Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 774

Episode 774: A disaster brought about by himself… (9)

Edward IV, who took power through the Wars of the Roses, revived the economy devastated by the Hundred Years’ War and now took care of the nobles who wanted to share power with him, especially Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. I had to find a way to keep it in check.

England’s main export during this period was wool.

Wool from English manors was exported by ship to city-states such as Florence in Italy.

Cities such as Florence processed this wool into high-quality woolen fabrics and exported them back to England.

Of course, this was a deal that was detrimental to England.

The kings of England also knew this well, so they pursued protectionism and technician development policies, albeit at a primitive level.

In order to grow the woolen industry, foreign technicians, mainly Italian, were encouraged to emigrate or their skills were transferred.

Subsequently, policies such as encouraging the use of wool fabrics produced within England, banning the import of foreign wool fabrics, and banning the export of wool were promoted.

Through these policies, England’s woolen textile industry continued to grow. At the same time, the number of people smuggling out wool began to increase.

Italian woolen fabrics were still famous, so successful smuggling could make a lot of money.

However, the ban on wool export was temporarily suspended due to the Hundred Years’ War.

England exported wool to neighboring countries except France. This was part of securing military funds and diplomacy.

Edward IV, who came to the throne after the Hundred Years’ War and the War of the Roses, again banned the import of foreign wool fabrics in 1464 and began preparing a bill to ban the export of wool again.

This was to strengthen the government’s finances and at the same time create jobs in the woolen textile field.

“The problem is that it is difficult to become wealthy with wool alone.”

Edward IV coolly analyzed the situation.

Wool fabrics made in England were still of inferior quality compared to those made in Italy.

The market for high-quality woolen fabrics, where real money was made, was still dominated by the Italian city-states.

“We will catch up eventually, but time and money are the issues.”

Internally, commercial capital and markets were growing, but there was a long way to go.

That wasn’t all.

Portugal and Italy – Florence, to be exact – had other strengths.

This was a situation where huge profits were being made by relaying products made in the ‘Land of Flowers.’

The problem for Britain was that it was almost impossible to ban the import of imperial goods.

Immediately after Edward IV, the bedrooms and offices were filled with items from the empire, and a crystal chandelier made in the empire was shining on the ceiling of the banquet hall at Buckingham Palace.

There were many products that came from the ‘Land of Flowers’ that were irreplaceable, and they had superior quality and were overwhelmingly popular among the public. Therefore, if you hastily block imports, you will only suffer a lot of losses.

“This is how it should be…”

Edward IV was worried over and over again about the ‘Land of Flowers’, which would become a bigger problem if it was left alone.

* * *

Edward IV, who could not sleep well at night due to economic and political problems, jumped up from his seat when he heard rumors about the ‘Western Route’.

“This is it!”

There was no one who didn’t know that anything brought from the ‘Land of Flowers’ could bring a lot of money.

If the ‘Western route’ was discovered, the country that controlled the route could immediately stand tall as a central country in Europe.

That wasn’t all.

As seen in the case of ‘Henrich the Navigation Prince’, pioneering a new route was a project that required a huge amount of capital.

It was almost a miracle to succeed in just one attempt, and one had to be prepared to lose many lives and ship capital.

Of course, if the exploration was successful, enormous profits were expected.

In the end, funding the exploration and development of new routes was speculation, not investment.

Edward IV had found a breakthrough in this area to break the power of the nobles.

“The only people who can donate a lot of money right now are nobles! “If it were the ‘Land of Flowers,’ the nobles would open their wallets right away!”

Edward IV, who came up with a way to consume the economic power of the nobles by using ‘exploration of the western route’, immediately started working.

The first thing to do was to use his confidants to find a captain with suitable experience and ability. Afterwards, rumors were secretly spread throughout the aristocratic society and the market.

– The King is looking for a captain to search for the ‘Western Route’!

– We were not only looking for a captain, but we were also requesting the production of a ship from an actual shipyard!

This was only half true.

It was true that a shipbuilding contract had actually been signed with the shipyard.

However, the purpose was not to find a western route, but to use it on the trade route between Calais and Italy.

Finding the captain was a simple step.

But Edward IV never said this.

“No, even if I tell you, you won’t believe me.”

Edward IV muttered with a smile of conversion. Since the rumor had already spread, few nobles would believe Edward IV even if he told the truth.

– No matter what anyone says, the basis of power was force. And what was needed to maintain that military power was financial power.

– As long as he found an exclusive trade route with the ‘Land of Flowers’, Edward IV could succeed in establishing a complete monopoly of power.

– Italian trade is now almost at a standstill. It is absurd to put a new trade ship there.

All of England’s nobles, regardless of political faction, came to similar conclusions.

Soon after, investment request letters with similar content began appearing on the London stock market.

-Recruiting investors to invest in the ‘Western Route Exploration Team’!

A large-scale speculation situation later called the ‘Atlantic Bubble’ began to occur.

* * *

As Edward IV expected, those who showed the most enthusiasm in investing in the exploration party were the nobility.

Commercial capital, which had just begun to grow, was in many ways inferior to the nobility and was the first to fall away.

“It’s easier now that the people who only eat up the stake are gone!”

The nobles who had driven out their rivals soon joined hands in groups and began to form investment groups – clans.

The nobles who had accumulated capital in this way soon began looking for capable captains.

However, the captains’ reaction was negative.

“Let’s see… barely a caravel? Passing through a vast ocean we have never been to with just one caravel? “I won’t do it!”

“Then how many ships…”

“There must be at least 5 ships! “We have to start from Calais, but the area nearby is full of pirates, Portuguese, Spanish, and French pretending to be pirates!”

“pirate?”

“Have you never heard of the Barbary pirates?”

“Don’t they mainly plunder in the Mediterranean?”

“These days, the game has gotten a lot bigger.”

“Oh my…”

In the end, the nobles had to provide additional funds.

From then on, the nobles had to continue to invest additional funds.

The first ‘war of money’ to take place was in the process of recruiting a head captain to lead the exploration team.

It was not common for captains to have the ability and experience to lead not only the sailors under their command but also the captains of other ships without saying a word.

Naturally, there was competition to recruit such captains. In this process, ‘more money’ became the basis, and even if a contract was signed today, it was not uncommon for the contract to be canceled the next day.

Thanks to this, a situation was created where extra money was added to the extra money, but the nobles could not back down from the competition.

This was because if you find a proper head captain, you can fill the auxiliary ships with proven people, from the captain to the crew.

The second place where there was ‘competition of money’ was the shipyard, to be exact.

We were going on a voyage that might be fraught with danger, but we couldn’t go out on an old ship.

Naturally, orders flocked to the shipyard, but the problem was the limited number of shipyards and the shipyard’s construction capacity.

“If you make it earlier than other clans, I will pay you more!”

“To build a boat properly, you have to put in the right effort. “If you make it in a hurry, it will be bad!”

“therefore! Aren’t we asking them to postpone other clans’ ships and build our own ships first? “Why would they give me more money!”

“The Nari Clan isn’t the only one with great influence. There are strong people in other clans too! Would you be an asshole just to get a few extra pennies? Observe the order!”

As the bubble grew, fraud cases aimed at making a fortune began to occur.

‘I will help you find a capable captain. He’s a captain who signed a contract with another clan, and I know him well. ‘If you pay the appropriate brokerage fee and penalty, I will sign a contract right away.’

Some people said things like this and disappeared after taking money, while others impersonated famous captains and committed fraud.

That wasn’t all.

“Now is the time when shipyards make money! The shipyard will be the goose that lays the golden eggs! “I am planning to recruit a famous shipbuilding engineer from Spain!”

Saying this, some people began to flee abroad after receiving investment money, promising to bring in famous shipbuilding engineers from Spain and build a shipyard.

As these big and small incidents and accidents continued, the bubble grew like crazy.

And gradually, nobles were pushed out of the competition and left out.

As the investment of funds became almost infinite, clans that were pushed out by competition had no choice but to disband their clans.

The problem was that even if the clan was disbanded, most of the money invested would have been lost in thin air.

And because of this, nobles began to go bankrupt frequently.

The results that Edward IV wanted were starting to come out.

Among the nobles who went bankrupt, there were those who supported Edward IV, but Edward IV lightly ignored them.

“They are chaff.”

Edward IV’s real core forces had already been informed. They were either not investing at all or were just pretending to monitor the situation.

-Once the situation calms down, it is not too late to move.

While the core powers were watching, the first exploration team formed a fleet and set out to sea.

It was an exploration team that included the ‘Golden Mary’ driven by Captain Thomas.

* * *

Although they set off, Captain Thomas’ fleet was not fully prepared.

There was a severe shortage of sailors.

“Well, I know that there is no cliff at the end of the sea, and I know that there is no boiling sea. Still, I’m not splitting up.”

“Go to a place where there is no chart? “If you get lost in the middle of that vast ocean, you will just die, so why do such a crazy thing?”

“You would do such a crazy thing with just this salary? “I won’t do it even if it kills me!”

“Success pay? “If I die, I’m out of luck, so what… I won’t do it unless I pay in advance!”

Although there were some who readily accepted the unprecedented challenge of crossing the Atlantic, most sailors refused to participate.

Even though the clan offered an incentive called ‘success reward’, the situation was sluggish.

In the end, the clan and captains had no choice but to choose an alternative.

“Let us save the slaves.”