28 – The Last Button of the Powerful Army

As soon as I returned to the castle, I dispatched an investigative agent to obtain clear information about the guild, an organization that practiced violence like this.

To say the investigators, they were just disguised ones among the veteran soldiers who had ‘slight brains’ and among the bailiffs who had good minds.

And after a few days, a report about the guild arrived.

According to the summary, the current ‘guild’ was not selling products at high prices through malicious collusion.

It was only that our territory was not a prosperous transportation hub like Hamburg or Nantes, so other ‘materials’ other than food were hard to come in, and it was selling at a high price because there were few buyers due to the small ‘population’.

And the guild was roughly structured like this.

If there is a blacksmith guild, first there is one blacksmith guild master in each city, and there are several artisans under him.

Artisans each have their own shop, and in that shop, the craftsman has about 5 to 7 apprentices who teach the skills.

Apprentices are instructed to work on the condition that they teach them skills and provide lodging, but it seems a little too much to give them unpaid for nearly five years and only give them 20 fairy tales a month for five years.

Of course, in this era, there is no law like the ‘Labor Standards Act’, so it is impossible to provide relief, and even ‘apprentices’ who learn skills live as if it were so.

However, if these things are left unattended, no matter how much money I bring in and make the territory rich, the ‘shop, a factory that can produce goods’ can sell too few goods for the money supplied, causing the problem that the price of tools rises. It happens.

In addition, the current ‘apprenticeship’ system is a rat poison if you want to get a job and marry the surplus ‘poor people’ who are not currently recruited into the military.

In addition, it is an efficient guild in this time and situation, but the problem is that the ‘guild’ must also be reformed in order to live with the loss of that Schwein bastard right away.

For him, I first wrote a letter to summon all the guild masters in Creutel.

**

A week passed, and all the guild masters gathered in the meeting room of my castle.

The guild masters looked around to the left and right to see if the ‘meeting room in the castle’ was awkward for the first time in their lives, and sat down to find their seats.

Based on my seat, the closest guild masters were the weapons guild master, then the armor guild master, and other important guild masters.

Further from him, the Garment Guild Master, Food Guild Master, Accessories Guild Master, and Textile Guild Master were located in turn.

Before confirming my entry, they looked at each other and whispered cautiously.

“Look, Smith.”

“Helster, what are you so anxious about?”

“Ha, I’m worried that you’re asking us to give you money, seeing that you’ve been invited to the lord’s conference room. Ten years ago, the previous master was also summoned to the castle and requisitioned for money…”

Upon hearing this, the man named Smith snorted.

“Sounds funny, our Excellency Baron is the richest person in the territory right now. No, he may be richer than the count of Nantes. Do you think that kind of person would be greedy for just ‘a penny like us’?”

“ah…”

After Helster’s silence, the guards shouted as I gave the order to open the door.

“His Excellency Baron Ciel von Kreuttel is entering!!”

At that, the guild masters stood up and bowed their heads in respect until I entered and sat down.

“Thank you for coming. Let everyone sit down.”

The guild masters quickly sat down on their chairs, and a man named Smith, who sat in the nearest seat, opened his mouth.

“I am Smith, the master of the Weapons Guild. Greetings on behalf of all the guild masters here.”

“Yes, thank you. Yes… I called you here because I want to make some adjustments regarding the guild. First, read the plan written by ‘I’ in front of you.”

Hearing that, the guild masters began to read the plans I had written.

At first, they started reading with a serious expression, but soon their expressions gradually began to change.

Some guild masters smiled softly, as if they thought it would be ‘a kind of opportunity’, while the rest of the guild masters had serious faces, as if they thought ‘their rights and wealth’ would be violated.

After a certain amount of time passed, the ‘Costume Guild Master’ who sat a little away from me looked at me and said.

“I am the Master of the Costume Guild, Suits. Why are you asking us to gather all of our workshops under one guild and unify the standards? If you just match the price to some extent, we can produce enough quantity for you. If you order it even now, I can make any number of clothes suitable for your lady…”

Hearing that, I was dumbfounded and couldn’t say anything.

No, what I said was to review and ‘talk’ about this system, but this good friend didn’t talk about various systems and mentioned ‘bribery’.

If this was a normal nobleman, it might work, but the problem is that I’m earning ‘more money than the Count’, so even now, if I just ask the Hamburg Doge to bring me clothes, he’ll bring me women’s clothes for free…

No, you say it’s good for this opportunity, and you’ll pay tribute to the ‘beauty’ who will dress that nobleman, right?

For me, who has refused all such tributes, to openly turn words into bribes… It’s amazing.

So I looked at the suits and said with a smile.

“Suits, I definitely asked you to comment. I wasn’t talking about clothes. If you talk any more nonsense, I’m going to feel a little bit bad.”

Hearing those words, Suits’ face turned blue, and he answered with a shudder.

“Lord, I will be careful.”

“I’m glad you understand. Any other opinions?”

“I am the Master of the Armor Guild, Schwart. Each artisan is a professional who has already completed his training as an apprentice, and has the right to sell the work he wants within the city at a set price. Because that’s the only way they can survive. Do you intend to threaten our survival?”

To be honest, if I use my money and my connections in Hamburg now, it is possible to replace all the guild masters here.

Of course, there will be a side effect of stopping all production functions in the city for one to two months…

Still, if you sign a contract with the apprentice in Hamburg to lower the price of sugar and buy and sell food at a cheap price, you will be able to get first-class artisans who have created masterpieces as ‘apprentices’.

However, that time is wasted, and what I need now is not a first-class craftsman, but a ‘head count’ to produce countless products.

“No, I don’t think so. And you’re a bit delusional. That kind of threat works for my father, but it doesn’t work for me. Well, production will stop for a month or two at most, so you can buy artisans to replace you with money.”

“Is that so…”

Then I proudly walked right in front of Schwart and said with a smile.

“Of course, I don’t mean to. And Schwart.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“How much can you make if you only make breastplates in two months from now?”

Hearing those words, Schward thought seriously, then replied with a serious expression.

“At most, 100 to 150.”

“There are 3,000 standing troops I enlisted, and I need to give you at least 1,000 breastplates… but that’s not enough. Can I still get the quantity I want? Yes, there Smith!”

When my name was called, Smith turned to me with a serious expression and replied.

“Is 100 halberds, 2000 long spears, 500 crossbows, 400 maces and 1000 carts possible?”

“It is difficult.”

“Suits, I don’t ask for anything from you, but… other guild masters say it’s difficult. Are you ready to listen now?”

I checked the atmosphere once more.

As if the guild master’s stance had already been completely suppressed, they were watching my appearance carefully, even making breathing noises.

“Let’s start. First of all, standardization is nothing different, it is for convenient production. It is said that the clothes everyone wears are different right now, but if you make them with some differences in mind, you can unify them into a few shapes, so it will be useful when you need to produce them in a hurry. And it will be convenient to prepare parts to repair when weapons or clothes are damaged.”

Other than that, standardization alone can speed up production tremendously, but… I’ve never held a hammer myself, so if I say ‘standardization speeds up production’, they won’t believe it.

And if you experience it yourself, you’ll know anyway.

“Also, turning apprentices into workers… is to increase the size of your workshop. Aren’t those who have completed the 10-year apprenticeship process, which are now called artisans, ‘all your industry relatives’? So, as far as I know, there is no change in the number of artisans inside Kreutel 100 years ago or now. Of course, such a small studio cannot meet my needs.”

“…”

“Then I have no choice but to expel all of you. The equipment to arm the soldiers right now is rather poor, so we need to change it.”

After hearing that, the guild masters were just staring blankly at me, as if they had given up thinking that they couldn’t convince me anymore and that I would be taken as I wanted.

At this point, I smiled and said to throw the carrot.

“Instead, if you accept my offer, I will sell you everything you make. No, further… There’s Smith, Schwald, and Schutz! Wouldn’t you like to be rich like the Hamburg masters?”

“That’s right.”

“Then, make a big studio like them and pay the apprentices a year’s salary to grow the studio. Instead, if I fail, I pay all the apprentices’ salaries. I swear by my name.”

The guild masters lost the will to resist the whip and carrot I gave them, and now looked at me with eyes half resigned and half expectant, as if to say ‘die or die’.

“Then now disperse, let each of you move at my command. I will lend you the amount of money needed to develop the workshop at ‘interest 10%’.”

Compared to the average loan of this era, the interest rate is at least 30%, and usually 50%, this is free.

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Maybe that’s why the guild masters said, ‘Your lord believes that this will succeed.’ His face brightened as if he had thought about it.

And I guarantee you, the history-proven formula of ‘mass production = price reduction and mass sale’ will definitely work.

**

A year has passed since then.

The 3,000 standing troops of the territory began to show like soldiers before they knew it.

In addition to that, the second lieutenants made up of ‘bastards’ who I had raised by mobilizing all the abilities I could mobilize over the course of a year were to lead the soldiers for the first time.

In the meantime, the ‘Sergeant’ of the mercenary corps was temporarily given the position of ‘Platoon Leader’ to lead, but now he will lead the sergeants well while assisting the sergeants who have become deputy platoon commanders.

At the same time, the ‘extended company-type guild’ by wiping out the guild masters also succeeded.

By increasing the number of employees, growing the company, and producing unconditionally, we were able to produce a lot of products at a cheap price thanks to ‘buying a lot of materials in large quantities’.

Using that, at the beginning of this year, he succeeded in putting ‘breastplate’ on 1,000 soldiers.

And when the territory started to run well, two Romanian barons who were in contact with the territory declared war on us.

I didn’t want to go to war, but as long as you go to war, you will be destroyed.