Book 8: Chapter 94: Worker riots
Book 8: Chapter 94: Worker riots
The street racer didn’t say anything, but it was clear by his eyes that he didn’t accept this.
The young street racers and even their relatives revealed looks that made it clear that they thought otherwise. It was clear that they thought that Xu Yi’s question was just making a big deal of a small matter.
Even the young couple that was almost killed were surprised by this, as if they didn’t expect Xu Yi to become this angry for them.
Xu Yi gave a sigh in his heart.
Even if the Sines Continent had greatly changed with his arrival and had developed a powerful magic machine industry, even reaching earth’s standards when it came to certain technology.
This was only the material change and the minds of people still hadn’t changed that much.
In the countries of the Sines Continent, although slavery had basically been abolished, there was still a serious class division.
Nobles were nobles and commoners were commoners.
In the minds of almost all the people, nobles were much higher than commoners and there was no comparison when it came to their status.
This young couple were clearly normal commoners and the street racers that almost killed them were from traditional noble families of Banta City. The father that stood by his side was a viscount and because he was designated as the successor to the family, he already had a baron title.
So other than Xu Yi, in the minds of everyone, there was a heaven and earth gap in status between the two dies. Even if the commoners were killed, it wouldn’t have been considered anything in their minds.
If it wasn’t for Xu Yi, then they wouldn’t have even needed to compensate them with any money.
What Xu Yi felt even more pity over was that the young couple felt the same.
“Chairman Xu, this was unintentional. He definitely wasn’t willing to hit these people.” Count Vegan quickly tried to calm this mood and said with a smile, “It was a good thing that chairman Xu was there to save their lives. So…..there’s no need to make a big deal over this, right?”
“Big deal?” Xu Yi gave a cold snort before looking at the street racer with a cold look and then turning to Count Vegan, “I am not an official of your Lampuri Kingdom and don’t even belong to your Lampuri Kingdom, so I can decide how you handle this matter. It is unrelated to me and I don’t care. What I can care about is where our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is related in this matter.”
Count Vegan quickly said, “Chairman Xu, please.”
Xu Yi raised his hand to point at the street racer who wasn’t convinced and suddenly asked, “Do you have a driver’s license?”
Everyone was surprised as they looked at the street racer.
The street racer’s expression changed slightly as he hesitated to answer.
His parents standing beside him became anxious.
“Chairman Xu is asking you a question, quickly answer him!”
The street racer hesitantly opened his mouth and as soon as he said the word “I”, he was coldly cut off by Xu Yi.
“Don’t try lying. All the people who have passed the driver’s license exam have been recorded, so I can check at any time.”
The street racer’s expression changed again and after a while, he lowered his head.
“I don’t have one……”
Everyone was stunned.
“Very good. Since you’re driving without a license and drove on the city streets at over a hundred kilometers an hour at night, you’ve already broken many rules of having a driver’s license. According to the rules, you have lost all rights to apply for a driver’s license in the future and will no longer be allowed to drive a Magic Car. Do you have anything to say against this?”
The expressions of the street racers changed. The relatives all let out a sigh of relief.
If Xu Yi’s punishment was just this, it really was considered light.
So what if they didn’t have a driver’s license, who said that they couldn’t drive cars still?
As long as they weren’t unlucky enough to be caught by Xu Yi again, with the status that their families had, it wasn’t a big deal if they drove in Banta City.
How could Xu Yi not see what these people were thinking? After another cold snort, he pointed at the young couple, “Other than that, you almost killed them. Although they are fine because of me, you still have to give them some form of compensation.”
How could the parents of the street racer not understand what Xu Yi meant? They quickly came over to the young couple with warm expressions.
The young couple were a bit helpless seeing this Lord Viscount being so humble to commoners like this. In the end, Xu Yi had Count Vegan act and the compensation was set at three thousand gold coins.
Three thousand gold coins was a lot for commoners like the young couple, but for a noble family that could buy the newest Magic Car, it wasn’t considered much.
So after the two sides had settled it and this obtained Xu Yi’s approval, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
Xu Yi’s appearance had made everyone think that this would become a large matter. They never thought that this would be solved with three thousand gold coins, which really was unexpected to them.
But when they were prepared to leave, Xu Yi suddenly gave a warning.
“Don’t try to retaliate in secret, I will have someone follow up on this matter. If anything happens to them, don’t blame me for being impolite.”
Xu Yi’s cold tone had shocked everyone. The parents of the street racer quickly made a promise to Xu Yi that they definitely wouldn’t retaliate against this young couple in secret. Only then did Xu Yi let them leave.
After everyone left, the City Lord Manor’s hall fell to silence again.
Count Vegan looked at Xu Yi who had his eyes closed as he took a sip of tea while thinking about something and felt confused.
Although he wasn’t like the past Banta City City Lords who had the chance to often meet Xu Yi, through the information that he obtained, Xu Yi wasn’t a person that was easy to talk to.
It had to be known that even if the Candra Empire offended him, they would have to pay a large price.
Now that these dumb kids had ran into him and two of the kids even cursed him, he only gave them a light punishment which really was confusing.
“Count Vegan.” Xu Yi suddenly said.
Count Vega was surprised, but then he quickly calmed himself and said with a smile, “Chairman Xu, do you need something?”
“I’ve heard that there were two worker riots in Banta City last month?” Xu Yi asked.
Count Vegan’s heart trembled. After thinking about it, he replied with a nod, “Yes. Chairman Xu, where did you obtain this information?”
“What was the reason for the riots?” Xu Yi asked without answering his question.
“This……It was because the workers weren’t satisfied with their wages, so they chose to go on a strike. Then they had a clash with the management of the factories, so it became violent.”
“Then how did you take care of it?”
Count Vegan slightly knitted his brows as he didn’t understand why Xu Yi asked this question.
But he knew that since Xu Yi was asking about this, he must know quite a bit about this matter and there was no use in hiding it. So he replied, “Our City Lord Manor caught the people in charge of causing this trouble and we did nothing else.”
“Is that so? But I’ve heard that the workers who led these riots died in prison?” Xu Yi’s tone suddenly turned cold.
Count Vegan was shocked. How did Xu Yi even know about this?
“This……The leader of the workers were caught in an internal clash in the prison and died fighting each other……”
At this time, Count Vegan could only give the answer that he gave the newspapers.
“Is that so? Did you also report it to her majesty Seveni like this?” Xu Yi asked.
“It was indeed reported as such.”
“How did her majesty respond?”
“Her majesty hoped that I could maintain the order in Banta City and she didn’t want to see a similar incident happen again.”
“It’s like this……” Xu Yi gave a nod as he fell silent again.
Count Vegan was anxious as he looked at Xu Yi, not understanding why he would suddenly ask him this.
When facing Xu Yi, he was even more nervous than facing her majesty Seveni.
Because he knew that her majesty needed him to manage Banta City. As long as he didn’t make a big mistake, on account of his family, her majesty wouldn’t do anything to him.
But it was different with this Xu Yi in front of him.
As long as Xu Yi wanted, with a single order from him, he could destroy the magic machine industry in Banta City through the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
If the magic machine industry was destroyed, it was no different from Banta City being destroyed and he would naturally be destroyed as well as the City Lord.
Others might not do this thankless job which could even be considered a matter of mutual harm, but Xu Yi was recognized as a maniac. He had countless crazy ideas and done countless crazy things before, so no one was certain what he would do.
After a while, Xu Yi spoke again.
“Count Vegan, you said that the workers weren’t satisfied with their wages, so they went on a strike. Then I want to ask, just how low is the minimum wage in Banta City that these people would choose to strike and even clash with the managers of the factories?”
Count Vegan said with a serious look, “Based on the orders of her majesty and the laws of the kingdom parliament, based on the current situation of Banta City, the set minimum wage regardless of any job was at least eight gold coins a month. I think…..that there’s no Banta City company that would go against this.”
“Oh?” Xu Yi revealed a taunting smile.
Eight gold coins with the inflation of the past several years, with the increasing costs of living for Banta City wasn’t considered a high income, but it was enough for a normal family to live on.
If the workers of Banta City still chose to strike and clash with the factory managers even after receiving this wage, it really was confusing.
But Xu Yi knew that the capitalists on the Sines Continent were the same as the capitalists on earth, or it could be said that they were even greedier than the capitalists on earth.
So the eight gold coins a month was only the number on the surface.
In fact, according to the information that Xu Yi had, there were many companies that would embezzle wages in Banta City. So the wage that the workers received in the end was even less than a half of the agreed wage, far below the eight gold coins.
Moreover, the working hours of many factories were growing and the work was getting harder, so many workers couldn’t keep up with this load.
It was because of this that there were two worker riots that appeared in Banta City.
It was impossible for Count Vegan as the Banta City City Lord not to know about this, but he clearly had deep relations with the nobles and large merchants of Banta City, so he naturally wouldn’t drag these matters out.
“Count Vegan, I will give you some advice.” Xu Yi said as he slowly stood up.
Count Vegan also stood up as his heart filled with confusion.
“Chairman Xu, please.”
“Don’t look down on the power of the working class. Also, help me pass these words to her majesty Seveni.”
After leaving these words, Xu Yi left the City Lord Manor, leaving Count Vegan standing there in a daze.