"Ha, ha, Chairman Xu, long time no see." Count Stark had a very warm smile as he came to welcome Xu Yi.
It was different from a month ago when he became Banta City's City Lord and immediately showed hostility to Xu Yi and the New Flyer. Today's Count Count Stark was like a different person. When he saw Xu Yi, it was like he was seeing an old friend. His warm appearance made the surrounding people unable to stop their eyes from popping out.
Xu Yi also didn't have the same hostile appearance like when he first met him, rather he had the same warm smile. He respectfully gave Count Stark a bow.
"Lord City Lord, to have you personally come out to welcome me, it really is an honour."
"It's nothing, it's nothing. Chairman Xu, you are an honoured guest that I specially invited today, so of course I have to properly welcome you.
Come, please come in. "
Count Stark made an inviting gesture to Xu Yi before his eyes fell onto Delil behind him and a look of doubt flashed in his eyes.
"This is the business manager of our company's plastic processing factory, young miss Delil." Xu Yi immediately explained.
"As you can see, she is an elf from the Nightsong tribe."
Facing Delil, Count Stark wasn't as warm. He just gave Delil a slight nod before leading the way into the City Lord's Manor.
Xu Yi followed Count Stagg into the familiar banquet hall and saw that the chairmen of the other large companies of Banta City were already waiting in the hall.
Seeing Count Stark personally lead Xu Yi in, chairman Cruz not far away waved his hand at Xu Yi as a taunting smile appeared on his lips.
Of course this wasn't directed at Xu Yi, rather it was because of Count Stark's actions.
In the short month that Count Stark had taken over as Banta City's City Lord, because of his agricultural promotion policies, the companies of Banta City had been suppressed to varying degrees.
The New Flyer and the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce that had stood with the New Flyer had been targeted the most. The New Flyer had directly left Banta City, so their losses weren't that serious.
As for the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, because their foundation in Banta City was too deep, they couldn't leave in a short period of time. So they were affected even more and suffered even more losses.
Because of this, chairman Cruz was very dissatisfied with Count Stark. Now that he had no choice but to change his attitude, he was forced to gather the chairmen of the large companies and even personally coming out to welcome Xu Yi. chairman Cruz was naturally filled with joy.
Because to him, this meant that Count Stark had been forced to lower his proud head.
Regarding this, chairman Cruz was filled with schadenfreude.
Other than chairman Cruz, the other chairmen of the large companies all greeted Xu Yi when they saw him come in.
Although no one was as obvious as chairman Cruz, based on the relaxed smiles on everyone's faces, they were also excited that Count Stark could change his attitude.
In the end, these companies were all Banta City's companies. As the City Lord of Banta City, if Count Stark was determined to carry out his agricultural promotion policies, suppressing the large companies, even if these companies had different powers behind them, they didn't have a better way to resist Count Stark.
But speaking of this, it was because the large companies had different powers behind them that Count Count Stark's suppression of the large companies caused them to suffer losses. So even if Count Stark represented the stubborn conservative faction of the Lampari Kingdom and had the support of the Stagg Family, he didn't dare go too far and had to compromise.
But he didn't personally come out to greet anyone and only went out to greet Xu Yi, which was really thought-provoking.
After Xu Yi entered the banquet hall, there were three more groups of guests that came in and all the guests were present. Count Stark came on stage to give a short opening speech before announcing the start of the banquet.
Chairman Cruz immediately found Xu Yi.
"Hey, Chairman Xu, is our beloved Lord City Lord using you as a target?" Chairman Cruz asked.
"That shouldn't be the case." Xu Yi shook his head.
"Everyone knows that there is no way to reconcile our relationship, so no one will doubt me.
He's only doing this to show me his attitude. "
"His attitude?
You wouldn't think that he would turn around and support you, right? "Chairman Cruz said.
"That's clearly impossible.
According to my guess, this time, he just wants to cooperate with our Chamber of Commerce to relieve some of the pressure he's under.
“
Xu Yi was surprised, "What does he want to cooperate with you for?"
"You should ask him about this." Xu Yi gave a shrug and moved to the side, revealing Delil behind him.
"Come, let's not discuss this meaningless matter. Let me introduce you, this is … …"
"Young miss Delil, right?
We met last time when young miss Stiel came to Banta City with her, "Chairman Cruz cut off Xu Yi's words and gave a slight bow before reaching out his right hand to Delil.
"I'm very happy to see you again, beautiful young miss Delil."
Delil hesitated a bit before reaching out her hand for chairman Cruz to kiss before replying, "I'm also very happy to see you, your excellency chairman Cruz.
Young miss Stiel introduced you to me last time, saying that you are Chairman Xu's best partner. "
Chairman Cruz laughed, "Of course.
You can ask Chairman Xu if you don't believe me. Other than me, can he find a closer partner in Banta City? "
Xu Yi said with a smile, "Chairman Cruz is right. Right now, our New Flyer has the closest relationship with the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce.
But ….. I don't know if the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce will be able to maintain this relationship with us in the future when they develop in other countries. "
Chairman Cruz's expression changed. He didn't care about the teasing in Xu Yi's words as he asked Xu Yi, "Have you reached an agreement with Newman?"
"We haven't completely reached an agreement, but I feel that there shouldn't be a problem in the end.
Before Newman left, he wanted me to persuade you that he hoped that your Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce could recruit some local workers from the Kingdom of Ruhr, which would make it easier for them to support you. "Xu Yi said.
"You agreed to him?"
"So aren't I persuading you?" Xu Yi spread his hands as he said this.
Chairman Cruz was a bit surprised, "Why did you agree to his suggestion?
Could it be that you don't know that if we recruit local workers from the Kingdom of Ruhr, our company's technology will be stolen sooner or later? "
"The technology is actually here, it isn't that easy to steal." Xu Yi pointed at his head.
"What's more, if you want to maintain a leading position, the best way isn't to prevent the technology from leaking out, but to vigorously develop new technology on the basis of this foundation and maintain your own technological lead.
Remember, technology is the foundation of industry. "
"You make it sound good." Chairman Cruz smiled bitterly.
"You're not worried about this because New Flyer has too many leading technologies, so you're not afraid of losing one or two.
Our Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce doesn't have many leading technologies, so we can't be as extravagant as you. "
"Have you heard of the phrase 'technology in exchange for a market'?" Xu Yi asked again.
"What does that mean?"
"Simply put, it's to release your own unique technology and let everyone enjoy the convenience of this technology. Then you use this technology to impress everyone and make everyone need this technology.
This way, there will naturally be a market for this technology.
With your Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce's current situation, the faster you lay down a complete road network, the more beneficial it is for your company's interests. "Xu Yi said.
Chairman Cruz frowned and thought for a while, then gently nodded: "Maybe you're right, but I don't think there's a need to be so anxious.
As long as our company continues to lay down the roads, a complete road network will be built sooner or later.
At that time, everyone will still feel the convenience brought by the roads, and our company's business will still be good. "
Xu Yi couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
Compared to him, Chairman Cruz was a true businessman. He wanted the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce to quickly lay down the roads and build a complete road network in order to further his next plan. But from the perspective of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, of course, he wasn't willing to do this.
Because this way, it was equivalent to compressing their total profits and shortening their profit cycle.
For an old company like the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce with a history of over a hundred years, they naturally placed more emphasis on a long history.
Xu Yi knew that words alone wouldn't be able to convince Chairman Cruz.
Using the words he just used to educate Delil, the only thing that could move a businessman was profit.
"Okay, Cruz, let's talk about a deal." Xu Yi thought for a while and said.
Hearing Xu Yi ignore the title of "chairman", Chairman Cruz raised his eyebrows. He immediately understood that what Xu Yi was about to say was very important. His expression immediately became serious as he nodded to Xu Yi and said seriously, "Go ahead."
"If your Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce can complete the road network of the Lampari Kingdom, the Kingdom of Ruhr, the Principality of Constantine, and the Black Rice Wasteland within five years, then I'll create an extremely stable and promising source of profit for your company. What do you think about this deal?" Xu Yi asked.
Chairman Cruz looked at Xu Yi in disbelief. If it wasn't for Xu Yi's serious expression, he would have thought that Xu Yi was joking.
If Xu Yi's deal involved money, technology, and other practical items, then he wouldn't be surprised at all. However, he didn't think that Xu Yi would actually say that he wanted to create a source of profit for their company.
Did he think that this was something that could be obtained just by saying it?
If there was such a good thing, why didn't New Flyer use it for themselves?
"Because our New Flyer will only focus on the magic machine industry. Although this source of profit has great prospects and potential, it actually belongs to the business scope of your Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce. I have no interest in interfering." Xu Yi said seriously.
Chairman Cruz looked at Xu Yi with confusion for a while, "It belongs to our company's business scope?
You're not talking about building houses, right? "
Xu Yi smiled, "That's right, building houses."