Volume 2 84 - Can you live past forty?
He also gave Xu Yi a very detailed list, describing the Amrit Chamber of Commerce’s road and river construction, as well as the difficulties that they had faced.
As for the places that could be replaced with magic machines, they were detailed out on the list. The meaning was that he wanted Xu Yi to study these problems first.
Xu Yi looked over the list, but he didn’t say that he would be able to quickly solve these problems.
There was no other way, the capacity of the magic research facility and the magic machine workshop were limited and there were countless problems to solve. Even if Xu Yi had a bunch of mechanical engineering knowledge that he brought from earth, he needed to cooperate with these two sides to develop the magic machines.
Chairman Cruise of course knew this, so he could only urge him and he couldn’t say anything else.
When chairman Cruise finished with his list, the Fersen Carriage Company’s chairman Pompeii came to Xu Yi’s side.
He came to ask Xu Yi about the toll booth that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had placed on the Banka Road.
The Fersen Carriage Company’s road between Banta City and Saltan City was close to being finished. Although there were already toll booths on the road and they earned quite a bit from the tolls, this was the Fersen Carriage Company’s first time doing this, so chairman Pompeii lacked confidence.
“Relax, her highness has already promised me that as long as his majesty is in power, the agreement we signed with the royal family will never change. You can just keep charging tolls, there’s no need to worry.” Xu Yi was very clear on what chairman Pompeii was worried about, so his words were very direct.
As expected, when he heard Xu Yi say this, the expression on chairman Pompeii’s face relaxed quite a bit.
“Then that’s good. I always felt that taking tolls on roads the people used seemed like being a bandit, so I felt a bit unsettled. Hearing you say that his majesty supports this plan, I feel much more assured. Even if we are bandits, we are bandits approved by his majesty, ha, ha……”
Xu Yi rolled his eyes at him, “Who said that we are bandits? Do bandits pay to build roads? Relax, the people who are scolding us are just people who don’t understand new things. I guarantee that in a few years, when this matter is all over the kingdom, everyone will be used to it and no one will be scolding us any longer. Just now chairman Cruise told me that they would be starting construction on another seven roads. When the seven roads also have toll booths, you can see if people still curse us.”
“Another seven roads?” Chairman Pompeii was instantly overjoyed. “At this speed, wouldn’t our Lampuri Kingdom be filled with roads in just a few years? If it is like this, this would really be a great thing for our Fersen Carriage Company. Chairman Xu, do you know that after the Banka Road was opened, our house carriages have been running thirteen more trips each day between Banta City and Karma City! If all the kingdom’s roads are changed, then our horse carriage business will be much better than before!”
Xu Yi was speechless as he stared at the easily agitated chairman Pompeii. If he was this excited from thirteen extra trips a day, if the engine was developed and he could run over a hundred trips a day, wouldn’t he faint from his excitement?
After talking about the matter of toll booths, chairman Pompeii asked Xu Yi if they should build another two roads, connecting Banta City to the further Canberra City and Norton City.
Although Xu Yi was very interested in this proposal, right now the Banta City renovation project was ongoing, therefore he didn’t know how to deal with these two roads. Then again the Amrit Chamber of Commerce was building another seven roads for four other companies, so they couldn’t spare manpower to build these two roads, so he would postpone this proposal.
“Chairman Xu, if chairman Cruise could learn from you and share the Amrit Chamber of Commerce’s road building techniques, wouldn’t there be more companies building roads?” Chairman Pompeii said in a voice filled with pity.
Xu Yi looked at him, thinking that his words might be referring to something. Thinking about it, he softly said, “The technique is not important, the more important thing is people. Chairman Cruise’s hair is turning white from his anxiety, but he still can’t recruit enough people. Their Amrit Chamber of Commerce is taking more and more work, so they are lacking more and more people. Otherwise why do you think that after going out for a month, he only accepted the projects for seven roads?”
Chairman Pompeii revealed a bitter smile, “His lack of people is still alright. Right now there are people from all over coming to Banta City, so sooner or later he can recruit enough workers. But our Fersen Carriage Company is lacking horses right now and they have to be horses that have the endurance to run long distances. This thing is harder to find compared to people, my hair is turning much whiter than chairman Cruise’s.”
Xu Yi gave a shrug, showing that he couldn’t help.
Although with Xu Yi asking, Seveni had allowed the Fersen Carriage Company to buy the horses that couldn’t become military horse, compared to the people flooding into Banta City and bring all kinds of goods, the military horses were just a drop of water in the flames, it was far from being enough.
Xu Yi wanted to comfort chairman Pompeii by saying that as long as he developed the engine, he would be able to solve the horse problem.
But thinking about how difficult it was and how he hadn’t made any breakthroughs so far, he couldn’t say this no matter what.
After sighing with Xu Yi for a while, chairman Pompeii left. Chairman Vincent from the Armani Chamber of Commerce who had been waiting on the side for a while immediately came over.
Before chairman Vincent even said anything, Xu Yi cut him off, “There’s no need to urge me, I’ve already had Camby and the others test the producing spindles and cradles. This is rather simple, so I think it’ll take less than a week for them to figure out how to mass produce them. Then we just need to find one or two small component companies to teach them the technology and then you can just directly order from them. As for the ring, the bead hoop, and the needle, you don’t need to rush. Sooner or later there will be a component factory that can solve this problem for you.”
Chairman Vincent was stunned before giving satisfied nods, “I know that chairman Xu is reliable, but today I have some other matters to discuss with you today. There’s another thing……”
…...
Seeing chairman Vincent talking to Xu Yi in the distance, Count Sean shook his head and said to Kennard beside him with a smile, “Look, that kid is actually this busy.”
Kennard said with a faint smile, “I already know this. After following chairman Xu for the past few days, even I’m tired from just following, so I can imagine just how busy chairman Xu is.”
“Actually this kid can only blame himself. With how developed the Frestech Chamber of Commerce is, he doesn’t need to be this busy. He can just safely and honestly develop those magic machines and sit at home while collecting money, so why is he doing this to himself.” Count Sean said.
“Lord Count, isn’t this a veiled way of praising chairman Xu?” Kennard revealed a smile, “If chairman Xu had such short sights and had no ambitions at all, would you support him like this?”
“Of course not.” Count Sean said in a certain voice, “Actually, this kid has brought many pleasant surprises to me and helped me solve quite a few problems. If it wasn’t for him, Banta City wouldn’t be developing this quickly, this speed has even surpassed my expectations. But because of how involved he is, I’m quite worried for him. First not mentioning how he has more things to do and more problems to deal with, just by making himself this busy, his body won’t be able to take it eventually.”
Kennard shook his head, “There is no need to worry about his body, chairman Xu should soon become a Seventh Grade Magician. If he can keep setting aside time to study magic, he should be able to become a Great Magician by the age of forty. After becoming a Great Magician, his body will be greatly changed by the magic particles and his lifespan will be much longer. You don’t think that he can’t even reach forty, right?”
“Forty years old?” Count Sean suddenly gave a sigh and looked at Xu Yi in the distance with worry in his eyes, “This kid has caught the attention of many people. I’m worried that if he and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce keeps growing, he might step on the nerves of some people. No, not perhaps, this will definitely happen. So I really can’t guarantee that he’ll live to forty years old…..”
Kennard revealed a faint smile, “Isn’t there someone as important as the Lord City Lord protecting him? Not to mention that her highness also supports him. With the protection of you and her highness, he doesn’t need to worry about this at all.”
“Her highness’ admiration and support? This isn’t necessarily a good thing for him…..” Count Sean looked to the north where Anvilmar City was. After thinking for a bit, he turned to ask Kennard, “For you to suddenly come here, does it mean that your father has made his decision?”
Kennard shook his head, “Lord father hasn’t made his decision yet, but the good news is that he’s revealing his thoughts, otherwise he wouldn’t have let me come here.”
Count Sean gave a slight nod, “Just a bit of thought is enough. You are already here and have made contact with Xu Yi, it doesn’t matter what your father is thinking because the main thing is what others see.”
Kennard shook his head, “I am not big brother.”
“Is that so?” Count Sean revealed a smile, but he didn’t plan on continuing with this topic. He looked at Xu Yi in the distance who had finished talking to chairman Vincent and thought for a bit before asking, “Then what about you? Have you made your decision?”
Kennard also looked at Xu Yi as he said with a faint smile, “I also haven’t made my decision yet. But after being with him for a few days, I also have some thoughts. As for whether I can make a decision in the end or not, that will depend on my further observations.”
“I hope that you can make your decision soon.” Count Sean said with a nod, “That kind Xu Yi is too busy, so busy that he hasn’t even had time to spend time with Still, which is not a good thing. If there was someone to help him and take a bit of it for him, that would be great.”
Kennard smiled without saying anything.