European Financial Emperor

161 Perfect Pirate(1)

Sailors of the 10th Fleet in the past lived as pirates in their hometowns, but that did not mean that they were plentiful on one meal a day.

When the state’s oppression was severe, there was nothing to eat, so they had to dig up the ground to eat even the roots of trees.

But now he was living the life of a European middle class.

Although the life of the European middle class is said to be a grassy life in Easterfield, the soldiers of the 10th Fleet were very satisfied.

It is because they are living in abundance without needing anything.

Lee Gak caught a passing soldier.

“Look.”

“Loyalty!”

“Yes, loyalty. Hey, do you have some time?”

“of course.”

“How satisfied are you with your current life?”

The soldier laughed as if it was natural.

“What are you talking about?”

“Why? You gave up rice and meat to others on this expedition.”

“Something like that was common when I went back to my hometown. How advanced are our Easterfield agricultural and pastoral skills, so why would we dare to steal from our neighbors in need?”

“Fufu, is that so?”

“But why are you asking such a thing all of a sudden?”

“There are people who don’t understand the policies of the Easterfield royal family.”

The soldier shook his head as if embarrassed.

“That’s someone who needs to learn democracy and industrialism from scratch. No, I don’t understand why it’s hard to understand why you earn a lot, eat a lot, and share what’s left over with neighbors in need.”

“Haha, right?”

“of course. Heh, if you read even one book that His Majesty has written, you wouldn’t be able to come up with such a story.”

Easterfield is a country extremely reluctant to subjectivize the king.

He is respected by everyone, but for him he is a father, an older brother, and he hates being called a god.

The soldier was speaking from his own experience, but Yu-hara seemed shocked.

“… … I can’t believe such a country exists.”

“There is no utopia in this world.”

“Utopia?”

“Ah, don’t fix it. It’s the Mureungdowon of perfect equality.”

“Um, yes. There is no such country.”

“But one thing is certain. If a superpower built on the right ideology creates a fair country through the federation, it may be the closest thing to a utopia.”

“Anyway, isn’t it a country ruled by a king?”

“The king exists, but he does not rule. Everything is decided by Congress with the support of the people.”

“… … Parliament?”

“Easterfield is a country where the people are the masters. Call it democracy.”

“democracy… … ?”

“The people rule the country. The judiciary is fair and strict, the executive is reasonable, and the judiciary is honest. Based on this, the nation was built by the people.”

These were words that Yuhara couldn’t understand.

What on earth is a country where the people decide and judge everything from one to ten?

But such a country already existed.

“Yuhara, if you had the right to vote, would you have created the shogunate? Would you have established a royal family? Or would you get rid of both?”

“You sound natural. Of course, neither should be.”

“Aren’t you a supporter of the shogunate?”

“If it’s hard to say, that’s it, it’s better not to have both. They are such garbage.”

“Yeah, it’s better not to have such garbage. So elections are important. It is a vote that decides which side the majority wants so that the people can lead the country.”

“… … Are you saying that even a king is elected by voting?”

“The head of the state is necessary, so the parliament to elect him and make the bill is also formed by voting.”

“You say the people choose the king and his servants?”

“It’s like that.”

“Huh!”

“If that were the case, what would Japan be like today?”

“… … At least I wouldn’t go hungry. There would have been no need to kill and loot others because they couldn’t cook, and there would be no need to watch their children die.”

Today’s era was so desperate.

It was in this era that life was extremely difficult for Joseon, Japan, Qing, and Mincho.

Lee Gak asked Yuhara to join the 10th Fleet.

“If you join us, we can build a utopia.”

“… … What a human butcher like me.”

“Easterfield has a lot of upper-class slaves. They do politics and they do business.”

“A slave runs a business?!”

“Easterfield freed slaves from other countries and received them as citizens. And I gave them the same chance to succeed. Because all human beings are equal and have the right to be happy.”

For someone who has lived in a democratic country, all of this is natural, but for Yuhara, it was a shock.

But the shock was fresh and good.

“… … I’ll watch it for once. Together with the 10th Fleet.”

“Yeah, well thought. Then, let’s mix and live with the soldiers who worked as pirates here in the past.”

Lee Gak was convinced that Yu Hara would be a very capable officer.

***

The Anglo-Russian War continued even while the charity was being carried out in Asia.

Both countries moved their forces through areas where passage and war were permitted in order to obtain lands to their advantage.

Europe was large, giving Russia and Britain quite a few options in deploying their forces.

Due to such a choice, land forces were divided or a fortress for defense was captured in one shot.

Six forts were exchanged within the first week of the war, and Britain and Russia were in a deadlock situation.

“The number of dead has decreased, but the enemy’s use of funds is said to be increasing.”

“Fufu, it’s back to what we expected.”

Lee Hwan deliberately devised such an operation.

No matter how large Russia’s population is, it will not be able to easily defeat Britain, and no matter how powerful Britain’s firepower is, Russia’s tactics will be irrelevant.

In such a confrontation between a spear and a shield, what would happen if we could weave a terrain that was advantageous to each other and allow it as a battle area?

Lee Hwan thought that they would fall from exhaustion from exhaustion of their stamina as they went back and forth repeatedly.

That thought was right, and the two countries were already struggling with financial difficulties.

“In order for a soldier to move, he must first have food, and to wage war, he needs a lot of supplies. First of all, war is something people do.”

“After all, you are amazing!”

“More than that, how is the recovery of trade going?”

“There is limited trade in the waters that our navy protects, but trade is active, and the balance of trade companies is slowly rising.”

Even if it is a short distance, trade that crosses regions, regions, and countries is unconditionally money.

Unless you’re really stupid, there’s no way it’s not worth the money to bring something that A doesn’t have and sell it to B.

Lee Hwan was convinced that now would be the time for economic recovery.

“Now, the economy of the German Confederation will gradually revive.”

“It is said that there have been attempts to make automobiles in Germany for a while now.”

“Oh, okay?”

“Of course, we are well 20 years behind the initial product we made.”

“Well, then, let’s try to widen the gap a little more.”

Eaststellar had limited the models of vehicles sold in Europe and America to early models.

However, there was no need to adjust the model because the car was already selling like crazy.

However, if there was a competitor, it would be different.

“To launch a new car.”

“How many steps do you skip?”

“There is no need to jump over it. Just a higher version of the car being released now, and that’s enough.”

“Yes, I understand. Then I will prepare for that.”

East Stellar is a company that many shareholders of the Kingdom of Easterfield have been looking forward to, and the people have been a big supporter.

The company’s technology was exposed overseas, so there was no need to give it a chance to overtake.

However, Lee Hwan was only planning to launch a new car and step on the German buds, and give him a little hopeful torture.

“By the way, how are the funds invested in Spain being managed?”

“In Spain, we are expressing our desire to build a steel mill.”

“Hmm, are you going to catch up with us on the steel side in the end?”

Europe in the 19th century was dominated by iron.

As the steel industry developed, the quality of battleships changed, and even the types of mounts completely changed.

But Easterfield skipped that step several times, so Europe couldn’t keep up.

Lee Hwan decided to release the skills he had accumulated one by one.

“Let us build a steel mill with technology that can produce steel products currently in use in Europe.”

“Without using Spain as our forward base?”

“What is the need for that? There are plenty of places to build our factories. There is no reason to use Spain as an outpost when people are lining up to build such a factory even within the Federation.”

“iced coffee!”

“Don’t forget. We are pacifists, but we are not good enough to help a prosperous country.”

“sorry. Their thoughts were too short!”

Although he loves peace, Lee Hwan’s main policy was to make sure he would never be caught and ripped off.

As part of such a policy, the unconditional forward base construction was something that Lee Hwan had to avoid as much as possible.

“I want to check it out as soon as the words come out. How are the developments in the occupied territories of Asia progressing?”

“Once there is a steady influx of capital from the mainland, the population continues to grow.”

“Oh, is the population growing?”

“I think being able to live in a world where you can earn as much money as you work and live in a world where you don’t have to worry about food seems to be the biggest advantage. Besides, there’s no slavery in Easterfield, right?”

Slavery was a very vicious practice that still did not go away in Asia.

A typical example would be the slave system of Joseon, and even the chuno, which catches the slaves when they fled, was popular, so we could see how strict the custom was.

“What about the development of state-based industries?”

“A bank was opened a while ago and is set up in Osaka, and there is a stock market in Jeju.”

“If the stock market is opened quickly, the inflow of funds within the federal government will occur quite frequently.”

“of course. In addition, they are establishing industrial and commercial companies by receiving applications from local people to establish businesses.”

“It has texture.”

“The Archduke is proceeding step by step without missing a beat, so the pace of urban development is actually better than that of Africa.”

“Hmm, that’s right. Because East Asia has a lot of vegetation and it will be easy to get water for agriculture and industry.”

“However, there is one area of concern.”

“worry?”

“Wouldn’t it be more likely that each country would take a hard line to prevent the escape of the population in the future?”

“Um, indeed. To those people whose pride feeds them, the people’s escape will look like a tragic escape play.”

It was a matter to check if there was anything wrong with the national financial situation or the basis of governance, not the voluntary immigration of the people, but the escape to make a living.

If it was assumed that the people escaped in a modern country, it would have been an obligation for experts to step forward and run the state government normally to meet the needs of the people.

But in today’s Asia, that was not the case.

It was a world where everything was tailored for emperors, kings, and nobles, and people were treated like dogs in the face of the strictness of the class system.

Isn’t it absurd that people live in such an unreasonable world?

Lee Hwan was thinking of taking special measures if such a thing happened.

“In case something like this happens, we have occupied the land area.”