Chapter 111: The Upstart

Ruide had talked a lot with the players without realizing it; perhaps it was because the pumpkin porridge was too delicious, or perhaps the tasty side dishes were too good, but of course, it was more likely because he truly felt that his future prospects were very bleak.

His master's blacksmith shop did not belong to him, and even if he could find a job relying on his skills in the future, it would definitely not compare to how things were now.

After all, relying on his master now allowed him to take on quite a few large orders; if it were before, how could he possibly have been allowed out to deliver an order of 10 axes?

His master would have preferred for him to work without any breaks at all.

The players learned quite a lot from Ruide; although he did not explain things in detail, they were able to deduce which points were important by relying on their ability to look up information.

"It seems that blacksmithing is indeed a very interesting thing. If there is an opportunity, I will ask you for more advice," Zhongshan Laoren said sincerely.

Ruide was stunned for a moment, then laughed heartily and said, "You want to be blacksmiths too?"

"No, we hope to make more useful things—not blacksmithing, but steelmaking," Zhongshan Laoren said truthfully. He did not feel there was any problem with such an exchange; after all, Ruide would know what they were doing sooner or later.

Such a large steel plant would be very famous in Tana City, or even the entire Federal, in the future.

So there was no need to hide it at all.

"You want to make steel? The kind used to produce factory equipment?" Tana City did not have particularly high-tech factories; the factories were mainly used to produce daily necessities like food or porcelain. However, Ruide had seen some high-tech things, such as the printing press in the newspaper office, which looked very complex, and the materials used were much better than what the blacksmiths could forge themselves.

It was said that it was the production technology of the Royal Capital; a small place like Tana City could not produce it at all, and being able to import one was already considered very remarkable.

So if it broke, no one knew how to fix it. Ruide had also tried to repair this machine, but to be honest, he really did not understand the structure inside.

Hearing that these Xiahui People wanted to make steel, his first reaction was that these people had higher technology than he did!

His eyes lit up immediately; what would happen if he mastered technology that even his master didn't know?

"You could say that. Our main goal is to produce tools that everyone can afford. Haven't you noticed that the production efficiency in Tana City is very low? Manor farming still uses very primitive manual methods, and the tools are not handy either," Zhongshan Laoren pointed to the land at the foot of the mountain. "Moreover, I heard that the nobles are about to import Harvesters for harvesting, which shows that these industrial products will sooner or later replace the current manual farming methods, at least saving a lot of manpower."

"Then what will happen to these serfs?" Ruide asked, suddenly feeling a bit worried.

"They can join our Steel Plant, or go to work in the factories. In any case, it's at least much better than being serfs. I happen to know that serfs generally don't get paid wages." Tana City was a very strange city; there were no native farmers at all, and those who grew Grain were all serfs.

It was said that three hundred years ago, the descendants of prisoners from the Federal War all became serfs.

Later, the Federal would also purchase serf populations from other countries, and since Tana City was an autonomous city to begin with, the nobles could be said to be somewhat unscrupulous in their use of serfs.

Every year, a large number of serfs were starved or worked to death by the nobles, so in any case, it was more appropriate to be a worker.

At least that was how it looked for now.

Ruide thought for a moment, then said to Zhongshan Laoren, "If you really want to make steel, I think I might be able to help. If you are willing to hire me then, I am willing to assist you in continuing this work."

"You really think so?" Zhongshan Laoren said, somewhat surprised.

He did not expect that a skilled blacksmith would decide to join in after only chatting with him for a while.

"Of course, I also hope to accomplish something big," Ruide finished the last of the pumpkin porridge. "If you need any help in the future, just come to the blacksmith shop to find me."

"Then we are truly grateful." This was definitely an unexpected joy for the players.

They had previously felt that NPC favorability was hard to grind, but now it seemed that was not the case at all.

What was hard to grind might just be those high-profile NPCs who had names, managed players, or belonged to the church.

For commoner NPCs, favorability might be very easy to grind.

After Ruide left, the players once again threw themselves into their exciting work; with tools, the speed of felling trees was indeed much faster.

The players were even divided into two parts: one part stayed at the coking site to chop wood, build fires, and dry the firewood, while the other part transported timber on the mountain.

Andrew, sitting in his room, pushed open the window and saw the cooking smoke above the Coking Plant at a glance.

In the Factory District of Tana City, there was rarely such smoke, as Tana City was mainly focused on light industry.

It seemed that those Tikuangshi needed to be put on the agenda quickly; otherwise, how could it work if those Believers had the coke ready, but he hadn't bought the ore yet?

He once again clutched his documents, walked out of the room, got into a carriage, and arrived at the Chamber of Commerce.

"I'm glad you've come to your senses," Gaisen, the receptionist at the Chamber of Commerce, said with a chuckle. "These Tikuangshi are already at a very low price."

"It's like this: I would like to know what the Chamber of Commerce's purchase price is for things like steel plates?" Andrew replied calmly.

He had been negotiating with the Chamber of Commerce for many days, but this guy named Gaisen kept holding firm on the price.

If he were to purchase at the price he suggested, Andrew would really be losing money.

Because the other party demanded payment in Xide, not Tana.

This was also a recent reform of the Chamber of Commerce; as for commoners, they could refuse the exchange of Tana, because commoners could not enter the Chamber of Commerce at all.

Based on their attire alone, commoners would just be blocked outside.

As for the nobles, they either directly exchanged Tana for Xide or traded directly using Xide.

In other words, the Chamber of Commerce would absolutely not give up even the smallest bit of its own profit.

Then Andrew had to sign a purchase agreement with the other party, otherwise, he would be at too much of a loss.

Gaisen did not believe that this guy, who didn't look that wealthy, could really make any steel.

The Chamber of Commerce never lacked such suckers; these guys often had a little extra money in their hands after one or two small adventures, and then they thought about continuing to adventure and expanding their business, only to lose everything.

Gaisen had heard of this guy named Andrew long ago.

This guy who had suddenly become rich had bought half a street of shops on Store Street, but hadn't rented out many of them at all.

And he had even gone so far as to build an Orphanage out of the kindness of his heart... just thinking about it felt ridiculous.

How many people could he support?

(End of this chapter)