Xu Su brought six attendants along, carrying a total of eleven chests. Packed inside were feng shui formation plates, items to anchor karmic luck, and six statues of Golden Toads and Pixiu.
The party followed Wei Yuan into Yong'an City, making their way to the marketplace ward in the east. At present, the market district had only a few roads and a stretch of wild grass, without a single shop or tavern in sight.
Over a hundred people in ragged clothes were digging ditches on both sides of the road, while another group lined the excavated trenches with cut bluestone slabs before bricking up both walls. Several cultivators at the culmination of Body Casting supervised and directed nearby, occasionally pitching in to work themselves.
The caravan attendants watched the scene with curiosity. Culmination of Body Casting already commanded a respectable standing; even if one had no hope of establishing a Dao Foundation, in the mortal world they could easily secure a ninth-rank post—such as a chief bailiff at a county yamen or the warden of a prison. Why would they be doing such lowly, menial labor?
Xu Su paused in his tracks, closely examining the drainage ditches and the piles of dressed stones before continuing forward.
After touring the market district, Xu Su quickly selected a location for the chamber's branch office. On the spot, he began demarcating the courtyard perimeter, assessing the karmic luck and feng shui, and burying the feng shui formation plate at the chosen formation core.
Wei Yuan and Cui Yu took their leave first to select domain specialties for Xu Su to take back.
Holding the feng shui formation plate, Xu Su periodically remeasured the formation's layout, finally setting down the six protective divine beasts one by one to complete the first step.
A young woman beside him said, "Master, this city is so dilapidated, without even a decent building, and there are hardly any people. By my rough estimate, there are at most twenty thousand people in the entire city. With so few people and such poverty, is it really worth laying down a Six Auspicious Fortune-Gathering Formation? This single formation costs several thousand taels of immortal silver! How many years will it take us to earn that back?"
Xu Su patiently replied, "You must observe closely, not just scratch the surface. What your eyes see are merely shanties and people in rags, and not a single grand building in the entire city. But if you look carefully, you will notice that the road before us is remarkably straight and level, wide enough for four carriages to drive abreast. Once paved with hard stone in the future, it will instantly become a major thoroughfare.
"If you look even closer, you will also see that many overgrown vacant lots are actually pre-planned city blocks. Moreover, on both sides of the main avenue, there are drainage ditches lined with bluestone bases. There is another detail: every block has at least two public latrines, with people cleaning them on a regular schedule. That is why throughout our walk here, we haven't encountered a single foul stench. That is rare even in national capitals."
The young woman thought it over carefully and said, "That's true!"
Xu Su smiled slightly. "Young as Wei Yuan is, his ambitions are immense. This city is planned for at least two hundred thousand inhabitants, with room for further expansion. Whether this comes from his own mind or the guidance of an adept master behind him makes no difference to us. A figure like this cannot be held back by a mere commandery governor. If Chen Dao were to go all out, he might succeed. Unfortunately, Chen Dao faces too many constraints, and this is hardly his ideal land, so he won't invest too much effort."
The young woman, however, sounded unimpressed and bored. "Master, we only run a caravan. What do the baffling squabbles between those big figures have to do with us?"
Xu Su remained patient. "Do not underestimate caravans. If you succeed, sooner or later you will be drawn into the disputes of these great figures. If you cannot untangle the delicate relationships between them by then, you won't even know how you died. Think about it: why would I go through all this hardship and take such immense risks to bring a caravan to this barren wasteland?"
The young woman finally showed some interest. "Wasn't it because you had no other choice?"
Xu Su laughed in mock exasperation. "Ignorant girl, everything I taught you, you returned to Duke Zhou in your dreams! If I had veered just slightly to the east, between Chen Dao and Li Weisheng, which of them lacks prospects? Which of them wouldn't be worth investing in?"
The young woman relented helplessly. "All right, all right. You have a piercing gaze and see through the realm's situation like a blazing fire. Happy now?"
To her surprise, Xu Su shook his head. "No!"
"Then what is it?" Curious at last, the young woman pressed.
Xu Su said, "A great figure passed down word, specifically designating that I make this trip. Otherwise, how would I have known about such a feng shui treasure trove?"
"A great figure? How great?"
"I don't know either. I only know the message came from the imperial palace."
By now, the formation base had been set and the six auspicious beasts were in place. Several attendants began digging the foundations within the demarcated boundaries. A group from the caravan would remain behind to continue construction; once the basic framework was erected, they could hire more local laborers to build courtyards and houses.
Xu Su was already envisioning the future prosperity. He smiled faintly. "I wonder what kind of goods they will be able to offer tomorrow."
The young woman curled her lip. "Wouldn't it just be things brought out from his sect? It's not like we don't have channels into the Palace of Grand Beginning."
"That is true." Xu Su's smile faded slightly.
Early the next morning, Wei Yuan arrived at the caravan's campsite. Behind him were several cultivators, each carrying a cargo crate.
Xu Su had long been waiting, and several junior deacons of the caravan were present as well, all eager to see what Wei Yuan had brought.
Wei Yuan instructed the cultivators to open the crates. Two of the crates each held a foot-thick block of steel of peculiar shape, while the other two held piles of neatly stacked components.
Wei Yuan stepped forward to demonstrate himself. Peeling a thin plate from each of the two steel blocks and fitting them front to back, they formed a cuirass. He then attached several components, and in the blink of an eye, a complete sleeveless cuirass appeared before everyone.
Xu Su and the deacons crowded around to examine it closely. The young woman grew curious about the two steel blocks and walked over to inspect them. Only then did she realize that they were actually breastplates and backplates stacked together. They fitted together so seamlessly that they appeared to be solid steel ingots. She counted them: this nearly foot-thick steel ingot was formed by fifty nested armor plates.
After a meticulous inspection, Xu Su drew his longsword. Fire ignited along the blade, and he thrust it straight through the breastplate. He drew the sword back out, and the deacons crowded in to examine the puncture wound.
After a moment, Xu Su let out a breath and said, "The steel quality of this cuirass is excellent, and what is truly rare is that dozens of pieces are completely uniform in shape and size—wearing them would greatly bolster military prestige. Hmm, it also possesses a slight ability to resist Dao power, not inferior in the least to the standard heavy armor of the border armies, approaching a low-grade magic artifact. Domain Lord, you must have quite a few more of these cuirasses on hand?"
Seeing how the front and back plates were stacked so tightly they seemed solid, Xu Su knew these armors were already being mass-produced.
Wei Yuan nodded. "I have more, though I fear you won't be able to haul them all away at once. What kind of price does Mister Xu intend to offer for this set?"
"A cuirass like this is close to a low-grade artifact. The procurement price across the militaries of Great Tang's nine kingdoms is roughly the same, around fifty taels of immortal silver. The price I can offer the Domain Lord is... twenty-three taels."
This price was slightly higher than Wei Yuan had anticipated. Not to mention the long journey Xu Su had to make, bringing them back wouldn't allow immediate sales either; they would certainly have to pass through multiple hands. Military armor was such a crucial commodity that the great figures in the imperial Political Affairs Hall would all want a hand in it.
Fortunately, the border armies had to defend against foreign tribes, so although layered exploitation was inevitable, there was a limit to it. States like Western Jin were, after all, the exception.
Wei Yuan said, "Twenty taels a set."
Xu Su almost thought he had misheard.
"Twenty taels," Wei Yuan repeated, then pointed at the two crates of loose components. "These two crates of components will be thrown in for free. Upon your return, Mister Xu, you may find your own craftsmen to forge them after this design and complete the full suits of armor. For now, I will only sell the front and back plates at twenty taels of immortal silver per set."
Xu Su was both surprised and delighted. He had examined the components carefully as well; they were forged with fine, exquisite craftsmanship, but his own artisans were entirely capable of reproducing them. The technique used for these components was clearly different from that of the breastplates and backplates, but the final quality was roughly comparable. By preliminary estimates, forging all dozen-plus components would cost about one and a half taels of immortal silver. Once taken back, that alone would yield a hundred percent profit margin.
In truth, the chamber's craftsmen could also forge breastplates and backplates, perhaps even of higher quality and greater elegance, but such a seamless, one-piece plate required an immense amount of labor. A craftsman at the culmination of Body Casting might take over a dozen days to forge just a single plate. Moreover, it was utterly impossible to achieve the precision of dozens of pieces stacking together as one.
Xu Su bowed deeply. "Many thanks, Domain Lord! May I ask how many sets of armor you have available?"
"How many can you take?"
Xu Su picked up a stack of neatly arranged armor plates, weighing them in his hands, and said, "We currently have nine cargo wagons. If we load them to capacity, we can haul away two thousand sets."
Wei Yuan nodded. "Two thousand sets it is. I will have them delivered to you tomorrow morning."
Xu Su was startled once again. For a suit of armor like this, a skilled craftsman would likely take one or two months to produce just one. Qingming had only been established a few months ago; could they really have one or two thousand skilled craftsmen?
On second thought, however, Xu Su recalled that Wei Yuan reportedly enjoyed the full backing of the Palace of Grand Beginning. It was not entirely impossible for his sect to have directly dispatched thousands of craftsmen.
Xu Su said, "What I brought this time is merely an exploration caravan with limited transport capacity. Next time, it will be a standard caravan with more than ten times the carrying capacity. However many armors the Domain Lord has, the Six Realms Chamber of Commerce can take them all at twenty taels each."
Wei Yuan was somewhat surprised. "Are the border armies that short on armor?"
Xu Su laughed. "The Domain Lord may not be aware, but the demand for military equipment and armor is bottomless. There is never a shortage of men; however much armor and weaponry there is determines how many armies can be formed. So no matter how much you have, we can take it all!"
Wei Yuan's heart leaped. Iron-forging machines were not difficult to build; adding specially made hammer dies turned them into hammer-forging machines capable of stamping out breastplates and backplates. Once the domain produced several more batches of Dao Foundation cultivators, what lay before Xu Su wouldn't just be thousands or tens of thousands of cuirasses—a hundred or two hundred thousand sets would be entirely within reach!
Wei Yuan did not know what such a cuirass cost outside craftsmen to make, but in the domain, molten steel was abundant right now. The daily labor of the numerous Dao Foundation cultivators served to stabilize their Dao Foundations and temper their minds—it was part of their cultivation, so they didn't need to be paid.
The greatest cost of this cuirass was actually the bit of immortal silver mixed into it, which improved its toughness and gave it a slight resistance to Dao power. By Wei Yuan's estimates, a single cuirass cost only one tael of immortal silver, of which six qian was the added immortal silver.
Those dozen-plus components, on the other hand, were small and tedious, many requiring hand-crafting. Factoring in various expenses, they also cost roughly one tael of immortal silver. Given the domain's small contingent of makeshift craftsmen, merely supplying their own needs was already difficult enough. Thus, Wei Yuan had cut the price directly by three taels and offloaded that portion of the business.
Back at his quarters, Wei Yuan rummaged around until he found an exquisite jade box. He then asked his master to use sword qi to carve four archaic characters upon it: 'Great Virtue Sustains All Things.' Its presentation instantly became extraordinary. Then, Wei Yuan carefully placed three jin of Nether Soil inside the box, pressed some flowers on top, sealed the lid tight, and sent it to Yu Zhizhuo.
Martial Uncle Yu had toiled greatly and achieved meritorious deeds, possessing immense talent—it was time to feed him some grass.
Chapter 299