After arriving in Stormwind City, Li De unexpectedly met an old friend.
"Wendsor?"
"Isn't it me? I am now responsible for managing the transportation routes between Stormwind City and the Cursed Land."
In the third Orc War, during the final attack on the Black Temple, Windsor fought very effectively, but he was seriously injured as a result. After recovering from his injuries, in order to reward his performance in the war, he was put in charge.
Such an important job.
"You are highly regarded by His Majesty Varian and Turalyon. Bolvar and Marcus have also returned to Stormwind City. With you here, I believe that the Kingdom of Stormwind will be revived soon."
Garin and the four captains returned to their own country after the battle without exception. Needless to say, Garin was the prince of Stromgarde. The experience of the first division made him much more stable. King Trollbane was very satisfied with this.
Although Ashkandi and Gerian were both born in the Kingdom of Stormwind, the former was Lothar's right-hand man and of course returned to Alterac.
As for Gerian, he went to Lordaeron because of his studies. After the war, he accepted Terenas' recruitment and joined the army of Lordaeron. It is said that he is now Garithos' deputy.
As soon as Bolvar and Marcus returned to Stormwind City, they were reused by Varian.
Marcus joined the Guards and was led by Duke Grayson. Duke Grayson was already a bit old. Not surprisingly, after his retirement, Marcus would take over and be responsible for the city defense of Stormwind City.
Bolvar was even appointed as a consultant by Varian, and Varian would ask him for advice on many things that he was unsure about.
"Is this the ore mined from the outside world?"
The orcs have now accepted the name Gorongas, but the draenei are still accustomed to the name Draenor. For convenience, the Kingdom of Stormwind still translates it as "Outland".
Li De picked up a piece of ore and looked at it. He didn't know anything about metallurgy, and he quickly handed it to the hands of professionals Bigwitz and Nogforg.
While the two were researching, Windsor also followed the script based on the conclusions of Stormwind City experts.
"After testing by the mage, the magic reaction in this batch of ore is even higher than that of Mithril and Thorium. It is a very high-quality ore."
"General Windsor is right. If the ratio is right, the alloy steel added with this mineral will be better than the high-quality steel produced by Kezan. We can also manufacture steel on a large scale like Kezan.
It’s on track.”
At this time, Bigwitz also made an evaluation, and Nogfogg also named the ore.
"Since it has such great magic power, why not just call it magic iron ore."
Li De's heart warmed up when he thought that the Hanhai Protectorate could also have a high-speed track like Kezan. The two cities and one port in Tanaris were of good quality, but the quality of the stone roads was still very high. The worst thing was that the thousand
Needle Stone Forest.
The roads in the Zul'Farrak Highlands are narrow and the road conditions are complicated, which is not suitable for the development of bulk commodity transportation. The best way is to abandon the narrow roads on both sides of the highlands and build an aerial plank road between the Shizhu Mountains.
However, the steel currently produced by Hanhai Duhu is not of sufficient quality to make an aerial plank road.
"Also, we can also try to develop large-scale mechas."
Birgwitz said excitedly, and now he is still jealous when he thinks of Radolfons' masterpiece.
"These are all things for later."
Li De interrupted Bigwitz's endless thoughts and turned to ask Windsor.
"Is this kind of ore produced in large quantities in the outer realm?"
"Big, quite big, almost as common as our iron ore."
Hearing Windsor say this, Li De was frightened for a while.
Thanks to the fact that the overall technical level of the orcs is not very high, otherwise it would be a matter of doubt whether the Alliance could defeat the Horde with its unique resources.
In fact, the orcs are not without superb skills. Take the Blackstone clan as an example. They are a clan that is good at forging. Otherwise, they would not have such an indestructible weapon as the Doomhammer.
It's just that the Blackstone Clan's forging technology is based on mastering the power of the lava element. Such a high threshold is definitely not conducive to popularization.
Just like the dwarves, they use the entire city as a forge and possess forging technology that is difficult for other races to match. However, the technology that cannot be popularized has caused the output to never increase. It is said that there is only one big forge in the world.
Work, the capacity limit is there.
"The most needed commodities in the outside world are food, meat, textiles, leather products and wood. If we exchange these things for such high-quality ores, we can do this business for a long time."
Li De said this to Dai Lin, but Windsor was not so optimistic.
"The quality of the ore is indeed excellent, but it is also difficult to smelt. His Majesty Varian said that he is most looking forward to the rapid construction of Alterac's industrial zone, so that we can see benefits from the ore in our hands one day earlier."
Li De is very clear about the difficulties in Stormwind Kingdom.
Although it is very profitable to exchange daily necessities for ores, the Kingdom of Stormwind alone does not have such a large size to provide stable supply to the outside world.
As a bridgehead for trade between Azeroth and the outside world, the Kingdom of Stormwind acts as a middleman, and many supplies need to be purchased from other countries with gold coins.
Take food for example. Although the Kingdom of Stormwind used to be a major food-producing country, the food it produces now is only enough for its own people. The food sold to foreign lands needs to be purchased from Lordaeron.
Textiles, leather products and canned meat are all purchased from Hanhai Protectorate.
Going back and forth is equivalent to exchanging gold coins for ores from the Outland. These ores will not see any profit in a short period of time, which suppresses a large part of the Stormwind Kingdom's funds.
Even though he had just received 240,000 gold coins from Booty Bay not long ago, Varian began to worry about money again. Every morning when he got up, his mind was filled with thoughts about money, which made the young king feel irritable.
.
At first, he thought that as long as he became a powerful warrior and defeated all his enemies, he would be able to become a king. But now it seems that this is not the case at all, and the gap between reality and his imagination is a bit too big.
After understanding Varian's troubles, Reed looked at Nogfogg.
"My Minister of Commerce, do you have any good ideas on this matter?"
Hearing that Li De gave him a question, Nogfogg understood it.
"This matter requires us to visit His Majesty Varian. I really have a solution."
Windsor was overjoyed when he heard Nogfogger say this.
"What, do you really have any idea?"
Noggenfogg smiled mysteriously, indicating that he would be introduced to him.
The incident was reported to Varian, and the young king was overjoyed and invited Li De and others to his palace. He said that the palace was actually the strongest fortress in Stormwind City.
Gu Juan
"Protector Li De, Marshal Dai Lin, please forgive me for being rude. When you visited Stormwind City, I didn't invite you here the first time."
Varian behaved very appropriately in terms of etiquette, Li De and Dai Lin said politely at the same time.
"You don't need to take this matter to heart. After all, the envoy we sent before also took note of it in the same way. Our main purpose is to go to Stranglethorn Valley to do business. We are just passing through Stormwind City on the way. There is no need to disturb you from handling state affairs."
"Thank you for your understanding. To be honest, I have been very worried about the jackals these days. Peace has been restored to Azeroth as a whole, but the domestic security issues still need to be resolved urgently."
Hearing Varian mention the gnolls, Li De was also in a trance. Once upon a time, he was a captain of the Kingdom of Stormwind, and his main job in those years was to defeat gnolls and murlocs.
"Are the Riverclaw gnolls in the Westfall rampant again? Or are they the gnolls in the Redridge Mountains?"
"Your memory is really good. You still remember the names of these two gnolls after so many years. It's just that they have nothing to do with these two gnolls. They are the Elwynn Forest gnolls who have disappeared for a long time and they are back.
."
Varian's words helped Li De open up a long-lost memory.
"Elwyn Forest Gnolls, I remember correctly they should be a hybrid of the above two. When I was just a recruit, I followed Marshal Lothar and successfully defeated their leader. The guy's name seemed to be
Called Barry?"
"Yes, Duke Grayson said the same thing. After Barry was killed, the gnolls in the southern part of Elwynn Forest disappeared for a while.
But just after the first Orc War, among the remaining gnolls there, a new leader named Hogg emerged. He was more ferocious than Barry in the past, and his size was almost twice the size of ordinary gnolls.
!”
It is indeed this notorious guy!
Li De thought like this in his heart, and at the same time he couldn't help but talk about the past.
"Gnolls are definitely a group of guys that cannot be underestimated. They are a group of cruel and savage guys. The most important thing is that they are not as stupid as they appear on the outside. Gnolls have a different kind of intelligence. They are very good at learning languages.
.
Moreover, their ability to survive is very strong. Even if there is only a little living space, they can survive tenaciously.
That was more than twenty years ago, right? During the reign of King Baratheon, the gnolls in Redridge were very rampant. Once they made such a fuss that they even dared to assemble to attack Stormwind City!
It was also during that incident that the furious His Majesty Baratheon sent troops to clear out the Redridge Mountains. After a fierce battle for several days, they killed their leader Crocodile Tooth and destroyed many gnoll camps. But even so, the Redridge Mountains were just
I haven’t seen any sign of the Jackal in a few years.”
"Okay, let's not talk about this for now. We have even defeated the orcs and Kezan. Stormwind City will never be helpless just because of a mere gnoll. Let's talk about important things first."
After a few words of greeting, Varian got to the point eagerly. After all, the young man was still a little impatient.
"I'd better leave this matter to my finance minister. His thinking is clearer than mine."
Although Li De can explain it clearly, everyone has different division of labor and not everything must be done by oneself.
"Good day, Your Majesty Varian. Through my conversation with General Windsor, I have understood your current troubles. It will take a long time for Alterac's industrial zone to take effect, and the Kingdom of Stormwind is obviously
It is unacceptable to hold up a large amount of funds due to ore."
Varian sighed.
"Yes, that's it. What should we do?"
Nogfogg smiled easily.
"The solution is very simple, just sell the ore in your hand."
"It's that simple?"
Varian couldn't believe his ears.
"It's that simple."
After receiving a clear answer, Varian couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The finance minister of the Hanhai Protector turned out to be a boastful person?
There is no doubt that such high-quality ore is an important strategic resource. Regardless of whether it can be sold casually, who should sell such ore that is so difficult to smelt?
Is it possible to use it to deceive people? He often heard that goblin merchants would turn worthless stones into treasures and trick people into buying them. But this was only a drop in the bucket, and how much money could be recovered.
But after all, the other party was someone Li De valued, Varian said patiently.
"After the industrial zone is built, these ores will still be used for production. If all the ores are sold, what will we do then? Buy them back batch by batch? Isn't this too troublesome?"
Nogfogg smiled.
"Of course not. The ore sold is still stored in Stormwind City's warehouse. All we want to sell is the ownership of the ore and future income."
Varian heard something about it, but still couldn't find a solution. He began to become interested.
"Can you elaborate?"
"As you wish, Your Majesty, even if you sell us, you don't have to sell them all. You only need to use part of the ore to raise funds from the private sector and other countries.
There is no doubt that this batch of ore is of high value. As long as people know its value, it will naturally attract people to spend a sum of money to obtain the ownership of a batch of ore.
They only need to hold a deed, which is equivalent to owning the ore. Although the ore is still in your warehouse, they can get the income from the ore output in the future just by relying on the deed."
Varian was moved by what he said, but he still maintained a trace of reason.
"Doesn't that mean that we actually don't have to do anything now, just cut out pieces of parchment, and we can exchange them for gold coins?! Is this really feasible? Will people believe it?"
"Of course it is feasible. Although the magic iron ore is difficult, Ironforge's ability is more than enough to deal with it. We can take out some ores and ask Ironforge to create a batch of exquisitely crafted weapons and armor.
This batch of weapons and armor will instantly kill all collections on the market, and will undoubtedly become the best advertisement for magic iron ore. At this time, we will announce the sale of the ownership of magic iron ore, and also indicate that each person has a holding limit.
People will naturally flock to it.
If you still don’t believe it, the Protector of Hanhai can support the Kingdom of Stormwind by first spending a sum of money to support the Kingdom of Stormwind.”
As a former employee of Hotsand Group, the solution provided by Noggen Fogg was exactly the financial tool that Hotsand used to play Kezan.
And this thing is not without precedent in the Kingdom Continent. Not long ago, Boris, impersonated by the Dread Lord, created war bonds among the northern countries.
It's just that Mal'Ganis did this out of spite. He just hoped that the situation on the Kezan battlefield would continue to deteriorate for a long time, and the Alliance, which had paid too many costs of silence, could only continue to issue more bonds in order to continue to engage in the war.
Until finally the bonds collapsed and the entire kingdom fell into chaos.
Of course, Nogfogg is definitely making such a suggestion out of good intentions. Li De has never allowed the disorderly expansion of financial capital, but he also admits that financial means are a very useful tool and can be used under the premise of accepting supervision.
In the right direction, you can still do good things.