European Financial Emperor

019 Benheren’s General Meeting of Shareholders (1)

In May 1821, Lee Hwan received an invitation from the Ben-Heren Guild for a general meeting of shareholders of the traveling fleet.

The guild builds a fleet by recruiting investors and issuing shares to them in hosting the round trip.

The issuance of stocks could be seen as essential for risk hedging, as the amount of money required for the original trip was not a penny or two and the risk of sinking the ship was also required.

In the invitation to the general meeting of shareholders, the words ‘trial and investment solicitation for new weapons’ were also written.

“It looks like they are trying to finish the investment in one shot.”

The general meeting of shareholders of the Benheren Fleet is a place where wealthy peasants, business owners, landowners, nobles, and members of the Senate and House of Representatives attend in large numbers, and it can be said that it is a place where officials from all over Holland gather.

If Lee Hwan gave a proper blow here, he could become a lightning bolt rich man in an instant.

With 15 guns and a box of 50 rounds of ammunition, Lee Hwan headed to the Amsterdam mansion where Richard Ben-Herren is currently living.

Brilliant wagons lined up in front of the mansion.

“It seems that all the families that say they have gathered.”

“Sure. Prince Ben-Heren is not the only person whose last name is Holland.”

“Ah, Father Andrew!”

When I asked who answered Lee Hwan’s recitation, it was Andre.

The two shook hands in a Western style and expressed their delight.

“How have you been? I have heard that you have been absent for over three months.”

“I didn’t move a single step in Rotterdam because I worked so hard on the gun.”

Andre had already returned to Amsterdam after hearing the news that Yi Hwan was coming to Rotterdam.

He was keeping his promise that if Lee Hwan showed any signs of participating in the tour, he would come running right away.

Andre decided to assist Lee Hwan during his stay in Amsterdam.

“I will do it. Go.”

“I don’t have to.”

“The master is still here, can I stay still?”

After a brief greeting with Andre, Lee Hwan and his party entered the mansion.

With 12 rooms and a site of about 350 pyeong, this mansion was different from other nobles who ran on the edge of luxury.

Even without much decoration, the mansion looked like a prison, because it was built solely for pragmatism.

Lee Hwan passed through the garden where there was no single flower and entered the waiting room.

The waiting room was already a bit busy.

While many rich and noble people were chatting, Ben Heren, who was at the center, recognized Lee Hwan and approached him.

“Duke Ben-Heren, have you been well?”

“so so.”

Aaron and Jeff were standing next to Ben Heren, who was 190 cm tall.

Jeff greeted Lee Hwan warmly.

“Hey, little boy. They say they’re out of print these days, don’t they seem to be preparing for something great?”

“It’s like that.”

“Okay, I look forward to it.”

Aaron was about to say something to Lee Hwan, but then he shut his mouth.

It didn’t suit his personality to be cool when he had something to say, so hesitating about something like that.

‘What’s the story?’

Anyway, with Lee Hwan coming, the general meeting of shareholders and the investment briefing would begin.

Ben Heren, who stood on the podium in the center of the reception room, shouted to the shareholders.

“From now on, I will start the investment briefing session on investment in India and development of new weapons. Since the share distribution for the fleet investment has already been completed, I will briefly explain the original procedure and finish. However, there will be a trial of the new weapon after the briefing session, so if you are interested, I hope you will stay until the end.”

“Oh, new weapon!”

Nobles and caravans are people who have an abundance of time and money.

Nevertheless, they want to have even a little more, so they always live in a frenzy.

This was human greed.

Ben-Heren directly talked about the route and explained in detail about insurance and profit distribution issues.

After about 30 minutes of explanation, the nobles finished the investment briefing neatly.

“Do you have any questions?”

“No. Let’s stop that and see what kind of weapon he was talking about.”

“Actually, I don’t even know exactly what the new weapon is.”

“Everyone is in a hurry.”

Ben Heren is someone who thinks it takes a long time to get good things, but not everyone in the world thinks so.

Richard handed the baton to Lee Hwan.

“The explanation will be given by Lee Hwan, president of East Stellar Company.”

“Hey, what… … ?”

The name Lee Hwan was difficult to pronounce and unfamiliar to him.

Therefore, Lee Hwan thought that he should give himself a nickname.

“Stella, please call me Stella.”

“Um, what is it?”

He spoke and took it out of the box.

“This place is too narrow for a weapon trial. Go out to the garden.”

“garden?”

“You can’t shoot in the house, right?”

“Well, it is.”

The Mouser and Ruger families set up targets in the garden, and each disassembled firearms were arranged randomly on the table.

The aristocrats and caravan people who came out after a while wondered what the hell they were doing.

He didn’t have a finished gun, just arranging parts and questioning what kind of shooting he was doing.

Hana Lee Hwan headed to the table with great confidence.

“What do you do when you mix all the parts like that? Are you trying to do some magic?”

“Maybe it’s a gun with a gun and a kid who doesn’t even know what to say?”

Now, Lee Hwan’s actions alone were enough to cause interest.

While people’s attention was increasingly focused, Lee Hwan relentlessly took out the parts one by one from the pile of parts just as he could pick them up.

With a light smile, Lee Hwan quickly assembles the rifle.

shudder! shudder!

After completing the assembly in 1 minute and 30 seconds, Lee Hwan stood up with a gun.

Then he immediately fell down and took a stance.

People tilted their heads.

“You lay down with a gun? Are you going to shoot me or not?”

“It looks like you have no intention of reloading gunpowder.”

At a time when full-scale firearms became common, lying down and firing was completely absurd.

You have to push the gunpowder into the muzzle and put the bullets in it, but how the heck did you shoot while lying down?

However, Lee Hwan decided to break the mold of common sense very lightly.

Lee Hwan picked up the magazine and joined it to the magazine groove in front of the bolt.

After that, Lee Hwan retreats and advances the bolt.

shudder!

Up until this point, everyone seemed to be unable to understand what the hell Lee Hwan was doing.

Exactly three seconds later, they became dumb.

Taang!

A rifle that spews fire with a light firing sound, and a target that was pierced by the bullet.

People were really shocked.

“Huh! Where did you put the bullets now?!”

“No, bullets are bullets, aren’t you supposed to have gunpowder to shoot?”

“Look, I see! What the hell is this?”

The constant buzzing, this place was truly chaos itself.

It was natural for gunpowder to be inserted in order to be able to shoot, and even if the gunpowder spit fire, there was no bullet.

Above all else, in order for gunpowder to burn, there must be something to ignite it, and people were wandering around because they could not find it.

Lee Hwan continued to load.

shudder!

Lie down on the spot, Yi Hwan pulled the bolt and ejected the cartridge, and immediately fired.

The continuous firing of bolt-action rifles followed.

shudder! Taang!

It took only one minute to shoot five shots.

If he had mastered it, even if he killed a few people, it wouldn’t be strange at all.

“Huh!”

“Duke Ben-Heren wasn’t bluffing in vain!”

Soon, Lee Hwan got up from his seat and stepped forward in front of the 25 people.

Then people applauded involuntarily.

Clap clap clap!

I had never seen such a strange sight before, but I had a strong desire to become richer than I am now if I do well in the future.

Lee Hwan said to the audience.

“This is the rear-mounted rifle I developed.”

“After dinner?”

“Instead of shoving gunpowder into the muzzle, it is shooting by putting it directly into the chamber together with the bullet. This way you don’t even need a fire, and you don’t have to wait while the wick burns. You don’t have to stand up to reload, and your reload speed is insanely fast. You just have to pull the handle.”

The formation of a mechanism that can kill people so easily could be the worst invention in human history.

The thing that killed the most humans so far was none other than bullets.

However, one day, bullets will be invented, and the game of war will change even if Yi Hwan does not have to.

However, Lee Hwan only advanced the time a little.

A nobleman who was sitting in the audience stood up from his seat without saying a word.

Then, he reached out to Lee Hwan’s rifle.

“Can I see you for a second?”

“Yes, you can.”

The nobleman, who had not shown much expression until just a moment ago, had a deep valley formed between his forehead.

With a serious expression on his face, he asked Lee Hwan how to shoot.

“How do you shoot?”

“After combining the rifle with the cartridge magazine for replenishing ammunition, grab the loading handle, retract the bolt and advance, and it will be loaded. And you can just shoot.”

“It’s very simple. It’s amazing to have such a simple shooting style and yet be able to trigger.”

“It’s overrated.”

“No, even more surprising is that it is actually here.”

He pointed his finger at randomly stacked parts of the rifle.

Then the nobles and merchants clapped their knees as if they had just realized something great.

“Huh! Come to think of it, I think I mixed some parts and assembled the gun and shot it. What, are you saying that it still fires?!”

“Yes, it is. If you do that, you will be shot.”

“… … What an incredible young man! How in the world is it possible to assemble a machine as precise as a rifle and shoot it?”

“Because parts and parts are compatible with each other.”

“compatible!”

Lee Hwan broke the frame of common sense not only in the shooting method but also in the production method.

After that, the audience rushed to him, offering investment money regardless of you or me.

“We will invest!”

“me too!”

There was an uproar about investing everywhere.

In a word, it was awesome.

Lee Hwan looked at Ben Heren as to how to do this.

Then Ben Heren was in the position to do whatever he wants because it is Lee Hwan’s heart to receive the investment.

However, he has already signed a life partnership with Lee Hwan, so Ben Heren will automatically pay the highest amount of investment.

“I will make a contract.”

“Yes, Nari!”

Everyone was even more upset that Ben Heren signed a contract.

Taken from readwn.com

Merchants and nobles were now pushing and shoving each other to line up.

Lee Hwan’s mouth caught in his ear.

“If you sign a contract now, we will issue shares as much as your investment later.”

“Good!”

hit the jackpot