I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 23

The Time of the Hunt

A cautious hunter never rashly approaches their prey.

Entering the hunting grounds should only be done after thoroughly understanding the prey’s characteristics.

The work should be done after determining success, and never the other way around.

And the work I’m doing now is no different in that it’s about ‘hunting’ trash.

Rather, there were even more things to be careful about in the process of preparing in advance.

I must not be reckless, but quietly gather information and investigate means that can be used in advance, which is more troublesome than I thought.

All the systems that operate throughout society are crude, so if I approach it in my usual way, it seems that I may end up getting hurt.

Besides, I was also concerned that I didn’t know for sure how modern finance or securities worked.

I’ve been looking into it from time to time, but it’s too steeped in the perspective of modern people.

The bank’s network was a perfect example.

The banks of this era only share a few branches around the area, so you can’t freely withdraw money from your account.

No, if even a few branches are shared, it should be called a really great bank.

In addition, customer identification was often glossed over with signatures or introductions, so I heard that accidents sometimes happened.

-Hey, surely the bank doesn’t manage customers’ personal information so carelessly?

-How can customers trust and entrust their money if they manage money so poorly?

At first, I couldn’t believe it, but surprisingly, they really do it so carelessly.

No.

It’s absurd because I was taking modern technology for granted, but people at the time might not feel that it’s particularly sloppy.

If not, most of the banks would have become dilapidated houses with flies and gone bankrupt.

Therefore, I had a strong feeling that if I did well, it could be a useful tool in the future.

In addition to banks, the stock market was also worlds apart from modern times, so it was necessary to fundamentally change my ideas.

Fortunately, I had studied this before entering Eton [a prestigious British boarding school], so I was somewhat familiar with it.

Unlike modern times, the British stock market in the 1830s consisted mostly of stocks of large companies such as banks, railroads, and insurance companies, and, above all, corporate bonds were uncommon.

In addition, accessibility to the general public was not very good, so the proportion of retail investors, like in modern times, was much smaller.

Since there was no electronic method of trading, all transactions were face-to-face, and the London Stock Exchange or coffee houses were the main trading venues.

Strictly speaking, these are all secondary factors, and the most important thing is that proper regulations do not work.

There were some laws, but it was too easy to circumvent them, and there was virtually no way to catch insider trading or market manipulation.

The disclosure requirements for listed companies were also limited, so there was too much room for abuse if one was determined.

British financial market in the 1830s… Is this okay?

After organizing it like this, I realized how rapidly humanity’s financial system has developed.

If I had an evil mind, wouldn’t I be able to shake the British economy from its roots?

It’s not an exaggeration.

Thinking about it calmly, I was more than convinced that I could do it beyond the level of thinking that I might be able to do it.

If I were to deliberately plot and work on dozens of companies and cause a chain of bankruptcies, the British stock market, which has no proper safety devices, would literally collapse.

Of course, there’s no reason to do that, and I have no intention of doing so, so it’s just an imagination.

“By the way, it’s only been a week, but you’ve extracted a lot of information?”

“It’s thanks to you, young master, for clearly assigning roles. And the investigators are not people who have been doing this for a day or two, so when I set the target, the work proceeded smoothly.”

While I was deeply digging into the British securities and financial system, James had completed the work I had ordered in just one week.

I didn’t show it, but honestly, I’m glad.

It was also because the ability of the newly created organization was verified, but more than that, the school classes were so boring.

Could it be that Eton students are so enthusiastic about social gatherings and club activities because the classes are so boring?

That must be the case. That’s why humans are so obsessed with cricket [a popular bat-and-ball sport in England] and relieve stress through sports.

Have I finally revealed the secret of why cricket is so popular among the British upper class?

My body trembles with emotion… I’m kidding, how long will I have to keep having these pathetic delusions?

“I was already getting restless, so this is good. I’ll review all of this today and draw up a scenario right away, so come back and pick it up tomorrow.”

“Will one day be enough?”

“It seems like it will take some time to prepare, so we need to start working as soon as possible. If the information is accurate, I can draw up the plan itself in one day.”

Of course, preparing for that plan is another matter, but considering James’ skills, a week should be enough.

“Now, shall we hear some information about the trash we need to clean up?”

“Yes. Of course, it’s not his real name, but he is currently using the name Mark Turner and recently created a new company called Turner Building Materials. He set up the company in the southeast, far from northwest London, where he used to operate. He seems to be deceiving people while disguising himself as a company that supplies materials for railroad construction.”

“If it’s a material company, what’s the specific fraud method?”

“He lures people by saying that if they invest in him, he can supply more materials, which will naturally lead to more profits. He seems to have forged it quite carefully, so many people will be fooled if they only look at the documents.”

Even now, there are many rumors that the railroad line bill will be passed next year, so people’s attention is all focused on that.

In other words, it means that this is the last time for the fraudsters to make a big haul and get out, so they will be working hard to catch even one more sucker.

The easier it is to carry out a counter-operation at times like this.

Once construction begins in earnest, it will be difficult to steal money using similar methods until a new route is considered.

“If they’re pretending to supply construction materials, I can roughly see how to approach them. James, how much money do we have on hand right now?”

“You told me to keep all the profits from investments and casinos as they are, so I stopped making new investments and have it all in cash, so it’s quite a lot. It’s about 150,000 pounds.”

“You made a fortune, really.”

The seed money that I squeezed from Jack two years ago has grown this much.

I should give that guy a nice treat sometime.

“Then, go to the bank and create an account as I tell you from now on. And let’s create a plausible company as written here, and create a fake accounting book to show them.”

“Young master, can you even write accounting books?”

“No, how can I do that?”

“You’ve shown me so many inhuman things that I wondered if you could do that too.”

I could do it if I wanted to, but the accounting standards of this time are completely different from modern accounting standards, and my superficial knowledge will only cause strange misunderstandings.

Of course, I’m not the one who’s writing it, but it’s enough to just give directions to the technicians of this era.

“I’ve thought about it a bit, and I think we can make fake accounting books like this. We can seduce a bank employee, give them some money, and get a bunch of blank promissory notes like this and take out double or triple collateral. This will allow us to inflate our assets several times, and we can inflate sales by simply capturing these fictitious sales.”

“No, young master. How on earth do you come up with these ideas? How cunning… no, how quick-witted are you…?”

It’s too late to try to take back what you’ve already said.

And honestly, that last word is a bit unfair.

Isn’t it because I don’t use my head in a bad way that I’m trying to make profits in such a relatively docile way?

If you’re going to blame someone, you should blame the sloppiness of this era, which is full of loopholes in accounting fraud techniques that can be easily learned in modern times with a little effort.

“But no matter what, you know that the key to this plan is your acting skills, right? Let’s set a day next week and practice when the preparations are finished. If there’s even a slight hint of something strange, all the money we’ve spent working so far will be wasted, so you need to be on your guard.”

“Don’t worry. I’m constantly practicing now.”

Even if it’s a little lacking, as long as I watch over it, there’s no way he’ll be caught by a con man of this era.

Even Charles Wellesley was successfully remodeled to perfectly deceive the eyes of a gambler, so there’s no need to worry about James.

Anyone can be made into a first-class technician of this era unless they are so unintelligent as to spit out what is being fed to them.

I savored the information James brought one by one and looked for the optimal temperature to put the con men on the grill and heat them up.

* * *

Ten days later.

James took a light breath and got out of the carriage, fully prepared.

It was his first time working as Killian’s proxy, so he seemed a little nervous, to be honest.

But that was just a slight tremor, far from worrying about failure.

Because while preparing for this work, he realized that Killian was definitely a genius who broke away from the general framework.

What should I say?

It’s not just that he’s good or excellent, but that his ideas themselves are different.

It’s a little scary to think that these bizarre tricks and traps came from the mind of a boy who is only 12 years old.

So, I guess that’s why people like him and Charles Wellesley decided to get on board with a boy who is only 12 years old.

And I think it will become even clearer as we proceed with this work.

Whether Killian Gore is really as skilled as Wellesley said, or just a visionary who is ahead of his time.

“Is anyone here?”

James opened the door and entered, shouting in a haughty voice after clearing his mind.

“How did you come?”

As he entered the office, a neatly dressed young man approached him.

As I had investigated in advance, the number of employees at the company run by the con man Mark Turner was four.

Although it is decorated like a larger company, only they actually exist on paper.

James arrogantly took off his coat and hat and handed them over to the employee, then sat down as he pleased.

“I heard that this is one of the places that supplies materials for the London-Birmingham railway construction, so I came here, but I’m sure it is, right? The office looks a bit shabby.”

The coat, hat, and monocle [a type of corrective lens], which recently began to spread among the upper class, are all top-notch.

The con men, who couldn’t smell this money, immediately smiled brightly and bowed.

Soon, a middle-aged man who was sitting in the innermost chair hurriedly came forward and sat opposite James.

“You’ve come to the right place. I’m Mark Turner, the president of this company, Turner Building Materials.”

“I’m Richard Twain. But looking at the size of the company, I’m wondering if I’ve come to the right place.”

“Ah, this is just a temporary office, and our headquarters is in Liverpool. This place is just for recruiting investors in London. By the way, is the reason you came to us for investment?”

“I was a little doubtful when I saw the size of the office, but if it was originally a company in Liverpool, that could be the case. As I said before, my name is Richard Twain, and I run Twain Investment Company. We are a private investment company that specializes in real estate and railroads. Do you know that?”

Although its history is not very long, there have been many cases recently in the UK where individual investors and financiers have joined forces to establish investment companies because there are so many projects that require a lot of capital.

The con man wouldn’t know that, so he’d think that a delicious sucker had come on his own.

“I’m not very knowledgeable, so I haven’t heard of the name, but I know that many investment companies are active. Did you come here to invest in us?”

“No. We originally specialize in railroads, so we not only invest but also cooperate with companies that actually do business to directly win construction projects. If you are also a business operator involved in the London Birmingham railway line, you will know, right? The additional plan to build a branch line from Birmingham to Liverpool.”

“……Yes?”

Mark Turner stared blankly at this side for a moment with his eyes wide open, just as I heard from the young master.

I could clearly see the embarrassment of what the hell is this bastard talking about.

I also asked back with a bewildered expression, just as I heard from the young master.

“What. If you’re a railroad construction operator this time, you can’t not know, right? You really don’t know?”

Normally, it’s natural that they wouldn’t know.

Because there is no such plan at all.

However, those vultures whose greed has crossed their throats and dominated their brains are bound to fall for it.

Because they can’t abandon their greedy habit of never letting go of a delicious prey that has rolled in once.

Killian definitely said that.

And.

“Ah! Liverpool branch line. I know, I know. I was just a little embarrassed because I didn’t know that such a story would suddenly come out because it was supposed to be confidential.”

That word was amazingly accurate.

James was dumbfounded and let out a hollow laugh.

Oh my god, young master.

This is really happening.