Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1972 Agreement Reached and Construction Begins
The final step in negotiating a collaboration is often to determine the compensation and then make payment.

However, even with Kong Daqian offering various discounts, making the price practically half-price, it was still a huge sum for the elves.

The main problem is that the elves are simply too poor. The current state of the elves is essentially that everyone is a wage earner, and the money they can earn is very limited.

To pay this fee, the only option is to sell off assets.

Seeing this, Kong Daqian took the opportunity to make a new suggestion.

"By the way, if His Majesty the Elf King could allow the elves of our Great Zhou to undergo the trials of the Elf Ancient Tree in the future, then this price might be worth a discount."

To put it bluntly, this amount of money is insignificant to the Great Zhou Dynasty; whether it's a few tens of thousands more or less silver coins, it's completely irrelevant.

Given a choice, they would definitely prioritize exchanging for more useful items from the elves.

For example, the trial qualification of this ancient elven tree.

The Elf King had been very generous in giving Hilke the opportunity to undergo trials, which was essentially a way of showing confidence in Hilke's future and doing him a favor.

Hilke wasn't the only elf who went to the Elf Forest at the time. Why didn't the other elves from the Great Zhou get this opportunity?
Let alone an opportunity, Wright never even mentioned it.

And that's the delicate part of the matter.

Since everyone is an elf, Wright wouldn't really care if the elves of the Great Zhou were to undergo the trials of the Ancient Elf Tree.

However, the other elves of the Great Zhou were not yet good enough for Wright to bring up the matter and invest in their future.

It's something I won't bring up unless you ask, but if you do ask, I generally won't refuse.

Now Kong Daqian has brought it up as a bargaining chip, using this condition to get Da Zhou to further reduce the price.

Wright readily agreed without much hesitation.

It's really that simple.

However, even with the discounts, the elves certainly wouldn't have enough silver coins to pay the reward, so Wright was prepared from the beginning to use the mines for payment.

The mineral resources inside the Elf Forest are surprisingly abundant, and the value of the veins varies depending on the type of ore and the amount of ore reserves.

As for the Elven race, whether they should be paid for one, two, or three mines will only be known after their relevant staff from the Great Zhou Dynasty have confirmed the details.

To save time and anticipating this step, the relevant staff from Da Zhou came directly with Kong Daqian.

Without further ado, they immediately began to check the condition of each mineral vein.

Of course, Wright didn't offer all of their elven mineral veins for the Great Zhou to choose from.

He was friendly and kind, but not naive or stupid. His previous choices were based on his assessment of the current situation of the Elven race. The mineral veins he was presenting were mostly common ores.

The Zhou dynasty didn't care, or rather, they had expected it.

The staff checked each of the mineral veins provided by the other party.

After a round of confirmation, the staff finally identified two mineral veins, one iron ore and one copper ore, both of which are the most common types of mineral veins.

However, conventional resources also have their advantages; these two resources are hard currency. While the output of rare mineral veins can help the development of their Great Zhou's magical side, mineral veins like copper and iron are the foundation of a civilization's development, and you can never have too many.

However, according to staff confirmation, these two veins are not the optimal solution, but they have a major advantage: they are located in the same area.

At the same time, they only need to make slight adjustments to the railway route that will connect to the coastal area to allow the railway to pass through this area and set up a station there, which will provide a lot of convenience for their subsequent work.

The costs that can be saved, though unnoticed, are not a small amount; it's no exaggeration to say that it's a win-win situation.

The confirmation process went very smoothly. Once the agreement was signed by both sides, the railway staff on the Dazhou side began confirming the railway route that same day.

The efficiency was so high that even Wright, who had always considered himself quite efficient, was taken aback.

Faced with the Zhou's efficient actions, Wright couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency and immediately ordered the mobilization of wood elf mages to assist the railway workers in their work.

You can question the elves' efficiency and attitude, but you absolutely cannot question their abilities in their respective fields.

For example, right now, after confirming the route with the railway officials, the wood elf mages joined forces to cast a 'plant manipulation' spell.

In an instant, all the plants in the area came to life and retreated towards the forest on both sides at a speed visible to the naked eye, clearing a path in the middle.

This scene was truly spectacular, prompting the railway staff to burst into applause.

Putting everything else aside, this move by the wood elf mages definitely made their efforts twice as effective!
With the help of the wood elf mages, the clearing of the railway line was carried out at lightning speed, and the work was quickly moved to the next stage.

Once the railway construction officially begins, the elves will be unable to help, and the railway bureau's construction team will have to rely on their own efforts.

During this period, goblin airships flew over the Elf Forest every day.

These goblin airships all departed from the border of the new district, with their destination being the coastal area on the other side of the elven forest.

Although the railway is still under construction, it does not mean that related work in the coastal area cannot proceed.

The air transport capabilities of goblin airships are self-evident, and transport vehicles can also be deployed from the ground, although the transport efficiency is not as high as that of rail transport.

During this process, in order to ensure the safety of the coastal area, Hilke and Wright were stationed there.

This was something they had already agreed upon during their cooperation negotiations.

In the battle against the Dark Elves, they were only assisting, not taking full responsibility for the fight. Therefore, the Elven forces, including Wright, who was the strongest fighter, definitely had to contribute.

In fact, the Elven army was the main force.

This is also the main reason why Wright would be stationed at the coastal camp at this time.

Needless to say, they were on guard against the Eredar and the Dark Elf forces.

Based on their guess, the dark elf forces led by Eredar are likely keeping an eye on the situation here.

If Eredar comes by warship to obstruct their construction, then Hilke and Wright can directly use their righteous two-on-one tactics against him, ensuring he never returns!

(End of this chapter)