Chapter 59
Just like in 21st century South Korea, all items become ridiculously expensive when they pass through middlemen.
The magic where cabbage that costs 500 won at the source becomes 5,000 won per head after passing through just three middlemen.
Similar things happen on a larger scale in the Tuscan Empire, a medieval fantasy world country.
Especially when "military supplies" are involved, it becomes so severe that even the benevolent Buddha would lose his temper.
"We're just trying to make a living. After paying the porters' wages, we're left with almost nothing at this price."
What this guy is saying can be seen as equivalent to a merchant in the marketplace saying:
"Oh my, we're not making any profit at this price. We're selling at cost, I tell you!"
If they complain a bit with a thick skin, customers feel good thinking they bought cheaply...
But when you reveal the truth, it turns out that while the merchant may have made a little less profit, they never sold at a loss.
The Raffaello guy in front of me seems to be using exactly that kind of speech...
Well, I need to remind him once again that there's no need for pretense between us.
If he knows there are no listening ears, he wouldn't use such pretentious words that absolutely don't work among merchants.
"There are no mice or eavesdropping pigeons outside the window here. It's just you and me. And I have no intention of nitpicking about the excessive profits you made by selling at high prices before."
If I were an officer burning with a sense of duty and ambition to succeed, it might be different.
What good would it do for someone who wants to succeed as a merchant to unnecessarily antagonize the empire's great merchants?
It's not like I'm a reckless person who only lives for today.
'To survive after turning them all into enemies, I'd need to be at least a count, but I'll only be a viscount at best after finishing this.'
Although viscount isn't a low title, it's not a position from which you can openly challenge great merchants.
"Personally, I'm only 21 years old. At this age, I want to spend enjoyable time with my favorite maid after finishing work and going home. So I have no desire to turn the Benaldi Trading Company into an enemy and die."
The reason I directly confronted the Pereira Trading Company was because the Emperor ordered it.
If the Emperor hadn't ordered it, I would have rubbed my palms in front of them rather than recklessly charging at them like that.
Conveying such feelings, when I, a noble and logistics staff officer, expressed that I had no intention of hostility, Raffaello's brow unfurrowed.
"Alright, then let's adjust the price to a reasonable level."
"Let's dig into the profit margins honestly first."
I took out a bundle of receipts from when Raffaello had previously traded with other divisions.
This is the transaction history I obtained from when our 1st Division commander, Baron Ducat, worked in other units.
"One gold coin for a 120kg sack of wheat, 4 silver coins for 100L of beer. 8 silver coins for 75kg of bread. It's more than twice the market price. Even for military supplies, isn't it a bit much to take 2.2 times the market price?"
There are two main reasons why these guys can get away with setting prices like this:
First, that price includes bribes to non-commissioned officers, officers, and commanders.
About 10-13% of the item price is evenly distributed to soldiers.
Well, I can't do anything about public officials taking bribes in this era, but.
'How can you take bribes even from what soldiers eat, really.'
They're bastards who would feed surströmming mixed with rice three meals a day.
"We have no choice because the high-ranking people demand bribes from merchants like us. You know this too, don't you, young master?"
"To negotiate prices, we need to find the cause of how prices are formed first."
And the second reason is that they take advantage of nobles' ignorance of market prices.
Our family, or more precisely, the Medici family where Albert is a baron, knows roughly what the price levels are.
However, most noble families have no idea how much 1kg of wheat or one pig costs in the market.
It's the same mindset as congressmen thinking it costs 3,000 won to ride the bus once and 200 won for a bowl of ramen.
It's everyday for poorly paid servants and maids to use their masters' foolishness to overcharge expenses and pocket their wages.
'They bought it for 5 silver coins, but recorded it as 7 coins in the ledger.'
By using bribes and taking advantage of ignorance of market prices, you can get away with charging more than twice the price for military supplies.
"How much are you going to cut?"
Raffaello sighed deeply.
"How about 9 silver coins and 90 pennies for a sack of wheat?"
"Let's lower it to about 85 pennies. Even at this level, aren't you still eating 1.7 times the market price?"
"...... To convince our company head, we need to get at least 90 pennies."
Your company head is definitely not a stupid person either.
He must know that I have the Emperor's protection, and even if he didn't know, his subordinates would warn him and he'd understand well.
'That 21-year-old bastard who became a logistics staff officer is protected by the Second Prince and the Emperor, so if we touch him wrongly, we'll be the only ones bleeding.'
Hearing those words, the company head would then try to kill you, Director Raffaello, to vent his anger.
"8 silver coins and 50 copper coins, no less than that. Cut 15% from the other products too."
"Please be a little lenient."
"If it's 1.7 times the market price, considering the net profit, aren't you eating 2.5 times the cost?"
Although I'm no longer Korean, the more I think about it, the more outrageous it feels.
Well, to be blunt, if they were raising the unit price of spears or such weapons, I could somewhat bear it.
Aren't the soldiers here all poor kids who were dragged away from serf life?
If so, you could lower the unit price of food drastically and feed them sumptuous meals without them knowing, but you're preventing them from eating proper meals by inflating unit prices?
How can you call yourselves human after doing that?
"This is too outrageous. If you want to continue military supplies in the future, provide special meals to the soldiers once a week."
Raffaello looked at me like I was a demon who had risen from hell.
"What on earth are you saying now?"
"Don't they give extras when you buy a lot in the marketplace? Provide one donut each to the soldiers once a week."
"You, who lead the dessert trend in the empire, know well how expensive sweets are, don't you?"
The reason I thought of donuts as sweet food to give to soldiers is because it's relatively cheap to make among desserts.
And I remembered that during World War I, the U.S. boosted morale tremendously by distributing donuts to soldiers.
And this guy looks like he'd grab my collar if I weren't wearing the logistics staff armband.
'Well, it's understandable since their profit margin is plummeting vertically with just one snap of my fingers.'
"I'll take care of donut production. You just cover the costs."
I'm not some philanthropist, and I have no intention of supplying donuts to soldiers at a loss.
But since it's feeding poor conscripts, I'll just charge the cost price.
'It's already unfair to be rolling around in the military, so we should at least feed them delicious things often.'
"Alright... But really no more than this! If I concede any more, our company head might kill me!"
This friend has finally become honest, I'll give him a reward for lowering his pride.
"The Pereira Trading Company has been excluded from all military supply deals now. And His Majesty will have to fill that vacancy, who do you think he'll choose to fill it?"
Hearing those words, Raffaello's eyes began to shine.
"Thank you, thank you! Thank you!"
The guy who saw me as a demon who had risen from hell bowed his head as if he was about to prostrate himself after hearing those words.
As expected of a smart friend who can be entrusted with the position of director in a large trading company.
He understood well that in exchange for giving up a little profit, he should eat up the share that the Pereira Trading Company held on these terms at this opportunity.
He quickly wrote up a contract and rushed out.
I took this contract and went to see Baron Ducat.
**
Our division commander grinned when he saw me.
"You're really amazing. How did you manage to lower military supply prices by 15%, which even our army's capable logistics staff couldn't do?"
The division commander might not know, but it's because I made a reasonable negotiation that even corrupt military suppliers could accept.
However, in front of high-ranking people, it's good to take credit for whatever you do.
'That way, they won't ask for more.'
"I discovered that the director of the Benaldi Trading Company was inflating supply prices, and just adjusted them to a reasonable level."
"As expected, those merchant bastards only care about money. They're so greedy."
Honestly, it's not bad to be money-hungry as long as you're not threatening people with knives to their necks demanding money.
Human history has developed by people who wanted to make more money.
"This time, because I reduced the profits that military suppliers were pocketing, the Benaldi Trading Company might become hostile to me, but I have no regrets since I did it for His Majesty."
Baron Ducat made a humming sound hearing my words.
"I'll report your loyalty well to His Majesty."
"Thank you, Commander."
Both the baron and the Emperor probably know that I didn't really charge-in prepared to antagonize the Benaldi Trading Company.
Because people that stupid can't even play the role of nobles.
However, they should at least know about my ability, and that I faithfully carried out the task the Emperor ordered.
'If meals improve significantly, my good reputation will spread widely among the soldiers.'
"You still have a lot of work to do."
"Please trust and entrust it to me."
**
And as I expected, not long after, soldiers began to praise me, Fabio de Medici, the newly arrived logistics staff officer.