Chapter 139 Moon Shadow Tribe
“You want to hire beastmen workers?” Chairman Renersa looked at Xu Yi with a frown. He thought for a bit before slowly shaking his head, “Chairman Xu, I have to say, this might not be a good idea.”
Xu Yi had already expected this reaction from chairman Renersa, so he wasn’t that surprised. He just smiled as he asked, “Why?”
“The beastmen, dwarves, and elves are all different. They will not keep their promises like the dwarves and elves, properly doing their work. I have done business with the beastmen on the Black Rice Wasteland for a long time and I’ve realized that beastmen are no different from beasts. They are all savage by nature, they have no law at all. If you hire them as workers, I’m afraid that consequences will be hard to predict.”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “I feel that this isn’t a problem. Even if they are savage as beasts, they can still live with humans after being domesticated and accept human management. No matter how much beastmen are like beasts, they are still an intelligent race. Before coming here, I’ve studied the history of the continent and feel on the contrary that the reason why they are so savage is completely because they don’t have a proper living environment. At the same time, they don’t have any special survival capabilities, so in order to keep living, they have to steal from other races, seeming like savages.”
“You think that as long as you give these beastmen a peaceful living environment, they will be able to live together with humans?” Chairman Renersa shook his head, “Chairman Xu, your ideas are a bit too…..naive. Savageness is the nature of beastmen, just like beasts. Even if they are domesticated, you can’t get rid of their nature.”
“Then I’ll give you an example.” Xu Yi pointed at the Voller Tribe behind the two and asked, “Chairman Renersa, how long have you done business with this wolfmen tribe?”
Chairman Renersa never thought that Xu Yi would bring the topic here. After being surprised, he thought about it and responded, “Around…..twenty years.”
“Then in these twenty years, has the Voller Tribe done anything to humans?” Xu Yi asked.
Chairman Renersa gave a cold snort, “Like he would dare! This tribe is the closest beastmen tribe to Samara Town, so if they dare do anything too excessive, they would have been flattened by the royal army. Even if the royal army doesn’t cause trouble for them, as long as there are no human merchants that don’t do business with them, they can’t survive another day!”
“It’s because everything they need for daily life is provided to them by human merchants, right?”
“Un, not mentioning something like salt which they definitely don’t lack, whether it is oil, vinegar, tea, or even the clothes they wear, it is all provided by us human merchants. Now that the beastmen of their tribe are used to living like humans, to have them go back to eating raw meat and relying on stealing to feed themselves, they definitely wouldn’t be willing.” Chairman Renersa replied.
“Then can they steal what they need?”
“Steal?” Chairman Renersa laughed, “Although there are still beastmen who dare steal from us human merchants on this Black Rice Wasteland, there are fewer and fewer each year. The Beastmen Independence Regiment that we met yesterday is unique. Those beastmen aren’t fools, since they can live better than before just by honestly doing business with us human merchants, why would they risk offending us and going back to their previous wretched lives…..”
After saying this, chairman Renersa suddenly stopped. After looking at Xu Yi for a while, he suddenly revealed a look of understanding.
“I understand. Chairman Xu, you want to say that as long as we provide those beastmen with stable work and let them obtain lives similar to us humans, they wouldn’t be dumb enough to destroy this new life?”
Xu Yi nodded with a smile, “That’s right, this is what I wanted to say. You just said it, the beastmen aren’t fools, they also want a good life. They didn’t have a choice before, so they had to steal from humans to satisfy their needs. But now that their strength is far below humans and they fear retaliation from stealing, don’t you think that they would agree to a good life where they didn’t need to steal?”
Chairman Renersa thought about it before slowly nodding, “I think I understand your meaning. But chairman Xu, there is still a problem you didn’t consider.” 𝐛𝗲𝗱𝐧𝗼𝐯𝗲𝗹．𝐧𝐞𝘁
“Oh?”
“I’ve said it before, the beastmen aren’t strong enough, so they are accepting the option that we’re providing them. But if you let them live a good life and they gradually increase their strength again, I feel that their nature will come out in the end and there will be big trouble.”
“Un, I admit that your worries are reasonable, but why do we need to let them increase their strength?” Xu Yi revealed a smile of deep meaning, “Although after increasing the quality of life for the beastmen, there is the chance of increasing their numbers and that poses a threat to us humans, but there is a very simple method to reduce this threat.”
“What method?” Chairman Renersa asked in a curious voice.
“This method is related to the “labour cards” that chief Voller longs to obtain. As long as it’s like this…..”
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Three days later, Xu Yi left the Voller Tribe and returned to Samara Town, arriving to see Anklo who was here to welcome Xu Yi.
When he saw Xu Yi, Anklo immediately opened his arms and tightly hugged him. He said with a very exaggerated sigh, “Chairman Xu, I really was anxious waiting for you.”
Xu Yi couldn’t help feeling goosebumps come over him.
If this was said from the mouth of a beautiful girl, he might enjoy it very much, but it sounded strange no matter how he heard it coming from the mouth of a bearded middle aged man.
Thinking of how there wasn’t any discrimination against love between men on the Sines Continent, Xu Yi quickly moved out of Anklo’s embrace and said with a forced smile, “Didn’t I come in the end?”
“Yes, chairman Xu is someone who keeps his words and finally came.” Anklo laughed before looking around and saying in a surprised voice, “But chairman Xu, are you coming alone this time? You’re not bringing some assistants with you?”
“Assistants?” Xu Yi thought about it before calling out to his right, “Agnes, come out and greet mister Anklo. When we reach the Stantine Duchy, you might need to contact him, so it’s better to introduce yourself ahead of time.”
In front of Anklo’s surprised look, Agnes appeared out of the void and gave a slight nod to Anklo, “Hello mister Anklo, I am Agnes. I am the chairman’s subordinate.”
Anklo was stunned, but he quickly reacted. He looked over Agnes with a smile and said, “I already heard that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had many elves, but I didn’t have a chance to see them back in Banta City. I never thought that I would see one now. Hello young miss Agnes, since you are chairman Xu’s assistant, perhaps there will be many things I will be asking your help for in the future.”
Xu Yi saw Anklo’s expression and said in a somewhat surprised voice, “Mister Anklo, it’s like you’re not surprised to see an elf?”
Anklo nodded with a faint smile, “That’s right, our Stantine Duchy is different from your Lampuri Kingdom. We frequently see elves appear in the duchy, so I’ve seen the elves quite a few times before, so naturally I wouldn’t be surprised by the appearance of young miss Agnes.”
Xu Yi looked at Agnes in surprise. Agnes immediately understood Xu Yi’s meaning and said with a nod, “The Moon Shadow Tribe is much bigger than our Night Song Tribe. I’ve heard the elder mention that they have over three thousand elves, so they don’t need to hide themselves from humans like us.”
Hearing this explanation, Xu Yi instantly understood.
To put it simply, there was a large difference in strength between the Night Song Tribe and the humans of the Lampuri Kingdom. In order to ensure their safety, the elves of the Night Song Tribe wouldn’t appear in front of Lampuri Kingdom humans.
The Stantine Duchy was a much weaker country and the Moon Shadow Tribe was stronger than the Night Song Tribe, so the Moon Shadow Tribe didn’t have any scruples about appearing in front of the humans of the Stantine Duchy.
“But why haven’t I heard of this before? Before seeing Agnes, almost everyone told me that the elves had almost disappeared from the continent.” Xu Yi said.
“That is because our Stantine Duchy is too weak, so the other countries of the continent don’t care about news from our duchy at all.” Anklo took over the duty of replying with a bitter smile.
Xu Yi nodded. This was also because the communication level was too low on the Sines Continent, so no one cared about the news from the Stantine Duchy.
If this same situation was placed on earth, for a large piece of news like elves appearing, not to mention a normal country like the Stantine Duchy, even if the elves appeared in a barren wasteland or a tropical rainforest, it would be dug out and would spread to every corner of the planet.
But the main thing Xu Yi cared about wasn’t this.
The reason why he didn’t bring anyone, rather having Agnes finish her work with the ten elves on the Black Rice Wasteland to accompany him was because he had heard elder Illusia mention the Moon Shadow Tribe was in the Stantine Duchy.
According to what elder Illusia said, the Moon Shadow Tribe was very likely the largest tribe of elves on the Sines Continent right now.
Since Xu Yi can create a good relationship with the Night Song Tribe in the Lampuri Kingdom, he could use this relationship to create a relationship with the Moon Shadow Tribe and perhaps cooperate with them.
Xu Yi knew almost nothing about the Stantine Duchy and if he could create a relationship with the Moon Shadow Tribe, it would be very helpful to his work in the Stantine Duchy.
Seeing that Xu Yi didn’t ask anything else, Anklo immediately asked Xu Yi, “Chairman Xu, if you are prepared, should we set off?”
Xu Yi looked at Agnes and seeing her nod to confirm that everything was prepared, he said with a smile, “Let’s set off.”
Chapter 140 You will definitely bring changes
Setting off for the Stantine Duchy from Samara Town required them to pass through the Black Rice Wasteland, but they went in the opposite direction of the Voller Tribe.
Although Anklo was very sincere with Xu Yi, he didn’t go overboard, only bringing a few assistants and three carriages.
He thought that Xu Yi would bring some assistants, but he never expected Xu Yi to bring no one other than Agnes as his assistant. So the third carriage was completely empty.
The small motorcade left Samara Town and headed in a southwest direction. After going through fifty kilometers on the Black Rice Wasteland, Xu Yi felt the topography begin to sink and the temperature of the surrounding air begin to rise.
After leaving the barren land of the Black Rice Wasteland and not long after entering a forest, Xu Yi began to feel hot and couldn’t help taking off his thick fur coat.
Seeing Xu Yi’s action, Anklo who was in the same carriage couldn’t help saying, “Chairman Xu, this is your first time in our Stantine Duchy, so you might not be familiar with the climate of our duchy. Actually the climate of our duchy is very different from most countries on the continent. There isn’t a single period of time here that will make people feel cold and although it is winter right now, the temperature is actually a bit higher compared to your Lampuri Kingdom’s spring or fall.”
Xu Yi wiped the sweat off his forehead and gave a nod, “I can feel it. Based on this topography, your Stantine Duchy should be in a valley and since it is close to the ocean, as well as being the most southern part of the continent, it isn’t strange to have this kind of climate.”
Anklo was a bit surprised, “It seems like chairman Xu is very skilled in geography, you truly are wise. No wonder her highness Seveni always praised you when she mentioned you to me.”
“Her highness mentioned me in front of you?” Xu Yi asked in a surprised voice.
Anklo revealed a faint smile, “At first I mentioned you to her highness, but I never thought that mentioning chairman Xu, her highness would suddenly be in a great mood. She kept commending chairman Xu in front of me, she holds you in the highest esteem. It was also her highness’ words that filled me with confidence in finding chairman Xu.”
Seveni’s form appeared in Xu Yi’s mind as he said with a smile, “What if I’m not as good as her highness says, wouldn’t this be a wasted trip?”
“No, I’ve gone to the Lampuri Kingdom many times and have fortunately met her highness quite a few times. This was the first time her highness had praised someone like this. I had already done my own research on chairman Xu and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, but with her highness’ confirmation of chairman Xu, it has only given me more confidence and wouldn’t affect my decision.”
“You really are too polite.” Xu Yi waved his hand. He thought for a bit before saying, “Mister Anklo, actually even at this point, I still can’t think it through, what do you want from me and our Frestech Chamber of Commerce? We are after all just a small company, I’m afraid we can’t do much to change the situation of the Stantine Duchy.”
“Change starts bit by bit.” Anklo said with a serious look, “The Frestech Chamber of Commerce is not the biggest company in the Lampuri Kingdom, but it is the company with the greatest power to bring change. I’ve carefully researched your company and found that the reason why there was such a large change in Banta City and the surrounding cities could be considered as the appearance of your Frestech Chamber of Commerce. So I thought that as long as I invited the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, or rather invited chairman Xu to our Stantine Duchy, there would definitely be some kind of change.”
Seeing the determined look on Anklo’s face, Xu Yi said with a bitter smile, “Mister Anklo, although I do have confidence in bringing some changes to the Stantine Duchy, you saying this really puts pressure on me.”
Anklo revealed a faint smile, “Chairman Xu, could it be that you’re someone who is afraid of pressure?”
Xu Yi gave a shrug, “Alright, I’m not that afraid and even hope there is pressure because I always believed that pressure is a form of drive. Un….Since there is pressure, then we should discuss how to change this pressure into drive. Mister Anklo, I want to ask something first. What is the road situation around the three mines that the Stantine Duchy wants to sell me like?”
Anklo replied without hesitation, “There are roads connecting the two iron mines and as for the copper mine, because no one cared about it before, there isn’t a road connecting it right now.”
“There’s no road at all?” Xu Yi couldn’t help knitting his brows.
Actually, of the two iron mines and the copper mine the Stantine Duchy was planning to sell to him, Xu Yi felt the copper mine was more important.
Now that there was success with developing the generator, the next step would be to create larger generators and then popularize the use of electricity.
To popularize electricity, there was a large demand for copper.
He couldn’t get enough copper in the Lampuri Kingdom for now and there weren’t any large copper veins in the mine near the Voller Tribe, so Xu Yi could only put his hopes into the Stantine Duchy’s copper mines.
If the road conditions around this copper mine were too lacking, it would greatly affect his plan.
Seeing the expression on Xu Yi’s face, Anklo quickly said, “Chairman Xu, be assured. Although there isn’t a road connected to the copper mine right now, our Stantine Duchy is covered in plains and the area around the copper mine is very flat, so it won’t affect the mining process too much.”
“Un…..It would be best if it was like this. As long as a road can be built, everything can be discussed.” Xu Yi said with a nod.
“Speaking of building roads…..” Anklo hesitated a bit before asking, “Chairman Xu, are you planning on building roads in our duchy?”
Xu Yi was surprised, “Isn’t building roads something your duchy should do? Why are you asking me?”
The smile on Anklo’s face became a bit awkward, “This…..Actually the cost of building roads is too high and our duchy can’t afford it.”
Xu Yi looked at Anklo in disbelief, “Even building a hundred kilometer road only costs three hundred thousand gold coins, why can’t you afford that?”
The smile on Anklo’s face became even more awkward, “Actually…..Perhaps chairman Xu will laugh at this, but our duchy’s income last year was less than two hundred thousand gold coins…..”
Xu Yi was speechless.
Although he knew that the Stantine Duchy was weak from the various sources of information he obtained, Xu Yi never would have thought that it would be this weak.
A duchy didn’t even have a yearly income of two hundred thousand gold coins! It couldn’t even compare to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s half month of profits!
No wonder Anklo, this trusted subordinate of Duke Stantine and an important character of the Stantine Duchy was this friendly and even submissive when he was facing Xu Yi.
On earth, this would be called money is power.
The Stantine Duchy was this poor, so Anklo naturally couldn’t have an attitude in front of Xu Yi.
Seeing the awkward smile on Anklo’s face, Xu Yi couldn’t help thinking of those officials in rural areas meeting potential investors that were interested in developing the area.
Perhaps to Anklo, Xu Yi was a god of wealth that he had worked hard to invite. Of course he would do everything he could to have Xu Yi invest, so he was as polite and friendly as possible.
But thinking about it, even the Lampuri Kingdom that was stronger than the Stantine Duchy only had a yearly income of two million gold coins. For the Stantine Duchy to have an income of two hundred thousand gold coins, that was actually already quite good…..
Xu Yi gave a sigh in his heart. His expression didn’t change on the surface as he said with a nod, “Alright, when we reach the mountains, I will consider if there is a need to build roads. After all, just a normal road connecting the mines will be of great help to us when we mine the vein.”
Hearing Xu Yi’s relaxed tone, Anklo’s expression froze for a second before he quickly nodded with a smile, “As long as chairman Xu needs something, everything can be discussed.”
Xu Yi looked at Anklo. So if I take out enough money, your Stantine Duchy would sell the entire duchy to me?
The horse carriage left the Black Rice Wasteland and entered the territory of the Stantine Duchy.
With the gradual increase in temperature, the scenery around them quickly changed.
In the beginning, the roads were surrounded by all kinds of plants that would be found all over the Lampuri Kingdom. As they continued forward, the plants gradually changed into tropical plants that could only be found in tropical climates.
Xu Yi had transmigrated onto the Sines Continent for five years now, so he knew that there were many different things about the Sines Continent and earth, but there were also many similarities.
For example, when it came to plants. There were many plants on the Sines Continent that Xu Yi had never heard about on earth, but there were many plants on earth that the Sines Continent also had.
For example, as Xu Yi looked at the trees on the sides of the horse carriages, he would find banana trees, mango trees, and pineapple trees…..
All the way in the distance, he could even see some tall coconut trees.
Xu Yi watched for a while before he couldn’t help pointing at the plants and asking Anklo, “Your Stantine Duchy has this many precious resources, why is your income so low?”
“Precious resources?” Anklo asked back in a stunned voice, “What precious resources?”
“These aren’t previous? Not mentioning anything else, if you sell the fruits of these trees to other places, you can earn quite a bit of money.”
“You’re talking about those fruits?” Anklo looked at the fruits Xu Yi was pointing at before revealing a bitter smile, “Chairman Xu, we know that people of other countries like these fruits, but the problem is…..how do we transport them?”
Seeing Anklo spread his hands with a helpless look, Xu Yi was stunned, but he quickly reacted.
The Sines Continent wasn’t earth, there wasn’t the strong transport ability of sending something in just a day or two to sell.
Although these tropical fruits were very good, with the current transport capabilities of the Sines Continent, not mentioning further places, the fruits would all rot on the road just transporting them to the nearby Lampuri Kingdom.
Xu Yi saying that the Stantine Duchy was wasting their treasures was actually a bit unreasonable.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi calmed down. He thought for a bit before saying to Anklo, “If I had a method to transport these fresh fruits, what would you think?”
Anklo’s eyes immediately lit up and he slapped his leg as he shouted in a joyful voice, “Look! Chairman Xu, this is what I was talking about! You will definitely bring changes to our Stantine Duchy!”