maps and lists

That was Ji Li's true personality, he really liked to talk out his thoughts and talk in waves and waves, totally unlike his quiet and silent self when he talks with strangers! But neither stone nor monkey were surprised, not about the fact that Ji Li talked so much nor because he revealed his Talent to them, something very private, especially such a useful ability that can act the same as Essence Stones! It wasn't that such things never happened, but they are still rare.

The trio soon went out of the garden, upstairs they found two scrolls. One large and one small. Qianyu opened the smaller one and there was a tree in the background that depicted every and all currently alive clan members of the Rong Clan. They could see all the relations of the family and their positions, location as well as their jobs. Shixuan meanwhile took the large scroll to a table and stretched it out. What they saw surprised them a bit.

It was the map of the town, which they expected, but it wasn't just a usual map, but a map created by various Talents! It seemed that it wasn't just any map but the main map of the town, the shown during management adjustments and such. The map mainly showed all workshops, the members of the workshops and finally the most important: the specialities and skills of each and every workshop! It wasn't difficult to find such a thing out, but the amount of time one needed to go through all workshops just to find the correct one. Even in Ji Li's previous world, although there was such a thing as "Maps" it still wasn't complete, and one had to visit many websites and perhaps even ask privately for a deeper introduction to every workshop, whereas here everything was written down!

It wasn't the map that was passed down for centuries among the clan members, but it surely was a unique and important one for the management sector of the city. Now it was in the hands of Ji Li, but he understood that he had to return the map. In any case, the workshops may change so the map wouldn't hold too much significance over time.

What he appreciated was the fact that from the scroll, some metal-like fluid came out which then build a 3d version of the map, as if it was the miniature version of the town.

"Hmm, it looks like a lot. Qianyu, mark all the clan members that are working in any workshops and are either specialised in Weapons, Tools, or Accessories. Shixuan, you search for all the individual workshops and tell me what they specialise in."

Qianyu nodded as he started "Rong Wei – … workshop, Rong Yu -… workshop, Rong …"

Shixuan looked through the large map as he read aloud "… workshop specialised in spears, … workshop specialised in swords, …"

Ji Li listened as he took out a scroll, a brush and ink from his sleeve, and began writing all together. Although the information was already all presented, it would help more if they summed all up. They could have pushed this work to the town chief, but that would mean he would know what they planned, and although it wouldn't hurt too much, there was no need to rush things before they got to know the situation personally.

They continued the plan for a full hour, as the town was quite big and most clansmen were blacksmiths, even the younger ones were trainees. In the end, they had a list of over 300 weaponsmiths, 600 tool smiths and 100 jewellers. The total number of blacksmiths was largely over a thousand, but the scroll only depicted the Rong Clan members, not all residents of the town. Besides a few humans, there were many dwarfs that were from smaller families and other individuals from a few different races that joined the town, all operating under the Rong Clan. 

In comparison, the scroll only counted the members from the Rong Clan, most of which were in higher positions inside workshops. Still, from just the list, they got a general overview of the town and about the workshops they will have to visit, as there were hundreds of them, each with at least tens of workers, totalling the town to around a hundred thousand residents, already a small city. Many of the workshops also only had their core areas in the town while they had the less experienced personnel right outside the town, smithing smaller things. But they weren't the focus of Ji Li, as he only wanted experts.

"Okay, we will first visit the Jewellers, their workshops are the closest to the city centre and they are also the least, so we don't have to spend too much time on them, while Rong Xi and his people also won't really know why we are talking to Jewellers."

"Big brother, why do we need to look for them? I thought we are making war-preparations, why would we need jewellery for that?" Shixuan asked, while Qianyu also turned his head confusedly.

"Of course, this is also war preparation. Many things we need in the future for certain things need the precise work of Jewellers, don't you know how quite a few things such as war machines need precise work in their construction? Besides the weaponsmiths, the tool makers will actually be the ones working on them, while the jewellers will be helping them with the precise work. It is widely known that especially the dwarf jewellers have very vast knowledge when working with small metal pieces that need much care. They are also creative minds that help us with many things, such as making the medallions for war achievements. The Emerald Brilliance Empire has always put in focus on individuality and there are just a few general medals that are given to one. They are the highest honours and can't be given to lower soldiers, but they should still be awarded for their deeds.

Besides the gold and jade they get, they are getting a medal that will become a keepsake for their family. So, although the medals are of lower quality, they can't just be a random piece of metal.

And before you ask, it is not that the Empire lacks any blacksmiths, at all. Even this town has enough ironwork that they deliver to the capital. Our mission is to recruit some blacksmiths more permanently as servants of the Eunuch Palace, so we can make them train our own blacksmiths. You should all know that the Eunuch Palace is a very independent entity, but we still have many things we depend on inside the empire. I think the higher ups are trying to use this chance to widen our independence and make our own supply chain of ironwork.

It is only a speculation, and I don't know, but it might be the case. They probably are saying it's urgent because they want us to recruit the best smiths, the dwarfs, before any other faction realises the opportunity. Everyone wants to get even just a bit more power, and those with power don't want to lose any at all. Remember, as long as the empire doesn't suffer, any and all faction can fight another. Just because we are part of the eunuchs, look around and see how many want our power, we can never slack! Don't talk about harmony, that can only be kept with enough authority and strength."

Shixuan and Qianyu nodded and put the lesson into their memory, as they were less knowledgeable than their big brother. Qianyu took the list from Ji Li as he showed it to Shixuan and asked him "Do you think we can visit at least 6 workshops today? In total there are 57, so we need to at least visit 12 daily to finish them in half a month, if we keep by this pace, we will probably visit all workshops in three months, I think. Brother Li, should we do it like that?"

Shixuan suddenly had an idea as he proposed "Brother Li, why don't we make a competition? It will take WAYYY too long to visit them all, right? And afterwards we also have to see how we can recruit them! Why don't we just make a large competition among all jewellery workshops to see which one is the best, and then we visit just the top five?"

Ji Li thought about it and agreed "Yeah, that's a good idea… as for rewards for the competition… We will give them some resources. Hmm, what should we give them? They are all smiths, so probably the chance to learn would be the most attractive, but we don't rally have experts for their level, and for those above, I can't even invite them. Qianyu, go and communicate with the Mission Hall and ask for some blueprints and training books about smithing, they should be around the Essence Awakening Stage. Just tell them that the recruited blacksmiths would eventually get access to such knowledge anyways. If they still refuse, then just say that we are giving up the recruitment because we are not recruiting the blacksmiths for our own use, so we don't need to use our own resources either. Let's see if they can still refuse then." 

Qianyu nodded and took out a communication tool, a cylindrical tool around 10cm long with a 3cm width, looking like a small staff. The tool was made of quartz and the golden lines of the stone formed various characters. This was another formation in a different form.