063 Become a conglomerate (3)
The second meeting between Lee Hwan and Elizabeth.
In the end, he was forced to accompany her down to the company at the request of King Willem I, to allow Elizabeth to stay for two days in Ritterkirk.
Lee Hwan, who avoided a definite answer at today’s meal, managed to avoid the marriage that King Willem I was pushing like a bulldozer.
Hana had a hump on her way back, so she didn’t feel very well.
A rather strange air flowed between the two of them sitting opposite each other in the carriage running non-stop on the highway.
“You don’t like taking me down, do you?”
“I never said anything like that.”
“Then why are you so stiff?”
“What do you think of my face?”
“You act like someone who chewed poop. It’s like someone who puts plaster on their face.”
“Did you?”
“I can’t help it even if I don’t like it. What if I like you?”
Being aggressive in women can also be attractive, but it is different in a country where a life-and-death war may occur.
Lee Hwan now has no desire to maintain any relationship with her.
“Anyway, I will do my best during my stay. But in two days I have to leave Ritterkirk for business and travel around Europe, so please come back.”
“Does it feel like you are drawing a line for me?”
“Have you heard of where my hometown is?”
“I know. It is said to be the country of the Eastern Joseon.”
“There is a saying that there are seven men and women. Men and women are different, so it means that it is not desirable for an outsider man and woman to be together.”
In order to cause confusion, she reacted very decisively to Lee Hwan’s tactic of babbling whatever came out.
“I don’t know what kind of country Joseon is, but this is Europe. It is a very natural phenomenon for men and women to stick together. Even men and women having s*x.”
“… … That’s not what I mean, is it? You keep getting off topic.”
“You are the one who keeps talking strangely. Why do you keep drawing the line?”
It was still strong.
Lee Hwan thought he had to give up trying to coax her with his eloquence.
Then, at the time when the governor of Giwang became like this, Hwan Lee decided to get the answer he wanted.
“By the way, why are Austria and the Netherlands so close?”
“Tell me what the reason is. You said it before. Because my mother-in-law is from Luxembourg?”
“Is that a reason?”
“Why not? Relatives may even wage war with each other, but enemies may enter into marriage agreements in Europe’s political landscape. Politics is what it is Even the smallest link can be used politically if you can find it.”
“Um, so you’re making contact with the Dutch royal family to use me politically?”
“Right. But there must be a reason why he liked you.”
Because she accepted her words like flowing water, it was surprisingly easy to recognize what was going on.
If so, it would have been possible to find out the intentions of King Willem I.
“Then what is your will? If you are going to use me politically, then why do you, Your Majesty, try to act as a stepping stone for me to marry you?”
“Of course it is. They want to work with Austria to keep Prussia in check. Are they really like humans who will fall for the Silesians? No, absolutely not. Moreover, Frederick II won the Seven Years’ War because Peter III was a follower of Frederick. We have won in such a precarious situation, and our desire for territorial expansion is not fading. It can be seen from the fact that Prussia has grown in power and territory since the German Confederation was founded without Austria.”
“It’s just for check-in… … .”
“why? Do you think that your Highness might even get sick?”
“Yeah… … .”
“Say yes. Does that matter?”
Currently, Lee Hwan’s army of mercenaries was approaching 30,000, and the number of power ships reached a whopping 120.
In a word, if you put your mind to it, it would have been enough to wipe out any country.
Such Lee Hwan’s mercenaries would be willing to attack Prussia if war broke out, as they are ultimately a royal organization.
If that happened, Prussia would be removed from the map, and it was not known what would happen to the neighboring countries.
‘It’s like entrusting fish to a cat.’
War seemed inevitable.
If so, Lee Hwan wondered what would happen if he diverted the muzzle of the war to another place.
It was North America.
Now that arms can be exported to the United States, the ES-1 will soon be shipped to the United States in bulk.
If their armed forces become stronger, not only Spain, which occupied the Mississippi River area in southern North America, but also the Mexican Empire may be embroiled in the aftermath of the war.
‘The original Mexican-American war will not happen yet. But if the US military were very satisfied with the performance of the weapons they had in hand, it would be a different story. Then it wouldn’t be impossible to devour the three North American states where I reside. If that’s the case… … .’
Originally, Lee Hwan sold weapons to the United States, and he was going to exchange the land and guns when Mexico exploded.
But it didn’t seem necessary at all.
If King Willem I wanted the territory, wouldn’t it be good to return all of northern Mexico, from the Canadian border region to Texas?
East Stella belonged to the Netherlands, and the Dutch were very positive about expanding their territory, so there would be no hesitation.
“Is that so?”
“No, by the way, you asked the question and I was only answering. Let me ask you a question.”
“What?”
“If I did, would you?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s what you think.”
“Are you married?”
“no. Could you be more direct?”
“… … ?”
“No, actions speak louder than words.”
In an instant, her eyes shone violently.
***
Aaron and Jeff, sitting side by side in a small bar on the corner of Amsterdam’s harbor, drank two bottles of bitter rum in a row.
Aaron said to Jeff in disbelief.
“… … Damn, does that mean he’s the king’s illegitimate son?”
“no. It is not an illegitimate child, but an heir seen by the brother of the previous king.”
“What makes it so complicated?”
“It doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s easy to think of him as a cousin of the king.”
“Hmm, okay?”
Jeff hears from a merchant ship from Cheongjo that one of Jeongjo’s half-brothers has died, leaving behind an heir.
And he even found out that that person was Lee Hwan.
It was when Jeff found out about this fact that he discovered the identity of Andre, who was known as a priest from the Qing Dynasty.
“Andrera must have been that little guy, a trafficker. He also has a fairly large organization.”
“What, then, that Prince Ben-Heren put Lee Hwan on a merchant ship… … .”
“It seems that Andre said he would help sell opium to Russia. And in very large quantities.”
“iced coffee! Now I understand. The reason I brought Lee Hwan was to make Prince Ben-Heren more powerful!”
“But now there is no need for that. Even without having to sell opium, Lee Hwan sold weapons and made Ben Heren Co., Ltd. bigger.”
As Lee Hwan made a lot of money, Ben Heren, who was an investor in the company, also started to collect huge amounts of money.
So, it is very likely that the opium trade would eventually have happened.
Hana Aaron has a question here.
“I think it is too much of a loss to open a market for opium on the condition of saving one person. Was the trafficker really satisfied with that?”
“I wonder about that too. There is definitely something going on, but it is not easy to figure it out.”
“Hmm… … .”
“If Andre said he would open the opium market under certain conditions, it would be nice if we could find out what kind of relationship the two are now.”
Aaron tilted his head.
No matter how curious Jeff was, there was no reason to go this far.
“Even though it’s me, why do you have to go this far?”
“I am in the same situation as you.”
“… … What?”
“Do you think you were the only one who received the request to find Lee Hwan?”
Aaron had met Jeff the other day on the way back from the pier after meeting the dianthus men.
He remembered that time.
“Then, when we met at the pier in Asia… … .”
“yes that’s right. I was also doing business with the Buwongun or something of that guy’s Sioux.”
“Huh!”
“If I had to give myself an excuse, it would be for the sake of the fleet. Lee Hwan is a very dangerous person, so I wondered what would happen if he harmed our fleet. But now that I came back, I realized that he was a real bum. So I want to help him right now.”
It is not for nothing that the world is narrow.
Aaron burst out laughing.
“Heh, I’ve been living, so everything’s going on.”
“Anyway, we have to do something to prevent them from installing any more.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
He handed Aaron a thick notebook.
The notebook was filled with materials investigated by the military police.
“These days, the merchants from Qing are making their pockets full, so the military police seem to have done their research very diligently. Now, the investigation is over, but I couldn’t have been bothered by the fact that at least one person a month dies.”
“Hey, where did you get the notebook that you researched so hard?”
“I bought it with money. I don’t know what the English is, but the case is closed, and there are no more steps to find them, so I was able to get the case notebook for a small amount of money.”
Jeff likes to meddle and meddle, so people around him are always crowded.
Taken from noblemtl.com
Maybe that’s how he got his notebook, Aaron thought so.
“Anyway, I have a clue, so it’s only a matter of time before we catch them.”
“But it won’t be easy. All we have is a list of people from the East.”
“Where is that? If we’re lucky, we might be able to hit the scene and catch them before they’re killed.”
“okay. If you are really lucky enough to be crazy.”
Aaron glanced through the notebook that Jeff had handed him.
However, as I read the notebook, I realized that they had one thing in common.
The memos written by the military police investigators indicated that the murdered persons were engaged in arms trafficking.
“A smuggler?”
“Ah, they say they stole their weapons to Asia. They say that a single matchlock can fill a wagon with grain.”
“Did you just pick and kill the arms traffickers? Or was it that they had the same profession after killing them?”
“Common sense, when I kill people, it is not very common for the occupational groups to overlap. Those are the people who kill once a month. Besides, these days, there are quite a few Asians who leave Qing with luggage to cross to a new continent and then continue to stay in Europe.
“Hmm, is that so?”
Jeff came to one conclusion.
“If the person they’re looking for isn’t Yi Hwan, but Andre who brought him, there’s a good chance that this guy named Andre is also an arms dealer.”
“Smuggling weapons? Where? to Korea?”
“It could be.”
“Smuggling to Korea… … ?”