Protect Our Clan Leader

Chapter 1784: Chapter 146 My Great-Grandson Shouzhe Can Succeed the Throne! (Requesting Monthly Tickets)_3

“Commandant, sir.” A certain supervisor respectfully said, “This time, several tens of thousands of sets of equipment that need maintenance were brought back from the frontlines of the battlefield outside the territory. The Maintenance Division stated that the Artifact Refiners were severely understaffed and needed us to allocate another thousand people.”

Commandant Liu’s face turned cold: “Ridiculous! Didn’t we already allocate a thousand Artifact Refiners as reinforcements earlier? Do they think our Sky Artisan Division’s Artifact Refiners are like Spirit Leeks in the fields? Once cut, they can immediately regrow?”

“Rejected!”

“You go and tell the head of the Maintenance Division, there’s no manpower. If they want to speed up, let the existing Artifact Refiners reduce their rest time and work two more hours each day. You oversee this matter; if there’s any mistake, you’ll be the one held accountable.”

“Yes, Commandant Liu.” The supervisor hurriedly accepted the order and withdrew.

“Commandant, sir, recently over two hundred Artifact Refiners have collectively applied for resignation.” Another supervisor reported, “In the past two or three years, six to seven hundred Artifact Refiners have left the Sky Artisan Division. If this trend doesn’t stop, I’m afraid it will cause unrest among the people.”

“Are they preparing to go to East Qian again?” Hearing this news, Commandant Liu’s face immediately turned gloomy and cold, “That treacherous traitor Pei Xin’an, to so blatantly allow his subordinates to poach the Sky Artisan Division! Is he mad, not leaving himself an escape route?”

“Reporting to the Commandant, sir.” The supervisor said with a sweating face, “The letters sent back by those people are indeed misleading and highly inflammatory, and the wages offered by East Qian are indeed exceedingly high, often three to five times that of our Sky Artisan Division. There’s also a rumor saying that Pei Xin’an has earned a lot in East Qian over the years, sending hefty sums back to his family.”

“Sir, why don’t we also increase the wages and benefits at our Sky Artisan Division, or else all the talent will flee.”

Commandant Liu’s face grew even more somber as he sneered: “This is nothing more than a ploy by that Wang family from East Qian. They’re relying on their bond with Princess Chuan Nan, using this connection to win over King of Zhennan, and have profiteered through extortion, securing the Black Armor contract.”

“Now they’re using their financial strength to poach talent with extremely ruthless methods. If we at Sky Artisan Division follow suit by raising wages several-fold, regardless of whether the cost is sustainable, even if we can bear it, wouldn’t that just benefit those craftsmen?”

“Then Commandant, are we just going to watch as the situation worsens?” The supervisor’s face was filled with worry.

“They’re able to raise prices because the gross profit on this Black Armor batch is extremely high.” Commandant Liu took a sip of Spiritual Tea, easing his mood, “If this Black Armor contract fails, their ploy to arbitrarily raise wages will be exposed.”

“The craftsmen who left the Sky Artisan Division due to wages and benefits will undoubtedly regret it greatly and beg to return tearfully. Haha, I would like to see if that arrogant Pei Xin’an will kneel before me for the sake of his family to plead for forgiveness.”

“Commandant, your plan is brilliant.” The supervisor’s eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help but clap with enthusiasm, but then he looked a little worried, “I was involved in the previous inspection of the Black Armor samples. I must admit, those Black Armor samples from East Qian are of extremely high quality.”

“Naturally, the quality of that batch of samples is impeccable.” Commandant Liu said calmly, “If not, even if Prince Zhennan were given several doses of courage, he wouldn’t dare entrust such an important order to East Qian.”

“But you and I both know that samples are just samples. This coincides with East Qian sending the first batch of Black Armor, which is the best opportunity to strike. First, we’ll target the Black Armor’s quality; any armor that doesn’t meet the sample’s quality will be marked.”

“Second, we’ll focus on the quantity of the Black Armor. East Qian is absurdly overambitious; in order to secure this order, they promised a ten-year completion period. Completing three hundred thousand sets of Black Armor in ten years is tight, even if all the Artifact Refiners from our Sky Artisan Division work on it. What does East Qian have that enables it to produce three hundred thousand sets of high-quality Black Armor in just ten years?”

“Currently, it’s the fifth year. If in this delivery they can’t even reach a hundred thousand sets, and the quality doesn’t meet expectations, I’ll immediately report to Princess Su Yun and request to cancel the order to minimize losses. At that point, even Prince Zhennan will be unable to escape the consequences.”

“Commandant, you are wise.” The supervisor breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I thought you remained passive all these years because you feared Prince Zhennan, and were compelled to silently comply, but you were actually biding your time.”

“Prince Zhennan is ultimately straightforward, easily deceived by unscrupulous men.” Commandant Liu sipped his Spiritual Tea leisurely and said, “This is just a reminder to the elder statesman not to rush into things. Go gather a trusted group of Artifact Refiners and prepare to inspect the goods.”

“Yes, Commandant.” After replying, the supervisor suddenly looked troubled, “Sir, there’s another tricky matter that requires your decision.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about our commissioning of Hundred Refinements True Monarch to repair the ‘Heavenly Rhythm Dao Sword’ and ‘Rainbow Garb Dao Robe’, two major Dao-level Items for Princess Su Yun. The True Monarch has been stalling using various excuses, always claiming there’s insufficient rare materials or that certain parts are too severely damaged, requiring project delays.” The supervisor appeared to be quite troubled, evidently having worried about this issue for some time, “We’ve already been doing our utmost to cooperate with Hundred Refinements True Monarch as you instructed, yet he continues to deliberately aggravate us.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com