European Financial Emperor

051 The Good Baron (1)

In September 1823, the East Stella Company began construction of the railway connecting Ritterkirk and Rotterdam and between Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

In this construction, East Stellar’s know-how of civil engineering works accumulated over the years and Lee Hwan’s future knowledge were all encompassed.

While the track construction was in progress, Lee Hwan was working to almost finish the road construction commissioned by the Dutch government.

East Stellar has already developed cement and asphalt and has entered the commercialization stage, and the cement and asphalt were to be used for the completion of this road construction.

People didn’t know what the black object really was, so they thought it was just for painting the road.

However, around mid-September, as the asphalt construction was completed all at once, people had no choice but to change their minds.

The Dutch royal family and aristocrats attended the highway opening ceremony in Amsterdam on September 16th.

In front of them, Lee Hwan showed a solidly paved asphalt road.

“The road is paved with petrochemical asphalt. A stone was laid on the well-drained ground, and gravel was sprinkled over it and compacted again. Then, concrete was poured over it and then paved with asphalt again. It probably won’t need a rebuild in the next few decades.”

“Asphalt… … .”

People touched the asphalt road with their hands and tried to hit it with a hammer.

Instead of crumpling the tough and strong asphalt, it only hurt the hand of the person who hit it with a hammer.

The Origne family was greatly astonished, and the nobles’ eyes twinkled.

“We plan to participate in road construction in overseas markets with this technology in the future.”

“Oh oh… … ! After all, advanced technology!”

“Once again, I would like to express my sincere thanks to His Majesty for entrusting me with this project.”

Willem I was smiling very satisfied.

In fact, it was absurd to say that in the Netherlands, where automobiles were not yet developed, roads were used more than canals.

However, if a smooth, well-drained road is laid on a major trading hub, the story is different.

Amsterdam serves as a bridgehead connecting the UK and Northern Europe, and Rotterdam serves as a transit hub connecting France and Germany.

Considering that the amount of traffic gathered here connects almost all of Europe, the value of the road can be seen to be enormous.

King Willem I bestowed gold as an additional remuneration to Yi Hwan.

“As a token of your hard work, I grant Baron Lietterkirk a golden chariot.”

“The castle is doomed!”

“I hope that you will continue to work hard for the Netherlands in the future.”

“Yes, my lord!”

After the completion of the highway completion ceremony, all the people involved, except King Willem I, went out like a low tide.

Then he caught Lee Hwan, who was about to return for the last time.

“Sir Ritterkirk.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Would you like to go for a walk with me?”

“It is an honour.”

King Willem I decided to take a walk along the highway with Yi Hwan.

It is quite rare for a noble or king to move anywhere on foot, so it was not difficult for Lee Hwan to know that he had something to say.

But Willem I did not speak for more than ten minutes. He just looked around the surrounding landscape and exclaimed intermittently.

Then, suddenly, I asked Lee Hwan.

“I heard that you are developing a new weapon.”

“It is.”

“Prince Ben-Herren is convinced that your new weapon can change the course of war. What do you think of him?”

Lee Hwan was making innovative developments that transcend the times.

The original technology has no choice but to evolve through stages, but Lee Hwan was lightly surpassing it with future knowledge.

The new guns and cannons he is currently developing were in the same vein.

Wasn’t he even developing a vehicle with a power unit?

“I think it could be done if given enough time.”

“You really think so?”

“of course.”

King Willem I told Lee Hwan about his ambitions very frankly, without adding a single word.

“If you set up a nest in the western part of North America and acquire a powerful military force, I think we, the Netherlands, will be able to quickly emerge as the only force that threatens Britain. By transforming the influx of people from abroad into loyal mercenaries, the dream of a former maritime empire can be realized again.”

“However, it still takes a lot of time. So much money… … .”

“Know. But, as you just said, everything is only a matter of time. So we, the Royal Family of the Netherlands, have decided to give East Stella enormous support during the time you said you needed it.”

“Even now, the royal family is providing enormous support.”

William I shook his head.

“Not institutional or financial support.”

“Yes… … ?”

“I will promote you to the commander of the private fleet, and the mercenary corps of Ritterkirk to be promoted to the national level.”

“Huh!”

To Yi Hwan, who was trying to form a private mercenary corps to procure the company’s security forces all over the world, King Willem I was rather saying that he would actively encourage the formation of a group of soldiers equivalent to the standing army.

This was the sound that power that Lee Hwan could not even imagine could fall into his hands.

“East Stella Mercenaries, the name of the Royal Mercenaries you will form. In the future, you must free the African slaves secretly captured by the United States, train them yourself, and return them to the mercenaries. The Dutch royal family will fully support the mercenaries’ salaries and severance pay, so you only need to focus on weapon development and military training.”

The purpose of King Willem I to drive the military power to Lee Hwan like this was to set up flags in California and Oregon in the future, which have not yet been fully developed, and to train an army that is free from British interference.

When Lee Hwan was also listening to his blueprint, that thought came to his mind.

“If you accept the position of head of the Royal Mercenary Corps, the Dutch royal family will purchase all the land from the Dutch royal family through negotiations with Spain, Portugal, England, and Mexico, name the area New Literkirk, and return it to your estate. will do.”

“… … !”

“In a nutshell, another country will be born within the walls of the Netherlands.”

King Willem I was well aware that Europe could die within the boundaries of Europe, as long as it did not seek to establish colonies and expand overseas territories.

He had been thinking about this for quite some time, but he was unable to achieve it due to domestic political instability.

“If you achieve success in North America and organize a large army, I hope you will return to the Netherlands and unite the national debate.”

“It’s national unity.”

“We will be freed from the yoke of division between the North and the South, which has sharply confronted us.”

Balum I is sometimes mentioned as a stupid monarch who claimed to be divided in Dutch national opinion, but at the same time, he is evaluated as a reform monarch.

In such a duality, the dynasty that he had united was hiding the earnest desire to unite Belgium and Luxembourg to create a powerful Netherlands.

“You must be my sword.”

Perhaps, if Lee Hwan became the sword that led the reforms in the Netherlands, he might never be able to make a better weapon than this again.

Lee Hwan also wondered if, in the first place, King Willem I had drawn himself into the army and conferred the title of baron if he had drawn such a magnificent sketch in advance.

“Performance has already been verified, and now it is only for the sword to decide its path. What about it, would you agree with our Dutch royal family?”

It was a sudden proposal, but there was nothing bad about Lee Hwan.

He knelt before Willem I.

thud!

“I will be loyal!”

“Yeah, I thought so. Get up.”

The king handed Lee Hwan a ring decorated with gold and rubies.

The Dutch royal family was engraved on the inside of the ruby, so it was not difficult to recognize that this was a royal bounty.

The only difference from the general royal pattern is that two guns and a ship are drawn in the background.

“This is an item that the royal craftsmen have been engraving with great care one by one from six months ago to give to the commander of the Royal Mercenary Corps. I will reward you.”

“iced coffee… … !”

“It is by no means easy for a human to say loyalty to a human. I think you are a person with long-awaited expectations in your heart. So, do your duty thinking that you are loyal to your success, not to the Origne family.”

No one can predict what the future of Lee Hwan will be.

However, it was as if the foundation for his infinite growth had been completed.

***

There was an untimely murmur in the middle of the streets of Amsterdam in the early morning.

It was none other than the decapitated corpse, lying in a posture writhing in pain.

Even the dead splattered blood as far as 5 meters in front of them and died, so Amsterdam was in shock.

National Military Police investigators squatted at the scene and scrutinized the body with a magnifying glass.

The investigators were astonished.

“… … It’s as if the cuts were cut off the neck by hand.”

“There are signs of resistance. It must have been that he had his head chopped off alive.”

“Are you crazy? It must be murder out of grudge.”

“No, by the way, what kind of madman can chop up a man in the middle of Amsterdam? It’s a little strange that no one was passing by at the time.”

As soon as they put up a poster saying they were looking for an eyewitness, reports flooded in, but most of them spoke nonsense, such as that the devil ate people’s heads, that a ghost cut off their throats alive with a saw, and so on.

Even if we tried to select useful information from among them, it was not at the level that was particularly helpful for the investigation.

With no clear eyewitnesses and no evidence, the military police felt as if they were walking through a fog.

The military police inspectors had the painters paint the scene now, and then took the body to the hospital.

He wanted to show the body to a surgeon and determine how he was killed.

The doctor gave the definition in a nutshell.

“I would have cut a man’s head off with a gigantic saw. It’s like a saw used to build ships or houses.”

“No, why the hell?”

“That is something you will have to figure out.”

The cause of death was murder using a large saw, so what is the identity of this person?

Investigators rummaged through the body’s pockets and found a comma-shaped soother.

However, the investigators had no way of knowing what the oriental soother was.

“what’s this?”

“Is it a stone?”

A decoration in which a string made of silk is tied through a hole in a stone that looks like a comma.

Westerners didn’t know what jade was, but at least they could have guessed that these things came from the East.

“I heard a lot of these unusual items come from Africa or Asia. But in Africa, we can’t do such fine craftsmanship, so I think it’s probably from Asia.”

“Then you are saying that the dead are Asians?”

“It’s like that.”

An Asian man was murdered in the middle of Amsterdam, and the military police began to search for oriental people with this, which was the only valuable item in the world.