NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 28
As soon as I returned to the castle, I dispatched investigators to obtain clear information about the guild, an organization that was acting in such a way.
The investigators were nothing more than a few ‘sharper’ veteran soldiers and bailiffs disguised as them.
A few days later, a report about the guild arrived.
According to the summarized content, the current ‘guild’ was not engaging in malicious collusion to sell goods at inflated prices.
It was simply that our territory was not a thriving transportation hub like Hamburg or Nante, making it difficult for other ‘materials’ to come in besides food. Additionally, due to the small ‘population’, there were few buyers, which resulted in higher prices.
The guild was roughly structured like this:
If there was a blacksmith guild, there was one master for each city’s blacksmith guild, with various artisans below him.
Each artisan owned a shop and had around 5 to 7 apprentices in their shop to teach their skills.
They employed apprentices under the condition of teaching them skills and providing food and lodging, but even so, I felt it was a bit excessive to provide no salary for nearly five years and just give them 20 coins a month during that time.
Of course, in this era, laws like ‘labor standards’ did not exist, so there was no way to rescue them, and even the apprentices learning skills lived on, thinking that’s just how it is.
However, if these issues were left unattended, no matter how much money I brought in to enrich the territory, the ‘shops’ that could produce goods would have too few items to sell compared to the money supplied, which would lead to a rise in weapon prices.
Moreover, in order to employ the remaining ‘poor’ people who were not currently conscripted into the army and marry them off, the current ‘apprentice’ system was utterly ineffective.
In addition to this, while the guild was relatively efficient given the time and circumstances, the problem was that if I wanted to cut ties with that Schwabin guy immediately and live prosperously, the ‘guild’ had to be reformed as well.
To that end, I first wrote a letter summoning all the masters of the guilds existing in Croilet.
**
A week later, all the guild masters gathered in the conference room of my castle.
The guild masters looked around awkwardly at the ‘castle conference room’ they were in for the first time and took their seats.
Directly closest to my seat was the weapons guild master, followed by the armor guild master and other important guild masters.
Further away from them were the clothing guild master, food guild master, jewelry guild master, and textile guild master, all positioned in order.
Before confirming that I had entered, they exchanged glances and whispered cautiously to each other.
“Hey, Smith.”
“Hellster, what’s making you so anxious?”
“Ha, I’m worried since the lord called us to the conference room, thinking he might demand money from us. I heard that the previous master was also summoned to the castle and had money confiscated ten years ago…”
Upon hearing those words, a man called Smith scoffed and replied.
“That’s ridiculous. Our noble baron is the richest in the territory right now. He might even be richer than Count Nante! Do you really think someone like him would be greedy for ‘our meager coins’?”
“Ah…”
After Hellster’s murmured reply, I ordered the guards to open the door, at which point they shouted.
“His Excellency Baron SIEL von Croilet is entering!!”
At this, the guild masters stood and bowed their heads in respect until I took my seat.
“Thank you for coming. Please take your seats.”
The guild masters quickly sat down, and the man sitting closest to me, known as Smith, spoke up.
“I am Smith, master of the weapons guild. I greet you on behalf of all the guild masters present here.”
“Yes, thank you. The reason I’ve called you here is that I would like to make some adjustments regarding the guild. First, please read the plan that I have prepared in front of you.”
Upon hearing this, the guild masters began to read the plan I had drafted.
At first, they read it with serious expressions, but soon their expressions began to change.
Some of the guild masters smiled subtly, thinking it might be ‘a kind of opportunity’, while the others frowned, fearing their ‘rights and wealth’ might be infringed upon.
After some time had passed, the ‘clothing guild master’ sitting a bit away from me spoke up.
“I am the clothing guild master, Suits. Why are you insisting that we consolidate all our workshops under one guild and standardize our products? Just adjusting the prices a little would suffice for us to produce the quantities necessary for your excellency. If you ask us now, we can make outfits fit for your lady…”
Hearing this, I was left speechless in disbelief.
What I was suggesting was to consider and ‘discuss’ this system, yet this good fellow was outright discussing ‘bribes’ instead.
While such tactics might work with ordinary nobles, the problem was that I was earning ‘more money than any count’. Even if I asked a Hamburg apprentice to bring me clothes, they would deliver women’s garments for free…
No, wait, is this guy going to send a ‘beauty’ to dress up instead as part of the tribute?
To just bluntly mention bribery to someone like me who has turned down such tributes completely… impressive.
So I smiled at Suits and said, “Suits, I definitely asked for your opinions. I didn’t ask you to give me clothes. If you continue to spout nonsense like that, I might get quite unhappy.”
Upon hearing that, Suits turned pale and replied shivering, “I-I’ll be cautious.”
“I’m glad you understood well. Now, are there any other opinions?”
“I am Schwalt, master of the armor guild. Each artisan has already completed their training and has the right to sell their desired products within the specified price range in this city. Because only by doing so can they survive. Are you planning to threaten our survival?”
Honestly, with my money and connections with Hamburg, it would be possible to replace all these guild masters.
Of course, stopping all production in the city for a month or two would have side effects, but…
Still, if I could just secure a contract with a Hamburg apprentice to lower the sugar prices and trade food at cheap rates, I could source top artisans who produce masterpieces as ‘apprentices’.
However, what I needed at this moment was not top artisans, but ‘manpower’ capable of mass-producing numerous items.
“No, I’m not planning that. And you have a bit of a delusion. Such threats might work on my father, but they won’t work on me. Well, I can always buy artisans to replace you for mere money after a month or two of production stop.”
“Is that so…”
Then I confidently walked right in front of Schwalt and smiled, saying, “Now, Schwalt, how many breastplates can you make if you only make them for the next two months?”
Upon hearing that, Schwalt pondered seriously and replied with a serious expression.
“At most, 100 to 150 pieces.”
“I need at least 1000 breastplates for the standing army of 3000 men… that’s inadequate. Can you meet the quantity I require? Smith, over there!”
The man called Smith turned to me with a serious expression and replied.
“100 halberds, 2000 spears, 500 crossbows, plus 400 other flails and 1000 carts. Is that possible?”
“It’s difficult.”
“Suits, I have no demands from you, but… the other guild masters say it’s difficult. So, are you ready to listen now?”
I once again surveyed the atmosphere.
Already, it seemed the guild masters’ morale had been completely subdued; they were cautiously holding their breath and watching my expression.
“Let’s begin. The reason I propose standardization is to make production more convenient. Right now, every piece of clothing is different, but with slight variations in design, we can unify them into fewer styles, which will be useful when we need to produce quickly. Plus, it will be easier to arrange repair parts when weapons or clothing break.”
Beyond that, simply implementing standardization would greatly increase production speed, but… there’s no way the guys who have never held a hammer in their lives would believe me when I say ‘standardization will speed up production’.
And they will find out through direct experience anyway.
“Also, changing apprentices into laborers is to expand your workshops. Frankly speaking, all those now called artisans are just relatives of the industry who have completed a 10-year apprenticeship process, right? So to my knowledge, the number of artisans in Croilet hasn’t changed from 100 years ago to now. Such small workshops, of course, cannot meet my demand.”
“….”
“Then I would have no choice but to expel all of you. Because I need to replace the equipment for the soldiers, which is currently quite lacking.”
Upon hearing this, the guild masters realized they could no longer persuade me, and having resigned themselves to their fate, stared blankly at me.
At this point, I smiled to throw them a carrot.
“However, if you accept my proposal, I will ensure that all your products are sold. No, moreover… there, Smith, Schwalt, Suits! Don’t you all want to become wealthy like the masters of Hamburg?”
“Of course.”
“Then, just like them, build large workshops and pay your apprentices a salary for a year to grow the workshops. If you fail, I will cover the salaries of those apprentices. I swear on my name.”
The guild masters, having lost the will to resist against the carrot and the stick I provided, now looked at me with eyes half resigned and half filled with expectation, as if it were a matter of ‘live or die’.
“Now, disband. Each of you, act according to my orders. The cost of expanding the workshops will be lent by me at ‘10% interest’.”
Considering that normal loans in this era carry at least 30% interest and generally 50%, this was practically free.
Perhaps because of that, it seemed the guild masters’ faces brightened with the thought, “The lord believes this will succeed.”
And I can assure, the historical principle ‘mass production = price reduction and mass selling’ will undoubtedly succeed.
**
A year passed since then.
The standing army of 3000 in the territory had begun to show signs of becoming proper soldiers.
Alongside this, the so-called ‘bastards’ whom I had raised with all my resources over the year were now leading the soldiers for the first time.
Until now, they had been guided by ‘sergeants’ from the mercenary group temporarily assigned as ‘squad leaders’, but now they would better command as assistants to the sergeants who were promoted to deputy squad leaders.
At the same time, by pressuring the guild masters, the ‘expanded company-style guild’ had also achieved success.
By increasing staff, expanding the company, and producing without fail, they were able to produce many goods at cheap prices due to the bulk purchasing of materials.
Using that, I successfully equipped 1000 soldiers with ‘breastplates’ at the beginning of this year.
And as the territory began to operate well, two barons from Romania that bordered us declared war.
I didn’t want a war, but since they stepped forward, they would be crushed.