Volume 6 Chapter 48: Investment involves risks
Over a hundred large transport Magic Cars passed over the border of the Lampuri Kingdom and the Rudson Kingdom, heading towards the east of the Rudson Kingdom.
Since the Frestech Chamber of Commerce developed the large transport Magic Cars, this was the first time that so many large transport Magic Cars had been together.
Over a hundred large transport Magic Cars driving together, it created a motorcade that was over two kilometers long, which looked very imposing.
Looking down from above, it would seem like a long snake wriggling around at high speeds.
This motorcade was a joint motorcade of the large companies of the Lampuri Kingdom. They were entering the Rudson Kingdom in large numbers and their goal was the east region of the Rudson Kingdom.
These large transport Magic Cars had various goods loaded in them, all of them were strategic goods the Rudson Kingdom bought from the Lampuri Kingdom which were not being delivered. They were to be delivered to the Rudson Kigndom's army that was currently fighting the Candra Empire's third regiment.
Although the Rudson Kingdom's army's performance had been shocking, no matter how well they did, what decided a war in the end was the supplies.
Especially the Rudson Kingdom, armed with a large number of military magic machines, so they had a high demand for supplies.
Not mentioning anything just, just in the first clash between the two sides, the Rudson Kingdom's army had used one hundred and thirty thousand arrows in just a single day from using their Magic Repeating Crossbows.
Although there was a shocking power, to supplement the one hundred and thirty thousand arrows, it was impossible just with the blacksmiths contracted by the Rudson Kingdom's army.
Not to mention that the arrows used by these Magic Repeating Crossbows had to conform to the standard of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to be used correctly. To let them be built by traditional blacksmiths, not only was it slow, it was impossible for the standards to match. After all, it was hard for the hands of men to match the precision and speed of machines.
For example, the two arrows that were in King Teruc's hands. They looked two different arrows in his hands, but when he touched them and bent them a bit, he shook his head with a bitter smile in the end.
These two arrows looked the same, but when they were in his hands, he could tell that the one in his right hand was a bit lighter. Based on the feel, the arrow in his left hand was much smoother and the arrow in his right hand was much rougher, as well as having some grooves that he could easily see.
The most important thing was that when he put the arrows in front of him, he would see that the one in his left hand was very straight while the one in his right hand was a bit crooked.
Although there wasn't much difference to the naked eye, for King Teruc who had been shooting arrows from horseback since he was young, if both of these were shot in the same environment, the effects of the arrow in his left hand would definitely be better.
As for why there were these differences......
The arrow in King Teruc's left hand was the standard arrow that the Rudson Kingdom had ordered from the Spirit Fox Chamber of Commerce of the Black Rice Wasteland.
This Spirit Fox Chamber of Commerce belonged to a certain fox beastmen tribe on the Black Rice Wasteland, but King Teruc knew that it was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce standing behind them.
The arrow in his right hand was made by the blacksmiths contracted by the Rudson Kingdom because of this war, but it was clear that there was a disparity in quality.
But the real reason that forced King Teruc to give up the idea of having the blacksmiths of the kingdom make these arrows was other than the lack in quality and quantity, the main reason was the difference in cost.
If he ordered arrows from the Spirit Fox Chamber of Commerce, a set of twenty cost twenty silver coins and because it was the Rudson Kingdom, the Spirit Fox Chamber of Commerce gave them a discount, making it nineteen silver coins per set.
If this was converted, it was less than a silver coin for each arrow.
However, if he used the blacksmiths, not only did he have to take into account the cost of hiring that person, the average price of each arrow was over two silver coins.
It didn't matter if it was one, two, one hundred, or even two hundred, but in a war, a single day's consumption could reach a hundred thousand arrows. If they were all ordered from blacksmiths, just the difference in cost would be over a thousand gold coins, which was a difference that couldn't be ignored.
With these reasons, even if King Teruc didn't want the Rudson Kingdom's army to be controlled by outsiders, he had no choice but to accept this.
Thinking of this, King Teruc shook his head. He put the two arrows in his hands on the side and looked out the window of the Magic Airship at the large motorcade of transport Magic Cars before turning to look at Xu Yi beside him.
"Chairman Xu, when can you bring over the Magic Rockets?"
Xu YI revealed a faint smile, "Your majesty, please be assured. The Magic Rockets are currently being assembled, if nothing goes wrong, the first batch of two thousand should be transported in three days."
"Three days?" King Teruc looked at the east before giving a slow nod, "That is acceptable. The Candra Empire should be spending several times to prepare, they won't be in a rush to start the war again."
"If they still can't learn to be discrete after this defeat, I really will be too disappointed in the Candra Empire." Xu Yi said with a smile.
"It's it better if they're dumb?" King Teruc took a sip of tea and paused before continuing, "That way it's easier for us to win this war and your Frestech Chamber of Commerce's military magic machines will shine even brighter. Wouldn't we both be satisfied with these results?"
Xu Yi spread his hands and gave a shrug, "I'm worried that if they are too dumb to understand the situation here, it will be very hard for us to open the market in the Candra Empire in the future."
"Your worries are unnecessary." King Teruc shook his head and pointed to the east, "The eyes of the entire continent are on this battle, everyone has recognized the role of the military magic machines. I'm certain that when this war is over.....Oh, no, it should be before this is even over, there will be many people looking for your company to buy military magic machines. Chairman Xu, how are you planning on dealing with this?"
"If I said that I wanted to sell to the Candra Empire first, would your majesty believe me?"
King Teruc was silent for a bit before shaking his head with a smile, "Chairman Xu, this joke isn't good. If you did do this, our Rudson Kingdom can only be defeated by the Candra Empire."
Xu Yi gave a laugh before waving his hands, "Alright, let's not waste time with this meaningless idle talk. Your majesty, as for us working together to build a gear factory, do you have any suggestions?"
King Teruc thought about it, "This gear factory's location should be chosen by my side and your Frestech Chamber of Commerce shouldn't have any nominal control over it. To put it simply, this gear factory should be independently operated by our Rudson Kingdom."
Xu Yi was a bit surprised. After thinking about it, he slightly knitted his brows, "Your majesty, this is different from what we discussed before. If our company doesn't have any relationship with this gear factory, if we want to continue investing in this factory in the future, there will be many problems. This isn't good for both our sides, is it?"
"No, chairman Xu, there are many problems for our Rudson Kingdom, but there shouldn't be any problems for your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, right?" King Teruc pointed to the east, "I actually understand your company's worries about supporting our Rudson Kingdom, so before the situation becomes clear, I think that it is better for your company to not have any clear relationships with us."
Xu Yi was really surprised this time. He looked at King Teruc in surprise for a bit before slowly shaking his head.
"No, your majesty. Do you know, when our company discussed this matter, there were many people who had the same idea as you and hoped that our company wouldn't be obvious in our support of your Rudson Kingdom, but I rejected this. Do you know why?"
King Teruc narrowed his eyes to look at Xu Yi, "Why? No matter what perspective you consider this from, the Rudson Kingdom can't fight the Candra Empire. Even if it was me, before the first fight, I also wasn't confident in this. Chairman Xu, why are you so confident in us?"
"I'm not confident in your Rudson Kingdom, I'm confident in our company." Xu Yi said with a faint smile, "Or to put it from another angle, as a merchant, the income that comes from investing in your Rudson Kingdom is greater than investing in the Candra Empire. If we supported the Candra Empire, although they could easily defeat the Rudson Kingdom, that does not mean that the Candra Empire would place importance on our company. Moreover, once the Rudson Kingdom was destroyed, the Stantine Duchy would be facing the Candra Empire, which is not what I want to see."
King Teruc was silent for a bit before slowly nodding, "I understand what you mean, but chairman Xu, doing this, your company......Or perhaps I should say that you are taking too many risks. Is this really worth it?"
Xu Yi gave a shrug, "A merchant who isn't willing to take risks isn't a good merchant."
"But chairman Xu, are you certain the people of your company are willing to take the same risks as you?"
Xu Yi pointed at his feet, "I think......that what is below explains everything."
King Teruc turned to look at the motorcade that was gradually moving further away and he gave a nod.
"If your majesty isn't assured in my sincerity, then this thing will definitely make you much more confident in us."
Xu Yi slid over a box to King Teruc with a smile.
King Teruc's eyes narrowed as he took the box without hesitation.
When he opened the box, he found a blueprint, as well as a mold that was made from metal.
King Teruc picked up the Magic Repeating Crossbow arrows that he had just put down and put them perfectly into the mold, without a single deviation.