Chapter 49 Road opening
Facts proved that Xu Yi’s guess was right.
After staying at the Baron Rickto Magic Academy for a day, not only did Xu Yi sign contracts with the thirteen students who had accepted the special fund, making them employees of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. There were also twenty four other graduates who expressed their willingness to work for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to Xu Yi.
Naturally Xu Yi wouldn’t just agree to them, rather he had them prepare themselves to come to the Sandton Manor three days later to be tested.
Actually Xu Yi wanted to not waste another word and accept these over twenty students, since the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was in urgent need of large amounts of magicians.
Although the Baron Rickto Magic Academy was not the best magic school in the Lampuri Kingdom, it was still much stronger than the Senkaiser School that Xu Yi had attended before.
Being able to graduate from this place, normally one had to be at least a Second Grade Magician. There were even quite a few who were Third or Fourth Grade Magicians.
If these students could be recruited into the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and they were trained for a while, the magic research facility would be filled with staff.
Of course, it was just the beginning recruiting these students into the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
The company in the future would still require large amounts of magicians, or rather more accurately speaking, they needed more magic mechanical engineers. Xu Yi had considered all of this and after discussing this with the Baron Rickto Magic Academy management, he decided on starting a magic mechanical engineering department at the school.
As the department’s name implied, they would be learning knowledge related to magic machines.
But to create this department, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had to pay the Baron Rickto Magic Academy ten thousand gold coins each year.
When summer passed and the Baron Rickto Magic Academy began to recruit students again, this department would also be attracting new students.
When the students of the magic mechanical engineering department graduated, the path that they would choose to take would naturally be work related to magic machines.
“Investing ten thousand gold coins each year just for the possibility of a few students, isn’t this too wasteful?” On the way back, Still expressed her doubts to Xu Yi.
“When the fall enrollment season comes, as long as there is a single student that joins the magic mechanical engineering department, this means this ten thousand gold coins will be worth it.” Xu Yi said with a faint smile, “The significance of this branch is much greater than its practical uses. I just want to use this department to tell those kids that want to learn magic that magic is not just about power and breaking things, there are many other methods to use it. When this idea enters everyone’s mind and is accepted by them, there will be more and more students who join this department.”
“But how many years will that take?” Still then said, “Is this really worth it?”
“There’s no choice. Creating a complete industrial system is a large project that takes a long time, I can only build the foundation bit by bit. As for when it will bloom, I can’t be certain.”
After pausing, Xu Yi then said, “In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact that our company doesn’t have that much money, I even want to open a school that is dedicated to teaching magic mechanical engineering. I want to recruit those children with talent in magic and teach them about magic machines from a young age. You have to know, magic machines are not just about magic, there is also quite a bit of engineering knowledge that needs to be learned. If one only comes in contact with it midway, the effects wouldn’t be as good.”
“Un, I have some experience now.” Still gave a nod, “I’ve been busy with advertising in the past few months, so I rarely spent time researching Magic Arrays with Evita and the others. I went back there a few days ago and found that when I discussed things with Evita and Akali, I couldn’t understand what they were saying at all!”
Xu Yi laughed as he tapped Still’s nose, “It’s very normal that you can’t understand. Evita and the others spend a large amount of time each day with their research and the new technology they have developed has even surprised me. If a lazy fellow like you could stay at the same level as them, it really wouldn’t be fair.”
Still gave a soft snort and twisted her little nose as she said, “Give me some time, I will definitely catch them. That’s right, what you talked about with the owner of the clothing store, the new technology that the new generation of Magic Air Conditioners is using where you can adjust the temperature, was it the new technology that Evita and the others recently developed?”
“Un, the ability to adjust temperatures, it was because of the energy gradation technology that they had just discovered. This technology can control the amount of magic being released from the Magic Crystal, which controls the might of the Magic Array. If this is placed in the Magic Air conditioner, it would mean that the might of the Frost Array inside the Magic Air Conditioner can be adjusted, changing the temperature of the wind being blown out.” Xu Yi replied.
Still thought about it and couldn’t help sighing as she said, “If it’s like this, it really is incredible. I’ve only casually thought about this technology and found many places to implement it, no wonder even you were shocked by it.”
“Un, I thought that Evita and the others would take a long time to solve this problem, but I never thought that they would solve it this quickly. It really is incredible.” Xu Yi nodded as he praised them, “Actually to be honest, compared to this magic power gradation technology, the long distance magic transfer technology is more important. We can’t implement it properly right now, but as we develop this technology, you’ll find that this technology can completely change your life!”
“Really?” Still’s eyes lit up as she seriously looked at Xu Yi. She smiled as she hugged him and said, “Alright, I’ll be waiting to see it.”
To see the effects of the long distance magic transfer technology was not easy, but it was easy to see the difference between public roads and normal roads.
When the twenty four students of the Baron Rickto Magic Academy all passed the application process and began working for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, chairman Cruise brought Xu Yi a great piece of news.
The Falling Rain Road, it was finally complete!
It should be said that the Amrit Chamber of Commerce was very efficient. This fifty seven kilometers road from Banta City to the Falling Rain Valley was completed by the Amrit Chamber of Commerce in just a short three months.
And after it was complete, Xu Yi had inspected it and had confirmed that the quality of the road was quite good.
Xu Yi’s fifteen centimeter thick road was changed to twenty centimeters in the end. The concrete road was very flat, there weren’t any bumps that could be seen at all.
Looking out, the road was like a white path that led off into the distance from Banta City, looking truly beautiful.
The only thing that was bad was that although it had been widened, it still didn’t reach four meters. On the road back on earth, at most it could be considered two traffic lanes, which could only be seen on rural roads.
Compared to those six lane provincial highways or the ten lane national highways, it was really a large difference.
To the Sines Continent, this was the first public road, so it had a large significance.
When the Amrit Chamber of Commerce and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce announced that the Falling Rain Road was finished, they conducted a ribbon cutting ceremony outside of Banta City. Even Count Sean had come to this ceremony and gave a speech, praising the significance of this road.
Actually there was no need for Count Sean to praise it, just by using one’s eyes, everyone could see that this road was as calm as dead water. There was no doubt that it was countless times better than the roads made of ordinary gravel.
When the Falling Rain Road opening ceremony was over, countless people stepped on the roads. They didn’t feel any bumps from under their feet, which caused them to gasp in surprise.
As for the nobles and company representatives that Xu Yi and chairman Cruise had invited, they drove their horse carriages onto the roads, their surprise turned into shock.
The horse carriage galloped at high speeds on the road and it didn’t shake at all!
Compared to when sitting in the carriage almost threw people out, this was a heaven and earth difference!
Also by traveling on a smooth surface like this, the horse carriage being influenced by the bumpy ground was minimalized, so they moved more than twice as fast as on normal roads.
Chairman Mark Pompeii of the Fersen Carriage Company only tried the road for a bit before immediately searching for Xu Yi who was talking to Count Sean. He didn’t care about Count Sean at all as he said to Xu Yi, “Chairman Xu, I’ve heard that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is investing in a road from Banta City to Karma City?”
Xu Yi nodded with a faint smile, “That’s right, what about it? Is chairman Pompeii also interested?”
Chairman Pompeii kept asking, “Then can I ask chairman Xu, how much are you planning to invest in this road?”
Xu Yi stroked his chin and thought for a bit before replying, “I’m not clear on the mount now. However because this road is a bit more complicated and I want a wider road, according to the estimates of the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, the current estimate should be around three hundred thousand gold coins.”
“Around three hundred thousand gold coins…..” Chairman Pompeii lowered his head to think before suddenly turning to Count Sean and saying with a serious face, “Lord City Lord, our Fersen Carriage Company is willing to do the same as the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, contributing our strength to Banta City and the Lampuri Kingdom. We currently are planning to invest in a public road from Banta City to Saltan City, I ask the Lord City Lord to agree to this!”
Chapter 50Labour shortage
Of course chairman Pompeii was not dumb and the Fersen Carriage Company didn’t have money they wanted to waste.
He had raised this idea of a road connecting Banta City and Saltan City because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce investing in a road connecting Banta City to Karma City was a thing that everyone knew, there was even a public announcement from the City Lord’s Manor in the city square.
Regarding this matter, whether it was the newspapers in Banta City or Karma City, they all issued large amounts of reports on it. Even the newspapers in Anvilmar CIty had done a series on this.
From these reports, everyone had learned that after the Frestech Chamber of Commerce finished these roads, they would be establishing toll booths on these roads that would collect fees from all horse carriages using these roads.
On this point, most people didn’t care and a small portion turned their noses at it.
Was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce crazy? They actually wanted to make money on collecting toll fees?
They wanted money? It’s very simple, at best I won’t use that broken road.
Anyway this road was being built somewhere else, it wouldn’t affect the current road between Banta City and Karma City.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce wanted to use toll fees to collect the costs of building this road, this was simply wishful thinking.
But what other thought was not what chairman Pompeii thought.
As the chairman of the Fersen Carriage Company, he understood better than anyone how much a good road would affect the business of horse carriages.
Not mentioning anything else, the Fersen Chamber of Commerce spent as much as a hundred thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand each year on fixing horse carriages.
If they counted the costs that came from horse carriages running on bad roads, this number would reach close to two hundred thousand.
Chairman Pompeii had thought before that if each road in the Lampuri Kingdom was as smooth as the marble road in front of the Anvilmar City’s royal palace, then the Fersen Chamber of Commerce could save at least a hundred thousand gold coins in fixed costs.
Moreover, as the roads were improved, the speed of the horse carriages would be increased. People would have better journeys and the business of riding horse carriages would be much better.
But all these well wishes were nothing more than simple dreams.
The path in front of the royal palace was only five hundred meters long and ten meters wide, but because the materials used were the best marble blocks, which were carefully carved by the best stonemasons, it cost over seven hundred thousand gold coins to build.
If they wanted to turn all the roads in the Lampuri Kingdom into something similar, the amount of gold coins spent was something even the richest Candra Empire couldn’t support.
Chairman Pompeii had given up on this hope until he saw the road the Frestech Chamber of Commerce built.
Although compared to that smooth road in front of the royal palace, this public road was a bit lacking, but it was countless times better than those roads that were covered in pieces of rocks.
If chairman Pompeii had a choice, even if he had to pay a toll fee to use it, he would definitely have the Fersen Carriage Company’s horse carriages travel on this kind of road.
He was certain that even if the other companies couldn’t see the significance this road had, after comparing them, the other companies would also choose to drive their horse carriages over this road.
Ignoring the damage reduced to their products by going on a road like this, just based on the time saved, it was not something that a trivial toll fee could compare to.
So chairman Pompeii could instantly determine that something like collecting toll fees was definitely worth it.
So he immediately looked for Xu Yi and proposed his idea of building a road to Count Sean.
Of course, the most important factor in his decision was…..the price of building the road was low enough.
According to what Xu Yi said, the fifty seven kilometer road to the Falling Rain Valley cost no more than two hundred thousand gold coins.
As for the close to seventy kilometer road connecting Banta City to Karma City, it would cost around less than three hundred thousand gold coins.
Although Saltan City was a bit further from Banta City, according to their estimates, it wouldn’t cost more than four hundred thousand even if they used the materials. The Fersen Carriage Company could definitely accept this.
The most important thing was that when the other companies reacted, they would all begin building public roads. Not long after, all the roads in the Lampuri Kingdom would be replaced with public roads.
When that time comes, the ones who would profit the most would without a doubt be the Fersen Carriage Company who relied on the roads.
“Hei, that fellow Pompeii looks like his heart’s blooming with joy. He probably thinks that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is doing everything to help his Fersen Carriage Company.” Chairman Cruise watched the changing scene outside the horse carriage before curling his lips and looking back at Xu Yi. He shook his head and said, “Actually he never would have thought that everything was according to your plan.”
Xu Yi didn’t look out the window and just casually patted his seat before saying with a smile, “You can’t say that it’s everything. Look, if all the roads of the Lampuri Kingdom are turned into smooth roads like this, at least it’ll be much more comfortable sitting in horse carriages.”
The horse carriage the two were in were traveling on the newly finished Falling Rain Road. Because of how smooth the road was, although the carriage kept traveling at a high speed, it was very stable. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as sitting in horse carriages traveling on gravel roads.
Chairman Cruise laughed as he nodded, “That’s right. To be honest, after traveling on these roads a few times, if you have me go back to going on those broken roads, I really can’t take it. Ai, I don’t know when the roads of the Lampuri Kingdom will all be turned into this kind of comfortable road.”
Xu Yi considered it a bit before saying, “It shouldn’t be too long. After this Falling Rain Road has been finished, the newspapers of the kingdom have been reporting on them and the royal family has been advertising it, so the entire Lampuri Kingdom should know of the benefits this road brings. Adding in the fact that the royal family is advertising the two roads being built by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Fersen Carriage Company, I believe the companies of the kingdom will understand the benefits of building roads. Not long soon, you will find that many people will be looking for your Amrit Chamber of Commerce to build roads.”
Chairman Cruise slightly knit his brows, “With our company’s current abilities, it takes all our strength to finish these two roads. If there are more people who want to build roads, we might not be able to do it.”
“Then are you willing to reveal the cement technology and let the other companies help you?”
Being teased by Xu Yi, chairman Cruise quickly shook his head without even thinking.
“Of course not. How about this, chairman Xu, with this opportunity, I will order another set of concrete machines from you. Other than that, I hope that you can develop the other road building magic machines, I’m in a rush to use them now.”
“The equipment is easy to say, but what about people?” Xu Yi asked back, “In Banta City right now, I think you shouldn’t be able to find enough people, right?”
Hearing Xu Yi mention manpower, chairman Cruise gave a long sigh and said with a bitter smile, “Speaking of this, I really don’t know whether to praise you or scold you?”
“Oh? What do you mean?” Xu Yi asked with a smile.
“Before your Frestech Chamber of Commerce appeared, there were idle people all over Banta City. If I gave a salary of three gold coins per month, there would be a large group of people willing to work. But now that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce has opened several new factories and have recruited over a thousand people, you also created this small company support plan, causing people to be recruiting all over Banta City. I wanted to hire some more people to fix the road, but can you guess what happened?”
“What? You couldn’t hire any people?” Xu Yi asked.
“It isn’t that I couldn’t hire any people, but for a job that does small work like flattening a road, they actually wanted a salary of seven gold coins a month! This is simply robbery!” Chairman Cruise indignantly said.
Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling, “Not bad, it’s only seven gold coins, it’s not that much. Our starting wage when hiring people is now ten gold coins per month.”
Chairman Cruise looked at Xu Yi, “Who dares compete with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce! You people have always been generous, it’s simply being a wastrel. But in the end, if it wasn’t for your Frestech Chamber of Commerce raising the wages so high, our companies wouldn’t have all this trouble.”
“I explained this to you last year. The increase in wages for workers is a result of economic development, it isn’t something that our Frestech Chamber of Commerce can change alone. With the current demand for workers in Banta City, even if our company didn’t increase it, there would be a company that increased the wages. Perhaps you don’t know, but there were some companies that wanted to poach our workers and they even offered a wage of twenty gold coins a month.” Xu Yi said.
“Twenty gold coins? Which company is crazier than you?” Chairman Cruise asked in surprise, “Weren’t your workers all poached away?”
“It wasn’t one company, it was many companies. As long as it’s a company that wants to produce magic machines like us, they will try to poach our workers. Perhaps they think that if they poach our workers, they will be the same as our company?” A sly smile flashed on Xu Yi’s face, “But it’s a good thing that most of our workers are dwarves, so they are quite loyal. So far, there are only a few human workers who have left, so the impact isn’t big.”
Chairman Cruise enviously looked at Xu Yi, “Why can’t I hire that many dwarves? Not only are dwarves strong and have good physiques, they can also suffer and have good craftsmanship, they are truly suited to being workers. Hey, Xu Yi, since you know that many dwarves, can you introduce some to our company? I promise to give them high wages! At least ten gold coins per month, how about it?”
“You shouldn’t ask me this, you should go ask the dwarves.” Xu Yi gave a shrug, pointing at the two mountains that had appeared outside the horse carriage window, “There are many dwarves currently living in the Falling Rain Valley. If you have the skills, recruit them to your company.”