Volume 2 Chapter 153 - Agricultural industrialization (1/2)

The laughter naturally wouldn’t pass through thousands of kilometers to reach Banta City.

However, it was unknown if he sensed Seveni and Viscount Leslie discussing him, Xu Yi who was in the warm hall of the City Lord’s Manor suddenly couldn’t help giving a sneeze.

This sudden sneeze interrupted Count Sean while he was reading his document and also attracted the attention of everyone in the hall listening attentively.

Count Sean put down his report and said to Xu Yi with a smile, “What is it? Chairman Xu, are you dissatisfied with the report that I currently hold in my hands?”

Xu Yi quickly shook his head, “No, no, I don’t have any objections. Only…..I suddenly felt a bit cold.”

“Cold?” Count Sean looked at the two Magic Air Conditioners on the walls of the hall and said with a smile, “These are Frestech Brand Magic Air Conditioners from your company. If you are feeling cold while they are being used, I should be asking you as the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s chairman if there is a problem with them.”

“Ha, ha!”

Of course everyone knew that Count Sean was teasing Xu Yi, so they burst out into laughter.

Xu Yi laughed, “That is impossible, the Frestech Brand Magic Air Conditioners are trustworthy and definitely have no problems. It’s possible that after walking with Still last night by the river, I caught a cold from the cold wind.”

The hall was filled with laughter again.

Chairman Rank who was sitting not far away from Xu Yi said with a sigh, “Chairman Xu is young after all, you’re going out on a stroll on such a cold night. For an old man like me, I’m not willing to leave my home once it gets dark.”

Everyone said the same as they teased Xu Yi.

As the Frestech Chamber of Commerce became bigger, Xu Yi’s position in Banta City had also risen. Gradually he was treated on the same level as the chairman of the old companies of the city.

Although everyone teased him because of his age, there was no one who looked down on him.

Even chairman Morgan who had the greatest hostility against Xu Yi before, because Xu YI had reached an agreement with Marquis Jole and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was working together with the Falcao Chamber of Commerce, he no longer revealed any hostility towards Xu Yi. Instead, now he was quite friendly to Xu Yi whether it was in public or in private.

After everyone was done with their laughter, the serious mood in the hall had relaxed a bit.

When everyone stopped talking, Xu Yi turned to say to Count Sean, “Lord City Lord, I don’t have any opposition towards this report, but I do have a proposal.”

“Oh? Let me hear it.”

Not only Count Sean, even the others stopped talking and looked at Xu Yi, revealing attentive looks.

After knowing Xu Yi for this long, everyone knew that every time that Xu Yi said something in this situation, it would have quite the influence.

If it was a proposition from him, the Lord City Lord never rejected him and it would always be something big.

“Lord City Lord, in the report that you just read, Banta City is planning to reopen the lands that were neglected before this year. I don’t have any opinions on reclaiming more farmland and increasing the grain yield, but I feel that you’ve neglected a very important problem.”

“What problem?” Count Sean asked in a curious voice.

“That is people.” Xu Yi said, “I feel that if there aren’t any related measures, there will be less and less citizens who engage in agriculture and soon no one will farm the land.”

Count Sean knit his brows, “How is that possible? Right now there are over a hundred thousand farmers outside Banta City, how could there be a lack of farmers? It’s fine if it was when we couldn’t plant anything, but now with the help of your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s agricultural magic machines, it’s much easier to plant crops and it’s more effective, so there’s not a problem if there are fewer people. I only made this plan after considering this point. Could it be that your company isn’t planning on making agricultural magic machines in the future?”

“Of course not.” Xu Yi shook his head, “But Lord Count, you might have not noticed something. Although there are over a hundred thousand citizens outside Banta City, do you have stats showing how many of those people in villages are still engaging in farming?”

Count Sean was stunned, “Could it be that you’re saying that those farmers aren’t planting crops? What are they doing then?”

Xu Yi laughed before pointing at himself and the representatives from the various companies of Banta City, “It’s very simple, those farmers are working in factories.”

Count Sean was stunned. He looked over Xu Yi and the other company representatives before suddenly looking like he understood.

“You want to say that those farmers are working in the factories of your companies, so they’re not willing to farm anymore?”

“Of course.” Xu Yi nodded, “The average wage of working in the factories of companies in Banta City is seven gold coins a month. Even those workers who are entering factories on probation earn at least four gold coins a month. Compared to before where they only earned a few gold coins a year by planting crops, it’s clear that they have a higher salary if they enter factories as workers. If I were the farmers, I wouldn’t be willing to plant crops and choose to work in factories.”

“Un…..That is indeed a problem that I have neglected.” Count Sean thought about it with knit brows before asking, “Chairman Xu, how many workers does your company have right now?”

“Not counting the elves and dwarves, just yesterday, we went over four thousand workers.” Xu Yi raised four fingers as he replied, “When the new canned fruit factory opens, we will recruit another five hundred workers. Other than that, according to the estimates of general manager Kennard, we must recruit another thousand workers within the year.”