Volume 3 Chapter 58 Changing City Lords again?
“Stop looking at me like that, I’m not that great and I’m not as bored as you think I am.” Xu Yi looked at Hannas sitting in front of him and shook his head as he said, “This is just doing something that I mentioned to you a long time ago, which is to liberate the farmers.”
“Then having them invest in the magic machine industry that you talked about?” Hannas kept asking.
“Right.” Xu Yi nodded, “Don’t you think that our Lampuri Kingdom is lacking in terms of population?”
“Lacking?” Hannas’ eyes opened wide, “Why don’t I think so? Our Lampuri Kingdom is only a small kingdom, it’s quite a lot having several million people, so why do you think it’s lacking? Could it be that you want our Lampuri Kingdom to have the same population as the Marlow Empire or the Candra Empire?”
“There is no need for that, only it is a bit lacking when it comes to my current requests. Haven’t you noticed that even after Banta City had over two hundred thousand people, it wasn’t enough?”
“But that was because there were too many jobs in Banta City.” Hannas said with a frown, “Moreover, Banta City having all those work opportunities was because your companies were selling products to the other cities of the kingdom, spending on the people of the other places in the kingdom to support them. If you want to turn the entire Lampuri Kingdom into Banta City, who do you think will support all these people?”
“Of course it’s the other countries.” Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Not mentioning the Lampuri Kingdom having five million people, it could easily be supported even if there were fifty million people. Moreover, I’m not just talking about making a livelihood, I’m talking about living a good life.”
“Isn’t your thought…..too naive?” Hannas shook his head, “Our Lampuri Kingdom isn’t strong on the Sines Continent. How could the other countries be dumb enough to support us for free?”
Xu Yi looked at Hannas, thinking that it was too troublesome explaining how great of a change an industrial revolution could bring to a country. Not to mention that he might not understand, so he gave up this idea.
Anyway Hannas had come to Banta City to collect information on the fertilizer factory, secretly collecting information for the kingdom’s higher up on the fertilizer. Instead of discussing something that could affect the Lampuri Kingdom like this with him, it was better to wait for Seveni to come to discuss this.
Thinking of Seveni, Xu Yi had a thought before asking Hannas about her highness’ recent whereabouts.
Since coming last year with major MacConley, it had been a while since Seveni came to Banta City. Compared to Seveni who had come whenever she had nothing to do, it really was strange.
“Of course, Count Stagg is the City Lord here, so her highness wouldn’t come here when she has nothing to do. As for during this time, when I left Anvilmar City, I heard that her highness was preparing to head to Sowell City for an inspection.” Hannas suddenly raised a brow and asked Xu Yi, “Hey, Xu Yi, isn’t this matter related to you?”
“How is it related to me?” Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling, “Could it be that I can decide where her highness can go?”
“You dare say it’s not related to you? I heard that Sowell City is preparing to develop an industrial district, so her highness is planning to inspect it. Then again, the current Sowell City City Lord is Count Sean, you dare say that the development of this industrial district isn’t related to you?”
“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Xu Yi gave a soft snort, “To be honest with you, Count
Sean developing an industrial district in Sowell City was something he came up with, I didn’t give him any suggestions. Of course, our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is indeed planning on investing in Sowell City, but we have to wait for at least the second half of the year before doing this.”
“Speaking of this, I remember a few months ago that the Drake Duchy’s Princess Caroline came to Banta City. Sowell City is close to the Drake Duchy, so is your Frestech Chamber of Commerce investing in Sowell City related to Princess Caroline? Hei, Xu Yi, I heard that Princess Caroline is very beautiful. Did you get mesmerized by her?”
Seeing Hannas’ lewd smile, Xu Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
This fellow really was keen. He never told him about this matter, but he could infer facts just from these small clues, he really was born to be a journalist.
But this matter was temporarily a private agreement between the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Drake Duchy, so it wasn’t right to reveal it.
Moreover, it was very awkward meeting Princess Caroline last time, so Xu Yi didn’t want to talk about it and just vaguely explained it.
Naturally Hannas didn’t believe it and kept asking, but was firmly rejected by Xu Yi.
Seeing Xu Yi’s firm attitude, Hannas had no other choice and could only focus on the topic at hand, the fertilizer factory.
In their talk just now, Xu Yi had already told Hannas that after farmland had fertilizer sprinkled over it, it could produce half or even double the amount. Moreover, this was proven by the hundred thousand acres of land the Frestech Chamber of Commerce rented in the Stantine Duchy.
Hannas was very shocked by these results, so he was very confused why Xu Yi would choose to build the fertilizer factory in Banta City. As well, why would he cooperate with Count Stagg who never saw eye to eye with Xu Yi.
In his opinion, Xu Yi could use this easy to use fertilizer and if he built the fertilizer factory in the Falling Rain Valley, he could easily earn a large amount.
In the explanation Xu Yi gave, he wanted to free the farmers that Count Stagg had forced back into the fields. He wanted to liberate the farming workforce confined to the fields and invest them back into developing the magic machine industry again.
Hannas didn’t understand this too well and Xu Yi was too lazy to explain to him.
But Hannas couldn’t just ask this single question. He went into more detail for the questions that he really needed to ask.
“Generally speaking, how much fertilizer is needed for a mu of farmland?” Hannas took out a small notebook and prepared to write.
“That depends on the crop and what kind of fertilizer is used, it can’t be generalized.” Xu Yi said, “For example, what we plant in the Stantine Duchy is rice, so currently we are using the number one fertilizer. According to our experiments, it uses around twenty five to thirty kilogram of fertilizer for each mu of farmland. As for wheat, we’ve currently developed a number two fertilizer that is specialized for wheat. As for how much of it needs to be scattered, we can only determine that after some more experimentation.”
“One mu needs twenty five to thirty kilograms, let me calculate this……Then just to meet the needs of Banta City, there needs to be several tens of thousands of tons of fertilizer? This factory is this small, can it produce that much?”
Xu Yi said with a faint smile, “You can be assured. Currently the monthly output of the fertilizer factory is around fifty to sixty thousand tons. Although it can’t meet the needs of Banta City’s spring planting, when it comes to the fall harvest, there should be no problems.”
“But if the effects of the fertilizer are good, the entire kingdom will have a large need for this thing. Isn’t your single factory far from being enough?” Hannas asked.
“That is something for later, I can’t guarantee anything now.” Xu Yi said with a smile.
Seeing the smile of deep meaning on Xu Yi’s face, Hannas gave a sigh. After thinking for a bit, he asked, “Then as for this fertilizer, I heard that it was developed between your Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the elves. Can you tell us the specifics?”
“Speaking of our cooperation…..Actually it was just us who raised the idea, but the fertilizer was all developed by the elves and our Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn’t do a thing.” Xu Yi spread his hands, “So if you want to ask me about how the fertilizer is made, I can’t answer this.”
Hannas knit his brows, “Xu Yi, this isn’t good. If the fertilizer is as important as you said and the important formula and production methods are in the hands of the elves, isn’t this bad for us?”
Xu Yi looked at Hannas and smiled without saying a thing.
Hannas immediately understood and crossed out this problem, as he began asking other questions about the fertilizer factory.
After completing the interview, Xu Yi was planning to invite Hannas to lunch, but Hannas said he wanted to take this time to interview Count Stagg and rejected Xu YI’s invitation.
“Right, Xu Yi, let me tell you some good news.” Just before leaving, Hannas looked over at Xu Yi, “According to the rumours I’ve heard, his majesty seemed to have made his decision. If nothing unexpected happens, that Count Stagg won’t stay as the City Lord for long.”
“Oh?” Xu Yi was a bit surprised, but he wasn’t all that happy.
Actually, although since Count Stagg became the City Lord, he kept aiming at Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, this was just changing the development method of Banta City.
Since the Frestech Chamber of Commerce moved to the Falling Rain Valley which was Xu Yi’s private territory, because Banta City had been lost to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, Xu Yi had changed their development objective ahead of time.
Ther Frestech Chamber of Commerce laying down foundations in the Black Rice Wasteland and the Stantine Duchy now, it had to be said that it was related to this.
Not to mention that Count Stagg’s attitude had changed lately and he began accepting deals with Xu Yi.
Although replacing him as the City Lord would save Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce many troubles in their plans in Banta City, it didn’t affect the Frestech Chamber of Commerce too much.
And to change the City Lord in such a short time, Banta City’s development would surely be impacted.
Xu Yi’s only hope was that the new City Lord would be like Count Sean, thinking about Banta City as a whole and not caring only about their personal position.