The continent’s year 3782 of the new era had entered its second month and the people of the continent lost the festivities of the New Year, going back to their normal lives.
But for the people of Banta City, at the start of this year, there were changes in Banta City.
When Count Stagg held the post of City Lord last year, he focused on the agricultural promotion policies and aimed at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, reducing trade in Banta City to almost zero.
But this year, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce held a press conference in Banta City, announcing that their company would continue developing new magic machines this year and improving the lives of Banta City’s people.
Everyone had thought that Count Stagg would move against them for doing this, but unexpectedly, Count Stagg didn’t suppress the Frestech Chamber of Commerce like everyone imagined. Rather he openly announced in the «Banta Times» that Banta City’s agricultural development relied on the help of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s agricultural magic machines. He hoped that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would work hard to develop new agricultural magic machines and advance Banta City’s agriculture even further.
As soon as this issue of the «Banta Times» came out, it was immediately snatched up. Everyone was shocked by this situation.
Because based on last year, Count Stagg should have a grudge against Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, he shouldn’t give them any leeway at all.
But with Count Stagg’s statement, did it meant that the two had given up their past enmities and were working together now?
What happened next seemed to have proved everyone’s guesses.
The next day after Count Stagg published his opinion in the «Banta Times», the Porter Chamber of Commerce’s chairman Cimila Porter announced in the «Banta Times» that the canal project connecting the Sandy River and the Rum River was starting again. The Porter Chamber of Commerce was recruiting large amounts of workers to clear the canal.
This canal project was proposed by Xu Yi when Count Sean was still City Lord, it was a joint operation between the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Amrit Chamber of Commerce.
After Count Stagg took over as the City Lord, this canal project had been inspected and had been put aside for wasting the Banta City people’s taxes.
Now the Porter Chamber of Commerce was announcing the start of the canal project again in such an open manner, but Count Stagg and the City Lord Manor hasn’t said anything. It meant that Count Stagg’s attitude had relaxed compared to before.
But not long after this, the «Banta Times» reported another shocking piece of information. The Frestech Chamber of Commerce would be setting up an agricultural fertilizer plant in the Sandton industrial district.
Everyone was shocked that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was opening a factory in the Sandton industrial district because to everyone, it would be normal if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce never returned to Banta City after being suppressed by Count Stagg last year. But now the Frestech Chamber of Commerce wasn’t just opening a new factory, they even announced it in the «Banta Times», telling everyone that this fertilizer factory was actually set up under the special instructions of the City Lord Manor!
Everyone couldn’t understand what was happening. The Frestech Chamber of Commerce doing this, were they submitting to the City Lord Manor?
But facts proved that it was different because in the report of the «Banta Times», it said that this fertilizer factory wasn’t related to the City Lord Manor and was completely owned by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
Didn’t this mean…..Xu Yi and Count Stagg had reached a deal in secret?
That seemed a bit impossible……
While everyone was speculating over the secret deals of Xu Yi and Count Stagg, people also expressed deep interest in this so-called “fertilizer”.
According to the introduction of this “fertilizer” by the «Banta Times», this “fertilizer” was used to improve the land and increase grain yield.
Everyone didn’t believe this, could it be that the grain yielded wasn’t already determined? Why could it be increased after this fertilizer was spread? This seemed like nonsense.
But coming from a deep trust in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, everyone just waited to see.
In just a few days, an order from the City Lord Manor sent a stir through Banta City again.
“They’re actually forcing us to buy this fertilizer? What is our new City Lord thinking?” Sarkozy looked at Cantona sitting in front of him with a faint smile of confidence and asked, “Hey, Cantona, what do you think this is? Could it be that what everyone says is true and chairman Xu is now relying on the Stagg Family?”
Cantona wanted to maintain the stance of an observer and watch everyone’s reactions, but hearing this question from Sarkozy, he couldn’t keep calm.
“What nonsense are you saying? Old man Sarkozy, I thought that you were smarter than these fellows, how could you believe that kind of stuff?” Cantona curled his lips in discontent, “Although chairman Xu has reached a deal with Count Stagg, how is that related to him relying on the Stagg Family? According to me, it’s clearly chairman Xu bringing the Lord City Lord to his side.”
Old man Sarkozy shook his head, “I don’t care about the matters of important people, just tell me, why is the City Lord Manor forcing every farmer to buy fertilizer? There are many people doubting that the Lord City Lord forced chairman Xu to open this fertilizer factory and he’s taking the money of us farmers.”
“Forget it, how much money could normal farmers have? How could chairman Xu and Count Stagg care about that?” Cantona didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Alright, I’ll be honest with you, this fertilizer really is a good thing. You just have to scatter it according to the methods of the City Lord Manor and I guarantee your harvest will be much better than normal.”
“It’s that amazing?” Sarkozy and the other village representatives gathered by Cantona looked at him with doubtful looks.
“Of course!” Cantona gave a certain nod, “You should know that I just came back from the Stantine Duchy, right? Let me tell you, before I came back, the Frestech Farm had their first harvest of rice……”
“Ah? Isn’t it still winter, how could they harvest rice?” A farmer asked in a surprised voice.
“Idiot, he already said that it was the Stantine Duchy, the weather there is different from here. Isn’t that right, Cantona?” Another farmer said.
“Un, the Stantine Duchy is warm all year round, so even their coldest climate is the same as our spring. So there are three farming seasons there and the crops grow quite quickly. Before I came back, they just harvested the rice they planted during winter. Can you guess how much they harvested?”
Seeing the mysterious look on Cantona’s face, everyone knew that the number had to be higher than normal.
Sarkozy thought for a bit before saying, “According to the standard of Karma City, one hectare of rice paddies should give a harvest of around two tons. Based on your appearance, it should be higher than this, so I’ll say it was three tons per hectare, right?”
“No, it’s even higher.” Cantona shook his head with a smile, “Let me tell you, in the over twenty thousand hectares of land reclaimed this year, there was a harvest of seventy thousand tons. It was around four tons per hectare!”
“It can’t be!”
“How is that possible!”
“This is a joke!”
……
Including Sarkozy, all the farmers stood up in shock.
For old farmers like them who had been in the fields for years, the amount of crops yielded by the farm was very limited.
Sarkozy was already very bold guessing that each hectare could produce two tons because even in Karma City where rice farming was developed, they could only produce around two tons of rice per hectare.
It had to be a rich harvest for this to happen, it was very hard to obtain normally.
“Why would I joke with you? Let me tell you, this is the strength of the fertilizer. In the over twenty thousand hectares of land reclaimed, we all used the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s newly developed fertilizer and the effects are really good. If you don’t believe me, you can go ask the people who came from Banta City.”
“They are in the Stantine Duchy now, can we go that far to ask them?” Sarkozy gave a snort before asking, “Alright, Cantona, I believe you and believe the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and chairman Xu. Since this fertilizer is this useful, then we’ll have Banta City’s farmers use it. But Cantona, can you tell me why this fertilizer is this useful?”
“Right, tell us what’s going on with this, it’ll be easier when we talk to other people.”
“That’s right, if this fertilizer is this useful, why didn’t the Frestech Chamber of Commerce take it out sooner?”
……
“Hey, could it be you’re blaming chairman Xu?” Cantona looked over them, “Let me tell you, this fertilizer is a secret recipe chairman Xu worked hard to obtain from the elves. The elves have abilities in growing plants, you wouldn’t be doubting that, right?”
“Elves?” Everyone looked at each other and revealed looks of understanding.
Everyone would doubt it if it was explained in another way, but no one would doubt it if it was considered the elves’ secret recipe.
The elves had a history of tens of thousands of years, they were much older than humans and many other races. Everyone knew that the elves were good with plants, they could even create a forest in barren wilderness, so it wasn’t strange for them to make something that could increase the yield of rice paddies.
Seeing the expression on everyone’s face, Cantona shook his head and gave a sigh in his heart.
To him, Xu Yi being able to receive this important secret recipe from the elves must have paid a large price.
As far as he knew, Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce wouldn’t earn any money from this fertilizer factory, since it was controlled by the elves. Xu Yi had spent so much to solve this problem was completely him thinking about the farmers of Banta City.
However even like this, he was still being doubted by the farmers of Banta City. It really made people feel it wasn’t worth it for him.
