The Schemes Within the Mine

Once the handover was complete, Qiao Mo left.

Lin Lin stood calmly atop the platform, facing the gazes of thirty Mine Overseers and more than five thousand miners without the slightest hint of stage fright.

He had dared to charge through armies single-handed with nothing but a sword. Mere stares were nothing by comparison.

"I am Lin Lin, an Elite Disciple of Hundred Flowers Valley. From today onward, I will serve as the Chief Manager of this Cold Iron Mine."

"Everything will remain as before. Please work hard at mining today as well."

Lin Lin spoke in a voice that was not loud, yet bolstered by Inner Force, it rang out clearly across the entire site.

When they saw that a youth like Lin Lin had come to serve as Chief Manager, no one looked down on him because of his age. On the contrary, they felt even more uneasy.

Compared with adults whose minds were already settled, an inexperienced youth like him was more likely to stir up trouble and make their already difficult lives even harder.

Now that Lin Lin had said everything would remain unchanged, the tense hearts of the miners finally eased.

Keeping things as they were was already an excellent outcome. Everyone hurriedly bowed and gave their assurances in a disorderly chorus. "We thank Chief Manager for your mercy. We will certainly do our utmost to ensure production."

After that, the miners began entering the Mining Area under the overseers' guidance.

Two leader-level overseers also came forward to report their work to Lin Lin.

"Senior Brother Lin, I am Chi Bencheng, an Outer Sect Disciple of Affairs responsible for supervising the miners' production and excavation. These are the Cold Iron Mine's previous output ledgers. I ask Senior Brother to review them and offer some guidance."

"Senior Brother Lin, I am Shi You, also an Outer Sect Disciple. I am responsible for the mine's expenditures on food, lodging, tools, fuel, and so on. These are the ledgers for all Cold Iron Mine expenses. I likewise ask Senior Brother to review them and offer some guidance."

The two Outer Sect Disciples of Affairs were both middle-aged. Perhaps from years of exposure to wind and sun at the mine, their skin was somewhat reddened.

Yet as they faced Lin Lin, this young boy, both smiled and called him Senior Brother, respectfully offering the account books with both hands.

Lin Lin accepted them, glanced through them casually, then tossed them back.

Although Lin Lin did not know much about accounting, anyone could tell there had to be something fishy in these accounts.

Lin Lin said evenly, "Take me to inspect the mine."

Shi You and Chi Bencheng exchanged a glance. Unable to tell what this young Senior Brother was thinking, they obediently followed behind Lin Lin and began showing him around the entire Mining Area.

The entire Cold Iron Mine was divided into two sections: the Mining Area and the Camp Area.

The Camp Area was where the miners rested, and it was filled with Dormitory Bunks.

They were barely habitable. Comfort and privacy were naturally out of the question.

Besides the living quarters, there was also the Livestock Area, where large animals used for transport, such as oxen, donkeys, and horses, were kept.

Then there were the Warehouse for storing ore and supplies, the Blacksmith Shop for making production tools such as shovels and mining hoes, the Cafeteria where meals were prepared for the miners, and places such as the Bathhouse. Lin Lin inspected each of them in turn.

Then, he went to the Mining Area.

This was where the mining took place, divided into multiple mine shafts.

The more than five thousand miners were split into two groups. One went into the mine shafts on the left, the other into those on the right, digging and collecting ore, while the Outer Sect Disciples of Affairs acting as overseers watched them work from the side.

Upon seeing Lin Lin, both miners and overseers respectfully bent at the waist in salute. Lin Lin merely nodded, indicating that they need not mind him.

Lin Lin deliberately stood to the side and watched the miners work for a while. He discovered that they first used coal, charcoal, and similar materials to start fires where they intended to dig. Only after burning the rock for some time would they use mining hoes, chisels, hammers, and other tools to break apart the ore.

After laboring for a long time, they would finally manage to chip away some ice-blue ore.

They then carried it out of the Mining Area with shoulder poles and baskets. Once outside, the Cold Iron Mine ore was immediately melted and refined to extract the cold iron within.

After the refining was complete, other workers drove oxen, horses, and other animals to transport it to the Camp Area's Warehouse, where it was stored, registered, and entered into the accounts.

As for the shackled miners, if they worked normally, they were left alone. But the slightest bit of slacking earned them a vicious lash.

The hired miners received slightly better treatment. They were not whipped, but the scolding never stopped. If they still refused to listen, stones would be thrown at them.

These overseers were martial artists. Though they did not use much strength, it was still enough to make the lazy miners hurt and fear slacking off again.

Lin Lin merely watched quietly along the way, offering no opinion.

At that moment, he understood why the miners rotated shifts. If they stayed in the Mining Area too long, they would freeze stiff. After working there for a while, they could switch to transporting ore and smelting iron outside, allowing them to regain some body heat and drive away the cold so they would not freeze to death in the Mining Area.

Even taking that into account, mining here was still an exceptionally arduous task.

Lin Lin picked up a pickaxe and personally tried digging at the Cold Iron Mine. It was fine at first, but as he dug longer, a bone-piercing chill traveled back through the pickaxe in contact with the cold iron ore. Even Lin Lin, a martial artist with considerable skill, found it extremely uncomfortable.

Even he was affected this badly, let alone those ordinary miners.

It would be perfectly suited for assisting in the cultivation of the Body Protection Divine Skill and tempering the physique, Lin Lin muttered inwardly.

After briefly testing what it felt like to mine cold iron ore, Lin Lin had gained an understanding of the operation of the entire Mining Area and the difficulty of extracting cold iron.

"Is there anything you wish to tell me about the Mining Area's operations?"

On the way out of the Mining Area, Lin Lin questioned the two overseer-managers beside him.

At first, both Shi You and Chi Bencheng had thought that Lin Lin was young. Though his martial arts were formidable, they believed his mind was immature and that he could still be fooled.

But now, seeing that Lin Lin was not like the previous managers, who merely focused on cultivating martial arts on their own, but had instead taken the initiative to inspect the mine's work, they knew he was likely not a child who could be easily deceived.

Thus, the two honestly revealed some concealed information they had not mentioned earlier.

"Senior Brother Lin, there is quite a bit of profit to be skimmed from purchasing food and supplies for the miners. The share that can go into Senior Brother's hands is roughly one hundred taels of silver each month," Chi Bencheng said.

Shi You added from the side, "There is also quite a bit of profit in purchasing slaves and recruiting miners. Some people are drawing pay without working. Senior Brother's share from that is also around one hundred taels of silver."

A faint, ambiguous smile appeared on Lin Lin's face. "Only two hundred taels?"

When he had looked through the accounts earlier, the entire mine's monthly wages for miners and logistical staff fluctuated around six thousand taels of silver, while expenditures on supplies such as food, tools, and fodder fluctuated around five thousand taels each month.

The wages of the overseers and managers were paid directly by the sect. Altogether, all expenses came to less than fifteen thousand taels of silver per month.

For the sect, spending over ten thousand taels of silver each month in exchange for cold iron resources worth at least two hundred thousand taels of silver was an extremely profitable arrangement. Thus, it turned a blind eye to the schemes below, so long as cold iron production did not decrease.

After all, the Cold Iron Mine's total reserves were fixed. Whether they were exhausted sooner or later did not make much difference.

And if a manager had merely come here to earn Sect Contribution, then these schemes did not matter either, so long as cold iron production did not decline. They would not interfere with his earning Sect Contribution.

But if the Cold Iron Mine's manager wished to increase cold iron production and earn more Sect Contribution, then these schemes would become a massive obstacle.

They were a problem that had to be resolved.