Lord of Industrialization

After the opening of the Carolina Canal, Lake St. Henry, which regulates water volume next to it, became a place for wealthy and leisure people to visit because of its clear water quality, surrounding mountains and forests, the chirping of birds, and the abundance of fish in the lake.

On the second day of the Golden Durian Award Ceremony, Frederick came to an open space by the lake to survey the terrain for his peach stone garden.

This garden is modeled on the Grand View Garden in Frederick's memory. From the pavilions and pavilions to the furniture, cups and bowls, he designed it himself. He just replaced the Cucui Temple with a church.

Today there were teams of surveyors measuring the elevation, and Frederick was fishing with little Louis at the water's edge.

Little Louis was asking for help. Looking at the world now, I am afraid that only Frederick could come up with money to ease the financial pressure of the Kingdom of Gaul. From breakfast to now, he has been full of good things.

Frederick was clear in his heart, so let's compliment each other. The clerk of Wesson State behind the two could feel goosebumps all over his body.

If Frederick had not only had affairs with women throughout his life, future generations would definitely have thought there was something between them just by looking at the conversation record of this day.

Seeing that the atmosphere was almost over, little Louis said to Frederick somewhat depressedly: Our country has encountered some difficulties recently, and they are all caused by money.

Upon hearing this, Frederick immediately said righteously: I have not forgotten the helping hand your country extended to me in times of crisis ten years ago. If Armand hadn't sent me a sum of money, I wouldn't have known where I would have fled to now.

Your difficulties are my difficulties. Problems that can be solved with money are not problems. Just say how much you want to borrow.

Today's society is a society of human nature, especially among high-level nobles. Stories about love and justice have always been told, and the villains in drama novels are often heartless people.

Ten years ago, perhaps out of sympathy for a child or dissatisfaction with William, the nobles of the Kingdom of Gaul each contributed a little money to show their support.

For Frederick, this support was a great help to him both financially and politically, especially in terms of public opinion, which put great pressure on the royal family of the Rhine League.

Over the years, Frederick would send gifts and messages or letters to the Gallic nobles who had helped him during every festival and festival. This also opened the door to business convenience, laying the foundation for the success of this trade delegation.

Not to mention Armand, who made the trip in person. His sister Françoise is now the general agent of Wesson Paper in the Kingdom of Gaul. The wealth in the money cabinet makes her appear in public places as a young man who is aspiring to be with a rich woman. The place where they fight.

These were only on a personal level; on a national level, Frederick had yet to return the favor.

There was no way, who made the relationship between the two countries before the marriage between the Rhine Alliance prince and the Gallic kingdom princess was very bad, let alone helping the Kingdom of Lisenberg defeat the Kingdom of Gaul in the past few years.

Now that the relationship between the two countries is developing in a good direction, opportunities have come.

Little Louis thought he would have to talk more to convince Frederick to lend him money, but he didn't expect that he agreed immediately.

It’s just that now everyone knows that Duke Wesson has just experienced a war and paid a large sum of money to Amstel City’s fire insurance. For this reason, he issued two bonds totaling 350,000 florins. It is estimated that his family There isn't much food left.

Little Louis was already prepared for this. They had a serious discussion last night. They did not expect Frederick to help fill the hole of hundreds of thousands, and could only issue royal bonds.

These days, the royal family and the nobility are very particular about issuing bonds. The amount is measured based on the average annual income. The bonds on the left and right are healthy and can be repaid as long as there are no disaster years. Bonds that exceed the annual income and are less than twice the amount tend to have high interest rates. , it is necessary to consider whether to invest based on the political situation and war.

The Kingdom of Gaul now has difficulty in issuing royal bonds to fill the hole. They had a bad international reputation after the complete failure of the Kingdom of Lisenberg a few years ago. I am afraid no one would dare to buy bonds with a year's income, and the risk is too great.

The idea of ​​​​Little Louis and others is to find Duke Wesson, who is almost a god in the economic field. His prediction of tulip price collapse has indeed been shattered. If they can take the lead in buying a Gaul royal bond of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, people who follow the trend will definitely flock to buy it. And arrived.

No one could say exactly how many gold coins Frederick could take out. Little Louis stretched out his hand, spread his five fingers and shook it.

He was a little worried, thinking that he meant fifty thousand florins. If Duke Wesson thought it was five thousand florins, how should he continue the topic.

But he quickly figured out that Duke Wesson was doing big business, and he probably wouldn't even squint his eyes when dealing with thousands of florins.

Frederick saw the troubled expression on his face after spreading his five fingers, frowned, and hung an earthworm on the hook that had just been eaten.

The hook and bait are dropped into the water, and the fish floats on the water, rising and falling with the waves.

Sorry. Frederick's answer made little Louis' heart suddenly cool down. As you know, I have spent too much money recently.

Little Louis sighed in his heart. This was also expected. If it were another country, the debt of 350,000 florins would be enough to break the bones, and some even didn't have the credit to borrow that much.

He had one last trick in mind, which was to act in a show with Frederick, not really buying it, but just creating publicity for his own bond issuance.

Frederick continued: I really can't get out half a million florins in cash now...

Little Louis felt his heart twitching and meowed, as if he had a huge misunderstanding of the scale of Duke Wesson's business.

Frederick began to scratch his head. Judging from his expression, he seemed to be engaged in a fierce ideological struggle. The look made little Louis feel a little embarrassed.

Little Louis was just about to say that it didn't take so much, but Frederick gritted his teeth, made up his mind, turned his head and said sincerely: Don't worry, Your Highness, I will definitely help you with this.

It's true that I can't get cash out, so let me give you 600,000 florins of Wesson delivery coupons. Although these delivery coupons are just pieces of paper in other places, they can be purchased directly from factories and government departments here.

Little Louis' hands trembled several times, because Frederick said give him 600,000 florins, not borrow him. He dared to give such a large sum of money, but he did not dare to ask for it.

He was certain that if he really wanted to receive this money, some people would doubt whether the old Count Wesson had met his mother when he went fishing in the Kingdom of Gaul.

Isn't it 600,000 Kreuz? Little Louis asked cautiously. One gold florin coin here is exchanged for twenty silver Kreuz coins. 600,000 Kreuz is equal to 30,000 florins. This makes sense. .

Frederick replied firmly: 600,000 florins.

Little Louis calmed down and said: This... this is too much money, I'd better borrow it from you.

Frederick felt a little regretful. If he accepted the money, he would be able to legitimately claim a large piece of land in the lowlands.

That's fine. Frederick nodded and said, Then don't ask for interest.

Well, you don't need gold when you pay back the money, just barter. You also know that we are short of wheat, wool, flax, iron ore, salt, magic crystals and the like.

Little Louis calculated in his mind that the coupons given by Frederick could be sold to merchants at a 10% premium after leaving Wesson. This was the stupidest way. They could be used to buy things during the exposition and sold when they returned home. , back below a million florins someone is bound to be guillotined.

Of course, this business is definitely not done by yourself. You can lend it to other nobles in Tongxing, and you can collect a large amount of interest.

That is the royal family's income for four years, and the interest rate of 10% is already considerable.

It would be easier to repay it in kind. 600,000 florins is equivalent to 2.1 tons of gold. It is difficult to find that much gold, but it is easier to exchange it for other commodities. The Kingdom of Gaul itself exports various agricultural products and also has a lot of iron ore. , if the royal family collects taxes in kind and uses them to pay debts, the cost will only be about 500,000 florins.

Little Louis suddenly discovered a way to make money. After this operation, the final money recovered from the loan and the cost of paying off the debt in kind was the royal family's annual income.

He felt that he had made a profit, and Frederick felt that he had not lost anything. He happily took a fish as fat as a balloon from the hook.

This time the delivery coupon was a low-interest bond that Frederick personally borrowed from Wesson Bank. The nobles of the Gallic Kingdom took the delivery coupon to the factory to purchase goods. After the factory received the delivery coupon, it could be deposited in the bank or paid as cash. The tax was eventually collected into the bank and became a debt in Frederick's name.

The materials to repay the debt of the Kingdom of Gaul arrived at a 10% discount from the normal wholesale price. These goods were given to Frederick. After the goods were sold, the debt would be repaid with interest.

After this circle, Frederick himself made a profit because the profit from selling goods was higher than the interest. The bank received the interest. Little Louis made a lot of money by selling coupons and collecting taxes in kind to pay off debts. The Gallic nobles had more money to purchase goods. After going back to sales, many factories in Wesson received large orders, and everyone seemed happy.

Frederick put the balloon fish into the fish guard and said to little Louis while hanging the bait: I heard that your country is going to develop into the inland sea. It is when money is needed. If this model is feasible, I think we can continue in the future.

Little Louis calmed down immediately. This was 600,000 florins. It was for emergency relief. He lent so much to himself every year or even every two years. There must be some purpose behind it.

He asked, How can I help you?

Frederick scratched his head a little embarrassed and said, I want a title from your country.

Little Louis had a question mark on his head. It was not strange for nobles to have titles in foreign countries, but they were all obtained through marriage. It was extremely rare to do so blatantly.

Frederick added in a low voice: Leave the lowlands for later.

Little Louis was stunned for a moment, and then he understood that one of Frederick's lovers was from the Lowlands.

Hmm... Little Louis hesitated. This was a bit inconsistent with domestic policy, but Frederick had just given him a way to make money. No noble in the country could do one-tenth of it.

He finally decided: No problem.