<strong>Volume 1 Chapter 64 Negotiations</strong>


    Even though there were only three people, this banquet in the City Lord Manorsted an hour before it finally finished.


    After they finished eating, Xu Yi and Viscount Leslie went into a hall that wasn’t big under the invitation of Count Sean. After chatting about a few things, Count Sean quickly changed the topic to Xu Yi.


    “Chairman Xu, since you had this kid Leslie use his face to find me, you can’t be silent like you were at the dinner table after getting to see me, right?”


    Viscount Leslie looked at Xu Yi after hearing this and Xu Yi nodded. He organized his thoughts and said with a faint smile, “Lord City Lord, this is my first time being honoured by your presence, so I was a bit nervous and couldn’t help being a bit silent.”


    Count Sean waved his hand, “When this kid Leslie introduced you to me, he didn’t say it like this. He said that you were a person with many ideas and based on your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, I believe his judgement. You say that you are nervous meeting me? I can’t see it though?”


    Xu Yiughed and decided to abandon this method. After thinking about it, he continued, “Alright, it doesn’t matter if I’m nervous or not, I can only be not nervous right now. Lord City Lord, I asked the Lord Viscount to arrange this meeting, so naturally I have something that I need your help with.”


    “It’s right that you have something. If you didn’t need anything, why would you see an old man like me? I am not some kind of beauty.” Count Sean said with a nod, “Speak, just what do you need? If it is like this kid Leslie and you want me to help you advertise yourpany’s products, I can’t do that. There are manypanies in Banta City, I can be biased towards any of them.”


    Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling as he thought that this Count Sean’s manner of speech was quite charming.


    This was also good. If he was a stubborn old noble, the matters he wanted to talk about today would be hard to approve.


    “Of course not. As the Banta City City Lord, if it was just to ask you to help me advertise, that would be too much of a waste.”


    “Oh? Does that mean I have a bigger use?” Count Sean felt interested as he looked at Xu Yi.


    “Hei…..Lord City Lord, I think you should have some understanding of the farmer support n ourpany has introducedtely, right?” Xu Yi asked.


    Count Sean nodded, “Not only do I have some understanding, I have properly investigated it. I have to say, the n proposed by yourpany is quite excellent. If it can be implemented smoothly, I think it will greatly improve the lives of our Banta City peasants.”


    “Improving the lives of the peasants is just a preliminary goal.” Xu Yi continued, “The most important reason ourpany is promoting this n is to improve themercial power of the farmers with these agricultural magic machines. By increasing the nting power of the farmers, they will be able to open more farms and increase their food production. While changing their lives, they will be liberated from their farms and they have more time to engage in different forms of work.”


    “For example, working in yourpany’s factory?” Count Sean asked with a raised brow.


    Xu Yiughed, “Lord City Lord, working in ourpany’s factory is quite good. I think that if those farmers had the choice, they would definitely agree.”


    Count Sean gave a slight nod, “I already know a bit about that. I’ve heard that a normal worker in your factory can earn at minimum six gold coins each month, this is quite a bit in our Banta City.”


    “Actually, if I speak honestly, this sry is still low. I rather give these workers greater wages so they will work in ourpany’s factory for a long time. You might not know this, but Saltan City’s Leo Chamber of Commerce has been stealing many of ourpany’s workers with higher wages. It has caused us to recruit even more workers and train them, causing our production speed to slow down quite a bit.”


    “Saltan City’spany?” Count Sean knit his brows, “There are actuallypanies from other citiesing here to steal our Banta City’s workers? You just let them steal them away?”


    Xu Yi spread his hands and looked helpless, “There was no other way, the Leo Chamber of Commerce was offering a high price of ten gold coins per month. Many workers couldn’t resist this temptation and were stolen away.”


    Count Sean gave a soft snort, “Ten gold coins? They really were willing to put in money. But why is this Leo Chamber of Commerce stealing your workers?”


    “This is because the Leo Chamber of Commerce also produces magic machines like us.” Xu Yi exined.


    “So it’s like this…...Then what methods do you have to counter this? Why haven’t you raised the wages for your workers?” Count Sean asked.


    “This…...Lord City Lord, although we want to raise the wages for our workers, as a long term n for ourpany, it isn’t the correct decision to increase the wages for our workers because this will disrupt our ns and will affect ourpany’s future development. So we can only use other methods, like giving our workers more welfare benefits instead. Of course, there are only a small part of the workers that were poached and most of the workers are willing to remain at ourpany.”


    “I don’t care what ns yourpany has, but I hope that you will properly deal with this matter. Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is our Banta City’s fastest developing and most promisingpany, I hope that you will not be defeated this easily.” Count Sean waved his hand as he spoke.


    Xu Yi’s eyes opened wide in surprise.


    Based on the meaning of Count Sean’s words, it seemed like he was very supportive of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.


    This was very good news for Xu Yi.


    With the support of the Banta City’s City Lord, it would save the Frestech Chamber of Commerce quite a bit of trouble at least in Banta City.


    “Lord City Lord can be assured, although the Leo Chamber of Commerce is several times bigger than our Frestech Chamber of Commerce, I can dare to guarantee that at least in terms of magic machines, they are not our match!” Xu Yi spoke in a confident voice.


    Count Sean looked at Xu Yi for a while before nodding in satisfaction.


    “Very good. Then let’s return to the previous topic. The farmer support n that you have, its main goal is to free the farmers from their farms and let them take other work. I can understand this logic, but do you know that to Banta City and to the entire Lampuri Kingdom, farms are the most basic things? If there isn’t enough food being produced, everything else is for nothing. When people are hungry, they can do anything.”


    Seeing Count Sean’s serious expression, Xu Yi also became serious. He gave a strong nod and said, “I understand the Lord City Lord’s worries. But Lord City Lord, I think that this is because you don’t understand the agricultural magic machines and that is why you have this kind of worry. In this aspect, perhaps you’ll doubt me if I say something, so I’ll let the Lord Viscount exin it to you.”


    Count Sean’s eyes turned to Viscount Leslie to the side.


    Viscount Leslie was already prepared. He calmly put down the teacup in his hand and gave a slight nod, “Lord Count, as for this regard, I can be a guarantee for Xu Yi. Take my territory for instance, during the fall harvest, I had around seven hectares of wheat fields on my territory. If it wasst year, I would have needed to send out all my ves and guards under me for half a month to finish the harvest. But after I bought two small Magic Harvesters from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, I used less than two days to finish the entire harvest and I used no more than twenty ves the entire time.”


    Count Sean raised a brow, “Is this true? It was only two days? You used less than twenty ves toplete it?”


    “Lord Count, how could I lie to you? Not just me, you can also ask the other nobles in Banta City. As long as they have wheat fields in their territory that needs to be harvested, they would buy a small Magic Harvester. This will also save themrge amounts of time and effort. Lord Count, your territory isn’t here, but if it was, I would strongly rmend you buy two harvesters because these things are just too easy to use.”


    Count Sean seriously looked over Xu Yi before giving a slow nod, “I had heard a bit about this before, but I never thought it would be this shocking. Xu Yi, even if we don’t discuss the others, just based on this small Magic Harvester, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce has performed a great merit.”


    Viscount Leslie said whileughing, “Lord Count, don’t be anxious, I’m not done yet. Other than the small Magic Harvester, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce has also released a small Magic Plowing Machine, greatly increasing the efficiency of plowing the earth before nting the seeds. Right now, with the help of the small Magic Plowing Machine, I have decided to open up another twenty one hectare of farnd and will nt them all when the timees. If nothing happens, the food produced next year will be increased by several times.”


    Count Sean didn’t reveal a pleasantly surprised look, rather he knit his brows.


    “Leslie, how could nting crops be an easy thing. Even if you have this small Magic Harvester to increase the harvest speed and the small Magic Plowing Machine to increase the plowing speed, farming is not just harvesting and plowing. There is also taking care of the seedlings, nting the seeds, weeding, watering, and all kinds of other things that need to be done. If you open all these fields, will you have enough manpower to take care of them all?”


    Viscount Leslie smiled and didn’t reply, as he looked at Xu Yi.


    “Lord City Lord, the so called agricultural magic machines are not just the small Magic Harvester and the small Magic Plowing Machine. Our Frestech Chamber of Commerce will also build small Magic Excavators, small Magic Water Pumps, small Magic Earth Drills, small Magic Road Rollers, and other kinds of magic machines. Our final goal is to rece all manpower with magic machines and liberate all manpower from the farms. Just yesterday, I had discussed this with Viscount Leslie and have made ns to redesign all the fields in his territory. We’ll turn the fields in his territory into rice paddies which are more suitable for magic machines and easier to nt.”


    “Wait, rice paddies that are easier to nt?” Count Sean was stunned, “Banta City mainly nts wheat, so why is Leslie changing to nting rice? This ce isn’t a ce rich in water like Karma City, perhaps it won’t be cost effective?”


    Viscount Leslie revealed a smile, “Lord Count, Banta City isn’tcking in water, only it is difficult to use. Now that there is help from the magic machines, it’s much easier to use them. Then again, wouldn’t one be tired of eating bread all day? It’s good to change what you eat.”


    Count Sean looked at Xu Yi before giving a cold snort, “I remember now. The newest product your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is focusing on building is the Magic Rice Cooker. That thing, it requires people to eat rice, so no wonder you had this kid Leslie nt rice paddies. Do you want all of Banta City to change to nting rice paddies?”


    Xu Yi smiled without saying anything.