Volume 3 Chapter 147 Give them a taste of the sweetness
As deep winter approached, Sowell City became colder with each day.
This morning, the sky was already filled with snowflakes and each piece was like cotton that slammed against each other. In just a single morning, the entirety of Sowell City was completely covered in snow.
From the window of the City Lord Manor, other than seeing the snow, there were the black stone walls that became even more prominent. It was like seeing large scars in this world of white.
“Count Sean, I have to say, the colour of the houses in Sowell City doesn’t look good. It’s very clear after it snows.” Princess Caroline looked out the window and shook her head as she said this to Count Sean with a sigh.
Count Sean looked at Xu Yi on the side before laughing, “Your highness, don’t you think that black houses give people a warm feeling? Your Drake Duchy is even further north, so you should be able to easily understand this.”
“No, the houses in our Drake Duchy are all red. Compared to this dark black colour, I feel that a flame red colour gives a better warm feeling during winter.” Princess Caroline shook her head, “More importantly, doesn’t red look better than black?”
Count Sean shook his head, deciding not to continue arguing this with Princess Caroline.
Many years of life experience told him that when discussing with a woman, especially when it came to aesthetics, it would mean asking for trouble and it wasn’t worth it.
Xu Yi on the side continued with a smile, “In theory, the colour should affect your mood to a certain degree. But compared to making someone feel warm on the inside, directly making someone feel warm from the outside is much more effective, don’t you think?”
Princess Caroline’s beautiful eyes turned and she revealed a faint smile. She sat down beside Xu Yi without any courtesy and asked Xu Yi in a gentle voice, “Then chairman Xu, have you considered setting up a household magic machine workshop in our Drake Duchy like I proposed? If we can directly produce Magic Air Conditioners in our duchy, I think that it won’t matter what the colour of the houses our people have.”
Xu Yi gave a cough and leaned away from Princess Caroline’s pa.s.sionate gaze before replying, “I have also said before, it isn’t a problem to invest in a factory in your Drake Duchy, but how can your Drake Duchy ensure that our company’s factory won’t be threatened by the Sack Kingdom?”
Princess Caroline gave a soft snort, “Sowell City is only less than a hundred kilometers away from the Sack Kingdom border, why aren’t you worried about the factory here being threatened by the Sack Kingdom? Moreover, if my information isn’t wrong, wasn’t your motorcade ambushed on the way to Sowell City? I don’t think that the Lampuri Kingdom is much safer than our Drake Duchy.”
Xu Yi and Count Sean looked at each other. This information was something that even Princess Caroline knew, so anyone in the Lampuri Kingdom who cared would immediately know of this.
“Your highness, I don’t agree.” Count Sean said, “Right now Sowell City not only has eight thousand well equipped guards, his majesty has also sent the third army out. Our Sowell City has over thirty thousand soldiers, so there is more than enough to protect Sowell City.”
Princess Caroline looked at Count Sean. She thought for a bit before clapping her hand, “Alright, I was just joking. Indeed, chairman Xu might have some worries about investing in our duchy right now. Then you don’t need to worry about our cooperation here, right?”
Xu Yi couldn’t help revealing a smile. It seems like Princess Caroline’s bargaining just now was all for putting up a factory in Sowell City with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Of course, Xu Yi was planning the same, so he didn’t refute it. He just said with a nod, “Of course there’s no problem, but your highness, if you want to invest in a magic machine factory with our company and want to partic.i.p.ate in magic machine research, I can’t agree to this. Construction magic machine technology isn’t being distributed by our company right now, we will not cooperate with anyone on this.”
“Stingy…..” Caroline rolled her eyes at Xu Yi as she revealed a charming look, “Not letting me join in development is fine, but chairman Xu, I’ve mentioned it before, our duchy needs construction magic machines. I think that we can cooperate on a magic machine workshop and although we won’t partic.i.p.ate in the development, the magic machines should be developed to our needs. There isn’t any problem, right?”
“We can, but you have to remember we’re just following your needs for the development and it isn’t decided by you. Do you understand what I mean?” Xu Yi said with a serious look.
“Of course.” Seeing Xu Yi agree, Princess Caroline’s smile was like a flower blooming. She came near Xu Yi and took his arm, as she teased him, “You are a man, naturally you want to be in control.”
Feeling the soft touch from his arm, Xu Yi gave a bitter laugh. He shook his head and stood up before saying to Count Sean, “Lord City Lord, it’s time, let’s go.”
Count Sean also stood up, “Alright, let’s just send those things to the factory, that way it’ll save us another trip to the city.”
Xu Yi turned to Princess Caroline. He thought that she would definitely follow, but he never thought that she would shake her head with a smile.
“You go. I have to seriously consider the cooperation for a magic machine factory.”
Xu Yi nodded and put on a large coat like Count Sean before walking out of the City Lord Manor.
Count Sean’s personal luxurious horse carriage took the two out of the City Lord Manor and headed towards Sowell City’s south gate.
“Xu Yi, are you really planning to cooperate with the Drake Duchy on a magic machine factory?” Count Sean looked at the City Lord Manor behind them before asking Xu Yi with knit brows, “Even if you refuse the Drake Duchy’s partic.i.p.ation in the research, since the magic machines are being developed according to their specifications, there must be a part of the technology that would be leaked.”
“I understand.” Xu Yi nodded, “Actually, I did this deliberately.”
“Oh? What did you consider? Tell me about it.” Count Sean asked in a curious voice.
Xu Yi was silent for a bit before asking back, “Lord City Lord, you should know that compared to the Drake Kingdom, the Sack Kingdom has a greater threat to our Lampuri Kingdom, right?”
“Of course, the Drake Duchy is a small duchy, it’s impossible for them to be any real threat to our Lampuri Kingdom.” Count Sean said with a nod.
“Then Lord Count, do you think…..if we win over the Drake Duchy, it would be a threat to the Sack Kingdom?”
Count Sean narrowed his eyes and after thinking for a bit, he nodded, “I understand what you mean. If the Drake Duchy could come to our side, it would be of great help to our Lampuri Kingdom. But have you thought that the Drake Duchy could survive between us and the Sack Kingdom for so long because they stayed back and let us fight? If they really choose a side, what might await them is destruction. Do you think that they would do this?”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “No matter how small a country is, it won’t give up on becoming more powerful, so Princess Caroline hopes that I can give the magic machines, especially the military magic machines to the Sack Kingdom. Of course I wouldn’t agree to these conditions, but letting them have a taste of the sweetness isn’t a problem. After they had a taste, it might not be up to them to make the decision.”
Count Sean looked at Xu Yi in surprise for a bit before shaking his head and giving a sigh, “There are times I really don’t know how to appraise you. You are an idiot when it comes to politics, but you are keen when it comes to certain things. But are you really certain about this?”
“I’ll need the Lord City Lord to pay attention to this.” Xu Yi said with a smile, “If nothing unexpected happens, I’ll be leaving here in three days and heading back to Banta City. I can’t come here frequently in the future, so I’ll have to watch from afar. As for the specifics, I’ll have to ask the Lord City Lord to take care of it.”
Count Sean nodded, “This is my responsibility as the City Lord.”
The horse carriage went out the south gate and continued for around twenty minutes. There was snow that covered the road in front, but a motorcade of Magic Cars slowly approached.
Compared to the motorcade that Xu Yi had led, these Magic Cars were much bigger and there were fifty transport Magic Cars!
The car that was in front stopped and the first one to jump out was actually the Fersen Carriage Company’s chairman Pompeii.
Xu Yi was a bit surprised as he jumped out of the horse carriage and came over.
“Chairman Pompeii, why did you personally deliver this batch of cargo?”
Chairman Pompeii’s face was red from the wind and he was trembling. When he saw Xu Yi, he immediately complained, “Chairman Xu, I never thought of this before, but this time I’ve found that in your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s Magic Cars, can’t you install a Magic Air Conditioner? This won’t cost much, right? Moreover, it’s very practical. If there was one, it wouldn’t even be a problem for me to pay an extra hundred gold coins for a Magic Car!”
Xu Yi laughed. The parts of the Magic Car need to be installed part by part, how could it be rushed. Moreover, it had to have a scaling price, of course he couldn’t just get everything.
Of course there was no need to tell chairman Pompeii. Xu Yi just nodded with a smile, “Alright, I’ll tell the development center after this and let them consider this problem. It’s been hard on you this trip, but chairman Pompeii, why did you come personally?”
“Isn’t it to see the Lord Count?” Chairman Pompeii laughed as he came down and bowed to Count Sean, “Lord Count, look, our Fersen Carriage Company brought so much cargo all the way from Banta City. What do you think about our transporting ability?”
Count Sean nodded and praised, “Very outstanding. I think that in the entire Lampuri Kingdom, other than your Fersen Carriage Company, there’s no other company that can transport this large amount of cargo in this weather.”
Chairman Pompeii had a smile bloom on his face.
“Then Lord Count, do you think our Fersen Carriage Company is qualified to take the Sowell City’s transport business?”
Xu Yi and Count Sean looked at each other before revealing wide smiles.
This chairman Pompeii, in order to widen the scope of business for the Fersen Carriage Company, he really went all out.