Volume 5 Chapter 42 Crazy road plan
Ten minutes later, Riley was in another private room in the restaurant and hearing the introduction of the middle aged man, he couldn’t help being stunned.
This middle aged man who showed interest in the roads wasn’t a smart noble from the Candra Empire, or like Riley had guessed, a company representative from some family of the Candra Empire who had smelled the benefits of the roads after receiving the news.
This fellow wasn’t even from the Candra Empire!
“The Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom?” Riley knit his brows and thought for a while, but he couldn’t think of where he had ever heard of this country’s name before.
It should be said that this country’s name was special, it should have left an impression after hearing it once.
“It’s normal that you have no impression.” The middle aged man revealed his pure white teeth as he said with a smile, “Because our Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom has only been a kingdom for less than a year and our country is very small, so there wouldn’t be any people who pay attention to us. We shouldn’t have any fame on the continent.”
“Less than a year?” Riley looked at this middle aged man who introduced him as Gaza with a look of doubt, “If I may ask, the name of your country…..does it have some meaning?”
Gaza laughed, “This name tells you everything. Our Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom isn’t a traditional kingdom, but rather a kingdom that is formed by the union of thirteen companies.”
“Ah?” Riley was a bit surprised, “A kingdom formed by a union of companies? How is that possible!”
Gaza waved his hand with a smile, “Vice chairman Riley, a country is actually just referring to the autonomy to control a piece of territory. Our thirteen companies together control enough land and have enough autonomous rights, so there’s nothing wrong with calling us a country.”
Riley was stunned for a bit, still being a bit unable to accept this new concept.
“Your thirteen companies coming together, who are you led by?”
“Our thirteen companies have formed a council and through a majority vote, we decide the decisions of the kingdom. Although there will be a person who will be the speaker of the council for some time, being the nominal leader of the kingdom, there isn’t a single person or company that has absolute ruling power.” Gaza replied with a smile.
Riley couldn’t help tapping his head. He thought for a bit before saying, “I feel that method is a bit familiar…..”
“Of course it will be familiar to you because this method is somewhat similar to the congress of the Stantine Duchy.”
Riley was stunned, “You know about the Stantine Duchy’s congress?”
The Stantine Duchy was a small duchy at the edge of the continent. Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce made the surrounding countries pay attention to the Stantine Duchy, they were still very unknown on the Sines Continent and not many people would care about them.
But this Gaza actually knew about the ruling system of the Stantine Duchy and displayed a certain degree of knowledge of it, which made people surprised.
“Of course I know because the joint ruling system of our Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom was actually an imitation of the Stantine Duchy’s congressional system. Speaking of this, I must express my heartfelt admiration for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce chairman Xu Yi. He can think of this new method of ruling, it really was like opening a new door for us. If it wasn’t for him, our Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom wouldn’t have appeared.
Seeing the look of admiration that wasn’t hidden at all on Gaza’s face, Riley felt even more doubt in his heart.
According to Gaza’s introduction just now, their Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom shared a border with the south of the Candra Empire, so it was over five thousand kilometers from the Stantine Duchy.
Why would he know about the Stantine Duchy and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce that was over five thousand kilometers away?
“This isn’t strange, we are all merchants, so we are much better at obtaining information compared to normal people. Because we cared about the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, we received various information on them after we started investigating them. Including our Huayue Chamber of Commerce, our thirteen companies all admire the Frestech Chamber of Commerce because from their appearance to their development, it is simply a miracle.”
“I won’t oppose this.” Riley nodded, “The Frestech Chamber of Commerce is indeed a living miracle, but chairman Gaza, this doesn’t seem related to you looking for me to pave roads, correct?”
Gaza revealed a faint smile, “I’m sorry, I can’t help myself once I talk about the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Ke…..Alright, speaking of the roads, vice chairman Riley, your Amrit Chamber of Commerce is the only company that can pave roads, am I correct?”
Riley proudly said with a smile, “That’s right. Although there are many companies that are trying to enter the business, other than our Amrit Chamber of Commerce, there isn’t another company that can pave an entire road.”
“Not even the Frestech Chamber of Commerce?” Gaza asked back with a smile.
Riley’s expression froze.
Although the Frestech Chamber of Commerce never entered the road paving business, whether it was the main materials of cement and iron bars, or the various construction magic machines the Amrit Chamber of Commerce used, they all came from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
With the terrifying research power of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they only needed a bit of research and practice before they could lay down roads by themselves.
“This……Even if it is the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they can’t compare to our Amrit Chamber of Commerce in terms of experience.” Riley said with a serious look, “So if you want to pave a road, finding our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is the only and best choice.”
Gaza nodded and didn’t plan on continuing with this question. He said, “Then vice chairman Riley, if I want your Amrit Chamber of Commerce to build a road that is over five thousand kilometers, are you confident in doing this?”
“What?” Riley’s eyes opened wide, “Over five thousand kilometers? Are you joking?”
“No, I’m not joking at all.” Gaza’s expression was serious, it really didn’t seem like he was joking, “From the Stantine Duchy to our Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom, it’s five thousand kilometers on the map by straight line. If we want to build a road to connect them, it will definitely be over five thousand kilometers.”
Riley looked at Gaza in a daze for a bit.
“This……Although you’re right, why do you want to build this road? You have to know that the cost of this road would be terrifying, right?”
“Of course I know.” Gaza revealed a smile, but his expression was still firm, “Not only do I know, all thirteen companies of our Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom know this. But in order to use the most direct and convenient method to connect our Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom to the Stantine Duchy, this is the best method.”
Riley was a bit speechless.
Gaza was indeed correct, but this idea was a shocking one.
A road that was over five thousand kilometers, how terrifying that would be.
It had to be known that in the Lampuri Kingdom which had the most roads, adding up all their roads, they would be able to barely break the five thousand kilometers threshold.
The Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom’s first road wanted to be over five thousand kilometers long, this was a bit too exaggerated.
“Why do you have to connect to the Stantine Duchy?” The biggest doubt in Riley’s heart was this question.
“Because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce is in the Stantine Duchy.” Gaza’s response was concise, but powerful.
Riley was once again speechless.
In the end, the goal of the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom in building this road was to make it easier to connect with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
“Is the Frestech Chamber of Commerce that attractive to you?” Riley couldn’t help asking.
Gaza looked at Riley with a smile and said, “Vice chairman Riley, if you couldn’t see how terrifying the Frestech Chamber of Commerce is, I can only feel regret towards this.”
Riley was once again speechless.
He had already had contact with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for over five years, but someone was looking down on him for not understanding the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. This really was a joke.
Thinking about it, Riley gave up the idea of arguing with Gaza. However, after thinking about it, he still knit his brows.
“That’s not right, chairman Gaza. Even if your Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom wants to build this road, it isn’t realistic.”
“Oh? Why?”
“It’s very simple, it’s because of the geography of the kingdom you described. There are no borders with the Stantine Duchy and there is the Candra Empire and the Rudson Kingdom in between.”
To build roads on the Sines Continent, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce had profound research on the geography of the continent. How could this vice chairman Riley not know the problem that laid with this issue?
“No, there is a path that connects it.” Gaza dug in his bag before taking out a piece of parchment.
When it was opened, it revealed a map of the Sines Continent.
“Look here.” Gaza’s hand pointed at the bottom left of the map, at a place that was in the bottom right corner of the Rudson Kingdom before going west. He created a crooked alpine against the endless sea at the bottom of the map, which completely bordered the coastline, going past the Candra Empire before stopping at a place to the bottom right of the Candra Empire.
“This is where our Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom is. Look, from this place to this place, there is a long and narrow region that the Candra Empire doesn’t need, so we can build a road in this place.”
Riley looked over this and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help twitching.
“Chairman Gaza, if I may be rude, this idea is too crazy. If there isn’t a problem with my knowledge of geography, the line that you drew goes over the coastal mountains. Which means that to build a road, we would have to cut through the mountains.”
“Then cut through them.” Gaza said with a faint smile.
“You’re crazy!” Riley couldn’t help shouting, “To build a road on the mountains, do you know how much that would cost? Let me tell you, a normal path would only cost less than five thousand gold coins per kilometer, but to open a mountain road, it would cost over ten thousand gold coins or even more! To build five thousand kilometers of road, that would need over fifty million gold coins!”
Gaza drew Riley to sit down with a smile.
“Relax, I’m not crazy. Of course, I must admit that this plan is very crazy, but vice chairman Riley, I didn’t say when we need to finish the road, correct?”
Riley was stunned, “What do you mean?”
Gaza had a trace of cunning in his smile.
“Actually……I want to express our Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom’s sincerity in cooperating to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
Riley was stunned.
He couldn’t understand this, this chairman Gaza or rather the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom that he represented, why did they put such importance on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, even reaching this crazy degree.
Was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce really that important?