The geographical location of Dole City is very delicate.
This city originally belonged to the Frankish Kingdom, located in the north of the Frankish Kingdom, close to the border between the Frankish Kingdom and the Maro Empire.
Because the Frankish Kingdom and the northern part of the Malo Empire are also divided by a mountain range, and Dole City is stuck at the exit of a valley with different numbers of mountains that can be passed through. It can be regarded as controlling this road connecting the Frankish Kingdom. It is located at the chokepoint of the transportation hub of the Malo Empire.
Previously, the Frankish Kingdom and the Malo Empire had always had a good relationship and could be considered an alliance, so Dole City only served as a transportation hub.
But now with the demise of the Frankish Kingdom, the area where Dole City is located has been divided into the name of the Duke of Drake. Dole City has been transformed, and its strategic position is extremely significant.
If the Malo Empire wants to invade again, Dole City is a point that cannot be ignored.
Therefore, Xu Yi cooperated with the Duke of Drake this time to build a complete city defense system for the Principality of Drake. With this, Dole City became the first choice to resist the invasion of the Maro Empire.
As Xu Yi said, the purpose of developing this system was first to provide the entire city with a complete magic protection system based on military magic machinery, which could easily withstand the attack of the Maro Empire's army.
The ultimate goal is to be able to complete the defense mission even when the opponent dispatches magisters, making Dole City impregnable.
But this system has a very serious problem, that is, the cost is too high.
If Dole City, a city that is not that big, wants to fully deploy such a system, according to the budget made by the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, it will need to invest a minimum of more than eight million gold coins.
Therefore, even if the New Flying Chamber of Commerce takes action, it will not be able to deploy such a system for all the cities currently controlled by the Duke of Drake in one go. It can only select a few cities for final layout.
Dor City is just one of them. This system will be deployed in several cities on the northern border of the Principality of Drac near the Maro Empire one after another, completely blocking the Maro Empire from invading the Principality of Drak from the south. route.
To this end, the total investment amount expected by the Duke of Drake is as high as 70 million gold coins.
Although the Principality of Drake has ensured its fiscal revenue by vigorously developing the magic industry in recent years, it is unable to make such a huge investment.
So according to the agreement between the two parties. The Principality of Drake will sell one-third of the various mineral resources in the newly acquired 170,000 square kilometers of the former Frankish Kingdom to the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, and combine the remaining various mineral resources with the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce. The aircraft merchants will jointly develop it and use this as payment.
Because the mineral resources involved in this agreement were too huge, there were even some discordant voices within the Principality of Dral. Claiming that Grand Duke Caroline is simply trying to please the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce with the hard-earned mineral resources, it can even be said to be traitorous!
But from a practical point of view, with the current capabilities of the Duke of Drake, there is simply no way to effectively develop and utilize these mineral resources. Instead, they are left to the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce for cooperative development. It can be fully utilized.
The most critical thing is that the Principality of Drake cannot do without the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce.
If it lost the support of the New Flying Chamber of Commerce, it would be impossible for the Principality of Drak to develop to its current level, and it would be impossible to confront a behemoth like the Maro Empire.
Therefore, compared to the voices of doubt and opposition, there are still the most voices supporting Archduke Caroline in the Duke of Drake.
This time, the Principality of Drake directly annexed the Frankish Kingdom's huge land of 170,000 square kilometers, which suddenly expanded the territory of the Principality of Drake by nearly twenty times. It can be said to have completed the more than 300 years since the establishment of the Principality of Drake. The greatest achievements to come, even feats that the previous generations of Archduke Drak could not even imagine.
With the support of such achievements, Archduke Caroline's prestige is undoubtedly beyond doubt.
Because of this, many nobles in the Duke of Drake have now spoken out. It was hoped that Grand Duke Caroline would be directly crowned as king, but Grand Duke Caroline vetoed it.
"How could I not understand the thoughts of these guys?" A disdainful smile appeared on Grand Duke Caroline's still gorgeous face. "They are just hoping that after I am crowned king, I will re-enforce the enfeoffment. Humph, these guys are all staring at this newly acquired land. These ignorant guys must have their heads full of thoughts now. Thinking of getting a bigger territory.”
"This is normal, after all, you are a noble. Obtaining more territory is originally a tradition of the nobles, and it also represents the glory of the nobles." Xu Yi said with a smile.
"Tch, even if I give them a large territory, will they have the ability to hold it?" The mockery on Grand Duke Caroline's face became even deeper. "Just like you. Xu Yi, you seem to still have a title of earl in the Principality of Standing, right? How much territory do you have under your name? Does it have any impact on you? Who will look at you because your territory is not big enough? Can’t do it?”
"I have been emphasizing that my identity is a businessman, be it a noble or a magician. It is just incidental." Xu Yi shrugged and said with a relaxed face: "There is no point in comparing the size of the territory with me, it is better to Come and compete with me to see who makes more money every year.”
"How much money do you earn every year?" Grand Duke Caroline glanced at Xu Yi up and down and narrowed her eyes slightly. "Xu Yi, can you tell me how much money your Xinfei Chamber of Commerce can make in a year now?"
Xu Yi suddenly laughed: "This is not a dirty secret. You don't need to ask in this tone. Let me tell you the truth. Last year, our Chamber of Commerce made about 150 million gold coins in a year."
"One hundred and fifty million gold coins!" Grand Duke Caroline suddenly took a breath. "Holy God! I always knew that your Chamber of Commerce made a lot of money, but I never expected that it actually made so much! Our principality's annual fiscal revenue is less than 20 million gold coins!"
"That was when you were just a small principality. Now that you have acquired this large territory, as long as you operate it well, I think your annual financial income can easily exceed ours in a few years." Xu Yi said with a smile. "In addition, I also need to tell you the fact that our chamber of commerce's income statement at the end of this year will probably be ugly."
"It's not surprising. After all, your New Flying Chamber of Commerce escort team also directly participated in the war this year. War is a very expensive thing. If it weren't for the military magic machinery you produced that had an absolute combat advantage, the war would have continued for a long time, regardless of whether it was our principality. Your Chamber of Commerce will eventually be dragged down by the two huge empires of Malo Empire and Candela Empire."
"You are right, so we cannot delay and must end this war in the shortest possible time." Xu Yi said seriously.
"How to do it?" Archduke Caroline frowned. "The foundations of the Maro Empire and the Candela Empire are too deep, and they have so many magisters. We can only be completely passive when facing them. It is entirely up to them to decide when to end the war."
"That's not necessarily true. As long as it hurts them and lets them know that continuing to maintain a state of war will only hurt them more, they will actively choose to end the war." Xu Yi showed a dangerous smile. "First of all, what I need to tell them is that the Magister is not that safe."
Grand Duke Caroline looked at Xu Yi doubtfully.
In the past few years of getting along, Xu Yi showed more than once that he didn't care about the magister, or even looked at him with disdain, which made her very strange.
It stands to reason that Xu Yi is already a magister himself, so he should know better than anyone how terrifying a magister's ability is.
Although the military magic machinery developed by the New Flying Chamber of Commerce is equally powerful, the most terrifying thing about the Magister is that it is far more flexible than the military magic machinery and is difficult to truly limit.
Moreover, magisters are not as laborious to use forbidden spells as great magicians. Once a magister is allowed to use all his strength, the destructive power caused is extremely terrifying.
If it's just for defense, maybe we can think of a way. But if you want to counterattack, you will have a headache due to the powerful destructive power caused by the magician.
This is the main reason why Archduke Caroline believes that although they easily defeated the regular armies of the Candela Empire, the Maro Empire and other countries on the frontal battlefield, they still occupies an absolute disadvantage in the overall situation.
With the military magic machinery produced by the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, they can easily resist the attacks of the two imperial camps, but they are basically unable to counterattack.
Not to mention the magister, judging from the background of both parties, it is too far apart.
"Our best choice now is to consolidate the results we have achieved so far, absorb them well, and then improve our own strength, so that we can have the capital to truly compete head-on with the two empires. If we act rashly, I don't think it is a good choice... "Hearing the hint of madness in Xu Yi's words, Grand Duke Caroline couldn't help but persuade.
"This is your choice as the leader of a country, and it is indeed correct. But..." Xu Yi smiled and patted her shoulder. "Have you ever thought about a question, what does our side rely on to easily defeat the two empires on the battlefield?"
"Of course it relies on the military magic machinery provided by your chamber of commerce, what else can it be?" Archduke Caroline asked in confusion.
"That's true, but it's not entirely accurate." Xu Yi shook his head slightly. "In fact, during this many battles with the two empires, we can find that the two empires have actually done some research on military magic machines, and many military magic machines have been put into actual use. And we The ability to easily defeat them relies on our Chamber of Commerce’s current technical advantages in military magic machinery. Have you ever thought about what would happen if our Chamber of Commerce’s technical advantages in this area are gone over time?”
Grand Duke Caroline's face changed slightly: "No way... your chamber of commerce's military magic machines are obviously so much stronger than theirs, how could they possibly catch up with them."
"Nothing is impossible in this world. So we have to take advantage of the fact that their technology in this area is still at an absolute disadvantage to gain enough benefits for ourselves."
"Are you planning to..." Caroline looked at Xu Yi in surprise.
Xu Yi smiled and patted her shoulder again: "Wait for my good news." (~^~)