Volume 3 Chapter 14 New source of profit
“Ha, ha, chairman Xu, it really has been a long time.” Count Stagg had a seemingly friendly smile as he welcomed Xu Yi.
Compared to when he became the City Lord a month ago and how he demonstrated hostility towards Xu Yi, it was completely different. It seemed like Count Stagg was a completely different person, treating Xu Yi like an old friend. It made the people around them unable to stop their eyes from popping out.
Xu Yi also wasn’t as hostile as he was the first time he met him, rather he had a friendly smile on his face as he respectfully came forward to greet Count Stagg.
“Lord City Lord, for you to personally come greet me, it truly is an honour.”
“How so, how so. Chairman Xu, you are an honoured guest that I specially invited, of course I have to properly welcome you. Come, please come in.” Count Stagg invited Xu Yi in, as his eyes doubtfully looked over Delil behind him.
“This is the business manager of the rubber processing factory under our company, young miss Delil.” Xu Yi immediately explained, “As you can see, she comes from the Night Song Tribe’s elves.”
In front of Delil, Count Stagg wasn’t as friendly. He just gave a slight nod to Delil before leading the way to the City Lord Manor.
Xu Yi entered the familiar banquet hall following Count Stagg and he saw the chairmen of the other large companies of Banta City who were already here.
Seeing that Count Stagg was personally leading Xu Yi in, chairman Cruise raised a hand to greet Xu Yi from not far away with a taunting smile on his face.
Of course this wasn’t aimed at Xu Yi, rather it was because of Count Stagg’s actions.
Count Stagg had only succeeded as City Lord for a short month, but because of his agricultural promotion policies, the companies of the city had been suppressed to different degrees.
Among them were the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Amrit Chamber of Commerce who left with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, who received the most direct influence. The Frestech Chamber of Commerce left Banta City, so they weren’t affected that much, but because the Amrit Chamber of Commerce had a deep foundation in Banta City, they simply couldn’t withdraw in a short period of time. They were affected more and incurred more losses.
Because of this, chairman Cruise was very dissatisfied with Count Stagg. Now that he had no choice but to change his attitude, even bringing the chairmen of the large companies together and even personally greeting Xu Yi, naturally chairman Cruise was very happy.
Because in his eyes, this meant that Count Stagg was being forced to lower his arrogant head.
For this, chairman Cruise was very much filled with schadenfreude.
Other than chairman Cruise, when the other chairmen saw Xu Yi come in, they all greeted him.
Although no one did the same thing as chairman Cruise, based on the relaxed smile on everyone’s face, they were all excited about the sudden change in Count Stagg’s attitude.
In the end, these companies were companies of Banta City. Count Stagg was the City Lord of Banta City, so if he decided to suppress business and focus on agriculture, suppressing the large companies, these companies might have the support of different forces, but they wouldn’t have any good methods to contest Count Stagg.
But speaking of this, because there were different forces behind these large companies, Count Stagg suppressing them had caused those forces to suffer losses. So even if Count Stagg represented the stubborn old fools of the Lampuri Kingdom, as well as having the support of the Stagg Family, he couldn’t be forceful in this matter and had to make some concessions.
But he didn’t personally greet anyone other than Xu Yi, it really did provoke some thought.
When Xu Yi came into the hall, there were another three groups of guests that came. After all the guests had arrived, Count Stagg went onto the stage for a short speech before announcing the start of the banquet.
Chairman Cruise immediately looked for Xu Yi.
“Hey, chairman Xu, is our dear Lord City Lord trying to target you?” Chairman Cruise asked.
“That shouldn’t be.” Xu Yi shook his head, “Everyone knows that it isn’t possible for him and I to have relations, so no one will doubt me. He is doing this just to indicate his attitude towards me.”
“His attitude? You wouldn’t think that he would suddenly support you, right?” Chairman Cruise said.
“That is clearly impossible. Based on my guess, he wants to cooperate with my company, as well as easing the pressure he’s putting on everyone.”
“What do you have that he wants to work with you for?”
“You should ask him that.” Xu Yi gave a shrug. He leaned a bit and revealed Delil behind him, “Come, let’s not discuss this meaningless matter. Let me introduce you, this is…..”
“Young miss Delil, right? Last time young miss Still came to Banta City with her and we met.” Chairman Cruise cut Xu Yi off and gave a slight bow as he extended his right hand to Delil, “I’m very happy to see you again, beautiful young miss Delil.”
Delil hesitated a bit before reaching her hand out to allow chairman Cruise to kiss it. She replied, “I’m also very happy to see you, your excellency chairman Cruise. Last time young miss Still told me that you are chairman Xu’s best partner.”
Chairman Cruise laughed, “Of course. You can ask chairman Cruise if you don’t believe it. Other than me, can you find anyone else in Banta City who is a closer partner to him?”
Xu Yi said with a smile, “Chairman Cruise is right. Right now, our Frestech Chamber of Commerce has the closest relationship with the Amrit Chamber of Commerce. But…..I don’t know whether we’ll be able to maintain this once the Amrit Chamber of Commerce develops in other countries.”
Chairman Cruise’s expression changed as he ignored Xu Yi’s teasing. He asked Xu Yi, “What have you discussed with Newman?”
“Nothing really, but I feel that there isn’t a problem with this arrangement. Newman asked me before leaving if I could ask your Amrit Chamber of Commerce to recruit some local workers, making it easier for them to support you.” Xu Yi said.
“You agreed to him?”
“So aren’t I asking you now?” Xu Yi said while spreading his hands.
Chairman Cruise was a bit surprised, “Why did you agree to this proposition? Could it be that you don’t know that by recruiting local workers from the Rudson Kingdom, our company’s techniques will be stolen eventually?”
“The technology is all here, it’s not that easy to steal.” Xu Yi pointed at his head, “Not to mention that if you want to maintain a lead, the best method is not to prevent technology from being leaked, rather it is to develop new technology, maintaining this lead. Remember, technology is the foundation of industry.”
“You make it sound good.” Chairman Cruise said with a bitter smile, “You’re not worried about this because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce has many advanced technologies, so you won’t miss one or two. But our Amrit Chamber of Commerce doesn’t have much leading technology, we can’t be as luxurious as you.”
“Have you ever heard of exchanging technology for market?” Xu Yi asked.
“What does that mean?”
“To put it simply, it’s releasing your technology to let everyone experience the benefit of this technology. By touching everyone with this technology, people will need it. Like this, it creates a natural demand for this technology. With your Amrit Chamber of Commerce’s current situation, the faster you lay down the roads, the more benefits there are for your company.” Xu Yi said.
Chairman Cruise thought about it for a bit before nodding, “Perhaps you’re right, but I don’t think there’s a need to be in a rush. As long as our company keeps laying down roads, we’ll finish the road network eventually. At that time, everyone will understand the benefits of the roads and our company wouldn’t lack business.”
Xu Yi couldn’t help sighing deep down.
Compared to him, chairman Cruise was a true merchant. He wanted the Amrit Chamber of Commerce to quickly lay down roads and finish the network, just to advance his plans quickly, but from the angle of the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, he definitely wasn’t willing to do this.
That was because like this, it was equal to compressing their gross profits and shortening their profit cycles.
For a company with hundreds of years of history like the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, naturally they paid attention to length.
Xu Yi knew that it was definitely impossible to convince chairman Cruise with just words.
Using the words he had just taught Delil, the only thing that can move a merchant was benefits.
“Alright, Cruise, let’s make a deal.” Xu Yi thought about it before saying this.
Hearing that Xu Yi was actually saying his name without adding “chairman”, chairman Cruise’s brows jumped up. He immediately understood that Xu Yi was going to talk about something very important, so his expression became serious and he nodded at Xu Yi, “Speak then.”
“If your Amrit Chamber of Commerce can finish the road networks in the Lampuri Kingdom, the Rudson Kingdom, the Stantine Duchy, as well as the Black Rice Wasteland in five years, I will create a source of profit for your company with a wide prospect. What do you think about this deal?” Xu Yi asked.
Chairman Cruise looked at Xu Yi in disbelief. If it wasn’t for Xu Yi’s serious expression, he would have thought that Xu Yi was joking.
If Xu Yi’s deal involved money, technology, or actually goods, he wouldn’t have felt this strange. But he never would have thought that Xu Yi would actually give his company a source of profits.
Did he think that something like this could be gained easily?
If there was such a good thing, why didn’t the Frestech Chamber of Commerce use it themselves?
“It’s because our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is a company focusing on the magic machine industry. Although this source of profits is good, with infinite potential, it belongs to your Amrit Chamber of Commerce’s operational range and I’m not interested in meddling.” Xu Yi said with a serious look.
Chairman Cruise looked at Xu Yi in confusion for a while, “Belongs in our company’s operational range? You wouldn’t be talking about construction, right?”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “That’s right, it’s construction.”