Chapter 101. Shady Trade (1)

Our governor welcomed me very warmly.

"Haha, our Nador is wary of all Deus believers, but you and the Visconti ducal family are exceptions. Although we believe in different gods, aren't we allies who care for each other?"

That's how the world works.

If it's sweet, swallow it; if it's bitter, spit it out.

It's so common for today's allies to become tomorrow's enemies depending on profit and loss relationships that it's not even surprising anymore.

But even the most evil scammer doesn't cheat at the moment when 'their interests' and 'the other party's interests' align.

Why? Because if they backstab, the benefits they're currently enjoying will disappear.

The Nador governor and I are now tied by gunpowder trade, so if this benefits both of us, we'll probably go together to the end.

"May God's blessings be with you, Your Excellency the Governor."

"I'll gladly accept. Anyway, what business brings you here this time?"

"Don't you need more gunpowder and matchlock guns? We'll serve you well this time."

Wars that occur in the Tuscan Empire are generally predictable to some extent.

When Deus believers fight each other, they must 'declare war' in advance.

About 200 years ago, they even agreed on battlefields and timing to fight chivalrously, but they don't do that these days.

Supplies are consumed at levels not far from what the Military Affairs Ministry and War Ministry (a temporary agency created when war breaks out) estimate.

So if we suddenly come and tell them to buy more, countries in our Albania continent would have no choice but to hesitate...

'But the Nador governor is constantly at war with dozens, no, hundreds of tribes.'

Moreover, the frequency of battles is so high that no matter how much gunpowder they have, it won't be enough.

"Indeed, things like gunpowder and matchlock guns are never enough no matter how much we have. But doesn't the Tuscan Empire always lack gunpowder too?"

Until last year, there was a chronic gunpowder shortage.

But these days gunpowder is overflowing and they're begging us to sell it.

'Except for countries in the Albania continent.'

"Actually, since we started gold trading with Your Excellency the Governor, we've greatly increased our gunpowder production scale. So we can now provide you with a larger quantity."

The most important thing when selling goods is not to give the other party the impression that I'm taking advantage of them.

That's why traditional market merchants always say things like 'Oh my, there's no profit left if I sell at this price', and even big company chairman say things like 'Our company is in trouble, everyone'.

Why do they live with such lies and complaints on their lips?

It's obvious that if they feel like they're being taken advantage of, the aunties buying goods from merchants at traditional markets will try to haggle more.

Big company chairman would also know that if they don't pretend to be struggling, employees will ask for more bonuses and profits will decrease.

I know well that if I say something like 'A new gunpowder production method came out and gunpowder production increased 7 times', that gentleman will ask for a 'Thanos'.

'I should deceive moderately?'

"Also, can war be waged with just gunpowder? Money is needed too. Some sage from our continent even said this: What's needed to win in war is money, and money, and more money."

I can't remember who said it, but that's a saying from some great Roman figure.

It's also a truth taught to students in all military academies worldwide.

"That makes sense. So how much are you going to sell?"

"We'll sell an additional 2,000 matchlock guns and 40 tons of gunpowder. From now on, we should be able to supply up to 60, no, 70 tons stably every year."

"Thank you for doing that. But will you keep receiving payment only in gold like now?"

"We'll accept other artworks too. However, I have no intention of accepting black slaves."

Slave trading weighs on my conscience, and it's a very inefficient thing to do when calculated from various angles.

What would we do importing black slaves when we don't have colonies in the New World?

Are we going to drive out serfs and inflate the poor population?

"Slaves are really good, they work all day without rest if you just give them a bowl of porridge, you know?"

Serfs know that they can somehow eat and live if they work.

They work hard thinking that if they work a little harder, they can eat their fill during harvest festivals.

In our territory where we give performance bonuses to serfs in the form of reducing tax rates, serfs even work on weekends.

But slaves know that no matter how hard they work, they'll only get a bowl of porridge anyway.

'Even if they work 16 hours a day, isn't the efficiency lower than working intensely for 3 hours?'

So considering maintenance costs, it's just a loss except for the satisfaction of owning slaves.

"I'd like to use slaves, but other countries don't look favorably on 'black' slaves. It harms the empire's prestige, so we hold back with tears in our eyes."

"There's no beast that can be used as cheaply as slaves."

It might seem cheap except for the slave purchase cost, but if you calculate all the other costs, it's a loss.

In fact, it's practically established theory that slavery disappeared in America after the Civil War not because of 'human rights awareness' but because of 'price versus performance' issues.

"I'd like to look around directly to see if there are any goods we might buy, is that alright?"

"Go ahead. You're a trustworthy person anyway."

With this, I now have the authority to trade with all merchants near the Nador region.

Then should I now slowly take the next step for England's wisdom?

**

There's an evil deed of England that we commonly don't know about.

Well, at this time it's still before England evolved into a 'hyena country', so it's too common and trivial an atrocity...

When the technology for making 'saltpeter fields' was invented in an empire where some shovel-jawed guy who was neither holy nor Roman was enthroned as emperor.

England, upon learning this, carried out a gimpai.

It's not theft, but they brought the gunpowder manufacturing technology that benefits the world to England by paying 130 kg of gold for printing and transportation costs.

To put it in terms we can understand, it's like copying nuclear missile manufacturing techniques onto a USB drive.

"The guy who sold this technique would naturally be a high official or key figure in the Holy Roman Empire. He would have known the tremendous value of this technology too, of course."

But he probably sold it, unable to resist the temptation of gold bars saying 'Hello, I'm a gold bar!'

"Of course there would be such merchants in Nador too."

If it's a trading company dealing with indigenous black pagan tribes, they're trash like those secretly trading with North Korea in our country.

There's bound to be someone in a group of trash who would sell out their organization after being hooked by a large sum of money.

If they sold out their own country, how could they not sell their organization?

While I was comfortably resting after passing all sorts of annoying work to my subordinates.

Finally, the bite I'd been waiting for came.

"Baron, an executive from the Akbar Trading Group says he has something urgent he wants to tell you."

As I expected, among guys doing bad things, there was indeed a rotten guy exceeding the level.

If there was such a traitor in our company, I would have bestowed the grace of drowning them in the middle of the sea right away.

'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'

Someone who betrays a radioactive waste-level organization must be a good person.

Communists are bad, but people who abandon communism and defect become allies by the same logic.

"Thoroughly check if he's brought any weapons and let him in."

Still, I can't completely rule out the possibility that this guy might be an assassin.

I don't know if there are fanatical assassin organizations like the Hashashin in this world, but I should be careful.

Not long after, a guy who looked like Lee Wan-yong with a different skin color came in.

I don't want to discriminate against people based on appearance, but if a guy who looked like that came for an interview at our company, I think I would have failed him unconditionally.

A face that looks like he would sell out not just his country but his family too.

'Just looking at him, I can't imagine what he might sell out.'

"Greetings, Baron Medici. I'm Abdullah, an executive of the Akbar Trading Company."

"Nice to meet you, seeing an excellent person like you makes me feel good."

Actually I don't feel very good, but what is social life?

It's treating people with a smile even when you're displeased.

"But are you really giving 3,000 gold coins?"

Seeing him bring up money first, my trust increases a bit more.

Yes, these traitors don't lie when they're betraying their allies.

When they're greedy for money, they don't lie because they're blinded by money.

When these two things combine, their credibility rises to match that of any loyal subject.

"Would I give just that much? If it's helpful, I could give twice as much."

If we start selling gunpowder to Ifriqiya, we can raise gunpowder prices to 3-4 times the current price.

But it would be stupid to skimp on initial investment costs.

Abdullah took out a 'booklet' from his bosom that looked like it contained top secret information at a glance.

"This is a map showing the terrain of northwest and west Ifriqiya. It's also our trade route."