Book 5: Chapter 43: Give me cement
To build a road that was over five thousand kilometers and where half of it would mean cutting through the mountains, this would be a very difficult matter even if it was on the highly developed earth.
But speaking of the difficulty of building roads, there was only one basic problem which was funds, which was a problem that was impossible to solve.
The fifty million that Riley gave as an estimate was rather discrete. If one really wanted to build such a road, the total investments might even surpass a hundred million gold coins.
Such a large investment, on the Sines Continent, perhaps only the Candra or Marlow Empires could take out this amount.
Other than this, it was impossible for any other country or company to take out this shocking amount by themselves.
Whether it was the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom or the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
However, when chairman Cruise gave the message that Riley sent from the Candra Empire to Xu Yi, Xu Yi actually showed a strong interest in this crazy plan which surprised chairman Cruise.
Seeing Xu Yi carefully looking over the giant and detailed map of the Sines Continent hanging on the wall of the manor’s living room, seriously considering it, chairman Cruise didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Hey, Xu Yi, are you really planning on building this road?”
“Why not?” Xu Yi turned to reveal sparkling eyes that were filled with interest, “You don’t think that if we build this road, it would be equal to connecting the Stantine Duchy to the eastern countries of the Sines Continent? Look, if this road is finished, we wouldn’t need to go through the Candra Empire to reach the east of the continent. We can even bypass the Candra Empire to build another road north which would connect us to the entire continent.”
Chairman Cruise shook his head with a bitter smile, “I say, Xu Yi, although you always had crazy ideas, this one really is too impractical. This kind of road would cost at least a hundred thousand gold coins, can you take that much out? I guarantee that damn Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom wouldn’t be able to take out that much money.”
“Didn’t that chairman Gaza say that he didn’t say when the road needed to be built? He and I have the same opinion, this road needs to be built, but because it costs too much, it can’t be built right away. Of course for a large project like this, it wouldn’t be finished in a short amount of time. Un…..Cruise, if this project was given to the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, how long would you need to finish it?”
Chairman Cruise knit his brows. He looked at the map and after thinking about it, he said, “It would take at least ten years and we would need to use all our strength to build it.”
“Good, then we’ll set it on twenty years to finish this road. The amount that would need to be invested each year wouldn’t be that much, it wouldn’t be too much to handle.” Xu Yi said.
Chairman Cruise couldn’t help giving a cold smile, “You say it like you can afford five million gold coins each year. Don’t forget, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce needs the money for other things.”
“I didn’t say that we needed to start building right now, right?” Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “The Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom has no way of rushing this project and I have no need to rush it, so it is only a plan right now. Of course, in order to show our sincerity, I will first decide to build a sea road from our Stantine Duchy that passes through the Rudson Kingdom, what do you think?”
Chairman Cruise was surprised by Xu Yi’s idea.
“A sea road that connects the Stantine Duchy to the Rudson Kingdom?” Chairman Cruise looked at the map and slowly nodded, “This is a good idea. There’s only one road from the Stantine Duchy that leads to the Rudson Kingdom right now, that isn’t convenient. If we were to build another road in the south, that would also connect the Stantine Duchy and the Rudson Kingdom.”
“To be honest, I hope that we can promote the development of the southern part of the duchy with this road.” Xu Yi said, “How much do you think this road will cost?”
Chairman Cruise was silent for a bit before shaking his head, “Without seeing it, I can’t give you an accurate amount. I can only say that it’ll be higher than the current Stru Road.”
“Alright, we’ll just set it like this for now. I hope that you can draw up a suitable plan as soon as possible.”
“You’re certain you want to build this road?” Chairman Cruise asked.
“Certain.”
“Alright, I will accept this project on behalf of the Amrit Chamber of Commerce.” Chairman Cruise nodded before suddenly changing his thoughts, “But Xu Yi, can you agree to one of my requests?”
“Speak.”
“Actually, I’ve raised this request many times. You…..can you transfer the cement manufacturing technology to our company?” Chairman Cruise had a look of hope, “Our company’s various construction projects aren’t just limited to the Lampuri Kingdom and the surrounding kingdoms, the distance can even reach over two thousand kilometers. However, if we have to ship the cement we buy from your Frestech Chamber of Commerce a large distance, the amount is just too much each time. So…..”
“Alright.”
Chairman Cruise looked at Xu Yi in a daze.
“You…..You’re agreeing?”
“Yes, I’m agreeing.” Xu Yi nodded with a faint smile, “I can give you the cement manufacturing technology, but you must strictly follow the standards that our company has set.”
Chairman Cruise had a look of disbelief.
He had made this request to Xu Yi many times, but he had been rejected every time. So why did he suddenly agree to this?
“Because the timing is right.” Xu Yi replied with a smile.
Chairman Cruise couldn’t help slightly knitting his brows.
What did he mean the timing is right? What was he specifically talking about?
However, Xu Yi didn’t explain and chairman Cruise couldn’t just ask.
Anyway, with Xu Yi’s style, since he agreed, he wouldn’t go back on it.
After thinking about it, chairman Cruise couldn’t help smiling.
The Amrit Chamber of Commerce’s key business was in paving roads and constructing buildings.
Whichever business it was, they needed a large amount of cement.
Before this, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce exclusively used the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s cement.
Although the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had a happy cooperation with the Amrit Chamber of Commerce and Xu Yi and chairman cruise had a good relationship, for something as important as this to be held by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, for chairman Cruise, it was like someone was holding his life and he couldn’t feel assured.
Now that Xu Yi had agreed to give the cement manufacturing technology to the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, it let him breathe a sigh of relief.
The two chatted for a bit before quickly reaching an initial agreement.
The Amrit Chamber of Commerce would be using one million to buy all the cement manufacturing technology from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Moreover, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would send corresponding staff to help the Amrit Chamber of Commerce open three cement factories in three countries, as well as providing a series of production magic machines needed to manufacture cement.
To put it simply, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would help the Amrit Chamber of Commerce be able to produce cement on their own.
After this discussion, chairman Cruise asked in voice filled with doubt, “Hey, Xu Yi, why did you agree to this? Although we have spent a million gold coins on this, you should know that our company spends one and a half million gold coins buying cement from you each year, so your profit is at least five hundred thousand gold coins. Now that you’re giving us this technology, it’s impossible for you to get this much money from us in the future. Could it be…..you’re giving up the cement business?”
“You think that only your Amrit Chamber of Commerce is the only company to use cement?” Xu Yi looked at chairman Cruise with a smile, “Even if your Amrit Chamber of Commerce is the biggest customer when it comes to cement, there are other companies that are buying cement from us. Even if we lose you as the biggest customer, we can still earn quite a bit from selling cement.”
“But I feel that this is very strange. You are simply…..breaking your own hands……”
“It’s not that serious.” Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling, “Our company’s main business is in magic machines, producing cement is only a side business.”
“A side business can earn your company that much money each year……” Chairman Cruise couldn’t help muttering.
Xu Yi revealed a smile. He had invented many side products while studying magic machines which had brought large benefits to him, the cement was just one of them.
Of course, for a modern industrial system, cement is one of the essential building materials and has a very important position. Xu Yi giving this technology to the Amrit Chamber of Commerce was hoping that the Amrit Chamber of Commerce could expand their scale, but that didn’t mean that he was completely giving it up.
After talking for a bit longer with chairman Cruise, the two left Xu Yi’s personal office and went to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s Magic Car factory.
Chairman Cruise’s trip to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce this time was to order large transport Magic Cars from them.
As the Amrit Chamber of Commerce’s operations expanded to further places, they had more demand for transportation.
They depended on the Fersen Carriage Company who had changed their name to the Fersen Transport Chamber of Commerce to transport their building materials, but now it didn’t seem like it was enough, so chairman Cruise was planning on building a transport team that belonged to the Amrit Chamber of Commerce.
First he would need to buy enough transport Magic Cars.
Because of the large amount of automatic magic machines being used in the various factories of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had already recovered from the negative impacts of the strike and the large scale layoffs. They had even increased their production capacity compared to before and had even expanded on it.
Still because of the large demand, the Frestech Chamber of Chamber couldn’t meet their needs, but Xu Yi had some more space in terms of arrangements now.
The transport Magic Cars was one of the most popular magic machines in the surrounding countries. If this was before, even if the Amrit Chamber of Commerce wanted some, it would take at least half a year before they received the first batch of goods.
But now Xu Yi could tell chairman Cruise that to complete the first batch of ten large transport Magic Cars, it would take them three months.
After receiving this confirmation from Xu Yi, chairman Cruise left the Magic Car factory in a very satisfied mood.
But when he came out, he saw a strange thing that looked like a Magic Armoured Vehicle on the surface, but there was a sturdy pipe sticking out of it that was slowly driving over.
Chairman Cruise was instantly stunned.
This…..What was this strange thing?