Volume 1 Chapter 69 Tax deductions
It was mid October and it was time to plant fall crops. There was no sign of planting on Viscount Leslie’s land at all, rather there was an endless roaring sound all over the place.
Looking at it, several dozen large and small magic machines of different shapes pa.s.sed through the fields, changing the appearance of the desolate land.
This was Viscount Leslie’s conviction.
With the support of large amounts of magic machines from Xu Yi, Viscount Leslie had decided to open up all the land under his name and carry out a large scale land restructuring based on Xu Yi’s plan.
Before this, because the land under Viscount Leslie had been planted by hand, he was very casual about the design of the fields. Now that he was opening all these fields, Xu Yi had given him a new plan and connected all the fields, dividing them into exact squares. At the same time, they were digging out s.p.a.cious drainage ditches for the farms, making it more convenient to make rice paddies and prevent droughts.
Other than this, Xu Yi had also suggested to Viscount Leslie to put all his farms on a large piece of land at the same height, making it more convenient for machines to work on in the future.
To be honest, it wasn’t like Viscount Leslie hadn’t considered restructuring the land under his name, but because his manpower was limited, he didn’t have enough manpower to accomplish this task even if he had the thought to do so.
With the three hundred slaves and less than a hundred guards under him, he couldn’t have opened more than seven hectares of farmland even if he put in all his effort each year.
But this year he had the agricultural magic machines developed by Xu Yi, so this thought finally became reality.
He used the small Magic Plowing Machine to first break up the earth and then he transported this loose earth to lower areas.
After repeating this several times, the farms under Viscount Leslie’s name had become a flat area.
At this time, it was time for the new small Magic Excavator developed by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to take the stage.
First they used the small Magic Plowing Machine to loosen the dirt in an area before using the small Magic Excavator to dig bit by bit. In the end, they created a large hole that had a depth and width of close to half a meter.
Then the small Magic Excavator kept moving back, as its mechanical arm kept moving back and forth. This hole was expanded and soon a large straight ditch was created in the land.
“Not bad. With this speed, in just a single day, we’ll be able to transform an entire hectare of farm land.” It wasn’t just Viscount Leslie and Xu Yi who came today, even Count Sean Samo had come after hearing the news. Seeing the high efficiency of the magic machines in the fields, Count Sean couldn’t help praising them, “If this was done by hand, it might not be finished even given a week.”
“Lord City Lord, actually I’m not satisfied with this speed.” Xu Yi shook his head and said, “The efficiency of the small Magic Excavator we designed is still to low. According to my designs, the real Magic Excavator wouldn’t need the help of the Magic Plowing Machine and it could dig the ditch by itself. My final goal was that it could dig out rocks. This is far from something the small Magic Excavator you are seeing now can compare to.”
“Of? It can even dig up stones? Are you not kidding?” Count Sean said in an astonished voice.
“No, of course I’m not kidding. If it wasn’t for the fact we were limited by our materials, we could achieve a stronger Magic Array output with this magic machine. Like this, the effect of the Magic Excavator would become much more effective and it wouldn’t be strange to achieve the goal of digging up stone.” Xu Yi responded in a confident voice.
This was not just him bluffing. After studying this for a long time with Great Magician Camilla, Xu Yi was very clear on how strong high level magic was. Even the legendary forbidden spells could be compared to nuclear bombs on earth.
Comparing it like this, as long as the right magic power was used in the magic machines, it wasn’t a fantasy for these magic machines to compare to the machines on earth.
It was a pity that the Sines Continent’s ironwork was very crude. These magic machines couldn’t take the power being released right now, so Xu Yi had to keep his plans in his mind for now.
“It’s good for young people to have lofty goals, but bread needs to be eaten mouthful by mouthful. You shouldn’t be in a rush for this.” Count Sean patted Xu Yi’s shoulder to comfort him, “The magic machines you have designed have already surprised me. If this was before, I never would have imagined that a large area of farmland could be improved in such a short period of time. It was no wonder that kid Leslie confidently said last tie that he wanted to open up all the farmland under his name. Looking at it now, there really is hope.”
Xu Yi suddenly laughed, “Lord City Lord, Lord Viscount is actually using all the farmland under him to help me do an experiment. Although our Frestech Chamber of Commerce has invented many magic machines, if they aren’t used to perform experiments with real results, that wouldn’t be right.”
“Un, this is the att.i.tude a responsible company should have. As for this kid Leslie…..I can see that he is looking forward to letting you experiment on his territory. Don’t you know that the other n.o.bles are all very jealous of him right now?” Count Sean said with a faint smile.
Xu Yi couldn’t help laughing. Not only did he know this, he had experienced it countless times.
It had to be known that after Xu Yi used the magic machines he developed to help Viscount Leslie change the farmland under him, the other n.o.bles of Banta City had also made the same request of Xu Yi. It was a pity that Xu Yi’s factory capacity was limited right now and he could only meet Viscount Leslie’s request and couldn’t agree to the other n.o.bles at all.
Moreover, even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce could produce enough agricultural magic machines, Xu Yi wouldn’t easily agree to these n.o.bles.
Viscount Leslie was fine since when Xu Yi introduced the small Magic Harvester and the small Magic Plowing Machine, he had been by Xu Yi’s side since the beginning, so the others knew that Viscount Leslie’s relationship with Xu Yi was not normal. But if Xu Yi agreed to help any other n.o.ble, perhaps he might offend to the rest of the n.o.bles.
Xu Yi was not a fool, why would he do such a thankless job.
Of course, when Xu Yi turned down these n.o.bles, he had also made a promise to them. He promised that when next spring came, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce will have enough magic machines and will meet all the requests of the n.o.bles.
Although there were several months before next spring, Xu Yi had already received large orders worth close to ten thousand gold coins.
These orders contained all kinds of agricultural magic machines, guaranteeing that the dwarves led by Camby would be busy during the entire winter.
But this was a matter that also made Xu Yi quite worried.
The magic machine workshop was not just for making agricultural magic machines. Compared to this, Xu Yi hoped that they could completely focusing on studying production magic machines.
This was because to develop the industry, production machines were the most fundamental thing. The production of any machine couldn’t be separated from production magic machines.
If production magic machines weren’t developed enough, the development of the industry would be limited. This was not something Xu Yi wished to see happen.
But Xu Yi couldn’t reject these orders at all, so he had been facing a painful decision during this time.
If he wanted to develop the magic machine industry, he did have to make as much money as possible since studying magic machines required a large amount of money. Any random project would require large amount of funds and manpower.
But if he wanted more money, he had to shift his focus, slowing down the research of magic machines. It was basically putting the cart before the horse.
“In the end, we have too few people.” Xu Yi gave a sigh before turning to Count Sean to ask, “That’s right, Lord City Lord, has there been any progress with the thing I asked for your help with last time?”
Count Sean was surprised, but he reacted and slightly knit his brows, “You’re talking about helping you recruit craftsmen? This…..is a bit difficult. Your requirement of craftsmen are too high, so there aren’t many who meet it in Banta City and there are also only a few in other cities that meet it. Not to mention that the ones who conform to your standard are rare talented people and won’t easily move to other places, like running to our Banta City. So…..I’m also having some difficulties.”
Xu Yi gave a helpless sigh. Actually he was very clear that Count Sean was right and that if good craftsmen were easy to recruit, he wouldn’t need to worry so much.
It seemed like he could only depend on the dwarves.
He had raised this matter to Camby last time and Camby said that he would help him contact the dwarves of other tribes. If possible, he would recruit more dwarven craftsmen for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
“But Xu Yi, you don’t need to be disappointed. I can’t help you with finding craftsmen, but I can help you with something else.” Count Sean suddenly said.
“Oh?” Xu Yi looked at Count Sean with a surprised gaze.
Count Sean pointed at the magic machines working in the field and said, “I have already given a report on your agricultural magic machines to the kingdom’s agricultural department, while also writing a secret letter to his majesty mentioning these things. Whether it was the agricultural department or his majesty, they were all filled with praise for these things. They finally decided to give tax deductions to your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s agricultural magic machines, while promoting you agricultural magic machines throughout the kingdom. If there are no surprises, his majesty will be summoning you soon. You better prepare yourself.”
Xu Yi’s eyes instantly lit up.
Tax deductions for everything?
It had to be known the business tax in the Lampuri Kingdom was very high. For a small company like the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the highest tax was even at 40%!
For a small Magic Harvester with a price of seventy gold coins, if they received a full tax deduction, it meant that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would earn an extra twenty gold coins!
This was equivalent to his majesty and the agricultural department giving the Frestech Chamber of Commerce a large amount of money.
Of course, it should be impossible for a full tax deduction. This would cause all the companies in the kingdom to become dissatisfied and his majesty definitely wouldn’t be this stupid.
But even if it was a partial deduction, that would bring many benefits to Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
The more important part was the latter half! His majesty and the agricultural department would be promoting the agricultural magic machines all over the kingdom!
This was basically official advertis.e.m.e.nt!
With the support of his majesty and the agricultural department, it meant the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s agricultural magic machines will be able to easily spread to every corner of the Lampuri Kingdom.
At that time, just based on selling agricultural magic machines, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce could jump to becoming a first cla.s.s company in the Lampuri Kingdom!