Chapter 523: Only My Unique Method Chapter 523: Hiring Knights

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Theoretically, the Phantom Wand can summon nine Chen Yis.

They share Chen Yi's senses and energy, and can separate or merge non-living cell parts. For example, letting an avatar go drink water, then returning and merging, is equivalent to both the main body and the avatar having drunk water.

Unfortunately, Chen Yi has not yet mastered the method of using nine avatars; even if summoned, they seem to have little use — multi-threaded operation in bed, where would the pleasure be?

Even so, one main body and one avatar standing on the long-pile carpet is interesting enough.

Over an hour later, Liu Xinyu, casting flirtatious glances, hooked her arm through Chen Yi's and reappeared on the city wall; the inspection time had increased to 60 hours, but tasks had increased even more — he couldn't just hide in the fortification and avoid people.

Yu Weichao, holding a stack of household registration data, stood numb in the river wind; seeing Chen Yi, he walked forward, but his legs were stiff from standing and he couldn't move his feet.

The impatient Zhang Pei crashed into him stupidly and shouted: "Mr. Chen, my family's Hard Metal Company has been built!"

"Oh? Congratulations!"

"Would like to invite Mr. Chen to grace us with your guidance……"

Chen Yi cleared his throat twice and said: "We don't do that sort of thing here."

Zhang Pei's second uncle hurriedly pulled this guy back and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen is right, new continent new atmosphere. Zhang Pei, go do your own business."

Yu Weichao had also loosened up his joints by now; he ran over and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang's Hard Metal Company is quite interesting; the Hall Master really should take a look."

Finished speaking, he handed over the household registration report and said: "The West Continent population census is complete; the total is 23,410 people. Natives only counted city residents and villagers from surrendered villages, numbering 173,200. Slaves number 213,000. Unsubmitted villages and manor residents number roughly 80,000."

Chen Yi read through it at a glance and asked: "What about Ma La?"

"This…… the nobles seem somewhat unwilling to accept the census; they believe only the Temple has the authority to register the noble roster."

Because of the Temple, West River City-State can pressure Ma La but cannot force them to obey. If not for the Temple War factor, they would have rebelled long ago when Chen Yi was extensively plundering the nobles' gold and silver.

Now with trade, relations between the two sides have eased; Yu Weichao cherishes this hard-won interest relationship.

Chen Yi pondered a moment, shook his head and said: "No. Tell the nobles that if they don't enter our household registration, a high poll tax will be levied — 100 gold coins per person per year."

This is 1,000 to 10,000 times the poll tax the nobles collect — absolutely enough to scare small landlords to death.

Yu Weichao gritted his teeth and said: "I now order a recount of Ma La's population."

"Nobles, commoners, and slaves can be kept separate, and their existing relationships maintained." Chen Yi had no intention of changing the West Continent's political model. This is such a vast land; a 400-kilometer radius merely lets him touch the edges of two city-states, coercing only a single Ma La-State.

If he exhausts his mind on political reform just to gain one Ma La, what would be the point!

Yu Weichao replied in a deep voice.

Chen Yi laughed and patted his shoulder: "Don't be nervous; the nobles' sense of honor is a bit strong, but our muscles are stronger."

He flexed his arm and said: "Whether Grand Knight, priest, or Knight, all must live under our laws; otherwise they can leave. You need to train your body well; Body Technique Level 3 — in the Rhombus Conference Hall, your level is the worst, right?"

Yu Weichao was still recording the earlier words when he heard the latter and couldn't help a bitter smile; he said embarrassedly: "Used to sitting in an office. I'll go back and squeeze in time to practice."

"Have Yin Senyong teach you." Chen Yi waved his hand decisively.

This is a huge benefit, especially for the "Jiangning People" of West River City-State — who doesn't know the Divine Art Knights' status is revered now.

Yu Weichao's heart stirred and he said: "How about this — invite the two Divine Art Knights to go with us to Ma La and register the nobles' households."

"Fine, Yin Senyong and Yin Sen Guan."

Yin Sen Guan is a West Continent scholar, versed in various noble etiquettes, equally skilled in socializing. Ma La hasn't seen its own Divine Art Knight in a long time; the effect should be quite good.

Yu Weichao took out documents for Chen Yi to sign; seeing he was about to leave, the young lady Tong, wearing a red square scarf, spoke up: "Mr. Yu, then how should the household registration for us people be calculated?"

Yu Weichao blinked and said: "We still need to study this further."

When he said this his heart was very hollow; the people opposite were all experts at the classic stalling line. Not giving household registration to non-Martial Arts Hall members residing long-term on Earth is established policy; he just couldn't directly say "there's no share for you."

On the city wall there were at least 20 inspection team members — if not provincial or vice-provincial high officials, then aristocratic scions like Zhang Pei and Miss Tong — each staring at Yu Weichao with sharp eyes, making the latter uneasy.

Miss Tong turned on her heel, pointed her sharp high heels toward Chen Yi, and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, please judge — without household registration, doing things is so inconvenient."

"You don't even know what household registration is used for; what's so inconvenient?" Chen Yi "huffed" a laugh.

The people on the city wall all laughed too.

Yu Weichao secretly breathed a sigh of relief and took the chance to slip away.

Down at the city wall base, the Martial Arts Hall personnel accompanying him patted his chest and said: "Some of them we've seen on TV — scary people."

"You brat still watch the news?" Yu Weichao slapped him across the face. Although the later Martial Arts Hall absorbed students from all over Jiangning and even the whole country, its main composition is still Jiangning people, especially the poor Jiangbei Jiangning people. They are the lower class of Chinese society; whether or not they possess the glorious identity of the working class, their lives are hard and they lack voice. With the inspection team's upper-class people they not only have no intersection, but also a natural barrier.

Today's newly established West River City-State — these Chinese high-level figures frequently come to "inspect"; whether real interests or future guarantees, all have become illusory.

Yu Weichao had originally prepared to step aside. In school he was an elite who opposed the elite class, and not getting along with government high officials was normal; he never expected Chen Yi to support him all the way, firmly excluding Earth officials from city-state management.

The household registration issue is not yet obvious; later management will be where contradictions explode.

Yu Weichao looked up and thought: No wonder the Lord wants Chen Heng as Regional Military Governor.

On the city wall, Zhang Pei stared at Liu Xinyu's striking figure and secretly swallowed saliva.

The latter deliberately gave a radiant smile, causing him to nearly fall off the wall; then covering her mouth she snickered: "Yu Weichao just said the Hard Metal Company is interesting — you guys tell me about it?"

"Oh, oh." Zhang Pei knew the beauty was teasing him; he hated it but couldn't hate it, and said with a strange gesture: "Regarding the Hard Metal Company, we actually plan to make it a sales company."

"Hm?"

"We discovered that some Combat Knights on the West Continent can manually process high-difficulty parts and perform metal treatment — equivalent to a humanoid metal processing workshop, world-class strongest fitters." Zhang Pei took a breath, as if revealing a secret, lowered his head and said: "We plan to use local cheap labor wages to establish a hard metal standard, then hand it to these Knights for processing; once scale forms, it can not only meet local mining and factory needs but also be shipped back to Earth for sale."

Chen Yi listened, nodding in a perfunctory manner, and said: "Company is established now; found any Knights?"

"This…… still looking." Zhang Pei bravely raised his head.

"Hm, not a bad direction." Chen Yi chuckled and nodded.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen." Zhang Pei was secretly pleased, thinking: This was originally your designed method; I merely maximized the benefits. What future is there just producing drill bits and weapons — we'll produce the best lathe tools, the most strictly quality-controlled aviation parts and precision instruments……

Thinking of the wonderful prospects, the corners of Zhang Pei's mouth curled up.

They talked for a while longer, and the temporary gathering on the city wall was considered concluded. Zhang Pei checked his watch and said, "Uncle Er, we'll be heading back soon anyway, so let's just not sleep and use the remaining time to recruit Combat Knights?"

"Not soon? There's still a whole day." Uncle Er looked under fifty, but his energy was still vigorous.

The two casually ate something, then began visiting according to Guangchang in Xijiang. This was the liveliest place in the city-state, and in their opinion, there would definitely be plenty of "cheap workers" appearing.

Guangchang was indeed lively.

On the empty cement ground, not only were there bored Jiangning People idling about, but also Natives from other places performing programs. The vendors' stalls, as usual, hid in the alleys, showing a patch of red cloth to attract business.

"Have you seen any Combat Knights?"

"Are you a Combat Knight?"

"Do you know where there are Combat Knights?"

Having such a conversation thirty or fifty times was already enough to irritate, let alone asking for an hour or two.

Zhang Pei suppressed the desire to post small advertisements and helplessly said to the Bodyguard Knight following behind him, "Where do you usually gather? How come I can't see a single person?"

The Combat Knight had the old-fashioned look of observing his nose and heart, and simply disdained to answer.

Zhang Pei felt a bit nostalgic for the Divine Art Knights during the first and second inspections; those guys occasionally opened their mouths to speak, acting just like Normal People.

Now the Combat Knights who came up were different, clearly discriminatory.

Asking again still yielded no answer, and Zhang Pei helplessly said, "I'll make another trip to the Rare Earth Mine; there are plenty of Combat Knights there. And we chatted last time, their skills aren't bad either."

"Those people making drill bits? Aren't they working for Chen Yi?" Uncle Er said rather impolitely, not because of what Zhang Pei said now, but because he was annoyed that Zhang Pei hadn't recruited some Knights in advance.

Zhang Pei didn't understand and laughed, "We can't find a way in now; asking them might at least let us hire some manpower."

"Don't dig into the Chen Family's wall corner, understand?"

"I understand. You stay in the city to keep recruiting people, I'll go find a Helicopter." Zhang Pei was still young, always full of hot-blooded expectations, and didn't take Uncle Er's warnings seriously.

Uncle Er didn't think it was a big problem either; after parting ways with Zhang Pei, he simply sat in the Teahouse to think of a way. The latter rushed to the barracks in a flash, took out his pass, found Zhao He who was maintaining a Helicopter, and smilingly handed him a cigarette, saying, "Brother, can you give me a ride to the Rare Earth Mine?"

Zhao He looked at the oil pipe in his hand, then at Zhang Pei, and said nothing.

"My mistake. Brother, my mistake." Zhang Pei was also flustered, quickly put away the cigarette, and smiled, saying, "My family also has military personnel, they're used to smoking, please don't mind."

"I don't mind, but you can't ride my Helicopter." Zhao He was an old Sergeant with a bit of a temper and didn't explain.

Zhang Pei unhappily went to find other pilots; after asking around, he learned that only three Helicopters were allowed to carry them, which sounded like a lot, but wasn't enough when actually used.

After waiting another two hours like this, the dispatched officer finally arranged for Zhang Pei and said, "The Rare Earth Mine is 200 Kilometers away; a round trip is one hour, and the people behind will be waiting to death."

"A round trip? Then how do I get back?" Zhang Pei

"If you're not in a hurry, there's a railway from the Mining Area to the seaside, then take a Ship to Xijiang Wharf, and then take a car back."

"200 Kilometers of road, and you want me to take three kinds of transportation?"

The officer smiled honestly and said, "Only three planes were allocated from above; actually, you wealthy people can just bring one yourself next time."

The speaker meant nothing, but the listener took it to heart; Zhang Pei turned around and wrote it down in his notebook.

After the long and endless 200 Kilometers, the Mining Area welcomed him with flying dust.

Finally finding the previous Knight Villa, a smile appeared on Zhang Pei's face. He had thought of several versions of his speech, but finally said plainly and simply, "Gentlemen, nice to meet again. I brought a meeting gift this time; look, Refined Gold."

He put a briefcase on the table, opened it, and inside were all rectangular Tungsten Steel Ingots.

The Knights gathered in the Living room stretched their necks to look like old grandmothers knitting sweaters, and said satisfied, "You Jiangning People are indeed Civilized People, with manners."

Then, more than ten Combat Knights nonchalantly divided them up.

Zhang Pei happily rubbed his hands and laughed, "Our place is rich in Refined Gold."

"Really?"

"Yes." Zhang Pei nodded hard, then started asking questions, "I'm in Xijiang; why haven't I seen a few Combat Knights? Oh, this person behind me doesn't speak."

"Where would there be Combat Knights in Xijiang? They're all outsiders like us." The Knight arrogantly raised his face and nodded at the Knight behind Zhang Pei.

The latter frowned, looking like a tough man.

Zhang Pei tried hard to distinguish them, wanting to find the Combat Knights he had seen last time.

For him, this was a bit difficult. The Native Knights were all from the same mold, with long and short beards matching long and short hair, and the rest of their faces seemed to have hair like wildfire that cannot be burned out.

Without the experience of being well-informed, distinguishing Knights was like distinguishing gorillas.

"You are indeed talents among talents."

"Mm."

"Your weapon production speed isn't slow."

"What do you do with weapons after making them?"

"Make drill bits."

With a crack, the Knight threw a standard drill bit onto the table, about the length and thickness of a 25-millimeter Shell, standing steadily upright.

"That... I have a suggestion." Zhang Pei hesitated for a moment, put on a smile, and said, "I don't know if you have equally powerful friends who can introduce them to me to also make these drill bits."

"Are you sent by Chen Yi's Divine Art Knight?" The bored Knights all sat up straight.

"Ah... yes, I am of course sent by Chen Yi." Zhang Pei expectantly said, "Do you have friends willing to come?"

"Of course, what are your requirements?" The Combat Knights scrambled to speak.

Zhang Pei was overjoyed, thinking to himself that he had indeed found the right way, and things were convenient.

Seeing the Knights so eager, Zhang Pei negotiated, "Our requirements are not many: first, they must obey management; second, they must guarantee working hours; last, the yield rate. As for the rest, oh, we plan to pay wages with Refined Gold; what do you think is appropriate?"

The Knight's eyes showed confusion, and he cautiously asked, "Can Combat Skill Level 8 also do it?"

"It's not impossible." Zhang Pei didn't understand and put on an act, saying, "As long as they can make drill bits with such craftsmanship, we have a basic wage plus piece-rate system; the specific amount we can negotiate."

"What exactly are you talking about?" The Knights were completely confused.

Zhang Pei was stunned and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"The quota to enter the Altar!"

"What is that?"

The knights paid him no further attention.

The Combat Knights who came to the West River City-State were, at the very least, Combat Skill Level 8, with hopes of advancing to Divine Art Knights. Unlike those Divine Art Knights who had bitterly endured to the end, these self-styled elite knights lacked neither money nor goods; what they pursued was the supreme Faith and Divine Arts.

They worked for Chen Yi partly because of the attraction of rare metals, but more so to obtain the quota to enter the Altar.

Ever since the West River City-State sold ten Single Divine Art Knight quotas to the two great Temples and completed the deal, the knights in the vicinity knew that the West River City-State had extra Divine Art Knight quotas, which was why they forced their way here.

The knights stationed at the Rare Earth Mining Area were the ones who arrived late, waiting until their necks ached. In contrast, those escorting Zhang Pei were Combat Knights on the verge of breaking through to ascension, so their expressions were calm and they strictly observed discipline.

Other families did not know the causal relationship here, nor the importance of Divine Art Knights, and naturally assumed they could use rare items as currency — the matter of trading glass beads for gold had long been done by Chen Yi, so where was their turn?

Zhang Pei stared blankly for half an hour, and only when the monthly salary reached 1 ton of Refined Gold did a knight with a red beard lazily say: "We are to work for Lord Chen Yi the Divine Art Knight; if Level 1 Combat Technique knights can satisfy you, my family has a few young ones idling about."

"Fine, fine." Where did Zhang Pei still have the stiffness to hold out?

"I want 1 ton of gift money per person." The red-bearded knight's eyes shone.

"How many people?"

"1 ton per person." This was absolutely a lion's mouth opening wide, bullying Zhang Pei.

Zhang Pei gritted his teeth and said: "I'll give you two tons, but you must find me 100 Combat Knights, half of whom must be at your level."

All the knights roared with laughter.

The red-bearded knight held his belly and said: "Right now it's the Temple War period; Family Knights who can move freely are few and far between. If not for becoming Divine Art Knights, who would come here? Cut the nonsense, 1 ton of gift money, find one Level 1 Combat Knight."

Zhang Pei believed it to be true, gritted his teeth and said "Deal." Tungsten Steel itself was worth tens of thousands; the trouble lay in the channel's quota. The Zhang Family had snatched a monthly share of 2000 tons, hoping it wouldn't all be used to pay wages.

With the cooperation agreement finalized, Zhang Pei was weak as can be, while the knights clapped in celebration.

They were not short of money, but free money delivered to the door — if you don't take it, you don't take it.

"Truly don't want to go back." Carrying the thick contract, Zhang Pei blankly boarded the freight train.

……(Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)