Two days? Starting from the Rowling River at the northern end of the Roland Plains, it would at the very least take seven to eight days to reach the southern end and out of the Roland Plains on horseback!
Because of Du Wei's status and identity, none of the merchants dare argue with him. Nonetheless, everyone had an unbelieving expression plastered onto their face.
Du Wei also didn't waste time spouting-nonsense and directly announced the time for setting sail. Then, with a smile, he continued speaking: "If you don't believe, then why not try it. May I ask who here in the crowd is willing to come forward and experience it?"
The animal fur merchant did after all collaborate with Du Wei over a longer period of time, so his view and admiration towards this little young master of the Rowling Household is much stronger than the rest. Seeing the silent crowd around him, the merchant realized this was good timing to curry more favor and immediately shouted in a loud voice: "The things that young master Du Wei comes up with is definitely extraordinary. Just the soccer thing allowed us to earn quite a bit. For that reason, I'm willing to be the first to try!"
Smiling, Du Wei glanced at the supportive guy and was secretly satisfied in his heart: "The distance will be too far if we really gone from the North to the South. I'm sure none us can sit and wait here for a few days, right? So let's do this then. From here, the 'Rowling complex city', you guys can pick a nearby town that is within two days of carriage travel time…."
The fur merchant immediately followed up as he smiled: "City of Kaka to the South is only a day's worth of time on horseback from here. Also, some of my businesses are located in the city."
"Good, then city of Kaka it is!" Du Wei immediately cried out: "Since this is the case, it would be good that I write a letter for you to give to the lord of the city. Riding my contraption, you can ask the Lord to sign his name on my letter as a witness! Flying from here to the city of Kaka should take less than half a day. Once all of you witness this, you will know I'm not lying."
With that, Du Wei raised his hands to signal his servants to ready the preparations and very quickly, the craftsmen's began filling the hot air balloons. Within moments, the balloon slowly floated into the air. If not for the fact that the balloon is tethered to the ground, it was likely it would have already flown away.
Du Wei personally pulled the fur merchant onto the hot-air balloon, and then handed over his handwritten letter: "There are still so many friends here that I must attend to, so it's for the best I stay behind. Once you reach the city of Kaka, ask the lord of the city to sign the document. Do not delay."
Along with the fur merchant, there would naturally be a servant of the Rowling household on board to control the hot air balloon. With the loosening of the ropes by those on the ground, the balloon flew into the air within moments.
In his lifetime, this is the first time the fur trader is flying in the sky. Similar to how Marde reacted, the fur trader tried his best to control his emotions, but in the end, he couldn't stop himself from screaming.
While the onlookers on the ground saw that the monstrous thing really took off into the air, everyone could not help but create a ruckus. For a moment, all the people in the city square were shocked inexplicably...
Du Wei had expected this so he did not say anything. Ordering his servants, he had them serve large quantities of tea, food, and wine. After everything was settled, he turned around and asked George: "You surprised?"
George shook his head: "Master, of course not. No need to mention flight, even if it suddenly jumped into the water, I would not be surprised."
A spark of light flashed into his eyes: "Into the water..." Du Wei whispered to himself: "If I have the time and conditions, making a submarine is not impossible."
Flying far away, the hot air balloon eventually disappeared into the clouds and away from everyone's view. Seeing the people below him in the square still seething with surprise, Du Wei did not say much and simply sat quietly in his own chair to sip his tea because he knows Marde would handle the rest.
Sure enough, half a day's worth of time passed by quickly and the food and wine he prepared was hardly touched due to the fact that everyone had their necks craned towards the horizon.
Sure enough, by the time of noon, a shadow could be seen in the horizon. As the object drew closer, the contour of the hot air balloon gradually cleared up.
"It's here, it's here!" Someone below started yelling.
Despite all the commotion, Du Wei sat firmly in his chair and slowly sipped his tea.
Under the commotion of all those on the ground, the hot air balloon slowly landed in the square. Then, with a paled looking face, the fur trader got off the balloon. Compared to when he first set off, the merchant already looked way better than before. Instead of dropping onto the ground, the merchant puffed out his chest and walked around with a proud looking expression. (Later on, Du Wei listened to the report of the accompanying servant that went with the merchant and found out the guy actually vomited the entire trip to the city of Kaka. To top it off, the moment they landed, the trader couldn't even walk because his legs were so numb. However, the merchant seemed a lot better in the round trip.)
Seeing the fur trader come down from the contraption and publicly display the signed document, the entire audience was in amazement!
From here to the city of Kaka, it would take two days of riding on horseback. But on the hot air balloon, it only took half a day... And a round trip at that! This speed is simply too fast!
Du Wei then kindly pulled the fur trader up to the stand and loudly announced the speed and load limit of the hot air balloon. Following this announcement, all those wealthy merchants in the audience had different expressions on their face. Without a doubt, the emergence of the hot air balloon will have a certain impact on their industry!
At this point, Du Wei's public display of the hot air balloon has been successfully completed. In his belief, the news of his hot air balloon would spread throughout the lands by the mouths of all these businessmen.
Du Wei then announces the first shipping line under his name to be finally open! From now on, if these businessmen here want to deliver some goods – important documents, letters, or valuables – they can entrust them to Du Wei's transport line. Firstly, air travel is much faster. Secondly, there won't be any security risk of thieves robbing the cargo. As long as the weather permits, there won't be any obstacles.
Putting in some thought, Du Wei organized a ribbon-cutting ceremony to make it even grander for his big opening. And to win the fur trader over, Du Wei pulled the merchant onto the stage so that both of them could cut the ribbon at the same time. The merchant may be trembling, but inwardly, he was so proud of himself because he felt from now on, he is another step closer to Du Wei. By relying on this young master of the Rowling household, he can expect his future to prosper from now on.
Du Wei then released the subsequent transport prices, which are a lot cheaper than ordinary carriage transport fees. This way, he would naturally be even more popular.
And the merchants that were invited to this event were all given a special discount voucher. Valid for one year, they can use the voucher to reduce their transport fee on Du Wei's transport line by 20%.
You need to understand, the most import thing in the freight logistics industry is the transportation network. Du Wei had plenty of hot air balloons, but he lacked service points in different locations. Compared to those carriage businesses that had a strong network throughout the continent, he was severely lacking. As a solution, Du Wei intends to expand his network by taking advantage of the business location belonging to these merchants present to today.
Days later, the hot-air balloon under his name has truly gained a reputation.
In less than a month, the profit of those caravan transportation businesses got instantly reduced by 30%.
On a side note, when Du Wei founded his transport line, Marde asked him what name they should use for this new industry. Du Wei's only smiled and wrote this down:
FedEx!
In a blink of an eye, another month passed.
The number of FedEx hot air balloon has already increased by 20 frames; yet, the daily demand for the service is still beyond what they could supply. And recently, the service has already expanded past the borders of the Roland Plain. From the southern province of Lille, to the 'half width city', Du Wei has established his own transport branch.
Every day, his money bag continues to grow.
On this day, seeing spring has passed and summer fast approaching, Du Wei calculated in his head that the day specified by Gandalf is only 20 days away.
Though Du Wei speculated that after all that has happened, his father will definitely summon him back to the capital, but the news has been slow in coming. Because of this, Du Wei also had some speculations: could it be that this dad just didn't like him?
But Du Wei was not focused on this issue. Even if the message of summoning him back to the capital doesn't come, he can just take a trip to the capital himself and quietly go meet the person specified in Gandalf's will. To be endorsed by someone like Gandalf, the person in question cannot be ordinary.
Munching on a peeled grape, Du Wei was lying on top of a watch tower daydreaming. It was then the sound of horse stomping reached his ear. Already used to such a sound, Du Wei knew it was his new subordinate George Bush. Letting out a laugh, he shouted out loud: "George, what is the matter?"
Dressed in leather, George marched into the study room and performed a standard Knight salute before continuing to speak in a respectful manner: "Master, somebody wants to see you….. Just that the person is dressed very strangely and doesn't seem like a good person."
Du Wei frowned: "who?"
George's face was very odd: "What did he say….. Hmm, he said his name was Jack Sparrow, the captain of the Black Pearl of some fleet."
Inwardly pleased, Du Wei immediately jumped up from his chair and laughed in a ha-ha fashion: "They are finally here." Then he frowns: "How come it's this guy here. What about Rolynn and Joanna?"