Volume 2 Chapter 123 Battle for the throne
Xu Yi and Marquis Jole’s discussion lasted for an entire half hour before ending.
In this large banquet hall that was filled with people, of course it was impossible for them to have an in-depth talk. But through this conversation, Xu Yi had demonstrated his attitude to Marquis Jole.
It was that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn’t have plans to go against the Falcao Chamber of Commerce because strictly speaking, there were no conflicts in the areas they operated in. Rather, there were many places where they could cooperate.
For example, like in Banta City. The Falcao Chamber of Commerce’s relationship with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had turned cold since they stole an iron mine from them, but after both sides worked with each other several times, although chairman Morgan wasn’t friends with Xu Yi, their relationship had basically returned to normal.
As for an important person like Marquis Jole, the chairman of a small company like Xu Yi was naturally not something that could compete with him. For him, the Falcao Chamber of Commerce and the Jole Family’s benefits were his highest priority.
As for the large benefits that would come from mining non-ferrous metals that Xu Yi had mentioned, this was equal to giving the Falcao Chamber of Commerce a brand new path.
The Jole Family had controlled the iron mines in the Lampuri Kingdom since it had been founded. Although they had depended on this to earn a large income, they were limited by this and didn’t have any major breakthroughs.
One day the iron in the kingdom would be mined cleaned and when that time comes, what would the Jole Family do?
Now Xu Yi was willing to mine the non-ferrous metal in the kingdom with the Falcao Chamber of Commerce and confirmed that he would buy large amounts of non-ferrous metals from them, this was equal to giving the Falcao Chamber of Commerce a new source of revenue.
Not to mention the Jole Family having a good view of Xu Yi, even if he hated Xu Yi himself, for the benefit of the Jole Family, he would choose to accept the olive branch that Xu Yi presented and would cooperate with him initially.
As for the matter of the army headquarter order, Xu Yi told him that using pig iron was limited. After iron is smelted into steel, it had all kinds of special characteristics that had much more value. So the old style of using blacksmiths was already over and he advised the Jole Family to give up this venture.Visit website our ReadNovelFull.com
As for what changes they would take after giving this up?
Xu Yi proposed that they could create a steel mill together, specially producing the materials needed to make the army headquarter’s equipment.
Like this, the Jole Family could maintain a close relationship with the army headquarters, while also successfully transitioning to what Xu Yi described as “modern military enterprises”.
It had to be said, even though Marquis Jole was forty seven, his thoughts weren’t as stubborn as normal middle aged men. Rather he easily understood many of the concepts that Xu Yi put forth and accepted part of them.
The conversation was very smooth for both sides, so when Xu Yi and Marquis Jole separated, Marquis Jole took the initiative to ask Xu Yi to be a guest at the Jole Manor.
Xu Yi remembered the scene with Vincent and he revealed a smile before agreeing.
After sending off Marquis Jole, Xu Yi’s eyes turned and saw that some people were staring at him.
He looked in another direction, looking over towards Duke Stagg who was surrounded by a group of people.
Seeing Xu Yi look over, Duke Stagg revealed a smile before turning away, clearly showing his rejection.
Xu Yi gave a shrug. Even if Duke Stagg took the initiative to come talk to him, it didn’t mean that he was willing to talk to him.
Right now Xu Yi was no longer an idiot who knew nothing about the Lampuri Kingdom political landscape like last year. With scattered bits of information from many people, as well as the information that he gathered, he was much more clear on the situation. Xu Yi was very clear that the Lampuri Kingdom’s battle for the throne had reached a peak.
The king’s eldest son, prince Eric should be first in line for succession based on tradition and he was the candidate that many people wanted to become the next king.
However, prince Eric wasn’t that competent. He never showed an ability for governance and his personality was bad, so the king had always been disappointed in him.
Compared to him, although her highness Seveni was the king’s youngest daughter and was a girl, she had shown a great talent for governing since she was young and she was beloved by many nobles and ministers.
The current battle for the throne was centralized around these two.
His highness Eric had the advantage of being the firstborn, while having the support of many great nobles.
But her highness Seveni had the advantage of being outstanding and having a good reputation, receiving the support of many nobles and most of the people of the kingdom.
Adding in the traditions left on the Sines Continent from the elves, there was prejudice against her highness, so Seveni had more of a voice than Eric did.
The reason why Baron Belil who had replaced Viscount Leslie had treated Xu Yi so strangely was because the Stagg Family had openly expressed their support for his highness Eric during this year, so the Stagg Family naturally had to drawn a line with Xu Yi who was close to her highness Seveni.
If it was said that Xu Yi wanted to climb the large tree of the Stagg Family before through Viscount Leslie, the current him couldn’t do a thing and it was basically impossible for him to be close to the Stagg Family.
In everyone’s opinion, Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had already joined her highness’ side a long time ago.
So although Duke Stagg was a bit interested in Xu Yi, he definitely couldn’t take the initiative to see him and it was impossible for Xu Yi to come find him.
After organizing the relationships in his mind, Xu Yi couldn’t help giving a sigh.
Although he knew that it was impossible for business to avoid politics, he still thought that being involved in politics was quite the troublesome matter.
“Hey, chairman Xu, why are you sighing? Could it be because you aren’t happy about your conversation with Marquis Jole?” There was a familiar voice that came from beside him.
Xu Yi turned and saw Anklo carrying a cup of red wine. He shook his head with a smile, “No, I was just feeling a bit emotional after thinking about a few things. Mister Anklo, I’m actually very curious, why are you at this banquet?”
Anklo clinked his glass against Xu Yi’s with a smile and after taking a large sip, he said, “Actually I wasn’t planning on coming, but after hearing that chairman Xu would also be coming, I asked our duchy’s envoys to bring me along. My goal for coming was meeting chairman Xu.”
“Oh?” Xu Yi was a bit surprised, “You need to spend all that effort in meeting me? Didn’t Hannas tell me where I lived? If you want to see me, why didn’t you come looking for me?”
“I went, but you weren’t there. The housekeeper told me that chairman Xu is always busy and rarely stays at the residence, so I was afraid that I couldn’t find you, so I came to this banquet. Look, didn’t I successfully find you?”
Xu Yi laughed, “Alright, mister Anklo, since you’ve put in this much effort to find me, you must have something important to discuss with me, right? Is it related to what we discussed last time?”
“That’s right.” When it came to business, Anklo’s face became serious, “Chairman Xu, I want to ask you, have you considered what we discussed last time? If you agree to it, I hope that you can schedule a trip to our Stantine Duchy as soon as possible.”
Xu Yi said in a thoughtful voice, “Although I have already confirmed that his majesty doesn’t have any objections to us selling agricultural magic machines to the Rudson Kingdom and going to build a factory in your Stantine Duchy before the banquet, this matter is not small, so I hope that you can give me some time to consider.”
Anklo shook his head, “Although I also want to give you some time to consider, chairman Xi, our Stantine Duchy’s situation is rather special. Other than winter each year, the weather of the other seasons aren’t stable. If you come for an inspection after winter, you might be affected by the weather, so even if you do decide to invest, it will greatly influence you. Like this, it might delay this matter by an entire year and the citizens of our Stantine Duchy can’t wait that long.”
Seeing Anklo’s heavy expression, Xu Yi couldn’t help asking, “Mister Anklo, there is something I don’t understand. Why are you so certain that our Frestech Chamber of Commerce can help your Stantine Duchy? Why don’t you sell the mines to other companies? I think that as long as there are benefits, any company would be willing to invest in your duchy, right?”
“No, the other companies are different. We have tried this before, but those other companies were all scared off.” Anklo said.
Xu Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Then why are you certain that I won’t be scared off?”
“I’ve already said it, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is different from other companies. Actually when I inspected Banta City a while ago, I saw the changes that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce had on Banta City and the surrounding cities. I feel that if your Frestech Chamber of Commerce can come to our Stantine Duchy, perhaps it could change our current situation.” Anklo honestly said.
Xu Yi couldn’t help shaking his head, “I have to say, you really think highly of our Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
“Accurately speaking, I don’t think highly of your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, rather I think highly of you.” Anklo looked at Xu Yi with eyes filled with expectation, “Chairman Xi, I once again invite you on behalf of Duke Stantine, I hope that you can take a trip to our Stantine Duchy.”
Seeing the sincerity on Anklo’s face, Xu Yi considered a bit before finally giving a slow nod.
“Alright, after I return to Banta City, I’ll be taking a trip to the Black Rice Wasteland and I’ll come take a look at your Stantine Duchy if I have time.”
“Is that a promise?”
“It’s a promise.”