Volume 7 Chapter 21 - Candra Infrastructure Committee
It was the end of the year in the blink of an eye. The various parts of the Candra Empire were already preparing for the new year, so there was no exception in the capital Wimbledon City.
It was like the previous years, the emperor would announce the benefits of the policies next year to the citizens before the new year, rousing their spirits, while also preparing for the new year.
But different from before, in this year’s announcements, other than the normal issues, as well as reducing tax rates for several cities, opening granaries for refugees, and other matters, there were two policies that had attracted the attention of many people.
The first was that the Candra Empire had reached an official agreement with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Starting in march of next year, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would be officially investing in the Candra Empire.
According to the contract they signed, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would first build a Frestech Chamber of Commerce production base outside of Wimbledon City first. They would set up an agricultural magic machine factory, a construction magic machine factory, a household magic machine factory, and a giant steel mill.
Although before this, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had already invested in two bases in the Candra Empire and opened many factories, these two bases didn’t belong to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce in name. They were built by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce with the Candra Empire’s local companies or were build by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce using the name of the local companies.
No matter how much power the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had, it belonged to the Candra Empire’s company in name.
However, this time, the new production base completely belonged to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and was recognized by the Candra Empire government. It was a base that belonged only to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Based on this, it meant that the Candra Empire had finally let go of their restraint. They no longer “acted difficult” with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and chose to follow the tide to cooperate with them.
Once this news spread, naturally many people were excited.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce was currently the most popular company on the continent and the magic machine industry they led was the most promising industry, it was praised by many people as an industry that could change the entire continent.
If the Candre Empire really wasn’t willing to lower themselves down and invest, they might be eliminated in the future.
The second piece of news was that the Candra Empire would form a new branch of government next year. It was named the Candra Empire Infrastructure Promoting Committee, or simply the Candra Infrastructure Committee.
This committee belonged to the Candra Empire parliament and their main business was to develop the various infrastructure across the empire.
The concept of infrastructure was proposed by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce four years ago and has spread all over the continent in the past two years.
Everyone was clear that infrastructure was mainly divided into the five categories of transport, energy, education, medical, and exercise. Last year the Frestech Chamber of Commerce added the new category of communication at the Magic Machine Industry Conference.
In the most recent years, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce has been promoting the concept of infrastructure across the continent. They had announced that they had improved these six categories in the Stantine Duchy and the Lampuri Kingdom, with great results.
Now the Candra Empire was announcing this Candra Infrastructure Committee and announced they would be improving infrastructure, it was clear that they had taken this concept from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
According to the decree from the emperor, the Candra Infrastructure Committee would start working with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce next year to improve infrastructure. They had an initial goal of connecting all the key cities of the Candra Empire by roads within three years.
After this decree was announced, some people with inside knowledge calculated it. If they really did connect all the key cities with roads as per the decree, then with the area of the Candra Empire and how the cities were distributed, to achieve this goal, they would need to build at least one hundred and sixty thousand kilometers of road.
According to the estimates that the famous road building company Amrit Chamber of Commerce gave, each kilometer of road would cost around three thousand gold coins.
If they built one hundred and sixty thousand kilometers of road, it would cost close to five hundred million gold coins!
Even if the Candra Empire was one of the two empires of the continent, five hundred million gold coins was a shocking figure.
It had to be known that the Candra Empire’s tax revenue last year was only two hundred thousand gold coins.
It would cost five hundred thousand gold coins to build these roads within three years, could the Candra Empire finance department do anything else?
Not to mention that in the decree the emperor gave, it wasn’t just to build these roads within three years, but also to build a preliminary magic communication network between Wimbledon City and all the province capitals. As well, they would also build enough Magic Power Stations within all the cities of the empire within ten years.
Then again, even without talking about infrastructure, the empire had many places to spend money on.
So everyone guessed that the Candra Empire must have reached a secret deal with the Amrit Chamber of Commerce and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, receiving preferential terms.
Everyone even guessed that with the Candra Empire’s position on the continent, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Amrit Chamber of Commerce were even willing to suffer a loss to open up the large market in the Candra Empire.
Because by doing this, they could improve their business in the Candra Empire.
From a long term perspective, this choice was very smart.
“Smart my butt!”
Chairman Cruise angrily gave a snort before throwing the «Candra Weekly» in his hands to the side, rolling his eyes at Xu Yi.
“Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is that big, it’s fine if you lose money, but our Amrit Chamber of Commerce doesn’t have that much money. This is one hundred and sixty kilometers of road, a total of five hundred million gold coins! If I was dumb enough to build these roads, our Amrit Chamber of Commerce might go bankrupt.”
Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling, “This is what the «Candra Weekly», what are you complaining to me for?”
“I just can’t stand those Candra Empire people looking up with their noses high up. They really think that the current Candra Empire is the top empire that other countries can only look up to like before? Pei! From what I can see, if our Lampuri Kingdom had a fight with their Candra Empire, we would definitely win!”
“Fighting a war or ten, I can say that the Lampuri Kingdom would win, but if we’re talking about total victory……I don’t have a favourable view of the Lampuri Kingdom.” Xu Yi shook his head.
Chairman Cruise looked at Xu Yi and wanted to curse, but he gave a sigh in the end.
“Right, our Lampuri Kingdom is too small in the end and the most important thing is that our history is too short. If we went all out with the Candra Empire, even if we won the war, it would be impossible to swallow such a large empire. But, Xu Yi, if your Frestech Chamber of Commerce fully supported us, I think that wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Were you sent by the queen?” Xu Yi looked at him, “First not mentioning why our Frestech Chamber of Commerce wouldn’t just work hard to earn money and would support the Lampuri Kingdom, even if we did, do you really think that you would be able to defeat the Candra Empire that easily?”
“Why not?” Chairman Cruise stuck out his head and said in an unconvinced voice, “Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards are that strong, there’s no army on the continent that can stop you. If you work with our Lampuri Kingdom’s army who are basically fully equipped with military magic machines, it wouldn’t take much to break all resistance from the Candra Empire.”
“If you invade a country, the most difficult problem isn’t defeating their armies, it’s what comes after.” Xu Yi said with a serious look, “I’ve discussed this with her majesty many times and even she had to acknowledge my analysis, so you shouldn’t try to refute it.”
Chairman Cruise was silent for a bit before his expression became very strange and he hesitantly asked, “Xu…..Xu Yi, have you heard about a rumour from the Lampuri Kingdom recently?”
“Rumour?” Xu Yi slightly knitted his brows, “I’m very busy, I don’t have time for rumours.”
He looked at chairman Cruise after saying this and seeing how strange his expression was, he couldn’t help asking, “What rumour?”
“It’s…..ke…..this……” Chairman Cruise’s expression became even more strange and after hesitating a bit, he finally made his decision and gritted his teeth to say, “Her majesty only has prince Kain as her successor and if nothing unexpected happens, prince Kain should be the heir to the throne.”
“Un, it should clearly be like this, so what? Could it be that there are people in the Lampuri Kingdom who dare to spread rumours that prince Kain isn’t worthy of the throne?”
“This……This rumour has spread all over the kingdom and many people believe it…..They feel that it’s a bit off.”
“So what is this rumour that’s taking you this long to say?” Xu Yi finally couldn’t take it as he asked this.
Chairman Cruise looked at Xu Yi and after a cough, he lowered his voice to say, “Look, prince Kain’s mother is definitely her majesty, but her majesty has never gotten married, so everyone is curious who the father of prince Kain is. This rumour is related to prince Kain’s father……”
Xu Yi’s eyes trembled a bit, but he still calmly said, “What does the rumour say?”
“The rumour says that……prince Cain’s father is…..is you……”