Even though she was far away from the toll booth, Sophia still had deep disdain and disgust on her pretty face.
Kennard and Baron Heiners were chatting and laughing, and they didn't seem to care at all. Instead, they discussed whether the fifty silver coins for a carriage was too expensive or too cheap.
Seeing that the two people ignored her at all, Sophia finally couldn't help it anymore and snorted loudly on purpose.
"Hmph! The road was built to make it easier for others to travel, but they actually charge money. It's too much!" Sophia's eyes widened, looking filled with indignation. "Thank you for praising that guy named Xu Yi just now. I heard that it was him who came up with the idea of building a toll station as well as building a road? This person is so greedy that he is simply necrotic!"
Baron Haynes and Kennard looked at each other and couldn't help laughing and shaking their heads.
"Sofia, I want to ask you a question. The Philson Car and Horse Company invested a total of more than 400,000 gold coins in building this highway. If they don't build a toll station, where will they recover this investment?" Hainer Baron Si asked.
"Why do you have to take it back?" Sofia said loudly. "Since building roads is a great thing that can facilitate so many people, everyone should be rushing to do it. Since Filson Trucking and Horse Racing is willing to pay for the construction, many people will praise them for this and praise them for doing good things. They do Why do we have to build such a toll station and get scolded by so many people?”
Kennard sighed softly, shook his head and said: "Sophia, you are about to be eighteen years old, and you are not young anymore. Can you stop thinking like a child in the future? Although you are right. If If Filson Cars and Horses does not build this toll station, then they will do a great thing and will be praised by many people. But you can't ask all the chambers of commerce in our kingdom to be so selfless? It's obviously very unrealistic. If everyone finds that building roads is not beneficial, how many chambers of commerce do you think would be willing to take the initiative to fund this?"
Although Sophia is a little ignorant of the world, she is not a fool. Of course she understands what Kennard said, but she is still a little unconvinced.
"Four hundred thousand gold coins is nothing to a chamber of commerce as big as theirs. Wouldn't it be better to use it to build a road for everyone to use for free? As the reputation of their chamber of commerce improves, business will definitely get better."
"No one's money falls from the sky, so why do you ask others to use it to contribute to everyone for no reason?" Kennard said. "Another four hundred thousand gold coins is definitely not a small amount. Even for a well-established chamber of commerce in our kingdom like Ferson Carriage and Horse Racing, it would take a lot of courage to spend such money to build a road at once. Speaking of which, this The president of Feilson Carriage and Horse Racing is quite courageous, and he actually chose to build a road at the same time as the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce. "
"Well, Xu Yi praised President Pompeii in his letter to me, saying that although he is easy to make a fuss, his vision is still very commendable." Baron Heiners nodded in response and turned to Sophia. Said: "Sofia, you just said that many people have scolded this toll station, but do you know that the one who should bear this infamy is actually our noble King. Not the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce and Filson Cars and Horses OK?"
Sophia was startled: "What does this have to do with His Majesty the King? It's not like His Majesty the King asked them to charge."
"You're right. Seriously, it's really His Majesty the King who asked them to charge." Kennard took the words and replied. "Building roads and improving the travel environment for citizens should be what a country's rulers should do, but now our kingdom's finances are very short of money, and His Majesty the King cannot afford such money to build roads. At this time , but Xu Yi was able to come up with such an almost perfect way to solve this problem. To be honest, I really admire him. "
"He just wants to make money from this thing. What's there to admire?" Sophia immediately expressed her disagreement.
"If he was just trying to make money, then the toll would not be just fifty silver coins for a carriage. If it were me, I would probably increase the price several times. Because after experiencing the pleasure of running on the road , I don’t think anyone will ever want to let a carriage drive on that dilapidated dirt road again,” Kennard said. "Sophia, would you do that?"
Although Sofia wanted to continue to refute, but now they were riding a carriage on the road, and they could not feel any bumps on their buttocks. The comfort was countless times better than when they were running on the dirt road before. She had no choice. Telling lies without conscience.
Seeing that Sophia was speechless, Kennard smiled and did not intend to continue to force her to admit her mistakes. He turned to the middle-aged man sitting opposite but remained silent and said: "Uncle Hank, wait a minute. After returning to Anvilmar City, you must seriously suggest to your father that we should also build a few roads ourselves. I am sure that these roads will make a lot of money in the future. "
The middle-aged man smiled and nodded: "I have this idea. After personally inspecting the comfort and convenience of this highway, I am now very optimistic about the future of the highway. I even think that, if nothing unexpected happens, it will only take a few years. Our Lampali Kingdom will be connected everywhere by roads.”
"It would be great if that really happens." Kennard said with emotion: "Roads can provide such a convenient transportation environment. I can fully imagine that when roads are connected everywhere in the kingdom, There will definitely be countless carriages running back and forth on these roads, and the whole kingdom will become lively. "
Hearing Kennard, Baron Heiners, and Uncle Hank begin to discuss business issues again, Sophia suddenly felt bored, pouted, opened the curtains, and leaned on the window of the carriage to look outside. scenery.
At this time, she once again felt the benefits of the road.
If she dared to rest her head on the window string while driving on a bumpy dirt road, she would soon be knocked unconscious, and she might even bite off her tongue due to the frequent bumps.
But now that it is resting on it like this, I can only feel a very slight vibration from the car window, which has no effect at all.
Travel on a flat road. The speed of the carriage is naturally much faster.
It didn't take long. Sophia saw a huge iron sign on the side of the road. The top and bottom are painted blue, but there are two rows of large characters written in white paint.
Welcome to Bangta City
Have a nice stay in Bangta City
Sophia was a little surprised.
They walked all the way from Anvilmar City and passed through several cities on the way, but this was the first time they saw such a sign on the roadside.
This sign is so eye-catching that it’s hard to ignore.
Just because of this, Sophia had a good impression of Bangta City, which she had never been to before.
After the carriage entered the boundaries of Bangta City, the scenery on both sides of the road also changed significantly.
While still within the limits of Saltan City, farmland can be seen on both sides of the road from time to time. But there are still many places in a state of desolation.
Although it was much better than the vast tracts of wasteland Sofia had seen in other cities in the Lampali Kingdom, it was still much inferior compared to Bangta City.
As soon as the carriage passed the huge blue sign, a large swath of brilliant golden color rushed towards it.
Looking around, both sides of the road are actually planted with wheat.
Because it has already entered the autumn harvest season, all the wheat in the farmland has produced heavy ears of wheat, stretching endlessly in the fields as far as the eye can see.
Sophia was surprised.
When she was studying at Lampali Royal Academy, she also took some politics and agriculture classes, and knew that the Lampali Kingdom was currently short of manpower. As a result, there is a shortage of manpower to cultivate farmland, so that many fertile fields are forced to lie idle.
And this Bangta City is obviously located in the edge corner of the kingdom. It was a very small city, and it was able to fully cultivate the farmland under its name, allowing her to see such a spectacular harvest scene.
Sofia thought this was just an isolated phenomenon at first, but when the carriage continued to move along the road towards Bangta City, she discovered that the farmland on both sides of the road stretched endlessly, and it was endless when looking into the distance, just like Bangta City. All areas of Tacheng have been reclaimed and wheat has been planted.
"So much wheat, can't be harvested by just harvesting?" Sophia couldn't help but mutter to herself.
"Why can't the harvest be finished?" Baron Heiners asked with a smile. "Don't forget that Bangta City is the headquarters of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce. Nowadays, farmland magic machinery has been popularized here. Not to mention the farmland in Bangta City, I even heard from Xu Yi that some farmers in Bangta City have established But a small business association that specializes in harvesting for others plans to go to surrounding cities to help others harvest during the autumn harvest. "
"It's the New Flying Chamber of Commerce again..." Sofia muttered, turned her head and looked out the window again, but she was so angry that she didn't want to pay attention to Baron Heiners.
But as soon as he looked out of the window, he saw an even bigger iron sign erected on the side of the road ahead.
And on this huge iron plate, there is a picture of a peerless beauty with bright eyes, white teeth, and picturesque features.
A string of pearl necklaces with beads of exactly the same size hung around the beauty's neck, and two strings of shining amethyst earrings hung on her ears.
Although the necklace and earrings are extremely exquisitely made, and it is obvious at first glance that they are very precious jewelry, they cannot cover up the glory of this beauty at all.
It can even be said that it is precisely because they are worn on the neck and ears of this beauty that these two pieces of jewelry become so radiant.
"What is this?" Sofia couldn't help but asked in surprise, pointing at the huge iron plate.
Baron Heiners stretched his head out from beside Sophia and took a look. The expression on his face seemed to be a little puzzled.
"Sarank jewelry makes women more radiant? It's strange that Miss Steele is not advertising for the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, but instead advertising for Sarank. What's going on?"
"Miss Steele? Is she the beauty above?" Sophia asked curiously.
"Yes, she is beautiful?" Baron Heiners said.
Sophia took another look at the iron sign that was getting closer and closer, and couldn't help but nod: "Well, it's really beautiful. It would be great if I could be so beautiful. But Heiners, this is a picture Painting, it’s impossible for a real person to be this beautiful?”
"No, I can assure you that Miss Steele is even more beautiful in person than in the painting." Baron Heiners glanced at Sophia, who was a bit disbelieving, and a playful smile suddenly appeared on his face. "Also I want to tell you something about Miss Steele."
"What's up?"
"Miss Steele is now Xu Yi's girlfriend."
The expression on Sophia's face immediately became extremely wonderful. (To be continued...)