As it turned out, there are always more solutions than problems. They might not fix everything, but once people start thinking, ideas inevitably surface. The key to solving the issue of employees running off with funds lay in two things: personnel quality and financial oversight. Improving personnel quality was not something that could be done overnight. The investment group had been established for less than a year. All the employees were newly hired and could hardly be called loyal. Because of the nature of the business, the company’s recruitment focused heavily on persuasion skills. Not all of them were con artists, but whenever a real swindler applied, they were almost guaranteed to get hired. With such a mixed crowd, Rivera introduced strict performance evaluations to boost results: the capable rise, the mediocre fall. On paper, it looked reasonable, but it ignored the special nature of the work. Convincing investors to part with their money was a job tailor-made for fraudsters. No matter how good an ordinary person’s communication skills were, they still needed time to adapt, and in this business that made them far less effective than professional tricksters. So it was no surprise when people started running off with money. The better the liar, the faster they climbed the ranks, and before long, these “talents” were entrusted with leadership positions and sent out to raise funds. Rivera’s promises could only bind the ambitious swindlers, those who shared his dreams of greatness. But not every crook was that idealistic. Many just wanted to grab a quick score and disappear. Fortunately, Rivera possessed an extraordinary gift for persuasion, or as he preferred to call it, personal charisma. With that charisma, he had managed to win over a handful of loyal followers who were willing to dedicate themselves to his cause. Without them, the situation would have been far worse. Unless the recruitment model changed, the group would forever remain a chaotic mix of opportunists and loyalists. But changing the hiring model would severely weaken the team’s ability to attract investors. Rivera hated being deceived, but his grand plan was already underway, and what he needed most now was money. The investment group might have looked profitable, but those “profits” were only paper gains. The value of their holdings had risen by just twenty to thirty percent. If they sold off too quickly, prices would fall right back down. Rivera was not a short-term speculator. He wanted to build a financial empire rooted in the middle class, to challenge a world where wealth was controlled by the few. Since he could not fix the human problem, the only option left was to strengthen financial oversight. But the investment group alone could not handle it. Even if they assigned more auditors, those people would simply take a cut of the profits for themselves. Loyalty only lasted as long as temptation stayed small. Once the sums grew large enough, betrayal became inevitable. And sure enough, most of the embezzlement cases happened right after large public investor meetings, when enthusiasm was high and massive sums of cash were collected on the spot. That was when people vanished along with the money. Aside from tightening internal supervision, solving the problem would still require the cooperation of banks. If they could fix a single account where investors directly deposit their money, and ensure that only Rivera himself could withdraw it, then the chances of his subordinates running off with the funds would drop drastically. In later generations, this kind of service would be completely ordinary, and any bank would gladly take it on. But in this era, banks simply did not offer such things. It wasn’t because banks lacked ambition. The main issue was the absence of network systems and the difficulty of transmitting information quickly. Under such circumstances, offering new value-added services was basically asking for trouble. Think about it: every piece of information had to be passed on manually, and if anyone made a mistake along the way, the bank could suffer enormous losses. In fact, even in those days, many people complained that banking procedures were complicated and that remittances were slow. But there was no helping it. With everything done by hand, banks could only operate this way for the sake of safety. Even though they knew it would reduce efficiency, no bank dared to take the risk of changing the system. When it came to international remittances, the situation was even worse. A transfer from Britain to the Holy Roman Empire could take more than a month at best. If something unexpected happened during the process, the money could be delayed for three to five months before it arrived. The long procedures and delays were bad enough, but the banks also charged high service fees. On top of that, most banks refused to handle small transfers at all. Rivera’s investment group dealt with enormous sums overall, but that didn’t mean every single investment involved large amounts. Investors were not fools. When things were uncertain, many preferred to start with a small test investment and only increase their funding once they confirmed everything was safe. Under the current system, funds would sit in banks for one or two months while being charged heavy fees. The investment group would lose a lot of money that way. Although Rivera secretly controlled the Appel Commercial Bank, it was only a small bank operating in the German region. It didn’t even have branches throughout the Holy Roman Empire, let alone overseas markets. Even for the largest commercial banks in the world at the time, branch coverage was limited. Usually, a bank could be considered international if it had branches in all major cities of its own country and a few offices in global hubs like London or Vienna. That was the problem. It wasn’t that banks refused to help, they simply couldn’t. Up to this point, not a single bank in the entire world was capable of meeting Rivera’s needs. And before the first problem could be solved, another one appeared. Since one bank couldn’t do it alone, the only choice was to find several banks to cooperate. Especially when it came to cross-border transactions, banking cooperation alone was not enough. Rivera also needed to secure the support of insurance companies and law firms. Without these local powerhouses overseeing things, even the money that entered a bank might not come out again. Missing funds were not unique to any one bank. In an era when everything relied on manual work, the chances of accidents were even higher. Different times required different solutions, and the consequences were naturally different as well. Coming from a financial background, Rivera was all too familiar with how these systems worked. He didn’t have the time or patience to waste on fighting for his rights every time something went wrong. Perhaps it was because people played too recklessly in those days that later generations of European countries were forced to pass strict, almost draconian, financial laws to fix the mess. For a while, Rivera was like a tireless little bee, flying all over the European continent, meeting with banks, insurance companies, and law firms to negotiate partnerships. Thanks to him, European airlines suddenly saw their business boom. After all, not many people dared to travel by air back then, and having a well-known figure like Rivera constantly flying around made for the perfect advertisement. As for the vast markets of the Americas and Asia, Rivera had to reluctantly give them up for the moment due to the limits of transportation. A charismatic executive, a seemingly inspiring story, and a beautiful profit sheet—together, that combination was unstoppable. With the help of his skilled marketing team, Rivera and his investment group quickly became the talk of Europe. Whether he paid for media exposure or not was unclear, but major financial newspapers all began printing his photo, accompanied by glowing praise such as: “The greatest entrepreneur, investment genius, and financial expert of the 19th century...” Rivera’s investment group was hailed as the most promising enterprise in all of Europe, adored and pursued by the capital world. His fame spread so widely that even Franz, who had long lived deep within the imperial court, had heard his name more than once. If his agents hadn’t confirmed the man’s background several times over, Franz might have thought Rivera was another time traveler who had accidentally crossed over. It wasn’t a joke as judging by Rivera’s investment choices, he bought into every project with real potential, scooping up quality assets at rock-bottom prices. There was no helping it since their investment targets were astonishingly similar. The only difference was that Franz had started earlier and bought larger shares, while Rivera came a little later and had less capital to spare. Surprised as he was, once Franz confirmed Rivera was not a fellow traveler from another world, he lost interest and stopped paying attention. The emperor was a busy man. Besides his daily duties, he also had to keep up with gossip and news. He had no time to pay attention to some capitalist, even if that capitalist happened to be a financial genius. It was not as if such geniuses had never appeared before. Many had, and most of them did not end well. They either died chasing their dreams or were destroyed because their abilities could not match their ambitions. “Breaking the oligarchic structure of the financial consortiums and creating a new economic era.” It was a fine slogan, but that was all it was. Even by the twenty-first century, the oligarchic structure of major financial groups had never truly been broken, so expecting it to happen now was nothing but wishful thinking. Even if every old consortium were destroyed, new ones would rise in their place. The story of the young man who slays the dragon only to become one himself kept repeating throughout history. Although Rivera never achieved his grand goal, he still played a positive role in advancing society. The growth of the aviation industry was an obvious example, but that was just a side effect. Since he had invested in airline stocks, helping to advertise them was only natural. More importantly, he accelerated the development of the financial sector. With the constant stream of good news, more and more banks and insurance companies joined his ventures. Services that were not supposed to exist until the twentieth century appeared ahead of their time in the nineteenth, greatly benefiting businesses. If not for technological limitations, Rivera’s push for cross-border financial cooperation might have truly realized the ultimate dream of the banking world: global financial connectivity. While the public’s attention was fixed on tales of wealth, politicians kept their eyes on three wars: the Sino-Japanese War, the Cuban War of Independence, and the Philippine Rebellion. The Sino-Japanese War needed no explanation. Japan’s luck was peaking, and it had officially stepped into the spotlight as the protagonist of the era. Both the Cuban independence movement and the Philippine rebellion revolved around one main figure, the Kingdom of Spain. Simply put, if Spain lost in either theater, it would be removed from the ranks of the great powers. This time was different. In the past, only the British, Russian, and Austrian media had complained about Spain being listed among them as one of the Four Great Powers of Europe. After all, that title had a long history. For nearly a century, it had belonged exclusively to Britain, France, Russia, and Austria. Its prestige and reputation were well established. Spain joining that group was like a husky sneaking into a pack of wolves. It might look similar at first glance, but a husky could never truly become a wolf. On the surface, Spain’s fall from the ranks of the great powers seemed irrelevant to everyone else. In reality, it meant one less seat at the table when the world’s spoils were divided. Many nations dreamed of joining the ranks of the great powers, but few had the strength to do so. With no one strong enough to fill the gap, another chair remained empty, just as it had after France’s decline. With fewer great powers, it might seem like the rest had less pressure and fewer rivals to worry about, perhaps even leading to fewer international disputes. But that was not the case. Fewer great powers only meant that resources became even more concentrated, and those who absorbed them grew stronger still. The rule of the strong growing stronger was on full display. As the number of great powers decreased, global competition became even fiercer. When the critical moment came, every nation would be forced to choose a side. For the moment, the balance among Britain, Russia, and Austria seemed stable. However, the existence of the Russo-Austrian alliance had already broken that equilibrium. Even if Spain’s fall could not change the situation, its presence had at least provided psychological comfort. In critical moments, unity could help smaller powers stay neutral. Undeniably, the current situation was very unfavorable for Britain. With Spain’s decline, the international landscape was tilting even further against it. If possible, the British government would have preferred to win Spain over. Spain might not have been particularly strong, but one more ally was still better than one more enemy. Unfortunately, for many reasons, Britain and Spain found themselves on opposite sides. The Spanish government would never abandon its own interests for vague promises from Britain. Since they could not win Spain’s friendship, the British decided to suppress it instead. The Holy Roman Empire had already destroyed France and was now at the height of its power. Britain, which had been quiet for too long, also needed to show its strength and assert its dominance. Otherwise, if every nation drifted toward Austria’s orbit, Britain would truly become isolated. From the moment the European Alliance was formed, Britain was destined to abandon its isolationist policy. Spain, unfortunately, became the unlucky victim of great power politics. Otherwise, Britain would never have gone to such lengths to crush it merely for convenience’s sake. That was also why the Spaniards suspected that the Austrian government was the true mastermind behind their misfortune. In every respect, Austria seemed to be the one benefiting most. It had the power, and it had the most to gain. Who would believe it was uninvolved? If Franz himself had not known for certain that his government had no part in it, even he might have doubted it. The Cuban independence movement had nothing to do with the Holy Roman Empire, but the increasingly unstable situation in Morocco was harder to explain away. As an emperor with principles, Franz had no intention of stabbing his ally in the back. But just because the emperor had principles did not mean everyone under him did too. Evidence suggested that some within the Empire had already set their sights on Spain’s colonies. Everyone knew that for the sake of appearances, the Holy Roman Empire could not touch the wealthy colonies of the Philippines or Cuba. The only viable target left was Morocco, a region that Spain claimed influence over but had never truly controlled. Although the Kingdom of Morocco was widely acknowledged as being within Spain’s sphere of influence, it was still an independent nation, not a colony. As the saying went, you do not fear the thief who steals, only the thief who covets. Now that an opportunity had appeared, some people naturally began to act. Fortunately, they understood the need for restraint. They merely smuggled a batch of weapons into Morocco, selling them to local tribes hostile to Spain, and they did it under the name of British arms dealers. There was no talk of organizing a Moroccan independence movement, which gave Franz some relief. Of course, this restraint had little to do with morality, since Morocco had always been an independent state and did not need another rebellion. Everything was done quietly, without stirring any waves. Even so, Franz still felt embarrassed. To ease his guilt, he decided that the next time the Spaniards came knocking, he would pay them for Morocco outright.
*** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)
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