This document was actually just a small matter. It said that there were several villagers from a village outside the city who wanted to work in the Principality of Constantine, so they were reporting to Banta City ahead of time, keeping their status as citizens of Banta City.
There had been a few similar things in the past, but Count Stagg didn't care that much. He just gave his approval according to the usual procedure.
But when he saw the same report this time, Count Stagg suddenly felt a strong sense of danger in his heart.
After carefully thinking about it, he realized why this strong sense of danger had suddenly appeared.
The reason was very simple, it was because he had been worried about Banta City's tax revenue over the past few days.
Because of the departure of the New Flyer, as well as the large and small companies of Banta City following them, as well as the influence of the free trade rights of the business department, Banta City's tax revenue this year would fall to the same level as a few years ago.
Losing the large amounts of tax from the large companies, it was like someone had dug out a large piece of Banta City.
Now, the citizens of Banta City were actually leaving Banta City. To a traditional noble like Count Stark, this was simply shaking the foundations of Banta City.
Count Stark recalled the documents from a few days ago and found a shocking fact. It was that the citizens who were applying to leave Banta City were actually normal farmers from the villages outside the city.
For Count Stark who placed importance on agricultural development, these normal farmers were the foundation that supported Banta City.
A single farmer leaving wouldn't affect anything, ten of them leaving wouldn't affect anything, but if a hundred or several hundred of them left, it would have a shocking effect.
After recalling the documents from the past few days, Count Stark was surprised to find that in this short period of time, there were close to a hundred farmers who had applied.
If this trend continued, wouldn't Banta City's foundations really be shaken?
Thinking of this, Count Stark looked over the document in his hand again. He found that the report mentioned that these villagers wanted to leave Banta City and work in the Principality of Constantine. They were all prepared to work on the land the New Flyer rented from the Principality of Constantine.
In other words, they had changed from farming in Banta City to farming in the Principality of Constantine.
Count Stark recalled the official documents he had approved a few days ago. The reason given by the ordinary farmers was the same. Recalling the recent actions of New Flyer, a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he snorted heavily.
"This damned Xu Yi, how dare he snatch the most important experienced farmers from me? Is he trying to steal my people?"
Count Stark thought for a moment, then picked up a pen and made a reply on the document, but directly rejected the application.
Although in theory, he didn't have this power, as the City Lord of Banta City, he had many methods to force these farmers to stay.
When he had just finished writing this reply, there was a soft knock on the door of his office.
Based on the frequency of the knock, Count Stark could tell that it was his trusted subordinate, manager Chekov, so he let him in with a deep voice.
After Chekov came in, he gave a bow to Count Stark, "Sir Count, New Flyer's chairman Xu is here to see you."
Count Stark was stunned as he turned to look at the dark sky outside the window.
Why did Xu Yi suddenly come to see him at this time?
Ten minutes later, Count Stark saw Xu Yi in the small reception room of the City Lord's Manor.
"Chairman Xu, it really is rare for you to come this late at night."
Because the City Lord's Manor had received three thousand agricultural magic machines from the New Flyer during the fall harvest, helping with the fall harvest, Count Stark's attitude towards Xu Yi was much better compared to before.
Xu Yi, other than the first time he met Count Stark, every time he met Count Stark, he would be very respectful and this time was no exception.
"Lord City Lord, I'm really sorry to disturb you this late at night."
Xu Yi said with a faint smile, "But I will be heading to the Principality of Constantine in two days, so there are some things I need to discuss with the Lord City Lord ahead of time."
Hearing the words "Principality of Constantine", Count Stark's face sunk, "Very good, Chairman Xu, since you took the initiative to mention the Principality of Constantine, I have a question to ask you.
Since your company has rented land in the Principality of Constantine, why don't you hire the local farmers of the Principality of Constantine to help you reclaim it? Why do you have to poach the experienced farmers from Banta City?
Do you know that this will have a serious impact on the agricultural development of our Banta City? "
Xu Yi's smile didn't change, "I know this, so I came to discuss this with the Lord City Lord to solve this problem."
"Solve this problem?" Count Stark gave a cold snort.
"It's easy for you to say.
Do you know how important these experienced farmers are to our Banta City?
If you take them away, it will affect the grain yield of our Banta City. Can you take this crime? "
"Of course I can't take it."
Xu Yi honestly said with a smile, "Grain production is the most important matter of our Lampari Kingdom, so even if I'm bold, it's impossible for me to do something like this.
But Lord City Lord, if I may be direct, although grain production is related to people, it doesn't need that many people. "
Count Stark knit his brows, "What?
You want to sell me your theory of using magic machines to replace people? "
Xu Yi gave a shrug, "I don't feel that there's a problem with this theory.
If people can do more things with the help of magic machines, wouldn't that be a good thing? "
"Humph, magic machines are dead things and people are alive. The things that people can do, there are many things that magic machines can't replace."
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile. There were many things that magic machines could do that people couldn't do.
But he didn't come this time to argue with Count Stark about this. After thinking about it, he said, "Lord City Lord, no matter what, I think that you should admit that with the help of the agricultural magic machines, our Lampari Kingdom's grain yield has increased by this much in the past two years, right?"
Count Stark was silent.
The agricultural magic machines had helped the Lampari Kingdom's grain yield increase, no one could deny this. Even the conservative faction led by the Stagg Family couldn't deny this because they were one of the biggest beneficiaries.
This was the most important reason why even though the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and Xu Yi supported her highness Seveni, they were still safe and sound.
"Of course, I didn't come this time to ask for merit from the Lord City Lord, rather I came to tell you the reason why our New Flyer brought the farmers of Banta City to the Principality of Constantine." Xu Yi said.
Count Stark looked at Xu Yi before giving a slight nod, "Speak."
Xu Yi let out a sigh of relief. No matter how much this Count Stark wanted to target him and the New Flyer, when it came to Banta City and his benefits, he would patiently listen to their opinions.
"Lord City Lord, I think that the reason why you're worried that we will bring the farmers of Banta City to the Principality of Constantine is because you feel that this will affect Banta City's grain yield, right?" Xu Yi asked.
"Nonsense!"
Count Stark said with a cold snort, "Banta City's farmers are limited to begin with, if you take some away, it would be strange if it didn't affect them!"
Xu Yi revealed a confident smile, "I feel that the Lord City Lord doesn't need to worry at all.
First, we're only planning on recruiting no more than two thousand people from Banta City. I think that compared to the forty thousand farmers outside Banta City, this isn't considered much, right? "
"Only two thousand people?"
Count Stark was a bit surprised, "Didn't your New Flyer rent over a hundred thousand hectares of land in the Principality of Constantine?
How could two thousand people be enough? "
"According to the contract our company signed with the Principality of Constantine, we must recruit no less than five thousand local workers from the Principality of Constantine."
Count Stark slightly knit his brows, "Even with five thousand people, it still isn't enough, right?
It's an entire hundred thousand hectares, according to my estimates, we'll need at least ten thousand people to barely use it. "
Xu Yi shook his head, "Lord City Lord, to be honest, the people of the Principality of Constantine are just ….. too lazy. So I don't expect these five thousand people to be of any help because their ability to work can't compare to the two thousand people I recruited from Banta City."
Count Stark gave a proud snort, "The people of the Principality of Constantine are very lazy, I know this.
Your company has to invest in that place, it'll be your skills if you don't suffer a loss. "
"Many thanks for the Lord City Lord's concern."
Xu Yi said with a faint smile, "Lord City Lord, what I want to say is that for the hundred thousand hectares of land to farm, according to my estimates, just the two thousand people recruited from Banta City can solve it all."
"That is impossible!"
Count Stark firmly said, "Our Stark Family has several hundred years of experience in farming, we understand it more than you.
According to my experience, you might be able to cultivate the hundred thousand hectares of land with ten thousand people, but two thousand people?
Don't even think about it! "
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile before suddenly saying, "Then Lord City Lord, how about we make a bet?"
Count Stark revealed a vigilant look, "What bet?"
"If our New Flyer can't cultivate the hundred thousand hectares of land with just two thousand people, our company will send the two thousand people back to Banta City and pay compensation for each of them. At the same time, we will pay the City Lord Manor five hundred thousand gold coins as compensation for affecting Banta City's grain production.
What does the Lord City Lord think? "
Count Stark looked at Xu Yi in surprise, "You're serious?"
"I'm very serious." Xu Yi nodded.
Xu Yi nodded, "If the Lord City Lord doesn't believe me, I can represent the New Flyer to make a contract with the City Lord Manor as a guarantee."
Count Stark looked at Xu Yi in surprise before asking, "But how can it be considered completely cultivated?
What is the standard? "
"It's very simple.
The standard for cultivation is of course the grain yield.
The land of the Principality of Constantine is suited to growing rice, so based on Karma City's two meals of rice per hectare per year, the hundred thousand hectares of land should yield around two hundred thousand tons of rice per year.
If it's lower than this, it'll be considered my loss. "
"You really want to do this?" Count Stark looked at the serious Xu Yi with a look of disbelief.
To him, it wasn't easy to cultivate the hundred thousand hectares of land, but Xu Yi wanted to complete this difficult task with just two thousand people. This was simply impossible.
Of course, this didn't matter to Count Stark. Thinking about it, he asked Xu Yi, "Then what if you reach this number?"
"It'll be considered my win, but I hope that the Lord City Lord can agree to a request of mine." Xu Yi said.
"What request?" Count Stark asked in a curious voice.
This Xu Yi clearly knew that he was targeting him and the New Flyer, but he came here to discuss a request with him. Could it be that his brain was fried?
"This request is actually very beneficial to Banta City.
It's like this … … "