161 – Ready for all-out war (5)

A word of command that seems lightly uttered by the leaders of a certain faction or group has a tremendous impact on their subordinates.

A word of an order given by the president of a company sometimes results in losses and profits of hundreds or hundreds of billions of dollars, and a word of an order from a general can save or kill thousands to tens of thousands of soldiers.

So they all pay for giving orders in one form or another.

When a command produces good results, it is rewarded and praised for producing the result.

On the other hand, if bad results occur, you will be obliged to offer a solution to the problem, either deprivation of your position or loss of honor, prestige or property.

And now I’m fighting alongside the magistrates to address the side effects of my order to win the war.

“Due to Your Excellency’s ban on grain exports to Romania, the family’s income has decreased by 15%. If this situation continues in the future, it is estimated that losses of about 40,000 to 70,000 gold coins will continue every year. What would you like to do?”

“His Majesty the Emperor of the Elain Empire has declared an expedition against Franchi. So, the lords in each territory will also try to save for the next war without selling the grain that comes in as tax. However, when that happens, the merchants and engineers in the city will run out of food to buy. We attack that gap. Excluding the food for approximately 150,000 soldiers for two years, sell all remaining food to the Elline Empire. Then you will be able to make up for the damage.”

“Right now, among the serfs in Romania, those who are having a hard time coming over to our territory have been frustrated, so they have become bandits of our territory and are harassing the people of the territory. What should I do?”

“Send 1/3 of the newly recruited recruits from the Architel region to a unit near Blue Fort, and conduct combat training and subjugation operations. And among the bandits, those who did not kill the serfs or citizens of our territory are all subject to forced labor. Only feed them 2 bowls of light wheat porridge a day and punish them with forced labor. Of course, those who kill people or touch women, and those involved in human trafficking, beheaded. ”

As we continued to process the paperwork, a newly hired inspector opened the door and entered the office.

“Sir, I’m sorry for suddenly entering during work.”

“No. I think it’s an urgent business. What’s going on?”

“Mr. Margherita has arrived from Hamburg. He is saying that he wants to see your Excellency because there is something he wants to discuss urgently.”

Seeing that he came where I hadn’t called, it must have caused a problem to the point where he had to act on his own.

Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to come directly, as he is a powerful figure in a free city with prestige comparable to that of a local count.

And I still don’t know what problems Margherita is going through, but I’m sure a lot of the troubles she’s suffering from are due to my decisions.

Because I conquered the Duchy of Akitel, Hamburg could not benefit from the intermediary trade between Romania, France, and Elaine, and food exports to the Romanian Empire, which had become one of their main businesses, were also prevented.

In addition, each electorate raised taxes for the construction of the fortress cathedral, and even the business targeting the common people, who accounted for a large portion of their sales, went bankrupt, and there were many cases where bandits ruined even the reduced trade.

And he must have judged that I could not solve the latter problem, but that the former problem could be extinguished by telling them that I would export the surplus food from the Marquis of Creutel.

If so, this is a chance to use this opportunity to put a leash on those guys instead of putting out the urgent fire.

“Bring him to the drawing room.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

**

A wall made of white marble, a column decorated with gold and my portrait, a sofa covered in red silk and a desk made of black marble.

Upon entering this room, which runs at the height of its splendor, Margherita was sitting there looking weak.

I looked at him and pretended not to know anything, just greeted him.

“Isn’t it Margherita? Thank you so much for coming. So, did you come this time to congratulate me on becoming a marquis?”

Hearing that, he erased the gloomy expression he had just before, and answered with a smile bright enough to look warm on his face.

“That’s right. As soon as I heard the news, I came right away, so I didn’t prepare anything fancy… please accept Dried truffles, a specialty of Cardinal Matthias, and Italian olive oil.”

“It is an honor to receive something so valuable. Yes, I brought you sweets and tea from the best patissier in my family to treat you to. Have a drink.”

And we had a cup of tea.

It is a top-notch tea with a rose-like aroma and a slight bitterness and sourness, but Margherita continued to maintain a calm expression while drinking such tea.

It must mean that they are so crowded that they can no longer pretend to be relaxed while drinking delicious tea.

If it wasn’t for that, I would have been making a fuss about the taste of tea by now.

However, at times like this, it is a technique to heighten the more anxious emotions and make the opponent impatient.

So, I continued eating the tea and snacks in front of me and talking about useless things.

The daughter of the Margherita family is about to get married, so I will send you sugar and sweets as a congratulatory message. Same story.

In a situation where both of you can afford it, you would have sympathized and laughed like friends in order to relieve the other person’s tension to some extent.

By doing so, you can show that you are not in a hurry and gain an edge in negotiations with your opponent.

“Isn’t that ridiculous? How does the emperor of Romania still say that if you pour holy water on your sword and fight, you will get stronger in war… Oh, this is why you hear the sound of an empire that is not holy… Decades ago, the Vatican announced that holy water does not give the power to win wars.”

“hahahaha… . That’s right. No matter how much the holy water has the power to purify, that’s what makes us have a pure mind when we go before Deus… hahahaha… ”

As if he couldn’t afford to do that at all, he just replied with an awkward expression uncharacteristic of a merchant.

After about five more minutes of talking like that, Margherita said with an expression of giving up.

“Actually, I came here… I came because I have something I want to ask the Marquis.”

“Please… It’s none other than you, so I’ll try to review it as positively as possible. So what is it?”

“It’s nothing else, now, after Your Excellency absorbed the Aquitel region, we will no longer be able to broker trade with Franchi. Also, since His Excellency does not sell food to Romania, our profit as middlemen has decreased.”

“We had no choice but to do that. Don’t you already know? That our Emperor declared the Franchi Expedition right after he ascended the throne. So I have no choice but to stop exporting food to Romania and prepare for war. Because protecting the lives of the people living in the territory is more important than making money.”

Having said this, we now have the ability to secure sufficient provisions while exporting food to Romania.

However, not exporting food now is just a way to make the situation in Romania more dizzy.

However, from the point of view of Hamburg and other lords who do not know the full capacity of our territory, it will seem that they cannot afford to export food because they are preparing for an all-out war.

So Margherita knelt down on both knees and bowed her head before me, as if I were her lord.

“The Duke of Pappenheim is already reducing his consumption of luxury items to occupy Maxburg, and is buying various weapons and mercenaries from our competitors Danzig, Salzheim, and Winderfold. We now have only one person to rely on, Your Excellency.”

“So there is no need for me to save you, do you? And to save us… ? No matter how shaken Hamburg is, it will end up weakening… Just beg honestly to protect your family.”

“good… Sir, please save our family. Then I and my family will become His Excellency’s vassals.”

You won’t have to look at the liver anymore.

Also, just in time, the Margherita family and the Hamburg merchants were needed… It worked.