Volume 6 Chapter 142 - Who Changes First
Xu Yi wasn’t as Great Magician Ferguson thought he was, deliberately avoiding him and he really was busy.
After more than half a year of preparations, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s first official base on the sea was starting construction.
Xu Yi was very serious about this sea base, so he had personally come to show everyone how important this was to him.
The first sea base was between the Stantine Duchy and the Rudson Kingdom’s seas, being over two hundred kilometers away from the coast. It was also thirty kilometers more to the south of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s naval transportation route.
If this base was complete, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would have a true foothold in the endless seas.
Any Frestech Chamber of Commerce boat or personnel could come here to get supplies and shelter, but this was only open to the members of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and not outsiders.
To put it simply, this was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s first step onto the endless seas. Not only would it act like a small supply base like the ones that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had set up on the others islands, it would would two Frestech Chamber of Commerce guard fleets stationed here all year round, while also having two thousand guards deployed here.
Other than having an active military force, this base that was built on the largest island in the Rudson Kingdom’s sea, Giant Deer Island would have one hundred and fifty Magic Cannons, over five hundred Magic Trebuchets, along with the powerful military magic machines brought along by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guards. Then adding in the two powerful ships that they brought, this island could be considered impregnable.
“Chairman Xu, with such a powerful force, even if the Candra Empire navy took action, they would be helpless against you.”
The one standing beside Xu Yi was one of the Rudson Kingdom’s four great commanders, Kassadin Monroe. He had come here today for the opening ceremony on the invitation of Xu Yi.
From the large Magic Ship, seeing the fierce looking Magic Cannons and Magic Trebuchets below, as well as the battlements that had been installed on the island, he couldn’t help voicing his thoughts.
Xu Yi looked at him and revealed a faint smile, “With the current strength of the Candra Empire, they wouldn’t dare make a move against us. But when the Candra Empire navy starts developing, that will be hard to say.”
“This……” General Monroe hesitated a bit before forcing out a smile, “Chairman Xu, actually, as long as your company stops selling guard ships to the Candra Empire navy…..I feel that they would never threaten this place.”
Xu Yi had a ghost of a smile as he asked back, “Why wouldn’t I sell if there’s money involved?”
General Monroe’s expression scrunched, but he couldn’t say a thing.
After being silent for a bit, he gave a sigh and shook his head. He calmed his heart before asking, “Then…..chairman Xu, the matter of selling our Rudson Kingdom guard ships……”
Xu Yi reached a hand out to general Monroe, “I’ve already said it before, this matter is very simple. One hand for the money and one hand for the goods.”
General Monroe could only reveal a bitter smile, “Chairman Xu, you should know that we can’t take out that much money.”
“Then you should think of another way.”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile. This general Monroe wasn’t wrong at all, the Rudson Kingdom really couldn’t take out this money now.
Although they had pushed back the Candra Empire twice which had raised the Rudson Kingdom’s fame on the continent.
They had completely offended the Candra Empire which was one of the two empires of the continent, which had brought a great disaster to the Rudson Kingdom.
Even if Candra Empire didn’t dare invade the Rudson Kingdom after being defeated twice, there was a large difference in national strength between the two countries. The Candra Empire had immediately completely blockaded the Rudson Kingdom after the battles and easily shut off the Rudson Kingdom’s contact with the outside world.
The Rudson Kingdom was quite rich in resources and had lived quite a good life by exporting goods to other countries, but because of the blockade of the Candra Empire, the Rudson Kingdom’s new magic machine industry products couldn’t be exported. The export of traditional resources like minerals and lumber also suffered a heavy blow.
If it wasn’t for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce reaching their hands out at the last second, defeating the Candra Empire navy and guaranteeing that the Rudson Kingdom could still have a southern port to export from, helping the Rudson Kingdom with a place to export their domestic products, they would have already been in chaos because of the blockage.
But the Frestech Chamber of Commerce only helped the Rudson Kingdom maintain this sea route and didn’t break the Candra Empire’s land blockade, so the Rudson Kingdom’s development was very limited.
The current Rudson Kingdom was still stable internally, with most of the citizens living better lives because of the magic machine industry, it was hard for them to take a further step and develop more.
King Teruc who always had lofty aspirations couldn’t take this situation.
It was impossible with the current national strength of the Rudson Kingdom to break through the powerful land blockade of the Candra Empire, so the Rudson Kingdom had decided to form a navy and break their blockade from the sea, allowing them to have a free sea path.
To do this, naturally they couldn’t forget about the support of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
If they couldn’t buy enough guard ships and military magic machines from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, breaking through the blockade of the Candra Empire’s navy was a fool’s dream.
But whether it was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce or Xu Yi, they had always been very ambiguous towards the Rudson Kingdom’s requests. They didn’t deny them, but they also didn’t bend the rules.
Xu Yi always said that as long as the Rudson Kingdom could take out the money, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would give them the guard ships with the military magic machines that they wanted.
But the Rudson Kingdom just didn’t have this money…...
A guard ship with all the military magic machines cost a full one million and four hundred thousand gold coins!
The Rudson Kingdom’s revenue last year added up to only nine million and three hundred thousand gold coins. They could only buy seven if they took all that money out, so how could they form a complete fleet?
The Rudson Kingdom knew that the price that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce gave them was already very fair.
It had to be known that the Candra Empire had bought each ship for one million and five hundred thousand gold coins, also without all the various military magic machines added on.
So the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had given the Rudson Kingdom a very kind price, so they couldn’t blame them at all.
However, the problem was that the Rudson Kingdom couldn’t take out this little bit of money…...
Hearing Xu Yi say “think of another method”, the bitter smile on general Monroe’s face became wider.
He clearly knew what Xu Yi meant.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce had always been very interested in the Rudson Kingdom’s mineral resources, hoping that the Rudson Kingdom would open up all their mineral resources to them, but King Teruc hadn’t accepted this request.
Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had supported them the most when the Candra Empire had invaded, bringing them very close together, King Teruc had given the Frestech Chamber of Commerce many other benefits and had never opened the mineral resource market to them.
Now Xu Yi’s “other methods” were without a doubt referring to this.
If the Rudson Kingdom was willing to open their mineral resource market to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce or sell a few mines to them, general Monroe was certain the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would sell them the guard ships, as well as some high grade military magic machines that they always wanted.
But general Monroe also knew that King Teruc not being willing to accept this request was because he was considering the long term development of the Rudson Kingdom.
The countries in the southwest corner already knew that the magic machine industry brought by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce wasn’t just some small novel things and military magic machines, it was an important industry that could change the entire face of a country.
Since it was like this, then every country had to focus on developing their own magic machine industry.
Although the Rudson Kingdom didn’t have the same advantage as the Lampuri Kingdom, having the full support of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, with the importance King Teruc had given it, their magic machine industry had always developed well.
However, the core of the magic machine industry, other than technology, were the materials.
Most of these materials were usually mineral materials.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce wanted these mineral materials, to put it bluntly, to satisfy their needs in making their various magic machines.
The Stantine Duchy was a small country after all, so even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce controlled the entire Stantine Duchy, the mineral resources that they could get were very little.
So the Frestech Chamber of Commerce kept demanding for mineral resources from the other countries, so it was normal for them to ask for them for the Rudson Kingdom.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Rudson Kingdom both knew about this, so this contradiction was also placed out in public.
The only difference was that if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce couldn’t get what they wanted from the Rudson Kingdom, they had many other choices in the other countries of the continent.
As for the Rudson Kingdom, they only had the choice of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
So after general Monroe was silent for a bit, he could only give a nod.
“I will bring chairman Xu’s idea to his majesty and hope that his majesty can change his ideas.”
Xu Yi looked to the northeast in the direction of the Rudson Kingdom.
“I hope for the best.”