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Volume 2 Chapter 145 Really a country?

Xu Yi only stayed in Faraday City for a day, then he headed to the three mines while being accompanied by Anklo and two ministers sent by Duke Stantine.

When he got there, Xu Yi saw the two dwarves from the Norma Tribe he had sent a month earlier.

According to what the dwarves had discovered ahead of time, these mines were rich in minerals. The two iron mines were even bigger than the one that Xu Yi had stolen from the Falcao Chamber of Commerce from before.

Just with an estimate of around seven hundred thousand per iron mine, the value of these two iron mines already surpassed one and half million gold coins.

This valuation was something that was for last year. According to the increasing price of iron ore, these two iron mines might have a value of over two million gold coins.

Although they had to consider the cost of mining in the Stantine Duchy, the Stantine Duchy was selling the permanent exploitation rights of these mines and it wasn’t for a limited time like in the Lampuri Kingdom, so it was rather cost-effective.

Of course, the permanent exploitation rights in front of state power was just a lie.

But considering the condition of the other copper mine, these risks weren’t considered much.

According to the reports of the dwarves, the copper mine’s mineral resources were even richer than the two iron mines.

This was a pleasant surprise for Xu Yi.

His main goal this time was the copper mine and if the copper mine was that rich in resources, it would be a rich harvest.

Because the two dwarves had explored it ahead of time, Xu Yi heading to the three mines was just a formality. After casually looking it over, he inspected the roads and the surrounding area before heading back to Faraday City.

Over the next three days, Xu Yi had been haggling for every penny with Duke Stantine and his subordinates.

Perhaps it was because his subordinates had reported that Xu Yi was very satisfied with the mines or perhaps it was because Xu Yi’s starting price of one and half million gold coins gave them confidence, when they began negotiating, Duke Stantine started with a high price of two million gold coins.

Although honestly speaking, using two million gold coins to buy these three mines was a large gain for Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, it was impossible for Xu Yi to agree this simply. So with strong opposition and describing the flaws of these three mines, he pressed the price down to a million gold coins.

Duke Stantine and his subordinates were very loud during the discussions, looking quite powerful, but in the end, Xu Yi was the one that had the initiative in these negotiations.

Other than the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there wasn’t any other company that was willing to invest in a backwards place like the Stantine Duchy. Xu Yi was their only choice and they couldn’t do anything.

Not to mention that the flaws Xu Yi picked out was spearheaded at the backwards nature of the Stantine Duchy, so they couldn’t refute it at all.

So when Xu Yi expected the negotiations to be very difficult, he solved it in just three days.

The final price the Stantine Duchy and Xu Yi set was one million three hundred and fifty gold coins.

For three mines that had such rich reserves, this was considered as cheap as vegetables, giving the Frestech Chamber of Commerce a great bargain.

Of course, there was much preparation work that needed to be done before he could start mining these mines.

The poor nature of the Stantine Duchy, especially how bad the roads were around the mines would seriously impact the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. So Xu Yi was planning on immediately contacting the Amrit Chamber of Commerce to build a public road to the Stantine Duchy as soon as he returned to Banta City.

When Xu Yi told Duke Stantine of his decision, it immediately made Duke Stantine and his ministers cheer out, although they didn’t know what a public road was.

After he finished the negotiations and reached an agreement, Xu Yi didn’t plan on staying in the Stantine Duchy and prepared to return to the Lampuri Kingdom the next day.

The night that the negotiations ended, Anklo who Xu Yi hadn’t seen in several days suddenly appeared.

When he saw Anklo’s drunken appearance, Xu Yi was a bit surprised.

From the first moment he saw Anklo, no matter when Xu Yi met him, he was always competent and energetic, like he would never fall. Moreover, Xu Yi knew from the banquet in Anvilmar City that his alcohol tolerance was quite good, so why was he drunk today?

It had to be known that the Stantine Duchy didn’t really have wine, so it wasn’t easy for Anklo to get drunk on wine found within the country.

“Xu…..Chairman Xu…..con…..congratulations……” Anklo gave a burp as he said this to Xu Yi with a face that didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Xu Yi knit his brows and he signaled to the two maids he received from head Wein to help Anklo into the two story small log house that Duke Stantine had prepared for him. Then the two maids put a towel soaked in cold water on his face.

Although the Stantine Duchy wasn’t that cold during winter, on winter nights, the water was still quite cold.

Anklo was woken up by the water and sobered up a bit. He opened his eyes to look at Xu Yi before spitting out a mouthful of liquor smell. He used the towel to wipe his face before sitting up to look at Xu Yi for a while. He suddenly said, “Chairman Xu, can you talk with me for a bit?”

Xu Yi thought about it before waving his hand to send off the maids.

Anklo struggled to sit up and he walked out of the small building, sitting down in front of a beautiful little lake in front of the building.

Xu Yi sat down beside him and waited for him to speak.

After a while, Anklo suddenly revealed a smile of self ridicule, “Chairman Xu, do you think that I am an idiot?”

Xu Yi shook his head in surprise, “Why would you think that? If you are an idiot, I think that most people in this country are idiots, right?”

Hearing Xu Yi’s response, Anklo suddenly broke out in laughter and only slowly stopped after a while. He pointed at Xu Yi as he said with a nod, “Good, chairman Xu, you’ve finally said the words in your heart. So in your mind, most people of this country are idiots. That’s right, they are all idiots!”

Seeing Anklo’s face suddenly fill with anger, Xu Yi couldn’t help knitting his brows.

He was a bit confused. Why was it that after not seeing each other for a few days, Anklo had suddenly begun hating the entire world?

Could it be because Duke Stantine and those ministers had pushed him out of the negotiations?

“Anklo, what do you want to say?” Xu Yi wasn’t planning on beating around the bush with a drunk, that had no meaning.

Anklo looked at Xu Yi and gave another burp before saying while laughing, “What do I want to say? I want to say…..I really am an idiot. If I’m not an idiot, why would I take the initiative to sell my country?”

“If you’re talking about the three mines, I feel that your description is a bit too excessive.” Xu Yi shook his head, “It’s just a few mines, not to mention, doesn’t this coincide with the benefits of the Stantine Duchy?”

“Coincide with the benefits?” Anklo laughed, “You’re talking about the one million three hundred and fifty gold coins? Let me tell you, those gold coins will only fall into the pockets of the duke and those other despicable fellows. The duchy will never get a single copper coin. Oh, that’s right, perhaps when you build the road, the duchy will receive some benefits. But just a single road? Ha! What can a single road change?”

“You forget, if those three mines begin operating, there will be more work opportunities.” Xu Yi reminded.

Anklo suddenly stared right at Xu Yi, “Chairman Xu, be honest, are you planning on hiring our duchy’s people? Or are you planning on sending people over from the Lampuri Kingdom?”

Xu Yi was at a loss for words because he did have that plan.

Seeing Xu Yi not respond, Anklo suddenly gave a cold laugh.

“Was I right? That’s right, actually not only you, even I can’t keep watching the people of our duchy. They are too lazy, even if they are given work, they might not be willing to do it. If it was me, I would also choose to send people from the Lampuri Kingdom.”

Xu Yi was silent for a bit before suddenly asking, “Anklo, I can see that you’re someone who loves his country and you’re sincere about doing something for the Stantine Duchy, to make it stronger. But I’ve always wanted to ask something, you…..really think that the Stantine Duchy is a country?”

Anklo was suddenly stunned. After a while, there were tears that came from the corners of his eyes.

After a while, Anklo broke out in tears. He was wailing while crying, but Xu Yi couldn’t hear what he was saying at all.

Perhaps he had been too excited while shouting, not long after, Anklo broke out in coughs and fell onto the ground, as he vomited into the lake.

Xu Yi turned to call the two maids to prepare washing implements for Anklo and to prepare a clean back. When he looked back at Anklo who was crying and vomiting on the ground, looking like he was filled with pain, he sighed in his heart.

Actually he already had this question in his heart, but he never had a chance to ask it.

Although he had only been in the Stantine Duchy for a few days, Xu Yi could tell that the so-called Stantine Duchy didn’t have the concept of a country at all.

First, the country was ruled by Duke Stantine in name, but Duke Stantine was just controlling the area around Faraday City. Strictly speaking, he had the same rank as head Wein, only the area he controlled was a bit bigger.

Secondly, when Xu Yi talked to the citizens of the Stantine Duchy, they didn’t have any nationlist ideas at all.

For these citizens, they only knew which noble ruled over them and they didn’t care about the Stantine Duchy at all.

If they felt dissatisfied with the noble controlling them, they could just run into the territory of another noble or hide in some corner. As long as nothing special happened, they didn’t care who was above them at all.

To put it simply, the Stantine Duchy was just a geographic term and not a country at all.

If one was to put it in earth terms, the Stantine Duchy was like the UN and chiefs who controlled areas like head Wein and Duke Stantine were joined together.

Because Duke Stantine’s family had always been the biggest among them, he had the most power.

So Duke Stantine’s words didn’t apply in the entire Stantine Duchy. The reason why he could sell those three mines was because those three mines were in the area Duke Stantine controlled.

If they were mines in the area of another noble, he wouldn’t even be able to sell them.

Because of this, Xu Yi asked Anklo this question.

But he never thought that Anklo’s reaction would be this strong.

This person who always stood by the Stantine Duchy might have really treated the Stantine Duchy as a real country. He wanted to change the country for the better and give better lives to the people of the country.

But reality was cruel. He brought Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to the Stantine Duchy with great difficulty and succeeded in convincing Xu Yi to invest here.

But Duke Stantine and his so-called “ministers” only wanted money from Xu Yi, they didn’t care about the idea of the Stantine Duchy at all.

With this kind of situation, how could Anklo not feel depressed?