23: Chapter 23 Qin Dynasty's Thousand-Mile Scouts, Metal Detection Technology

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【Territory Panel】

【Territory: Qin】

【Lord: Su Yang】

【Affiliation: Dragon Country】

【Main Base Rank: Rank 2 lords residence】

【Territory Buildings (Resource): Rank 1 Steam-powered Mining Machine * 2, Rank 1 Steam High-Pressure Water Pump * 1, Solid Resource Warehouse * 1, Liquid Resource Warehouse * 1】

【Territory Buildings (Combat): Rank 1 Imperial Armor Camp, Rank 1 Barracks * 20】

【Combat Units: Rank 1 Great Qin Armored Elite Soldier * 18, Rank 2 Great Qin Armored Elite Soldier * 2】

【Resources: Water Resources: 332 units, Stone Resources: 176 units, Coal Resources: 26 units】

【command points: 4440】

Su Yang looked at the panel; the data on it was no longer as empty as it had been when he first entered the Forbidden Ground.

The Rank 2 lords residence had been unlocked, and the territory was about to welcome a period of massive development.

Although the upgrade was significant, he could not make choices recklessly.

Every upgrade required the consumption of existing resources.

To maintain his current lead, every step had to be taken with absolute precision.

Upgrading to a Rank 2 mozi thousand mechanisms tower required 30 units of copper ore resources, and after the upgrade, the daily consumption would increase to 10 units of coal resources.

Unlocking the metal detection technology required 1000 command points and 6 hours of time.

Afterward, upgrading production facilities—both the high-pressure water pump and the Steam-powered Mining Machine—required 10 units of copper ore resources each.

Once upgraded, the resource production rate would increase by 50% directly.

Upgrading the Rank 2 Imperial Armor Camp required a full 50 units of copper ore, and after the upgrade, it would unlock the Great Qin Armored Crossbowman.

Summoning an Armored Crossbowman required 200 command points, and each Crossbowman consumed 1 unit of fuel resources daily.

If there was combat, it would also consume 1 unit of copper ore resources to replenish bolts.

After reviewing the upgrade requirements for the important buildings and combining them with the external factors analyzed earlier, Su Yang's brain raced as he thought through the current development route.

First, the resource the territory needed most and was most scarce in was copper ore.

The first step had to be upgrading the mozi thousand mechanisms tower to unlock the metal detection technology on the tech tree.

Relying on the Armored Elite Soldiers to search like looking for a needle in a haystack was simply too slow; he had to obtain copper ore as soon as possible.

Although he didn't yet know how this technology would take effect, it was the only method currently available for searching for mineral veins.

The second point was the most important part of the territory's upgrade: the Imperial Armor Camp and the upgrading of troop types.

The Rank 2 Imperial Armor Camp would bring a new type of unit to the army: the crossbowmen, unlocking ranged attacks.

Once the technology from the mozi thousand mechanisms tower was complete, he had to immediately upgrade the Imperial Armor Camp to equip the team with crossbowmen.

In addition to unlocking crossbowmen, he also needed to upgrade the Rank 1 Armored Elite Soldiers to Rank 2.

He set a preliminary goal: to upgrade all Armored Elite Soldiers to Rank 2 and to unlock 20 new crossbowmen.

This part of the upgrade would consume a massive amount of command points and would take a long time to complete.

Then there was the production speed; as the number of soldiers increased, the consumption of maintenance resources would also rise.

He had to upgrade the mining machines to increase production speed in order to sustain the territory's ever-growing resource demands.

The final priority was the various matters concerning base defense.

This part was not urgent and could be completed gradually as the base developed.

The development plan was now clear; all that was missing was the copper ore resources from England to get things started.

At noon, Su Yang punctually received 50 units of copper ore resources in his backpack.

It had finally arrived!

Su Yang suppressed his excitement and prepared to begin the upgrades.

Although the copper ore traded with England was not much, it was a vital startup resource.

Without these 100 units of copper ore, even after upgrading to a Rank 2 Main Base, he would be unable to proceed any further.

Therefore, the value of these 100 units of copper ore was far greater than 600 command points!

Before starting the upgrades, Su Yang first spent 6 units of copper ore to restore the armor of the six severely damaged Armored Elite Soldiers.

Immediately after, he had Armored Elite Warrior Chen Wu and Armored Elite Warrior Zhao Zhang each lead a 6-man squad to set off toward the insect nest location predicted last night.

The Zerg had to pay the price for the mistake they committed last night.

After the squad departed, Su Yang began repairing the damaged mining machines.

In the end, it took a total of 18 units of copper ore to repair all the facilities within the territory.

All production units in the territory returned to full-speed operation.

Afterward, Su Yang opened the panel and spent 30 units of copper ore on the upgrade of the mozi thousand mechanisms tower.

As the blueprint was laid down, the sounds of gears meshing and rods operating rang out.

The mozi thousand mechanisms tower grew taller than it had been before.

The metal surface shimmered with a faint cyan-white light.

With the upgrade complete, Su Yang opened the technology panel and selected the newly unlocked metal detection entry.

【Technology: Metal Detection】

【Unlocks Great Qin exploration technology, utilizing geomancy and geological knowledge to analyze and locate shallow mineral veins】

【command points: 1000】

【Time: 6h】

It was actually ancient exploration technology! Su Yang's eyes flashed.

The lay of the mountain ranges, geological anomalies, special plants surrounding mineral veins...

Before modern exploration technology appeared, the ancients were exactly the ones who summarized the laws of mineral vein distribution through a series of 'languages' of nature, and thus conducted their searches.

You can always trust the wisdom of the ancestors.

Without hesitation, Su Yang spent 1000 command points directly.

【command points - 1000】

【Technology: Metal Detection researching...】

【Pre-requisite technology research detected, unlocking special unit — Great Qin Thousand-Mile Scout】

A Scout? An ancient reconnaissance soldier!

It had actually unlocked a special unit?

Su Yang quickly opened the Imperial Armor Camp panel.

Next to the Armored Elite Soldiers, a new unit option appeared.

【Unit: Great Qin Thousand-Mile Scout】

【Unit Type: Reconnaissance Infantry】

【Production Requirements: Rank 2 Imperial Armor Camp】

【Description: A reconnaissance unit equipped with light Imperial Armor, capable of conducting a series of long-range, large-scale reconnaissance activities】

【Unlocking metal detection technology grants the Scout exploration knowledge, allowing for a series of exploration activities for known minerals】

【Summoning command points required: 300】

【Base Consumption: 2 units of fuel/day, 2 units of concentrated water/day】

【Maintenance Consumption: 1 unit of copper/time】

【Reloading Consumption: 1 unit of copper/time】

It had really unlocked a Scout; Su Yang looked at the panel excitedly.

Now, all the basic units needed by the army in the early stages were fully assembled!

He had been worried that he would have to hold an instrument himself and search for minerals everywhere.

Now, with the Scout's large-scale reconnaissance combined with professional exploration knowledge,

Finding copper ore resources was just around the corner!

To obtain the Scout, he needed to unlock the Rank 2 Imperial Armor Camp.

Upgrading the Imperial Armor Camp required 50 units of copper ore resources.

Once England's second batch of copper ore resources arrived in the afternoon, he could proceed with the upgrade.

100 units of copper ore resources were neither too much nor too little; it was just enough to upgrade the most urgently needed buildings.

Just past noon, the stone resources required to build the city wall had also been collected.

Su Yang's eyes flashed as he opened the defense panel.

After two days of waiting, he could finally start building the city wall.

With the city wall in place, the situation of the Zerg charging directly into his face would no longer be possible.

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