I Became A Black Merchant In Another World-Chapter 239: Industrial City Abito (1)
Before the Industrial Revolution, the standard for the middle class was this:
Could the entire family make or buy new clothes at least once a year?
It's a hard concept to understand for modern people who buy at least a few sets of clothes a year, but in the days before spinning wheels and weaving machines, creating a single piece of clothing required immense labor, and as a result, the price of clothes inevitably increased.
So, whether it was wool or cotton, simply turning them into clothes resulted in huge added value.
“Why did the Industrial Revolution happen? There are many reasons, but...”
If I had to choose just one, it’s this:
“How could we make clothes cheaper, faster, and sell more of them?”
From there, steam engines, the development of iron-making technology, and other new innovations followed.
I may not be able to create a steam engine right now, but at the very least, if I could borrow the power of water-powered looms and water-powered spinning machines?
I could make clothes at least 10 times faster than others, and reduce the labor cost that makes up the bulk of the price of clothes to under 10%.
‘For the price of one piece of clothing that others sell, we could sell about 4 to 5 pieces.’
“This too is British wisdom. After all, the British Empire is right about everything except food, right?”
We’ve all heard of the East India Company, but we often don’t know exactly what they sold to make a profit.
Those wicked, no—wise friends sold something very important to make clothes in India.
They used very cheap labor (Indians) to grow cotton and took the raw material to Britain.
When the cotton arrived in Britain, it was quickly reprocessed into fabric and exported to India and other parts of Asia.
In Korea, it was sold under the name ‘Ok Yang Mok.’
Those unfortunate souls, who had nothing to eat except fish and chips, made enormous profits from this.
Just like how semiconductor products are sold using cutting-edge technology.
“Sebastian, how much capital do we have available right now?”
“About 400,000 gold coins.”
“I think it was around 700,000 gold coins last time. The funds were spent buying out interests from other territories’ nobility, building weapons factories, setting up universities, and so on.”
Money is really hard to make, but it’s easy to spend.
To be blunt, even if you saved 10 million, if you really wanted to, you could burn it all in a day.
The investments I made were intended to set up a foundation for earning more money...
But hearing the amount of money spent makes me feel regretful.
Of course, in order to make more money, I can’t hesitate to invest, so I won’t hold back.
‘I need to earn more money for Leo, at least.’
“Do you remember the factory we set up near Biyo village?”
Sebastian nodded.
“How could I forget the factory that produces woven fabrics in Guillaume City? I still can’t forget the sight of clothes being quickly made in the blink of an eye.”
“That was when I was powerless and lacked influence, so I had to worry about interference from other merchants. That’s why I secretly set it up in a remote area.”
Until the early modern period, patents were practically meaningless.
Antonio Meucci, who invented the telephone, lost his patent to Alexander Graham Bell and was stripped of both wealth and fame.
The inventors of the spinning wheel, weaving machine, and spinning frame left their names in history, but though they had patents, their rights were taken away by the powerful, leaving them penniless.
At least Whitney, who created the cotton gin, received a small compensation from the Southern slave states...
‘Without power, patents mean nothing. You can’t protect them.’
If I were to make the cost of clothes ridiculously cheap...
It’s obvious that all the countries on the Albanian continent, or even the entire Tuscany Empire, would want me dead.
So I had to be careful, but not anymore.
“The Kingdom of Granada is too busy fighting the Nador people, and the Kingdom of Lyon and the Holy Empire are in a constant state of tension, never knowing when war might break out.”
The war that marked the beginning of the Renaissance, known as the "Hundred Years’ War."
One of the biggest reasons for the war was the English king demanding the French throne based on the Salic Law, and the French nobles rejecting it.
Another major cause was the dispute over control of Flanders, which was the economic core of Europe.
‘The specialty of Flanders was wool, the raw material needed to make clothes.’
Making clothes was such an important issue.
If I were to flood the market with cheap fabric for making clothes, wouldn't there be plenty of people trying to start wars as an excuse?
Of course, the actual justification I’d give would probably be some nonsense about avenging my great-great-grandfather or something...
“So, there’s no country out there that could intervene in our affairs.”
“The situation seems to be working out well for us.”
“Why are you acting like that, Sebastian?”
We’re not some lucky country that became a colonial power due to sheer chance, like the Japanese.
This wasn’t because we got lucky that international diplomacy ended up in such turmoil.
I set the stage for everything.
Some might call me a villain, but I’m just following the wisdom of the British.
Even during the Thirty Years' War, the British promised funding to support the Holy Roman Empire, but when the war started going badly for them, the English king pulled out, claiming he couldn’t send support because the parliament wouldn’t allow it.
Ah, Emperor of Rome! It’s not that I didn’t want to send support, it’s just that the parliament wouldn’t let me!
I too am just a figurehead, not like a king who’s doing well, like you!
Promising aid, then pulling back—it’s something I would do, but not to this extent.
‘Not yet, though—I’ve never stabbed an enemy ruler in the back.’
Once again, the British are a country with much to learn from.
In the future, maybe Leo—or rather, our family’s boys—should study in a United Kingdom-like place.
They should go there and learn everything except cooking.
“The Baron did everything, right? And inside the Tuscany Empire, all merchant factions that had the power to form strong guilds have been disbanded, so no one will complain about selling clothes cheaply.”
Other merchants and nobles will protest, of course.
In that case, we’ll ask the Emperor to send auditors to that family.
If the resistance is too strong, we’ll bribe them to keep quiet.
Or perhaps, we could even expose a scandal the nobles enjoy?
The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.
Maybe even start a newspaper about it.
“We’ll invest all 400,000 gold coins. And with that, let’s create a huge factory, or even a small city.”
400,000 gold coins is the total amount spent by 400,000 serf households in a year.
In terms of money, it reaches the trillions.
For the Tuscany Empire, it could create a small city.
‘Of course, the land will be provided, and the workers will be the ones to build the houses...’
“A city, you say?”
“There’s nothing stopping us.”
There are no legal issues with nobles creating cities within their own territories.
The only reason no one does it...
Is that if they forcibly create something like a city and fail, they’re likely to go bankrupt.
“Regardless, fabric is something that will always sell, so the more we make, the greater our profit.”
The Tuscany Empire—and in fact, the entire world—is suffering from a shortage of clothing.
In Florence, even the middle class has to wear proper clothes, while serfs either wear rags that the middle class discarded or keep wearing new clothes until they’re completely worn out.
The poor don’t even have clothes and are forced to wear rags made of grass.
Would it be impossible to sell fabric at a cheap price?
‘That’s impossible.’
Before the Great Depression even hit, people didn’t know about market failures caused by oversupply.
People from that time weren’t idiots, and modern people aren’t geniuses either.
“Just imagine a city that produces fabric and sells it all over the world. It sounds amazing.”
When you say clothes, it doesn’t sound that impressive, but mass-producing clothes in this world is like cutting-edge technology on the level of semiconductors.
“The city’s name will be ‘Avito.’”
It means “clothes.”
It’s intuitive, but thinking of it as the city of clothes isn’t a bad idea.
And by creating a city that sells tons of clothes, the residents will naturally increase their income without me even needing to intervene.
“Let’s buy up all the surrounding land and draw up a development plan.”
Sebastian looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“Baron, what on earth are you thinking?”
A city like Dongtan New City, rapidly developing after a high-tech semiconductor industrial complex was built in some remote part of Suwon.
Though it’s not quite as upscale as Gangnam, it boasts land prices that would rival much of Seoul and is one of the most sought-after areas for newlyweds.
That’s the kind of city I want to build.
Mass-producing clothes is like that level of cutting-edge technology in this world.
“Since we’re spending money anyway, wouldn’t it be great if we could create a large city in about 10 years?”
