Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 631 - 204: The Path to Whitewashing

Ambition requires the support of strength, and it was precisely because Sandels understood this truth that he was able to rise from humble beginnings to become an internationally renowned arms dealer.

In society’s eyes, there are no good people among arms dealers. With such a tarnished reputation, one naturally cannot expect a high social status.

Especially for a "notorious" arms dealer like Sandels, he has made enemies all over the world. This time, for instance, he has offended the British.

To stay safe, many arms dealers dare not reveal their true identities.

"Sandels" is a typical pseudonym. Now that religious power is weak, if it were the Middle Ages, the Heresy Tribunal would have already knocked on the door for misusing the word "saint" in a name.

Ordinarily, one must make an outstanding contribution to the religious cause to be titled "saint." Only after receiving the Pope’s recognition can one add the title "saint" before their name.

For example, if one is a major contributor to recapturing Jerusalem and receives the title "Recoverer of the Holy Land" from the Pope, they can prefix their name with "saint."

Of course, most people wouldn’t simply add "saint" before their own name; it’s usually added before a title, to signify honor.

Arms dealers like Sandels are obviously not qualified. With his "accomplishments," perhaps he would be eligible for the Guillotine.

This isn’t the life Sandels wants. He has chosen this alias in hopes of one day becoming "sanctified."

For the moment, that remains a distant dream. To achieve this great life goal, he would first need to cleanse his image to be eligible to contribute to the religious cause.

Being a colonial merchant is just the first step. Unless one becomes Nobility, ordinary colonial merchants are only slightly better than arms dealers: they engage in legal trade and can face the sun.

Success is filled with luck, but continuous success is without. Setting his eyes on Ethiopian lands, Sandels had made many preparations.

The documents he was holding were maps of the border area between Ethiopia and Austro-Africa. These maps precisely marked the roads, rivers, forests, mineral resources, Native Tribes, and other information—perhaps even more detailed than the Ethiopian government’s knowledge.

For this map, he had spent three years, tens of thousands of Divine Shields, and even gone on a survey expedition himself to complete the mapping.

Sandels, "Merdo, how’s the public relations work coming along?"

"It’s nearly done—we’ve bought the Ethiopian Emperor’s closest minister. He has promised to find an appropriate opportunity to bring up the land lease issue with the Emperor.

Right now, the Ethiopian government’s finances are depleted. As it’s merely an ordinary commercial land lease not involving sovereignty, there shouldn’t be much trouble," Merdo replied.

Not involving sovereignty wasn’t a necessity. When the Ethiopian government collapses, whoever actually occupies the land can become the legal owner.

It doesn’t matter if others don’t acknowledge it—what matters is that the Vienna Government will recognize his colonial rights. That alone is enough. As long as the Vienna Government acknowledges him, the British wouldn’t dare to openly seize the land.

As for whether they’ll employ underhanded tactics behind the scenes, that depends on one’s ability to handle the situation.

If Sandels doesn’t take much, the British, busy managing their newly occupied territories, probably won’t bother with him for quite some time.

But if he gets greedy and tries to snatch the British’s gains, angering them, then Sandels might have to consider how he plans to die.

The list of colonial merchants who have perished in colonial conflicts isn’t short. Many of those eliminated were because they failed to control their "greed," acquiring benefits that surpassed their capabilities.

Sandels, "Let’s finalize this swiftly to avoid complications. I have a premonition that there will be many eyeing the Ethiopian region. If someone beats us to it, all our efforts will be in vain."

Not all lands are valuable for colonization; the essence of colonization is profitability. If one chooses the wrong place that can’t turn a profit, the only option is to sell off to the colonial government cheaply.

Since the inception of Austro-Africa, tens of thousands of Colonial Companies have been founded. The vast majority fell by the wayside, and only about a thousand have survived.

Among these remaining companies, over ninety percent are family businesses, mostly monopolized by the nobility.

Not to mention the commoners; even wealthy capitalists are at a disadvantage in this competition.

There’s no way around it—colonization requires military support, where the nobility has an absolute advantage. Capitalists aren’t fit for commanding battles.

Moreover, successful capitalists have turned into nobles during the colonization movement. With the change of status, their stance also shifted.

The capitalist class is diverse in origin. A sizable portion of them is nobility without inheritance rights or, in fact, nobility in their own right.

This group never identifies as capitalists, always considering themselves as offspring of nobility. For many, their life goal is to acquire a noble title of their own.

It’s not just Austria—this is the social trend across all of Europe. Even the nouveau riche in America chase after noble titles.

This social trend influences many, and naturally Sandels has been affected. Purely from a profit standpoint, there are few industries more lucrative than arms trading.

Merdo cautioned, "Mr. Sandels, our investment has already been substantial.

To speed up progress, we need to increase our investment further. This will put a lot of pressure on recouping costs in the future."

"Money is not an issue; we can use arms to settle accounts, which naturally lowers the cost," Sandels explained.

The immense profits from arms trafficking are undoubtable; perhaps for weapons and equipment worth 1 million Divine Shields sold to the Ethiopian government, the actual cost might not even reach 300,000 Divine Shields—this is the confidence behind Sandels.

Merdo confidently answered, "No problem, within a month at most, you can expect to receive good news."

...

Winning over the Ethiopian government is one aspect, but gaining a foothold in the border regions equally requires the support of the Austro-East African colonial government.

Without the colonial government withstanding the pressure from the British, Sandels does not believe he could retain the benefits obtained from the Ethiopian government.

It’s not like one can expect the British to adhere to international laws, is it?

"Mr. Sandels, your proposal is very constructive, but what makes you confident that you can accomplish the task?"

The question came from Landrar, the Secretary-General to the Governor of East Africa, and was also Sandels’ connection, the highest-level government official he could reach.

As for the Governor of East Africa himself, unless Sandels had become nobility, he wouldn’t personally negotiate these matters.

Sandels: "Baron, I may not excel at developing a colonial economy, but smuggling is my specialty, the most basic survival skill of an arms dealer.

Once I have established a base in the border regions, domestic products can continuously enter Ethiopia and the Sudan area, and the colonial government can also collect more taxes."

Love what you do and do what you love.

In his field of expertise, Sandels is undeniably an elite. Having been involved in arms smuggling for over twenty years without ever getting caught, otherwise he wouldn’t be sitting here talking.

Secretary-General Landrar: "I have no doubts about your professional capabilities, but ordinary trade is different from arms trafficking.

I believe you have the ability to get the goods there, but how will you sell them? The British and French colonial governments are no fools; if a large amount of smuggled goods enters, they will most certainly investigate."

After entering the industrial society, Austrian domestic industries’ demand for markets skyrocketed, and colonial endeavors emerged against this backdrop.

In those times, each country’s colonies are their reserved territories, and foreign products face significant restrictions to enter.

No one is willing to tolerate such exploitation, so smuggling naturally arises. The Vienna Government also supports capitalists smuggling domestic goods into other countries’ colonies.

After all, as long as the taxes due in the country are paid, whether other countries collect taxes is none of Vienna Government’s concern.

This is the backdrop of the era, looking specifically at the Austro-East Africa region. If a large amount of Austrian goods flows into British and French colonies from here, it will also drive economic prosperity in the region and increase government tax revenue.

Local economic prosperity and increased fiscal revenue are regarded as officials’ achievements. Sandels is confident in securing the support of the colonial government based on this.

Sandels spoke nonchalantly, "It’s quite simple, change the label. For instance, replace the German text on the label with English and French.

I have conducted field research in the British and French colonies, and their control over the colonies is not strict—it could be said there are loopholes everywhere.

Many colonial police are semi-illiterate; as long as the labels are changed, they can’t tell whether the products are domestic or not.

Adhering to the principle that it’s better to avoid trouble whenever possible, with a little bribery, these people will pretend they saw nothing.

If you want to be even safer, then directly counterfeit British and French goods. With our technical capabilities, we can produce commercial products identical to those of Britain and France.

It would be even harder to detect, and even if they found something wrong with the products, they might very well suspect these manufacturing enterprises, which I know are also engaging in smuggling."

Secretary-General Landrar nodded in satisfaction, "Very good, Mr. Sandels, you have successfully convinced me.

However, I suggest you change your name first, otherwise if the Church people come knocking, things could get troublesome."

Even though the Church’s power has greatly diminished, their influence in Austria is still substantial, and at least Sandels, the arms dealer, cannot afford to provoke them.

The warning from Landrar gave Sandels a jolt. Now thinking back, he realized how self-defeating it was to choose such a name.

The Church hasn’t come knocking, probably because they think he is a small-time arms dealer unworthy of their attention, too insignificant for them to lower their status over.

Should he launder his name, however, the situation would be different. The higher the profile, the more likely the name would bring disaster upon himself.

Sandels made a prompt decision, "Alright, Baron. Unless absolutely necessary, I wouldn’t want to use this name.

Before long, there will no longer be an arms dealer named Sandels in this world, only a colonial merchant called Ders."

Since he intended to launder his image, of course, he needed a new alias. Although there is only one letter difference between Ders and Sandels, there are tens of thousands of people named Ders in Austria, but only one Sandels.

Ders did not believe that by changing his name, no one would know him. For the real movers and shakers, digging up such information is too easy, unless he ran off to live in hermitage deep in the mountains and forests, there was no hiding.