Chapter 602: Do you want to make a big fortune
The terrain of the Kingdom of Tarago is a plateau with complex terrain and poor products, and the coastal areas are rich hills and plains.
In the central plateau, most of the external water vapor is intercepted by the surrounding wall-like mountains, resulting in less rainfall. Moreover, due to the complex terrain and inconvenient transportation, it has been an indisputable place for military strategists since ancient times.
The nobles there are all nesting in their own three-quarter acres of land, and they will be loyal to whoever controls the wealthy areas along the coast.
Therefore, some people jokingly call the war in the Kingdom of Tarago the "hat brim war". Whoever can take off the surrounding brim will own the entire hat.
There is an iron wall mountain range to the west of the Kingdom of Tarago that separates it from the Kingdom of Madeira, and the Fortress of St. George is on the east side of the mountain range.
The Kingdom of Madeira faces the sea on three sides and is mainly hilly, but there are no mountains. Most of the water vapor from the ocean floats away in the air, making it barren due to lack of water. Only the water vapor intercepted by the Iron Wall Mountains The irrigated eastern lands are fertile.
Therefore, the Kingdom of Madeira has always wanted to cross the Iron Wall Mountains and occupy the "hat brim" of the Kingdom of Tarago.
For this reason, the Kingdom of Tarago has been resisting the attack of the Kingdom of Madeira in the Iron Wall Mountains. Gradually, a warlord group headed by Grand Duke Suarez emerged, with a large number of battle-hardened veterans.
Now that Archduke Suarez wants to compete for the throne of the Kingdom of Tarago, he needs to mobilize troops, but he cannot give up the defense line of the Iron Wall Mountains, otherwise he will be attacked from both front and rear.
Now that reinforcements from the Principality of Wesson and the Osmaga Empire have arrived to defend the important fortress area, Grand Duke Suarez can mobilize his core team to join the battle for the throne.
War is not just about fighting on the battlefield with weapons, but more importantly, logistical support.
The Western Front Corps is different from the traditional army in that weapons and equipment cannot be supplied locally. They need to be transported by sea from the Principality of Wesson, thousands of kilometers away, to the city of La Cobriga and then to the Fortress of St. George.
The road about 300 kilometers from La Cobriga to the Fortress of San Giorgio is fairly easy to walk. Frederick felt that after sending troops, he first sent people to guide the road to be further built into a wider gravel road. Running carriages and cars is no problem.
But this is not enough. The Wesen Army needs a logistics base to build vehicle and ordnance maintenance plants, food factories and hospitals.
It stands to reason that this matter requires Frederick to be present in person, but he is still in Milan at the moment, and it will be at least three months before he can get here.
Frederick appointed Eugene as his plenipotentiary representative from the beginning, and Archduke Suarez appointed his eldest son Louis as his plenipotentiary envoy, and the two parties began negotiations.
Eugene was born into a powerful family in the Kingdom of Gaul and was extremely familiar with this kind of negotiation. Few in the Principality of Wesson could match him.
He did not hold formal talks at the beginning. Instead, he and Louis went hunting in the nearby mountains so that problems could be easily dealt with.
Frederick sold a batch of firearms to Archduke Suarez that were not officially equipped but only for technical reserves. These guns used steel ball core Mini bullets, and the warheads were connected front to back and installed in the cylinder on the right side. , the bullet chamber is a "" shaped iron block with a round hole. The iron block is pushed to the right in front of the cylinder and the bullet enters the round hole. When you let go, the spring blade pushes the iron block and bullet back into the gun chamber to complete loading.
In combat, a skilled shooter can quickly replace the cartridge after firing the bullets in the cartridge, firing at least 30 rounds of bullets in one minute.
In last year's battle, Louis commanded two hundred guardsmen equipped with such guns to stop several cavalry attacks from the Kingdom of Gaul with rain-like bullets.
Now he likes this kind of gun very much and takes it with him when hunting.
He knows that the Weisen Army is equipped with better weapons, but he cannot be too greedy. For now, this is enough.
A group of pheasants appeared in the grass. Louis raised his gun and shot, killing the three fattest ones in the head in one breath.
The attendants nearby released hunting dogs and brought back the prey.
Eugene is holding a double-barreled shotgun. For him, hunting is a sport, not a battlefield, so he only uses sports products, even though double-barreled shotguns are regarded as military standard equipment in many places.
The negotiation was naturally based on high prices. He said casually: "Archduke Wesson wants a place to build a logistics base."
Louis nodded and said: "No problem. A few years ago, my father offered a reward with the title of baronet to anyone who could cure his mother's curse. Archduke Wesson could get this reward."
At that time, his mother suffered from gynecological diseases, and Frederick later sent her to her. Allicin cures it.
In this era, people lacked a correct understanding of this type of disease and believed it was a curse from God, which resulted in political passivity when fighting for the throne.
Frederick first cured Mrs. Suarez. At first, some political opponents thought it was some kind of witchcraft.
But later Frederick cured Old Louis' septicemia with the same medicine, and Old Louis was the boss behind these political opponents, so they all shut up.
Louis continued: "The title originally given by my father was only a palace noble, but it is not impossible to enact it."
In the Kingdom of Sardinia, news has spread that Frederick and the royal family are partnering to build a shipyard. Come, so Grand Duke Suarez also had some thoughts.
Although Frederick had an affair with Penelope, the daughter of Archduke Suarez, neither Archduke Suarez nor Louis believed that this was enough to use as a bargaining chip to achieve their own goals.
And they didn’t have many bargaining chips in their hands. They had to follow the current tradition and use land to tie Frederick to themselves. Otherwise, they would not be able to defeat Alansati, who was backed by the Kingdom of Gaul, in the battle for the throne. Duke.
Eugene realized the political factors behind it and couldn't help but think about the bottom line given by Frederick. Now Frederick was wooing allies everywhere, so he was very generous.
There are mines here in the Tarago Kingdom. Although there are not many, they are still mines.
One of the bottom lines given by Frederick was to build a smelter around the minerals, and they could be given 40% of the shares.
In addition, some light industrial factories can also be built to absorb the families of smelter workers.
Eugene didn't know how to do business before, but he will do a lot after living in the Principality of Wesson for a long time.
Not to mention that his good friend Metzger's family is in business, and they often talk about this topic.
“I think Archduke Wesson can build a smelting plant here.” Eugene’s words made Louis’ eyes light up. “I think I can give you all the markets in the northern part of the Inland Sea.”
Lewis looked calm on the surface, but felt a little excited in his heart.
In war, whoever masters steel is closer to victory.
And steel has always been a lucrative business, and can even be used as a political bargaining chip. Not to mention far away, controlling the steel sales in the Kingdom of Tarago can gain great political benefits.
Eugene noticed that Louis' eyes had changed just now, and knowing that this had impressed him, he stopped mentioning the shares and continued: "Archduke Wesson should also build a metal manufacturing plant that can manufacture Not to mention some parts for repairing weapons and making agricultural tools."
"There is also a cannery. It is really inconvenient to bring it from the Principality of Wesson. It is better to build one here based on marine resources."
Louis pretended to be casual and asked: "Can you also give us the sales from the cannery?"
The central plateau area is poor, but the landowners still have some money.
It’s just that the means of preserving meat these days are limited, and landlords can only eat fresh meat when slaughtering livestock. On weekdays, they can only eat dry meat such as bacon and bacon.
The Principality of Wesson has been selling cans for so long, so naturally there are people who want to follow suit.
For example, canned fish and shrimp made by sealing clay pots with soil can allow landlords to have a bite of soft meat.
It’s just that the road is difficult, the pots are damaged a lot on the road, and the price is not low.
The cans in the Principality of Wesson are made of slime hard glue, which is strong, light and not easily damaged. Plus the shipping cost of thousands of kilometers is not much more expensive than clay cans.
If this can can be produced locally and save the shipping cost from the Principality of Wesson, we can make even more money.
Eugene replied: "On the premise of ensuring that the frontline soldiers have enough food, selling the rest to you is not a problem."
As long as you don't mention the shares, to whom will the sales rights be given? All the same.
Eugene was afraid that Louis would react, so he had to settle the matter first, and said seriously: "Let's do this, I will make the decision. I will give you the sales rights for the factory built by Archduke Wesson on the territory of the Kingdom of Tarago and the area north of the inland sea." . ”
“We can finalize these conditions in the form of a memorandum first.”
Louis’s eyes widened. Everyone knows the products produced by the factories in the Principality of Wesson. To make money, how much money can you make if you monopolize the sales of these products in the Kingdom of Tarago or even the Kingdom of Lisenberg.
At this time, he suddenly became vigilant. Why did Eugene give such generous conditions?
He soon thought that it might be because Eugene's father was the commander-in-chief of the opposing Gallic army, and he used this method to avoid suspicion.
Everyone has their own selfish motives. In negotiations, there are many things where people generously benefit from the boss's generosity for their own benefit. Louis has cheated his own father a lot in the past, and he has been cheated by his subordinates too, as long as the bottom line is not exceeded.
After thinking about this section, Louis became embarrassed. This was too much, and his price seemed not enough.
He asked cautiously: "What do you think about making La Cobriga the fiefdom of Archduke Wesson?"
La Cobriga used to be just an ordinary fishing village. The pottery industry arose after good pottery clay was discovered nearby, and ships transporting pottery promoted the development of the port, which has now grown into a small city.
In Louis’ view, although the taxes here are higher, they are vastly different from the smelters.
Eugene suddenly realized that he seemed to be playing too much, and quickly thought of the problem.
In his opinion, both Louis and Grand Duke Suarez were traditional aristocrats who were good at military and politics, but not good at business.
This is because the Kingdom of Tarago is relatively poor, its business is far less developed than the Kingdom of Gaul and Sardinia, and the business atmosphere is not strong. As a result, the nobles have little exposure to big business and are short-sighted in this regard.
So Eugene began to hesitate, should he just accept the offer, or should he cheat a big sum of money?
(End of this chapter)