Volume 5 Chapter 94 Bait
The two looked at each other before Seveni reacted. She found that her reaction was a bit too intense, so she couldn’t help looking a bit awkward.
“No…..Don’t misunderstand. Xu Yi, it isn’t that I don’t like Freya, I just…..feel that the two of them are incompatible.”
Xu Yi looked at Seveni with doubt, not really believing her explanation.
Of course he wouldn’t mistake it as Seveni not liking Freya, but Seveni’s reaction was just too abnormal which made him a bit curious.
Feeling Xu Yi’s doubtful gaze, Seveni’s expression became even more awkward. She opened her mouth, but she didn’t give an explanation. After pausing for a bit, she changed the topic.
“Xu Yi, how is your Stantine Duchy’s slavery abolition going?”
This topic change was too stiff, even Xu Yi was stunned for a bit before reacting.
He took a deep look at Seveni and after taking a deep breath, he didn’t keep asking.
Seveni’s child’s origin was very strange. Even now she wasn’t willing to announce who the father of the child was, so it was clearly hard for her to bring up.
As her friend, Xu Yi wouldn’t force herself to tell him the secret she wanted to keep.
“Eh…..It’s not too smooth. The lords of the duchy don’t want to change the slaves under them into citizens. They think that this will cause them to lose these citizens and suffer losses.”
“That is certain.” Seveni gave a nod, “Xu Yi, actually……I also feel that your methods this time are too…..strange…..”
Xu Yi looked at Seveni’s hesitant look and thought that she wanted to say that he was insane, but she didn’t say it.
“Slaves have already existed on the continent for a long time, but you want to abolish them, this is going against the traditions of the continent. The lords with slaves will definitely not agree to your idea. You can forcefully carry this out in the Stantine Duchy, but if it was the Lampuri Kingdom, there is no way that this proposal would pass in the kingdom parliament.”
“What if you’re the one who brought it out?” Xu Yi tentatively asked.
“Then our Lampuri Family’s best result would be giving up the throne.” Seveni said with a serious look.
Xu Yi thought for a bit before giving a silent nod.
“Actually, Xu Yi, you should know the consequences of doing this, right? Otherwise, your actions in the Stantine Duchy wouldn’t be so anticlimactic, you’re not someone who does things halfway.” Seveni asked.
Xu Yi gave a laugh, “Un, the pressure and opposition to this is quite large, so I’ve decided to postpone it and not rush it.”
Seveni knit her brows, “So I don’t understand, why did you do this? You clearly know how hard this is and there aren’t any benefits for your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so why did you ignore all the opposition and went against the pressure to do this?”
“No, this matter is quite good for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce.” Xu Yi shook his head, “Seveni, did you read the article in the «Lampuri Weekly»?”
“The one from Baron Hannas, the article about how you want to free slaves to free productive forces? I’ve seen it and not just once.” Seveni said, “I do admit that you have reason. Hiring workers as slaves cannot give you the best efficiency and it can even affect the quality product, but since there isn’t a good effect in letting slaves handle complicated work, you can just let them handle the simple work. No matter what, slaves don’t need to be paid wages, right?”
“Even you can’t understand my ideas in the end, that means it’s impossible for others to understand them.” Xu Yi shook his head and said with a sigh, “All of you can’t understand one logic, slaves are no different from domestic animals to you, they have no special value. But for me, they are also people. Since they are people, they have the basic ability to study as humans. So even if they are slaves, there is the chance of increasing their abilities, so you can’t treat them as simple domestic animals.”
“You mean…..you are planning on freeing them from being slaves and then teaching them to turn them into skilled workers?” Seveni asked in a surprised voice, “Is it worth putting in that much effort for these slaves?”
“Why isn’t it worth it?” Xu Yi asked back, “Seveni, let me ask you a question. How many people are in the Lampuri Kingdom right now?”
Seveni was surprised, never expecting Xu Yi to change the topic to this.
After thinking about it, she replied, “There was a survey when I took the throne, the population then was around six million and four hundred thousand people.”
“Does that not include the slaves?”
“Yes, slaves are not considered citizens, so they aren’t counted. But according to the estimates from the various regions, there are around three million slaves in the kingdom.” Seveni replied.
“Then can you tell me, of the Lampuri Kingdom’s six million and four hundred thousand people, how many can actually work? And among the three million slaves, how many can work?” Xu Yi asked.
Seveni knit her brows, “There’s no way to count that.”
“Alright, let’s not discuss the specific numbers. Do you think that if all three million slaves were freed and they became useful labour, would that be a big help to the Lampuri Kingdom?”
“I don’t understand what you’re specifically talking about?”
“To put it specifically…..Let’s use our Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Our Frestech Chamber of Commerce currently has over ninety three thousand workers. I think that this number, whether in the Stantine Duchy or the Lampuri Kingdom, can be considered a very large company.”
Seveni nodded, “Un, our kingdom probably only has the Falcao Chamber of Commerce or the Armani Chamber of Commerce with more workers than you.”
“But I still feel there is a serious lack of manpower. According to my plan for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, after calculating it, our company needs to hire at least fifty thousand workers in three years to barely meet my needs.”
“You need that many people?” Seveni asked in a surprised voice, “What do you want to do?”
Xu Yi pointed to the southeast, “I should have mentioned it in my last letter, our company is planning on building several island bases on the southern seas. Each island needs at least a hundred people, so adding in the various logistics personnel, we need at least twenty thousand employees just for this business.”
“That much?” Seveni’s eyes opened wide, “Why do you want to construct so many island bases? What are you planning to use them for?”
“It’s nothing, we just want to use the rich resources of the endless seas.” Xu Yi explained with a relaxed look, “Other than the island bases, our company will also keep expanding the market. Once we open the Candra Empire market, the demand will be terrifying. So we must prepare ahead of time and increase the production capacity of our company.”
“Un……Speaking of your company’s production capacity…..Xu Yi, when are you planning on giving me the hundred Magic Airships that I ordered?” Seveni suddenly asked.
Xu Yi rolled his eyes, “Wait for it, the Magic Airship dependence tests haven’t been finished yet. It’ll be at least next year before it can go into mass production.”
Seveni looked at Xu Yi, “When I ordered the hundred Magic Airships, you said that you could give them to me at the beginning of this year.”
Xu Yi revealed an awkward smile, “This…..The Magic Airships aren’t normal magic machines, the requests of various parts are too high. You don’t want me to give you an unreliable Magic Airship, right? Then again, didn’t I just say that our production capacity isn’t enough?”
“How is this related to freeing the slaves? I don’t think that these slaves can help you finish the hundred Magic Airships as soon as possible.”
“Of course they can’t do it now, but as long as I have some time to train them, I’m certain that there will be a role for them to play. But it’s a pity…..” Xu Yi spread his hands and said with a helpless look, “Those damn slavery laws, they say that slaves don’t have a chance to be educated, they don’t even have a chance to choose their work. Moreover, the slaves completely belong to their masters, so even if I train them, it would only benefit their masters.”
“You’re thinking of several hundred slave workers that the Stagg Family gave you?” Seveni said with a smile.
“It can be considered that.” Xu Yi gave a shrug.
When the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had just been formed, Leslie had given the Frestech Chamber of Commerce a hundred of his slaves. They had mastered some of the magic machine production methods.
Then the Stagg Family sent another three hundred slaves to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce who also gained decent skills.
Then when the Stagg Family set up their magic machine company, these slaves had become their important skilled workers and played an important role.
For Xu Yi, those four hundred slaves were free gifts that he had given to the Stagg Family.
He had no choice back then, but he wasn’t willing to do a thankless job again now.
“So that means that you’re not as noble as the newspapers say you are and you’re doing this for the benefits of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.” Seveni teased.
“Of course, I’m not a saint.” Xu Yi said with a natural look, “But to be honest, thinking about it, those slaves are being kept by the lords and can’t do anything. If they were given to me, I could enhance their values by countless times. I think that normal people should know what the right choice is, right?”
“It’s a pity that those lords aren’t willing to give their slaves to you.” Seveni said.
“Of course I understand this, so this time…..I’ve prepared a large bait that I hope some of those fellows will swallow……”
Seeing the proud look on Xu Yi’s face, Seveni thought that this fellow Xu Yi must have some wicked scheme.
With her understanding of Xu Yi, since he said that he had large bait, it must be very attractive, to the point that normal people couldn’t resist.