Chapter 57: Laying the Foundation

Looking at the blue dragon, Li Xian couldn’t help but laugh, and the mischievous thoughts in his mind… ahem, were already boiling over.

“Honorable Third Prince of the Dragon Clan, greetings. Could you kindly tell me what this big business deal is? That way, I can properly report it.”

Ao Han was immediately flattered by the word “honorable” and, without hesitation, said, “Aren’t you guys trading Sea Soul Silk? Five thousand pounds of stainless steel weapons in exchange for one pound of Sea Soul Silk. You tell Li Xian, I’m being very generous—ten thousand pounds of stainless steel weapons for three pounds of Sea Soul Silk.”

“What about the ores?” Li Xian asked.

“Eh, ores are too much trouble, just toss them away. They’re worthless, the seabed is littered with them.”

Hearing this, Li Xian’s eyes lit up. “Honorable Third Prince, actually, what our boss values most is not the Sea Soul Silk, but rather that ten thousand pounds of ore. The sea contains many ores and metals that we don’t have on land. That’s what our boss truly values.”

“Ah? Is that so?” The Third Dragon Prince stopped in mid-air, scratching his chin with one claw, looking as though he was deep in thought. Honestly, the sight was quite amusing, and Li Xian almost laughed out loud.

After thinking for a long time and seemingly considering all the “difficulties,” the Third Dragon Prince finally made a decision. “How about this? For ten thousand pounds of stainless steel weapons, I can give you two pounds of Sea Soul Silk and five hundred thousand pounds of ore. But you’ll have to handle the transportation yourselves.”

“Handle it ourselves? Where do we go to transport it?”

“I’ll mark a small island in the sea, and I’ll leave all the ores on the island. You can just contact Weizhe when it’s ready.”

This deal was practically a windfall! Li Xian didn’t push his luck any further. For now, it wasn’t wise to take too much before his strength was fully developed. But the next moment, Li Xian pointed at the mirrors, colored lights, and other items in the room and asked, “Doesn’t the Third Prince want any of these treasures?”

“These are just mundane items, how could they be considered treasures?” The Third Dragon Prince was quite sharp!

Li Xian remained calm. “Alright then, we’ll cancel these items from all future transactions.”

“What?!” The blue dragon’s head instantly extended right in front of Li Xian. “You dare cancel them? No way, you must give them to me! Every transaction, you must gift me 10—no, 100 colored lights, 100 mirrors, and 100 other glass items. They’re just mundane things, and yet you’re so stingy.”

“Yes, they are just mundane items. Why would the Third Prince even care about them? Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself—I am Li Xian. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Honorable Third Prince.”

“What, you are Li Xian?” Ao Han circled around Li Xian several times, finally shaking his head in disbelief, “You don’t even have horns on your head, your cultivation level isn’t even at the Foundation Establishment stage, and you, a mere mortal, can actually create so many exquisite items?”

“That wasn’t me; it was all done by the craftsmen,” Li Xian could now confirm that this blue dragon was definitely a problem child, and one of the most outstanding among them.

Ao Han’s tail tapped on the ground, and his two front paws crossed in a comical manner, “I suppose so. Hey, don’t forget the freebies.”

Li Xian smiled slightly, “That’s fine, but I need to discuss it with Princess Ao Qingxue first, otherwise…”

Upon hearing this, Ao Han jumped up in protest, “No way! You can’t discuss it with her! Absolutely not!”

“How about this? I’m planning to make some ships soon, possibly quite a few, and they might be somewhat large. I want to run transport along the coast. At that time, I might need to borrow the prestige of the Third Prince of Dragons. Of course, in return, I’ll offer you the goods at one-twentieth of the cost price.

As long as we utilize your prestige and convenience, you won’t need to do anything and will still have one-twentieth of the income. You can choose to receive this income in gold and silver, or purchase any items from me; I will prioritize supplying whatever you need.”

“Eh?” Ao Han scratched his chin, entering a “deep thinking” mode, “No, one-twentieth is too little; make it one-tenth!”

“Alright, one-tenth, and no one can go back on their word; we swear to the heavens.”

“Yes, swear to the heavens, and never go back on our word.”

Thus, the poor Third Prince of Dragons sold this lucrative maritime transport at merely one-tenth of the price—consider that customs on Earth once charged taxes based on 100% to even 200% of the product price; and here, the Third Prince of Dragons was selling it at 10% of the product price, while swearing to “never go back on his word.”

Most importantly, Li Xian specified that it was the cost price of the goods, not the actual selling price! 

Indeed, it was a big deal, but the Third Prince of Dragons’ big deal was not the same as Li Xian’s big deal. In fact, at that moment, the Third Prince was still quite pleased, as merely letting Li Xian operate on the sea meant he could collect one-tenth of the product value, which was a fantastic opportunity.

At this moment, no one could accurately understand the profits from maritime transport—no one dared to venture into the sea casually. However, when the Third Prince returned and proudly shared this matter with Ao Qingxue, the Dragon Princess was very pleased as well.

Of course, that was a matter for later; for now, Li Xian was overjoyed and directly threw Ao Han into a small warehouse at the glass products and colorful lantern factory, letting this guy go wild.

Ao Han indeed went crazy. Initially intending to sneakily take a few items, he unexpectedly found himself with a warehouse full of treasures, with thousands of glass products and some exquisite colorful lanterns, making the Third Prince of Dragons have a blast.

While the Third Prince was having fun, Li Xian was also ecstatic, sending people to receive that ten thousand tons of ore while gathering everyone to discuss the upcoming development strategies.

This discussion lasted for half a month. This time of discussion thoroughly established the future development pattern of the Brilliant Star Trading Company.

First, the Brilliant Star Trading Company was renamed: Brilliant Star Group, a large conglomerate that integrates scientific research, cultivation, education, industrial production, commerce, and services, and for the first time proposed the concept of a “Commercial Empire.”

“We do not seek to dominate, we do not establish nations, and we do not stir for independence, but we will be able to influence the fate of a country! This is a commercial empire based on technology and industry, a nominal and conceptual empire!”

Once this grand idea was proposed, the most excited were Xu Ren, Beichen Yuqing, and Fang Shijing. As strategists, they naturally wished to have a place to utilize their talents; and the big pie that Li Xian painted allowed them to see a vast future.

Secondly, Xia Qingqing let out a sigh of relief. During this period, she had a lingering thought—was Li Xian planning a rebellion? Yes, Li Xian had the Hidden Star fate, but he also had an older brother! Now that Li Xian proposed this idea, Xia Qingqing felt relieved.

In addition, everyone, meaning the senior management of the Brilliant Star Group, was also excited. Everyone liked development and prosperity—this is called a bright future.

Afterward, the leadership structure of the Brilliant Star Group was basically confirmed.

Xu Ren was appointed as the head of the planning department, a position similar to that of the “intellectual leader of the group,” responsible for all related matters and reporting directly to Li Xian.

Under Xu Ren were Beichen Yuqing, Fang Shijing, and Ling Zhifeng. Beichen Yuqing was temporarily responsible for external business development and market strategy, while Fang Shijing focused on internal matters, mainly handling the group’s internal situation, including finance and procurement for the time being. Ling Zhifeng was an exception; every plan required Ling Zhifeng to calculate its auspiciousness.

Xia Qingqing, after all, was a princess and had endured considerable hardships; her abilities should not be underestimated. Taking everything into consideration, Li Xian assigned her to oversee education, as education was what Li Xian cared about most.

Next came the various branches and departments.

Liu Leigang was responsible for armed security. Given the current environment, Li Xian needed to have his own armed forces, and that force needed to be sufficiently strong.

The research department was still led by Tang Rong. Currently, the research department was involved in numerous studies, including engines, generators, electromagnetic furnaces, various formations, and various wires, all of which were arranged by Tang Rong himself.

According to Tang Rong’s report, He Wenlong was specifically responsible for wires, Huang Bingchu was in charge of engines, and Hu Junzai, promoted from the smelting branch, was responsible for the smelting and research of black iron and red copper. There was also a newly added power department, managed by someone named Peng Yongguang.

A welding department was also newly established. With the commencement of large-scale production, relying solely on spells was no longer sufficient. A person named Zhang Xiaowu was in charge, but the welding process was still in the research phase for now.

The machinery factory was still managed by Liu Bin, but three new departments were created: the locomotive department, led by Xie Wenjie; the shipbuilding department, led by Wan Sheng; and the aircraft department, led by Yun Feihong. Yun Feihong was one of the few women promoted this time and received much attention.

There was a bit of a subplot regarding the aircraft department and its concept, which Li Xian had specially mentioned. Many people could not understand it and felt it was not very useful—after all, one could fly with a sword in the Golden Core stage. Only Yun Feihong showed interest.

Additionally, the textile branch was officially led by Wu Juanjuan, who became the deputy factory manager of the textile division.

A concrete branch was officially added, with Xiang Yun in charge. With the emergence of electromagnetic furnace technology, Xiang Yun finally overcame all obstacles, and the first batch of cement was successfully produced with impressive results, which Xu Ren praised endlessly.

Furthermore, the smelting branch added a “Parts Department,” specifically responsible for producing bearings, main shafts, screws, tools, and the like. The head was Ma Xiaoliang.

A separate department was established from the machinery division to handle precise measurements, including research on various precision tools and timekeeping instruments like clocks. The head was Zhou Ruikai.

In addition, a new branch was established—the rubber factory—not only to study general adhesives and tapes but also to research rubber and tires! Currently, tires were made from cowhide and various animal skins, which were functional and quite good, but Li Xian still wanted “rubber.” The head of the rubber factory was Tang Xiaoni, a person promoted from the textile division, who came from a family with many excellent crafts, such as rolling cowhide tires.

Thus, after a brief, frenzied period supported by the near-cheating methods of practitioners, Li Xian’s industrial foundation was finally established.

In the final summary, Xu Ren offered a small suggestion: “Young master, we are again short on manpower, and food shortages are beginning to appear as well. I plan to purchase refugees from various regions of the Great Xia Kingdom while simultaneously buying grain.”

“Excellent!” Li Xian was delighted to hear Xu Ren’s plan. Indeed, he was a strategist.

Now, a large number of refugees had seriously impacted the fragmented regimes. This was a world of cultivation, and among the refugees, there were undoubtedly many skilled individuals, with attacks on armies by refugees being quite common. If they could “purchase” these refugees, the fragmented regimes would surely be overwhelmed with joy; and then buying grain would become very convenient.

For the refugees, as long as Li Xian could provide decent conditions, there would definitely be no objections.

But all of this was just a plan. After completing the initial accumulation, could Li Xian continue moving forward?

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