I Became A Black Merchant In Another World-Chapter 184: Stocks and Capitalism (2)

As soon as I arrived, the civil servants at the Commercial Affairs Bureau immediately recognized me and approached.

"Baron Rothschild, thank you so much for making the effort to come all the way here."

When I created the guild last time, my noble status had ensured that the officials gave me some preferential treatment. However, this time, as soon as I arrived, the official didn’t rush out to greet me personally, nor did they call me “Baron Rothschild” before introducing themselves. They didn’t bow excessively either.

‘How did they recognize me? I didn’t even inform them I was coming.’

They couldn’t have seen my photo on the internet or TV, after all.

“You’ve had a long day.”

“If I can be of any help to you, Baron, it would be my honor.”

My social status is quite different from that of other nobles.

As a merchant, people would consider me to be on the verge of becoming a tycoon, and once the information regarding Ifriqiya is made public, I’m likely to officially take my place as one of the great tycoons.

As a noble, I’ve just recently been elevated to Baron, so my territory is small. But because I’m the son-in-law of Duke Visconti, my political importance is relatively high.

Given all this, it seems the Commercial Affairs Bureau sees me as a VIP.

‘Considering even a low-ranking civil servant at the Bureau reacts like this, there’s no need to doubt it.’

“I came to discuss something regarding the Guild Management Department and the establishment of the Poultry Farm Guild. Could you pass my message along?”

Upon hearing this, the official began to look a bit nervous.

Then, after showing an expression full of apology, he sought my understanding.

“I’m terribly sorry, but the Director is currently handling an urgent matter, so you might have to wait a while. Is that alright?”

It’s like when, at a company, the boss says, “Oh, Assistant Kim, you can leave early today. I’ve got some work left to do,” but you know he actually expects you to stay late too.

If you have a schedule and leave early, it’s not the best way to handle it as a professional.

The boss’s goal is to appear kind by not overloading their subordinates with extra work. But what they really expect is for you to voluntarily stay late until they finish their tasks.

Though the official in front of me wasn’t my boss...

‘The fact that they didn’t specify the issue in detail means that if I don’t give a gift, this urgent matter might never get finished.’

I hadn’t specifically scheduled anything in advance, so it was my fault too.

Fine, if I’m going to be a servant, at least I should be one in a high-ranking household, not like a fallen noble.

“Please relay the message.”

I handed a gold coin to the official, and he immediately stopped pretending and rushed to the Director’s office.

“He asked you to come in immediately.”

See, money is the best in any era.

With just a little gold, I can solve 99% of the issues I’m facing right now.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Director.”

Upon hearing that, the Director, who looked to be in his early 40s, smiled and responded.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Baron Rothschild.”

A Director in a central government agency is a very high-ranking position, especially for civil servants who have passed the Administrative Examination. Most of them retire at this rank.

Even in the Toscanian Empire, being a Director is a prestigious position.

Some of the key departments have Directors who are equivalent to two-star generals in the military, while others are equivalent to brigadier generals.

For a man in his early 40s to hold such a position, his status must be high.

‘Didn’t he say he was from a noble family of legal aristocrats, a count?’

“No, I served as the Director of the Hygiene Department. Perhaps we should consider each other as colleagues?”

Although he said that, if I had decided to continue in the Hygiene Department, and some young upstart who was better than me got promoted to Director, do you think he wouldn’t have criticized me?

That’s how things would have gone.

It’s strange—why am I muttering in my sleep while wide awake?

“You’re joking, Director.”

The Director of the Guild Management Department chuckled lightly.

“Well then, did you bring all the documents necessary for the establishment of the Poultry Farm Guild?”

“I’m not planning to establish a Poultry Farm Guild.”

The Director tilted his head upon hearing that.

After a moment of silence, he sighed and became upset.

“If you create a guild, you’ll be able to rake in money. Are you out of your mind?”

It was true—creating a Poultry Farm Guild would certainly generate a lot of money.

I could sell poultry farm design plans at inflated prices, and by affiliating all poultry farm owners with the guild, I could extract money from them under various pretenses.

Being able to use apprentice labor for almost ten years for free is also a huge advantage.

However, the guild system, when you really break it down, was created by small and medium-sized business owners to survive and pass on small privileges from generation to generation.

‘To make a huge profit, you would just be an obstacle.’

“Certainly, if I control poultry farms across the country, I could make a huge profit. But, if we change the perspective slightly, it’s a different story. Wouldn’t it be more profitable for me to run all the poultry farms in the country myself?”

In modern education, even those with a middle school diploma would become upset at the mere mention of the letter ‘D’ in monopoly.

They’ve been taught that monopolies are inherently bad.

‘And monopolies usually have negative outcomes for 99% of consumers.’

But people in the Toscanian Empire don’t have the concept of monopolies being bad.

They’ve never really experienced the downsides of monopolies yet.

Thus, the Director of the Guild Management Department, even though he’s in charge of the Commercial Affairs Bureau, didn’t seem to be wary of my words.

“That’s true. But to do that, it’ll take a lot of money, won’t it?”

I honestly had no idea how much the demand for chickens would be across Tuscany.

Probably, several million chickens are slaughtered each year.

It would be impossible for me to handle all of that on my own.

‘Our family’s poultry farm raises around 300,000 chickens annually, right?’

Even if I invested all of our available budget, the limit would be around 1.4 million chickens per year.

“So, we’ll have to borrow money to cover the shortfall.”

“No matter how you look at it, after borrowing a fortune, you won’t be able to handle the interest. Even the money the church lends to the poor has an interest rate of 20%, doesn’t it?”

In the Toscanian Empire—or anywhere on the Albanian continent—the interest rate is usually around 50%.

If my credit rating is low, 100% interest is common, and in the realm of usury, interest rates of 200% are not unusual.

So, simply borrowing that much money would...

‘I wouldn’t be able to handle the interest, and I’d definitely go bankrupt.’

“I plan to borrow money against the future profits I will earn.”

“You plan to borrow money against the future profits you’ll make? How would that work, specifically?”

“For example, if you were to lend me 100 gold coins, I’d make an agreement to pay you 10 gold coins every year as interest.”

Stock shares as we know them, where the price of a stock rises and you make a profit, have a short history.

Early stocks were more like documents that granted you the right to receive dividends as interest and the ability to claim the principal back whenever you wanted.

“And for the money you lend me, the proof of the loan—well, stock certificates. If you bring the document, I’ll have to repay the principal at any time, and I’ll give you 10 gold coins as the annual dividend.”

“If I hear this, it just sounds like lending money, doesn’t it?”

“Well, the difference is that if you buy stock worth 100 gold coins and don’t intend to resell it to me, I’ll still have to continue paying the dividends on that stock. For decades, even centuries.”

If the inflation rate was N% annually, then maybe.

However, in the Toscanian Empire, unless there’s a major famine or good harvest, prices almost never rise.

If you compare the prices now with those from 200 years ago, they probably haven’t even gone up by 10%.

So, to those buying stock, it would look like this:

Stocks are a golden goose that consistently brings in money, far more reliably than real assets like land.

“That’s quite an interesting gamble. Although the interest rate is low, the ability to receive money for decades or even centuries is quite appealing.”

But in this world, there’s no such thing as a deal that only benefits me.

If you want to make a lot of money, you have to invest your time and effort, and if you want to maintain your health and quality of life, you have to give up money.

“If the company you invest in goes bankrupt, the stock will become worthless. And if the business doesn’t go well, you might not receive the money at all.”

“Why would that happen?”

“Because stock represents a right to receive a portion of future profits in the form of dividends. But if the poultry farm I manage succeeds greatly, you could receive enormous dividends. I might even offer huge profits to attract more investments.”

When the East India Company first issued stocks, the dividend rate was 3.5%.

But because it was such a lucrative business, during the first dividend payout, the shareholders received 75% of the stock’s face value as a lump sum.

“That’s quite an intriguing gamble. This is beyond my ability to resolve, so I’ll report it directly to the Minister of Commerce.”

“Thank you. And this is just a small token of appreciation.”

I took a check from my pocket and handed it over.

The Director’s expression brightened immediately upon receiving the check.

Receiving 1,000 gold coins in one lump sum, he couldn’t be upset.

“The Minister of Commerce will be persuaded, no matter what I have to do.”

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Not long after that, the Toscanian Empire saw the first issuance of stocks in the Albanian continent.