The cannons themselves are not meant for dealing with High Tier Knights, but rather for slower-moving infantry; at least if four cannons are concentrated and bombarded, two or three teams of Beastmen, Inferior Horned Beasts, and goblins would collapse and flee.

However, from the perspective of negotiation, Su Li was interested but could not show it directly, so he furrowed his brow and jestingly asked: "With such powerful abilities, how is it that his territory was obliterated and has yet to be sold? President Roger, do you really think there’s nothing odd about it?"

Roger laughed heartily: "I won’t hide it from you, Brother Su Li. His abilities are indeed strong, but the conditions are quite strict. First, you need an artillery factory to involve him in the initial production of ammunition. This is no easy feat; the Empire’s knights trust more in the steeds between their legs and the sharp lances in their hands. Who would spend heavily to build an artillery factory? And even if willing to invest, where would one find the channels to build such a factory?"

That’s true indeed; an artillery factory can’t be built just because there are dwarves around. The Empire has countless territories with communities of exile dwarves, some with hundreds of dwarves. Yet, those with artillery factories are rare, even in many large cities. Strong ones like some Counts and Dukes can only purchase from dwarves one piece at a time.

The fact that Bauhinia Territory has an artillery factory is entirely due to Oliver’s costless investment, clearing out the Dwarf Oath Gold that Su Li confiscated from the Dragon’s Nest in one go, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs using these Dwarf Oath Gold with an irresistible posture to purchase 0.5% of the shares of the Gray Mountain Dwarves’ Firearms Guild.

Faced with Dwarf Oath Gold, even the proud dwarves had to bow their heads, honoring the promises of their ancestors. Only after giving Su Li 0.5% of the shares did Hesse Territory have the qualification to build a [Bauhinia Holy Flame Foundry], which was possible with the support from Gray Mountain Dwarves’ Firearms Guild.

From the end of the war to now, Su Li has produced only 4 cannons in total, initially thinking it would take who knows when to break even. If those Dwarf Oath Gold were not used to buy shares but rather used to purchase firearms, there would now be more than 20 advanced cannons. Without producing them himself, he doesn’t know when it would reach this scale.

But Su Li didn’t expect the returns on investment to come so quickly. Without this [Bauhinia Holy Flame Foundry], the Imperial Engineering Master couldn’t improve the types of ammunition!

This can be described as a match made in heaven for Hesse Territory. Taking him on board, Su Li feels he could commence formally building the military academy that Dean Oliver constructed.

This Imperial Engineering Master can serve as the dean, building the Hesse Artillery Academy.

Just as Su Li was pondering, President Rosen proactively said: "I see Brother Su Li is quite interested in this Engineering Master, Francesca von Friedrich. How about 1000 gold crowns? This price is extremely favorable, completely without markup."

"Should you purchase this Imperial Engineering Master, I can also recommend a powerful dwarf slave, Torrek Ironbrow. He’s a Rune Master from Dwarf Iron Peak Fortress, carrying a legendary quest from Karak Iron Peak Castle. If you can help him fulfill his fate, not only would you gain Karak Iron Peak Castle’s friendship, but also as much as a quarter of their clan’s wealth." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Such a powerful high-tier champion-level dwarf for just 5500 gold crowns! Thus, how about I round it up for you, two slaves for 6000 gold crowns?"

Francesca for only 1000 gold crowns? Su Li excitedly clenched his fists, this time indeed scoring a great deal!

When quoting the price, Roger could hardly have imagined that Su Li, in a small Border Development Territory, was truly willing to spare no expense in building an artillery factory! Otherwise, he would definitely not sell such talent to Su Li for just a mere 1000 gold crowns.

This talent for Hesse Territory is worth far more than 10,000 gold crowns!

Bear in mind that other nobles with artillery factories are either Counts, Dukes, or possibly Electors, and they can directly recruit Engineering Masters from the Imperial Engineer College. If Su Li misses out on this talent, he wouldn’t have another opportunity.

So Su Li took a deep breath: "I’ll leave 1000 gold crowns as a deposit, have them delivered to the territory, and my guards are all Air Cavalry, making travel inconvenient for taking them along."

Concerning the legendary quest on Torrek Ironbrow and a quarter of a dwarf clan’s wealth, Su Li remained quite interested, considering him as an add-on to Francesca. 5000 gold crowns, even just for buying a Rune Master, is quite worthwhile.

"No problem, wait for them safely delivered to your territory!" Roger readily agreed to this request, as they were sending caravans to Hesse Territory carrying "Star Iron Armor," making it a convenient arrangement.