Ch 196: Entes’s Troubles

Chen Wen ignored their slaughter; he took the dragon swarm back to the forest.

Ge Wei and Vils escorted Kakis, Ogg, and the other artisans to the Capital City.

Now that there was no one else in the forest’s vicinity, Chen Wen took out the Giant and Dragon-like Creature corpses and began absorbing the Dark Qi.

Two days later, Ge Wei and her companions arrived at Watay’s Capital City.

The war here was over. Although the streets had been cleaned, a bloody smell still lingered.

Entes knew Ge Wei and Vils were Grand Mages, and that they had come with Chen Wen. Knowing they had arrived at the Capital City, he waited outside the Castle.

He even thoughtfully ceded the Castle to Ge Wei and Vils, moving to the East City where his soldiers were stationed.

Luca had also moved from the Castle to the West City.

Vils said, “Oh, how embarrassing!” and directly entered the Castle.

They rested for a day, then Ogg and Kakis gathered the artisans to begin studying the modifications to the Steam Engine’s details. Also, the current cannon blueprints were for Front-Loading Cannons, and Chen Wen wanted to directly manufacture Breech-loading Cannons, so the blueprints needed to be redesigned.

The distance between the forest and the Capital City wasn’t far for Chen Wen; he came to the Capital City every day to treat Ge Wei and check on the Steam Engine’s progress.

Dwarves are indeed natural artisans. After only a few days, they had prepared qualified Gunpowder.

They tested it, and the Gunpowder indeed ignited the Explosive Stone.

Gunpowder with Explosive Stone powder added greatly increased its power.

After the Dwarves’ adjustments, the most effective Gunpowder had approximately five times the original power.

More importantly, the Explosive Stone explosion absorbed the smoke produced by the Black Powder, directly turning the new Gunpowder into Smokeless Gunpowder.

This surprised Chen Wen.

He had originally only planned to first produce Black Powder, and then slowly research more powerful Gunpowder later.

Unexpectedly, the Dwarves went straight to the point and created Smokeless Gunpowder, whose power was not inferior to the High Explosives of his past life.

He took out a pile of Gold to reward the artisans responsible for making the Gunpowder.

The Dwarf artisans were stunned for a long time, slapping themselves several times before they dared to believe it was true.

To them, they had only completed an ordinary task.

They could get so much Gold for this?

This was simply Overnight Riches!

They repeatedly thanked Chen Wen.

The Dwarf artisans working on other projects, seeing these artisans receive so much Gold, had their eyes turn red with regret for not joining this project.

Looking at the envious Dwarf artisans around him, Chen Wen told them that as long as they worked hard and achieved results, they would all receive Gold.

As soon as Chen Wen said this, cheers erupted.

After Chen Wen left, these artisans worked with all their might, afraid of falling behind others.

Entes learned that Chen Wen had rewarded the Gunpowder-making artisans with a lot of Gold, and he was stunned for a long time.

The artisans were only doing their duty; why did they need to be rewarded, and with so much?

He went to the Workshop District to reprimand these artisans for their lack of propriety, for accepting Mr. Chen’s reward!

They were so improper! What if Mr. Chen misunderstood them as greedy people?

When he arrived at the Workshop District, seeing the artisans working enthusiastically without any supervision, he thought he was hallucinating.

Were these the same artisans who always found excuses to be lazy and liked to go out drinking?

Before, even whipping them with a Whip didn’t make them this diligent.

Had they been bewitched?

He toured the entire Workshop District and hardly saw any artisans slacking off.

He found a foreman and asked him what was going on.

“Since they learned that working hard would bring them a lot of Gold, they now work hard without supervision,” the foreman said.

Entes fell into deep thought, forgetting why he had come.

He returned to his residence in a daze. After pondering for a long time, it felt as if a door had opened in his mind.

As long as his subordinates knew that working hard would bring benefits, they would work on their own initiative; there was no need to whip them.

He excitedly jumped up, as if he had discovered some universal truth.

Lexis’s sudden invasion and his Father King’s sudden death forced him to hastily take over the Watay Kingdom. Managing so many people and things made his scalp tingle.

Now he had found an effective management Method.

The next day, he went to the Mine near the Capital City, gathered the Miners, and announced that as long as they worked hard, they would definitely receive Rewards.

Upon hearing this news, the Miners did not show the jubilant reaction he expected; they only looked at each other and whispered.

After a while, the Miners’ reaction was still indifferent. He cleared his throat and sent them back to work.

He comforted himself, thinking that these Miners were more introverted and different from the artisans.

Two days later, he visited the Mine again and found that the Miners’ work enthusiasm remained the same as before; there was no sign of enthusiastic work.

He was puzzled.

Was it because of his approach?

He returned to the Capital City and visited the Workshop District again, finding that the artisans’ work enthusiasm remained undiminished.

The next day, he went to the Mine again, and the Miners were still the same.

He couldn’t understand what was going on.

Why did the artisans work so hard after Mr. Chen made a Promise?

Why was there no change in the Miners after he made a Promise?

Was his Promise not attractive enough to them?

He questioned several Miners, and the answer was the same: they were already working at Full Power and couldn’t work any faster.

He questioned several Miners individually, and they all gave the same answer. Although he didn’t believe it, he couldn’t do anything about it.

On his way back, he wondered if it was because he was a Dwarf, while Mr. Chen was of the Dragon Clan!

He pondered for a moment and thought it was possible. The Dragon Clan valued Promises; they disdained breaking Promises. Whatever they promised, they would certainly keep.

But he had no record of breaking Promises!

Although he hadn’t been crowned yet, he was actually exercising the Power of the King.

A King’s credibility was no worse than that of the Dragon Clan!

Logically, those Miners should be working enthusiastically like the artisans.

He pondered all the way back, unable to figure out where he had gone wrong.

Finally, he came to the Castle to seek Ge Wei’s help.

He knew Ge Wei had practically watched Mr. Chen grow up and was his Magic teacher; she should understand him well, and perhaps she would know the answer.

Ge Wei chuckled upon hearing Entes’s troubles.

Vils didn’t understand why Ge Wei was laughing; she thought Entes and Chen Wen had done nothing differently!

Why were the results different?

“Oh, stop laughing and tell me what he did wrong!” Vils urged.

Ge Wei stopped smiling and said cryptically, “Awen once taught me a saying.”

Vils and Entes listened intently, but Ge Wei didn’t continue.

“What did he teach you? Tell me!” Vils said coquettishly.

Ge Wei held out her hand.

Vils’s face darkened, and she said angrily, “This even costs money!”

Upon hearing Vils’s words, Entes understood Ge Wei’s meaning and quickly gave her his money pouch.

Ge Wei weighed the money pouch Entes gave her and smiled, “That saying is ‘No rabbits, no hawks!'”

“