Volume 2 Chapter 45 There are benefits to building roads
After half a month of training at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, of the eighty seven small companies that qualified, there were only sixty three companies in the end that signed the support plan agreement with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
According to the the contract, they would get some production magic machines from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce by paying for installments and they would use them to make the component the Frestech Chamber of Commerce designates for them. Then they would sell those components back to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and they had to sell it at the set price of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Although these conditions seemed a bit overbearing, if one thought about it carefully, the conditions the Frestech Chamber of Commerce gave them were very reasonable.
First the price the Frestech Chamber of Commerce set gave the sixty three companies plenty of space for profit. If one roughly calculated it, a small company could earn at least five hundred gold coins just based on the component order from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
And if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce ordered even more, the small companies would naturally earn more money.
Not to mention that this contract only lasted for five years. That meant that in five years, these small companies wouldn’t have to follow the set price of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce when selling these components to them, rather they could set their own prices.
So in less than half a month since the small company support plan was announced at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s product announcement, there were suddenly sixty three small companies in Banta City that were responsible for making magic machine components.
It was different from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce workshop that took up a hectare of land, these small companies only needed to rent a small work space for their workshops.
Many small companies only needed to rent a small warehouse. They could put the production magic machines they bought from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce in there and hire a few people before starting production.
Because the production magic machines were rather loud and adding in the fact that rent was expensive in the city, most of the small companies rented warehouses outside Banta City.
Moreover, because they components they made were mainly sold to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, naturally they picked locations that were close to Sandton Manor.
The originally peaceful Sandton Manor that could be considered a resort was completely polluted with noise, as if it had become a large work site. Xu Yi’s heart couldn’t help filling with a bit of regret when he saw this.
He had planned on moving all the factories to the Falling Rain Valley after the roads were finished and turning this Sandton Manor into a research center. They would focus on studying and developing all kinds of magic machines for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
With the beautiful environment here, it was very suited for researchers to gather.
But because of the circumstances, the area around Sandton Manor had turned into a small industrial district.
And Xu Yi was certain that as the Frestech Chamber of Commerce developed, this industrial district would expand and it would never return to the same peaceful environment from before.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi couldn’t help complaining a bit about the Amrit Chamber of Commerce.
If they had finished connecting the Falling Rain Valley a bit sooner, Sandton Manor wouldn’t have become like this.
“I say, chairman Xu, doesn’t it seem wrong to blame me for this?” Towards Xu Yi’s complaining, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce’s chairman Moon Cruise couldn’t help feeling aggrieved, “It’s clearly because of the strict quality requirements you have for this road and our Amrit Chamber of Commerce has to follow your orders. In order to maintain the quality, we specially lowered the speed and strived for perfection. Now you’re coming here and complaining that it’s slow, this really isn’t right.”
“I’m just casually speaking, don’t mind it.” Seeing chairman Cruise looking a bit dissatisfied, Xu Yi’s expression changed into a smile as he said, “Quality is first, everything else can come after. This is our Lampuri Kingdom and the Sines Continent’s first public road, if it is built well, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce will leave their mark in the history of the Sines Continent. If it isn’t done well, you will leave behind a mark of infamy. I had a strict requirement for quality all because I was thinking about your Amrit Chamber of Commerce.”
“I’m more clear on this than you.” Chairman Cruise replied before his expression became serious, “That’s right, it’s very important if this road is built well or not. Not mentioning something like leaving a mark in the history of the Sines Continent, just talking about the present, chairman Pompeii of the Fersen Carriage Company has contacted me, asking me about how much it cost to build this road to the Falling Rain Forest. Based on his meaning, he might be wanting to invest in building a public road.”
“Fersen Carriage Company?” Xu Yi was surprised. After thinking about it, he said with a nod, “That’s right, their company’s business is in public transportation, so they want the roads to be better and it isn’t strange for them to care about the roads. But building roads is something the Lampuri Kingdom’s government should care about, it’s not something he should care about.”
“The problem is that everyone knows that the kingdom is lacking in finances. Even if the king wants to fix the roads, he can’t take out that much money.” Chairman Cruise helplessly spread his hands and said, “So chairman Pompeii has asked me this time how much money it takes to build this road and after I told him that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is investing in this, chairman Pompeii didn’t keep asking me about this topic.”
“What? Was he scared by the price of building the road?” Xu Yi asked with a smile.
Chairman Cruise rolled his eyes at Xu Yi, “Nonsense, building this road that’s only fifty kilometers long already cost your Frestech Chamber of Commerce several hundred thousand gold coins. If one wanted to connect the cities of the Lampuri Kingdom with roads, it would cost tens of millions of gold coins. Do you think that every company can take out that much?”
“One company can’t take out that much, but it won’t stop ten, one hundred, or even a thousand companies from doing it. With everyone working together, naturally this road network can be established.” Xu Yi said in an uncaring voice.
“You think it’s that easy? Other than your Frestech Chamber of Commerce……which other company would take out money to do a thankless job like building roads?” Chairman Cruise said.
“That isn’t certain. Didn’t you say a few days ago that chairman Morgan looked for you to build a road from one of the mines under their company to Banta City?”
“That is different. The road connecting the mine to Banta City can help them transport the ores they collect more easily and faster. In short the road would save on their cost. Actually it’s the same as the road you’re building, you’re only building it for the benefits of your company, otherwise why would you build it?”
“So that means that the core of it is whether there are benefits or not. What if I told you that there are no losses in building roads and it can actually earn more money?” Xu Yi mysteriously said.
“Make money?” Chairman Cruise looked at Xu Yi in surprise, “Are you joking? How could this thing earn money?”
“You don’t believe me?” Xu Yi laughed, “In a few days the king will send people to find you to have your company build roads, if you have the skills, reject them.”
Chairman Cruise looked at Xu Yi with wide eyes and his first reaction was that Xu Yi was joking with him.
It was clear that the kingdom’s finances were bad, so how could there be money for building roads?
But his logic told him that Xu Yi wouldn’t kid about something like this.
Could it be true?
Seeing Xu Yi’s mysterious smile, chairman Cruise fell into confusion for a while.
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As it entered July, the weather began to swelter.
As the temperature rose bit by bit, the desire to buy Magic Fans among the people of Banta City increased.
It was completely different from a month ago. Right now there weren’t any Magic Fans of other brands in Banta City, there were only Frestech Brand Magic Fans.
Of course, even if there were Magic Fans of other brands right now, with the beautiful design of the Frestech Brand Magic Fan, they couldn’t be sold at all.
Because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was holding their exchange event, many families that bought Magic Fans last year considered it and most of them chose to use this event. They exchanged the old Magic Fan in their homes for a new generation Frestech Brand Magic Fan.
According to Sebas’ report for last month, in June, the Frestech Brand Magic Fan had sold a total of six thousand four hundred and seventy two units. The ones that had sold because of the exchange event made up half the numbers, surpassing three thousand units.
It could be said that the sales numbers were much lower than last year, but this was expected by everyone in the company.
After all, the Magic Fan was not a consumable product and one fan could be used for several years. No one would just exchange it if they were bored.
In a small city like Banta City where the population was barely over fifty thousand and in a situation where the market was saturated, it was naturally impossible to have the same amount of sales as last year when the Magic Fan was just released.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the new Magic Fan looked very beautiful and there was the exchange event, then this year’s sales numbers would be even worse.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s response to this was simple, they would just have to expand their market. They would sell the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s products to even more cities of the Lampuri Kingdom.
Only expanding the market was something that took time. Although the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had built a strong foundation in Banta City, Karma City, and even Saltan City, easily opening up the markets for these three cities, to sell to the further Canberra City, Norton City, or even the further Cramer City, it would take quite a bit of effort.
Compared to this, the Lampuri Kingdom capital Anvilmar City that was even further than Cramer City was actually a bit easier to open.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce retail store Victor’s group of three had opened in Anvilmar City had very good business. Every time more household magic machines were shipped over from Banta City, it would be sold in a short period of time.
While making a large amount of money for Victor’s group of three, it also deeply rooted the Frestech Brand into the hearts of Anvilmar City’s people.
Xu Yi had even seriously considered doing the same as Karma City, opening a new factory outside Anvilmar City and producing Frestech Brand household magic machines.
But after hearing Xu Yi’s plan, Seveni who was in Banta City for business looked at Xu Yi before shaking her head with a determined look, “It won’t work.”