When the first leaves that turned yellow due to the season were blown off by the autumn wind, the road from Bonta City to Kalma City was finally declared completed.
Unlike the Luoyu Highway, this road connecting Bangta City and Kalma City can be regarded as the first true intercity highway on the Sainz continent.
The completion of this highway can completely represent that the road traffic on the Sainz continent has entered a new era. It has got rid of the previous situation of only bumping along the rugged roads paved with dirt and gravel. From now on, you can enjoy the cement Concrete pavement brings all kinds of convenience and convenience.
For the Kingdom of Lampali, this is also a road of great symbolic and practical significance, so this time not only the city lord Earl Satsuma personally presided over the completion ceremony of the road, but Her Royal Highness Princess Yanis also came to express congratulations on behalf of His Majesty the King.
In addition to the large number of ordinary people in Bangta City who watched the excitement, various chambers of commerce in the city also sent representatives to the scene.
For these chambers of commerce, the most important thing is to find out from Her Royal Highness the Princess and Earl Satsuma the true attitude of the kingdom's senior officials towards this road.
Although Earl Satsuma had publicly expressed his support for road construction in many newspapers before, His Majesty the King had never expressed a clear attitude to the general public.
Although there is no clear attitude expressed, it can actually be regarded as a kind of implicit support, but if it is not stated clearly, everyone will still feel a little unsure.
After all, after the highway is completed, Xinfei Chamber of Commerce will build a toll station on the highway to collect tolls.
What attitude His Majesty the King holds on this point is the focus of many chambers of commerce.
So during the ceremony, representatives of the major chambers of commerce appeared to have been listening to Count Satsuma's passionate speech. In fact, he had been secretly focusing on Her Royal Highness Princess Sevigny, who was standing behind Earl Satsuma.
As for standing next to Her Royal Highness at this time. Xu Yi was chatting playfully with Her Royal Highness the Queen. Naturally, everyone was extremely envious.
However, they never expected that the topic discussed by Her Royal Highness and Xu Yi at this time was an issue that was not important at all.
"President Xu, I deeply regret your ability to choose a name." Sevini looked at Xu Yi with a relaxed smile on his face and said helplessly: "This road is of such great significance, but you are so lazy that you just picked it." A name as simple as 'Bangkar Highway' is simply... a waste of everyone's feelings!"
Xu Yi shrugged: "It's just a name. What's the big deal. Besides, the Bangka Highway is so simple and clear. Once you hear it, you can understand that this road connects Bangta City and Kalma City."
"But after all, this is the first real road in our Lampali Kingdom. Can't you put some thought into thinking of a good name?" Sevini pretended to be angry.
Xu Yi looked indifferent: "Isn't this necessary? Anyway, highways are used for people to travel, and the name is just a code. It's good that I didn't call it 001 National Highway directly..."
Sevini could only shake his head helplessly and rolled his eyes at Xu Yi.
When she first came into contact with Xu Yi, Sevini could still maintain her majesty and reserve as a princess. However, as the number of contacts increased, she now found that her mentality became more and more relaxed in front of Xu Yi. . She has also increasingly lost the calm and rational mentality that she valued most before, and it is easy for Xu Yi's reaction to cause mood swings.
"Forget it. After all, this is a road built with the money of your Xinfei Chamber of Commerce. It's up to you as the president to call it whatever you want, and I have no control over it." Sevini sighed and decided not to dwell on this issue any longer. "But there is one question I hope you can respect my opinion on."
"What's the problem?" Xu Yi asked curiously.
"Although my father initially agreed to your proposal and allowed your Xinfei Chamber of Commerce to finance the construction of this road, and allowed your chamber of commerce to build a toll station on the road to collect tolls, you don't think that the toll amount you set Is it too high?”
Xu Yi frowned slightly: "Your Highness, I remember that when we originally designated the toll standard, we informed His Majesty the King in advance through Earl Satsuma? Why do you still accuse our pricing of being too high now? One more thing The carriage only costs fifty silver coins, but I don’t think it’s high at all.”
Sevini showed a look of embarrassment on his face, paused, and sighed softly: "President Xu, this is actually what my father meant. After all, this road is mainly to serve ordinary people in the kingdom. Specifically, it is In order to serve the people in the two cities of Bonta City and Kalma City, it is already inappropriate to charge tolls, and it is extremely inappropriate for the price to be so high. "
Hearing Sevini's words, Xu Yi immediately put away his playful smile and said very seriously: "Your Highness, you should know very well that our Xinfei Chamber of Commerce has invested a total of 430,000 yuan to build this highway. Gold coins. And we will also bear all the maintenance of this road, which is also a huge expense. If the price is too low, how long do you think it will take for us to recover the money we have invested?”
Sevini's expression moved slightly, and he seemed a little embarrassed and said: "Well... President Xu, can't you have some spirit of dedication to the common people?"
Xu Yi looked at Sevini in surprise: "Your Highness, I remember that I have discussed this issue with you before? It's okay for you to ask me and our new flying merchant to have dedication, but you can't ask everyone And the Chamber of Commerce has this kind of selfless dedication?”
"Although I do hope so, it is indeed impossible." Sevini nodded helplessly.
"That's right." Xu Yi continued unceremoniously: "Our Xinfei Chamber of Commerce is building this road now to set an example for all the chambers of commerce in the kingdom and tell them that not only do they not have to lose money for road construction, but they can also To make money. If it wasn’t for this reason, do you think the Fersun Carriage and Horse Racing Association would take the initiative to invest in the construction of the road from Bonta City to Saltan City? And if there is no money from private chambers of commerce like us, the kingdom’s finances will be able to provide it? Come with so much money?”
"No." Sevini smiled bitterly, shook his head, and took a deep breath. A smile appeared on his face again. "Okay, President Xu. It's my problem. Just pretend I didn't say these things. I just saw the completion of this road with my own eyes, and I couldn't help but think that if there were such roads everywhere in our Lampali Kingdom, It was such a touching scene, I was a little excited for a while.”
Xu Yi stared at Sevini for a while, and his tone became calmer.
"Your Highness, I understand your feelings. But please also recognize the reality. The kingdom is not strong now and cannot rely on its own financial capabilities to support these infrastructure constructions, so we can only find other ways to solve this problem."
Xu Yi's sincere tone and expression made Sevini couldn't help but feel moved in her heart. A glimmer of light flashed in her eyes. She looked at Xu Yi seriously and listened to him continue.
"Anyway, our Xinfei Chamber of Commerce will bear the infamy for establishing a toll station on this highway. When it was announced in those newspapers, some people even came to the product service center of our chamber of commerce to protest. But it doesn't matter, to me "The most important thing is to achieve the ultimate goal. You can ignore some criticisms."
"Has anyone protested directly?" Sevigny was a little surprised. "Didn't Count Satsuma make any reaction?"
Xu Yi chuckled: "After the earl learned about this, he originally wanted to send guards to guard in front of the product service center of our chamber of commerce. But I refused. After all, compared to the few who scolded me and our chamber of commerce, most Bangta People in the city and the city of Kalma welcome the construction of this road with both hands, even if they know that there is a toll, most people can understand it.”
Sevini smiled slightly: "Most people don't have private carriages anyway, and your road will not charge pedestrians."
Xu Yi's heart moved: "Speaking of private carriages, I remembered something and wanted to ask your Royal Highness for a favor."
Having been in contact with Xu Yi for a long time, Sevini knew very well that except for the fact that Xu Yi always used honorific names for herself at the beginning, if he suddenly changed his title to himself later, there must be trouble, so she was a little wary. He asked: "What is it?"
"You just said that most people don't have private carriages, so they usually choose to walk, and rarely take the carriages of carriages. But in this way, it actually delays the travel time. I have calculated that, just It was a walk from Bangta City to our Xinfei Chamber of Commerce's factory in Sanqiton Manor. The total distance was about fifteen kilometers. Even if we went faster, it would take nearly two hours, not to mention a waste of time. It was very tiring. "
"Then what? You want to solve this problem? But how do you plan to solve it?" Sevigny asked curiously.
"Yes, I really want to solve this problem. For example, many workers who work in our factory live in Bangta City or in villages outside the city, and they spend a long time commuting to and from work every day. Although our Chamber of Commerce Some rooms have been built for workers to live in, but they are not enough now, and they will be even more insufficient when production is further expanded in the future." Xu Yidao.
"You haven't said how you plan to solve this problem yet," Sevigny reminded.
"Well... to put it simply, it is to create an urban public transportation system." Xu Yi replied.
"Urban public transportation system?" This was not the first time Sevini heard these strange new terms from Xu Yi. Although he didn't understand them, he still thought about them carefully. "You mean... it's just like Filson Carriage and Horse Racing, which uses many carriages to shuttle around Bonta City, connecting the traffic inside and outside Bonta City, so that everyone can take a carriage to where he wants to go. ?”
"Her Royal Highness is so smart!" Xu Yi couldn't help but praise. "But that's basically what it means."
Sevini thought for a while, frowned and said: "Although this idea is very good, I think you should go to Feilson Carriage Company to discuss this issue, or discuss with Earl Satsuma. How can I help you?"
Xu Yi chuckled: "Your Highness, of course you can be of great help. Because you can help get something that, although it can be completely replaced in the long run, is indispensable in the short term, that is the horse that pulls the cart." ( To be continued.)