Chapter 11

Li Xian was listening intently, and upon being asked, he immediately replied, "Of course not!"

Xu Ren continued, "That's right. Relying on just a few people is certainly not enough to manage. Therefore, a new class emerged in the world, and they are known as — scholars.

Those responsible for government orders and daily management are called civil scholars.

Those responsible for military combat and all matters related to battle are called military scholars.

Those responsible for planning and part-time management are called strategists.

Those responsible for divination, fortune-telling, and medical practices are called alchemists.

And those with abilities but no fixed roles are called guests.

I, Xu, am a strategist.

As a strategist, I must ensure that my plans are adopted and implemented. If a lord has good advice but does not adopt it, and treats capable strategists with disrespect, then I must seek a better position.

What do you think, young master?"

Li Xian immediately stood up, personally poured tea, and presented the teacup to Xu Ren, "Sir, I entrust all my strategies to you."

Xu Ren picked up the teacup and drank it in one go, "Very well."

Sitting down again, Li Xian began to show a different side of himself, much more composed: "Since you have chosen me, I assume you have observed me for a long time. Could you please evaluate me?"

"Of course," Xu Ren said without hesitation, "There's no need to evaluate your past. The current you seems to have woken up. I have observed your recent experiences.

First, being able to stay in the workshop for 108 days shows that you are steady and can lower yourself to get along well with the craftsmen.

Second, the appearance of the lanterns and your previous words indicate that you have great potential.

Third, your identity ensures that your current development will be smooth; however, it also means that your future development will face some obstacles."

"Oh, future development will face difficulties? Does Sir have a solution?"

Xu Ren smiled confidently, "Don't worry, there will be an opportunity soon. I will solve it for you."

"I have a matter to consult, Sir. Here's the situation: in no time, at most by next spring, I will be able to produce ten thousand, or even a hundred thousand bolts of cloth per day. The quality will reach the level of the best fabrics on the market, and the price will be that of the lowest-quality cloth.

For this, I need more reliable manpower, but the requirements are not high. The only requirement is to work all year round, and I can offer double the market salary.

Additionally, I need more raw materials, a larger market, and to consider the impact. How do you think we should solve this?"

Xu Ren was hit with a bombshell. This was definitely not a small issue.

Xu Ren did not ask if Li Xian could really do it or if it was a hypothetical problem to solve, but instead began to think seriously. This is what a strategist does—solve problems!

The pavilion fell silent for a moment. Xu Ren closed his eyes in thought, and soon, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

After about half an hour, Xu Ren finally opened his tired eyes, "Young master, I believe we can do this.

First, for the manpower issue, we can recruit women from the countryside to weave. This will not only mitigate the impact of a large amount of cloth on the countryside but also find reliable helpers. These women are generally trustworthy.

For raw materials, we can buy them at a slightly higher price or exchange cloth for raw materials to establish a cooperative relationship. This will also help solve part of the cloth sales problem.

Finally, we need to contact the nobility and more merchants to share the pie. Your cloth production will inevitably increase in the future, and relying solely on your own sales is not enough. To expand the market, you need friends.

If it's just a business relationship, anyone can cooperate, and there are no issues of stance. You can contact everyone you can!"

After hearing Xu Ren's words, Li Xian burst into laughter, "Sir, your talent is great. To come up with such a nearly perfect solution in such a short time, and even better than what I thought, all three strategies are multi-beneficial.

Sir, your annual fixed salary is 50 taels of gold. Other benefits and rewards are not included.

As for the reward for this strategy, I will give you... 100 taels of gold!"

"Thank you, young master, for your recognition." Xu Ren finally smiled, knowing that he had truly passed Li Xian's test. The tea earlier was just a formality—no matter how good Li Xian's words sounded, they were just words. Now, he was truly being trusted.

"Sir, please wait a moment. I will go and bid farewell to my father, and then take you to the workshop."

"I, Xu Ren, swear to the heavens that everything I see here will be kept confidential, and I will not mention a single word to outsiders."

Li Xian first visited his father, then visited Yang Zhong, and finally took Xu Ren to the workshop. Along the way, Li Xian realized that Xu Ren was indeed talented, having already reached the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment period.

Upon arriving at the workshop, Xu Ren saw the looms moving on their own, the weavers chatting leisurely, the lively jade workshop, the enthusiastic iron workshop, and the unprecedented mechanical workshop, as well as the "unconventional" magical artifact workshop—almost everyone in the magical artifact workshop was engaged in research.

In the following days, Li Xian took Xu Ren around, and Xu Ren worked hard to learn and adapt to the matters and ideas here. Every day, Xu Ren left the research room in excitement.

Ten days later, the engine research made further progress, reducing from three feet in height and ten feet in length to one foot in height and three feet in length, with the power increasing to two horsepower. The workshop was filled with enthusiastic cheers. Although this size of the engine was far from Li Xian's expectations, it already had considerable practical value.

The looms finally had the conditions for mass production. And the first machine tool with an engine was born.

The birth of the machine tool meant that industry had a "mother hen."

During the process of engraving the array, Li Xian had another epiphany. At the moment the engine research succeeded, his cultivation increased to the seventh level of the Qi Condensation stage.

However, the current research faced a critical problem: the arrays here depended on jade, and the patterns in the jade were not fixed. This meant that each array had to be engraved by hand, severely limiting large-scale development.

"Can the engraving be done by a machine?" When Li Xian proposed this question, he immediately rejected it.

To engrave an array, one needed to perceive the patterns and spirit veins in the jade with spiritual sense, and then engrave the array along the spirit veins. In places where the spirit veins were broken or not smooth, true essence had to be used to repair them.

In short, this difficulty made the "mass production" of the engine a bottleneck.

"Can the spirit veins be extracted separately to make spirit vein conductors?" This idea suddenly appeared in Li Xian's mind.