European Financial Emperor

065 Practical Diplomacy of Financial Conglomerates (2)

In July 1825, the Dutch army’s old firearms were returned to Ritterkirk.

Instead of supplying new guns to the Netherlands at a low price, Lee Hwan made a contract by collecting old guns.

So far, the stock of the ES-1 produced by the East Stellar Company alone is more than 120,000, and if you include the guns received from the Netherlands, it means that the stock has reached 200,000.

The ES-1 was still in production, and companies were lining up to buy it.

“In England, France, Spain, the United States, and even Germany and Austria were lining up to buy guns. Please give me guidelines on how to distribute the firearms.”

Austin Rose, a brilliant accountant in the Rose family, asked Lee Hwan for instructions on how to distribute the rifle, and he decided to distribute the gun as he had envisioned.

“Each place that gives you more money and distribute it equally according to your creditworthiness.”

“Money is money, but how do you rate your creditworthiness?”

There are no indicators of national creditworthiness yet.

Considering the power of the country and the influence of the royal family, it was merely replacing the powerful and the weak.

Lee Hwan decided to create a clear indicator for this.

“Let’s create a subsidiary in East Stellar Finance to evaluate the country’s creditworthiness. We plan to generate revenue based on the provision of information based on credit evaluation.”

“How to evaluate creditworthiness… … .”

“Ah, yes. Haven’t you come up with an indicator yet?”

In this era, compared to the future, there were a lot of things that were missing.

Because of that, there are not once or twice when it is inconvenient, but it is true that there are many things that Lee Hwan doesn’t have, so there is plenty of room for Lee Hwan to earn money.

He began to slowly write down the instructions for the accountants on a piece of paper.

“We will make an objective evaluation of the state’s financial management. What is a country’s fiscal revenues and expenditures, and the size of its debts and loans? In that way, classify the AAA rating as good and the BBB rating as poor, and say that you will not supply firearms if you do not meet a certain level.”

“But for an objective evaluation, wouldn’t the state help? But if they ask for data to evaluate their creditworthiness, will they submit it properly?”

“So we have to evaluate it on our own merits. So far, we have managed a vulture fund that buys and sells bonds and companies, and we are also dealing with loans and deposits. Besides, financial investment and real estate investment go hand in hand, right? I think this is enough to collect some data.”

“It is.”

“If we make an objective evaluation like this, any country that is dissatisfied with it will surely submit explanatory materials. When we get the epistle from them, we just have to check it against the actual investigation to find out the truth and adjust our credit rating.”

It is quite difficult to have a company that evaluates credit ratings and bring them to a level of public trust.

However, if it were made possible, it would be a means of making huge profits in the present, early 19th century.

The reason he wanted to introduce a credit rating system was not simply because he did not want to take a loss.

However, there are always variables.

“Then boss, is war risk also affected by credit rating?”

“War?”

“Isn’t Europe still in the brink of war? In the aftermath of the recent Greek independence movement, the Ottoman Empire and Britain were at a standstill, and naval battles were constantly taking place.”

Europe was fighting day by day.

If Holland and Prussia were to collide here, no one knew where Europe’s gunpowder would explode.

Lee Hwan laughed bitterly.

“Selling firearms and worrying about war. It’s kind of ironic.”

“But risk is risk.”

“Then we should prepare for war.”

“of course. If a war breaks out in the immediate vicinity, we do not know what will happen to our property and stocks, aside from our living quarters.”

“Hmm… … .”

“Besides, we are not a military company with a large number of arsenals and arsenals. If you’re unlucky, it’s perfect for getting hit by concentrated fire. What’s more, the roads aren’t well drilled these days. I don’t think there’s any guarantee that our Literkirk is safe.”

As Elizabeth said, if you want to survive in Europe, you have to have something to believe in.

It looked like I had to wear it in my back pocket without anyone else’s knowledge.

‘… … Are you going to move out right now?’

***

A week after Elizabeth’s death, he was invited to Austria.

It was asked to attend a banquet held by the Rashchild family as Elizabeth’s partner.

“The invitation came from the Habsburgs. What should I do?”

“Tell them you’re going.”

“Then I will prepare the carriage in five days.”

Now that roads are opened all over Europe, we could reach Austria in a day and a half.

While we were refining the schedule for the past five days, Peter Rose, who is in charge of the away team, came to visit.

He sought guidance on how to organize an organization for his next expedition.

“A lot has changed since the Blackmaul mercenaries were separated from the Dutch army. Among them is the composition and organization of the military. As a large number of officers who were originally part of the Royal Expeditionary Forces were formed into the regular army, our commanding force was significantly reduced. Because of that, the command system is shaken a lot.”

“The command system.”

“Currently, experienced veterans are playing the role of the actual leader of the mercenary corps, but the system is not clear, so there are many things to do, but it is said that there are times when it is impossible to lead because there is no authority.”

“There is definitely a problem.”

The problem of organization that arises when the royal troupe is replaced with the royal mercenary corps is a problem that has been discussed little by little from the past.

The Blackhammer Mercenary Corps is clearly an army of one hundred and fifty thousand, but if it were operated without officers or sergeants as it is, it could be divided or annihilated just like the Dutch army did in the past.

At this point, Lee Hwan decided to build an academy altogether.

“Let’s set up an academy at the Ritterkirk Training Center to train commanders.”

“Are you talking about making mercenaries into officers?”

“yes that’s right. The goal is to build a school that will nurture the skills to lead troops. If outstanding mercenaries are commissioned as officers and given the command, it will be possible to conduct battles more systematically.”

“Ugh!”

“Now, officers are usually recruited from noble or gentry families, aren’t they?”

“Yes, it is. I’m sure it depends a lot on your status.”

“There is no need to pick up outstanding talents who have served three years or more from among the mercenaries, or let’s take a certain test by receiving support. In that way, I will be able to demonstrate far superior combat power than officers selected by rank.”

“But would the officers in the Netherlands react if that happened?”

“That’s the regular military situation. We organize our army in our own way.”

“iced coffee!”

Despite the title of “Royal”, the Blackmaul Mercenaries were formed by the capital of Eaststellar.

Since Lee Hwan had all the authority to operate the mercenary corps, the establishment of the mercenary corps academy was an inevitable part of the royal family.

Lee Hwan made plans to organize various military schools together with the military academy.

“Currently, the medical system of our mercenary corps is mostly supported by research hospitals. But now, let’s select a separate surgeon and assign him to the mercenary team.”

“Looks like a good way.”

“With him, let’s establish a school that produces sergeants who are practical military leaders who support officers and lead soldiers. As battle veterans, they are responsible for leading the soldiers in real battles. In addition, experts who have studied in-depth in areas that require specialized knowledge or skills, such as navigation, artillery, or first aid, are nurtured at the NCO. That way, the military will run a lot more systematically.”

“Then, we will prepare for the establishment of the school immediately.”

“If you create a school, you will have a system of command. Then we can start working on the division of the organization. The concept is already in place, so you just give the instructions and you just have to move on.”

Lee Hwan divided the expeditionary force and garrisoned troops from the standing army, and envisioned a plan to divide the army into military, corps, division, regiment, battalion, company, platoon, and squad for operation.

In addition, it was intended to make it possible for individual mercenaries to strategically operate by mastering and training individual missions.

“Let’s make a kind of operational white paper. Are you ready?”

“of course. The know-how gained from running the training center is already enormous, so the level of publication of the white paper is expected to be quite high.”

In the first place, Lee Hwan wanted his army to be the most sophisticated and powerful one.

As time went on, what the mercenaries needed began to be hidden one by one, and the organization was constantly demanding such a structure from Lee Hwan.

In a word, the organization was longing for nutrients from Lee Hwan in order to continue to evolve like an organism.

‘In the next 5 to 10 years, the Black Hammer mercenaries will be the most powerful group in Europe.’

Combat experience is what makes soldiers strong.

If the experience that the mercenaries gain by fighting pirates in the open sea continues as it is, Lee Hwan will probably get the most powerful army in the world.

***

In October 1825, under Yi Hwan’s instructions, the organization of the Black Hammer mercenaries was reorganized, and East Stellar Finance’s credit rating agency was established.

ESM, a credit rating agency, is an institution that evaluates credit ratings for loans and leases. It calculated lease payments for gun payments scheduled for November of this year and conducted a preliminary assessment of the number of guns.

On the 11th of the same month, ESM set credit ratings for 12 countries, including the UK and France.

The first place in the credit rating was the Netherlands, while Portugal was ranked last.

All European countries thought the UK was rightfully number one in credit ratings, but they stayed in third place.

In this credit rating, the credit ratings of newly independent countries were sometimes set higher than those of Europe.

If it’s a surprise, it’s a surprise, but there were countries that generally accepted it, but did not.

The East Stellar Company was noisy from early morning.

British Treasury officials raised their voices to ask Lee Hwan to adjust his credit rating.

“Our British Empire ranks third in the credit rating! Even the once-colonial United States has lost it! Adjust your credit rating right now!”

“Credit ratings are not controlled by whoever orders them. We just looked at the entire financial market to see if we would be able to pay for the weapons if we got them.”

“… … Who doesn’t know that? But there is such a thing as external reputation, right?”

This is an era in which a nation’s reputation influences its territorial dominance on the international arena.

Eaststellar is already earning enormous amounts of goods in the financial world to overwhelm London financiers, and their credibility was enough to draw the attention of even experts.

If such Eaststellar were to undermine Britain, their reputation would be greatly diminished.

Hana Lee Hwan just moved according to the calculations.

However, rather than going out with a high stance, Lee Hwan was planning to gently coax the British.

“Calm down for a moment. Can’t everything be resolved through dialogue?”

“Whew… … ! good. Let’s sit down and talk for a while.”

His business cards are pretty flashy now, but he’s not a former lobbyist anyway.

Just like dealing with a baby who was stolen while sucking on candy, he was sure to receive one.

Lee Hwan smiled softly and said.

“this… … . It’s really hard to put into words. We tried to be a credible institution in our own way, but we are doing things that harm the future of the British Empire.”

“You speak a bit too! So, let’s try to fix the credit rating a bit.”

“okay. It’s not difficult. It’s enough to fix the books and revise the notice information. But this is because I also put up a signboard under my name. If things go wrong, the creditworthiness of our company itself will go down.”

“No, so what is it? Instead of correcting your credit rating… … .”

“It’s about adjusting the conditions a bit.”

In the end, it was about getting money.