Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters-Chapter 1594 - 86: A Visitor from Afar (Part 9)

Chapter 1594 -86: A Visitor from Afar (Part 9)

At the same time, Winters was unaware that Caman also had guests.

Although the situation at the Great Cathedral was worrying, the most pressing matter was to entertain the two distinguished guests from Vineta. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Winters never believed that just because he was a Sea Blue person, a Venetian, or Anna’s lover, the Sea Blue people, the Venetians, and Navarre Commerce would unconditionally stand by his side.

The Sea Blue people would only stand unconditionally by money;

And as for the Venetians—it’s unknown how many Venetians actually consider themselves Venetians;

As for Navarre Commerce…

First of all, Lady Navarre is a businessperson; secondly, Winters was immensely relieved that Lady Navarre did not come to cause trouble; lastly, rather than requesting something from Lady Navarre, Winters felt proving he could offer something to her was more urgent.

So Winters also didn’t believe that Fernando Leo would bring two strangers to his home without a purpose.

Although Mr. Leo had yet to reveal his intentions, through the identity of the two guests, Winters had roughly guessed some clues:

The strong man “Niccolo Polo” was from the City of Flowers’ Peruzzi Trading Company, and according to Mr. Leo’s introduction, the Peruzzi Trading Company is considered a prominent land-based trader in Vineta;

Winters was unfamiliar with the City of Flowers and knew little about the Dry Land Business Association;

However, given the current severed waterway between Paratu and Vineta, to resume the movement of goods between the two places, hope would have to be placed on land-based trade routes;

If going by land, then the Peruzzi Trading Company could exert its strengths;

On the other hand, the fact that Niccolo Polo and Fernando Leo appeared together in Winters’ parlor indicated that Navarre Commerce had teamed up with Peruzzi Trading Company, intending to take a share of the soon-to-thrive land trade.

In other words, if the three guests were viewed as three partners in a business venture, then Niccolo Polo’s capital was the Peruzzi Trading Company’s transport capacity.

Fernando Leo’s capital should be Navarre Commerce, possibly including Winters Montagne.

As for Matteo Konar of the Konar family, his capital doesn’t need to be guessed.

Because the word “capital” already reveals the capital of the dark and thin elder.

In this world, except for swindling, murder, and arson, everything else requires money, and the bigger the trade, the more money is needed.

In a certain sense, the cost of swindling is actually the highest because without money, the practitioner must risk their life.

And every Sea Blue person knows that the Konar family is wealthy enough to rival nations.

—————–

The surname “Konar” does not belong to the oldest batch in Sea Blue.

It cannot be traced back to a certain ancient tribune before the election of the first governor, nor does it belong to a prominent figure from the Commune era.

Although after their rise, the Konars fabricated a lineage of being “descendants of great nobles who fled to Sea Blue during the cataclysmic disintegration of the Ancient Empire”;

The old Sea Blue people know that the Konar family is not a “noble house,” not even barely a “new noble”—in Sea Blue, even the genealogies of “new nobles” must start at three hundred years.

And in the records of the Golden Book at Saint Mark’s Cathedral from one hundred and fifty years ago, there is no mention of newborns from the Konar family, even though they were already incredibly wealthy back then.

Not until the Imperial Calendar year 409, during the fourth city-state war, when the Elder Council, pressured by funding needs, publicly sold seats in the Sea Blue Grand Council, did the Konars seize the opportunity to become eligible nobles who could register their descendants’ names in the Golden Book.

The ancestors of the Konar family were merely commoners who didn’t leave behind a name, like thousands of ordinary Sea Blue people of the time, rowing boats day and night in the rivers, trading salted fish and sea salt with the inland residents for grain.

They had to guard against arrows shot from the reeds and endure exploitation by the inland nobles, which sometimes was even more terrifying than the former.

Though as the Sea Blue Commune prospered, the situation for Sea Blue people engaged in inland river trade improved:

The tonnage of the barges grew larger, gaining better protection, even leading to large merchant fleets with escorts sailing annually towards Paratu;

The Sea Blue people began to have the confidence to discuss more reasonable tax rates with the inland rulers;

But none of this changed the fate of the Konar family; what truly changed their destiny was Sea Blue as a whole starting to pay attention to the ocean.

As the Two Mountains Narrow Land recovered from the chaos following the collapse of the Ancient Empire, population growth heightened the demand for overseas goods, especially luxury items from the East.

On the other hand, as towns expanded, growing numbers of handicrafts also needed exporting.

Thus, the Sea Blue people’s focus gradually shifted from the inland rivers to the ocean.

The ancestors of the Konar family seized this trend, leading to the Konars being today’s richest in Sea Blue.

Therefore, the rise of the Konar family is the history of Sea Blue’s overseas expansion.

For generations, the names of the Konars have become untraceable, but they all embarked on overseas voyages as sailors on oared sailing ships.

At that time, on the Sea Blue merchant ships, the line between sailors and merchants was quite blurred.

When necessary, the merchants overseeing the goods also had to sit on the benches and row.

Sailors were allowed to carry a certain amount of duty-free goods in the “ship’s chest and under the rowing benches” to sell on their own, so they could also be seen as merchants with less capital.

Through peddling their wares at various ports along the way, the ancestors of the Konar family slowly accumulated capital and, after generations of hard work, finally, a Konar was able to embark on an oared sailing ship as a merchant rather than as a sailor.

And that Konar chose to engage in a business that was quite controversial at the time but later became a pillar of Sea Blue—the slave trade.

At that time, the Great Church allowed the enslavement of heretics and non-believers, but there was constant debate about whether heretics could be enslaved.

But the Konars didn’t care about these distinctions; they were merely continuing a way of making money that was older than the history of the Public Church.

In the following generations, the Konars sold Western slaves to the East, Eastern slaves to the West, Southern slaves to the North, and Northern slaves to the South.

In short, wherever there was a Sea Blue merchant ship, wherever there was slave business, there would be the presence of the Konars.

During this period, the Konars discovered a new business opportunity—selling timber to heretics.

The lands of the Saracens, who practiced heretical religions, were dry with little rain; timber was a scarce strategic resource they urgently needed.

Meanwhile, the Jinding Mountains, Shade Mountain Range, and Paratu inland were abundant with inexhaustible ash trees, pines, firs, and beeches.

Although the Pope and Emperor—whether it be the one from the East or the one from the West—repeatedly prohibited exporting timber to heretics, just as they banned selling slaves to them.

But the gold and silver of the Saracens were real, and what did the words of the Emperor and the Pope count for?

Wealth was calling, and like other Sea Blue people of the time, the Konars paid no heed to the prohibitions of the Emperor and the Pope, “unhesitatingly” engaging in the lucrative timber trade.

Timber cut from the Jinding Mountains filled the cargo holds bound for the East, and the gold and silver from heretics filled the pockets of Sea Blue people.

The Konar family’s business grew more prosperous, and the influence of the Sea Blue people in the Earth Core Sea was rising.p>

The vast timber supply greatly stimulated Sea Blue’s shipbuilding industry; iron, hemp ropes, and pitch were also easy for Sea Blue people to obtain.

Thus, Sea Blue people not only built ships for themselves but also sold them to others.

As Sea Blue both possessed ships and profited greatly from exporting slaves and timber to heretics, it gradually took control of trade from the Inner Sea to Constantinople and set its sights on more distant lands, the “Land of Sunrise.”

It was also in this process that the Konar family began to venture into Far East trade.

One must know that the biggest problem with long-distance trade is finding trustworthy people.

The vast ocean meant that communication often took months, with the Eastern routes taking years; no one knew what fate befell the ships that did not arrive at port on time.

To solve this problem, the Konar family developed a highly daring and innovative business strategy, which was later emulated by many Sea Blue merchant houses.

They sent family members to various trade nodes, like sowing seeds.

Due to the large number of Konar family members and their remarkable unity—at least as seen by outsiders—wherever there was a port on the route to the Far East, there was a “Konar.”

And every Konar was fully responsible for the debts of other Konars.

This unlimited joint liability partnership model made local merchants at each port more willing to do business with “Konars.”

Because they knew it didn’t matter if the “Konar” in front of them died or lost money; there would always be another “Konar” to take over the previous business and settle the previous debts.

However, this business model also meant that the Konar family had to bear enormous risks. So the more wealth they accumulated, the more conservative the Konar family became in their operations.

When the Konar family became recognized as the wealthiest family in Sea Blue, they also became the most cautious group.

Therefore, Winters couldn’t help but wonder what drove an old “Konar,” just returning from the farthest eastern lands, to rush to the Western Border of the Alliance?

Was it homesickness?

Winters had indeed heard stories—no matter how many years the Konars spent wandering abroad, they always returned to Sea Blue to rest eternally.

But upon inspecting the thin, dark elder, Winters found no trace of longing for his homeland in him.

Matteo Konar’s conversation instead subtly revealed a disdain for Sea Blue’s current upper society’s pursuit of indulgence and decadence.

So, did the conservative Konar family feel some threat, prompting them to withdraw from Far East trade and refocus their attention inland?

Winters was very curious about this.