10th June 1574With the new idea popping up in my head, I swung all the papers occupying most of the s.p.a.ce on my desk directly to the floor, before picking up a clean sheet of paper and wetting my quill in the small bottle of the imported ink.
Even though I was quite happy with using charcoal and wooden boards to write whenever I was projecting something, as my influence and power grew I was forced to eradicate this convenient but not so cla.s.sy habit of mine. With how I was now basically a dean of the world"s first economy academy, even if its name sounded more like a theatre than a university, Matsu forced me to waste several red goldens on a hefty package of ink and hardened quills.
Line after line, I moved my writing tool on the paper, creating the most devious scheme that this world would ever see. The scheme that ultimately caused the grief and death of more people than any other man"s invention did in the entire history.
Paper money.
While obviously, as just a n.o.ble, I was unable to produce any form of coins as this was a privilege of the king and king alone, considering how many factors came into building an industrial power, I had many other means at hand!
Firstly, even if currently I was the only one capable of producing steam horses in the entire world, it would be stupid of me to believe I and the people that I enlighted were the only ones who would see through the potential of the raw, mechanical power of this invention.
Yet while that was the case, others simply lacked the means that I so painstakingly put together to create any form of an efficient steam engine for themselves! And if that was the case, then why not try selling it away?
The problem that the industrialisation on any scale would bring, was the increased output of products… But in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn"t change the economical situation of the country, or the continent unless it would be adopted on a far greater scale!
Even if I could dry all the riches of all the n.o.bles in the country and half of the n.o.bles in the neighbouring states, sooner or later, either someone would turn too envious of my wealth for his own good and start a war that would stall my production, or the ultimate end of all monopoly would come to be, sapping the limit of what I could sell!
But if I were to introduce the industrialization to everyone interested in it, then by controlling the production rate and quality of the products sold to anyone willing to pay for it, I could not only make sure that others would bind their own wealth to my prosperity but also let them earn their own share of wealth stemming from industrialization!
After all, one could only be as rich, as the acc.u.mulated wealth of the people around him amounted to! What was the point of possessing all the gold in the entire world, if no one could sell anything of value for it?
With that said, I couldn"t let others get those steam engines as cheap as they could get my beer! And what was the better way to trade than the tools used by the d.a.m.ned wall street?
Pus.h.i.+ng my hand to draw two different forms on the paper I was scribbling on, I added several details before moving up from the chair and sprinkling some fine dust on the paper to help the ink dry out.
Future market. In my modern timeline, it meant nothing else but making a deal with a supplier that at a certain date, he would provide you with a specified product at the set price. Originally intended to secure the chains of the supply for all sorts of businesses, it quickly became nothing else but a great tool for traders to speculate. But for me, just the idea of connecting the present and the future held an immense meaning!
Trust papers. By signing a deal with someone, I would promise them than in three, six, nine or twelve months from the date of signing, I would deliver them a completed and perfectly fine steam engine while receiving the money from them right away. Obviously, the shorter the waiting period, the greater the price would be, but the real intention behind this wasn"t to earn money at all!
By setting the price of the steam horses high enough, and multiplying it by the cost of waiting, only major houses would be capable of getting their hands on such paper. That would mean, it would be in their own interest to make sure that my projects would keep operating, as usual, otherwise the papers they would get would lose all their value in case of my projects failing!
But I couldn"t limit myself to just this type of bonds. The idea behind the papers was about letting others grow in power rather than binding them to my cause!
That"s why outside of those who wanted a steam engine for themselves, I would offer a far more affordable option… To rent one of the steam horses!
While that would mean that they would have to pay the constant renting cost of my products, I could force them to supply me with a specified number of workers to make up for the lessening of my own manpower!
And to be completely fair, for most of the n.o.bles, serfs were nothing but a means to live in luxury. If I could get fifty workers and enough gold to pay for their keep for the price of a single steam engine… I would take that deal at any time!
Yet as I was thinking about how to make this tradeoff, I realised that I still lacked the most essential element for my ploy. Something that would connect the moving of the manpower, trust deals and renting deals all together to my industry!
It seemed like I had no other choice than to create my own currency!