Volume 1 Chapter 59 Freeing up production forces
“Fifty gold coins! That much!” Freeman stood up and his limbs started trembling out of excitement.
Although he already guessed that the prizes would be quite good, he never thought that it would be a high prize of receiving fifty gold coins at once!
For a poor family like his, if they had fifty gold coins, this meant that he could immediately escape his poor living conditions.
Not only could he fix several places in his roof that were leaking, he could even change the entire set of furniture in his house. Other than that, he could buy two new dresses for his wife and even buy several toys for his children that they had long fantasized about……
Xu Yi saw Freeman’s fluctuating expression and didn’t say anything to cut him off.
Based on what Alex told him and the clothes Freeman was wearing, he could guess that this man’s family background was a difficult one.
Fifty gold coins was naturally nothing for the current Xu Yi, but it was a very important thing for Freeman.
When Xu Yi had just transmigrated to the Sines Continent, because he wasn’t familiar with the people and the land, he had almost starved to death.
If someone were to suddenly give him fifty gold coins back then, his excitement wouldn’t have been less than that of Freeman’s.
After a while, Freeman slowly regained his cool. He looked at Xu Yi and swallowed a mouthful of saliva with great difficulty as he slowly asked, “Chair…..Sir chairman, is this true? You wouldn’t be lying to me, right? Can I really receive a prize of fifty gold coins?”
Xu Yi gave a very certain nod, “Of course it’s true. I think that since you are someone from Banta City, you should be familiar with our Frestech Chamber of Commerce. You think that I would throw away the prestige of our company for fifty gold coins?”
“No, no, no, of course not, of course not!” Freeman quickly waved his hand, “Sir chairman, don’t misunderstand. It’s just that for a while…..For a while, I didn’t dare believe it, it isn’t that I’m doubting you.”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “I understand. Then Freeman, have you decided to pick this prize?”
“I’ve decided……” Freeman had just finished half his words when he suddenly stopped, “Wait…..Wait a minute. Sir chairman, you said that there were two prizes that I could choose from, can I ask what the other prize is?”
Seeing Freeman’s eyes light up, Xu Yi couldn’t help revealing a smile. He thought that although this Freeman looked like an honest person, he wasn’t dumb.
“Of course you can, but I don’t think the second prize will excite you as much. This is because the second price is not as real as gold coins, rather it is giving you a chance.”
“Chance?” Freeman scratched his head and looked at Xu Yi with a confused gaze, “Sir chairman, this…..What does this mean?”
“Freeman, I’ve heard that you came from Ireland Village to sell your wheat. You should have seen the wheat fields around Banta City, right?” Xu Yi asked back.
“Wheat fields?” Freeman tilted his head to think before nodding, “Un, I saw quite a few on the way here. Speaking of this, sir chairman, it seems like the harvest near Banta City happened quite early. In the fields I saw, the wheat stalks had already been burnt for a long time.”
Xu Yi nodded with a faint smile, “It’s good that you could notice this point. But if I told you that Banta City’s harvest had already harvested ten days ago, what would you think?”
“How is that possible!” After Freeman was in a daze for a bit, he forcefully shook his head, “It had just ripened ten days ago, how could it have been harvested in just a day or two? Sir chairman, a great person like you might not understand some things in farming. You don’t know that the harvest is very troublesome, even I had to spend a whole week to finish the couple of mus of land that I have.”
Xu Yi reached out his right finger and shook it, “No, I understand very well. Moreover, when the wheat fields outside Banta City were harvested, our Frestech Chamber of Commerce had partic.i.p.ated.”
Freeman looked at Xu Yi with a strange gaze, “Sir chairman, I remember that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce sells Magic Fans, so how could it help with the harvest?”
“This is because we don’t just sell Magic Fans, we also sell small Magic Harvesters.” Xu Yi laughed as he took a picture from Alex’s hands and opened it in front of Freeman, “It’s this.”
Freeman looked over.
What was drawn was a small harvester moving through the fields, but it was different from the scene Freeman was used to of several men in the field with blades. What was drawn was a large man pushing something strange through the fields.
This strange thing had a large opening that swallowed the grains and then there was a small mouth at the end that kept spitting out wheat grains.
Freeman looked at it for a while before asking with a frown, “Sir chairman, is this thing real? How could harvesting the wheat be this simple?”
“It’s just this simple.” Xu Yi gave the picture to Freeman before honestly saying, “Now, Freeman, we should return to the main point. The second prize you can choose from is an opportunity and this opportunity is related to this small Magic Harvester, as well as the Small Magic Plowing Machine that we will be releasing soon……”
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“Why?” Viscount Leslie slightly knit his brows as he looked down to read some doc.u.ments Xu Yi gave him, “You should know that even with fall harvest over, as long as you continue to make small Magic Harvesters, the n.o.bles in Banta City will s.n.a.t.c.h them up. As for the small Magic Plowing Machine, there are a group of people who submitted orders to you for a long time now. With these two very hot magic machines and the total price of one hundred and twenty gold coins, you actually want to give it to commoners for free who don’t have any relationship to you at all? Xu Yi, just what are you thinking?”
Xu Yi looked up and revealed a relaxed smile to Viscount Leslie before shaking his head, “It’s not give, it’s lend, this can’t be mistaken.”
Viscount Leslie gave a soft snort, “Lend? Not taking a bit of money and lending it to someone, what difference is there from giving?”
“Of course there’s a difference.” Xu Yi looked at Viscount Leslie’s face and felt that Viscount Leslie treated this issue very seriously. After thinking about it, he gave him a good explanation, “Lord Viscount, this is actually a part of the farmer support plan that I’ve developed. As for this farmer support plan, Sebas and I have discussed this before and I think he should have reported to you already.”
“He has indeed mentioned this before, but it was only a thought that you had and there wasn’t a solid plan at all. Why did you suddenly decide to do this? Giving…..Alright, boring the small Magic Harvester and the small Magic Plowing Machine to the farmers, how will it help the plan?”
“It’s very helpful.” Xu Yi was very clear that Viscount Leslie was a very insightful person. If he wanted to convince him, he couldn’t use ambiguous language, “Lord Viscount, before explaining the specifics, I want to ask you a few questions.”
Hearing what Xu Yi, Viscount Leslie immediately knew that Xu Yi had been thinking about this matter for a long time and his heart relaxed. He relaxed in his body and leaned back in his chair, waving his hand at Xu Yi to continue after composing himself.
“Ask.”
“Alright. The first question, Lord Viscount, where do you think the small Magic Harvester and small Magic Plowing Machine are used in?”
“Is there a need to ask this? Of course it’s on the farm.”
“Then the second question, limiting it to the area around Banta City, what proportion of farmland do you and the n.o.bles own inside the area of Banta City?”
“This…..I remember there was a count last year and it was around 30%.” Viscount Leslie thought before replying.
“Very good. Since you and the n.o.bles own 30%, what about the remaining 70%? Whose hands are it in?” Xu Yi then asked.
“Nonsense, if it doesn’t belong to us n.o.bles, of course it belongs to the royal family. The farmland in the hands of us n.o.bles was granted to us by the royal family.”
“That is not quite correct.” Xu Yi shook his head, “Although theoretically speaking, all the land in the kingdom belongs to the royal family, it is impossible for the royal family to have enough manpower and effort to open up all this farmland. Therefore, the farmland is actually given to the normal farmers of the kingdom. In theory, they are farmland owned by the royal family, but actually they are controlled by the peasants.”
Viscount Leslie considered this a bit before slowly nodding, “It’s correct if you want to say it like this, but how is this related to what you are talking about?”
“It’s very closely related.” Xu Yi continued in his certain voice, “Lord Viscount, currently the small Magic Harvesters sold by our Frestech Chamber of Commerce has been sold to the n.o.bles represented by you, but not a single one has gone to the peasants. This means that on the 30% of the farmland controlled by you n.o.bles, it can enjoy the convenience of the small Magic Harvester, but those peasants still have to rely on pure arduous hand harvesting to complete their harvest.”
Viscount Leslie knit his brows, “What? You’re planning to blame the fact that those peasants can’t afford the small Magic Harvester on us n.o.bles?”
“There is no meaning in blaming someone.” Xu Yi waved his hand, “I’m just stating a fact. The facts in front of us are that just using Banta City as an example, only the 30% farmland owned by you n.o.bles can be quickly harvested and that is not the case with the other 70% farmland. What I want to do is help those farmers also enjoy the benefits of this quick harvest.”
“So you directly gave the small Magic Harvester and the small Magic Plowing Machine to that farmer named Freeman?” Viscount Leslie was still confused, “But Xu Yi, what use does just giving one machine do? Based on the area Banta City covers, I think it won’t be enough even if you give out a hundred, right? Then again, is there any benefits to you in this matter? Are there any benefits to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce?”
“Lord Viscount, I want to remind you that it is not giving and it is lending. Although you can’t see any income now, I can dare to guarantee that our company will earn a large revenue just based on this service, please believe me.” Xu Yi said with a faint smile, “Other than this, this matter is of great importance to me alone and it will bring great benefits to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
Viscount Leslie shook his head in confusion, “I can’t see any benefits.”
Xu Yi laughed as his expression became a bit strange.
“Lord Viscount, have you heard of a phrase before? It is called freeing up production forces?”