industrial lord

Chapter 565: Make a Nest First
There is a place in the mountains north of Bern with green mountains and clear water and beautiful scenery. It is a summer holiday destination. Many families and big businessmen buy land here to build summer holiday villas.

After several days of negotiation and land exchange, the Montecchi family and the Capuleti family gathered together a four or five kilometer radius of land and gave it to Frederick as a gift to thank him for "saving" Mariodo and Gianozza.

They had previously planned to give gold, silver, treasures, good land and shops, but Frederick declined. It was a bit unkind to take away someone's food for this matter.

A holiday estate is different. It is just a plaything of the rich and can also be used as emergency real estate, so Frederick accepted it with a smile.

Frederick held several banquets and tea parties, inviting representatives from various families and other forces in Bern to attend, and talked about how they would be able to eat delicious scallion pancakes bigger than the table after the railway was completed in the future.

Suddenly one day, Frederick stopped holding the banquet and said he wanted to go fishing in the mountains.

The original small villa of Baron Lanzaro in the manor is located not far from a waterfall. The environment is beautiful, but it is a bit noisy at night.

Aleppe led his men to clean up the two-story building and told Frederick the story of the building in the living room: "Five years ago, Baron Lanzaro was deceived. The seller said that this villa has many advantages, but he didn't say that the sound of the waterfall on rainy days would make people unable to sleep."

At this time, a woman's voice came from behind him: "This is not a problem. Just find a magician to set up a soundproof barrier."

Aleppe was sure that the voice did not come from the person he brought with him. He turned around suddenly and the dagger slipped from his sleeve into his hand.

The man was wearing a black leather armor with bright red roses, two swords on his waist, a helmet tucked under his armpit, and his long gray hair was tied into a bun at the back of his head.

Aleppe shuddered and exclaimed, "Her Royal Highness Mary the 'Blood Rose'?!"

The city of Venice had many conflicts with the neighboring Osmaga Empire, which was Mary's territory.

The two sides fought for many years, and Mary abruptly strangled the Venetians' coastal expansion. Many people in the Kingdom of Sardinia had heard of the pattern on her armor.

Aleppo not only knew the armor, but also knew the people.

Frederick asked Mary curiously, "Do you have such a nickname?"

Mary said proudly: "Those Venetians are not good at fighting, but they have nice nicknames."

Then she turned to Aleppe and asked, "I have a question I have always wanted to ask you. How much did you get for assassinating me that year?"

Aleppe replied in a cold sweat: "Two thousand orei."

Mary nodded, looking satisfied.

Before she could say anything else, Frederick grabbed her by the waist and carried her to the bathroom, with her helmet falling to the ground.

An afternoon and a night passed, and I won’t go into details in this book.

In the morning, early birds were singing in the mountains, butterflies were flying among the flowers, and Frederick and Mary were sitting on a huge rock at the top of the waterfall talking about business.

"I didn't expect it to be you," said Frederick. "I thought Anna would send another messenger."

Mary was wearing a white dress today and had taken off her boots. She was kicking the water in the cold river with her feet, supporting herself with her hands and looking up to count the lemon fruits on the lemon tree above her head.

She said matter-of-factly, "If you want to deal with the Venetians, I will definitely do it myself."

Frederick thought so too. There was an irreconcilable blood feud between her and the Venetians. The Venetians had left her with extremely serious injuries on the battlefield. Naturally, he had to take action against Venice this time, so he had to do it himself.

Mary urged, "Tell me quickly, how are you going to deal with the Venetians?"

Frederick said: "My plan will take a long time, many years."

Mary said: "I can understand that. They are very powerful and it will be difficult to defeat them in a short time."

Frederick nodded and said, "They also have a fatal weakness."

"Venice's power comes from the wealth of its merchants. A political force dominated by merchants can indeed have enormous economic power, but it is very different from a traditional political force dominated by land." "The wealth of the landlords comes from the land, and the land has clear boundaries, so it is easy to judge whether it has crossed the boundary."

"Merchants' wealth comes from commodity trading. The boundaries between commercial activities are very blurred. The same business can be done by not only one person, but also by others."

Mary agreed and said, "That's true."

"Land disputes between landlords can lead to wars, disputes between merchants can lead to violent conflicts, and many of the assassination business of the Freedom Society is a fight between merchants."

"The merchants of Venice have many schemes and intrigues behind the scenes. The only thing you did in your opera was cutting flesh, which is considered kind."

"You mean, you're planning to stir up a fight among the merchants?"

Frederick nodded.

Businessmen’s goal is profit, and they can fight each other to the death for profit. They are the easiest to divide and disintegrate.

Many people understand this principle, but it is difficult to put it into practice.

Frederick said: "The art of politics is the art of dividing the cake. A piece of cake is so small that no one will be willing to get less than others."

If it was targeting three or five businessmen, for political creatures at the level of Frederick and Mary, it would be enough for them to just let a little benefit slip through their fingers.

But the target now is the behemoth Venetian Merchants. The cake used as bait cannot be satisfied with just a little bit of profit, and national-level interests must be mobilized.

Mary understood this truth, and after lying on the stone and thinking carefully, she said, "This is a good idea. Even if it cannot cause civil strife among the Venetians, it can win over some allies on our side."

"Are you planning to use Ferdinand Harbor, Ferdinand City and the railway between them as bait?"

She would not underestimate the Venetians and was prepared not to win everything.

She thought again about the chips in the hands of the Osmaga Empire. Only the new industrial city of Ferdinand City and the railway connecting this city with Ferdinand Port were attractive.

Frederick said: "Ports and railways can only make money if there is cargo transport, and this requires merchants to operate them."

"The construction of Ferdinand City now requires a large amount of materials, and you are having some problems raising them."

"This is something that can be operated openly and honestly. It can be used as bait, but it can also solve practical problems."

To fish, you must first bait the nest, offer some benefits to attract Venetian merchants, and then slowly attract big fish. When there are enough fish, it is time to use new energy fishing rods.

Mary stretched out her hand and pinched the soft flesh on Frederick's waist. She pretended to be very angry and said, "You are so greedy. You want to use it before destroying it. Do you want to do the same to us?"

Frederick pinched her soft flesh with his backhand, and replied with a smile: "Yeah, are you scared?"

Mary slapped his hand away. The business had not been completed yet, and if she didn't stop him, there would be no way to talk about it later.

"I have an idea," Mary said after pressing Frederick's paw on the stone. "If we do it too deliberately, it will make the Venetians suspicious. There is too much hatred between me and them. There is no reason to suddenly show goodwill."

"So you have to use your brain and let them come to me and ask for help, and then I will agree with reluctance."

Frederick nodded and said, "That's easy. I'm selecting some businessmen, some of whom are on the verge of bankruptcy. They can be used as examples."

"When the time comes, you should reject them harshly first, then find someone to hint to them to come to me, and I will convince you."

Mary nodded. These were the only fish that took the bait first.

(End of this chapter)