Xu Yi walked out of the City Lord's Manor and looked up at the stars in the night sky. He let out a long white breath and a bitter smile appeared on his lips as he shook his head.
It would be good if Count Samo was still Banta City's City Lord. That way he wouldn't need to beat around the bush and consider all kinds of irrelevant things.
Count Stark finally agreed to his bet and signed an agreement with him. But in reality, this bet didn't have many benefits for Xu Yi and the New Flyer.
This was because he wanted Count Stark to agree to his request. He wanted Count Stark to implement the mechanical farming reform in Banta City.
This matter was very beneficial to the development of Banta City's agriculture. As for the benefit to Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, it was to use the mechanized farming system to free up agricultural labour, making it easier for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to hire more people.
But to be honest, with the fame of the New Flyer, whether it was the residents of Banta City or the citizens of the Lampari Kingdom who came to Banta City to work, as long as they wanted to find a job, their first choice would be the New Flyer, so they didn't lack people.
The only thing to worry about was the problem of manpower in other places.
Speaking of this, Xu Yi couldn't help feeling emotional. The Lampari Kingdom, or rather the entire Sines had too few people.
Banta City was a small city on the border of the Lampari Kingdom that had less than fifty thousand people and the Lampari Kingdom had less than five million people. It couldn't even compare to the population of a slightly larger city on earth.
Although there weren't any statistics for the Sines, based on the records in the books, even if the population was a bit better than the Lampari Kingdom, it wasn't that much better. The entire continent added together had around two-three hundred million people.
It was because of this that Count Stark was very sensitive to the matter of the New Flyer attracting the farmers of Banta City to the Principality of Constantine, so he clearly opposed it.
Because Banta City only had this many people, if the New Flyer poached a part of them, it would have a serious impact on Banta City's agricultural production.
But Xu Yi promised that he would only take away less than two thousand farmers and used actual data to show Count Stark that with the help of the agricultural magic machines, Banta City didn't need as much manpower as before when it came to agricultural production. Count Stark reluctantly agreed to Xu Yi's decision.
This bet with Xu Yi had only benefits for Banta City, so Count Stark would naturally agree.
Not to mention that Xu Yi promised that even if he won this bet, he would provide five thousand new agricultural magic machines to Banta City for free through the New Flyer, ensuring the agricultural development of Banta City.
With such generous conditions, even if Count Stark doubted why Xu Yi would do this, with the guarantee of the contract in black and white, Count Stark still agreed in the end.
But even like this, when the two were signing the contract, there was an intense debate before they reluctantly came up with the first draft.
Thinking of the doubtful look on Count Stark's face, how could Xu Yi not give a bitter smile.
In order for the magic machine industry to develop in a good environment, he had spent a lot of effort.
Shaking his head, he threw away the complaints about Count Stark and the stubborn conservatives led by the Stark Family. Xu Yi began to organize what he needed to do next.
After obtaining the guarantee from Count Stark that he wouldn't stop the New Flyer from recruiting farmers from Banta City, the next step for the New Flyer was to recruit two thousand farmers from Banta City as soon as possible and bring them to the Principality of Constantine to settle down. Then they would start reclaiming the hundred thousand hectares of land.
It was already the end of November, so if they didn't hurry, it was very likely that they wouldn't be able to finish planting before the spring harvest. If they missed a season's harvest, Xu Yi didn't dare guarantee that he would win the bet with Count Stark.
It was a good thing that the Principality of Constantine's environment was blessed by the heavens. It was a tropical environment that ensured that they could still farm in the winter, unlike the Lampari Kingdom that could only hibernate in the winter.
Moreover, according to his observations, Xu Yi confirmed that they could farm three times a year in the Principality of Constantine.
Just based on this, their grain income was much higher than the Lampari Kingdom's.
This was where Xu Yi was confident in his bet with Count Stark.
Other than taking the time to reclaim the hundred thousand hectares of land, the New Flyer had already begun mining the three iron mines they bought in the Principality of Constantine.
According to the reports of the dwarven craftsmen sent earlier, the iron ore in the three iron mines were high quality ores. This meant that the iron content of the three iron mines was much higher than what they had expected.
Being able to buy these three mines from the Principality of Constantine for one million three hundred and fifty thousand gold coins, the New Flyer had gained a large advantage.
At the same time, through Anklo's connections, Xu Yi had also bought seven Magic Crystal mines from several large nobles in the Principality of Constantine.
Because Magic Crystal mines could be seen everywhere in the Sines and there were only a few of them, this thing wasn't valued that much. In the Principality of Constantine where there were few magicians, no one cared about them. So New Flyer wanting to buy Magic Crystal mines was a pleasant surprise for the nobles of the Principality of Constantine. In the end, New Flyer only spent five hundred thousand gold coins to buy the seven largest Magic Crystal mines in the Principality of Constantine.
Many people were confused by this transaction, but Xu Yi was very clear that not long after, Magic Crystals would become an important resource that everyone would fight over. He had made a large profit from this transaction.
Other than the matter of the Principality of Constantine, the most important thing was the investment in the Black Rice Wasteland.
After the four companies worked together to deal a heavy blow to the Black Rice Wasteland's Beastman Independent Army, the four companies had quickly built a small base in the Black Rice Wasteland.
Now that a month had passed, the base was already in its embryonic form. According to their calculations, it would be ready for use at the beginning of next year.
Chairman Renersa who was in charge of the base in the Black Rice Wasteland had already begun recruiting the beastmen tribes in the Black Rice Wasteland. Other than the four nearby beastmen tribes that had an agreement with the four companies, there were quite a few beastmen tribes in the depths of the Black Rice Wasteland that expressed their willingness to work in the human factories.
According to this trend, as long as the base was built and the factories of the four companies were put into use, the influence of this base would reach as far as a hundred kilometers into the Black Rice Wasteland.
Xu Yi believed that in less than two years, this area affected by the radiation would be integrated into the human order.
If they followed this step, all the beastmen of the Black Rice Wasteland would be taken into the factories of the human companies sooner or later, completely solving the problem of the Lampari Kingdom.
After that, it was the matter of the north.
Xu Yi tilted his head and looked to the northeast.
Thinking of the matter of investing in Sowell City, Xu Yi couldn't help thinking of Sowell City's City Lord Count Samo.
If Samo Count wasn't suddenly transferred away and stayed in Banta City to support Xu Yi and the New Flyer, in just half a year, Banta City would have changed. It wouldn't have stagnated like it was now and even regressed.
Looking to the northeast, Xu Yi saw Princess Caroline's appearance in his mind.
This princess who didn't lose to Stiel in terms of appearance, but was countless times more bold than Stiel, had left a deep impression on Xu Yi.
It wasn't because of her appearance or the naked temptation she had for Xu Yi, rather it was because Xu Yi could see Seveni's shadow on her.
Xu Yi could see that although Princess Caroline seemed a bit frivolous on the surface, she really wanted the Drake Duchy to become stronger. So in the few days she had been visiting the Falling Rain Valley, she kept asking questions, trying her best to absorb all the new things she saw.
When Princess Caroline was in this state, the charm she released was even more captivating than when she was seducing Xu Yi.
Thinking of the final words Princess Caroline said to him before leaving, Xu Yi's heart couldn't help skipping a beat. He quickly shook his head and threw away these distracting thoughts.
After calming down, Xu Yi looked around and headed to the New Flyer's service center in Banta City.
This was his habit. Every time he came to Banta City, he would go to the service center to listen to the reports.
Because the service center directly faced the customers of the New Flyer, he could receive the most direct feedback from the customers. Listening to this feedback, Xu Yi could make the most appropriate decisions on how to improve the product.
When he turned a corner, there was a figure that swayed as they walked out of an alley. Before they even took two steps, their bodies suddenly turned soft and they fell to the side of the wall. Then they fell to the ground against the wall, not moving at all.
Xu Yi was stunned. He quickly went over and squatted down to take a look, but he found that this thin and weak figure was a girl. Based on her appearance, she looked quite young, perhaps around twenty years old.
Based on her closed eyes and weak breathing, it seemed like she had fainted.
Xu Yi grabbed her shoulder and shook her a few times, but the girl didn't wake up at all.
Looking around and not seeing anyone else on the street, Xu Yi hesitated for a bit before helplessly shaking his head. He leaned over to pick up the girl and cast a Wind Control Spell on himself, quickly flying out of the city to the Falling Star Manor.