Chapter 43 The people behind Rem
Everyone under the stage was stunned.
Although most people here have some business experience and didn’t think that five thousand gold coins was a large amount.
But this number not being big only applied to a large company like the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. To the Ireland Chamber of Commerce that was a small company made of several farmers, this was a number that they never dared to imagine before.
“Chairman Freeman, if I may ask something, how much does your company gain from the five thousand each month?” A reporter under the stage asked.
“How much?” Freeman scratched his head and gave a simple laugh, “I’m not too clear on this, but I heard Kovac say that last month, we’ve earned from chairman Xu…..around five hundred gold coins.”
“Only five hundred gold coins……” Everyone under the stage let out a sigh of relief.
If this Ireland Chamber of Commerce that just suddenly appeared had a high profit margin, casually earning several thousand gold coins each month, that would be too shocking.
But it’s just five hundred gold coins, this was not something that they couldn’t accept.
“Then chairman Freeman, how many people are currently in your company?” The reporter asked a follow up question.
“Including me…..a total of six people.” Freeman said.
“Six people?” Everyone thought about it before being surprised.
Based on what Freeman said, the Ireland Chamber of Commerce earned over five hundred gold coins each month and they only had six people in their company, so averaging it between them, that was close to a hundred gold coins per person!
Although from the angle of a company, this income was a bit small and wasn’t considered much, from the angle of an individual, this income could be considered a high income in Banta City.
And based on Freeman’s replies, they were all just normal farmers from Ireland Village. They would focus on farming all year before and their income would be less than a hundred gold coins, but now they could earn that much in a single month. This was simply an explosion in income.
Thinking of this, many people under the stage couldn’t help looking at Freeman with gazes of envy or unwillingness.
These fellows were just normal farmers, but they could earn close to a hundred gold coins a month from just producing screw bolts. Why can’t we do the same?
Seeing the gazes everyone had, Xu Yi couldn’t help revealing a faint smile.
Actually Freeman was telling the truth, but he didn’t describe the exact situation.
Actually, the Ireland Chamber of Commerce weren’t just producing screw bolts for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Because the large companies of Banta City had been rushing to make Magic Fans in the past two months, there was a large demand for screw bolts.
According to what Freeman had told Xu Yi before, they had made over two million screw bolts of different specifications just last month.
Even if each screw bolt only earned them several copper coins each, with this large amount as a foundation, the Ireland Chamber of Commerce had earned over a thousand gold coins last month! 𝘣𝘦𝑑𝘯𝘰𝘷𝑒𝘭．𝑛𝘦𝘵
If it was evenly divided between Freeman’s group of six, that was close to around two hundred gold coins each!
But just revealing less than half of that was enough to move the hearts of everyone under the stage.
It seemed like the effects of Freeman appearing this time was better than he imagined.
This was very helpful in promoting the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s small company support plan.
“Chairman Xu, can you tell us some concrete details on how the small company support plan will be implemented?”
As expected, some reporters jumped over Freeman and began to question Xu Yi.
Xu Yi revealed a smile and took back the stage Freeman offered him. He looked over the excited crowd and said in a clear voice, “The exact details are like this. Our Frestech Chamber of Commerce will first review the small companies applying to participate……”
After a full hour, the product announcement finally ended.
When they left the announcement site, whether it was the lively citizens of Banta City or the reporters that came here looking for news, they all had excited looks in their eyes.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce really was the company that made novel things like magic machines, even the plans that they had were this novel.
The farmer support plan from before had surprised everybody, but the facts had proved that this farmer support plan had brought great benefits to the normal farmers of Banta City.
Now that they had begun this small company support plan, there was no doubt it would bring large changes to Banta City.
If it was like everything Xu Yi had said, then Banta City would undergo some earth shaking changes.
Thinking of all the new things and changes that had happened in Banta City because of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, or accurately speaking, brought by Xu Yi, everyone couldn’t help praising Xu Yi in their hearts.
But Xu Yi after finishing this product announcement didn’t have time to enjoy everyone’s praises at all.
Once the product announcement was over, there was a group of people who rushed him, wanting to ask him questions about the small company support plan. There were also many people who wanted to participate in their small company support plan, hoping that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would support them.
There were just too many people and Xu Yi found it hard to deal with them.
“It seems like I need to find a spokesperson sooner or later.” A helpless thought passed through Xu Yi’s mind. He suddenly saw someone walking into the product announcement conference hall, so he raised his hand and loudly said, “Everyone, don’t worry. As for the details of the small company support plan, we will be publishing it in the ?Banta Times? over the next few days, while also making a public announcement at our Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s service center. Other than this, the Lord City Lord has also shown his support, so the Lord City Lord will also be making an announcement in the market square on some details. We ask everyone to look out for this.”
Hearing what Xu Yi said, the people surrounding him calmed down.
There were some reporters that wanted to keep asking Xu Yi questions, but they saw him push through the crowd and arrive at the side of the person who just came in.
Those reporters recognized this person as the current editor in chief of the ?Banta Times? Nakhi, so they tactfully backed down.
Whether it was the reporters of Banta City or the surrounding city, they were clear that chairman Xu and the founder of the ?Banta Times?, Baron Hannas had a close relationship, so the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the ?Banta Times? had a close relationship.
Most of the news on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was reported in the ?Banta Times? before the other newspapers received the news.
Now that Xu Yi was meeting Nakhi, it was clear that they were prepared to release some special news in the ?Banta Times?.
Under the jealous gaze of the reporters, Nakhi came towards Xu Yi, but his expression wasn’t happy at all, rather it was very serious. He moved closer to Xu Yi and said in a low voice, “Big brother Xu, we’ve found that person.”
Xu Yi’s face sunk a bit before his smile came back. He patted Nakhi’s shoulder and pointed towards a room inside the conference hall, “Come, let’s go in and talk.”
When the two walked in, Xu Yi was silent for a bit before asking Nakhi, “Where did you find him? Did Rem go see him again?”
“Un, according to the reports of my brothers, Rem went to see that person yesterday morning. The two of them stayed in the room for half an hour before Rem left.” Nakhi said with a nod.
Xu Yi gave a cold snort as a bit of rage flashed on his face before he asked, “Where is that person right now?”
“After meeting Rem, he left Banta City. I’ve already had some brothers follow him and based on their reports, that person should be heading in the direction of Saltan City.”
“Saltan City?” Xu Yi slightly knit his brows, “It can’t be that fellow who isn’t willing to give up, right?”
After thinking for a bit, Xu Yi shook his head. His face regained its calm as he said to Nakhi with a smile, “Alright, Nakhi, it’s been hard on you and your brothers. You are the editor in chief of ?Banta Times?, for me to have you do something like this, it really is a waste of your talents.”
“What is big brother Xu saying?” Nakhi said in surprise, “If it wasn’t for big brother Xu’s help, then the ?Banta Times? wouldn’t exist. My brothers and I would definitely be bored all day in our homes, how could we be doing such interesting things? We really have to thank you for this, helping you do things is what we should do.”
After saying this, Nakhi mysteriously looked around before approaching Xu Yi and saying in a low voice, “Big brother Xu, actually I feel that there’s no need for all this trouble. Since you are certain it’s that brat, how about we just catch him and have someone teach him a lesson? I don’t believe that he won’t tell us everything.”
“I say, you are the editor in chief of the ?Banta Times?, you are still considered an important person in Banta City. How could you like using brute force to solve problems this much?” Xu Yi teased with a smile. He shook his head and said, “Although the method you said is rather simple and effective, the main problem doesn’t lie with him right now, rather the people behind him.”
Nakhi thought about it before nodding, “That’s right, if we don’t catch the people behind him, there will be the same problems in the future.”
Xu Yi gave a sigh. This trouble wasn’t just this little bit, even if they solved the problem this time, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would meet all kinds of problems in the future.
Of course, this was something that had to be met on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s path of growth, it can’t be avoided even if they wanted to.
Moreover, it was only a small problem now, but as the Frestech Chamber of Commerce became bigger, their problems would also become bigger and bigger.
Xu Yi strangely thought of a phrase from ?The Song of the Stormy Petrel?.
Come! Let the tempest come strike harder!
Chapter 44 Small company’s potential
The tempest indeed came to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
But this tempest did not bring trouble, rather a bunch of Banta City residents who wanted to become rich overnight.
After the product announcement, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s small company support plan was reported in the newspaper of several cities. Adding in the fact that the City Lord’s Manor had created a bulletin in the market square, in just a few days, the entirety of Banta City knew about this.
After learning that the farmers of Ireland Village could earn over a hundred gold coins a month from participating in this plan, the people of Banta City instantly became wild.
In a single night, there were countless companies with strange names that appeared in Banta City. Then all these small companies that had suddenly appeared all tried to participate in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s small company support plan.
In just a short three days, there were over a thousand companies that had submitted applications.
Although the majority of them were from new companies that had just been formed in the past few days, there were also some that came from small companies that had long existed in Banta City.
With this large amount of applications, the City Lord’s Manor’s officials sent by Count Sean to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had been worked harder than dogs. They worked from morning to night each day, only getting less than five hours of sleep each day.
It was a good thing that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had already set a list of standards for this plan. They could eliminate any companies that didn’t meet these standards, which saved them quite a bit of time.
The most basic standard was that for companies applying to this small company support plan, they had to have basic proof of funds.
The lower limit of this was temporarily set by Xu Yi at two hundred gold coins.
Just with this, they had cut down half of the thousand companies that applied.
Adding in the other conditions, the companies that had passed the verification for this small company support plan were only over two hundred companies.
However when these two hundred companies learned that while they were a part of this small company support plan, but couldn’t make magic machines like the Magic Fan, the Magic Rice Cooker, or the Magic Bread Maker, rather they had to make components for these magic machines, over half of these companies chose to withdraw from participating.
In the end, the ones that decided to stay in the small company support plan were only eighty seven companies.
“Xu Yi, when you said that you would let Freeman’s group make the screw bolt, I didn’t feel it was that much since the screw bolt isn’t that important. But now that you’re telling me that you want to leave the components to these small companies to make…..Hey, are you planning to get rid of our household magic machine workshop?”
As Xu Yi’s prestige in the company grew, the people who dared to talk to Xu Yi like this in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was only Heinz.
It wasn’t his set day of the month to be back in Banta City yet, but after he saw the report on the small company support plan in the ?Karma Times?, he couldn’t help rushing back.
It was for no other reason than to question Xu Yi face to face.
“Who says that I want to disband the household magic machine workshop?” Xu Yi looked at him in surprise, “I say, did you specially run back today just for this?”
Heinz pointed at the representatives of the eighty seven small companies being led around the household magic machine workshop by Ankhto and angrily said, “Is it not? This workshop is only in charge of producing and assembling those components, but now you want to give the work of producing components to these small companies I’ve never even heard of. What use is there in keeping this workshop? Do we just spend all day assembling those components?”
“Wait a minute…...Heinz, I feel that there’s a problem with your logic.” Xu Yi said with knit brows, “Even if I give the work of producing components to these small companies, why does that mean that the workshop would have nothing to do?”
“Nonsense! These things should be done by the workers of our household magic machine workshop, so if you give them to others, of course there’s nothing for our workers to do!” Heinz angrily said.
“Who said that…...Oh, I understand.” Xu Yi patted his head before reaching out to grab Heinz’s shoulders as he said with a laugh, “It’s my fault for not telling you clearly. Un…..How to put it, let me just put it clearly for you first. Even if the eighty seven small companies join the component production business, it will not affect the work of our company. I am very certain about this, so you don’t need to worry.”
Although Heinz was angry, he knew that Xu Yi wouldn’t joke about this with him in this situation, so he couldn’t help asking in a confused voice, “What is going on here? Speak clearly.”
“It’s like this. Look, first, you used to be the person in charge of this workshop, so I think you should be very clear that the work capacity of this household magic machine workshop has already reached a bottleneck. The reason for this bottleneck is that our speed in producing components can never match our assembling speed, right?” Xu Yi asked.
Heinz thought about it before nodding, “It is like that, but I adjusted the proportion of workers before I left, so it should be consistent. Could it be that after I left, that kid Ankhto randomly changed things?”
“Not that, Ankhto’s work is very outstanding, you don’t need to worry about that. But if you think about it, even if you adjust the proportion of workers and increase the overall efficiency, this is only a kind of compromise, isn’t it?” Xu Yi asked.
“Then what do you think? You’ve said it before, the speed of producing components can’t compare to the speed of assembling them, so we can’t just recruit a group of people that are just in charge of producing components, right? We don’t have that big of a place right now, unless……” Heinz was suddenly stunned. He thought about it before strangely looking at Xu Yi, “Hey, could it be that you want to use these small companies to replace the need for us to hire workers and find a new place?”
Xu Yi nodded with a full smile, “That’s right, you finally understood.”
Heinz looked at the small company representatives in the distance and his mind quickly turned. After a while, he knit his brows again.
“This still isn’t right. Although by having them make components, it could save us quite a bit of manpower and space, since they are producing and we are buying it from them, they have to earn a profit still. Like this, wouldn’t our profits decrease?”
Xu Yi laughed, “Heinz, let me ask you a question. How much did a number three screw bolt cost us before?”
Heinz was stunned as he looked at Xu Yi, “How do I know this, you should ask that fellow Sebas.”
“I’ve asked, so I know. Let me tell you, for a number three screw bolt, if we were to produce it ourselves, Sebas has calculated the cost to be around twenty five to thirty copper coins.” Xu Yi said.
“Isn’t this wrong? A number three screw bolt is that small and it only uses a bit of iron, so how could it cost around twenty five to thirty copper coins?” Heinz asked in a confused voice.
“Iron is just material cost, but calculating the real cost, we need to add in the manpower cost, the cost for consumption of using the Magic Thread Rolling Machine, as well as various other costs. There are many things that need to be calculated in the end.” Xu Yi explained.
“Un…..alright. Even if there are that many, how is this related to what I just ask for you to suddenly ask this?” Heinz asked.
“Of course it’s related. Now you know that if we make a number three screw bolt ourselves, it cost around twenty five to thirty copper coins. But do you know how much it costs for us to buy a number three screw bolt from the Ireland Chamber of Commerce?” Xu Yi asked back.
“I really don’t pay attention to this. But they also want to earn money, so a number three screw bolt should…..cost around thirty five gold coins. If it’s more, you definitely wouldn’t agree to it.”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile and shook his head, “You’re wrong. For us to buy a single number three screw bolt from the Ireland Chamber of Commerce, it costs us twenty three copper coins.”
“How is this possible!” Heinz immediately refuted it in a shocked voice, “Could it be that they don’t want to earn money?”
“No, it’s the opposite, they can still earn money. According to my estimates, they can earn around five copper coins from a screw bolt they sell to us at twenty three copper coins.” Xu Yi said.
“Then how is that possible!” Heinz was simply shocked this time, “It takes us twenty five to thirty copper coins to make a single number three screw bolt, so why can they do it for less than twenty copper coins? Could it be that they do it better than us?”
Seeing Heinz’s agitated state, Xu Yi knew that it hurt Heinz’s pride as the manager of the household magic machine workshop. He patted his shoulder and said, “It isn’t related to you. Rather it’s that our Frestech Chamber of Commerce has good worker benefits, so our manpower costs are a bit higher. As for the Ireland Chamber of Commerce, they are their own bosses while also being their own employees, so they can neglect manpower costs. So naturally their costs are lower than ours.”
“Then what about the quality of their screw bolts? If it can’t compare to the ones we make ourselves, I’m still against you doing this.” Heinz said in an unwilling to submit tone.
“It’s a pity, but the quality of the screw bolts they make is a bit better than ours……” Xu Yi said as he helplessly spread his hands.
“Ah? It can’t be? Why is that?” Heinz’s face was covered in disbelief.
“It’s very simple, it’s because they are specialized.” Xu Yi gave a shrug before a look of praise appeared in his eyes, “When I sold them the Magic Thread Rolling Machine and the other equipment, as well as teaching them how to make the screw bolts, I never thought that they would keep making changes during this time. Now the quality of the screw bolts they produce is even better than ours, it’s even better than me…...Un, in short it’s good, it definitely meets the requirement of our company.”
Heinz looked at the small company representatives who were at the workshop for two days working with the Thread Rolling Machine and muttered a few words. Then he suddenly asked Xu Yi, “I can understand why you gave the work of making the components to the small companies, but Xu Yi, aren’t you worried of the day these small companies grow up and steal all business from our Frestech Chamber of Commerce?”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “If they really could do this, I would definitely spread both hands in welcome.”
Seeing the honest smile in Xu Yi’s face, Heinz rubbed his head as it ached.
“I forgot, you’re a complete lunatic!”