Volume 5 Chapter 96 Exchanging with people
It wasn’t just Russell who was complaining that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was dark hearted. In the Lampuri Kingdom that was three thousand kilometers away from where he was talking to Leslie, there were countless people also scolding the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
A week after her majesty Seveni’s child was born, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce suddenly announced that to celebrate the birth of her majesty’s child, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would be announcing a new type of important technology for the people of the Lampuri Kingdom, treating it as a celebration gift for her majesty.
This news created a stir in the Lampuri Kingdom and also attracted the close attention of the other countries.
Everyone knew that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had technology that far surpa.s.sed the other companies when it came to magic machines, so they had the absolute superiority when it came to this domain.
The other companies could invest time and money into development to catch up, but how could their own research compare to how easy it is to receive mature technology from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce?
If it wasn’t for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce taking the initiative to transfer the household magic machine technology to them, in the magic machine business, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would have everything and they would only be able to drink the soup.
So when the Frestech Chamber of Commerce announced they would be releasing important technology, it attracted everyone’s attention.
And the Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn’t disappoint people. At the Banta City press conference, the technology the Frestech Chamber of Commerce announced was at a level that surpa.s.sed everyone’s expectations.
This technology was actually steel making technology!
There were many kinds of magic machines, as little as the Magic Lamp to the giant Magic Ships and whether it was their function or performance, they were all different.
But no matter what kind of magic machine it was, they all used one important material which was steel.
Before the appearance of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there was no steel on the Sines Continent, only iron.
Iron smelting was a technology that had been on the Sines Continent for several thousand years now and the best at this were the dwarves.
But before this, the items made from iron were mainly used for simple daily life things. They weren’t too complicated and the requests weren’t that high.
The only high requirement was when it was used to build weapons and armours.
Although there were some powerful smiths who had a high level of blacksmithing skills, before the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there wasn’t anyone who smelted iron on such a large scale, having such diverse and strict requirements for when refining iron.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce even defined the iron refined as steel products and had even distinguished them based on their properties and uses.
If this was before, iron smelting was just a demonstration of a single person’s skill. After the appearance of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, iron smelting…..Oh, no, it was now called steel smelting had become a business that had fine requirements and scales that were countless times bigger than before.
After the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s first steel factory came out, it had beaten all the large and small blacksmiths in Banta City.
Then when the second, the third, and now the sixth steel factory came out, producing over a million tons of steel each month, it was a large hit to all the blacksmiths in the Lampuri Kingdom.
Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn’t have the idea to take their business, this didn’t hinder the other companies from doing this.
The normal blacksmiths mainly worked with simply iron tools and occasionally crafted weapons and armours, but with the appearance of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they had turned making weapons and armours into production line work. Whether it was their efficiency or the quality of the weapons and armours they made, they were all better than the blacksmiths and had taken their business.
Next, the other companies quickly found a business idea. They ordered some production magic machines from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce before ordering some materials from them, making normal iron tools like shovels and hoes with steel, gradually crushing normal blacksmiths.
In the Lampuri Kingdom, other than some very remote small towns, there wasn’t a single blacksmith left.
The dwarves that had the best skills had all been taken by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, becoming their workers.
The reason for this was very simple, the key to steel making was still with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s steel was far better than the iron made in blacksmiths, with all kinds of different properties which allowed it to meet various needs.
The most popular of this were the alloys with stainless steel qualities.
Other that being largely used in household magic machines, these stainless steel alloys were being used in common tools, so there was a large demand.
The six steel mills under the Frestech Chamber of Commerce produced a million tons of steel a month, but that wasn’t enough to meet the needs.
Actually, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s production capacity was limited in large part because of their restricted steel output.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce never had enough steel for themselves to use, so the supply that they could take out for other companies naturally wasn’t much.
So the limited steel output of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce affected not just them, but also all the magic machine companies and even companies that had nothing to do with magic machines, but still used steel.
So the Frestech Chamber of Commerce being willing to release this was met with the enthusiasm of everyone.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce was finally willing to release the steel smelting technology only they held, this meant that everyone could refine their own steel products. They didn’t have to beg the Frestech Chamber of Commerce like they were begging their grandparents anymore, right?
Of course, everyone knew that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce being willing to release this important technology meant that the price they would have to pay would definitely be high.
But when the Frestech Chamber of Commerce revealed the price for this technology, everyone was speechless from shock.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn’t want money or mineral resources this time, they wanted people!
They didn’t just want normal people, they wanted slaves!
This meant, do you want the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s steel making technology? No problem, exchange some slaves.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce had strict rates for these slaves. They had to be older than sixteen and under forty and they had to be slaves that were completely healthy without any defects. If they weren’t in this range, they would be considered half a slave.
But the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had a rule that was even more shocking. If people were willing to hand over a complete family of slaves, they would increase the value.
No one understood the intentions of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, but from their pricing, everyone felt that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was quite evil.
d.a.m.n, just for the technology of the C803 alloy, it took a thousand slaves!
It had to be known, a healthy adult slave could be sold on the slave market for at least fifty gold coins. A thousand slaves had a total value of over fifty thousand gold coins!
This high price was just to exchange for the refining technology of a single alloy.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce currently had seventy eight types of alloys that they had announced!
Even if each type had the same price, it was a total of over four million gold coins!
And if they exchanged with slaves, it would require close to eighty thousand slaves!
Not to mention that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce wasn’t limiting this transfer to one company. If many people needed this steel refining technology, they would all need to pay eighty thousand slaves.
Everyone was questioning why the Frestech Chamber of Commerce made this condition while questioning another matter.
Xu Yi had just pa.s.sed the slave abolition act in the Stantine Duchy.
Now that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce were taking in all these slaves, would they free them and make them citizens after bringing them back to the Stantine Duchy?
These slaves in theory wouldn’t belong to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce anymore. The Frestech Chamber of Commerce would be treating them as citizens and if they worked at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they would have to pay them.
This seemed like the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was taking an unnecessary step.
The only result of this was helping the slaves become free, what benefits were there for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce?
It can’t be that chairman Xu was really like those newspapers said, he treated himself like a saint?
Of course, no matter what doubts people had about the actions of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, them transferring the steel refining technology was a fact.
Without much time wasted, countless people immediately moved.
Just the second day after the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s press conference, the «Banta Times» was filled with related transactions.
There was a lord from the northeast province who used three thousand six hundred and fifty three slaves under him to obtain the refining technology for three alloys from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
In the following half a month, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce made six more deals and received a total of fifteen thousand and three hundred slaves.
Adding in the first deal, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had obtained close to twenty thousand slaves in this half a month.
Everyone’s eyes were on these slaves. They wanted to see how the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would deal with them and if Xu Yi would free them like the saint they thought he was.
However, when each newspaper reported on these slaves, they only said that they were all sent to the Black Rice Wasteland. Finally they were sent out the Black Rice Harbour to the west and put onto a large transport Magic Ship.
The transport Magic Ship disappeared into the endless seas and those slaves had disappeared without a mark, not leaving a single trace.