Volume 6: Helping the World Chapter 184: Symbiosis of Interests
The underground world is so deep that it is unfathomable. The nearest exit to the surface is more than a day's journey away.
The entire underground world actually belongs to the dark elves in less than 3% of the area actually ruled, and the radiated ruled area is less than 10% - hidden in the heart of the Bloomfield continent, with exits in the Far East, West Continent, South Continent, and North Continent, the underground world is too vast, and the environment in most areas is too harsh, making it unsuitable for building cities.
But the dark elves really only need to rule the territory that belongs to them - because at least 50% of the underground world's mineral veins are distributed around the underground city's radiation ruling area, that is, from the central northern continent to the western continent.
The Elf Forest is located right above the dungeon. This is why some human fantasies tend to fabricate conflicts and wars between dark elves and forest elves.
Of course... In fact, the forest elves ate too much, so they fought the dark elves to the death. Not to mention that there was no exit at all in the overlapping territories of the two sides. Even if there was an exit, the one-way journey would take more than three days. The population of both sides did not explode to the extent that they needed to snatch each other's resources.
As for worrying about when the population of dark elves and forest elves will explode, that's just nonsense... Elf women have a high status and full sexual freedom; unless thousands of stud men with reduced intelligence come here to carry out targeted brainwashing to turn elf women into furniture and livestock, otherwise they will eat too much and turn themselves into reproductive tools.
To the west of the dungeon, through the maze-like stalagmite caves and across the icy dark underground river, is the Nubian Ring Road, located on the north side of the Dark Forest and composed of countless caves. The smoke of magic has not yet dissipated, and a fierce conflict has just ended.
The Dwarf King's vanguard retreated from the Nubian Ring Road, leaving behind more than a hundred corpses, but the Underground City also suffered heavy losses. Yale panted as he stepped over the bodies of the Lizardmen and Demonmen servants lying in all directions, and walked around the dark elf warrior who was groaning while holding his injured leg. He walked over to his fallen companion and squatted down with a sad face.
After a long silence, Yale reached out and closed the young man's wide-open eyes.
He stood up and waved his hand. The gray dwarf servant waiting on the side nodded and bowed and came forward. The two of them worked together to carry the body of the tiger warrior to the rear.
Along with the young man who closed his eyes forever, several dark elf warriors and a large number of cat, gray dwarf, lizardman, and demon servants were also carried back.
As for the corpses left behind by the enemies, there is no need to transport them. After cleaning up the battlefield, just throw them into the dark underground river to feed the fish.
"——The third one." Yale looked at the devastated battlefield. His tense facial muscles showed no emotion, but his heart felt like it was being cut by a knife.
Why would a glorious tiger warrior want to throw his life away on this strange battlefield without sunlight? Yale couldn't find the answer, nor could he convince himself with the Tiger King's order like the others did.
But he couldn't do anything, he was just an account holder.
"Yale." Veteran Harry, supporting his injured companion, shouted from a distance.
Yale closed his eyes and exhaled silently. When he turned back, he had adjusted his mood and strode towards his companions.
The Nubian Ring Road was originally a gathering place for kobolds. The dark elves captured all the natives and drove them to the Dark Underground River to pan for gold. The caves opened by the kobolds on both sides of the ring road were left idle. After the goblins opened up these caves, they became the dark elves' gold panning bases - adventurers heading to the Dark Forest needed to get supplies here, and caravans coming from the west would also stop here to rest. After hundreds of years of operation, the gold panning base has gradually been turned into a gold panning camp.
A few years ago, the Dwarf King set his sights on the mineral resources of the underground world, and the gold mining camp in the Nubian Ring Road became a frontline base.
Yale led the remaining nine soldiers back to the high walls of the base made of mud and stones, and passed by soldiers from another tent who were leaving the base.
The spoils piled up on the west side of the square had not yet been collected. The arrogant dark elf supervisor was loudly scolding the gray dwarf servant army. Occasionally, painful groans could be heard from the wounded camp on the east side, but they were drowned out by the noisy laughter coming from the base hall.
"Yale?" Kun walked out of the base barracks, and when he saw his old friend, he stopped and waved vigorously, "This way, Yale!"
Yale walked past the dark elf inspector who was happily counting the spoils, avoided the gray dwarf servants who were busy collecting the spoils, and walked towards his old friend: "Are you here too, Kun?"
"We just arrived." Kun had an excited smile on his face, but he restrained it when he found that Yale was in a bad mood. He glanced at the soldier following Yale and quickly understood why Yale looked so unhappy. He put his hand on Yale's shoulder and said, "It's been a few years since we last met. We should have a good chat."
Yale nodded slightly, waved to his soldiers to disperse, and walked side by side with Kun to the Dark Elf Quartermaster Tavern on the other side of the base hall.
"Has the Tiger King come to the underground city?" Yale couldn't help asking after sitting down.
"I came here last month." Kun nodded. "A large tent was left in the dungeon, and the tent I belonged to was assigned to the Nubian side..." After hesitating for a moment, Kun asked carefully, "When I came here, I heard that the Dwarf King's vanguard was repelled several times, more than 2,000 Dark Iron Dwarves were captured, and even the armory was destroyed. The situation in Nubia should be good, right?"
"...Yes." Yale grabbed the Youlu wine brought by the lizardman waiter and took a big gulp, "If you don't care about losing more than 30 tiger warriors in just two months."
Kun's expression changed slightly. A large camp of the Tiger Clan only had more than 2,000 warriors. This loss was really unacceptable to the Tiger Clan. "How could it be so high? Are the Dark Elves using our people as cannon fodder?"
"There are more than a hundred dark elf warriors killed in the battle ." Yale exhaled the alcohol with a complicated expression.
Kun stopped talking. No one cared how many servants, such as cats, gray dwarves, lizardmen, and demons, died. But since the casualties of the dark elves' own warriors were more than twice that of the tiger tribe, the tiger tribe had no right to blame.
But that's not how the number of people is calculated - how many people are there in the entire Tiger Tribe? Less than 20,000!
All the troops in the king's tent are only six large tents!
Kun's hand trembled as he picked up the wine glass. He arrived at the front battlefield two months late and only now realized that he was too optimistic before... The population of the Dark Elves is hundreds of thousands, the population of the Dwarf Kingdom is over ten million , and the Tiger Tribe with a mere population of 20,000 is risking the lives of its own warriors to fight with others. Even if the Tiger Tribe is exterminated, perhaps it will not be a serious loss to others!
The Youlu wine brewed by the lizardmen has a faint muddy smell and is very pungent. The only advantage is that the supply is unlimited. Kun shook his beard, put down the wine glass, patted the table and sighed: "At this point... our tribe can't withdraw. You may not know, Yale, the Amanda diamond vein near the York Mountains promised by the Dark Elf Matron has been received by the Beast King."
Yale looked up suddenly, his eyes filled with horror.
Amanda diamond is a special metal ore with the highest hardness, which can be used to forge the most sophisticated Amanda armor. However, the processing of Amanda diamond has a very high technical threshold, at least the tiger tribe is not capable of developing and utilizing it - but this vein is on this side of the York Mountains after all, and being taken over by the Beast King, doesn't it mean that the Beast King's hand has reached out to the grassland?
"...As compensation to the tiger tribe, the mistress and the beast king promised the tiger king that if we defeat the dwarf queen, the Spark Plains will be allocated to our tribe." Kun added with a wry smile.
The Tiger Tribe was unwilling to be trapped on the barren grassland, so the Tiger King joined the war between the Dark Elves and the Dark Iron Dwarves in order to find a way out for the Tiger Tribe. The Sparkling Plains, located in the southeast corner of the Western Continent, where the Western Continent borders the Elf Forest, is an undeveloped wilderness. If the Tiger Tribe can obtain this land, at least in terms of the geographical environment, they can escape the control of the Elf King and the Beast King.
“Ha, ha, ha.” Yale let out a self-deprecating sneer, “Defeat the Dwarf King…How many of my compatriots can live to see that day? I may not even see that day.”
Kun saw with his own eyes that three people were missing from Yale's tent, and he did not blame Yale for being discouraging - anything could happen on the battlefield, and who could say that they could always come out alive?
"Let's not talk about that." Kun Qiang said with a smile, "Speaking of which, there is another rare thing. Before we left the underground city, the Tiger King received a letter from a forest elf. Can you guess who the letter was from?"
"Didn't you say it was a letter from a forest elf?" Yale agreed reluctantly.
"No, that's a letter from the Snow Wolf." Kun didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Ayun, the sage of the Snow Wolf tribe, wrote to the Tiger King, wanting to exchange wheat flour, soybeans, and vermicelli for Centaur slaves."
"Huh?!" Yale was really shocked.
In the past few years, the Tiger Tribe was busy pretending to sharpen their knives to attack the Beast King and paralyze the Elf King, and had no time to care about the outside world. After the Frank Feast, the Tiger Tribe discovered that their little brothers on the grassland, the Snow Wolf Tribe, had also made quite a stir - the Sage Ayun was invited by the Forest Elf Queen to attend, and they actually secretly produced a large amount of food and sold it to various places. The vermicelli sent from the dungeon to various bases on the front line was the work of the Snow Wolf Tribe.
In the war in the underground world, the Dark Elves' servants served as transport soldiers, and the Tiger Tribe's centaur slaves were useless. Yale thought about it and asked in a complicated way, "Did the Tiger King agree?"
"The Snow Wolf Tribe offered a grain equal to the weight of a Centaur. There's no reason not to agree." Kun said with emotion, "In my impression, the Snow Wolf people were poor ghosts wandering around hungry. Suddenly, they have become so generous."
Centaurs are naturally violent and difficult to control. They are large in size and even the skinniest of them weigh nearly a thousand pounds. It is indeed a good deal to exchange useless centaurs for an equal amount of food.
Yale frowned. His attitude towards the Snow Wolf Tribe was not as optimistic as Kun's, because he had personally seen the Snow Wolf warriors attack the Fourth Camp and rescue their fellow tribesmen. Since the Snow Wolf Tribe could mobilize such a large force to raid the Fourth Camp thousands of miles away, then now that the Tiger Tribe was involved in the battle between the Dark Elves and the Dwarf King, they could just "take it for themselves". Why would they have to exchange food for Centaur slaves?
With this in mind, Yale brought it up.
"You should think so, Yale." Kun said with a smile, "Since the Snow Wolf Tribe is willing to exchange food, why should the Tiger King reject such a gesture of goodwill?"
Yale suddenly realized.
"This wise man Ayun flattered the Dwarf King and the Dark Elf Mistress in the "Travels of the Continent", and also made friends with those proud forest elves to get the Queen's recommendation. He is indeed very tactful. But what's the use of this? If flattering others can protect the tribe, the Tiger King would not have to work so hard." Kun said with emotion, "Of course, this is also a way to strive for peace. The Snow Wolf Tribe has their reasons for choosing this."
Yale was silent for a moment, then picked up the glass and drank the rest of the Youlu wine.
The population of the Snow Wolf Clan is smaller than that of the Tiger Clan, and they are naturally hated by magic. In the incident that year, all their heritage was lost on the other side of the York Mountains... The Tiger Clan still has the strength to fight, but the Snow Wolf Clan does not even have the opportunity to struggle to the death. It is not difficult to understand why they bend down and humbly survive.
On the grassland, the Fire Tribe.
After listening to Evelyn read the letter, the humbly seeking-peace spokesperson, Sage Ayun, touched his chin and nodded with satisfaction: "You agreed so readily and even let us go to the Tauren tribe to trade. The Tiger King is very sincere~"
"They only need vermicelli, which is easy to transport." Evelyn, who was unconsciously deeply influenced by her teacher's style, agreed, "By the way, teacher, why did you only mention exchanging centaurs? They also captured a lot of cats, don't we need to worry about them?"
"Of course I want to exchange the cats, but the situation of the cats is different from that of the centaurs." Xiao Yun sighed, "The centaurs have been wiped out by the disaster, but the cats still have countless tribes scattered everywhere. If the tigers take the initiative to capture the cats to exchange with us, then we will commit a huge sin."
Evelyn thought so too and couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic... Having lived in the tribe for so long, she had developed feelings for Rosemary and the others. She felt uncomfortable thinking that some cats were still living in the tiger camp.
"The dark elves, the servant army of the underground world, and the tiger tribe are evenly matched with the dwarf kingdom fighting in a foreign land. But compared with the dark elves and dwarves, the tiger tribe can least afford to lose. No matter how strong the individual combat power of the tiger warriors is, their population size does not allow them to tolerate many casualties." Xiao Yun narrowed his eyes, "The Tiger King is a politically wise man. The tiger tribe joined the war for change, not to die... As long as the Tiger King makes a move, we will have a chance to rescue the cat tribe. It all depends on which direction the Tiger King will move."
Evelin was stunned. She really hadn’t thought that the teacher would have such a high opinion of Tiger King: “Didn’t Tiger King take the initiative to surrender to the Beast King? Where do they get the position to bargain with the Beast King and the Mistress?”
Xiao Yun chuckled, "If I were the Tiger King, my race would have fallen to this point. I would be in trouble if I advance or retreat. I might as well find an opportunity to sell the dungeon to the Dwarf King. The Tigers are afraid of the Beast King and the Elf King. Selling the dungeon in exchange for the Tigers' retreat is a good deal."
Evelyn: “￣□￣｜｜…Teacher, you…”
"Don't be so facey. I'm just assuming. Who knows what the Tiger King is thinking?" Xiao Yun said indifferently. "Under the current situation, the Tiger Tribe is clearly trying to find a way to get rid of the grassland and slip away from the Beast King and the Elf King. As for what they are doing, we have no information and no place to ask."
"..." Evelyn suddenly wanted to ask the Snow Wolf Tribe whether they had ever had the same idea of escaping as the Tiger Tribe, but she thought the question was stupid, so she pursed her lips and said nothing.
"Let's leave it at that for now. When the time comes, let Maomao and the others go and bring back Sayre's people first." Xiao Yun collected the Tiger King's reply and put it in a box. "Let's continue talking about the phosphate fertilizer plant. This is the top priority."
“…Okay.” Evelin said reluctantly.
Xiao Yun had been thinking about producing phosphate fertilizer for several years, and had already successfully produced a small amount in the laboratory. However, the tribe did not have the conditions to produce industrial sulfuric acid, so the plan had been delayed.
Evelyn's applied magic research team worked on it for nearly half a year, with the help of Sean who was also researching pneumatic cylinder alloys , and with the help of the gray dwarves in the hilly new district who had accumulated several years of experience in mechanical alloys, they finally built a sulfuric acid preparation equipment - with sulfuric acid, acid-based phosphate fertilizer processing could finally be put on the agenda.
Phosphate fertilizers made from phosphate rock decomposed by sulfuric acid are mostly water-soluble phosphate fertilizers, such as superphosphate, which can be used directly or as an ingredient in mixed fertilizers. They are indispensable for the Snow Wolf Tribe to engage in the fertilizer industry.
With the experience in producing sulfuric acid, there will naturally be no problem in processing phosphate fertilizer by the acid method (the latter process requires lower technical content than the former) - the ore crushing equipment has long been used in cement plants, and the drying equipment is interoperable with the machinery used in powder making plants; the only problem is that these machines are powered by manpower, and to set up a phosphate fertilizer production plant, a large number (more than a hundred people) of snow wolves must join to provide human kinetic energy, and currently the Snow Wolf Tribe of the Fire Department has basically arranged positions... talent must be drawn from various departments.
“There’s never enough people.”
After discussing personnel matters with Evelyn for a long time (Evelin would serve as a technical advisor to the phosphate fertilizer factory for a period of time), Xiao Yun exclaimed.
Evelin glanced sideways, who was the person who shouted to open up another 300,000 acres of wasteland after the snow melted? What had he been doing earlier?
"Has there been any breakthrough in the research on fiber materials and plant latex?" Xiao Yun asked again.
Evelin spread her hands: “Teacher, I only have two hands.”
"Don't you bring more than a dozen assistants with you? Don't be polite and use them as much as possible." Xiao Yun disagreed.
Evelin got up from the kang, pulled open the curtain of the isolated back half of the laboratory, and motioned Xiao Yun to look at the three huge display cabinets in the back filled with bottles and jars and hundreds of samples: "I dare not say all, but I have asked them to retrieve and experiment with all the samples that can be found on the grassland. You only said that you want to find a new natural fiber plant latex, but you didn't say in which direction to look for it. What can I do? I can only experiment one by one!"
"If I knew which direction to look for it, why would I need you as a researcher?" Xiao Yun said confidently.
Evelin immediately kicked Xiao Yun out of the laboratory... It's not that she doesn't know how to respect her teachers, but teachers can be really irritating sometimes.
"This little girl's temper is getting worse and worse!" Xiao Yun muttered, and turned back to the greenhouse area...
Everyone was assigned a position, including Xiao Yun... In addition to presiding over work meetings, his job in the tribe also included leading an agricultural team. The greenhouse area was his workplace during non-winter months.
The two greenhouses used to grow sweet potato leaves in winter are now filled with a plant not found on the grassland - juicy berries native to St. Bridget's, which are brightly colored, have colorless skin and pink flesh, are high in sugar content and are slightly sour.
That’s right, this plant that only grows in the tropics is... tomato.
The climate on the grassland is not suitable for growing tomatoes. The reason is very simple. The summer on the grassland is too short, only two months (the growing period of tomatoes is about five months), and in spring and autumn, the night temperature often drops below ten degrees. If these tomatoes are planted in the open air, they will definitely freeze to death...
Learning from St. Bridget's experience in growing tomatoes, this batch of seeds was soaked in warm water before sowing. They sprouted in about five days and were carefully cared for for two months. Now the arm-high plants in the greenhouse are full of thumb-sized green fruits.
"The soil is a bit dry..." After checking the moisture content of the ridge soil, Xiao Yun picked up the wooden barrel and carefully added moisture to the ridge soil with less moisture.
Tomatoes are relatively easy to grow, but they also need to be planted carefully. First of all, the root system of this plant is relatively developed and requires a thicker soil layer. Before sowing, Xiao Yun led people to add a layer of earthworm soil and a layer of pond mud dug out when cleaning the water storage pond last autumn; secondly , this plant needs a lot of water but cannot withstand waterlogging, so watering must be done in "small amounts and multiple times" to ensure that the ridge soil is slightly moist but not soaked to the point of rotting the roots.
It was the first time for Xiao Yun to grow tomatoes in both greenhouses. He did not dare to let others do the work and took care of them himself. In his previous life, his favorite home-cooked dish was scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Now that the tribe has no shortage of eggs after a year of breeding, they still need to work harder on tomatoes... The so-called productivity is driven by demand.
"Ayun!"
After finishing watering the plants, Xiao Yun was still rubbing his waist and catching his breath when he saw Niu Jiao coming towards him angrily.
"Did someone steal the snacks you hid?" Xiao Yun said as if it was nothing unusual.
"Please take care of the Golden Cat brothers! I buried the snacks under the blessing tree, but they stole them!" Niu Jiao was so angry that he jumped up and down.
"Who told you to bet with them?" Xiao Yun said happily, "They may not be able to find anything else, and will they lose to others when they are looking for food? The Fire Clan leader doesn't hide snacks anymore, he only hides money, and buys food when he needs it..."
"I was going to keep it for a midnight snack!" Niu Jiao was very angry.
"Okay, okay, at worst, next time you serve food to the Golden Cat brothers, you can just shake the spoon. You know, just shake out whatever they like to eat." Xiao Yun generously...taught Niu Jiao the magical skills of the auntie serving food in the university cafeteria.
"Oh? Why is it shaking?" Niu Jiao's eyes lit up.
Xiao Yun picked up the watering can and patiently explained the cooking skills to Niu Jiao...
After the tribal reform, the influence of the canteen as a public institution has been enhanced again. The reason is the same as why fast food restaurants are more popular than university canteens - although fast food restaurants are not that delicious, but if you can only choose between the two, no one will go to the university canteen.
Niu Jiao is an honest man, but being an honest man doesn't mean he won't do bad things. That night, everyone in the cafeteria happily enjoyed the performance of the fat golden cat brothers...
"Why are you still teaching Niu Jiao this?" Qiu came to Xiao Yun to discuss the woolen mill. When he saw Niu Jiao running to Xiao Yun to thank him in a sneaky way, he was completely at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"Brother Jinmao is almost as fat as the pigs they raise. It's a good thing for him to eat less." Xiao Yun chuckled, "Let's not talk about this, Qiuqiu, you came to me not only for the woolen mill, right? You are the kind of person who shows it on your face when you have something on your mind. Tell me, what's the matter?"
Qiu grunted for a long time, then stumbled: "Ayun, I heard...Maomao and the others want to exchange their fans for Sai'er's people?"
"You are wondering why I don't exchange the cats that were captured by the tigers, right?" Xiao Yun understood very well, and then told Evelyn the reason he had given her. "If the tigers knew how foolish and generous we were, they would definitely do the same. If the cat tribe, which was originally safe, was attacked by the tigers, wouldn't we be guilty of a great sin?"
"..." Qiu's expression was complicated, "So that's how it is... I didn't even think of this. You are indeed Ayun, no matter how evil your thoughts are, they will not escape your control."
"...Are you praising me or criticizing me? Don't think that I have no temper just because you are cute." Xiao Yun had a blank expression on his face.
Qiu sighed, "Then there is no other way. Most people captured by the Tiger Tribe will not live for more than a few years... You know, many people from my original tribe have gone to join the Tiger Tribe. When I think of their current situation, I often can't sleep."
"Qiuqiu, we have known each other for so many years, you know my style." Xiao Yun said earnestly, "I will help the snake tribe who are strangers to us, let alone the cat tribe? If the cat tribe is willing, I also hope to organize them and lead them together like I helped the snake tribe. After all, it doesn't matter whether we release one sheep or a flock of sheep. But the question is, are the cat tribe willing to listen to us? Not to mention other places, in the southwest corner, the tribe that sends raw wool here every year keeps a distance from us. It's not so easy to be a good person."
Qiu was silent for a moment, then raised his head: "I think... if we let those cat tribes integrate into us, they will be wary, but if we arrange it like the snake tribe, maybe they won't be so resistant?"
Xiao Yun was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously raised his hand to touch his chin: "It seems... it's okay?"
Not forcing racial integration, but only concentrating the cat population together to develop as a downstream production base, seems to make sense for the vigilant big cats~!
It is also safe to first share interests and then promote the great unity of the grassland people and the community of shared destiny of the grassland people.
