Chapter 50: Teresa’s Morning, The Elf Council, Recognition (part 2)

Upon entering the hall where the elf council convened, everyone felt the pressure from the old elves.

These old elves were masters in various fields of Caparia. Some of them were even approaching the venerable age for elves, having experienced countless wars and disasters.

On those venerably aged faces that not even magic could heal, were pairs of sharp, gleaming eyes. They scrutinized Yang Hao, who walked at the forefront, offering him respect in an obstinate manner, but for more, he still needed to present evidence.

To this, Yang Hao simply walked to the center of the hall with his head held high. After surveying the hall and memorizing the faces of each old elf, he turned to Fen and bowed in greeting, requesting permission to speak with etiquette satisfactory even to the oldest elves.

“There’s no need for such formalities between us,” said Fen, her comment intriguing to the elves and eliciting a sneer of disdain from the praying nun. “Please, show us your achievements now. We can hardly wait.”

“Thank you.”

Yang Hao expressed his gratitude for Fen’s permission. This gesture of elfish conventional etiquette had already won the favor of the stubborn old ones. After all, what they valued most was tradition.

Perhaps they were willing to change, but what they were more eager to see was surely the integration of tradition and innovation, where good traditions were preserved and passed down. And elf etiquette was undoubtedly one of the most valued aspects.

The old elves showed approval of Yang Hao’s actions, and his subsequent exposition further immersed them in thought.

He stood on the platform, looking around, and with the help of magic, his calm voice clearly reached everyone’s ears, “The longbows from thousands of years ago, the delicacies from thousands of years ago, the traditions from thousands of years ago, as well as the mines, workshops, and the magic from thousands of years ago. The perfection of thousands of years ago has led to the elves’ prosperity today, but what I want to say is, the times have changed. Gentlemen, the era has changed. The millennia-old perfection of the elves is much like a perfect stone knife. In an era where the outside world has developed to the use of iron, even the most perfect stone knife has reached the limit of its lifespan. It is now time for a change. If the elves do not wish for their perfect stone knives to shatter upon clashing with iron weapons, harming themselves in the process, then we have reached the moment when we must arm ourselves with iron.”

Yang Hao looked at each elf’s face. The elves acknowledged everything he said but still showed doubt about his arguments.

Several of the more stubborn elves looked at each other, and then the eldest among them, leaning on a cane, stood up to ask, “Human Regent, indeed, we acknowledge everything you have said. The elves have been bound by the perfection of the past for far too long. It has been so long that we can no longer keep up with the development of the outside world, so long that our entire nation seems like stagnant water, unchanging. We acknowledge your reform. But forgive my frankness, talking is something anyone can do. Only by presenting actual results can we old folks be truly convinced and fully support you. We want to see evidence. Evidence that you can lead the elves towards change, prosperity, and glory, rather than decline. Are you prepared to show us?”

“Of course.” With neither humility nor arrogance, full of confidence.

Yang Hao stood tall and gestured with his hand, prompting two accompanying magicians to step forward and murmur among themselves.

As magic was cast, a circular screen appeared in the mid-air of the hall, facing everyone.

The screen was divided into four large sections, ensuring that every elf could clearly see the images while also ensuring that no details were missed.

In the images, there was a peculiar model grown from an oak tree. The representative of the archer profession among the reformist elves suddenly stood up, as they realized that inside the model, metal arrowheads were being produced rapidly under the action of an unknown principle.

But could such a structure really be built in the Elven Forest in just five days? Even if the oak trees grew with all their might, it would still take about two weeks, right?

The elves widened their eyes, and Yang Hao pulled Arthur onto the stage to explain together the powerful aspects of the Oak Factory that differed from the elves’ existing system.

“This is a microscopic model of the Oak Factory we plan to establish in the core area of Caparia. As you can see, this type of Oak Factory only needs to input metal ingots and can rapidly produce a large number of metal arrowheads with the help of ancient trees to meet the archers’ demand for arrows. If there are no accidents, compared to the workshops all over Caparia, with a steady supply of raw materials, just one Oak Factory can produce the quantity of arrowheads that the whole country had last year combined.”

“Last year’s national output?! Just with the Oak Factory you mentioned?!” Some of the elder elves were dumbfounded, then quickly calmed down, “Think about it, if it’s just standardized arrowheads, it indeed seems possible. But, they shouldn’t be enchanted products, right?”

“Of course not, but they can also be enchanted, it just still requires the fletchers’ manual operation. Though enchanted arrows are seldom used by elves themselves, so considering the upcoming high-intensity war needs, His Majesty and I discussed and believe this is an acceptable minor sacrifice.”

At this point, Arthur turned back to nod at Yang Hao, then stepped back a few steps to indicate he had finished speaking.

And just after Arthur finished speaking, the surrounding elder elves immediately fell into discussion.

“I see… In that case, if the masters want to use enchanted arrows, they still need the help of fletchers, and it also allows fletchers to be freed from repetitive labor.”

“Looking at it this way…”

“Then we don’t need to worry about the consumption of arrows, just about the output of the minerals.”

Chattering and buzzing.

The discussion among the elves made Teresa involuntarily look up at Yang Hao a few more times.

This man was also growing in his efforts. If it were before, simply responsible for industrial reform, he would not have thought about how to compromise with those who were destined to make sacrifices in the revolution, nor would he have considered how to exchange benefits between each other.

Before, he would have just single-mindedly pushed towards his goal. That was just the kind of person he was, because before, he was a baker.

The former emperor who distributed cakes could take care of all his worries for him.

But after the former emperor’s death, he could only rely on himself. And after the devastating defeat of the Roman Empire, this man finally understood that he must grow on the political path.

He indeed worked very hard.

If it were not for his consideration of the social status and work interests of the fletchers, if it were not for his understanding that change could not be achieved in one step, he and Arthur could have already created an oak factory capable of producing enchanted arrows.

But then, the discussion among the elder elves would not be as harmonious. Like in the Roman Empire, he would be without support, even with Fen’s guarantee, without growth, he could not win the heartfelt approval of the elves.

It was really great.

The man of the house had come to his senses.

Sister Teresa lowered her head in satisfaction, praying for the smooth progress of the meeting to come.

The discussion among the elves soon ended.

Finally, they orderly raised the most crucial questions to Yang Hao.

First, how many oak factories were to be built? And where?

Second, could the oak factories produce other products?

Yang Hao responded to each question, and when facing the question from the reformist elves about why not build around the mines, he expressed his concerns about the structure of the elf mines.

He said he was worried that if the important industrial areas continued to be placed around the raw material output areas, it might lead to the loss of both the raw material production area and the crucial industrial area in the event of a natural disaster or human-caused catastrophe.

To avoid this possible outcome, he believed it was feasible to accept slightly higher transportation costs.

Moreover, if oak factories were dispersed across various locations, it would mean that most areas could have their own sufficient supply of arrows, rather than the previous practice of centralized distribution from the capital, which caused logistical difficulties.

In summary, dispersing the construction of oak factories was better than concentrating them in a certain area as before.

This conclusion was unanimously agreed upon by the elves after discussion, thus, the oak factory proposal was completely settled, and everyone agreed on the construction of oak factories and recognized some of Yang Hao’s capabilities as regent.

What was next?

Yang Hao once again waved his hand in greeting. This time, two longbows appeared on the magic screen.

One was a perfect longbow used by elves that took a hundred years to make. It was adorned with exquisite decorations, excessive and seemingly useless enchantments, incomprehensible paintings and praises, as well as purely decorative gems and gold leaf powder, forming an art piece.

The other was a simple longbow. This bow, made by Arthur’s wife, Viya, had no decorations at all. If one were to make a comparison, this was the simplest and most perfect weapon.

The elder elves looked at each other in confusion, while Yang Hao unhesitatingly stated that considering the upcoming invasion from the Diocese, the elves must abandon all parts unrelated to combat in the design of longbows to quickly expand their arsenal.

For instance, those decorations, the gold leaf, the paintings, reliefs, and even the damn lyrics used for chanting for an hour. Yang Hao had had enough during this time. What on earth were all these things added to the elf longbows for?

These things have absolutely no impact on combat. But they would definitely severely affect the production of longbows due to the overly complicated manufacturing process.

Although elves might completely abandon the use of longbows later on, as a transitional phase weapon that still needed to be equipped in large quantities, Yang Hao strongly expressed that, at least during this period, bowyers should give up focusing too much on useless decorations on longbows and instead produce efficiently with practicality as the priority.

Due to the impact brought by the previous oak factory proposal, this proposal was unanimously approved without any suspense. Even the most stubborn bowyers admitted that now was not the time to study the art of longbows, but then they posed another question.

If only longbows were available, elves might not be able to stop the enemy from entering the Elven Forest, or say, they might suffer huge losses before the enemy even invaded the forest.

“Does Regent Your Highness have any new type of weapon to bring about a revolution for the elf archers?”

The pressing gaze of the elder elves prompted Yang Hao to reveal a confident and bright smile.

He waved his hand again.

This time, what appeared on the magic screen was a strange tube-shaped weapon.

“What is this?”

The elves were greatly puzzled.

For some reason, looking at the elvish script for Capa 1404 model rifle on the screen, their hearts were beating wildly as if someone had grabbed hold of them.