European Financial Emperor

056 North America (2)

Three months later, the 2nd Regiment reached the North American base in East Stella.

Roger Rose, the head of the 2nd group, posted several reports to Lee Hwan.

“There is a report on the number and materials of the 2nd late squad. I also wrote about the current operations of East Stellar Finance.”

“okay. Let’s see.”

At the Ritterkirk Military Training Center, approximately 3,000 soldiers are trained per month, half of which are assigned to the Dutch regular army, and the other half are contracted with the East Stella mercenary corps.

The 2nd late battalion also landed 240 cannons along with 8,000 mercenaries who had received such training.

“All 8,000 soldiers of the 2nd late troop of the mercenary corps are in good health. The performance of the cannon is also impeccable.”

“It’s good. Is the sale of the cannons slowly being produced now?”

“I am waiting for your orders. I had to finish talking to the Dutch Central Army.”

“It’s the Central Army. Then sooner or later I must go to the Netherlands.”

“How about packing up a boat to the Netherlands soon?”

There were plenty of people who would go on a journey here.

In addition, it would be a great read if they left with plenty of trade goods produced in South America.

“good. So next month, let’s configure the top of the circle.”

“all right.”

“By the way, it looks like the factory is running better than expected.”

“of course. We have a large budget, so we can easily accumulate inventory.”

The fact that 240 cannons landed was possible because the bad debts the East Stellar Company invested in by managing their surplus funds were sold at a fairly reasonable price.

The Morgans were running a ‘restructuring fund’ that bought bad debts from all over Europe, then rehabilitated them and sold them.

Hwan Lee suggested a standard time for restructuring, and the Morgan family measured it and operated it according to the current time.

The resulting income was much higher than the amount earned by the loan.

“We buy and sell bonds based on the receipts we make across Europe, so we can make a return of almost 50% or more even after repaying the principal. I don’t think it’s because the timing is right.”

“Very good.”

Peace in Europe was nothing more than a dark cloud that would bring war.

It is unknown how long this current peaceful state of affairs will last, so Lee Hwan made money by using the unstable situation as a stepping stone.

Hwan Lee, who was looking at the list with satisfaction, paid attention to the medical supplies and medicines in the list.

“Are there a lot of medicines?”

“Antibiotics and vaccines. The research on the microorganisms you mentioned was successful, and antibiotics and disinfectants that effectively kill harmful bacteria, and vaccines that prevent disease have been developed. The first clinical trial has already been completed, and the second clinical trial will take place here.”

“Oh, right?”

“Managing the medications has never been easy, but it still came without a hitch. In fact, some sailors on the ship woke up with typhoid. It worked very well.”

Although the accumulation of medical knowledge was still rather slow, East Stella Research Hospital continued to develop vaccines and antibiotics through research and clinical trials.

Perhaps this could be a revolutionary turning point in the future of human life.

“If the effectiveness is proven here, it will be possible to sell.”

“People are already lining up to invest. However, rumors about the good news of the development of weapons and road and railroad construction spread, and dozens of wealthy people visit the headquarters every day. However, people are lining up even more when they hear that medicines that save lives are being developed one after another.”

“Now our efforts are paying off.”

“Isn’t this all the boss’s work?”

Lee Hwan wanted to quickly go down to the East Stellar headquarters.

Now that Joshua is here too, it seemed that Lee Hwan could go down with peace of mind.

He immediately ordered the recruitment of people to peddle with him to the Netherlands next month.

Over 600 people gathered in one day.

They knew how difficult peddling was by hearing the rumors, but they decided to follow Yi Hwan to get new opportunities in a new land.

Taken from readwn.com

Moreover, now that an effective antibiotic has been developed, the biggest thing was that I would not have to worry about dying from disease.

The number one reason people die while traveling was from diseases such as malaria, dysentery, and scurvy.

In particular, since there was no standardized internal medicine knowledge like modern medicine, the survival rate after infection was disastrous.

If an endemic disease such as malaria occurred even once, the fatality rate was close to 40%, so the life expectancy of sailors was particularly low.

Now that we have developed an effective drug through microbiological research, we have had much less fear of going on the road.

The 600 merchants who had been vaccinated decided to stock up on American specialties.

Lee Hwan instructed East Stellar officials to bring the specialties to the base with the help of locals.

But there were a few problems.

“Among the specialties, leather is the most valuable, and the second is tobacco and spices. The leather is produced and delivered by hunters on the border of Canada and Mexico, and there are many warlike indigenous peoples around. There are a lot of Native Americans who have settled in American counties because the U.S. government did missionary work to convert them to Christianity, but there are also a lot of Native Americans who do not.”

“Hmm… … .”

“It is said that if they are caught while bringing fur, they will strip people’s scalps and kill them.”

“Damn it, there was a problem. I didn’t even think about it until now, as I’ve only been building iron walls on the coast.”

“Not only that, but nearby Mexican bandits also target spices and tobacco. They capture people as well as goods and sell them as slaves. It is said that men work until death on the farm, and women sell them to brothels. Aboriginal people sometimes save lives if they speak well, but Mexican bandits say that it doesn’t work at all.”

“It is a serious problem. Are the gangs only in Mexico?”

“no. The western part of this area is virtually lawless. That’s why American bandits are infested. How much riding will you be able to get a bounty from the thieves?”

Ensuring the safety of trade routes is the basis of commerce.

No matter how good the goods are, if they are all stolen or people die on the way to conduct trade, they will be in trouble.

It can be said that the modern US military’s operation of oceanic fleets in conflict zones is also related to it.

“What about the Mexican and US governments?”

“It is impossible for the government to eradicate looting. Sometimes there are more troops than regular troops, so I’m careful not to provoke.”

In some cases, an entire settlement could be robbed if caught wrongly by an Indian who made full use of the forest, no matter how good the weapon was.

The natives, who had been friendly with Spain, still maintained good relations through trade, but the problem was that there were more tribes that did not.

“The key is safety, right?”

“That’s right.”

How can we ensure safety here?

Lee Hwan was deep in thought.

“I wish I had a wagon made of steel.”

“A steel wagon?”

“If there were guns and knives and a steel wagon that no human could ever penetrate, at least things would not be stolen.”

Lee Hwan nodded his head at the management’s complaints.

If a wagon made of steel passes by like their horses, tribes using crude weapons like thieves and Indians will not be able to inflict damage to the top.

“A wagon made of steel, we can make it ourselves.”

“You’re making a wagon of steel?”

“Yeah, isn’t that okay?”

After connecting the diesel tractor in parallel, a caterpillar device is placed on top of it, and a shape that can drag a heavy load comes out.

It was quite crude compared to modern tanks, but it could be called an innovation in this era.

Lee Hwan drew the design of the tank with charcoal.

“With cannons, you can defeat multiple enemies or smash enemy buildings. We could drill a hole for rifle shooting to take the place of our shooting positions and slaughter the incoming enemy.”

“Hey, you’re talking about building a moving fortress.”

“It’s like that. If the fortress protects the front and rear of the top, wouldn’t the security be protected by itself?”

“iced coffee! That’s right!”

“In addition, we will continue to purchase land from Mexico to build roads and railroads in the future. It would be difficult for a band of thieves to convince themselves to loot just by laying the railroad. Accordingly, the safety of the trade route will be ensured by itself.”

In the end, the best way to defend against the bandits was development.

Lee Hwan decided to take this blueprint to the headquarters.

“Let’s finish this at the head office and bring it home. Until then, you will have no choice but to go to and from the port by boat to buy goods yourself. It may take some time, but that’s all.”

“Um, I see. Then I will prepare for that.”

You can’t risk dying on the excuse that you can’t go to Holland empty-handed.

Lee Hwan decided to give up on land for the time being and trade by sea.

***

A fortnight later, a large-scale expedition consisting of two battleships and four merchant ships began.

Lee Hwan decided to go down to South America via major ports along the coast of Mexico with gold to be used for trade and daily necessities for the trip.

The 600 merchants and mercenaries who had already gone through several voyages carried out their journey in a fairly stable manner.

Lee Hwan, who rode along the coast of western Mexico, filled two merchant ships with gold at three famous ports, passed through Central and South America Honduras and Colombia.

The sailors had a fairly bright expression up to this point, but as they headed for Argentina through Panama, they began to show signs of exhaustion.

I did just that.

Just across Panama’s Gatun Lake will lead you to the Caribbean Sea, but now you have to go the other way around that long Argentina.

It would be exhausting to go through the rough seas of Chile and Argentina to reach the tip of South America.

Besides, buying a good quality cigar in Cuba leaves a huge impression on you, and to do that, you have to go back to Central and South America and peddle it without going through Africa.

It was so hard to make a profit, and the sailors were exhausted.

Lee Hwan thought that if there was anything that could withstand such a difficult voyage, everything would be fine except for drugs and violence.

As he thought, the sailors found their own comfort.

It was just music.

Late at night, Lee Hwan heard music coming from somewhere and went out to the deck.

Deliring… … .

A melody similar to blues or jazz was tickling Lee Hwan’s ears.

“What do you mean?”

“… … I told you that you can become a target for pirates if you are noisy!”

Deck Captain Alexander seemed to think that Lee Hwan was trying to offend the songs of African-American immigrants, so he deliberately got even more furious and made a fuss.

Hana Lee Hwan enjoyed listening to the music far from being offensive.

“It’s good. The singing is good, too.”

“But the pirates… … .”

“If you hit it, you can break it. No matter how strong a pirate’s power is, a fleet cannot be built.”

It is not easy for pirates to move in groups.

If the pirates moved in units of fleets, they would be so destroyed by the navy that they could never sail again.

Lee Hwan knew this very well, so he thought that if the pirates attacked him, he would sink it and reduce the risk by one.

His guts were things that could never come out without confidence in his weapon.

“Tell them to work hard during the day, play and sing when they have free time. Sometimes I do some concerts or recitals.”

“Isn’t it annoying? In Europe, it’s called the music of slaves… … .”

“What kind of status do you put into music? If it sounds good to you, that’s fine.”

Lee Hwan felt better after hearing a good song after a long time.