"This … …" Major MacConley opened his mouth and only after a while did he let out a long sigh. He said with a bitter smile, "Chairman Xu, this price ….. is just too expensive … …"
"Expensive?" Xu Yi shook his head.
"Major, I thought that after you saw the blueprint, you should be clear on the might of the Magic Trebuchet.
With such a strong might, do you think that this Magic Trebuchet would be cheap? "
"I know that, but …" MacConley smiled helplessly.
Xu Yi had a helpless smile, "This price is still too high.
I won't hide it from you, our logistics department's budget this year is less than three hundred thousand gold coins and we only spend less than a hundred thousand on armaments.
If it wasn't for the fact that we built a factory with your New Flyer that reduced the cost of armours by several times, I wouldn't even be able to take out a single copper coin. "
Xu Yi couldn't help shaking his head. He thought that the Lampari Kingdom really was poor, their annual revenue was less than two million gold coins and their military expenditure was only three hundred thousand gold coins, it was simply pitiful.
This bit of money was already enough to cover the daily expenses of the army, it was no wonder major MacConley complained to him every time he saw him.
But sympathy was one thing, Xu Yi wasn't planning on giving up a single copper coin for this price.
"Major, although I want to help you, the cost of this Magic Trebuchet is just too high.
Not mentioning anything else, just making a single Magic Trebuchet costs over three tons of steel.
For this new type of steel, our company sells it at a high price of one hundred gold coins per ton.
Other than the cost of materials, the cost of labour is also a large expense and the most important thing is the cost of research.
In order to develop this Magic Trebuchet, the magicians of our company's magic research facility, Great Magician Camilla, as well as the magic mechanical engineers of the magic machine development workshop have spent over two months on this. They've been working all night on this, even working overtime all night.
Do you think ….. a thousand gold coins per unit is high? "
"Indeed it isn't."
Major MacConley nodded before giving a sigh, "But chairman Xu, the problem is that our army headquarters can't take out that much money.
With the remaining budget for this year, I'm afraid the military will only be able to buy three at most. "
"If you want to buy it, you don't have to spend gold coins …" Xu Yi reminded her softly.
Major MacConley glanced at Xu Yi with a complicated expression.
After thinking for a while, he waved his hand and said, "Let's not talk about this for now.
Even if they wanted to buy it, they would have to wait until your Chamber of Commerce took out something real and let those big shots see the actual effect before they would be truly moved.
It's too early for us to discuss anything else. "
Seeing that Major MacConley didn't want to talk about it, Xu Yi tactfully stopped talking about it.
Of course, apart from this topic, Xu Yi didn't mention the more important purpose of this trip. After Major MacConley carefully put away the blueprint, Xu Yi directly extended his hand to him.
"Major, I've already done what I promised you, what about the person you promised me?"
"Come with me."
Major MacConley waved his hand at Xu Yi and led him out of the office. They came to the training ground outside and waved at a large man standing there.
That large man ran over and gave Major MacConley a clean military salute. He looked at Major MacConley and didn't even look at Xu Yi.
Looking at his sturdy physique, straight posture, determined expression, and the deep scars on his exposed skin, it was obvious that he was a veteran who had been on the battlefield for a long time.
"Come, Chairman Xu, let me introduce you.
He is called Hart, he is a veteran who just retired this year.
Since Hart joined the army, he has been fighting with his life on the northern battlefield against those bastards from the Sack Kingdom, so he has rich battle experience.
The most important thing is that he was an instructor in the northern army before, leading a group of brothers under him.
If you want him to be the captain of your company's guards, he is definitely the most suitable person. "Major MacConley pointed at the large man and introduced him.
Hearing Major MacConley's words, Hart turned to look at Xu Yi.
The two looked at each other and Xu Yi's scalp turned numb. A killing intent that almost materialized hit him, instantly giving him goosebumps.
Xu Yi narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. He forced himself to calm down and looked at Hart as much as possible.
Hart's eyes were very bright. Seeing that Xu Yi didn't avoid his gaze, he was a bit surprised before revealing a smile of praise.
"You are the New Flyer's Chairman Xu?" Hart took the initiative to reach out his hand.
"You're much better than I imagined."
Xu Yi reached out to shake his hand before asking with a smile, "In your imagination, what should I be like?"
"In my imagination, merchants are all trash who only have money in their eyes!" Hart said without any politeness.
"If it wasn't for the major finding me and assuring me that Chairman Xu isn't like other merchants, I wouldn't have come to see you at all."
Major MacConley said with an awkward smile, "Chairman Xu, Hart's personality is like this, don't lower yourself to his level."
Xu Yi laughed, "It's fine, I like this kind of straightforward personality.
For a soldier like Hart, if he can be the captain of our company's guards, I believe that no one will dare provoke our company in the future. "
Since both Xu Yi and Hart were satisfied, this meeting was considered a success.
With Major MacConley as a witness, Xu Yi and Hart signed an agreement, hiring him to be the captain of the New Flyer's guards.
Other than Hart, major MacConley had recruited a total of two hundred veterans who were around the same age as Hart for Xu Yi.
These veterans were all elite soldiers who had experienced hundreds of battles. After retiring, they would become the targets of all the large companies in the Lampari Kingdom.
If it wasn't for his relationship with Major MacConley, it would have been impossible for Xu Yi to get two hundred of these veterans in one go.
Of course, compared to the deep cooperation between the military and the New Flyer, this request could only be considered a small price to pay.
After dealing with this matter, Xu Yi left the military and went to see Joseph Marquis again.
When he came to Anvilmar City last year, Xu Yi and Joseph Marquis had discussed the matter of mining non-ferrous metal veins in the Lampari Kingdom.
Now that a few months had passed, the preparations for both sides were basically done. Through the Norma tribe's dwarves, they had found a non-ferrous metal vein near Cramer City and decided to mine it.
According to the previous agreement between the two sides, New Flyer and the Joseph family originally planned to cooperate to open a steel mill near Cramer City.
Now that the non-ferrous metal vein had been discovered, Xu Yi simply expanded the steel mill so that it could simultaneously smelt the special steel and non-ferrous metals needed by the military equipment.
This way, the scale of the steel mill could even be compared to the steel mill in the Falling Rain Valley from the beginning.
Even for the Joseph family, the opening of the steel mill was a very meaningful matter, so Joseph Marquis was very cautious when Xu Yi came to visit.
The discussion between the two sides was very smooth.
Joseph Marquis didn't reveal too much of his intentions on the surface, but for an important person like him in the Lampari Kingdom, sometimes as long as he didn't explicitly express his opposition, it would mean that he agreed with it.
Xu Yi didn't expect him to be like chairman Morgan and openly bargain with him. He only knew his basic intentions from him and achieved his goal.
The only accident was that when Xu Yi left the marquis' mansion, he coincidentally bumped into Vincent who was returning home.
The moment he saw Xu Yi, Vincent's expression became very interesting.
After being scolded by his father in front of Xu Yi and being forced to apologize to Xu Yi, even if Vincent was unwilling and angry, he clearly knew that Xu Yi wasn't on the same level as him. No matter how much he hated Xu Yi, he didn't dare do anything to Xu Yi.
So Vincent only glared at Xu Yi and walked past him as if he didn't see anything.
Xu Yi naturally wouldn't argue with this kind of person and left the marquis' mansion with a smile.
This time in Anvilmar City, Xu Yi only stayed for three days, meeting with Major MacConley, Joseph Marquis, and Great Magician Eisenkel.
Other than having an important deal with Major MacConley, meeting with Joseph Marquis and Great Magician Eisenkel was just to confirm their cooperation. It could only be considered a visit since he was in Anvilmar City.
Xu Yi wanted to use this chance to meet her highness Seveni and it would be best if he could see the king, but he was told that her highness had gone to the north for an inspection and it was unknown when she would come back.
In short, this trip to Anvilmar City for Xu Yi, other than achieving his most important goal and solving the problem of the guards, he didn't achieve anything else.
But based on Major MacConley's reaction, Xu Yi was certain that as long as New Flyer could make the Magic Trebuchets and let the important people of the army headquarters see the might of the Magic Trebuchets, there would be a market for this thing.
Although what Xu Yi said to Major MacConley wasn't wrong and the cost of the Magic Trebuchets was very high, it was still a bit exaggerated.
According to the budget, if one took away the research and development costs, the cost of the Magic Trebuchets should be around six to seven hundred gold coins a day.
The research and development cost was before mass production. Once it was developed, it would be quickly distributed to mass production and it wouldn't take up that much of a share.
According to this, as long as New Flyer sold a single Magic Trebuchet, they would earn a large profit of over two hundred gold coins or even close to three hundred gold coins.
The only obstacle was that the army headquarters didn't have any money … …
But for Xu Yi, this wasn't that big of a problem.
Money, Xu Yi and New Flyer weren't that lacking.
Compared to this, there were many things that couldn't be bought with money that were more important.