Walking into the house, Will sat on the sofa, scratched his scalp hard, and then complained impatiently: "Damn it! Ever since you left, these merchants have been gathering around, trying to ask the price of the goods in the warehouse, especially the most powerful chambers of commerce in the city, and they even sent people to wait outside day and night, I was almost annoyed." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"You mean, they're all merchants who want to buy goods?" Lu Li observed the situation outside through the gap in the curtains.

To be honest, he wasn't as nervous as he was when facing the siege of the beasts.

In just a few minutes, several carriages were parked in the open space not far away, and the people who came down from above were all rich or noble, and some even brought heavily armed bodyguards.

"It's not just businessmen, but there are guys with ulterior motives. Their target is not ordinary goods, but steel ingots. You'd better be careful, I'm willing to bet that these people will do anything to get their hands on the precious steel. Will reminded with a serious expression.

As a blacksmith, he knew too well how many outside forces there were in Kempella at the moment, eyeing the mountains of steel in the warehouse, and if it weren't for the fear of the guild, there might have been theft or something like that.

Hearing the other party's warning, Lu Li couldn't help but smile and shook his head and sighed: "Hehe, what a familiar scene......

Obviously, in Europe from the 15th to the 17th centuries, there was a crazy thirst for a certain metal, but at that time Europeans craved for gold, but the other world craved steel.

In a way, the scarcity of the latter is more lethal than the former.

Because gold is only a relatively rare precious metal, its role is to act as an equivalent in the transaction process, that is, the so-called currency, even if gold is insufficient, it can be replaced by silver, copper, grain, cloth and other things that are often used, it is a big deal to return to the original business environment of barter, anyway, merchants can always find a way to make a deal.

But steel is just the opposite, it is a necessity in daily life, and it is an indispensable strategic material for a country.

"Can you still laugh? Do you know that in order to protect the warehouse, I have to divide the apprentices into two groups and patrol day and night, and even the business of the blacksmith shop has been delayed. Will rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Hahahaha! Well, I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble. In order to compensate for your losses, I have decided to reduce the price of the steel supplied to you to one-third from now on, how about it, are you still satisfied?"

"What! two-thirds of the price cut? Are you crazy! you're going to lose money!" Will jumped up from the couch with shock and disbelief in his eyes.

Because the iron ore currently explored in the other world is basically an ultra-inferior ore, and the iron content cannot even reach 10 to 15 percent, it is a garbage mine that is disdainful of mining on the earth, and the level and scale of metal smelting are very low, so the price of finished iron ingots is often ridiculously high, not to mention the best steel products that are industrially mass-produced according to scientific formulas.

Lu Li had seen those scum-like iron ore with his own eyes, and understood what the other party meant by losing money, so he spread his hands with a smile: "Don't worry, I'm a businessman, how can I do a loss-making business." In addition, there are conditions attached to the price reduction, so why don't you do it and listen to me explain it slowly. ”

"Well, please, I'll listen. Will took a deep breath and sat back down in a listening gesture.

"First of all, in addition to the normal transaction fees, you must provide me with a portion of Volcanic Silver every month, and the amount cannot be too small. Lu Li raised a finger and put forward the first condition without hesitation.

Ever since learning about the widespread use of this mysterious alloy in the field of advanced technology, he has made up his mind to keep it firmly in his hands.

Of course, this is not all about money, but more about ensuring your own personal safety and property safety.

As long as he is always the only supplier of alloys, then even if he is found out about any black history in the future, he can use this hole card to conduct secret transactions with various governments.

"This is also a condition?!" Will had an extremely strange expression on his face. "If it's Volcanic Silver, I'll be able to fill your biggest tin cart in three days. What's the use of you asking for all this?"

Hearing that the other party actually called the room temperature superconductor garbage, Lu Li suddenly felt a little crying and laughing, and replied helplessly: "No, volcanic silver is not garbage, they are very important, more important than you can imagine." The main reason why you feel that it is useless is that you haven't found the right way to use it. ”

"I didn't find a way to use it? How could it be! When I was seventeen years old, I tried to incorporate volcanic silver into various metals, but they were invariably too soft to be made into weapons or armor. Will retorted somewhat unconvinced.

Although he never minds people making fun of him, when it comes to the professional field, he will immediately get serious.

"Since you think you've tried everything, let me ask you, how many proportions have you tried, how many metals have you added, and how many smelting methods have you tried?" Lu Li asked several key questions with a smile.

"I ......"

Will opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he closed his mouth and chose to remain silent, because he realized that he had just fused the two metals together, and had not thought about the proportions, let alone the addition of multiple metals.

Lu Li keenly noticed the change in the other party's expression, smiled slightly, and continued to himself: "You know that the steel in the warehouse is actually not just iron and charcoal, the reason why their performance is so good is because at least a dozen metals are added to it, and some of them are even less than 0.01%.

But it is precisely with this 0.1% special metal that the hardenability, strength, toughness and wear resistance of steel will be doubled.

In my hometown, the country even invests a lot of money every year to pool thousands of talents in order to constantly adjust the proportions of various metals to develop materials that meet the requirements.

Do you think that the wisdom and efforts of just one person can be compared to the wisdom and efforts of thousands of people?

No, my friend, maybe your dan-making skills are unmatched, but when it comes to materials research, you're still far behind......"