125 – War Preparation (4)

The day after I entered Hamburg, I summoned the Hamburg apprentice and all the members of the Council of Ten.

Then, after arriving at the place we had delivered to them and waiting quietly while drinking tea, the apprentice and the members of the Committee of Ten entered.

When I came here 10 years ago, I was in a much more disadvantaged position than them, but now when I call you, you quit everything and come running…

At that time, they were super-powerful and I was a scrap of the disease or something in the soldier’s ranks.

Before I knew it, I thought I was a super leader, and they would act like Eul in front of me… The feeling is really new.

Around the time I was lost in thought, the apprentice greeted me first on behalf of them.

“This is Endolo Panini, Apprentice of Hamburg. It is an honor to meet your Excellency, who is renowned as a great ruler and an understanding of commerce.”

“I am Ciel von Kreuttel, the legitimate count who governs the county of Kreuttel. Sorry for the sudden call.”

“no. It may not be true of other nobles, but if His Excellency, our biggest customer, had come in person… Even if you are in the middle of making love with a beautiful woman, you have to run.”

“Then, let’s talk about tea and snacks first. It’s a macaron, a new snack made by Creutel. I put a lot of cream inside, so the sweetness will be a bit strong, so eat it with the black tea that I put next to you.”

At the same time, the committee members and I didn’t say anything and drank macaroons and tea while looking at each other.

I felt like it was a waste because I ate while paying attention, but I couldn’t help it because it’s polite to treat me appropriately as long as I’m invited, no matter how good I am.

After eating all the snacks, the apprentice drank all the tea in the cup and put the cup down.

“I heard that you married Her Highness, the Princess of the North… Because the cost of the wedding was so enormous… I heard you’re short on money… How much do you need?”

Asking how much you can lend naturally gives you a much easier idea of how much you can afford to invest in your new deal.

Because I am a good customer with a credit rating of 1++, so there is a 0% chance of running away without paying back.

I’m sure they’ll lend me as much money as possible, and think of all sorts of influences while paying off huge amounts of interest income and money.

So, first of all, let’s shout out loud and understand the inside. I have no intention of borrowing anyway.

So I asked them in a serious voice.

“Can you lend me a lump sum of 300,000 gold coins?”

Upon hearing that, the apprentice of Hamburg said with a stiff face.

“We’ll have to run out of all the cash we have… No matter how much you are our most important customer… You cannot lend 300,000 gold coins at once. We also need to have a minimum payment for the next transaction.”

“The money is low for a free commercial city with a reputation.”

Upon hearing that, the apprentice jumped up from his seat and slammed the desk.

“You are the only one who can say such a thing. 300,000 gold coins is at least 2-3 years worth of income for a duke or marquess in another country!!”

“I’m sorry. I must have been mistaken because the money I earn in our territory is about 300,000 a year. If so, how much can you lend me?”

“I can lend you 100,000 or even 150,000.”

If you collect all the money you have and the money you don’t have, it’s 150,000 copies, so you can sell about 3,000 tons…

This will be able to completely replace the demand for Akitel’s wine for the time being.

After using it to deal a huge blow to the export of wine, which accounts for a large portion of Akitel’s economy, if you say that all of this happened because Creutel made good wine, the merchants will definitely raise it.

“Okay, you mean you can lend me up to 150,000 copies?”

“That’s right. Even if you want to borrow more… This is the limit.”

“I am grateful for the sincerity of the apprentice. Then, as a token of appreciation to you and the commissioners, I will present you with a special wine of the highest quality. I’ll have a drink.”

When I finished, Chris, who was standing behind me, set down his glass in front of them and poured himself some wine.

By the time the wine was served to everyone, I raised my wine glass to the sky and said,

“For the prosperity of the Free City of Hamburg and Kreutel!”

“For fair trade for both sides!”

Then, everyone emptied their wine glasses at the same time.

“This quality is very good. As expected, this is enough… It’s a luxury product that’s hard to find even in Akitel… ”

“Well… Very tasty and full of flavor.”

“Your Excellency the Doge, isn’t that what Your Excellency Count Creutel brought? So, of course, Duke Architel must have brought something difficult to drink. Isn’t it?”

Although those guys are drinking wine made with the best quality grapes grown in our estate…

Due to the nature of the job as a merchant dealing with countless nobles, wine is really liked by guys who can tell the difference between high-end, high-end, mid-level and low-level wine just by tasting it…

This proves once again that this is a wine that really works.

Then it’s time to break their expectations.

“Yes, this wine is made using grapes from our estate. That’s why it’s hard for Duke Architel to drink. No, it’s something you can’t drink.”

After hearing my words, the apprentice and lawmakers stood there blankly at first with dumbfounded faces, but soon lost their composure and began to ask questions as if arguing.

“Even though His Excellency made all sorts of delicious dishes… This makes no sense! You won’t be able to get a taste like this using Kreutel grapes, not Akitel grapes.”

“Probably, one of His Excellency’s butlers mistook the high-quality wine from Akitel for the wine from Kreutel. Otherwise, would it taste like this?”

“Your Excellency is right. In the first place, isn’t the sugar content of grapes produced in Akitel so different from other grapes that you can’t even imitate them? That’s why we can’t make better wine than the wine made in Akitel. But how… ”

I looked at the doctor and apprentice in front of me, put my index finger to my mouth, and smiled.

“That’s a trade secret. Can’t I tell you that?”

The guys who heard those words immediately grimaced and nodded their heads as soon as they heard me.

“And that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that now wine has been made that can completely replace the wine produced in Architell. Also, isn’t it that you guys can sell this before anyone else?”

“That’s right. If so, how much is the price… ”

I pushed myself a little closer to the table where the apprentice and councilors were, then raised my right corner of my mouth and said,

“If the wine from Architell was at least 90 gold coins per ton… We’ll only get 60 gold coins per ton. And I want you to buy 3,000 tons and sell the whole amount.”

“… .. You mean 3000 tons? No matter how much the wine of the same taste and quality as the wine from Akiteel… Even if you say you sell for only 60 gold coins, we can’t handle that much at once… ”

If you don’t want to live, I’m not saying they’re hard to deal with, they’ll get away with a trade excuse, or they’ll come up with some weird excuse.

However, since you are sure that there will be money left even if you buy the whole amount, you must be saying that it is difficult to deal with it all at once.

Then, instead of openly admitting to counterfeiting, I should ask these guys to lower the price.

“Okay, so let’s do this. I will sell it at 50 sheets per ton, instead… I want you to listen to my small request… ”

“good. Then what kind of request… ”

“Wait a minute. bring it.”

Then I heard a man’s voice outside the door.

“Yes, I understand.”

After about 5 minutes passed, the door opened and at the same time a soldier under my command entered while rolling an oak barrel.

Then, he set an oak barrel near our table and left.

I said, pointing to the oak barrel.

“My petty request is that you sell the wine in the oak barrels here as Aquitel. If you do that, I will sell 3,000 tons of wine at 50 per ton.”

The apprentice and lawmakers listened to me and said with a troubled expression.

“There is nothing to lose if we buy it in Chapter 55… So just chapter 55… ”

“No, just buy 50 copies. And look under the oak barrel. It has the official seal used by the brewing guild of Aquitaine to certify authenticity.”

Hearing that, the apprentice observed the bottom of the oak barrel and then spoke.

“It’s difficult to get an official seal even for a few thousand gold coins. Where did you find this?”

“You don’t even need to know that. How is it? just once… I think I can get away with it even if I get caught just once… So how much profit can I get?”

“… .. good. Instead, just this one time. And we lose if the sales of the wine are less than 200,000 gold coins. In case of loss, you must compensate for the amount that is less than 200,000 copies.”

Poisonous things, but at the point of selling this, this ploy is already almost successful.

Can you invest that much?

“Okay, I’ll do that soon. And… I’d like to make a really special offer for you guys. No, let’s make a deal where only one of the people here can benefit from me.”

At those words, the attention of the apprentice and councilors was directed to my mouth.

And I spoke cautiously to them.

“Until now I have supplied sugar fairly to all of you, but rather than doing so… Of these, I want to make a contract with only one family. Of course, since it’s exclusive, there will be benefits… Isn’t that an attractive offer?”