Reputation is a valuable asset, and the good name Franz had built up over the years was finally beginning to show its worth. No matter how much the Russians promised, no one dared trust them. But the moment a member of the Habsburgs stepped forward as guarantor, everyone quickly accepted it. Sir Louis would not make such guarantees without confidence. For a royal family member to personally intervene already meant this transaction was far from ordinary. Although the arms dealers appeared to be acting independently, the truth was that Austria and Russia had decided everything together, and the real seller of these weapons was the Austrian government. It was not easy to catch such an opportunity to profit from war. Having traveled all the way to the Far East, Sir Louis had no intention of letting this chance slip by. The Austrian government was selling arms and medicine, but he could sell other strategic supplies as well. Once war begins, profits skyrocket. No matter what is being sold, everything becomes a lucrative business. He did not have stock on hand, but that did not matter. The local merchants did. Shanxi merchants feared that collecting payment from Russians would be difficult, but Sir Louis was not worried at all. Russian officials were not stupid. They might bully merchants with no backing, but they would never dare to cheat the Austrian government. They would not have the courage for it. This was all about “borrowing the tiger’s skin to intimidate others.” Facing the Russian bureaucrats in the Far East, it was more than enough. Even if someone with great influence tried to investigate, the name of the House of Habsburg could still suppress everything. The real cost would be dealing with the political trouble. Pressure would not only come from the Qing Dynasty, but also from the Japanese government. In truth, solving this was simple. He only needed to appear publicly at the right moments and act with sufficient firmness. After all, Sir Louis was now appearing in the Far East as a representative of the Holy Roman Imperial family, supposedly to strengthen ties between royal houses. Even if he did not hold real authority, that identity alone was enough to intimidate people. Although both the Holy Roman Empire and the British Empire had only symbolic influence in the Far East, with little real ability to project power, the outside world did not know that. Although the Holy Roman Empire and the British Empire had little real strength in the Far East, with forces that looked intimidating only on the surface and had very limited ability to project power, the outside world did not know this. Based solely on what was visible, the Austrian-controlled Southeast Asian territory appeared strong enough to defeat either Japan or the Qing Dynasty. At least, this was how many people in the region viewed it. They looked at examples like the Philippine campaign. Even a declining Spain had managed to fight Japan, the strongest Far Eastern power, to a stalemate. People naturally assumed that the Holy Roman Empire, which was more than ten times stronger than Spain, must be even more formidable. The Shanxi merchants were not powerless wanderers. Once they were free to act, the influence they could muster was far beyond what outsiders imagined. Two hundred years ago, after all, they had once sustained entire regions through their commercial networks. They could not promise miracles, but they could at least ensure that the Russian army would have food to eat. This was also the purpose of Sir Louis’ mission to the Far East. As Emperor Franz put it, the Russians must not go hungry, but they also must not eat too well. The ideal result was for them to fight Japan to a draw. To achieve this, the flow of strategic supplies had to be carefully regulated. Too much would not work, too little would not work either. Zhang Xingbo clasped his hands and bowed to the old man and apologized, “I was inexperienced and reckless, and I offended you earlier. Please forgive me. To be honest, I just received news yesterday that our family’s caravan has only received seventy percent of the payment for goods sold to the Russians. I believe everyone here has encountered similar situations. If we can bring in a partner who can ensure payments are made in full, I will be the first to support it. But Sir Louis is a member of the Habsburg dynasty and thus holds great influence. Once he joins, how will the profits be divided?” In a sense, the Russian army in the original timeline was defeated largely because of their own officials. For the sake of personal gain, military supply officers routinely lined their pockets with kickbacks or skimmed money off military purchases. When transaction amounts became too large, some even resorted to killing smugglers and blaming bandits, which terrified everyone involved in the trade. The Russian army’s senior officers only stepped in to stop the situation after it had already escalated, but by then the damage was irreversible. Even when improvements were made, far fewer caravans were willing to take risks. Many simply turned to doing business with the Japanese instead, which caused a sharp drop in the amount of goods reaching Russia through smuggling. Right now, the trade has only just begun. Each transaction was still small, and things had not yet reached the point of murder and robbery. However, kickbacks and delayed payments were still common. Solving these issues was indeed crucial, but what mattered even more to everyone present was the specific question of how the profits would be divided. After taking a sip of tea, President Wang spoke slowly, “As for the current trade through the Xikou Pass trade route, there are two types of cooperation available. The first option is to sign a contract with Sir Louis. He will buy out the goods. We only need to transport them to the Russians and hand them over. After that, all remaining issues will be handled by him, and he guarantees everyone a gross profit of no less than fifty percent. The second option is for us to pool our funds and establish a trading company. We will handle day-to-day operations and management. Sir Louis will take care of relations with the Russians. The shareholding ratio will be based on each party’s financial contribution. After trade along the Xikou Pass trade route ends, the company will expand and open overseas trade routes. Sir Louis will help coordinate relations anywhere in the world. Of course, these favors will need to be repaid by us in other ways, and we can discuss the details when the time comes.” The buyout arrangement sounded appealing, with a promised fifty percent gross profit, but the reality was not so simple. Earning that profit required safely delivering the goods to their destination. While Sir Louis promised to handle official trouble, bandits and raiders along the route remained a threat. Everyone had local connections and could usually pay a toll to pass, but unexpected incidents were always possible. The cooperative option was different. If goods were lost, the losses would include money belonging to the Holy Roman Emperor’s family. That meant the matter would escalate to an international dispute. As long as a formal report was made, officials would be more anxious than the merchants themselves. Troops would be sent to eliminate the bandits immediately. Even if the goods could not be recovered, the losses would be compensated. The second option became even more attractive when they heard the words “shareholding ratio based on contributions.” The room filled with brightened eyes. To be honest, none of them had expected the other side to invest money at all. In their view, this was just a nobleman’s son trying to use his connections to make a profit on the side. They had encountered this sort of situation far too many times. Usually, a partner would be given a share for free, and after that everyone would be considered “one of us.” But a partner who takes a free share is completely different from a partner who invests real money. The former contributes nothing and can walk away the moment something goes wrong. The latter ties his interests to everyone else’s, sharing both risk and reward in the truest sense. Liu Rusong asked in disbelief, “Elder Wang, you are certain the shares will be allocated according to the amount of capital each of us puts in, with no additional conditions?” There was no helping it since terms like these were irresistible. It was not just the Shanxi merchants. There was not a single merchant guild in the entire country that would reject such an offer. Even if both sides were benefiting, the Qing Dynasty’s rigid social hierarchy, where scholars ranked above farmers, farmers above artisans, and artisans above merchants, placed them at a disadvantage from the start. Facing the astonished group, President Wang answered calmly, “Do not worry. I confirmed it personally. According to Sir Louis, these rules come from the House of Habsburg itself. Their descendants are forbidden from using their status for personal gain. Any commercial cooperation with outsiders must be fair and just, to avoid damaging the family’s reputation.” When he had first heard this, President Wang himself had refused to believe it. How could anyone dislike making too much money or refuse profit handed directly to them? But after sending a telegram to ask his son who was studying in Europe, he learned that the Habsburgs did indeed have such rules, and they were well known across Europe. “Fair and just” was more of a slogan than a strict reality. Their network of influence gave them a natural advantage. But taking free shares was indeed something Franz had explicitly forbidden. Part of it was to protect the family’s reputation, preventing reckless younger members from disgracing the house for the sake of money. The other reason was simply that they did not lack money. There were many similar rules, most aimed at curbing the behavior of idle and spoiled noble youths. Violating them could result in the loss of one’s title or even one’s family name, or in more serious cases, imprisonment in the royal jail. No one knew whether these rules would be enforced perfectly in the future, but during Franz’s reign, no one had dared to test them. Before coming to the Qing Dynasty, asking Louis to produce enough capital of his own would have been difficult. His royal stipend alone was clearly insufficient. However, once he arrived in the Qing Dynasty, everything changed. All along the way, he received so many gifts that his hands were practically full. When he finally reached the capital, a few rounds of banquets brought in even more. Although he had to give some gifts in return as a matter of courtesy, he still earned far more than he spent. Since Louis was not a government official and this trip was an exchange between royal families, the exchanging of gifts was completely normal. It just happened that the Qing Dynasty was filled with wealthy people. In Europe, events like these usually ended with barely breaking even. Making a profit was impossible. So by long-standing convention, all these gifts were considered personal property. Neither the government nor the royal family would interfere. If he were not pressed for time, Louis would probably have gone on to invite all the nobles and relatives of the Qing Dynasty’s imperial family. Everyone he met had been excessively generous. Whether they attended the banquet or not, they would still send a gift. No one ever arrived empty-handed. As a representative of the Holy Roman Royal House, Louis could not be disrespectful either. His return gifts had to be properly prepared, since he could not afford to make others feel slighted. The number of gifts he had initially prepared was not enough, which was one of the reasons he had to leave the capital quickly. Once the new shipment of gifts from home arrived, the banquets and exchanges would likely continue. The gifts were not cash, but they could easily be converted into money. The Shanxi merchants specialized in handling this. They were responsible for reselling nearly one-third of the gifts received by the officials of the Qing Dynasty. After hearing President Wang’s explanation, the merchants present immediately felt encouraged. It was far too rare to encounter a cooperative partner who followed rules so strictly. They could not afford to lose such an opportunity. Whether this offended the Japanese was irrelevant. … They did not yet know that Louis, who had already secured the partnership with ease, was now worrying about gathering supplies. He had no choice. The Russian government had entrusted him with arranging food, daily necessities, and everything else for hundreds of thousands of Russian troops. It sounded absurd, but the Russians genuinely had delegated the entire logistic burden to the Holy Roman government, and Emperor Franz had further authorized Louis to take full charge. The reason was simple. The Holy Roman Royal House had very few members stationed in Asia, and even fewer who could speak Chinese. Yet the task required someone of high status who could handle communication. Without such authority, he would not be able to keep the local officials in line. A member of the royal family was the most suitable choice. To carry out this political mission, the first thing Louis did after arriving in the Qing Dynasty from Austrian Southeast Asia was to make as many friends as possible. The results were impressive. With the prestige of the Holy Roman Royal House and his own gift for socializing, he quickly became acquainted with many “new friends.” These connections might not have been reliable, but they were good enough for gathering information. If he had not been worried that involving too many people would cause trouble, Louis might have pulled a whole circle of influential figures together to make money. Fortunately, he did not do that. Otherwise, he would have learned firsthand what it meant to be someone who was useless at everything except creating chaos. At first, Louis had full confidence in securing the supplies. But after experiencing the roads of the Qing Dynasty, he lost all hope. With transportation in such terrible condition, he felt it was nearly impossible to handle the logistics for hundreds of thousands of soldiers. If his friends had not recommended the Shanxi merchants and cited their achievement two hundred years ago when they transported grain out of the passes to feed hundreds of thousands of people, he would never have believed anyone could manage such a task. Since someone could indeed do it, there was nothing to discuss. Cooperation was the only choice. More than two months had already passed since he received the order. If progress did not accelerate soon, the Russian troops at the front would be in serious trouble. Louis did not care about the fate of the Russians, but he absolutely could not allow his mission to fail. Noticing Louis’ gloomy mood, the accompanying interpreter comforted him, “Sir, you do not need to worry. The Shanxi merchants are smart people. They know what choice to make.” Why would he need an interpreter when he could speak Chinese? There was no helping it. There was no unified standard language in this era. Every region spoke its own dialect. Even the Chinese he learned was a Minnan dialect. After a short pause, Louis shook his head as he said, “Li, you do not understand military affairs. The consumption of supplies by a modern army is completely different from that of ancient armies. According to the information provided by the Russians, five hundred thousand Russian soldiers consume more than five thousand tons of supplies per day. Even if the Russians can handle half of that themselves, that still leaves a gap of two thousand five hundred tons. In one month, the shortage reaches seventy five thousand tons. If this were back home, such an amount would be nothing. It would only take a dozen railway cars a day. But here in the Qing Dynasty, everything depends on human and animal power. Delivering two thousand five hundred tons of supplies to the front every day is unthinkable. At this point, I am not even hoping to meet all of their logistical needs. If we can simply keep them fed and supply them with weapons and ammunition, that will be more than enough.” Translator Li said, “Sir, the situation is not as complicated as it seems. As long as the Russians have money, none of this will be a problem. If grain transport cannot keep up, they can simply purchase livestock from the nearby grasslands and drive the animals directly to the front. Right now all we need to do is get weapons and ammunition through. If that still proves difficult, we can even sell the Russians a batch of transport airships. I remember that during the European War, your country once set a record by air dropping five thousand tons of bombs in a single day. Using transport airships as an emergency measure should not be too difficult.” It was obvious that this interpreter really did not understand military affairs. It was true that five thousand tons of bombs were dropped in one day, but the price was that the Holy Roman airship units had to suspend operations entirely for several days afterward. There was no other reason for it. After flying at maximum capacity, every airship required a complete overhaul. Otherwise, there was a real risk of them turning into fireworks. Of course, that had been more than a decade ago. Airship technology had improved since then. Large transport airships could now carry more than a hundred tons of supplies in a single trip. In theory, if dozens of giant airships were mobilized, the Russian logistical crisis could be resolved in a short time. But that depended on them not encountering enemy aircraft. If they did, every one of those giants would instantly become part of a massive fireworks show, and once the explosions began, nothing would remain. The practical limitations were even greater. The operating costs were high, maintenance was troublesome, and a specialized technical team was required to keep everything running. After thinking briefly, Louis nodded with certainty and said, “Good idea. I will telegraph home immediately. This will be another big business opportunity.” Clearly, Louis understood the weaknesses of airships perfectly well. Even if airship transport were arranged, it would only be useful in the early stages. Once the Japanese reacted, the whole system would become obsolete. Because of the European War, airplanes had already entered the historical stage ahead of schedule. They were rarely used in the Russo-Japanese War, mainly because both countries were poor and could not afford an air force. Even though aircraft were not extremely expensive in this era, that was only relative. Maintenance was complicated, and after every flight, the aircraft had to undergo inspection. Supporting an air force required more than planes. It required ground crews and technicians. When all costs were added up, a single aircraft with all its support infrastructure cost more than an entire infantry battalion. Aside from the wealthy Holy Roman Empire and Britain, no other country could afford to field aircraft on a large scale. Even if they wanted to imitate them, their finances simply could not support it. Knowing this did not stop Louis from increasing the order. The Holy Roman Empire retired a large number of airships every year and had trouble finding buyers. Selling them to the Russians for temporary emergency use was perfect. As long as the number was not too large, the Russian government would certainly be able to assemble enough crews to operate them.
[Previous | Table of Contents | Next]
Comments
Post a Comment