Volume 3 Chapter 8 Only having lords in eyes
After visiting the Falling Rain Valley, Newman returned to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s office with Xu Yi.
When the two had a meeting alone, Newman invited the Frestech Chamber of Commerce again while also deepening their conversation.
“Chairman Xu, to be honest, I very much don’t understand why this country would suppress your company. After King William learned of this matter, he was very surprised and also very confused. A company that could help an entire kingdom develop like your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, it’s fine if you don’t support them, but to actually suppress it, King William and I are both angry for you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.” Newman said in an indignant manner.
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Many thanks for you and King William’s care and support, but I think that chairman Newman shouldn’t ask about our Lampuri Kingdom’s internal matters.”
Newman shook his head and said with a sigh, “Chairman Xu, I acknowledge that this is an internal matter for your Lampuri Kingdom and I believe that you can solve it with your abilities. But I have to sincerely represent our King William to say that our Rudson Kingdom will always have our doors open to you. If you change your mind one day and want to develop in our Rudson Kingdom, King William will openly welcome you.”
Xu Yi gave a shrug, “I hope that day will never come.”
It had to be said, Newman was already putting it rather straightforward.
His words were clearly digging around the corner. If this was earth, it would be immediately considered espionage.
But the Sines Continent’s society was different from earth’s. The countries of the Sines Continent were strictly speaking just a gathering of nobles, a king couldn’t even compare to some of the more powerful nobles of the two greatest empires.
If the royal family wasn’t strong enough, the other nobles that belonged to that kingdom could go independent, which wasn’t a strange thing on the continent.
For example, because of the famine in the Lampuri Kingdom, their national power had weakened. There was a patch of land controlled by a count to the kingdom’s north that had gone to the northern Sack Kingdom.
Although this noble was called a shame and a traitor of the Lampuri Kingdom, it was different compared to earth. The Lampuri Kingdom’s public didn’t react that much on this matter.
To the citizens, the Lampuri Kingdom’s royal family had weakened and couldn’t control all the nobles in the kingdom. It was natural for this situation to occur, there was no need to freak out about it.
For the citizens of the Lampuri Kingdom or the citizens of the Sines Continent, they didn’t have much national identity and just continued their normal lives. They only cared about the lord that ruled over them.
For example, when Count Sean ruled over Banta City, everyone had a happy and prosperous life. These last two years had quickly developed Banta City and made everyone’s lives even better, creating a high support rate among the Banta City citizens.
When the Royal Parliament transferred him, the Banta Citizens cursed the Royal Parliament for being idiots.
What angered the citizens even more was what Count Stagg had done after taking over as City Lord which almost ruined the prosperity that Banta City had before. There were many people’s lives that were affected by this.
So the Banta City citizens didn’t have a favourable impression of Count Stagg, rather they even began secretly despising him.
There were many incited citizens who when heard that Xu Yi became a viscount and received territory, they wanted to pledge allegiance to Xu Yi and become people governed by Lord Viscount Xu Yi.
On the Sines Continent, this was a very meaningful matter.
That was because if this was really done, it meant that the citizens would become the citizens of Viscount Xu Yi’s private territory. They wouldn’t receive the same protection from the laws of the Lampuri Kingdom and would take him on as their lord.
This meant that Xu Yi as the lord could use his identity as the lord to do anything he wanted to people who swore loyalty to him. Other people wouldn’t be able to do a thing, not to mention being able to speak up.
Perhaps to put it a bit more simply, it meant that the citizens would become Xu Yi’s slave based on his title as a viscount, but their statuses were different from that of slaves.
Although Xu Yi completely rejected all thoughts of people pledging loyalty to him, he could see based on this that on the Sines Continent, the citizens didn’t have the same sense of belonging or national identity. They only cared about nobles who they worked for or were noble to.
So in theory, Newman’s invitation to Xu Yi wasn’t something casually said.
As long as Xu Yi was willing, he could separate the Frestech Chamber of Commerce from the Lampuri Kingdom and join the Rudson Kingdom.
Of course, if Xu YI dared to do this, first not mentioning the other companies that wouldn’t let go of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, just the royal family wouldn’t let go of Xu Yi.
So Xu Yi hoped that day would never come. If he really was in that position, it would mean that he and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s situation in the Lampuri Kingdom was very bad.
Xu Yi just wanted to develop the magic machine industry, he wasn’t willing to see the Frestech Chamber of Commerce he dreamed of falling so low.
Although the stubborn nobles that Count Stagg represented were suppressing the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, everything was still under control. Xu Yi wasn’t worried, so naturally he rejected Newman’s invitation.
Seeing the expression on Xu Yi’s face, Newman felt he had acted a bit too rushed. He smiled and didn’t raise this matter again as he changed the topic, beginning to discuss the matter of buying agricultural magic machines from Xu Yi again.
Before this, the first batch of agricultural magic machines had already been delivered to the Rudson Kingdom and had played a large role in the spring harvest a few months ago.
The Rudson Kingdom’s King William and the other nobles saw the enormous use of the agricultural magic machines, so they immediately had Newman go to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to order even more agricultural magic machines.
This was an order of fifty thousand kinds of magic machines to be transported to the Rudson Kingdom this month, then they would be assigned to the various parts of the kingdom for the fall harvest.
“According to the estimates of our kingdom’s agricultural department, the kingdom needs a total of five hundred thousand agricultural magic machines.” Newman said with a serious look, “With such a large demand, if we buy it from here and transport it back, I feel that it would be an enormous waste. So, chairman Xu, you not being willing to move the entire Frestech Chamber of Commerce to our Rudson Kingdom is something I can understand, but can your company at least construct an agricultural magic machine factory in our Rudson Kingdom? Or perhaps…..you can just transfer the agricultural magic machine technology to us?”
Xu Yi shook his head, “It’s not possible to transfer the technology, but we can consider investing in a factory.”
Hearing the relaxed tone Xu Yi had, Newman was filled with joy as he quickly said, “Then let’s decide like this. Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce will invest in an agricultural magic machine factory in our Rudson Kingdom and then the order can be handled by that factory. What do you think, chairman Xu?”
“Don’t be in a rush.” Xu Yi waved his hand with a smile, “Producing agricultural magic machines isn’t as simple as constructing a factory, the most important thing is the staff and materials. First, let’s not mention the materials, the ones who are proficient in making the agricultural magic machines are the dwarves in our Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Do you think that the dwarves that I send to your Rudson Kingdom will be able to live a normal life?”
“Dwarves?” Newman knit his brows.
The treatment of other races on the Sines Continent was the same for every country.
It wasn’t a problem of different communication between other races and human countries.
Every country was serious in how they treated other races.
Although the Lampuri Kingdom was represented by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, setting a very good example, proving that it wasn’t as difficult for humans and other races to live together. No matter who they were, they were very cautious on this matter.
Newman naturally wasn’t an exception. After thinking for a bit, he finally said, “In that case, I have to go back first and report to King William before making a decision.” He gave a sigh after saying this and continued, “Only this will delay this matter by quite a bit and when the final decision has been made, it might take a year for your Frestech Chamber of Commerce to build a factory.”
“A year isn’t long.” Xu Yi said with a faint smile, “Moreover, I have another suggestion. Although the main workers for producing agricultural magic machines and magic production machines are dwarves, our company’s household magic machine workers are all completely humans. So I feel that before investing in a magic machine workshop, it’s better to invest in a household magic machine workshop first.”
Newman was a bit surprised, “Household magic machine workshop?”
“Yes, the household magic machine workshop has lower demands and it just requires human workers, so I feel that we can invest in a household magic machine workshop in your Rudson Kingdom first. I think that it should focus on producing Magic Fans and Magic Rice Cookers first because your Rudson Kingdom already has this technology, so you can produce it with our company.” Xu Yi added, “The main consideration here is for us to test our cooperation first to make it easier to deepen our cooperation in the future.”
Newman couldn’t help nod as he praised, “Chairman Xu, you really have considered everything, not bad. We can definitely try working first and then it’ll be easier to cooperate in the future.”
Xu Yi gave a slight nod, “Yes, if this initial cooperation is good, it isn’t impossible for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce to produce agricultural magic machines with your Rudson Kingdom.”
Although Xu Yi’s tone was very calm, Newman was shocked as he couldn’t help staring at Xu Yi with wide eyes.
According to Xu Yi’s idea of “joint capital”, it meant that he really would transfer the technology for producing agricultural magic machines?