Chapter 179 One last matter before leaving
Xu Yi and Still stayed at the Falling Rain Valley for a full week before leaving.
Compared to when they came, they had much more companions when they left.
Other than the three elf girls from the Moon Shadow Tribe and Agnes who was going back to work, there was an extra male and female elf from the Night Song Tribe.
These two elves were chosen by elder Illusia, she was planning on having them be managers of the plastic processing factory the Night Song Tribe was opening.
The male elf was called Amelud, in charge of internal affairs and the female elf was called Delil, in charge of negotiating with others on behalf of the factory.
Elder Illusia had the two of them follow Xu Yi to Banta City was other than to represent the Night Song Tribe, it was also to hand in the application to the Lampuri Kingdom for starting a factory. It was also to learn how to manage a factory and a company with Xu Yi’s help.
With Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s current standing in Banta City, he could easily find them an opportunity to learn.
The other ones that needed Xu Yi’s help were the three elf girls from the Moon Shadow Tribe.
They wanted to work for companies other than the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, which wasn’t really that difficult for Xu Yi.
After the Armani Chamber of Commerce hired those five elves, it created quite a stir in Banta City and the surrounding cities.
That was because the elves only worked for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce before. No matter how much the other companies offered the elves, the elves didn’t even spare them a glance, so the other companies had already given up.
But now the elves had joined a company other than the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, igniting their hopes again. They all contacted Xu Yi, hoping that they could also hire elves.
Not mentioning anything else, with just the high publicity elves had, it was enough for them to give the elves a high salary.
So if Xu Yi had released the fact that there were three elves that wanted to join another company, all the companies in Banta City and the surrounding cities would charge forth.
For Xu Yi, what he needed to consider wasn’t what company to choose, rather what kind of work was suited for the three girl elves.
Still was their representative and agent, so she had asked them this question before, but since they didn’t understand human work, it was hard to determine.
So after Xu Yi and Still brought them to Banta City, they first planned on letting them do a bit of work before deciding.
But thinking about how they had spent four months to inspect the Night Song Tribe, Xu Yi couldn’t help revealing a bitter smile.
The Night Song Tribe was a small tribe of around a thousand elves. It’s this simple, yet they had spent four months to understand it. If they were to work in human society that was more complicated, wouldn’t they need to spend a year or two before getting a basic understanding?
Thinking of this, Xu Yi couldn’t asking Agnes who was riding in his horse carriage, “Agnes, what did Stasia and the others do in the Night Song Tribe over these months? I don’t believe that they needed four months to understand how your tribe cooperates with our company, that is too exaggerated.”
Agnes tilted her head to think, “They didn’t do anything, they just lived with us. Chairman, is four months a very long time?”
“What do you think?” Xu Yi snappily asked back.
Agnes thought about it before saying with a look of understanding, “Oh, right, four months is very long for humans. With this much time, I could have made several new designs with Vivian.”
“Look, don’t you know that time is very precious?” Xu Yi said in a happy voice.
Agnes was the elf who had followed him the longest and under his unceasing influence, she was already gradually getting used to considering problems from the mindset of a human.
Perhaps it was because elder Illusia had seen this encouraging change from Agnes that she suddenly decided to take this step.
“But it was because the elder wanted them to stay in the tribe a bit longer.” Agnes guessed, “Although the elder didn’t tell me, I’ve noticed the elder talking to them frequently. She was asking them about the Moon Shadow Tribe, I think the elder wants to understand the Moon Shadow Tribe from talking to them.”
“There is this possibility, but I think that elder Illusia doesn’t just want to understand the Moon Shadow Tribe…..”
Xu Yi thought of how elder Illusia had included rubber processing when setting up the plastic processing plant, which confirmed his guess.
The Lampuri Kingdom didn’t have any rubber trees, but there were quite a few in the Stantine Duchy.
The Moon Shadow Tribe was the only elf tribe in the Stantine Duchy. Elder Illusia wanted to deepen their relationship with the Moon Shadow Tribe, it was very likely she wanted to cooperate with the Moon Shadow Tribe in producing processed rubber.
Of course, elder Illusia’s main goal wasn’t just to cooperate, rather her true goal was to deepen the relationship between the two tribes.
The elves of the Sines Continent were spread all over and with how elves rarely left the region they lived in, elves of different tribes rarely contacted each other, even though they were the same race.
Now that there was this chance, elder Illusia naturally wouldn’t give it up.
While talking to Agnes about her impressions of Stasia and the Moon Shadow Tribe, the carriage smoothly went from the Falling Rain Valley back to Banta City.
After entering Banta City, Xu Yi and Still acted separately.
Still brought the three Moon Shadow Tribe elf girls and the two Night Song Tribe elves to Sandton Manor, while also preparing a place for them to live.
Xu Yi and Agnes headed to the City Lord’s Manor together.
It was already the middle of June and according to the time Count Sean had disclosed to him, it was close to the day he left Banta City. 𝘣𝑒𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘤𝑜𝑚
After Xu Yi entered the City Lord’s Manor, he saw the signs of the servants packing up their luggage.
When he saw Count Sean, Count Sean didn’t evade him and directly said, “Three days, that is when Count Stagg will come to Banta City and I’ll hand things over. So, Xu Yi, you only have three days left. If you need anything, quickly tell me within the next three days.”
Xu Yi shook his head, “Lord City Lord, you’ve already helped me and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce enough, you should take care of your matters during these three days. Please be assured, Count Stagg becoming the City Lord doesn’t mean doomsday is coming, right? Although there will be many problems, I have already made enough preparations, so I think it will not affect the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s development.”
“It’s good that you’re confident.” Count Sean gave Xu Yi a rare pat on the shoulder, openly displaying his appreciation of Xu Yi, “The Frestech Chamber of Commerce has you at its helm, I’m certain that it will always develop smoothly. Of course, if there are any troubles, I hope that you can discuss it with her highness. The main reason I supported you was actually because her highness supported you.”
“I understand.” Xu Yi nodded. He hesitated a bit before asking, “Lord City Lord, her highness…..has her situation become better?”
Count Sean gave a soft laugh, “You know that caring for her highness is a good thing, but I suggest you don’t care about this for now. Since I will be leaving soon, I’ll be direct with you. Xu Yi, although you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce have enormous prospects, her highness and I both have favorable views of you, right now you are just too weak and can’t participate in this matter. Since her highness and I both regard you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s potential as important, naturally you just need to steadily develop and not destroy yourself halfway. Do you understand what I mean?”
Xu Yi gave a slow nod, “Yes, last time her highness explained this to me. I just…..am a bit unwilling.”
“What unwilling.” Count Sean said with a serious look, “Remember, you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce being able to develop is her highness and mine’s true wish. You don’t need to care about other things right now!”
Xu Yi gave a long sigh as he nodded with a helpless bitter smile, “Alright, I’ll remember it. Right, Lord City Lord, let’s not discuss these unpleasant things, rather let’s discuss business. According to the time, today is when the people major MacConley promised me would arrive, are they on time?”
“Come with me.”
Xu Yi followed Count Sean to the back of the City Lord’s Manor.
After passing the corner, he heard all kinds of shouts, that seemed to be at least several hundred people.
Xu Yi asked in a surprised voice, “Could it be they’re training in the City Lord’s Manor?”
Count Sean laughed, “Actually they arrived yesterday, but it wasn’t convenient to keep them in the city guard barracks, there wasn’t a suitable place for them and you weren’t here to take care of them, so I put them here for now.”
Xu Yi touched his nose in embarrassment and explained, “I thought that they would only arrive on the day of the agreement. Moreover, I had something come up in the past few days, so I couldn’t come back ahead of time.”
Count Sean shook his head, “No need to explain, handing these people safely to you is the last thing I can do for you in Banta City, so it isn’t much.”
Xu Yi’s heart filled with warmth. He gave a slight nod, but he didn’t say anything as he followed Count Sean, arriving at a small field behind the City Lord’s Manor.
There was a group of strong men in the field being led in training by Hart. Their movements seemed to be quite uniform, which seemed shocking.
When Xu Yi looked over them, he counted them silently before being surprised.
“Why are there so many people?”
Chapter 180 Five hundred elites
When Xu Yi had discussed this with major MacConley, he hoped that he could find three hundred veterans for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to establish a guard group.
But the guards being led by Hart, it wasn’t just three hundred no matter how he counted them.
“No need to count, there’s a total of five hundred of them and I can guarantee that they were all elites before retiring.” Count Sean said with a faint smile.
Xu Yi looked at the training men with a confused gaze before asking Count Sean, “Why?”
“You don’t understand? Actually, it was her highness’ idea. She specially contacted major MacConley to have him exceed the quota of your request. So major MacConley not only helped you find an extra two hundred people, he specially chose elites. It isn’t exaggerated to say that if these five hundred soldiers didn’t retire and formed a battalion, with just a bit of training, they could match any brigade within any army.”
Count Sean actually looked at Xu Yi with a bit of envy. It was unknown if he was envious of the five hundred elites that Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce obtained, or if he was envious of the special care her highness Seveni gave Xu Yi.
According to the organization of the royal army, a brigade was made of three battalions, for a total of one thousand and five hundred people.
Count Sean said that these five hundred people just needed some training and they could match a brigade, which was enough to show that these five hundred people really were elites.
Although Xu Yi was grateful for Seveni’s special care, he was also doubtful.
Since these five hundred were elites in the army, how could the army suddenly be willing to give them to him?
If had to be known, when Xu Yi made the request to major MacConley, he just wanted three hundred retired soldiers to be guards for his company and he didn’t expect much.
In his opinion, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn’t have the background of an old company, so they would start from nothing when creating a guard group and slowly build up strength.
So his idea was just to create a foundation, just obtaining the first batch to act as manpower.
He never would have thought that major MacConley would actually get him not only an important instructor from the northern army, he would actually give him five hundred elite veterans.
Even with the special care of her highness Seveni, this wasn’t too likely.
With Seveni’s special care, perhaps major MacConley could choose a few based on his loyalty to the royal family, but he wouldn’t give him five hundred.
“Stop guessing. Major MacConley gave you these five hundred elites, other than her highness Seveni’s special care, the most important reason was that his highness gave his order.” Count Sean saw the doubt in Xu Yi’s eyes and explained it to him.
Xu Yi finally understood.
If the king personally spoke up on this matter, it wasn’t impossible to achieve this effect.
“Of course, even with his majesty speaking up, major MacConley could give you those five hundred elites because no other faction of the army headquarters said anything.” Count Sea looked at Xu Yi and clicked his tongue twice before shaking his head, “Do you know, for the royal army that is filled with factions, it is an incredible thing for them to agree on a single matter? No matter how small a matter was before, the royal army would be filled with fighting and it was very hard to come to a decision.”
“Why did this happen?” Xu Yi couldn’t understand, “Although our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is cooperating with the army headquarters, the army headquarters has given me favours. For them to not have any objections…..isn’t it a bit strange? Like the people who oppose her highness Seveni, there should be people who don’t like our Frestech Chamber of Commerce in the army headquarters, right?”
“You can treat it as compensation for the Magic Trebuchet technology.” Count Sean replied before turning to Hart training the five hundred elites, speaking in a soft voice with a sigh, “Recently there has been all kinds of victory reports from the north and after the army headquarters analyzed it, they confirmed that this sudden turn in the north was mainly because they started cooperating with you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Not discussing the massive firepower of the Magic Trebuchets, just the first batch of gear your Frestech Chamber of Commerce produced was very helpful.”
“Oh? I know a bit from Viscount Leslie’s letter, but he didn’t go into the details. Just how useful has it been?” Xu Yi asked.
“I’m not clear on the specifics since I’m not someone from the army, so I don’t have intelligence networks for that. If you want to know, you can ask her highness.” Count Sean continued, “But I know that the reason why the army headquarters didn’t have any objections this time is because of your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s help in increasing their battle strength. With soldiers, their primary goal was winning. Being able to win with the help of your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, it isn’t anything to give you a trivial five hundred elites.”
“Is that so?” Xu Yi gave a cold laugh, “If they care that much, then they wouldn’t force me to hand over the Magic Trebuchet technology if they had the skills.”
Count Sean revealed a faint smile. He patted Xu Yi’s shoulder and said in a gentle voice, “Although I understand the anger in your heart, I need to advise you that with your current strength, it isn’t good to resist the army headquarters. Being able to receive the recognition of the important people at the army headquarters and making them re-evaluate the importance of their cooperation with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, that is already a victory for you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, as for the Magic Trebuchet……”
Count Sean suddenly lowered his voice and said with a bit of mysteriousness, “According to the information I’ve obtained, the army headquarters might send someone to discuss the matter of the Magic Trebuchet with you, you need to prepare your heart.”
“Un?” Xu Yi was surprised, but after thinking about it, he felt that this should be good news.
The army headquarters had forced Xu Yi to hand over the Magic Trebuchet technology and although he wasn’t willing, he couldn’t fight the army headquarters.
It was like Count Sean said, with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s current strength, they couldn’t resist at all.
If he didn’t choose to hand it over, there wouldn’t have been these five hundred elites.
Moreover, the army headquarters was coming to discuss the Magic Trebuchet with Xu Yi…..
Xu Yi gave a cold laugh in his heart as his eyes filled with a trace of disdain.
Those fellows at the army headquarters, did they really think that if he handed over the Magic Trebuchet technology, they could handle it?
They never would have thought that while Xu Yi was handing over the technology, he had already created a large hole for them to jump into.
Now that they were coming to talk to Xu Yi, this was them jumping into that hole.
The following might not be up to them at all.
These thoughts passed in the blink of an eye and Xu Yi’s face returned to his gentle smile, as he said with a nod, “Alright, I will await the people from the army headquarters. But before they come, I still have to welcome the new soldiers for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
Xu Yi wanted to greet Hart and the five hundred elites, but once Xu Yi appeared, those five hundred veterans didn’t seem that friendly at first and there were some people who revealed hostility and disdain in their eyes.
Before they were sent here, they were informed of their goal in coming here.
Actually they were elites in the army and almost half of them were still in active service. Not only were they the main forces for their units, they didn’t have any thoughts of retiring.
However, the army headquarters had forced them to retire and gathered them together, sending them here and telling them that they would become the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guards.
As for this Frestech Chamber of Commerce, although these soldiers had heard about them, their understanding wasn’t better than normal people’s.
Because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had forced them to retire, they didn’t have good feelings towards the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Moreover, in the eyes of these army elites, a normal company’s guards wasn’t worth anything.
Now they were running to become guards of a company, this was simply shaming them.
So of course they wouldn’t be friendly towards Xu Yi and even revealed hostility.
However, when Xu Yi finished his welcoming speech and began announcing the various benefits that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards would receive, the hostility and disdain in those people’s eyes were replaced by looks of shock and disbelief. There was also a feeling of pleasant surprise that washed over them.
According to the conditions Xu Yi announced, after they became guards for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they would be first level guards in the beginning and receive the benefits of a first level guard.
According to the rules of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, a first level guard would receive a wage of fifteen gold coins per month.
Just this was enough to cause the eyes of the five hundred elites to all light up.
Even if they were elites of the Lampuri Kingdom’s army, the Lampuri Kingdom was poor, so the army headquarters was naturally poor as well. They couldn’t even provide every soldier with a set of armour and weapons, so naturally there was no need to mention their salaries.
According to the rules of the army headquarters, each soldier received a set subsidy each year. Normal soldiers received around twenty gold coins per year and because they were elites with greater merits, they received over thirty gold coins per year.
But it was rare for those subsidies to be paid and these five hundred people were completely poor.
Moreover, even if they received it, it was only thirty gold coins per year. A first level guard for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would receive fifteen gold coins per month, which was a hundred and eighty gold coins per year!
Good god, not a single person of these five hundred people had seen a hundred and eighty gold coins before!
Just by hearing this basic salary, it made the hostility in the hearts of these people towards the Frestech Chamber of Commerce disappear.
Moreover, when they heard Xu Yi announce their benefits, it filled their hearts with an excitement that they couldn’t control.
According to what Xu Yi said, other than receiving their basic salary, first level guards would also receive some basic benefits.
For example, they would receive a set amount of rice, flour, condiments, and other daily necessities each month. Moreover, whenever holidays came, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would provide additional benefits.
These things perhaps seemed normal, but they were very beneficial items. It easily grabbed the hearts of these soldiers who came from normal families.
Other than these benefits and the salary, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards also received some insurance.
For example, if a guard was injured or even killed while working for the company, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would pay them compensation.
If they were injured, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would pay for their medical fees and would pay their salary while they were injured.
If they were crippled or killed, they would receive massive compensation.
They heard Xu Yi promise that if a guard was killed while on a task for the company, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would pay their designated recipient with a thousand gold coins. This instantly gave many people the idea of selling their lives to Xu Yi.
If it wasn’t for their family’s being poor, a normal person wouldn’t choose to enter the army.
So although these five hundred people were elites, their families had their troubles.
Because of how poor the royal army was, they could only support themselves and couldn’t change their family situations at all.
For them, not only had they never seen a thousand gold coins, it was an amount they had never dreamed of before.
If someone offered a thousand gold coins to buy their lives, they would have been killed countless times on the battlefield. These elite soldiers who were indifferent to death would be very happy.
Even at that moment, there were many people who secretly had the idea of immediately dying in the line of duty after joining the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guards.
If their families could receive a thousand gold coins as compensation, that would be worth it!
However, when they heard what Xu Yi said afterwards, this idea instantly disappeared.
This was because according to what Xu Yi said, their guard levels could increase based on their time in service and their merits during missions.
The higher level guards would receive a higher salary and better insurance.
A first level guard would receive a thousand gold coins for dying in the line of duty.
A second level guard would receive a thousand and five hundred gold coins.
A third level guard would receive two thousand gold coins.
But if they became a third level guard, who would be silly enough to seek their own death?
A third level guard had a monthly salary of thirty gold coins!
Not to mention that if they worked for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for twenty years, they could receive different jobs in the company and receive a retirement pension after they turned sixty!
This kind of life, for those soldiers who had lived a hard life, it was simply like heaven!
Count Sean saw that the hostility that these soldiers had towards Xu Yi at first gradually turned into fanaticism and he couldn’t help revealing a helpless bitter smile.
He was worried how Xu Yi would take care of these unruly soldiers, but he never thought that Xu Yi would easily take care of this.
Xu Yi had used a very direct method, one that Count Sean never even thought of and one that he couldn’t believe.
It was smashing them with money…...