Su Yuxuan continued, "The relevant department's analysis indicates that the Asian-Australian Union's actions are just the beginning. The Carmenians are certainly planning a series of moves, and commodity prices may continue to rise.
"The domestic economy has recovered too quickly, far exceeding everyone's expectations, so there wasn't ample preparation in terms of raw material supply. The Carmenians surely saw this weakness.
"If the global economy were flourishing, it would make sense for commodity prices to rise, but except for a few countries, the economies of most nations are riddled with problems. The Carmenians want to use this method to attack Great Xia."
Yang Fan asked, "How does the country plan to respond?"
Su Yuxuan replied, "There hasn't been a decision yet, but many suggest temporarily reducing some demands and focusing efforts on developing some mineral resources. Once the supply is adequate, the problem will naturally be resolved."
In the past two years, Great Xia used its trade surplus funds to purchase large amounts of minerals worldwide.
However, due to time constraints, these minerals are still in place and haven't been developed yet.
Su Yuxuan continued, "Some also suggest that although Carmenia's imports from Great Xia have decreased by more than half compared to the Age of Calamity, they still exceed 100 billion annually.
"We could also find a few reasons to add more taxes on these goods, retaliating against the Carmenians."
She then expressed her opinion, "Carmenia, after all, is a big country with 800 million people. They have been quickly rebuilding their industrial system under the pressure of disasters. While taxes have some effect, they won't truly hurt the Carmenians."
Yang Fan thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "How large is the current gap in iron ore?"
Su Yuxuan answered without hesitation, "Currently, the domestic iron ore reserve is only 1.2 billion tons. Considering that it takes nearly two years to build an iron mine from scratch, the gap is estimated to be between 3 billion and 4 billion tons."
Yang Fan shifted the topic, "If the iron ore grade is only 25% to 30%, is it of significant value for smelting?"
Su Yuxuan was a bit puzzled, uncertain about what Mr. Spirit Crows was implying.
But she immediately responded, "Modern beneficiation technology can use techniques like crushing, grinding, and magnetic separation to increase the grade to 60% or even higher.
"Although the mining and beneficiation costs of low-grade iron ore are relatively high, as long as the price is reasonable, it still holds mining value."
The female secretary had evidently done her homework to respond so fluently.
Yang Fan gently nodded, "Understood."
He then smiled, "Leave the iron ore problem to me."
Su Yuxuan was even more bewildered.
Yang Fan presented a statistic, "20 billion tons of 30% grade iron ore is equivalent to 10 billion tons of 60% grade iron ore, which should be enough for Great Xia to use for several years, right?"
Su Yuxuan was almost dumbfounded.
Can you obtain 20 billion tons of iron ore?
Yang Fan spoke softly, "Since the Asian-Australian Union is so uncooperative, once this matter is resolved, we should act against them."
He spoke with a decisive tone, "Time is of the essence. While the window is still open, let me grab the iron ore. Otherwise, it would take another half a month."
Before the words "half a month" fully came out, a large ripple appeared, and his figure quickly became blurry.
Su Yuxuan stood in place, dumbfounded as she watched Yang Fan disappear.
"Window period" — what does that mean?
This big shot is going to get 20 billion tons of iron ore now?
After two seconds.
Su Yuxuan suddenly reacted, quickly took out her phone, and prepared to report to the higher-ups.
As a secretary, Mr. Spirit Crows obtaining 20 billion tons of iron ore is something that must be urgently communicated to the higher-ups.
Soon.
This shocking news spread among the upper echelons of Great Xia like a storm.
Half an hour passed.
Two divisions of the Great Xia Army entered Shapudian territory overnight, heading to a place called "Lingquan Town."
With the current "Great Xia-Shapudian" economic integration, the Great Xia Army's entry into Shapudian requires very simple procedures.
Additionally, a wave of "geographical renaming" has emerged in Shapudian.
All cities, towns, or villages in Shapudian, along with many mountains and rivers, were collectively given Great Xia names.
For instance, Lingquan Town's previous name was "Gelila," and now on maps, it becomes Lingquan Town.
Most Shapudian people don't resist this, as everyone knows this day will come sooner or later.
*
Eastern City.
Just recently, twenty-one warriors from the Iron Fist Civilization learned a sensational piece of news from the Great Xia people—Mr. Spirit Crows would forcibly tear the space to transport massive resources from the Sea of Death Black Sand to Canglan Star.
This group of Iron Fist people immediately requested to witness this astonishing feat on-site.
Eastern City quickly arranged several Canglan Eagles to transport the Iron Fist warriors in the direction of Lingquan Town.
Gabalabas wore a helmet, overlooking the vast lands, with a tone of disbelief, "Any substance passing through a spatial rift will certainly cause spatial disturbances.
"The more material transported, the stronger the disturbance. Transporting more than 100,000 tons of materials in a short time is likely to directly overwhelm the spatial passage.
"If this happens, not only will the spatial passage collapse, but the materials inside will fall into spatial turbulence.
"Spatial energy might even become chaotic, directly impacting the Canglan Star's spatial entrance on this side.
"At that point, everything within a several-kilometer radius of the entrance will be killed, and even a Knight Powerhouse may not withstand it."
Gabalabas seemed to be talking to himself but also inquiring, "Is the Canglan Spirit Crow not afraid of death? How can he be sure to do this?"
Gaba Muda shook his head, "I don't know; we'll find out when we get to the site."
