MC's career as foreign lord

"You are truly a generous and benevolent lord!" the merchants murmured softly around him.

Zhou Ren remained noncommittal, neither denying nor confirming their statement. He merely scanned them for a moment before asking,

"Where are you merchants from? How did you manage to come here to place orders instead of posting them in the market?"

This was actually a hidden rule that had emerged in the territory over the past two years. The main point of this rule was that only those who truly knew at least the hidden rules would come to these races' territories to place custom orders, while those who didn't know would post orders in the market and wait for the craftsmen to take them.

The efficiency of these two methods was naturally incomparable; in a way, this efficiency was much higher than before.

After all, accepting orders in the market depended entirely on the craftsmen's mood and preferences. Sometimes, if they had something to do and didn't come, the opportunity might be missed, and another long wait would be necessary.

However, when accepting orders in the territory, they could have face-to-face talks with the dwarves' team leaders, or even the group leaders. Even just expressing their ideas could lead to better results and greater profits.

In such circumstances, many decisions could naturally be made quickly. It was precisely because of this that Zhou Ren was curious about what these people had come to the dwarves to customize.

Over the past two years, the territory had sent out many kinds of crafts. Even the longswords he had personally made had been sent out in large numbers. Some were enchanted, some were not, and they all had different effects, but they all possessed the toughness praised by people all over the world.

The merchants, on the other hand, were not evasive. As the lord of the territory, it would be very easy for him to inquire about the orders here; it would only take a second or two to get the information.

They were not competitors, so they readily revealed the answer of what they needed, which surprised Zhou Ren.

"Why are you ordering these things?"

The most ordered items by the merchants were not weapons or various kinds of armor, not even military supplies. They were actually ordering various kinds of agricultural tools in large quantities from the dwarves.

This was an incredible thing for the entire continent. After all, it was well known that most countries on the continent valued industry, especially war, but for the serfs, being able to live and farm was enough, and they didn't have too high demands.

This aroused Zhou Ren's curiosity even more. He clearly knew what kind of people slave owners were. What was it that prompted them to buy a large number of agricultural tools, even constantly ordering these high-end agricultural tools from the territory?

"What the lord doesn't know is that when the agricultural tools from the territory come into contact with the initial land, they can immediately obtain greater efficiency and faster development. Before, a human empire ordered 100 of these. The work efficiency of 100 serfs using these agricultural tools is equivalent to that of 3,000 slaves!"

Team Leader Ren knew this very well. After all, as the person who made the tools, he certainly had to understand why these people came to him to order these items.

Zhou Ren nodded in understanding. If that was the case, it could be explained. From any point of view, it was understandable. If it could allow capitalists to quickly increase efficiency and profits, they might not mind becoming pawns for others.

Some capitalists could even sell the rope that would strangle them. What wouldn't they dare to buy or sell?

However, in a sense, this was a special track that he had never imagined. After all, the various weapons and tools sold in the past were aimed at wealthy mercenaries, great nobles who needed a large amount of supplies, and some more special races and lives. The farm owners who lived in the territory, or could also be called the farm system, did not seem to be within the territory's sales range.

Now it seemed that this range was somewhat biased. These people might not have such strong purchasing power, but their economic strength was not as bad as imagined.

He felt that he could ask the territory's economic team to conduct a survey on this type of role. Whether it was successful or not, it would not increase costs, but it might increase profits, which was still very important for the promotion of gold coins.

The brief exchange ended, and he contentedly led the people he needed to embark on the journey to the Sky Island again. However, although these dwarves were trustworthy, they still had to sign a contract belonging to him, ensuring that they would not reveal the secrets here in a short period of time.

This was related to his later layout here and the explanation of some things in the future. These were very important, so he was not anxious to take them there directly, but waited patiently for them to sign the contracts and prepare everything before resuming his next action.

The saying still held true: being steady would never go wrong. Only those who were impatient would make mistakes, and haste makes waste. No matter what, it was better to spend the time calmly.

Therefore, he took every step steadily. Even though it was already late, everyone had eaten and drank their fill and had enough strength to carry out the next action.

"Take all these lamps and assemble them one by one!" Zhou Ren said, taking out some glowstone lamps and ordinary pumpkin lanterns in advance. Although magic lamps could also do this, he still preferred to believe in the special props from MC, which could at least give him some peace of mind.

The entire platform was actually very large, and to prevent monster spawning, a large area was made of half-slabs. Only this area used ordinary stone for the convenience of industrial manufacturing, and a circle of fences was thoughtfully placed around it, also to prevent people from falling down and dying when building on it. He also forced all the dwarf craftsmen to wear slime shoes.

This was also to prevent accidents. After all, no one could guarantee that they would not accidentally wander into other areas and fall to their deaths during future construction due to temporary excitement. Although actual death was inevitable, this kind of death was too torturous.

It seemed that it was really because of this that the dwarves became even more unrestrained after obtaining such treasures. These underground dwarves were not a race known for their rigor. Their nature was full of uninhibitedness, or rather, romantic freedom.

It was precisely because of this that they were able to create those products that seemed to come from flights of fancy. It was also because of this that they could imagine those special tools filled with all sorts of creations, even combinations of various magic and machinery.

In such an environment, they inherently possessed unparalleled creativity and imagination. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been favored by Zhou Ren, allowing them to become professional master craftsmen in the territory.

These dwarves, filled with imagination, possessed the special ability to bring out the best in all kinds of items. It was precisely because of this ability that they were loved by all races.

Therefore, even if he displayed some ordinary lamps and torches, they were arranged by the dwarves with a great sense of artistry. They also gradually understood the lighting rules of the entire territory and had seen those special monsters.

The dwarves were still relatively meticulous and cautious. They carefully lit every space, illuminating the entire platform brightly before proceeding to the next step of their work. They gathered around Zhou Ren, looking at this lord, seemingly hoping he could provide some constructive advice.

"Since that's the case, you might as well comfortably proceed with the next action!" Zhou Ren said.

He wanted to sleep, but these dwarven craftsmen didn't seem to be planning to. They often went without sleep for half a month at a time, and it didn't seem to cause them any major problems.

"You only need to help me forge these basic industrial tools!" Zhou Ren said, throwing out many ingots of iron, aluminum, tin, and copper. These basic industrial metals, like the glaze ore, were the most in need of forging.

Moreover, he had specifically researched the dwarves' forging techniques before starting other work. It had to be said that they were even better than he had imagined.

Relying on the special talents in the territory, they could even achieve the special situation of forging 5 iron plates from just one iron ingot. So, this was only an isolated case, and it only happened once, but it did indeed require fewer materials than he personally needed to make them.

And with these dwarves forging iron plates and cutting wires, his work was truly much easier. Iron and copper plates were mostly used to make tools, while wires were more often used for various metal conductors.

Due to the existence of the Soul Shard, the issue of steel simply didn't exist. Zhou Ren thought for a moment and decided to directly make high-voltage wires.

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However, he discovered a problem: high-voltage wires couldn't be directly synthesized with steel nails. They had to go through a metal forming machine. So, as a second choice, if high-voltage wires weren't possible, then metal wires with a slightly lower conductivity than high-voltage wires, that is, gold wires, would be fine.

In terms of conductivity, silver was much better than gold, but silver didn't exist in the industrial system. Therefore, Zhou Ren threw out another box of gold ingots and asked them to forge them into gold plates so that they could be directly cut into wires using plate cutting shears.

While the dwarves were making plates and cutting wires, he wasn't idle either. As the saying goes, what's the use of having wires without electricity? He had to generate electricity and make various machines. For example, what did he need industry for in the most primitive sense?

Of course, it was to provide power to those large-scale plant magic machines first! Zhou Ren thought so, and he was certainly doing so. No matter what kind of generator, the foundation was actually a thermal power generator.

After all, except for nuclear power plants, which didn't need to use it, a large number of engines needed to use it as the base for the most primitive layout, and the making of thermal power generators was the simplest of all engines.

It only needed three iron plates, an iron furnace, and a battery to do it.

The iron plates could be easily obtained from the area forged by the dwarves, and the iron furnace could be easily synthesized by taking 5 iron plates and a stone furnace, leaving only one relatively troublesome synthesis method, which was the rechargeable battery.

Rechargeable batteries were tools that ran through the entire industrial module. Even if you made 10,000 of them, it wouldn't be too much. In the future, almost all the tools and implements in the entire industrial system would rely on rechargeable batteries to function.

The method of making rechargeable batteries was also very simple: one insulated copper wire, 4 tin ingots, and two redstone dust could be synthesized.

Tin ingots could be easily obtained from the box, and redstone was naturally the same. As for insulated copper wires, they needed to be synthesized from ordinary copper wires and rubber. That's why rubber was said to be the most basic material in the entire industrial system.

After all, no matter what kind of tool you made, you couldn't avoid it. For the entire rubber system, these insulated wires would become one of their special tools. Thinking about it, it seemed to make sense.

Moreover, rubber could not only be used to make wires, but it also had some special uses, such as making all kinds of special tools, directly making charging piles, and in the Mystical series, it could also be used to synthesize rubber seeds.

Of course, the rubber dinghy made with it as a basic tool was actually a relatively useful thing, with higher stability and greater protection than ordinary wooden boats.

There wasn't much rubber burning in the furnace just now, but added together, there was just enough for a set, so he immediately made many insulated copper wires. Now, copper wires were the simplest material.

He also made a pair of rubber shoes with the extra rubber. These shoes were just kept here for future use, because the more important things for him were always those for backup.

Rubber would be very useful when making hazmat suits in the future, because without hazmat suits, true radiation would directly kill most life forms upon contact.

"Lord, a total of more than 3,000 boards have been made and placed in the box for you!" the leading dwarf said, causing Zhou Ren to nod slightly and observe their work results. It seemed very good.

"Continue cutting wires. Cut all the copper and tin into wires, and then make another batch, and you can rest. I can provide you with a house and enough beds here!"

Zhou Ren said, he wasn't even planning to return to his own home, but directly built a small room here to serve as his own residence. This could be considered a special statement.

His living here meant a hint to others in the territory not to bother him, or the consequences would be unpredictable.