Volume 3 Chapter 29 - Steamrolled
Volume 3 Chapter 29 Steamrolled
Seeing the expression on their faces, Xu Yi continued, “If the finances of our Lampuri Kingdom could become better, I feel that the Sack Kingdom couldn’t be our opponents at all. How could it hurt us so much just to take back a single Muerto Mountain Range.”
Chairman Cruise and chairman Renersa revealed bitter smiles.
They certainly understood this, especially after experiencing the terrifying might of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s four Magic Trebuchets. They firmly believed this without any doubt.
But they were also very clear that the Lampuri Kingdom hadn’t been poor for just a few days, it was easier said than done to change for the better.
“Actually, it’s very easy.” Xu Yi shook his head and said, “Did you forget just how poor Banta City was a few years ago? Why did it suddenly change for the better in these two years?”
Chairman Cruise rolled his eyes at Xu Yi, “Chairman Xu, you don’t need to boast at this time, right? Who doesn’t know that the change in our Banta City is driven by your Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “I wasn’t just boasting, I was just reminding you. The development of Banta City is because of the magic machine industry developing, so why can’t the entire Lampuri Kingdom follow Banta City’s pattern? Think about it, how much did last year’s tax revenue go up by? If the Lampuri Kingdom had this kind of growth, not mentioning buying four Magi Trebuchets, the army headquarters wouldn’t even have problem buying forty or four hundred.”
Chairman Cruise had the same bitter smile, “You make it sound easy, but the problem is that it isn’t easy to spread the magic machine industry across the Lampuri Kingdom. Can’t you see that there is a big problem just in Banta City alone?”
“The Lord City Lord, he…..” Chairman Renersa said a few words before closing his mouth with a bitter smile.
He and chairman Cruise both had a helpless look on their faces.
As the chairmen of the large companies of Banta City, they knew better than the normal citizens the real reason why Count Stagg was aiming at Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
But it was because of this real reason that made them feel even more helpless in their hearts.
They were outstanding merchants and not outstanding politicians.
This level of political matter, with their current statuses, they couldn’t meddle in at all.
Even if they felt the treatment of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was unfair and they suffered from the changes in Banta City, they couldn’t do a thing in the end.
Xu Yi discussed this matter with them naturally wasn’t because he wanted to obtain support from them.
Actually, he just wanted to test their real stances.
There was no need to mention an old ally like chairman Cruise, but Xu Yi cared about chairman Renersa’s stance.
That was because the Renekton Chamber of Commerce hadn’t cooperated with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce as long as the Amrit Chamber of Commerce. So the Renekton Chamber of Commerce’s attitude represented the attitude of most companies in Banta City.
Now it seemed like most companies in Banta City supported the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and were dissatisfied with Count Stagg.
This was all just idle talk.
After Count Stagg came, he immediately executed his agricultural promotion policies. The large companies in Banta City all suffered losses from this, so it would be strange if the merchants liked Count Stagg.
While they were leisurely chatting, the fighting around them had never stopped.
But there really wasn’t much to say about the fight.
Although there were over five thousand beastmen in this ambush, after being bombarded by the Magic Trebuchets without stop, the beastmen had suffered heavy losses going from five hundred meters away to two hundred meters away. Their formation had been completely scattered.
When they saw that they were close and the four Magic Trebuchets were no longer bombarding them, as soon as they became excited and were prepared to charge again, they found that the sky was covered in a dense rain of arrows.
Seeing the beastmen in the distance falling under the rain of arrows, chairman Cruise and chairman Renersa were speechless once again.
After the two were in a daze for a while, they couldn’t help turning to Xu Yi.
Chairman Renersa said with a bitter smile, “Chairman Xu, why do I feel that it was enough just for your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guards to come. You didn’t need our guards to come at all.”
“That’s right, how is this a fight, it’s a complete slaughter.” Seeing how unexpectedly easy this fight was, chairman Cruise’s nervous look gradually disappeared and he was even relaxed enough to crack jokes.
“This is a joint operation between our four companies, it can’t be that just our Frestech Chamber of Commerce will send out forces, right?” Xu Yi said with a smile, “Then again, it’s better to be more prepared.”
Chairman Renersa gave a nod. He looked at the situation of the battle before looking at the Magic Repeating Crossbow of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guards. After thinking for a bit, he asked, “Chairman Xu, do you sell those things?”
“I really want to sell them, but it’s a real pity that it’s the same as the Magic Trebuchets, they are weapons limited by the army headquarters. Unless the army headquarters approves, we can’t sell them to anyone.” Xu Yi said with a shrug, “Even if we use it for ourselves, it is because of my identity as a viscount and lord and not because of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s name.”
Chairman Renersa didn’t look too surprised. For a weapon that was as powerful as this, of course it was specially restricted by the army headquarters.
Otherwise if it was to fall into the hands of another country, like the Sack Kingdom, it could pose a threat to the Lampuri Kingdom.
Seeing the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guards holding arrow boxes that were half as tall as a person, chairman Renersa couldn’t help slightly knitting his brows as he asked, “Chairman Xu, this Magic Repeating Crossbow is easy to use, but doesn’t it consume too many arrows? I think that in a matter of time, a single guard has used close to ten arrow boxes. According to what you said about how each box has twenty arrows, which costs close to three hundred silver coins, this consumption…..is a bit too high.”
Xu Yi gave a shrug, “Fighting is about using money. In my opinion, spending money is better than letting people die. Money can be earned, but lives can’t be taken back.”
Chairman Renersa just gave a bitter laugh. He looked at the rain of arrows that blotted out the sky and the beastmen who were being shorn like wheat, he shook his head and said, “If the army headquarters could be as luxurious as you, the Sack Kingdom would have already been trampled by us.”
Xu Yi smiled without saying anything.
The army headquarters being this luxurious? That was simply a joke.
In order to deal with this joint operation, Xu Yi had completely taken out the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s funds. He did this to ensure that this operation went perfectly and to check the effectiveness of these things.
From what he saw, the effects were excellent, but the problem was that the consumption was too high.
In order to achieve this current effect, if everything that Xu Yi had invested had been converted to gold coins, it would be at least thirty thousand gold coins.
This was just fighting against the motley beastmen. If this was converted to the northern army fighting a proper army like the Sack Kingdom’s army, the consumption would increase by several times.
Major MacConley told him that after the Muerto Mountain Range campaign, the army headquarters couldn’t take out five thousand gold coins, but Xu Yi wasn’t surprised at all.
If one wanted to rely on equipment to suppress enemies, one had to spend money.
When the Frestech Chamber of Commerce guards pulled out the Magic Repeating Crossbow, it meant that the ambush of the beastmen had completely failed.
It was just two hundred meters, but for the beastmen, it was like a moat that they couldn’t pass through at all.,
Under the endless rain of arrows, the charging beastmen dropped one by one, unable to fight back at all.
Compared to humans, the beastmen were already in worse living conditions, so it was impossible for them to have good weapons. Being able to resist was by depending on the strength of their body, having an overwhelming might when it came to fighting humans at close range.
But when Xu Yi used powerful weapons like the Magic Trebuchets and with the support of the Magic Repeating Crossbows, the beastmen couldn’t engage in close range combat at all.
The over five thousand beastmen broke through the rain of arrows, but there were less than a thousand of them left.
Moreover, these less than a thousand beastmen were all heavily injured and their battle strength dropped.
The guards of the four companies had been saving their strength and their morale was at a peak, so with an order, they charged forward like tigers jumping off their mountains.
The beastmen finally had a chance to fight the human guards in close range, but they were terrified to find that the armours the human guards were wearing were very firm and their weapons were very sharp.
With this difference in equipment, the battle efficiency of the armoured humans came very close to the beastmen who were fighting with no armour and were using sticks and stones as weapons.
Then adding in the fact that one side had high morale and the other side had just been battered, when both sides began fighting in close range, there was a clear disparity.
After just ten minutes, half the thousand beastmen who charged in had fallen. The remaining several hundred beastmen knew that this was bad and couldn’t help turning to run.
However, once they pulled away a bit, they heard the sounds of giant stones flying through the air that made their hearts tremble.
The four Magic Trebuchets that hadn’t been put away fired again and the giant stones fell onto the escaping beastmen. Although the formation of the beastmen were scattered since they were running, so the chances of hitting them weren’t high, it still crushed half of the beastmen running away and shattered the last bit of fighting will that they had.
Seeing the remaining hundreds of beastmen disappear into the dark horizon, Xu Yi felt it was a bit of a pity.
If he had prepared some war horses, perhaps the guards could have chased down the remaining beastmen and prevented any further problems.
But it was a pity that war horses were a scarce resource in the Lampuri Kingdom. Even if Xu Yi had a close relationship with the army headquarters, it was impossible for their guards to receive some.