Reeves didn't even need to calculate to know what a huge blow the opening of the air transportation industry would cause to the operation of the highway.
The investment that the Star Diamond Bank spent on paving the highway was a huge sum of money. If it couldn't achieve the expected income, then he would really vomit blood.
Tang En and the gnomes were now engaged in the air transportation industry, which was completely destroying the Great Wall!
Reeves was anxious, but Tang En smiled.
This was the effect he wanted to see.
If they simply cooperated with the gnomes to build the highway, they would definitely slack off after a long time. A business without competition was the easiest way to make people lazy.
But if Tang En and the gnomes cooperated in the air transportation industry, the Star Diamond Bank would have to find ways to improve the service quality of the highway related industries in order to compete with the air transportation industry for customers.
Although Tang En was planning to let them compete with each other, he still had to appease Reeves on the surface, "Don't worry, the air transportation industry and the highway have no competition. It's better to say that they complement each other."
"Are you kidding me!"
"I'm serious."
Tang En said, "First of all, although the airship's cargo capacity is more than that of carriages and trucks, the number of airships is far less. Therefore, the air transportation industry has no advantage in terms of cargo. The only advantage may be that it's faster. Therefore, in terms of freight, the air transportation mainly covers high-value, small, and light valuables. On the other hand, there are not so many restrictions on land transportation."
"Secondly, the operating cost of the airship is very high, so the ticket price is definitely not too low. The number of people who can afford the ticket price is not many, so the main customers are those nobles, rich adventurers, and merchants who are willing to pay for their time. The highway's price is very low, and ordinary people can afford it. Therefore, there is no conflict in terms of customers. At most, there is a little overlap."
"Thirdly, the air transportation route is fixed. It can only be from one city to another. The distance is relatively long. Second-class cities are not considered as air routes at present, so even if people take the airship, they still have to take the highway after landing. You don't have to worry about fewer customers at all."
Speaking of this, Tang En smiled and said, "Actually, you should be happy. Once the air route is opened, a secondary bus hub will be set up near every city's aviation tower to facilitate the distribution of passengers. In order to reach the target city quickly, they will have to take the highway after leaving the aviation tower. Therefore, the utilization of the highway will be further increased."
Reeves frowned. Although his intuition told him that Tang En must have concealed some information, he had to admit that the information he had revealed so far was barely good.
Although he didn't completely believe in Tang En, at least the anxiety in his heart had lessened a lot.
After thinking about it, Tang En decided to give his partner some confidence. So, he sat in front and said to Reeves with a mysterious look, "I'll tell you a piece of good news secretly. The golden age of the highway is coming soon."
"Who are you trying to fool?"
Reeves snorted. What golden period? It was obviously the last glorious period. After air transportation began, the traffic on the highway would definitely decrease.
"You don't believe me. Do you know why?"
Tang En smiled and said, "Because the private Mana Sedan developed by our Tang Dynasty Heavy Industries is about to be introduced to the market."
Reeves was stunned. "Private Mana Sedan? What's that? "
Tang En pointed to the magic tricycle under him and said, "It's similar to the one custom-made for you, but it's smaller in size and has four wheels. It's a new type of multi-passenger vehicle produced for families. Its purpose is to replace carriages. The highway is basically prepared for it."
Reeves' brain instantly spun. What does it mean to have a new type of multi-person vehicle targeted at families? What did it mean that the goal was to replace carriages? What could it bring to the highway?
With this kind of thing, it would be more convenient and faster for people with families as a unit to travel. It would also be easier for them to travel long distances.
Replacing carriages meant that this Mana Sedan would be more comfortable and faster. Its cargo capacity would also be comparable to carriages to a certain extent.
The highway was designed and paved in advance for this type of vehicle, which meant that this type of vehicle would display its best performance on the highway …
This also meant that the number of potential customers using the highway in the future would greatly increase!
After a series of advancements, Reeves was pleasantly surprised to find that this new type of vehicle that had yet to be released on the market could actually bring huge profits to the highway!
"My friend, you really didn't abandon me!"
Reeves was so happy that he almost jumped up and hugged Tang En. Tang En was so scared that he took a few steps back and said without batting an eyelid, "I would never harm my own allies."
"You're right. I was wrong about you."
Reeves was overjoyed when he thought about how the highway would soon be filled with an endless stream of Mana Sedan customers and how customers would take the initiative to hand over money to him.
Reeves couldn't wait to ask, "Can you tell me when the Mana Sedan will be released?"
"Soon."
Tang En calculated in his mind. The next priority of the Datang Chamber of Commerce's work was to build the aviation tower in advance and use the prototype to train the flight attendants. At the same time, they would start to warm up the promotion of Mana Sedan. According to the current production progress of Mana Sedan, they would be able to start shipping small quantities at the beginning of next month. When the Mana Sedan began to be shipped, the production of airships would also begin.
According to the industrial capacity of the Datang Chamber of Commerce and the processing capacity of Gear City, Klotto estimated that they could produce seven civilian airships a month. Don't think that it was a small number. The processing difficulty of this thing was quite high. This speed was only possible because many heavy weapons were removed. Otherwise, it would be a heaven-defying speed to produce three airships a month.
However, considering the significance of the later construction of the air transport network, Tang En decided to tilt the resources in this direction. He asked Jean, Angus, Selna, and the others who were free to help the engineers cast Haste to improve the production efficiency. In the early stage, they would first produce a few dozen civilian airships and set up the air transport network in Prandal.
Reeves anxiously said, "Give me an exact date."
Tang En could only say, "It will be released at the beginning of next month, but I'm afraid it will take some time to sell it on a large scale."
With the introduction of Mana Sedan to the market, businessmen with a keen sense of smell would soon gather like sharks. The related industries would immediately flourish. After the relevant industrial chains were completed, the corresponding spare parts production capacity would also increase, and the overall production speed would be greatly improved.
"Oh, is it really like this?"
Reeves sighed, "I knew it wouldn't be that simple."
"It can't be helped. The production capacity is limited."
Tang En also sighed, "We're short of people."
The development of large-scale industries often required a large number of grassroots workers. If there were enough people to use, how could Tang En be so restrained? He could directly open up the production and even consider selling it at a fair price to achieve the goal of promoting the product as soon as possible.
But not now.
If it weren't for the appearance of artificial souls and alchemy puppets to make up for the lack of labor to a certain extent, it would be a big problem to even be able to go into production. How could he dare to concentrate all the workers in this field?
"In any case, this is good news."
Reeves' fat fingers rubbed his chin, which was piled with who knew how many layers of fat. "In that case, I think the existing highway construction project should be further accelerated."
Family-use cars were about to be introduced, which meant that there would be an explosion in the utilization rate of highways. If the highway network of the Ronitan Kingdom was not completed before then, they would not be able to make it in time for this great opportunity to make money.
Not only did they have to complete the highway network as soon as possible, but they also had to negotiate with the Datang Chamber of Commerce for the import of Mana Sedan. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to sell it to the Ronitte Kingdom.
Thinking of this, Reeves immediately put on a smile and proposed his idea to Tang En.
"Export?"
Tang En looked at Reeves in surprise, "I don't mind, but even if I sell it to you, you probably won't be able to use it now."
Reeves was puzzled, "Why?"
"Because your city hasn't undergone modern transportation transformation."
Tang En spread out his hands innocently, "Now, the major cities of the Irus Empire have completed their transportation transformation. The roads have all been replaced with asphalt roads, and they have also been equipped with traffic police and traffic signal lights. The residents have also indirectly received traffic knowledge training through the Datang Daily, so private cars can be sold within the Irus Empire, and the accident rate is very low."
"But the Ronitte Kingdom can't. The transportation here hasn't been transformed, the roads are bumpy, and the residents don't have the awareness to follow the traffic rules. The most important point is that public buses haven't even been opened yet, so how can the people understand the principle of avoiding cars?"
Although Heaven's Revelations weren't afraid of being hit by cars, if ordinary people were hit by a car, it would be fatal.
In order to prevent problems from occurring, Tang En and Fiona had already discussed countermeasures a long time ago. The speed of the first batch of Mana Sedan would be limited to less than 40 kilometers per hour when they left the factory. Only when they gradually got used to following the traffic rules and didn't have any accidents for a period of time could they go to the service point set up by the Datang Chamber of Commerce to remove the restrictions and further increase the speed.
"It actually involves so many problems …" Reeves frowned.
The transportation transformation of the major cities of the Ronitte Kingdom involved many aspects, and even he couldn't decide on it. This kind of thing could only be discussed by Tang En with Oscar and let him make the decision.
But …
Reeves calculated in his heart. He could produce a relevant analysis document and explain the huge potential benefits to Oscar, and he believed that he would never refuse.
After all, the Ronitte Kingdom was a commercial kingdom, and no businessman would refuse profits.
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