure copper could fetch a high price, making the exchange ratio potentially profitable.

A clear example is that Great King's spending and Bai Yang's spending, when calculated in silver, are also different.

John Pu values Great King highly; after thinking a bit, he said, "Your Highness, how do you plan to make the exchange? First propose a plan, and I'll have people calculate the costs before deciding."

Great King sighed, "If copper can take part in our business, I want to buy a thousand Wolf Fang Halberds, three thousand of those new swords, plus some spears and arrows. Go back and calculate the cost of those weapons in copper, then report a new price to me; if not, I'll have to increase manpower and forge them myself!" He had already asked Bai Yang; there, copper sells for seventy to eighty thousand per ton. Once he clarifies the weight of a ton, Great King feels exchanging copper for weapons holds great promise.

Great King felt he couldn't let the shop fleece him unilaterally; he needed to shear wool back from elsewhere to have a future.

When that figure was reported, John Pu was indeed infinitely tempted.

The two agreed to meet again the next day, after which Great King continued setting up his stall.

The newly acquired ingots from his recent spending, he took them out and placed an order with Qiao Yi for a batch of pills—just one kind of use, to treat external injuries and preserve life.

He intended to give one pill to each of the main forces on the battlefield to keep on their person for protection.

Great King consoled himself, saying a human life is priceless, while silver is merely an external possession.

The huge sum changed hands and was more than half gone; exchanging it for Qiao Yi made him grin ear to ear.

The Great King sat cross-legged, chin propped, smiling at everyone who passed by, desperately trying to act cute while he was still young enough to pull it off. He felt that after age ten it would be embarrassing to do this.

He wore a smile on his face, but inside he was howling in misery: "My little money~ I, the king, am unhappy~ Am I not working for you? ~ Ah!!!"

Qiao Yi, beside him, pulled his fire leopard in celebration, saying, "Earning more than beast pellets, little flame~ We've gotten rich, gotten rich~ I'll buy you a fire spirit chicken to eat when we get back, hahaha~ Are you happy?"

The fire leopard rolled on the spot for him.

Great King: ……

Being human, we still can't fathom each other's joys and sorrows.

The Great King snapped: "What's a fire spirit chicken? Your big customer hasn't even tried one."

Qiao Yi, catching his meaning, immediately responded: "Esteemed big customer, I understand—I'll bring you the fattest one tomorrow!"

The Great King lifted his proud little neck: "That's more like it!"