Volume 7 Chapter 148 Want more things
At least in the two to three months after the two empires signed the ceasefire treaty, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn’t do anything.
Although since the end of the war, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had been restoring their major operations in each region that had been seriously damaged because of the war, these things in the minds of most people were considered trivial. It couldn’t be considered that important at all.
No one believed that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would take such a large risk, going to war with the two empires and then obtaining victory just to return to the state that they had been in before.
However, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce really didn’t do anything. They just restored their operations bit by bit as per their plan.
But people could easily see that the footholds the Frestech Chamber of Commerce were restoring were in much more important positions compared to before.
Not to mention the small countries, even in the Candra Empire and the Marlow Empire, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce received more preferential treatment from the local officials. There were many times where they were treated even better than the local companies of the two empires.
This was naturally the benefit the Frestech Chamber of Commerce received from the war, but to many people, this was far from being enough.
Look, the Lampuri Kingdom and the Drake Duchy received all that precious land and had already stabilized their situation.
Although the Rudson Kingdom didn’t obtain that much land, they had integrated the territory of the Norton Duchy into their fold. They also received reparations of over two hundred million gold coins from the Candra Empire, as well as other benefits that couldn’t be estimated.
Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was only a company and shouldn’t be looking for territory, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was without a doubt the leader of this war. Whether it was the Lampuri Kingdom, the Drake Duchy, or the Rudson Kingdom, the main reason they could fight the two empires was because of the support of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Since it was like this, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce should receive the most benefits.
So many people were doubtful about the Frestech Chamber of Commerce not doing anything during this time because it didn’t make sense.
“Is it really that hard to understand?” Xu Yi gave a shrug and revealed a relaxed smile, “For our company, letting everything return to normal is the biggest benefit. Look, because of this war, our company invested a total of three hundred million gold coins. This isn’t even adding in the serious losses that we suffered during the two years of the war, which would add up to at least two hundred million gold coins. So letting everything go back to normal is the biggest benefit to us.”
Seveni slightly knitted her brows to look at Xu Yi for a while before shaking her head with a sigh.
“I believe that this is the truth for you, but Xu Yi, this isn’t what everyone in your company wants. So if you say that your company really isn’t planning to benefit from this at all, not even a single finger of mine would believe you.”
“It’s fine if you don’t believe me, could it be that you want me to explain it one by one?” Xu Yi smiled and decided to put aside this topic, “If you want to talk about benefits, on the surface, most people believe that your Lampuri Kingdom was the one that benefited the most from this. As the queen of the Lampuri Kingdom, what do you think?”
Seveni revealed a bitter smile, “Alright, stop taunting me. It’s not like you don’t know how busy I am. I already had to do everything I could just to free up time to see you today.”
“Then does that mean I’m disturbing you?” Xu Yi gave a laugh. He acted like he was about to leave, but Seveni stopped him after a few steps.
“Stop joking.” Seveni reprimanded, “You should be clear what I am here to discuss.”
Seeing that Seveni couldn’t hide the exhaustion on her face, Xu Yi gave a sigh before saying with a nod, “Alright, let’s stop joking. Seveni, you should be worried about how to digest the large territory from the Sack Kingdom and the Falk Kingdom, right?”
“More accurately, it should be how to digest all the people that lived in those territories.” Seveni deeply knitted her brows, “Although obtaining all this territory is a good thing, even making countless people in the kingdom think of me as the greatest queen in history, those people don’t know how hard it is to really make those people living on those lands become part of our Lampuri Kingdom.”
“I don’t think it’s that difficult.” Xu Yi said with a relaxed smile, “To be honest, in the countless countries of the Sines Continent that I’ve inspected, I’ve found that all countries have something in common. It is that whichever country it is, the citizens don’t have any sense of belonging or loyalty to the country.”
Seveni blinked before looking at Xu Yi with a confused look.
“Isn’t that natural? Are you just discovering that now?”
Xu Yi’s expression froze.
He thought that this was a profound insight that had come from many years of observation, but he never thought that Seveni would address it as “natural”.
“Hey, as a queen, you think that your citizens not having any loyalty towards you is natural?”
“Of course. The citizens only give loyalty to the n.o.bles that own the land they live on, as for the country…..There’s no meaning in showing loyalty to the country, so why would they do this?”
Xu Yi then understood that Seveni had treated “loyalty” as “being loyal to their territory” which was what was common on the Sines Continent.
But to speak of this, Seveni wasn’t wrong.
Perhaps it was because of this tradition on the Sines Continent that caused the people of the continent to not have any loyalty towards their country.
When Xu Yi had studied the history of the Sines Continent, he found that in the three thousand years the humans ruled over the continent, there were countless countries that had changed history, causing countless wars, but there wasn’t a single battle where the commoners were the protagonists.
Strictly speaking, the rise and fall of nations on the Sines Continent was unrelated to the normal citizens. It was just a game between the n.o.bles.
If it continued like this, how could the citizens have a sense of belonging and loyalty towards their country?
But there were also benefits to this. It was when a country seized the territory of another country, they didn’t need to spend that much time to make them change their minds, to make them a part of the new country.
“So isn’t this very simple? As long as you can let the new citizens live a good and prosperous life, with each person having enough food to eat and clothes to wear, I think the citizens wouldn’t cause that much trouble for you.” Xu Yi said with an indifferent look.
“You make it sound so simple.” Seveni glared at Xu Yi, “Not mentioning anything else, it’s already hard just to let everyone eat their fill, alright?”
“Is it that hard?” Xu Yi was a bit confused, “Just take out the experience of promoting the agricultural magic machines that you have and promote it here as well. Those things were spread across the Sack Kingdom and the Falk Kingdom before, so it wouldn’t change after your Lampuri Kingdom takes over.”
“That’s the problem.” Seveni shook her head, “There was only your Frestech Chamber of Commerce selling agricultural magic machines to the Sack Kingdom and the Falk Kingdom before, they had to take what you sold them. Even if the agricultural magic machines you sold were a grade lower than our Lampuri Kingdom’s and were a bit older, there was no problem. They couldn’t complain and even if they could, it would still go to your Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
“After they’ve become the Lampuri Kingdom’s citizens, they want to obtain similar treatment as your Lampuri Kingdom citizens and want the same grade of agricultural magic machines?” Xu Yi asked.
“That is just one part. Other than the agricultural magic machines, the people of the new territory want the fertilizer, the agricultural magic machine preferential treatment, as well as maintenance, and all the other benefits……” Seveni spread her hand, “I want to agree to these things, but I can’t make that decision and they don’t believe that I can make that decision.”
Seeing the helpless look on Seveni’s face, Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling.
“So you want something from me that can let you make that decision?”
“Yes.” Seveni openly gave a nod in response to this.
After knowing Xu Yi for this long, she was clear on how to talk to Xu Yi.
There were many times that being direct was what Xu Yi liked.
“Un……then what do you want specifically?” Xu Yi asked.
Seveni turned around to pick up a doc.u.ment that she had already prepared from the desk behind her to give to Xu Yi.
“It’s all written here.”
Xu Yi took the doc.u.ment and after casually taking a few looks, his mouth opened in surprise.
“He, Seveni, your appet.i.te isn’t small, you want to take away all these things at once? Not mentioning anything else, you actually want the production magic machine technology. You should know that our company hasn’t transferred this technology before.”
“It hasn’t been transferred before, that doesn’t mean you won’t transfer it.” Seveni said with a serious look, “Xu Yi, your ideal is to let the magic machine industry cover the entire continent, so your Frestech Chamber of Commerce can’t keep this production magic machine technology forever. Otherwise, the other countries will always only be able to make the most simple household magic machines and this can’t be considered developing the magic machine industry. So other than household magic machine technology, you have to transfer the technology sooner or later.”
“Your words are very reasonable.” Xu Yi nodded with a faint smile, “But why do you think that I will choose the Lampuri Kingdom as the first ones to transfer this technology to?”
“Would you believe it if I said that it was because of the good relationship I have with you?” Seveni asked with a smile.
Xu Yi shook his head with a smile, “You aren’t a fool like this.”
“So what I am relying on is the magic machine industry foundation that the Lampuri Kingdom already has, as well as the relevant experience with crafting magic machines that is deeper than any other countries, along with years of cooperating with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce. How about it? Is that enough?”
Xu Yi looked at the doc.u.ment in his hand and looked at Seveni’s sincere expression before revealing a faint smile.
“It seems like there will be a new page in the Sines Continent’s history of the magic machine industry.”