Blue Silver Grass Strategy (Douluo Dalu Fiction)

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"Tian Dou Empire—?"

Qingqiu Li's face was not very pleasant as he forced these two words out through gritted teeth.

Beside him, Long Ang's face also turned cold, and he remained silent.

If it were a force within the Waterwood Principality, even Duke Mu Feng or one of the several marquises, the two of them would dare to have their own thoughts and take a small bite of that pie.

But—

The Tian Dou Empire is a Suzerain State. It could just as easily send a soul master family with deep roots to sweep them away.

In the small territory of the Waterwood Principality, they could still maintain some face through various connections.

But these things were not as useful between a Suzerain State and a Vassal State.

Weak countries have no diplomacy, a universal truth across all realms.

Not to mention, blacksmiths like them did not represent the Waterwood Principality; they were merely middle-to-lower class existences within the principality.

In this world, small countries look up to large countries, and the people of small countries revere those of large countries. How could there be people from large countries who would kneel and lick the boots of those from small countries?

Wouldn't that make them traitors to their own lineage, born with a servile bone?

"Haha—"

Seeing the strongest two blacksmiths in the Waterwood Principality react this way, Ling Yi chuckled lightly.

Without throwing out such an insurmountable obstacle, how could these two 'troublemakers' truly lower their pride and cooperate with him?

Even if Fu Shan had the backing of the Waterwood Principality's military, and Li Qiang stood behind the court led by Duke Mu Feng, these were not identities that could make peers truly respect them.

After all, in the end, Fu Shan and Li Qiang were just high-level employees. They just served different masters within the small group of the Waterwood Principality, the chairman and general manager of the upper echelons, respectively.

The lower-level employees would revere the two above, but the middle-to-lower level employees, due to their own abilities, had the option to switch jobs. They only needed to show enough respect to those above them, and that was enough.

So, without the ability to pull the tiger's skin or rely on the tiger's might, Ling Yi had to paint a picture of a turbulent external environment, making the sailors who intended to sail together contribute their share of the effort steadily. Once they reached the new continent, everyone would have their share of gold and treasure.

Of course, he had to control the degree of this portrayal to avoid scaring them off. Skilled sailors were hard to recruit these days, let alone experienced veterans capable of serving as bosuns or combat captains.

Ling Yi waited for Qingqiu Li and Long Ang to calm down a bit before smiling and continuing, "There's no need for the two seniors to worry. The Tian Dou Empire is not actively coming to our Waterwood Principality to do business..."

He paused for a moment, waiting for the two to come to their senses and look at him, then continued, "From my exchanges with the Blacksmith Masters in various regions, I learned that the nearly 800,000 Gold Soul Coins worth of ironware transactions were actually initiated by the Soul Master families in our Waterwood Principality, who went to the nearest territory of the Tian Dou Empire to purchase..."

"Initiated?"

"Purchased?"

Qingqiu Li and Long Ang both frowned, but a glimmer of understanding flashed in their eyes.

They had been so preoccupied with the possibility of external forces from the Tian Dou Empire interfering in the ironware market within the principality that they had forgotten that, due to the need for various ironware to be forged hammer by hammer, some of the higher-level blacksmith shops in various regions of the principality often faced order saturation, or even orders that were booked far into the future.

Because the skill levels of each master varied, people would often subconsciously seek out the master blacksmiths to forge the tools they wanted, rather than the ordinary blacksmith shops run by low-level or mid-level blacksmiths.

Ling Yi had witnessed this phenomenon many times in the past few years at his fifth senior brother Wang Meng's blacksmith shop.

This situation not only kept the higher-level blacksmith shops busy but also left the lower and mid-level blacksmith shops with very few orders.

Unless, like in Beikouhe Town, where everyone had no choice due to its location, the business of a mid-level blacksmith like Jiang Master had always been quite good.

Besides the complex triangular relationship between the 'licking dogs,' 'goddesses,' and 'rich and handsome' in the ironware market, which led to the introduction of external 'parachute troops' disrupting the local market, there was another disadvantage for the blacksmith profession.

Blacksmithing is a technical skill.

Apart from inherent talent and strength, another factor affecting the growth of forging skills is the number of times one can practice forging.

Just like how a sharpshooter is often honed by bullets, without enough ironware to forge, even someone with the talent of a 'copycat soul master' like Ling Yi would not have achieved the astonishing feat of becoming a Blacksmith Master at the age of fourteen.

It is indeed astonishing. Even the future King of Divine Craftsmen, Lou Gao, who was taught by the Divine Craftsman Iron Buddha and had unlimited materials provided by the Blacksmith Association, only became a Blacksmith Master in his early twenties.

To return to the improvement of blacksmithing skills, having enough materials and enough forging opportunities is essential for an apprentice to steadily improve under the guidance of a master until they reach their talent limit or hit a bottleneck before reaching the master's highest level.

But like Ling Yi's fifth senior brother Wang Meng, who could forge 800-forged high-quality weapons, often received orders for 500-forged weapons.

Over time, it was already good that Wang Meng's skills did not decline.

It's not that Wang Meng didn't want to always forge 800-forged weapons, but the cost of materials was too expensive!

Only when a Soul Master customer placed an order could Wang Meng showcase his full skill.

The materials for a single 800-forged battle saber could forge four to five 500-forged battle sabers!

This was Wang Meng's material consumption ratio. Jin Laoxian, Fu Shan, and Li Qiang, the three Blacksmith Masters, could control it to a ratio of about 1:2 to 1:3.

With Lou Gao's guidance, Ling Yi could achieve the same 1:1.8 ratio as Lou Gao.

The higher the level, the more difficult each 0.1 increment became.

After explaining the situation of the ironware market and blacksmiths in the Waterwood Principality to Qingqiu Li and Long Ang in plain terms, and laying out the underlying reasons and potential consequences on the table, Ling Yi looked at his master Jin Laoxian, Fu Shan, and Li Qiang, and with their approving gazes, he solemnly invited the two leaders from Coldwind City and Bilu City:

"Senior Long, Senior Qingqiu, I boldly invite you to join us in establishing the Blacksmith Association's Waterwood Principality branch. We can integrate all the blacksmiths in the entire principality and distribute all ironware orders based on the needs of both parties, ensuring that low-level and mid-level blacksmiths have enough orders and business...

And also give high-level Blacksmith Masters the opportunity to handle more orders that match their skill levels, hoping to further improve their own skills...

Regarding profits, to be honest, a 500-forged weapon is more profitable than ten 100-forged weapons of the same specification!

Those who can order 500-forged weapons are usually Soul Masters of the second ring or higher. As Soul Masters, we all know that compared to ordinary people, Soul Masters have more Gold Soul Coins and are more willing to spend them where they should—!

Earning Silver Soul Coins and Copper Soul Coins from ordinary people, how much can you earn?

If you want to earn, earn the Gold Soul Coins of Soul Masters—!"

(End of Chapter)