Chapter 95 Non-ferrous ore vein
Xu Yi looked up at a small hill that was in the distance on the Black Rice Wasteland. He pointed at the log cabins that were scattered around that seemed to be a village and asked chairman Renersa, “That should be the Voller wolfmen tribe, right?”
Chairman Renersa looked at Xu Yi in surprise, “Chairman Xu, how did you know? Have you been to the Black Rice Wasteland before?”
“I’ve never been, but I know that there are some good things near the Voller wolfmen tribe.” Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, as he pointed at the small hill and said to chairman Renersa, “Didn’t you say that you didn’t know the benefits of building roads to the gates of beastmen tribes? Let me tell you, as long as we dig out a few things from that small hill, it’ll be enough to repay the costs of building a road.”
Chairman Renersa and chairman Cruise looked at the normal looking hill and chairman Renersa shook his head, “I’ve been here many times, but I’ve never seen any treasures hidden in that small hill.”
“That’s right. Even if there are good things, this wolfmen tribe would have already dug it out to sell, would they wait for you to dig it out?” Chairman Cruise also had a look of disbelief.
“First, they don’t have the ability to dig the treasure out of the ground. Second, they can’t recognize the treasure at all, even if they had the ability to dig it up.” Xu Yi said, “Right now I have the ability to dig out these treasures and I know what use these treasures have, then who would dig it up if not me?”
Seeing Xu Yi’s smile that didn’t seem like he was joking, chairman Cruise asked with knit brows, “Chairman Xu, what treasure is there underneath? Is it worth you specially coming to visit the beastmen?”
Xu Yi looked at chairman Renersa, “Chairman Renersa, are you also interested?”
Chairman Renersa thought about it before saying with a nod, “Of course I’m interested. I have done business with the beastmen of the Black Rice Wastelands for many years, but this is my first time hearing of a treasure hidden in this broken place. Chairman Xu, please speak. If there are good things, everyone can work together to dig it out for money.”
“Alright.” Xu Yi deliberately said this in front of them, naturally he was planning on including them,
To do something under the eyes of the beastmen tribes of the Black Rice Wasteland, it would be hard without someone that was familiar with this place.
Chairman Renersa was the best candidate for Xu Yi.
“According to the information I have now, if there are no surprises, there is a rich non-ferrous metal lode under this hill. The main things hidden are aluminum and copper, with some tungsten and lead ores. If we can mine them, it would be very good towards developing an industrial system. Even if it isn’t used in the magic machine industry, it can be used in other places……”
“Humph!” Chairman Cruise lifted his hand to cut Xu Yi off, “I say, chairman Xu, I can’t understand a single word that you are saying. I know about copper because it is used when making copper coins. But what are non-ferrous metals? What aluminum, tungsten, and lead ores? What are you talking about?”
Chairman Renersa on the side also looked confused, “That’s right, I know that copper is, but what are the non-ferrous metals you mentioned and what use do they have? What do they look like?”
Xu Yi was stunned, but he remembered the reason. The Sines Continent didn’t have many uses for non-ferrous metals, other than opening some copper mines to make copper coins. Because the industrial system hadn’t been developed, there weren’t even that many places where iron was used.
Not to mention that before being processed, the non-ferrous metals weren’t comparable to iron.
“Eh…..I’m afraid I con’t explain the properties and uses of non-ferrous metals in a short period of time. Let’s put it like this, right now the Falcoa Chamber of Commerce is already selling a ton of iron ore for seven gold coins. Then do you know how much I’m willing to pay for a ton of copper ores?”
Chairman Cruise knit his brows, “Copper ore is mainly used in creating copper coins, so the kingdom officials strictly manage them. Even if you wanted to buy it, it is impossible for the Falcao Chamber of Commerce to sell it to you.”
“Un? Alright, let me change my example. Eh…..The difference in aluminum is too much, so I’ll use lead. For a ton of lead, I’m willing to buy it for twenty gold coins!”
Chairman Cruise and chairman Renersa were shocked at the same time, “Are you serious?”
“Of course, what would I lie to you for?” Xu Yi gave a soft snort, “Let me tell you, the uses of non-ferrous metals are more widespread than iron, it is demanded in large amounts when it comes to magic machines. Chairman Cruise, didn’t you always want me to make you some large scale magic machines? My company could never develop it before was not just because of the Magic Array research limit, but also the material limit.”
“It’s because you need these non-ferrous metals?” Chairman Cruise asked.
“Un, it’s that. Just with iron and steel alloys, it’s impossible to build large scale magic machines.”
Actually these words were nonsense. To build a large scale road building magic machine, he could do it with pure steel.
But now Xu Yi was pulling the two of them into a partnership, so he could take advantage of how they didn’t understand and talk nonsense.
As expected, when hearing Xu Yi’s answer, chairman Cruise gave a nod, “Un, I understand now. But it doesn’t matter what use it has, I just need to know that these non-ferrous metals are valuable. Since they’re worth money……”
Chairman Cruise looked at chairman Renersa and he gave a cold snort, “These valuable things will be wasted staying in the beastmen land. Anyway, these simpleminded beastmen will not understand the value of these things, so we might as well help them dig it out.”
Xu Yi laughed. He thought that chairman Renersa didn’t know his own personality. He had spent time with the beastmen too much and had been affected by the barbaric nature of the beastmen.
But it was good that he was willing to join, it didn’t matter what personality he had.
Of course, to want to hide the mining of non-ferrous metals under the eyes of the beastmen, they had to discuss their plan.
The three of them discussed this for a while before deciding on an initial plan. First chairman Renersa would bring the two of them into the Voller wolfmen clan for a look before deciding their actions.
After deciding on an initial plan, Xu Yi went to Still who was walking by the tall grass of the plains not far away.
“What is the situation?” Xu Yi asked.
Still had a serious face as she shook her head, “Not good. Look…..”
Still stomped down hard on the ground and there was a small hole that appeared.
There wasn’t any moisture in the hole at all, only sand.
“This wasteland has become like this, no wonder there was so much silt in the river.” Still said with a heavy voice, “But I’ve asked Agnes and the others about this. They’ve said that although the Black Rice Wasteland has been desolate, the ground had always been covered in grass and it wasn’t as dry as sand as it is now.”
“It should be because of the beastmen’s overgrazing. It’s caused the vegetation of the wasteland to wither, so it caused the soil to erode.”
Xu Yi leaned over and grabbed a handful from the ground, grabbing some scattered sand.
He slightly opened his fingers and the sand flowed through his fingers just like water.
With the feeling of sand running through his fingers, Xu Yi’s heart filled with emotions.
This scene was just like the northwest of China back on earth.
Back on earth, he had visited the northwest provinces because of some mechanical engineering problems. When he saw how desolate the land was and how it was covered in sand, he felt very shocked.
He was very clear that if this situation wasn’t controlled, the land would be changed by the sand and nobody could ever live on it again.
The current Black Rice Wasteland was showing signs of becoming a desert. If he didn’t care about this, he believed that in less than a few years, this wasteland would become a desert.
At that time, not mentioning the beastmen being unable to continue living here, even the Lampuri Kingdom closest to the Black Rice Wasteland would be heavily impacted by this.
Compared to earth, the Sines Continent had a large advantage when it came to this, which was the existence of the elves.
The elves known as the forest tribe and back in the times before the race wars on the Sines Continent, the elves normally lived in cities that were filled with trees.
At that time, the Sines Continent could be said to be covered in green. Not mentioning wastelands, there were few places that weren’t covered in forests.
With the passing of this history, elves had a special inheritance and power when it came to cultivating plants.
The current Black Rice Wasteland was very hard for the technologically advanced earth, but to the elves, it wasn’t a problem at all.
Xu Yi looked around and found that there weren’t any beastmen around, so he called in a soft voice, “Agnes.”
Agnes’ figure silently appeared by Xu Yi. Xu Yi pointed at the sand on the ground and asked her, “How about it? Can you change this?”
“It’s very simple.” Agnes’ certain answer calmed Xu Yi down, “Actually the elder had sent people several years ago to discuss with the beastmen, hoping to plant a forest on the Black Rice Wasteland and changing the environment, but the beastmen disagreed.”
Xu Yi looked at Agnes. On the continent, forests really were the same as elves. You elves came to offer to plant a forest on their beastmen property, it was no different from you saying that you want to take territory from them, so it would be weird if they did agree.
But this time, the ones who wanted to plant here weren’t elves, but rather the human Xu Yi. What kind of feelings would the beastmen have?
Chapter 96 Investing in a factory in the beastmen territory
The Voller Tribe chief Leiming Voller turned his large wolf head to look over the three humans and his wolf eyes were filled with doubt.
He knew chairman Renersa because once in a while, this human’s Renekton Chamber of Commerce would bring large amounts of salt, iron tools, and clothes that only humans could make to trade here.
Although this human traded for many precious furs and rare materials from the beastmen tribes of the Black Rice Wasteland, when both sides agreed to this, it was considered a fair trade. So most of the beastmen tribe was quite polite to this chairman Renersa.
But this time, chairman Renersa didn’t come alone, rather he brought two unknown humans.
What surprised chief Voller was that the rather young and weak looking human actually immediately said that he wanted to partner with the Voller Tribe!
Partners?
Humans and beastmen?
This was simply a joke!
The continent’s races had a deep pain caused by the human cunning. Because the beastmen weren’t very intelligent, they had been tricked by humans countless times.
So in the minds of the beastmen, humans were liars.
As for human merchants, they were liars among liars.
The Renekton Chamber of Commerce and the other companies could do business with the beastmen of the Black Rice Wasteland because they brought goods to the beastmen to trade, so there was no leeway for cheating.
But even so, many beastmen had been swindled countless times. They traded their tribe’s precious items for the lower quality goods of the merchants.
So after hearing what Xu Yi said, chief Voller immediately recognized Xu Yi as a large swindler.
If he said that he wanted to make a deal with the Voller Tribe, chief Voller could have chosen to try believing in him, but to be partners…..
This was basically a joke!But because of chairman Renersa, chief Voller didn’t immediately chase Xu Yi out. Rather he gave an inquisitive look before waving his hand and saying in a deep voice, “We don’t cooperate with humans. If you want to make a deal, first take out the goods for me to see.”
Because of chairman Renersa’s reminder from before, Xu Yi was not surprised by the cold response of chief Voller. He revealed a smile and continued, “Sir chief, don’t be in a rush to reject me. How about you hear the cooperation plan first?”
Chief Voller impatiently snorted. After thinking about it, he suppressed the irritation in his heart and said with a snort, “What cooperation plan? Isn’t this your human’s way of taking advantage of us?”
“If you still feel this way after hearing the cooperation plan…..then I’ll leave immediately and never bother you again. But before this, I hope that you can listen to the plan. Actually, this plan is very beneficial to your tribe.” Xu Yi still had the same smile as he spoke.
“Chief Voller, please let me interject.” Chairman Renersa suddenly said, “Chairman Xu has a very good reputation in our Banta City. The human merchants who have cooperated with him have all received great benefits, so you don’t need to worry about him cheating you. Other than that, I can tell you something that will shock you. In the Frestech Chamber of Commerce that chairman Xu has set up, other than human workers, there are over a thousand dwarf and elf workers.”
“Dwarves and elves?” Chief Voller’s eyes popped out, as his wide eyes filled with disbelief, “How is this possible! I can still imagine the dwarves working in your human companies, but how could the elves possibly lower themselves to work for you humans? I don’t believe it!”
“If you don’t believe me, there are currently eleven elven workers from our company waiting outside. I can call them in for you to personally confirm.” Xu Yi said.
Chief Voller narrowed his eyes to look at Xu Yi and after thinking about it, he shook his head, “Forget it, I don’t like those fellows who always look down on people. Alright, chairman Xu, since you’ve said all of this, then you can tell me your so-called cooperation plan.”
After finally moving chief Voller, Xu Yi let out a sigh and explained his plans in detail to him.
According to Xu Yi’s plan, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was first planning to open a mine in the Voller Tribe and mine the non-ferrous metal lodes near the Voller Tribe.
Then because it would take too much effort to transport the ores, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would be directly making a non-ferrous metal processing plant here.
Adding in the fact that the byproducts of the non-ferrous metal processing plant was useful in making cement, they would also be building a cement factory here.
But if they wanted to transport the refined non-ferrous metal out, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Renekton Chamber of Commerce would cooperate with the Amrit Chamber of Commerce to build a road from Banta City to Samara.
Later they would first build a small road from the Samara to the Voller Tribe, as well as constructing other roads based on the situation.
So like this, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would be investing in building a mine, two factories, and a road in the Voller Tribe, which was a large investment.
“But what benefits are there to my tribe? What do you want to cooperate with me on?” After listening to Xu Yi, chief Voller said with a snort, “Human, let me tell you, the mine you’re talking about is in our Voller Tribe’s territory, so we should be the one who decides on what to do with it, not you. Now since I know that I have this good thing, if you can’t satisfy me, don’t think of cooperating with me.”
“Of course I understand this.” Xu Yi revealed a faint smile. Since you said the word cooperation, it means that your heart has already been moved, “Chief Voller, I understand that the non-ferrous metal vein is in your tribe’s territory, so I specially came here to purchase this vein from you.”
“You want to purchase the entire vein?” Chief Voller narrowed his eyes and a rare cunning look flashed in them, “Alright, human, how much will you pay? I’ve heard that you humans would spend quite a bit to buy iron mines.”
“Right, an iron mine can sell for quite a lot to humans, but chief Voller, what I’m buying is not an iron minne. This will only produce non-ferrous metals and this is very rarely used in our human society, so it isn’t worth that much. So I can’t pay the same price for this mine as an iron mine.” Xu Yi said with a timely bitter smile.
Chief Voller thought about it. With his understanding of human society, they rarely used non-ferrous metals. It seems that this human called Xu Yi shouldn’t be lying to him.
“Even if it won’t be the same price as an iron mine, it can’t be too cheap. Speak, how much are you planning to offer?” Chief Voller asked.
Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling, thinking that this chief Voller was really moved.
Who said that beastmen were simple, at least this wolfmen chief only cared about money.
Xu Yi looked at chairman Renersa and chairman Cruise. The both of them nodded to him, allowing him to decide.
Xu Yi nodded to show her understood and he stretched out his palm to chief Voller.
“Five hundred thousand.”
Instantly, Xu Yi could see countless stars in chief Voller’s wolf eyes.
###
Four days later, Xu Yi, chairman Cruise, and Still were heading back to Banta City first.
Agnes and the other ten elves remained at the Black Rice Wasteland.
Following Xu Yi’s request, they were investigating the situation of the Black Rice Wasteland. They were to draw a complete map of it.
Other than inspecting how to control the Black Rice Wasteland’s desertification problem, their most important task was to clearly draw up the distribution of beastmen clans.
According to Xu Yi’s plan, cooperating with the Voller Tribe was only the first step the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was taking into the Black Rice Wasteland.
With the materials he currently had, the Black Rice Wasteland didn’t just have the non-ferrous vein near the Voller Tribe.
The minerals hidden deep under the Black Rice Wasteland were rich. According to his early estimates, it even surpassed all the non-ferrous metals hidden in the Lampuri Kingdom added together.
As for why Xu Yi was so clear on this…...
It was because the five dwarves Xu Yi had sent out last year to explore the minerals in each region of the Lampuri Kingdom had finally come back.
In the span of a year, the five dwarves had explored in five different directions. They carried a detailed exploration of every part of the Lampuri Kingdom. One of the dwarves named Ramph had explored west, stepping foot into the Black Rice Wasteland.
It had to be said, the dwarves really were talented in this aspect.
In this year, the five dwarves had gone to every inch of the Lampuri Kingdom, learning everything about the underground minerals of every region.
When Xu Yi had sent them out at first, they were mainly responsible for finding the distribution of iron ores.
But the dwarves had found that most of the iron deposits had been found and over half of them had been explored, so the five dwarves focused on the non-ferrous metal veins that Xu Yi had mentioned.
The conclusion drawn was that the Black Rice Wasteland contained large amounts of non-ferrous metals.
Even in the ore samples that Ramph brought, Xu Yi had actually found some rare earth elements!
To control the danger of the river, he had to control the geological environment of the Black Rice Wasteland that was upriver. So Xu YI used this chance to come to the Black Rice Wasteland, looking to cooperate with these beastmen.
The other humans had scruples about cooperating with other races, but Xu Yi didn’t have this at all.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce had many dwarves and elves working there, so adding in a few beastmen wasn’t considered anything.
Of course, right now this cooperation was only at its beginning stages.
Their group had remained in the Voller Tribe for two days and chief Voller had said that there was no discussion with the money.
So Xu Yi’s group could only give up for now and return to Banta City to discuss their next moves.
It would cost around three hundred thousand gold coins to construct a road from Banta City to Samara. Then for the road from Samara to the Voller Tribe, it was narrow and it wasn’t over ten kilometers, so it wouldn’t cost more than two hundred thousand.
Other than that, adding in the five hundred thousand to buy the mine and some other initial investments, calculating everything, Xu Yi, chairman Renersa, and chairman Cruise would have to invest over a million gold coins.
Because Xu Yi was in charge of this matter and chairman Cruise and chairman Renersa didn’t really understand the non-ferrous metals, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would invest six hundred thousand and take a 60% share. The Amrit Chamber of Commerce would invest three hundred thousand with a 30% share and the Renekton Chamber of Commerce would invest a hundred thousand with a 10% share.
As for the toll for the road, they would divide it based on their shares.
Moreover, this was only the profit distribution of the mine. As for the non-ferrous metal processing plant and the cement factory, it was financed completely by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce and the Renekton Chamber of Commerce didn’t have any shares.
Actually, chairman Cruise had requested to buy stocks in the processing plant and the cement factory, but Xu Yi had rejected this.
It was because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had sole possession of the technology used in these two factories, so if they cooperated with the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, it would be leaked eventually.
Chairman Cruise naturally understood this, so after Xu Yi rejected his request, he didn’t keep insisting.
Because he had already discussed with chairman Cruise on what needed to be done on the road, after the horse carriage entered Banta City, Xu Yi rejected chairman Cruise’s invitation to dinner for both him and Still and rushed back to Still’s house with her.
Because as soon as they entered the city, they received a shocking piece of news.
Great Magician Camilla had suddenly announced he was closing his Magic Tower!