Chapter 31

Chapter 31 < War Merchant. >

He had been trading with the tribes living in the Andes for a long time.

But it was a trade limited to necessities.

He did not trade any iron products.

Some complained about this, but most of the Andean tribes understood the empire’s policy.

They also did not sell weapons to other tribes.

“Hmm. What should I do…”

The Wise Wood showed a thoughtful expression as he crossed his arms.

But inside, he was shouting with joy.

In fact, the sale of weapons was already decided.

No, the sale of weapons was the purpose of this trade.

Soon, the Wise Wood opened his mouth with a determined expression.

“Okay.”

“You changed your mind… Huh?”

“I said okay.”

“What do you mean…”

“We will sell you the weapons we have to your tribe.”

“Oh! Is that really true!”

“Yes. We can’t ignore your danger when we see it clearly. That’s not what friends do, is it?”

“Huh! Thank you so much! The empire will always remain as a friend of our tribe!”

The man jumped around and expressed his joy with his whole body.

The Wise Wood smiled broadly and responded to him.

But inside, he thought differently.

‘I wonder how long they will think of us as benefactors.’

The Wise Wood, who had member in the Foreign Ministry, was one of the few people who knew roughly how the plan would proceed.

So he couldn’t be as sincerely happy as that man.

He knew that for the prosperity of the Wakan Tanka Empire, a lot of blood would flow in the Andes region.

*

The first thing to start working again in the industrial district was the ironworks.

Iron poured out like water from the ironworks that were built in a hurry.

The synergy of coke and blast furnace made this possible. It was incomparable to before.

A large number of iron products made this way were weapons.

They were hard and brittle, but iron swords were much more powerful than stone ones.

Iron weapons were transported directly to Panama. 

And from Panama, they switched ships and spread to various places in the Andes region.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“We’re not just giving them away, so you don’t have to be so grateful.”

“No, no. We know very well that the empire made a big decision.”

“Haha. If you think so, please buy more of our products.”

“Of course. Hahaha!”

These iron weapons were sold like hotcakes to countless tribes who had a sense of urgency about the expansion of the Inca Empire.

Of course, a huge profit was built in as a matter of course.

They received large amounts of gold and silver in exchange for iron weapons.

In the Andes region, there had been a long history of mining and refining gold and silver.

That is, it was relatively easy to get them if they wanted to.

And when they learned that the merchants of the Wakan Tanka Empire wanted gold and silver, mining scale grew even bigger in many places in the Andes Mountains.

The more they dug, the more they could exchange for weapons, so it was natural in a way.

“Kill those Tawantinsuyu bastards!”

“This time we’ll show them who’s boss!”

Then, the situation of the expansion war began to turn strangely.

The Wakan Tanka Empire had not yet opened trade with the Inca Empire.

The Inca Empire was very wary of the sudden appearance of the Wakan Tanka Empire.

They were burning with ambition to subjugate all of the Andes region.

In this situation, the emergence of a powerful enemy was a great threat to the Inca Empire.

But as things went on like this, cutting off contact with the Wakan Tanka Empire backfired on them.

The Inca Empire had no iron weapons.

“Those bastards…!”

Pacha Cuti, the emperor-like figure of the Inca Empire and descendant of Inti, the sun god, spewed out anger in streams.

Then, his attendants trembled around him.

The Sapa Inca was a descendant of Inti, the sun god. 

That is, it was enough to justify their death if Pacha Cuti got angry for one reason alone.

“Bring me those damn weapons right now!”

“Yes!”

So his attendants were more careful with their manners.

As soon as Pacha Cuti’s order fell, an iron sword was brought in an instant.

“…”

Pacha Cuti looked around with his sword in his hand.

He didn’t stop there. He swung his sword and hit it with a stone.

And he realized.

‘This weapon is too different from the common ones we have.’

If the warriors on the battlefield had to fight against enemies armed with these weapons…

It would surely result in a bad outcome.

In fact, that was what was happening.

They had lost many of the regions they had conquered.

“Do the enemies have many of these weapons?”

“…I’m sorry to say that they do. The Wakan Tanka Empire is constantly distributing these weapons to the enemies.”

“Damn it! What are they thinking? Why are they hostile to us!”

The warrior bowed his head.

It was because Sapa Inca had blocked their trade with them, but he couldn’t say that or he would lose his head.

It was wise to keep silent in this situation.

“Huff…”

Pacha Cuti calmed his anger.

He was not foolish.

If he was, he wouldn’t have conquered the surroundings so quickly.

If these weapons were the problem, then the only way to solve it was to get the same weapons.

If they had the same weapons, they wouldn’t be pushed back by those bastards like now.

“Wakan Tanka Empire, you said? Contact them right away and tell them we want to buy weapons too. Give them whatever they want!”

“Yes, sir!”

Pacha Cuti couldn’t quell his anger in his chest even after the warrior left.

“Damn them. You’ll see. I’ll pay you back for this humiliation someday!”

He had to swallow his pride for now because he had to deal with the enemies in front of him.

But Pacha Cuti vowed to make them pay dearly someday.

*

When a large amount of gold and silver came from the Andes region, the Wakan Tanka Empire’s finances breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course, they couldn’t circulate currency with this amount of precious metals.

The only thing that directly helped their finances was the various treasures made of gold by the Andean people.

The empire sold these treasures to the private sector at high prices.

“Wow, such a beautiful piece of art!”

“How lovely. Look at these treasures that shine brightly like the sun!”

The demand for art was slowly rising around this time.

The treasures from the Andes region looked very beautiful to the eyes of the wealthy imperial citizens.

There were many people among the Creek people who had accumulated a lot of wealth.

They had built up their wealth as the empire grew.

Especially among them, there were many imperial elites, intellectuals, and merchants, so this tendency was stronger.

Moreover, at this time, a trend of showing off their wealth began to spread among the Creek elite.

The Creek people were proud that they had built this huge empire with His Majesty.

Therefore, they thought they were superior to other imperial citizens.

But they couldn’t show it outwardly.

Thanks to Kim Ki-woo’s strong sanctions, this kind of discrimination was taboo in the empire.

In this situation, the gold treasures from the Andes region were the most suitable tool to show that they were better than others.

“Ha. I wondered who bought it, but it turned out you did!”

“Haha! How is it? Isn’t it amazing?”

“Tsk. If I had enough money then, I would have bought it. You don’t have any plans to sell it to me, do you?”

“Dream on. I’m not going to sell this to anyone.”

They invited their friends and showed off their exotic and splendid treasures.

As things changed like this, there was a perception that if you were a wealthy family, you should have at least one of these treasures.

Then, the demand for collecting treasures grew uncontrollably among the wealthy class.

Eventually, their vanity made them spend their wealth that they had just piled up.

Finally, their wealth began to circulate.

‘The urgent fire is out.’

Fortunately, they didn’t go bankrupt because of this.

Kim Ki-woo sighed.

‘But this is only temporary.’

The treasures from the Andes region would continue to come in.

And the empire’s artists would make their own gold treasures following them.

That meant that over time, the value of these treasures would steadily decline. They wouldn’t be able to make a fortune like now.

In the end, there was only one answer.

Currency.

They had to create currency and make a structure where money circulated smoothly.

A structure where taxes were collected only in currency, and where one could buy anything they wanted with currency.

Kim Ki-woo checked this again at the imperial meeting.

“Minister of the Interior.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The face of the Straight tree, which had been miserable until recently, had returned to normal.

“How is the currency minting going?”

“Yes. We are making currency as soon as gold and silver come in. But I think the amount is still not enough.”

The preparation for circulation was going on diligently from now on, even if it took time.

“More gold and silver will come in. Minister of the Interior, keep an eye on the production of currency.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Good. I trust you.”

The Straight tree would not disappoint him this time either.

Kim Ki-woo moved on to the next agenda.

“Minister of Foreign Affairs.”

“Speak, Your Majesty.”

“How is the Andes region doing now?”

“The offensive of Tawantinsuyu has been broken. Now they are rather being pushed back.”

It was a phenomenon that occurred as iron weapons were sufficiently supplied to the enemies of the Inca Empire.

“Hmm. Then is it time to start trading with Tawantinsuyu?”

“If you ask for my opinion, I think it’s still early.”

“Early?”

“Yes. Waiting a little longer won’t cause fatal damage to Tawantinsuyu. They are a powerful nation. And wouldn’t they buy iron weapons more expensively if they were in a more disadvantageous situation than now?”

“Hmm. That’s true.”

Kim Ki-woo and the imperial government had set one principle for trade with the Andes region.

It might be cruel, but they decided to trade with them in a way that was more profitable for them.

‘They have to fight hard to sell more weapons. So the war has to last longer for us to benefit.’

War makes money.

That was an unchanging truth even in the future.

The ones who benefited from war were usually the countries that sold weapons to that war.

‘As long as I balance the power of both sides…’

He could suck their wealth as he wished.

Of course, when the same weapons were supplied, the side with a better army would win.

Kim Ki-woo had already thought about what would happen next.

Then… he would sell better weapons to the weaker side than the iron swords he was selling now.

Iron swords followed by iron armor.

Then crossbows.

Something like that.

He planned to gradually increase the quality of weapons and adjust them so that the war would last longer.

He never let one side dominate the Andes.

‘The people of the Andes will surely be angry at our atrocities.’

But they had to import weapons from Wakan Tanka Empire.

By then, they would be enemies of life and death with other factions.

Stop importing weapons in this situation?

Even if they were angry, it would be hard for them to do that.

The war would continue, and the Andes region would become a reliable source of gold, silver, and guano for the empire.

It was too costly to colonize South America right now, and Wakan Tanka Empire’s national power was not enough.

But they needed gold and silver from South America for economic growth.

This was the best way for now.

“Then let’s wait and see. For now, don’t give a definite answer to Tawantinsuyu’s request and stall for time.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kim Ki-woo knew that this method would cause controversy in the future.

But Kim Ki-woo was ready to do this for the development of the empire.

Economy and industry were closely related, and he believed that only with enough gold and silver to mint currency could he smoothly lead to industrial revolution in the future.

He couldn’t achieve his goal of accelerating civilization development by only thinking about humane means, which was why he came back to the past.

The discussion on Andes ended like that.

< War Merchant. > The end