Lord of Industrialization

This year, in late April and early May, Hanma City was still cold and drizzling from time to time. It was not a good weather to go out.

Count Pisto fulfilled his responsibilities as the Minister of Military Affairs, personally went to the Kingdom of Danma for negotiations, and went to the front line to watch two battles.

Although he was greedy for money, his business ability was still very strong.

During this period, Frederick stayed in Hanma City to deal with some logistical issues.

In the current war, a large part of the logistics is done by merchants accompanying the army. They cooperate with a certain lord to sell food, beer and women, and then sell spoils.

Frederick can't do much, but he has regulated the quality of food in the form of a decree, at least to avoid serious non-combat casualties due to dietary problems.

Now he is worried about the strength of the Wessen Army.

Now two of the three mobile main divisions have to be transferred, and there is only one mobile force of one division. If something happens, no one will be available.

Even if Frederick didn't understand military affairs, he knew that President Jiang's mobile forces in his hometown were all gone in the three major battles, resulting in the garrison troops in various places after the crossing of the river having only paper numbers but unable to organize a large-scale battle.

The problem is that the proportion of young and middle-aged people joining the army in the Duchy of Wessen is already very high, and many factories are beginning to have a labor shortage, and they can no longer form new armies.

When Frederick was having a headache, the heir of the Grand Duke of Bavaria, Rainer Wittelsbach, came to Hamma City.

Last winter, the Grand Duke of Bavaria was not in good health after catching a cold. He was also in his eighties or nineties. This year, he handed over all affairs to Rainer.

Rainer is in his fifties. When he was young, he traveled to places such as the Ghazi Empire and the Dashi Empire. He was quite calm in doing things, and Frederick had dealt with him several times.

This time, he was responsible for commanding the army of the Duchy of Bavaria, but he arrived first to find Frederick to question him.

In the living room, Frederick asked in surprise: "What? Your daughter-in-law instigated your son to invest the money, why are you looking for me?"

Reiner put down the teacup and said seriously: "They were fooled by Miss Eltal and threw a large amount of money that was going to buy your bonds into the swamp in the south."

"Miss Eltal's matter is not your business, who else should I look for if not you?"

Frederick was very upset and understood what was going on.

Reiner's daughter-in-law is the granddaughter of the Grand Duke of Mainz, so she has a good relationship with Maria, so the United Fruit Company pulled sponsorship there.

Frederick just shrugged and said: "Maria is already an adult, not my appendage, you go find her."

Reiner said helplessly: "Maria has already run to the south with the money, I can only come to you."

Frederick was stunned, he didn't expect Maria to go to the south herself.

He said, "That's good. People should travel around while they are young."

Frederick himself likes to travel around, so he naturally hopes that Maria can go out more often, broaden her horizons, and not stay in one place all the time.

Reiner saw him like this and said, "Then give me more bond shares this year, and I can give you some useful news."

Frederick was speechless. This was his purpose.

The bonds issued by the Duchy of Wessen the year before last were repaid on time last year, and the Duchy of Wessen did not look like it was going to go bankrupt. Many people planned to buy more bonds this year.

Frederick was prepared for this. Last year, he made a plan to issue 300,000 to 600,000 florins of bonds, and the specific amount would depend on the sales situation.

"Okay." Frederick said nonchalantly, "I'll give you a share of 50,000 florins. It's up to you whether you eat it yourself or find someone to eat it with."

In the past two years, the Duchy of Bain has taken over some light industrial products. These are all businesses that make money quickly, and the emerging capitalists are not short of money.

Reiner thought about his bottom line and found it was far from his limit, so he said, "Why don't you issue 200,000 florins of railway construction bonds specifically?"

Frederick was confused. Railway bonds were sold separately, and the specific amount was determined according to the construction plan. 200,000 florins was not a small amount.

Labor is not worth much now. The average internal price of one kilometer of railway (including stations) is between 200 and 400 florins depending on the terrain. 200,000 florins can build nearly 1,000 kilometers of railway.

Frederick saw that Reiner came to him mainly for this matter.

Building a railway is not to spend all the expenses at once, but to invest gradually. Reiner can use the annual interest of the bonds to pay part of the money.

Assuming that this 200,000 florin railway needs 5 years to build, Reiner buys 150,000 florins of 5-year bonds with an annual interest rate of 6%. During this period, he can even use the bonds to pay for the project. In the end, he built a 200,000-yuan railway with 150,000.

Frederick was speechless. Smart people are everywhere.

"Go ahead." He leaned on the sofa and picked up the teacup, "What's the situation with this railway?"

Getting to the point, Reiner said seriously: "I plan to build a holy road from the German Cathedral to the Holy City of Light, relying on the existing railway network, starting from Mingxing City directly through the White Mountains to the Holy City of the Kingdom of Sardinia."

Frederick drank his tea calmly, a little surprised and moved in his heart.

Leaving the Holy City aside, if this railway is built, it means that the Rhine Alliance will have a second railway leading to the inland sea.

Reiner continued: "This railway first needs to pass through the center of the White Mountains of the Osmaga Empire. I have reached an agreement with Queen Anna. At that time, the Osmaga Empire can use the Principality of Byrne to come from the city of Wien. railway to the mountains.”

Frederick nodded. He had previously flown over the White Mountains on a griffin. The mountain road was not easy to walk. It would be better to go from the Principality of Byrne in the north of the mountains than to go over the mountains from east to west.

Lena continued: "I communicated with His Majesty King Francesco of the Kingdom of Sardinia about the railway. He is very interested in this railway. The only requirement is that it should be as far away from Venice as possible."

Frederick curled his lips. The Venetian businessmen seemed to be dancing quite hard.

Reiner concluded: "I have been operating this railway for a year. Relying on the original trade route, there is no need to choose a new route, and there is no problem in diplomacy."

Frederick shook his head, and Reiner's heart skipped a beat.

"200,000 is not enough." Frederick put down his tea cup and said, "The part that passes through the White Mountains is too difficult. I estimate that the total cost will be 250,000, and 300,000 will be enough."

The capacity of the bond market is limited. If one side takes too much, the other side will get less.

Reiner also understood this, so he jokingly said to Frederick: "I have news that there are many sheepdogs of God in the Holy City who are interested in investing in your bonds."

Frederick raised his eyebrows. Those bishops were all extremely rich, so it seemed like they had to go there.

He pinched his chin and said, "Oh, it seems I have to go to the Holy City to pay homage to the Holy Spirit."

Reiner said: "I suggest you go to Venice. Many people want to meet you."

Frederick nodded.

At this time Count Pisto arrived. He looked like he had just entered the city and his shoes were still wet.

He seemed to have a good relationship with Reiner, so he said to him directly: "Leiner, I have something to discuss with Frederick about the Kingdom of Sverriers."

Just as Reiner was about to stand up, Frederick immediately said: "Since it's business, let's listen together."

The maid came over with tea, and Count Pisto waved his hand, ordered a bottle of happy water and drank it in one gulp.

"I met a group of envoys sent by Kosdorf outside the city." Count Pisto said, "They are looking for Frederick, just outside the gate."

Frederick raised his eyebrows, and Count Pisto called him by his first name, indicating that this matter was related to him personally and had nothing to do with state affairs.

Even so, he still has to receive visitors together with others. The situation is delicate now, so he should be careful.

He turned to a maid and said, "Send the messengers in."

Frederick was not afraid of Kosdorf assassinating him, mainly because he had just reached cooperation with the Church of Nature. If he killed himself, the Church of Nature would kill him first.

The messenger brought a letter and a large gift to Frederick.

The messenger didn't know what was written in the letter, so he handed the things into Frederick's hands and left.

Frederick kept his head straight and asked the butler to settle down the dozen women sent by Kosdorf amid the snickering of Reiner and Count Pistol. Then he opened the golden mailbox and spread the letters on the coffee table for everyone to read together. .

"It's boring." Reiner was disappointed after reading the letter, "I thought Kosdorf invited you to carve up the Danma Kingdom."

Count Pistol echoed: "Yes, I thought he wanted our help to deceive the Kingdom of Dama or something."

"I didn't expect that. He just asked you not to stop his business."

Reiner smiled and said: "That's understandable. I would be anxious if Frederick said he wouldn't do business with me."

"It can be seen that Kosdorff was thoughtful and gave Frederick whatever he liked. There were actually two princesses."

Frederick curled his lips. Kosdorf was worried that he would stop his iron sand and daily necessities trade because of the war. After hearing that he was in Hanma City, he sent over a dozen armed female slaves and two princesses who were sold to him. .

These armed female slaves are carefully selected and trained. They are naturally excellent in appearance and very powerful in strength, making them very suitable for use as personal guards.

Frederick frowned and asked the two people next to him: "Have you ever heard of the twin princesses of the Piast Kingdom?"

Kosdorf's letter stated that the twin princesses he sent were the biological sisters of Casimir, the current king of the Piast Kingdom, and they were also powerful magicians. They were sold to the Sverrier Kingdom after failing in the palace struggle.

Frederick had done some research on the royal family of the Piast Kingdom, but had never heard of these two people.

After recalling it, Count Pisto said: "I heard about them ten years ago. It is said that they both fell ill and died when they were six years old."

Reiner also said: "There is such a thing. I heard from people in the Osmaga Empire that the Piast Kingdom also accused them of murdering the two princesses."

Frederick thought to himself that his premature death was false and there was a hidden secret behind it.

Ten years ago, he was busy dealing with the siege from his neighbors, so naturally he had never heard of it.

"It doesn't matter." He shrugged, "Let them go south. The United Fruit Company should be short of people, so it's just right."

Reiner had been to the south before and knew the situation in the swamps. After mourning for the two princesses, he asked Frederick: "What about the others? If you are around at this time, there will be people gossiping."

Frederick had already thought about giving those people to Catherine, so he made an excuse: "Recently I heard that my father was taken care of by a nobleman when he went fishing before his death. I plan to send these people there."

Count Pisto nodded and said, "That's fine. When the time comes, other people's troubles will be their business."

"By the way, there is something I want to mention to you right now."

"People in the north wear animal skins, and you know my family has opened a sewing needle factory. We have recently produced strong large needles, which are not a problem for piercing animal skins. Can you help us open up sales in the Kingdom of Sverie?"

Reiner said to Count Pisto: "Your in-laws have opened a button factory, so we can go with you."

Count Pisto said: "They sell buttons to Green Island, and they are not worried about not being able to sell them now."

Reiner said: "You can open up a channel first, maybe you will need it someday in the future."

Count Pisto thought it made sense.

Frederick naturally agreed and asked the people from the Dawn Chamber of Commerce to visit him another day.

The three people's conversation today did not avoid a maid in the living room. The maid gave today's record to Frederick for review and sent it back to Cologne.

Rudolf had a lot of work to do before the troops were dispatched, including the movements of the vassals.

He had just met with several young people who wanted to join his Knights, and the latest intelligence had arrived when he returned to the office.

Rudolf was full of expectations at first, wondering what kind of preparations these people were making for the upcoming war.

Ideals are full of hope, but reality is very skinny. Today's intelligence gave him a headache.

Count Ranke's granddaughter was persuaded by Bell Burke to invest her dowry in the United Fruit Company first, and the second was Count Delden's daughter;

Count Delden was calculating how many Wesson bonds his family could buy with their money two days ago;

Duke Heger has decided to buy 10,000 florins of Wesson bonds;

Grand Duke Nassau was annoyed by his family because his great-granddaughter wanted to invest in the United Fruit Company, and he wanted to buy Wesson bonds himself...

The more Rudolf looked at it, the more the blood vessels on his forehead protruded. When he saw the intelligence of the three people in Hammar City, he punched the desk in anger.

Frederick, who he had high hopes for in the upcoming war, actually left Hammar City and said he was going to the Kingdom of Sardinia to discuss the sale of bonds.

"The war is about to start, and they only think about how to make money. How did the Rhine Alliance become like this!"