Volume 5 Chapter 39 Free trade area
“This is clearly betrayal!” Heinz threw the «Lampuri Weekly» in his hand on the table as he angrily shouted.
Xu Yi looked at the large headline on the «Lampuri Weekly» and revealed a smile.
“Why do you say this?”
“Do you still need to ask?” Heinz looked at Xu Yi in disbelief, “Our Frestech Chamber of Commerce has supported the Lampuri Kingdom like this, but the Lampuri Kingdom is now working with our enemy, the Sack Kingdom. What is this if not betrayal? Moreover, they are not just betraying our Frestech Chamber of Commerce, but also the millions of citizens of our Lampuri Kingdom! The Sack Kingdom is the mortal enemy of the Lampuri Kingdom, how could they cooperate with them at a time like this?”
Xu Yi shook his head with a faint smile, “No, Heinz, you’re thinking too narrowly. There is no eternal enemy between countries, it isn’t strange to cooperate from time to time. Then again, did you clearly read the article? The Lampuri Kingdom is only opening a free trade area with the Sack Kingdom, that is far from truly cooperating. Moreover, based on the details of the discussion that I know about, the Lampuri Kingdom is getting a great advantage this time.”
“Condition?” Heinz looked at Xu Yi with doubt. After thinking about it, he couldn’t help asking, “Hey, Xu Yi, do you know about this matter?”
“Of course.” Xu Yi nodded with a faint smile, “Because this matter was proposed by me to Seveni, I even gave her the idea of the free trade area. Do you think I wouldn’t know about this?”
Heinz looked at Xu Yi in a daze. After a while, he asked in a stuttered voice, “You’re saying…..the cooperation with the Sack Kingdom was your idea?”
“It isn’t wrong if you say it like this, but Seveni feels that the Lampuri Kingdom can earn many benefits, so she agreed to my idea. Speaking of this, she could complete this matter in this short period of time, her abilities really are outstanding.”
Heinz looked at Xu Yi with knitted brows for a bit before slowly shaking his head.
“Xu Yi, although I can’t understand the things you do normally, this time…..isn’t this too unreasonable? Not mentioning the hatred between the Sack Kingdom and the Lampuri Kingdom, just based on the fact that the Sack Kingdom worked with Duke Wein last time to attack our Frestech Chamber of Commerce, we shouldn’t even discuss cooperating with the Sack Kingdom.”
“I’ll repeat it again, this isn’t a simple cooperation. If you really want to talk about it, it is a free trade zone which will be used by our Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Lampuri Kingdom to steal the Sack Kingdom’s wealth. Do you understand?” Xu Yi said.
Heinz shook his head, “I don’t understand. This free trade area is just a place for both sides to openly do business. The Sack Kingdom isn’t stupid, how could they let us steal their wealth?”
“This……In a situation of who is stronger, it can’t be solved with intelligence alone.” Xu Yi gave a shrug as he said with a relaxed look, “Heinz, think about it, in the free trade area between the Sack Kingdom and the Lampuri Kingdom, what will be the easiest form of business? Or to put it a bit more straightforward, what product do you think the Sack Kingdom wants the most from the Lampuri Kingdom and what does the Lampuri Kingdom want the most from the Sack Kingdom?”
Heinz knit his brows to think for a bit before his eyes suddenly lit up.
“I got it! The Sack Kingdom will have a strong demand for magic machines. Because the Lampuri Kingdom and Sack Kingdom were enemies before, they blockaded each other and the Sack Kingdom could only buy magic machines through smugglers. Now that there is this free trade area, the people of the Sack Kingdom can’t wait to buy magic machines.”
“So that means this free trade area is used to sell magic machines to the Sack Kingdom. I’m certain that the people of the Sack Kingdom are no different from the Lampuri Kingdom and the Rudson Kingdom, they already wanted the various magic machines from a long time ago. Now that both sides are finally trading, the Sack Kingdom will have a large demand for them.” Xu Yi said with a smile.
“Un, they will have the same demand as the surrounding cities when they first made contact with Banta City.” Heinz nodded before asking, “But the people of the Sack Kingdom aren’t stupid, they will definitely limit this.”
“That is the reason for creating the free trade area.” Xu Yi laughed, “According to the agreement between the Lampuri Kingdom and the Sack Kingdom, all trades in this free trade area between both sides were completely free, neither side can regulate them at all. So even if the Sack Kingdom wants to stop a large batch of magic machines from coming in, they have no way.”
“That is very strange, why would the Sack Kingdom agree to this condition?” Heinz asked in a confused voice.
“The reason is very simple. First, the Lampuri Kingdom’s northern army has fought with the Sack Kingdom’s army many times and they’ve always won. The Sack Kingdom is facing a large amount of pressure and now that the Lampuri Kingdom is willing to have a truce with them, doing business fairly, the Sack Kingdom will definitely want this.”
“Un……That is right.”
“Second, the Sack Kingdom wanted the various magic machines long ago. Because of the blockade on the Lampuri Kingdom side, as well as the targeting of our company, the Sack Kingdom could never obtain the related technology. Now that they can have free trade with the Lampuri Kingdom, they can buy a large amount of magic machines from the Lampuri Kingdom, so they might never be able to develop their own magic machines. Or even…..buy the related technology directly from the Lampuri Kingdom.”
“That is impossible, the Lampuri Kingdom’s side will definitely limit the technology.” Heinz shook his head, “Otherwise, if they taught the Sack Kingdom to build magic machines, wouldn’t that be raising a tiger?”
Xu Yi shook his head. Although this seemed correct on the surface, Seveni had already prepared for this and made the necessary restrictions.
But under the temptation of benefits, the Lampuri Kingdom’s magic machine technology will flow into the Sack Kingdom with the various magic machines.
This was something that was impossible to limit, so Xu Yi had suggested to Seveni that they should sell a small portion of the magic machine technology to the Sack Kingdom directly.
Of course this portion was all limited to the household magic machines. It couldn’t approach the production magic machines and definitely couldn’t touch the military magic machines.
Although this would give the Sack Kingdom technology related to the magic machines and even allow them to develop it themselves, Xu Yi wasn’t worried about this.
In the end, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had the absolute advantage when it came to magic machine technology. Moreover, this advantage was much more than anything any other companies held, so as long as the Frestech Chamber of Commerce controlled their technology, it was impossible for the Sack Kingdom to get it with bribes.
Moreover, if they didn’t give the Sack Kingdom a few benefits and this hope, they wouldn’t have easily agreed to opening this free trade area with the Lampuri Kingdom this easily.
As for the Lampuri Kingdom and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, other than gaining a large profit from selling magic machines in the Sack Kingdom, according to the contract, the Sack Kingdom had to export some of their minerals to the Lampuri Kingdom.
In the contract signed by the Lampuri Kingdom and the Sack Kingdom, the Frestech Chamber of commerce had even been given the rights to open two mines near the Muerto Mountains.
This was something that was very important to Xu Yi.
It was impossible to control the Sack Kingdom in a short period of time, so before this, using other methods to get the minerals that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce needed from the Sack Kingdom was a very feasible method.
But Xu Yi didn’t need to explain any further on this to Heinz.
Starting this year, because Heinz was getting old and because of his own personality, he started beginning to separate himself from the matters of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Although he was still the vice chairman of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, he didn’t partic.i.p.ate in the management and planning at all. He was basically half retired.
He had come all the way here from Banta City to display his anger to Xu Yi, other than showing his deep feelings for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was actually for another reason.
After chatting about the free trade area with Xu Yi, Heinz fell silent. He looked at Xu Yi and hesitated to speak.
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “What is it? We’re old friends, what can’t you say in front of me? This company was built up by the two of us bit by bit, so if it is related to the company, you can just tell me.”
Heinz revealed an awkward looked.
“You knew?”
Xu Yi gave a shrug, “We’ve known each other for this long, do I still not understand you? If it wasn’t for Alex, how could you be this hesitant, looking this awkward?”
Heinz shook his head with a bitter smile, “I really am embarra.s.sed. Alex did that horrible thing before, but you still let him continue working for the company, so I feel very bad about it in my heart. Now…..now……”
“Alright, old friend, there’s no need to say it, I understand.” Xu Yi patted Heinz’s shoulder with a smile. He took a doc.u.ment from the desk and gave it Heinz, “Here, I’ve already arranged it. I think that Alex will be satisfied with this.”
Heinz took the doc.u.ment and found that it was an a.s.signment doc.u.ment.
Opening it to take a look, the contents were to appoint Alex as the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s second transport fleet’s commander. He would mainly be responsible for transporting goods between the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Rudson Kingdom.
This was a very good job and one that paid quite well. Xu Yi arranging this position for Alex could be considered showing favour to him.
Heinz closed the doc.u.ment and excitedly looked at Xu Yi. When he wanted to speak, Xu Yi raised a hand to stop him.
“Alright, there’s no need to be polite between us. Tell Alex to do this well. As long as his performance is good, I can even consider letting him handle some business in the Caraca City branch. As for afterwards, that will depend on his performance.”
Heinz kept nodding, “Alright! Alright! I will definitely teach that kid well! If he dares make a mistake in the future, I will personally break his legs!”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile. Actually with the wrongs that Alex had committed before, it was reasonable for him to be jailed for life.
If it wasn’t for Heinz, how could he live a peaceful life and even have a chance to come back again?