Book 5: Chapter 81: Build a road in your name
Xu Yi was a bit disappointed.
When he learned from ambassador Hakanin that the royal army would send someone to the Stantine Duchy to investigate the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, Xu Yi had been very excited. He thought that his previous efforts had succeeded and the Candra Empire would start noticing the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Moreover, this sir Russell that came with ambassador Hakanin was the vice chief of staff of the royal fleet. Whether it was his status, his position, or his role in the government, they all fit Xu Yi’s calculations from before. It made Xu Yi think that this person was sent to represent the will of the Candra Empire.
It wasn’t too high, but they didn’t look down on them.
Xu Yi thought that by meeting Russell, he could have the Candra Empire place more attention on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. He would be able to open the window for cooperation between the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Candra Empire, allowing them to enter the Candra Empire’s giant market.
However, after a short meeting with Russell, XuYi thought that his thinking was too simple.
Although this sir Russell was a high level member of the Candra Empire’s royal navy, his trip this time wasn’t an official trip for the Candra Empire, he couldn’t even represent the Candra Empire’s royal army. Rather he had come completely as an individual.
According to Russell’s ideas, his trip to the Stantine Duchy this time was purely to see the Frestech Chamber of Commece’s guard fleet, he didn’t have any other goals.
Xu Yi was naturally very disappointed by this, but thinking about it, it was a very normal thing.
The Candra Empire was one of the two empires on the continent. Even small kingdoms like the Lampuri Kingdom and the Rudson Kingdom weren’t worth anything in their eyes, not to mention a small company from the Stantine Duchy.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce being able to arouse the curiosity of Russell was completely because of the strange parts of the meeting between the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet and the Candra Empire’s third fleet.
If he wasn’t curious about this, Russell wouldn’t have even thought about coming. This matter would have been suppressed by the military headquarters and would have been treated as it never happened.
Xu Yi was clear that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had great influence in the surrounding countries, but the Candra Empire didn’t put them in their eyes, so they wouldn’t be swayed by Russell’s opinion.
But this matter did show a problem.
The Candra Empire didn’t care about this matter, so it could be seen that they had lost their vigilance.
Otherwise, the special performance of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet had shown under Xu Yi’s instructions would have been ignored by the Candra Empire’s royal army.
The facts showed that if Russell hadn’t been curious about this matter, what the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet did would be like winking at a blind person.
Through these problems, the disappointment in Xu Yi’s heart was reduced. He followed his previous plan and entertained Russell’s party warmly.
Russell was interested in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet, so Xu Yi gave him an open demonstration of the guard fleet.
When Russell and his two subordinates saw the giant Magic Ship that was cast of iron, the shock on their face definitely was not something that could be pretended.
However, no matter how shocked they were by this scene, when they left the Stantine Duchy three days later after their inspection, Russell had been silent the entire time and didn’t give any reactions.
But Xu Yi was certain that he had some idea in his heart after these few days.
Compared to Russell and his two assistants leaving quickly, not leaving anything and not taking anything, ambassador Hakanin received the same benefits that satisfied him on his trip this time.
According to his private agreement with Xu Yi, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce sold him various household magic machines at 90% of the market price, for a total of three hundred thousand gold coins.
With Xu Yi’s understanding, these household magic machines were selling for twice the price in Wimbledon City and there wasn’t a lack of demand.
Even if ambassador Hakanin took care of the transport costs bringing them back to Wimbledon City, if he could sell out all of these household magic machines, he would receive a large income of one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins.
Since he met Xu Yi at the beginning of last year, in just a single year, ambassador Hakanin had earned over four hundred thousand gold coins from cooperating with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Before this, no matter how greedy he had acted in the Rudson Kingdom and the Candra Empire with his identity, he could only earn several tens of thousands of gold coins a year.
He gained close to ten times that by cooperating with the Frestech Chamber Of Commerce. It was no wonder he forgot about the conflict he had when he met Xu Yi and even regarded Xu Yi as his best partner, following him around.
He believed that the suggestions that Xu Yi gave him would definitely bring him great profits.
However this time, when he talked to Xu Yi in private before leaving, the matter they discussed made his eyes open wide in shock.
“You want me to invest in a road in the empire?” Ambassador Hakanin looked at Xu Yi in disbelief, “I say, chairman Xu, are you joking?”
“No, I’m not joking at all.” Xu Yi shook his head.
“You’re not joking? No, no……I still think that you are joking. You should know how much money it costs to build a road, I don’t have that much money. Then again, there aren’t any benefits for me.” Ambassador Hakanin shook his head.
Xu Yi waved his hand with a smile, “You’ve misunderstood, I don’t want you to pay the money for this road. All the expenses of this road will be undertaken by our Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
“Un?” Ambassador Hakanin looked at Xu Yi with a confused look, “Chairman Xu, why would you do this? Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce investing money to build a road in our Candra Empire, what benefits does that yield for you?”
“Of course there are benefits, but you can’t see them right now.” Xu Yi said with a smile, “But for ambassador Hakanin, there are some clear benefits.”
Ambassador Hakanin was even more confused, “What benefits are there for me?”
“Please look at the map.” Xu Yi turned to the walk to the map on the wall and reached out a finger to draw a line between the Stantine Duchy and the Candra Empire, “Ambassador Hakanin, let me ask you, when you transport these household magic machines back to Wimbledon City, how much does it cost you to transport them?”
“That isn’t certain.” Ambassador Hakanin shook his head, “But with the capacity of a large transport Magic Car, it should cost around thirty gold coins per trip.”
“Thirty gold coins? Then have you calculated where those thirty gold coins are mainly spent?” Xu Yi asked.
Ambassador Hakanin knit his brows to think for a bit before looking at the map Xu Yi was pointing at and giving a bitter laugh, “Chairman Xu, I understand what you mean. Those thirty gold coins, at least half of them are spent on the road to Wimbledon City after entering the Candra Empire.”
Xu Yi nodded, thinking that this ambassador Hakanin was not as dumb as everyone said.
“To go from here to the border of the Norton Duchy and the Candra Empire, it would be a trip of one thousand and five hundred kilometers, but from the border to Wimbledon City, it is a trip of less than five hundred kilometers. There’s this difference in distance, but the expenses are the same. Ambassador Hakanin, do you understand why there’s this difference?”
Ambassador Hakanin nodded with a bitter smile, “Of course I know. It’s for no other reason than our Candra Empire’s roads being too bad. Those damn dirt roads, it’s normally good, but if we run into bad weather, it simply won’t work. Five hundred kilometers only takes half a day on the roads here, but in the Candra Empire, it would take at least two full days to travel them.”
Seeing ambassador Hakanin complaining, Xu Yi revealed a faint smile. He thought, it’s good that you know.”
“So I plan on building this road to connect the border to Wimbledon City. If this road is built, it will save you a lot of time and effort when you want to transport things to Wimbledon City. Ambassador Hakanin, don’t you think that this brings benefits to you?”
Ambassador Hakanin looked at the section of road that Xu Yi mentioned several times before slowly nodding.
“If there was such a road, it would be much more convenient. But chairman Xu, it would be five hundred kilometers to build this road, wouldn’t your Frestech Chamber of Commerce have to invest at least a million gold coins?”
“Money isn’t a problem.” Xu Yi shook his head with a faint smile, “The main problem is how to build this road. Ambassador Hakanin, there are many limits for our company in the Candra Empire, so we can’t build this road. Whether this road can be built will depend on you. If you’re willing, you just have to get the permission to build this road. As for other aspects, whether it is money, people, or equipment, you don’t need to worry about them at all. What do you think?”
Ambassador Hakanin was a bit hesitant, “But if I suddenly say that I want to build this road, there will be many people who will doubt this……”
Xu Yi revealed a smile as he raised a finger to ambassador Hakanin, “If we can do this, I’ll personally give you a hundred thousand gold coins to thank you for your selfless help.”
“A hundred thousand gold coins?” Ambassador Hakanin swallowed a mouthful of saliva before giving a strong nod, “Alright, it’s a deal!”