Volume 4 Chapter 102 Buying people
Lord Wein had given the two hundred and forty thousand hectares of land to Xu Yi as his personal territory. He only gave him the land and didn’t give him a single person.
This meant that after Xu Yi obtained this territory, there were only the seventeen thousand workers of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce who settled there.
Although for the average population density of the Sines Continent, having more than seventeen thousand people on land that was less than fifteen square kilometers was considered good.
But because most factories of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce were crowded, a factory that took up a thousand square meters of land could already fit several hundred people.
Adding in all the factories and living areas, they only used less than fifty thousand hectares.
This made Xu Yi’s territory seem very s.p.a.cious and clear that there wasn’t enough population.
But the more important issue was that because they couldn’t gain more population, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce found it hard to expand their production capacity.
Although there were people from the Lampuri Kingdom that kept coming and joined the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, in just a year, there were only less than two thousand people who came here. For the Frestech Chamber of Commerce that had a large demand for people, this was far from being enough.
Xu Yi had always had a headache about this problem, but the main reason for this problem was in terms of population.
He couldn’t get enough human resources, so even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had an abundance of funds, they couldn’t increase their capacity.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce was working with the Rudson Kingdom and had invested in the Mirando Duchy in order to create production bases and increase their production capacity.
But the Rudson Kingdom and the Mirando Duchy weren’t areas controlled by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Although they had close relationships with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there was no one who could guarantee that there wouldn’t be changes with those countries.
In order to solve the manpower problem, Xu Yi had recruited many Stantine Duchy locals to work in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
But with the traditions of the Sines Continent, these locals were citizens of Lord Wein’s territory, so they belonged to Lord Wein.
For the people that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce hired, not only did they have to pay Lord Wein a large amount, they also couldn’t manage them.
This caused Xu Yi to be unwilling to train those people. Those people always did the simple work and he didn’t let them get involved in any of the technical work.
But like this, hiring those workers only brought minimal help to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Xu Yi had once proposed taking some citizens from Lord Wein’s territory and joining his territory, but Lord Wein had decisively rejected him.
There was a small population on the Sines Continent to begin with. To the lords, the people were the most important resource on their territories, so naturally Lord Wein wouldn’t agree to Xu Yi’s request.
But according to the conventions of the Sines Continent, if the people of a n.o.ble’s territory wanted to leave, they just had to pay a certain price and they could leave the lord’s jurisdiction.
“Sir chairman, are you really planning on paying the moving expenses for them?” Sebas looked at the people who were gathered around the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s newest Magic Air Conditioner and he knit his brows.
“Of course.” Xu Yi nodded.
It was different from the look of disdain Sebas had when he looked at them. Xu Yi looked quite interested, like those people who were dressed in rags and looked no different from beggars were treasures.
“Sir chairman, the Stanine Duchy manages this more strictly than our Lampuri Kingdom and Duke Stantine has clearly stipulated that if we really want to do this, it would cost at least a hundred gold coins per person. Moreover, they are from Lord Wein’s territory, so he will definitely request a higher price.” Sebas added.
“So what even if he wants two hundred gold coins?” Xu Yi turned to Sebas with a serious look and said, “If Lord Weing is willing to give the hundreds of thousands of people on his territory to me, I can use all my money to buy them. The problem is that Lord Wein won’t do this, so I’ll buy as many as I can.”
Sebas revealed a bitter smile, “But sir chairman, our company currently has less than two million gold coins in funds, how can you buy so many people?”
“So I said that I’ll buy as many as I can.” Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Not to mention that even if we give Lord Wein gold coins, he might not want them.”
“Sir chairman is right.” Kennard who had just finished talking to those people came over and took over for Xu Yi, “Instead of gold coins, what Lord Wein wants most right now is our military magica machines. I think that when sir chairman negotiated with him, he should have requested this.”
Sebas brows knit even more.
Although he was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s financial manager who was mainly in charge of finances, not caring about production at all, he knew about the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s current production status. He knew what kind of situation the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was facing.
“But if we agree to Lord Wein’s conditions, what will we do about the problem in supplying the other regions?”
“So in order to take care of this situation, we must find a way to solve the production capacity bottleneck of our company. To solve this problem, human resources are the most important thing. We definitely can’t pa.s.s on this good chance.” Xu Yi said with a serious look, “In terms of finances, Sebas, you can prepare the related data. If Lord Wein really wants gold coins, you have to be able to meet his demands. As for the concrete production plan, Kennard, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Understood.” Kennard nodded, “Actually, if it doesn’t work, we can work with the companies on the Black Rice Wasteland and have them make a portion of the components.”
After saying this, Kennard looked at Xu Yi with a questioning gaze.
When the Frestech Chamber of Commerce made those military magic machines, the components had all been monopolized by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. They had never let any other companies interfere with this matter.
Now Kennard was proposing that Xu Yi let those other companies get involved in the making of the military magic machines.
Xu Yi thought for a bit before nodding, “Alright, but choose carefully. Give priority to the small companies that have worked with our Frestech Chamber of Commerce for a long time.”
“I will seriously consider this.” Kennard replied with a serious look.
“Good, we’ll do that then.”
Xu Yi turned to Sebas who after some thought also gave a nod, “Alright, sir chairman. I will prepare the capital for this matter. But sir chairman, the second phase of the Stru Road is about to begin, we must prepare at least five hundred thousand gold coins for that. If we count this in, our company doesn’t have enough capital for this. If we need something else, we might be in trouble and we might not even be able to pay our workers.”
“You don’t need to worry about this.” Xu Yi waved his hand, “I already contacted Newman and the Rudson Kingdom will order a large amount of household magic machines from our company in the next three months. We should be able to make enough capital from the profits of this order.”
“But this is still a bit dangerous……” Sebas muttered as he shook his head.
As the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s financial manager, Sebas had always felt relaxed.
Because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s products had high sales and high profits, so the financial situation had always been good, there hadn’t been any problems before.
But in the past year, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s financial situation has been a bit tense.
This was not to say that there was a crisis because other than the drop in sales from leaving the Lampuri Kingdom, dropping their profits a bit, they had high sales and high profits all other times.
But in a single year, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce has spent too much money.
Especially after they obtained land from Lord Wein. Because Xu Yi had finally obtained land that he could control, he began investing large amounts into this piece of land.
In this territory that was less than twenty five square kilometers, there were actually thirteen roads running all over, connecting every single piece of land that was being used.
After obtaining this territory, Xu Yi had been building up the workers’ living quarters.
When one walked into the living quarters now, they would see all kinds of beautiful buildings.
At the same time, Xu Yi had ordered large amounts of daily living necessities from other companies, making living here very comfortable.
Moreover, because Xu Yi had invited the Night Song Tribe and the Moon Shadow Tribe to cultivate plants on their territory, the entire territory looked very vibrant and beautiful.
Everyone who came to this territory would be shocked by the living conditions that greatly differed from other places.
Even her highness Seveni and her personal guards, after living here for four months, they had been very satisfied and a bit sad to leave.
But to create these living conditions, it cost a lot of money.
Since obtaining this territory, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had invested a total of four million six hundred and eighty thousand gold coins on improving it.
It could be said that most of the profit the Frestech Chamber of Commerce made was used to improve this piece of land.
And that was not all.
In Xu Yi’s plan, there were still many parts of this territory that needed to be improved.
For example, in Xu Yi’s newest plan, he wanted to lay down a set of water systems on this territory.
To complete this system, not only would they need three hundred of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s newly developed Magic Water Pumps, they also needed a large amount of pipes.
Then there was the most important green plant filtration that the Night Song Tribe provided, the expenses were low, but it cost a shocking amount to complete this system.
According to Sebas’ calculations, to complete the water system that Xu Yi wanted, it would cost at least over eight hundred thousand gold coins.
Because they spent a lot of money, when Xu Yi wanted to “buy people” from Lord Wein, Sebas was the one to complain.
“Relax.” Xu Yi understood Sebas’ worries, but as the chairman, he had more things to consider compared to Sebas, “This is for the company to earn more profits, you as the financial manager will feel more confident in the future. As long as we keep this up, you will see the light soon. Moreover…..I have considered many things, but this is to let other people live better lives in the end, right?”
“Un, sir chairman is right.” Kennard said with a smile, “Sebas, you know how these people answered when I asked them why they wanted to move to our territory?”
Sebas and Xu Yi looked at Kennard with interested gazes.
“They told me that they wanted to move to our territory because life was more comfortable here. But what I found funny was that what they considered the most important was the water system that you were just worried about. They said that being able to have the sweet taste of clean water without going out was a good day that even G.o.ds couldn’t have.”
Xu Yi broke out in laughter when he heard this, but Sebas was silent. He looked at those people for a bit before giving a nod.