The Endless Sea in early spring was probably the most gentle time of the year. Today was also the same as usual. The sea was calm and tranquil. It was an extremely suitable weather for sailing.
There was a fleet of seven large transport Magic Ships and twenty guard ships that was quickly moving through the southern seas of the Kingdom of Ruhr.
This fleet came from the second fleet under the New Flyer. Other than the first fleet led by Narvil, this was the largest fleet under the New Flyer. They were mainly responsible for transporting goods between the New Flyer and the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom.
When the second fleet set out this time, they had sent all seven large transport Magic Ships at once. Other than delivering goods to the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom, they were also carrying large amounts of construction materials and three hundred and forty workers from the Amrit Chamber of Commerce.
New Flyer had signed a new cooperation agreement with the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom at the end of last year. The New Flyer would invest in building a magic machine production base in the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom.
The main use of this magic machine production base was to produce various agricultural magic machines and construction magic machines. They would also help the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom and the three surrounding countries with their farmland transformation projects, as well as reconstructing the irrigation works related to the farmland.
This time they were transporting three hundred and forty workers from the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce. Other than building the magic machine production base, they were also tasked with paving the roads in the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom.
The Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom had already completed the paving of two roads in the kingdom. After they personally experienced the convenience brought by the roads, their desire for roads became even more intense. Thus, this time, they formulated a plan to pave a total of nine roads with a total mileage of more than 1,800 kilometers in one go.
For a small country that was only twice the size of the Principality of Constantine, if they could finish paving these nine roads, although it couldn't compare to the roads in the Principality of Constantine and the Lampari Kingdom, it would be enough to connect every city and city. It would definitely greatly increase the traffic situation of the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom.
Due to the complicated terrain of the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom and the swamps, the planning of the nine roads alone took more than a year. As a result, the construction of the nine roads was delayed until now.
Moreover, these nine roads with a total mileage of more than 1800 kilometers were estimated to cost about 2,000,000 to 2,500,000 gold coins if they were located in the Lampari Kingdom or the Kingdom of Ruhr. However, in the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom, the estimated total investment given by the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce was as high as 4,000,000 gold coins.
However, even with such a huge estimated investment, the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom still agreed without hesitation. They didn't even bargain with the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce.
This made Xu Yi sigh that the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom really was a country of thirteen companies. While being rich, he also deeply felt the determination and boldness of the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom.
When he went to the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom to talk to chairman Gaza, chairman Gaza had bluntly said that the goal of the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom was to unite the small countries in the southeast corner of the continent. They would gather these weak countries together and form a power that could compete with the Kandla Empire.
This ambition wasn't small at all.
Of course, Xu Yi was happy to see this happen.
After all, the bigger the ambition, the bigger the demand, so it would be easier for the New Flyer to sell to them.
The goods that the New Flyer's second fleet had on the large transport Magic Ships was one of the necessary items to satisfy the ambitions of the Nozdormu Business Union Kingdom.
But before completing this task, the second fleet had another important task to complete.
When a giant island appeared in the sea in front of them, all the ships of the second fleet changed directions and headed towards this island.
Other than the fact that it was a bit bigger, it wasn't that different from the islands that could be seen all over the endless seas. But when they came closer, they found that there was a harbour with three piers to the north of the island. There were also a row of square brick houses on the shore of the island, which clearly meant that there were already people living on them.
When they came closer, they could see that whether it was the harbour or the houses on the island, there were flags with the same design hanging on them.
If it was someone from the countries in the southwest corner of the Sines, they would be able to recognize it with a single glance. The design on these flags clearly represented the New Flyer.
That's right, this island was one of the sixteen islands that the New Flyer had developed on the southern seas. Now that there was a small base for the New Flyer on this island, it was completely under the control of the New Flyer.
But in this harbour that should only be used by the New Flyer's ships, there were currently ten large wooden warships with the Kandla Empire's flag. On the sea outside the harbour, there were also over fifty Kandla Empire's warships.
If he didn't prepare himself and saw this, the New Flyer's second fleet's commander Tom Markin would have immediately thought that the Kandla Empire's navy was attacking this island that belonged to the New Flyer.
But now that he saw it, Tom Markin was just like normal. He gave his subordinates the order to stop and didn't give them any other orders.
After around twenty minutes, the second fleet arrived at the edge of the island. Other than a single large transport Magic Ship that stopped at an empty dock, the other ships all stayed on the sea. They stopped beside the Kandla Empire's warships, being less than a hundred meters away from each other.
Tom Markin was the first to come down from the large transport Magic Ship. He saw several middle aged men wearing the uniform of the Kandla Empire's navy.
"General Osborne, it really is troublesome for you to come all the way here." Tom Markin immediately revealed a smile and came forward.
The middle aged man wearing the uniform of the Kandla Empire's navy was the Kandla Empire's second fleet's vice commander Lino Osborne. Seeing Tom Markin quickly come over, he reached out his hand to shake his.
"Manager Markin, where's the ship?"
Markin was a bit surprised. He never thought that this general Osborne wouldn't waste any words and would directly go to the main topic.
But after looking at the military uniform on his body, Markin felt relieved.
This was probably the straightforward style that a soldier should have.
Moreover, the deal between the New Flyer and the Kandla Empire had already been settled, so all the negotiations had come to an end. There was no need for both sides to talk.
Thinking of this, Markin turned with a smile to point at the ships parked on the sea behind him.
"They're parked there.
General Osborne, have your people check them. If there's no problem, you can confirm the goods and then send people to take over. "
"Alright." General Osborne waved his hand at the people beside him.
"Go."
The two Kandla Empire navy officers beside him went to the dock and boarded a Kandla Empire's warship. The warship started and headed towards the guard ships of the New Flyer's second fleet.
Seeing that the ships of both sides had begun to make contact, Markin withdrew his gaze from the sea and made an inviting gesture to General Osborne.
"General Osborne, it should take some time for them to check. Why don't we sit down and have a chat?
It just so happens that the chairman asked me to bring you a few words. "
"Chairman Xu?"
Osborne narrowed his eyes slightly, thought for a moment, then nodded and sat down with Markin in a small room by the dock.
"Tell me, what message did Chairman Xu ask you to bring?" As soon as he sat down, Osborne asked immediately.
Although the time he had contact with Osborne was short, Markin had already grasped his temper. After hearing the question, he didn't hesitate and replied directly, "The chairman asked me to tell you that he agrees in principle with your proposal to cooperate in the development of the southern waters of the Kandla Empire.
But because your attitude towards our Chamber of Commerce is ambiguous at present, any cooperation can't be deepened.
The chairman hopes that you can show your sincerity to change this situation. "
"Their attitude towards your Chamber of Commerce?" Osborne frowned slightly, and after a moment, he suddenly let out a wry smile.
He knew very well that in the sentence Xu Yi asked Markin to pass on, the "your side" didn't refer to their Kandla Empire Navy, but the entire Kandla Empire.
As Xu Yi said, the Kandla Empire's attitude towards New Flyer was indeed somewhat ambiguous.
On the one hand, because New Flyer blatantly supported the Kingdom of Ruhr and even openly attacked the Kandla Empire Navy in the Endless Sea, causing the Kandla Empire Navy to suffer huge losses, many people in the Kandla Empire naturally defined New Flyer as an enemy force.
With the Kandla Empire's consistent attitude, of course, they should be ruthless towards their enemies and completely eradicate them.
What's more, New Flyer was just a small Chamber of Commerce.
Most of the people who supported this view were military personnel and some of the Empire's great nobles, because they felt that the dignity of the Kandla Empire couldn't be offended.
On the other hand, there were many people in the Kandla Empire who felt that New Flyer was now showing a lot of valuable and amazing things. If used well, the Kandla Empire could even become more powerful with New Flyer.
So these people thought that it was best to put down their previous enmity and cooperate closely with New Flyer to strengthen the entire Kandla Empire.
Those who supported this view mainly came from the Empire's Ministry of Finance and some local forces, because they had already obtained obvious benefits through their cooperation with New Flyer.
However, there were some 'traitors' in both forces.
For example, among the people who opposed New Flyer, there was the Empire's navy who hated New Flyer the most, but they supported cooperating with New Flyer.
And on the side that supported the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there was also the southern province's governor Duke Windsor who hated the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to the core. He said that he wouldn't allow anything related to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to enter his territory.
Based on the current situation, the people who opposed New Flyer were stronger. After all, most of the people who opposed New Flyer were from the military and the nobles of the Empire.
Of course, the final decision was in the hands of the most respected emperor.
If the emperor didn't say anything, no one in the Empire dared to do anything.
But since the last court session, the Empire's finance minister Hastri Marquis had personally described the New Flyer's influence on the tax revenue of the southern ports and the surrounding cities, there was a subtle change in the emperor's attitude.
Although out of consideration for the face of the Empire, the emperor wouldn't explicitly support New Flyer, but in some small details, this was clearly revealed.
For example, this time the Kandla Empire's navy bought five guard ships from New Flyer. If it wasn't tacitly approved by the emperor, it was impossible.