Volume 1 Chapter 126 - Want the mine?
Volume 1 Chapter 126 Want the mine?
Xu Yi’s expression didn’t change as he asked, “What bad news?”
Seveni hesitated a bit before answering, “It’s related to the two iron mines.”
Xu Yi couldn’t help knitting his brows, “Is there a problem with the two iron mines?”
The two iron mines were an important part of Xu Yi’s deal with the king, so if there was a problem with them, it could even mean that the transaction this time is a failure.
“It isn’t a problem with the iron mines itself, rather we’ve encountered a problem.” Seveni said in an awkward manner.
Xu Yi’s expression calmed down a bit as he asked, “Then may I ask what problem? Could it be that his majesty has changed his mind?”
“No, since his majesty has already signed the contract with you, of course he wouldn’t easily change his mind.” Seveni shook her head before she said with a soft sigh, “It’s just that two days ago, someone in the kingdom suddenly came up with some argument on the contract you signed with the agricultural department.”
“Oh? Who? What problem?” Xu Yi was a bit surprised.
This transaction was signed between Xu Yi and the agricultural department representing the king. To raise an argument at this was equal to going against the king.
During Xu Yi’s observations from living in the Lampuri Kingdom for several years, the king’s might in the kingdom was unchallenged, so who dared to go up directly against him?
“This is related to a deal from a long time ago. The details say that when the Lampuri Kingdom was formed, the first king made a deal with the families that helped him form the nation, rewarding them for supporting him. The deal with the Jole Family is related to the iron mines of the kingdom.” Seveni replied.
Xu Yi suddenly understood, “That means that it’s the Jole Family who aren’t satisfied with his majesty giving these two iron mines to our company? But this isn’t right, those two iron mines don’t belong to any family and they belong to the royal family. Since it’s like this, his majesty has the right to make any decisions for these iron mines, so can other people bring up arguments?”
Seveni said with a bitter smile, “You’re not wrong, but the problem is in the deal the first king made with the Jole Family. Other than giving them some iron mines, they also guaranteed that as long as the royal family wanted to transfer other mines, the Jole Family would have priority.”
“Priority?” Xu Yi’s expression was filled with surprise, “That means that as long as the royal family transfers the iron mines under their names, they must first be given to the Jole Family? Others can’t meddle in this?”
“It’s not that exaggerated. This priority means that for the same price, the representative of the Jole Family had priority over the iron mines.” Seveni said.
Xu Yi finally understood. Thinking about it, he felt that it was wrong, “But these iron mines aren’t things that the royal family is giving to our company, rather it is the price paid for the agricultural magic machines.”
“The problem is that since the Jole Family thinks that if these iron mines are being offered as compensation, it’s equal to the royal family selling these two mines, so the Jole Family has the right to offer a price. Three days ago, Duke Jole proposed in front of his majesty that he wanted to have a fair auction with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce to decide who will take these two iron mines.” Seveni explained.
“His majesty just agreed to this?” Xu Yi asked.
“After all, this is a deal between the first king and the Jole Family, if we don’t keep it, the royal family would be criticized. Chairman Xu, his majesty is a bit helpless in this matter.” After saying this, Seveni’s voice slowed down a bit as there was a trace of pleading that appeared.
Xu Yi looked at Seveni before saying with a cold snort, “Young miss Seveni, I want to lodge a protest on behalf of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Our company has already signed a contract with the agricultural department representing his majesty, but now you want to break the contract for your own reasons. I say that this violates the spirit of the contract and I have my right to show my dissatisfaction.”
Seveni gave a slight nod, “Chairman Xu, I understand very much that you’re dissatisfied, but I ask you to trust that his majesty and our agricultural department wants to cooperate with you. This time it’s because our side didn’t think far enough, causing you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to suffer losses, so we will definitely provide compensation.”
“Compensation?” Xu Yi gave another snort, “Even a signed contract can be broken, how do you want me to believe there will be compensation?”
Seveni calmly looked at Xu Yi for a while before shaking her head, “Chairman Xu, I’ve known you for a while, so I know you’re not a person swayed by personal emotions, so let’s not talk about this, alright? As for the two iron mines, his majesty has no way to reject Duke Jole’s request, so we hope that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce can have a fair bidding war with the Jole Family’s representative. As for the losses your Frestech Chamber of Commerce suffers from this event, his majesty has said that he will provide your Frestech Chamber of Commerce a Magic Crystal mine as compensation. Other than this, the kingdom will give your Frestech Chamber of Commerce some special favours. For example the patent idea you had before, his majesty has indicated he will carefully review it and will submit it to the Royal Parliament to verify as soon as possible.”
“The patent law is not something only our Frestech Chamber of Commerce will benefit from.” Xu Yi shook his head before continuing, “But since his majesty has agreed to provide compensation, I am willing to accept this. But only having a single Magic Crystal mine as compensation, I really don’t think will be enough. Young miss Seveni, you should be very clear that those two iron mines had a high value of one million and eight hundred thousand gold coins on the contract. Now that since Duke Joles has proposed that he would have a bidding with our company, he clearly already understands this price. If the Joles Family proposes a higher price, what should our company do?”
Seveni immediately replied, “If the Frestech Chamber of Commerce wants the two iron mines, it’s very simple, you just need to give a higher price. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want it either, just let the royal family give the two iron mines to the Jole Family and directly use the gold coins to pay for the order.”
Xu Yi said with a cold laugh, “Young miss Seveni, in the original contract, our Frestech Chamber of Commerce would have received two iron mines for one million and eight hundred thousand gold coins. Now we either need to raise the price or lose the two iron mines, do you think this is appropriate?”
“Chairman Xu, the value of these two iron mines is just one million and eight hundred gold coins. Your company will receive the same amount of gold coins from the royal family, is there a problem?” Seveni asked.
“What if I really want those two iron mines?” Xu Yi looked at Seveni, not taking a single step back, “Young miss Seveni, I don’t believe that you can’t see that Jole Family’s goal is not the two iron mines, but rather it is to keep all the iron mines in the kingdom in their hands, driving out all their competitors. Like this, they could monopolize all the iron ore business in the kingdom and set the price at all, with no one being able to compete with them.” After saying this, Xu Yi shook his head and his face looked confused, “Actually young miss Seveni, I’ve always been very curious. For an important national resource like iron ores, why is the royal family not controlling it and it is controlled by a family other than the royal family? Could it be just because of the trivial agreement from the beginning of the kingdom?”
Seveni’s eyes looking at Xu Yi had a strange look as she was silent for a bit. After a while, she slowly said word for word, “Chairman Xu, please remember, you are just a normal merchant. There are some things that it is best for you not to think about.”
Xu Yi gave a self ridiculing smile as he said, “That’s right, you are right, I am just a small merchant, I have no plans on questioning the king. Alright, I won’t care about that now. I just want to ask, how do I acquire the two iron mines that should have already been mine?”
“First I want to remind you that before the Frestech Chamber of Commerce completes the orders, the two mines don’t belong to you.” Seveni said with a serious face, “Second, there is a way for your Frestech Chamber of Commerce to obtain the two iron mines that they should have obtained, but we need your cooperation. That is the reason why I came to see you.”
Xu Yi finally revealed a smile and gave a slight nod, “It seems like young miss Seveni has already made plans, why didn’t you say so earlier? Alright, how should I cooperate with you?”
“According to Duke Jole’s request, in a week, there will be an open auction for these two mines in Banta City. Chairman Xu, if you want to obtain these two iron mines, I’ll have to ask you to……”
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A week later, the Banta City’s City Lord Manor was brightly lit and filled with voices. It was clear there was currently a banquet being held.
The City Lord Manor held banquets for many reasons, especially during this time.
Only the banquet tonight was clearly different from the others.
This was because there was an open auction being held at the same time as the banquet.
An auction being held in the City Lord’s Manor really was unprecedented. However the people who knew the inside story were very clear that if this auction wasn’t held in the City Lord’s Manor, there was no other place qualified.
This was because the auction wasn’t selling some precious treasure, rather it was for two iron mines in Banta City.
Although treasures were rare and could sell for sky high prices, compared to these two iron mines, they clearly weren’t worth looking at.
The people who could participate in auctions were normally rich people, but the people participating in this auction couldn’t be simply described as rich.
Just a single iron mine was worth over a million gold coins and the two mines being auctioned together, the amount reached a point that made most people feel dizzy.
So when many people saw Xu Yi at tonight’s banquet, they couldn’t help revealing surprised expressions.
Although the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had developed quickly since they were established, making everyone pay attention to them. Just in less than half a year, they had already established a place for themselves in Banta City. But the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had existed for a short period of time and lacked any depth, so even if each product of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce sold for a large amount, they wouldn’t have accumulated that much wealth in just half a year.
This Xu Yi, what qualification did he have to participate in this highest level auction of over a million gold coins?