Volume 2 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?