Jiang Chen's proposal received Prince Huo's approval as well. Prince Huo also knew that while wiping these people out would certainly be satisfying, it would also make Huichun Island Domain and Tianzhao Island Domain mortal enemies.
Once they became mortal enemies, if Tianzhao Island Domain were to throw caution to the wind and launch a retaliatory attack regardless of the consequences, Huichun Island Domain would suffer along with them.
Jiang Chen was their backing, that was true. But what if one day Young Master Jiang Chen was no longer in Myriad Abyss Island? Or what if, from the Eternal Sacred Land, he was too far away to protect them?
Tianzhao Island Domain couldn't deal with them openly, but there were still plenty of ways to make them suffer in the shadows.
Thus, enemies were better resolved than entrenched.
Being able to settle things in such a mutually satisfying manner, using the most moderate approach possible — that was the best outcome of all.
Still, Jiang Chen felt the need to drive the point home: "There is one thing I must remind you of. Your current identities are that of miners. If any of you harbor selfish intentions, or line your pockets, or steal and smuggle out anything on the sly — once discovered, the answer will be a single word: death!"
"Don't harbor any wild hopes. Even smuggling out a single Ling Shi means death!"
Jiang Chen's warning was forceful and absolute.
Though theft was unlikely to happen, Jiang Chen still wanted to nip it in the bud and prevent trouble before it arose. He did not want to go through all this painstaking effort only for these people to reap the benefits in the end.
He summoned the master craftsmen and got a general understanding of the mineral vein from them. The craftsmen also presented their extraction plans.
However, Jiang Chen was not satisfied with these plans.
In his view, these plans were too conservative and too slow. The one thing Jiang Chen could least afford right now was time.
If they followed the craftsmen's plans, from extraction all the way through to transport, it would take at least two or three years. What Jiang Chen had in mind was to get it done in two or three months.
Time was life, and he did not want to waste too much of it on this.
"Young Master Jiang Chen, finishing the extraction in two or three months — that's impossible! Even the most outstanding mining masters on Wan Yuan Island couldn't shorten the timeline to two or three months. These procedures simply require time. Moreover, manpower is far from sufficient."
"How so?"
"To extract these Ling Shi from this spirit vein, you need a large enough workforce, and the work can't descend into chaos. You could say that unless you can mobilize several million people to mine, it won't work. And they'd all need to be experienced — no disorder allowed. Once too many people get involved, there's no order, and it becomes impossible to manage."
"Apart from insufficient manpower, are there other difficulties?"
"Even if manpower is sufficient, there still needs to be sufficient mining capability. Some Ling Shi are located in areas that are very difficult to extract. To distinguish the Ling Shi from ordinary rock, it requires very precise and delicate operations."
"In the end, it's still a matter of manpower," Jiang Chen chuckled.
"That's how it is, but the hardest thing to solve is precisely manpower," the craftsmen sighed again and again.
Jiang Chen nodded. "Do as I say. You don't need to worry about manpower. I can handle it."
"How many people can Young Master Jiang Chen summon?" the craftsman asked, his face full of astonishment. "And if there are too many people, they become very difficult to manage. The mine shafts simply can't hold that many people. It would be crowded and chaotic, and the efficiency might not necessarily increase that much."
"I don't plan to use people."
"Not use people? Then what will you use?" the craftsman was completely dumbfounded. Mining Ling Shi, and you're not going to use people? Are you going to use something else?
What else could possibly be used?