Volume 5 Chapter 123 Really for the duchy?
It wasn’t just Count Marth’s territory that fell into chaos.
There were thirteen lords who had rejected the Frestech Chamber of Commerce twice when it came to the magic signal towers. Just like Count Marth, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce cut off cooperations with them as well.
They were influenced by it just like Count Marth, but there were some that suffered less and some that suffered more.
But no matter how much they suffered, those lords were the same as Count Marth. They knew in their heart that they couldn’t resist the Frestech Chamber of Commerce at all.
The only choice left for them was to obey the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Of course, there were some people that were trying to take care of this situation.
Anklo was the one who was most worried.
“Chairman Xu, why are you doing this?” Anklo looked at Xu Yi with a serious expression. He had a look of blame and his voice was filled with distress, “Do you know that because of your Frestech Chamber of Commerce ending your cooperation with Count Marth and the others, their territories are already in chaos!”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile and gave a shrug, “Of course I know.”
“You know! Then why are you doing this?” Anklo’s voice became even stronger, “The countless citizens had gained a new life because of the cooperation with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, but now it is ruined because of you. You…..Can you really bear doing this?”
“You ask if I’m cruel, but you’re not asking if those lords are cruel. It’s clear that as long as they agree to cooperate with our company, everything would have stayed the same and those citizens under them could still enjoy the benefits. But now because of their selfishness, they ruined everything. I think that instead of asking me, you should ask them first.” Xu Yi said.
“Selfishness?” Anklo knit his brows, “Chairman Xu, I am clear on your worries, but I don’t think that their thoughts are selfish. Rather it is you and your Frestech Chamber of Commerce that has been selfish this time. You are promoting the magic signal towers to put the entire Stantine Duchy under your control, right?”
“First, I have to make something clear. No matter whether you believe it or not, the magic signal towers are not the same as the ancient magic towers that you and the other lords are worried about. Second, I must point out a fact to you. Anklo, do you think that the current Stantine Duchy can really break free of the influence of our Frestech Chamber of Commerce?”
Anklo instantly fell silent.
After looking at Xu Yi for a bit, Anklo slowly shook his head.
“No, I’m clear that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce is very important for the Stantine Duchy. It is because of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce that the citizens could live such good lives and the entire duchy has become much stronger. I must admit that in the few years since your Frestech Chamber of Commerce has come to the Stantine Duchy, the entire duchy has been filled with spirit and I’ve never seen the people of the country filled with such hope.”
After saying this, Anklo paused before changing the topic.
“But…..Chairman Xu, the duchy is the duchy of our people, if you want to control the entire duchy, even if there are losses for the entire duchy, I will fight to the end!”
Xu Yi looked at Anklo’s fervent look and gave a cold laugh.
“Fight to the end? He, he, Anklo, I thought that you were someone with aspirations and ambition, someone who was willing to think for the entire Stantine Duchy. Hearing your words now, I’ve found that you have been corrupted by your power. You are no longer the same Anklo who cared about the lives of the Stantine Duchy citizens.”
Anklo’s expression slightly changed, “What do you mean?”
“You said that you’ll fight to the end even if the duchy suffers losses? I’m very curious, what are you trying to resist? When I said that the magic signal towers didn’t have the terrifying effect of controlling people, you didn’t react as fiercely. But once the lords reacted, you reacted even more fiercely than them, so why is that?”
“Are you worried about me controlling the Stantine Duchy or about losing the power that you have?”
“Saying that you’ll resist even if the duchy suffers losses, based on what? The people of the Stantine Duchy are living good lives because of our Frestech Chamber of Commerce, but because you’re afraid of losing your power, you would rather greatly affect the lives of the people and strongly oppose me. Anklo, you’ve greatly disappointed me.”
“I haven’t!” Facing Xu Yi’s reprimand, Anklo’s expression became very agitated and he strongly waved his arm as he loudly refuted this, “I indeed do not want this duchy to fall into the control of your Frestech Chamber of Commerce or you, but that is unrelated to my personal power. I just want our duchy to belong to its people and not fall into the hands of an outsider like you!”
Xu Yi looked at Anklo with knit brows for a bit with a bit of a strange expression.
“Anklo, I remember that you weren’t this stupid before. It’s fine if you just think this, but you actually said it in front of me, just what are you thinking? Could it be that by being the speaker for a few years, your brain was hollowed out by the power?”
“I am just speaking from my heart.” Anklo was panting a bit as he said in an indignant voice, “When I made the agreement with you in secret at first, helping your Frestech Chamber of Commerce stand firm in the Stantine Duchy, it was because I thought that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce could make the duchy better. But now I regret it very much, what I did back then was invite in the wolves!”
Xu Yi shook his head, “I don’t think that our Frestech Chamber of Commerce did anything like a wolf.”
“Aren’t you forcing the lords this time?” Anklo asked back in a loud voice.
Xu Yi gave a grating cold laugh, “Those lords aren’t normal Stantine Duchy citizens, what I care what they think. Anklo, the fact that you’ve said this means that you’ve completely changed. You used to consider the lives of the Stantine Duchy’s people before, but now you’re speaking up for the lords. Your butt really is quite slanted now.”
Anklo’s expression froze before he refuted, “Those nobles represent the citizens of the entire duchy! If you force them and push their territory into chaos, that will harm the citizens!”
“Is that so?” Xu Yi revealed a faint smile and took a document from the table beside him. After looking it over, he threw it to Anklo, “The reason for this matter is mainly because those lords had a misunderstanding of the magic signal towers, but where did this misunderstanding come from? Anklo, aren’t you curious?”
Anklo took the document in surprise and after opening it, his expression fell.
Xu Yi looked at him with the same cold smile.
“Anklo, in order to maintain your control over the duchy, you’ve really made quite a few plans. You actually contacted those lords in secret starting a year ago and starting telling them all kinds of things about our company, so one day you could take over our company? It’s a pity that you’ve overestimated yourself. The lords in the duchy have gained many benefits from cooperating with our company and you can’t take out the same things, so why would they work with you? You have to know, this information wasn’t something that I gathered.”
Anklo looked at the various pieces of information on the document in front of him and countless beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
This document had all the information from when he contacted the lords a year ago, recording the details of their secret conversation and the matter of him trying to unite all the lords to go against the Frestech Chamber of commerce. It even detailed which month and which day he went to see the lords.
There were many details that Anklo was certain that only those present knew, but they were now clearly written on this document. There was only one explanation, it was just like Xu Yi had said, it was provided by the people he had met.
Thinking this through, Anklo felt a chill fill his heart.
When he listened to Xu Yi about setting up congress to replace the Duke’s Manor and when he was made the speaker, Anklo felt very happy. He felt that with the Stantine Duchy would definitely become stronger with the leadership of the congress and the investment of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
After these few years, the Stantine Duchy had become much stronger as he wanted and the lives of the citizens became much better. The duchy was filled with a positive aura that he had never thought would happen before, which made him very happy.
But as time passed, Anklo found that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s influence on the entire duchy became deeper and deeper. It could even be said that in every part of the duchy, every person and every matter couldn’t escape the influence of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Compared to this, he as the speaker of congress became weaker and weaker. There were many times that he acted like a puppet, handling those government matters that weren’t important to him.
Anklo was an ambitious person, naturally he wasn’t willing to remain like this.
So he had secretly contacted the lords with the same ambition and had scruples over the influence of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, trying to change the present situation.
However, Anklo never thought that these lords were never wholeheartedly with him and had actually told Xu Yi all these secrets!
But thinking about it, it was right. Those lords could gain many benefits from cooperating with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and their lives would be much better, but what could they gain from cooperating with Anklo?
After thinking this through, Anklo’s heart was like dying ashes.
He looked at Xu Yi’s taunting smile and put down his hands before giving a deep sigh.
He knew that starting today, the fate of the Stantine Duchy would be rewritten.