The Lord is Empire

Zhao Fu was disappointed because Jiang Rou said that her family was only willing to pay up to 40 gold coins, which was 400,000 copper coins. However, he could only buy 4 energy stones with that amount of money. If Zhao Fu wanted to buy large amounts of energy stones, he would need a massive amount of money.

First, there were 1,000 or so channels in the Heaven and Earth Refining Formation, so he needed at least 1,000 energy stones. Zhao Fu had asked Old Logue before how to get a godly spirit to descend, to which Old Logue had told him that a godly spirit’s main body could not descend, but it could send a clone. Only through many sacrifices could such a thing happen.

Zhao Fu had no idea how strong a godly spirit’s clone would be, but even if it was only a weak godly spirit, it would still be quite powerful, so he definitely needed at least 1,000 energy stones. Energy stones were roughly worth 10 gold coins each, which meant that 1,000 energy stones would cost 10,000 gold coins or 100 million copper coins.

Zhao Fu started to suspect whether he had gone mad by considering to spend so much money on something that might not even necessarily work. However, whenever he thought about refining a godly spirit that could determine the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of beings, he knew that he would definitely obtain something heaven-defying from it.

Given that he needed 100 million copper coins, Zhao Fu scorned Jiang Rou’s 40,000 copper coins. However, after thinking about it, he realized that a family paying 40,000 copper coins at this stage was not bad at all.

Zhao Fu first asked the manager what special privileges Barons had, and he learned that he could hire 10 Stage 1 soldiers in Holy Light City and could buy 10 lots of land in Holy Light City apart from the Mayor’s Residence.

Zhao Fu’s plan of becoming rich through real estate crumbled when he heard this. He could only buy 10 lots of land, and he would not have anyone to sell to. Currently, all of the large families were too poor.

He could sell a lot of land to Jiang Rou as a gesture of friendship and accept her 40 gold coins. Normal places in the Residential District cost tens of thousands of copper coins, while those on main streets cost hundreds of thousands of copper coins. The place that Jiang Rou wanted to buy was on the luxurious Nanda Street, and it cost 310,000 copper coins.

Zhao Fu helped her buy this plot of land and returned the remaining amount of money to Jiang Rou.

When Zhao Fu easily dealt with the problem that had been troubling her this entire time, she felt even more in awe of him, and she said gratefully, “Thank you, Zhao Xin!”

Zhao Fu did not pay this much mind. It seemed that he would not be able to profit that much from real estate, so he did not plan to invest much into it. After hearing about the privileges Barons received, he felt slightly disappointed.

The ability to hire 10 Stage 1 soldiers wasn’t too bad. If Zhao Fu had a Normal grade Village, he might have hired them already, but he had a Legendary grade Village and a special legacy, while even the main cities were only Gold grade.

He could hire 10 soldiers, but he would not be able to guarantee the absolute loyalty of those 10 soldiers. If news about the Legendary grade Village was leaked, even the powers within the main cities wouldn’t be able to help themselves from wanting to take it away from him.

After saying goodbye to Jiang Rou, Zhao Fu returned to the Great Qin Village in disappointment. Suddenly, someone ran over to report, “Your Majesty! We’ve found a massive bronze concentrate mine 53 kilometers to the west!”

Zhao Fu couldn’t help but feel delighted. Bronze concentrate was like normal bronze ore, but it could be used to create Blue grade equipment. Just how big was this ‘massive’ bronze concentrate mine?

Zhao Fu called Saar over – he was that expedition’s captain – and asked him for more details. The bronze concentrate mine was an open-pit mine, and it was roughly 2 square kilometers in area. It was likely that there was even more under the ground, and after hearing all of this, Zhao Fu couldn’t help but feel excited.

Saar continued, “Your Majesty, there are roughly 1,000 or so Grey Dwarves settled around there as well.”

Zhao Fu nodded. Following this, he gathered his entire army and headed towards the bronze concentrate mine.

After arriving, a look of shock appeared on Zhao Fu’s face. There was not a single tree in front of him. At a glance, all he could see was bronze concentrate, and it covered the ground.

Even though Saar had told him how big the open-pit mine was, he was still in awe when he saw it for himself.

By now, the Grey Dwarves who were mining had discovered Zhao Fu’s soldiers. They immediately threw down their tools in fear and ran back to their village. Soon, the entire village was on high alert ,and Grey Dwarves wearing bronze concentrate armor and holding bronze concentrate axes and hammers walked out.

Zhao Fu took his soldiers and surrounded the Grey Dwarf Village. Zhao Fu was quite envious when he saw that the 1,000 or so Grey Dwarves all had brand-new, excellent Blue grade equipment. There were so many good pieces of equipment.

Zhao Fu looked towards the Grey Dwarf Village, but he did not plan to attack. The Grey Dwarves were all forging masters, and if Zhao Fu took over this mine, he would have to rely on these Grey Dwarves to do most of the forging for him.

As such, he called one of his Grey Dwarf subordinates over to interpret what he said. He then said in a loud voice, “I don’t want to harm any of you, and all of you should know how valuable this bronze concentrate mine is. Even if I don’t take it today, others will come in the future to take it. As long as you surrender to me, I can promise that your lives will not change, and I will send people to protect you.”

After loudly declaring these things to them, the Grey Dwarves did not respond for a while. Zhao Fu looked at Bai Qi, and Bai Qi immediately ordered to bring out the 60 ballistae. The Gnome Mechanics Scholars had created quite a few ballistae over the past few days, and all of them were aimed towards the Grey Dwarf Village.

“I’ll say it again – I don’t want to harm any of you, but don’t force me to do it!” Zhao Fu once again called out.

However, when he saw that there was still no response, he gave the order to fire the ballistae. 180 bolts shot out from the ballistae, and they gave off a terrifying aura. Of course, Zhao Fu did not have them aimed towards the Grey Dwarves but towards the houses. The bolts flew over the Grey Dwarves’ heads and pierced through their wooden houses.

After seeing the ballistae’s might, the Grey Dwarf Village finally responded. A Grey Dwarf with a massive beard walked out and said in a loud voice, “Lord, will you really abide by your promise? If we surrender to you, will our lives really stay the same, and will you send people to protect us?”

Zhao Fu obviously wouldn’t send them to fight – their value lay in their forging skills, and with such a big bronze concentrate mine, it would take these 1,000 Dwarves 10 or so years to finish using it. Zhao Fu nodded and said, “As the Legatee of Great Qin, I swear this to you!”

Following this, the Grey Dwarf with the massive beard led the other Grey Dwarves and knelt down to Zhao Fu, signaling their surrender.

Even though the Dwarves could be ill-tempered at times, they were normally sincere, loyal, frank, and straightforward. They were not the scheming type, and when they saw that it would be impossible for them to resist Zhao Fu, they decided to surrender.

Zhao Fu was quite happy and took his soldiers in. This time, Zhao Fu didn’t relocate the village and only conquered it. The Grey Dwarf Village was called Rhode Village, and it was a Normal grade Village. The big-bearded Grey Dwarf was the Village Chief, Rhode.

After entering the Grey Dwarf Village, Rhode gave Zhao Fu a big surprise, making Zhao Fu feel as if he had won the lottery.