Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 131 Production Corps, Establishing an Iron Mine

As an emerging territory, the Han Hai Territory is full of development opportunities and untapped potential.

However, all previous developments have relied heavily on the Lord's investment, and the Lord's ability to generate revenue on its own is severely insufficient.

Agriculture, for example, is a typical microcosm of territory development.

Food self-sufficiency is a development goal that Han Hai Ling has drawn on the red line. It is also one of the goals that was first achieved by expanding the land reclamation area through film greenhouses. But what is the basis for this groundbreaking miracle?
It was the lord who brought miraculous grains, soil conditioners, fertilizers, and a temperature and humidity control system powered by electricity.

Oh, and by the way, the "gods" dug a water channel for it.

With the population continuing to increase, the food pressure on the territory will become increasingly greater, thus requiring continued large-scale reclamation, cultivation, and planting.

However, in reality, simply because the lord launched a campaign to conquer Blood Fortress, the altar's transport capacity for two consecutive months was allocated to weapons and equipment and magnetic war chariots, which directly resulted in the council's estimated food security period being reduced by half.

With the support of various resources from the lord, the film greenhouse can yield 800 kilograms per mu in 75 days. Without greenhouses and soil conditioners, the expected yield per mu in half a year is only 300 kilograms.

Moreover, this is the result of planting one generation of grain seeds. If locally produced rice ears are used as seeds for planting, the yield will be halved again.

This leads to a consequence: once the lord's special supplies are cut off, the vast sea will have to desperately expand its cultivated area. The sharp decline in per capita planting efficiency will force the territory to invest more labor.

This will inevitably significantly slow down the completion of other plans.

How can a balance be achieved? It's impossible to achieve a balance; the lord's word is law.

"Prioritize agriculture, concentrate all our efforts on the steel industry!"

Chen Mo made this decision due to a combination of factors, but the final decision was made based on this expedition.

Although Dongxia has always advised the Hanhai Territory to prioritize military affairs, being located in the desert, surrounded by heavy troops, and possessing a significant psychological advantage of firearms over cold weapons, there is a classic example of a three-man squad defeating hundreds of bandits.

This made it difficult for Chen Mo to give up the immediate and tangible benefits of the "farming" strategy and instead focus most of his manpower and resources on military preparations, which did not yet show immediate results.

After all, he wasn't planning on expanding outwards in the short term; his main focus was on developing his strength cautiously.

Although the exploration of the ruins went smoothly overall, the sheer awe-inspiring sight of the broken walls beneath that towering peak was truly indescribable.

Several questions kept swirling in Chen Mo's mind.

If it had been three thousand or thirty thousand orcs that attacked that day instead of three hundred orcs, how many of our group would have survived?
Razorfen Downs, a super fortress, and Aurelio, a powerful warrior, ultimately turned into dust in the annals of history.

Yes, Aurelio is that earthbound undead armored warrior, a greatsword master who was once a seventh-tier Skybreaker in life.

If the Vast Ocean Territory were to face such an attack one day, how long could it hold out?
Furthermore, during their interactions with mercenary groups and others, the elemental mages discovered a spell specifically designed to counter undead summoners, called "Spatial Disturbance," which can delay or even interrupt the summoning process of an undead summoner for a period of time.

In Chen Mo's view, if it weren't for the targeted equipment of Dongxia's modern industrial system, then unless he used high-yield aerial bombs to bombard the ground, this relic that could manifest iron and blood might have been sealed there forever, blocking Aurelio's unfulfilled last wish.

It is obvious that without the support of Dongxia, what is the Hanhai Territory now?

The saying goes, "No matter how much a person teaches someone, they won't learn; but if you teach someone a skill, they'll learn it after just one lesson."

Having clarified the development path for the current stage, Chen Mo tapped the table: "This is the direction. Each department, take a look, what are your thoughts, and how can we cooperate?"

Once the lord spoke, all the differences between interest groups vanished, leaving only one direction and one voice.

Helan was the first to raise his hand.

Yes, nowadays, when it comes to speaking at territory meetings, either the lord calls on the speaker or the speaker raises their hand to request to speak, and it's becoming more and more orderly.

"Long ago, our lord pointed out with foresight that building a steel industry is one of the core steps in the overall development of the Vast Ocean Territory!"

Chen Mo waved his hand, signaling Helan to get down to business.

I don't know when it started, but this trend of praising the lord first has become popular in the Vast Ocean.

"Yes, our council and its subordinate industrial development department have also conducted multiple assessments. There are several necessary conditions for the construction of the steel mill: ore, fuel, equipment, and manpower!"

"In the past, Han Hai had nothing, so although he had ideas, he didn't have the ability to implement them."

"Two months ago, an exploration team discovered an iron ore deposit in the Guli Desert area south of Hanhai, which may partially solve the problem of the iron ore source in the region."

The reason it is described as "part" is because that desert area is not only quite a distance from the vast ocean territory, but the quality of the ore deposits is also not very high.

According to the geological department of Xia State, it is a pseudocrystalline limonite with an iron content of about 35%.

In the context of iron ore types, this is considered a typical low-grade ore.

Moreover, mining in the desert is significantly more troublesome than mining in plains or mountains. When combined with a series of factors such as transportation, the overall cost is only slightly cheaper than purchasing iron ore directly from the south.

The main reason is that the lords treated their subordinates better. If they treated the miners as slaves like those mines in the south, the cost could be reduced by at least one-third.

However, this is a gift from the lord, and the leaders of the newly emerging "loyalists" are right here in the meeting place, so Helan certainly can't say this.

"According to the calculations of the deliberative body, at least two thousand laborers and more than two months of work will be needed to complete the construction of the mining area and transportation roads!"

Chen Mo interrupted Helan directly: "Move those two excavators from the territory over there. Use all available workers except for necessary agricultural production and city maintenance. Also, send people from the field army and city defense army to speed up the process, the faster the better!"

The excavator the lord mentioned is actually a mini excavator specially made for Dongxia. Although it weighs less than 800 kilograms, it is a great treasure of the territory.

It's not that it can dig up a lot of things. In fact, an entry-level warrior with a shovel can dig just as fast as it. The main thing is that the alloy steel shovel, plus the replaceable impact drill bit, can forcibly dismantle many hard rock terrains.

Combined with the ogre's dual magic of ice and fire, and the explosive effect of thermal expansion and contraction, it is essentially a low-powered version of explosives, which can greatly improve the construction efficiency in complex terrains.

As for the excavator's power, Dongxia provided two human-powered generators. With three people working in shifts—one hand-cranked and one foot-operated—the excavator could maintain continuous operation.

This can be considered a new form of energy conversion.

Having solved the problem of ore, the bigger problem that follows is energy.

The exploration team has traversed the entire desert several times, digging pits and drilling holes to collect samples, and can basically confirm that there are no coal mines in this desert.

This constraint is even greater than that of iron ore, because once the steel mill starts operating, the fuel consumption is enormous. Given the transportation conditions in the Vast Ocean Territory, the overall cost of buying fuel from outside is higher than that of buying iron ore.

"You don't need to worry about this problem, and the same goes for the equipment issue; I'll handle it!"

Chen Mo reiterated the direction and then added, "We must continue to find ways to buy iron ore and iron sand, including finished iron ingots, as much as we can!"

“I will grant you a special privilege: for this steel plant construction project, I will provide you with one hundred unrestricted national treatments, and all your work points will be doubled according to the existing standards.”

"If necessary, you can ask me for additional conditions!" "Any further questions?"

Then there are basically no problems. All that's left for the heads of each department to do is express their determination.

That afternoon, a new notice from the council was posted throughout the territory, marking the start of a full-scale mobilization.

In other places, mining is a job that only the most helpless slaves or desperate starving people would be willing to do, as the mortality rate is indeed too high.

However, at Hanhai, when you see "double your work points" and "promote to citizenship for outstanding performance," those are jobs that everyone would fight tooth and nail to get.

This forced the council to significantly raise the bar for recruitment, imposing restrictions on height, age, and strength.

However, this is not a problem for Bronzebeard.

Standing at the conscription station, he patted his chest and introduced himself: "My father is a dwarf, and I know how to smelt iron!"

A burst of laughter erupted from the people queuing around them.

"Hey, don't think you're short just because you have a big beard. Look at your height!"

“That’s right, that’s right. If your dad is a dwarf, your mom is probably a giant…”

"Giants won't do, how could his father reach them?"

Those who came from the lowest levels of slave camps didn't know the meaning of not touching people's sore spots. Everyone had lost their families and lives, and they made these vulgar jokes to each other, which annoyed Bronzebeard, but he could only get used to it.

He bent down, lifted his younger brother over his head, and had him ride on his shoulders. Then the little guy, who was clearly of dwarven descent, shouted at the top of his lungs, "My father is a dwarf, my brother can smelt iron! I am from the Torch Order, Lord, I do not lie!"

The person in charge of the recruitment whispered a few words to each other: "Alright, you're in. Pack your things, we'll leave when the bell rings next time!"

Having successfully obtained the "Mining Team Work Permit," Copperbeard proudly carried his younger brother back home, muttering to himself, "If I can get citizenship, plus these double work points, I can accumulate enough to get your citizenship too!"

"By then, we two brothers will both be old Hanhai!"

"Brother, you should marry your wife first, lest she run off with someone else after a while! We Torch Regiment members are citizens from the moment we graduate, we don't care about a year or two!"

"Look, they're watching you from over there."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

This massive conscription took away almost half of the territory's strong labor force, as well as two-thirds of the professional soldiers. A large number of camels, carrying tents, food, tools, and supplies, set up temporary camps on the edge of the Guli Desert.

Bright slogans were hung everywhere on the simple fence.

"Steel is the backbone of the territory, and we are its vanguard!"

"Follow the lord's wise command, strive forward, and work together with one heart!"

"Work hard for thirty days, and steel will emerge from the desert!"

"The Production Corps, united as one!"

Yes, the lord gave this team a resounding name: the Vast Ocean Production Corps!

Looking outwards from these banners, red flags fluttered in the wind everywhere, undulating along the sand dunes and slopes, framing a large mining area.

Those were the boundaries and beacons drawn by the exploration team.

After a half-day rest, the entire mining team resumed full-scale operations.

Copperbeard was shocked to discover that the little bit of mining knowledge he had heard from his father was completely useless.

The first step for the team was to clear the sand, removing all the loose sand from the surface of the designated mining area.

To prevent the sand from shifting, the production corps also carried out sand-stabilizing measures on the periphery. This involved digging a 30-centimeter-high sand-proof dike along the outer edge of the mining area and creating a grid on the nearby ground, then laying thorn grass seeds to firmly block the sand particles outside the mining area.

The captain in charge, holding a piece of paper, repeatedly shouted, "Pay attention, everyone! Make sure the sand is contained! If quicksand gets into anyone's area, I'll have them beheaded!"

The work of clearing and stabilizing the sand took a full five days. During this period, following the guidance of the local people and the actual measurements of the exploration instruments, the engineering team's machines roared day and night, and they drilled the first well on the west side of the mine.

This alone can save the production corps hundreds of camel transport vehicles every week.

Next, it's time to open the mine shaft.

The city defense soldiers, having stripped off their shirts, worked under the scorching sun like human excavators, opening trenches, descending into wells, and digging mine shafts, while the technicians provided lighting and ventilation.

Copperbeard, as a "technician who may have some mining experience," was assigned to the inspection team and walked back and forth along the arched tunnel many times.

The compacted cave walls, the sturdy supporting pillars, and the appropriately spaced lighting made Copperbeard feel that the mines he had walked through with his father in the north were nothing more than rat pits compared to these mines.

Just when Copperbeard thought he could start mining along the mine shafts, he learned that these were just passageways extending from several points where limonite was concentrated in the mine shafts. He still needed to build foundation pits and excavate mining houses.

The mine floor needs to be trenched so that two-wheeled trailers can achieve rapid transportation under the traction of towing cables.

Every newly excavated area must be reinforced, supported, and inspected.

There are even temporary refuge tunnels to prevent collapse and drainage channels to prevent water from rushing in...

After a full thirty-two days of construction, the first batch of iron ore from deep within the mine was piled on a long convoy of transport vehicles and pulled out of the mine shaft by tow ropes.

Little Kaga, who had already turned into a dark-skinned swan, raised his arms and shouted.

"Reporting to the lord, the Guli Iron Mine has officially begun mass production!!!"

　"Brother, I've been thinking a lot about the meaning of our line of work lately."

　　"Tell me, what is the purpose of being an adventurer...?"

　　"One goblin, three silver coins."

　　Does this word look familiar? That's right, it's from one of my favorite books.

　　Goblin addiction is severe!
　　A classic Western fantasy, with a delicate and subtle style, told in a gentle and detailed manner.

　　Don't miss it if you like it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)