I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 451

< The Words of Lies (3) >

Contracts are cold.

No matter what the Belgian plenipotentiary [a diplomatic representative with full power to take independent action] tried to argue, the contract that I had already jointly signed with Leopold II could not be shaken.

Frankly, what good is that vast land if you take away the rubber from the Congo?

Copper, timber, ivory, and small amounts of gold… It’s not that there’s no way to make money, but there’s no justification for managing such a large land.

But no matter what anyone says, the alpha and omega [the beginning and the end; the most important aspects] of the money that can be extracted from the Congo was rubber.

At least, this was an undeniable truth until the very beginning of the 20th century.

In other words, it’s a very, very promising business that can be a reliable cash cow [a consistent source of income or profit] for the next 30 years or so.

Even if I don’t engage in crazy exploitation like Leopold II, it’s easy to generate a stable income if I have a solid system in place.

From the beginning, I don’t need to earn even half of the profits that Leopold II was making.

The important thing is to ensure an uninterrupted supply of rubber, which is closely related to promising industries, and the fact that I am the largest supplier.

As a bonus, Leopold II has shown such transcendental outrageous behavior that I, who took over the baton, will look like a fairy just by being ordinary.

Of course, as the situation flowed strangely, the Belgian ambassador began to babble, sweating profusely.

“Wait a minute, please. The rubber industry belongs to the British Imperial Family? We have not heard of that.”

“His Majesty Leopold II bought the rubber business rights from me for 5 million pounds. And as it is written here, now that His Majesty Leopold II cannot give me that money, I have no choice but to recover it myself. So, everything else in the Congo is the right of the Belgian government to buy from His Majesty Leopold II, but the rubber business rights are an exception.”

“So, um… wait. Then our government will pay you 5 million pounds instead. We will issue government bonds or create a special budget to do it somehow…”

“I see. Then you will also pay off the debt and penalty owed to me by the royal family? You know that you have to additionally pay the investment I put into the royal family and the penalty for using it without permission, right?”

When converted into money, this also easily exceeds one million pounds.

Of course, if the Belgian government makes a bit of an effort, it will be able to raise that huge sum through large-scale bond issuance.

The problem is that it looks like the government is paying for the consequences of the royal family’s unilateral digging, which is not their fault, but how will the citizens accept this?

If the royal family creates a huge mess, will citizens tolerate the government using 6 million pounds worth of paper to clean it up?

Unless they want public opinion to be shattered, they can never choose to pay off the royal family’s debts here.

You can’t give up the rubber industry. If anyone says that it’s beneficial to the country in the long run of 20 or 30 years, they should give up on the idea of doing politics in the future.

Above all, even from Belgium’s point of view, they caused this commotion against the whole world to make some money with rubber, but if they grit their teeth and endure to protect just that one thing, their diplomatic standing will inevitably narrow.

Still, they wouldn’t want to give it away for free, so they would want to make some appropriate compromises, right?

“I know that the Belgian government is not responsible for this. So, I will not ask the government to pay off the Belgian royal family’s debts on their behalf. The principal of 5 million pounds seems impossible for the royal family to repay, so they will have to dispose of assets corresponding to it as per the contract, but aren’t the assets of the Belgian royal family also the property of the Belgian citizens? I will not touch the assets in the home country.”

“Then you will dispose of overseas assets… ?”

“While taking over the rubber business in the Congo, I will replace it with all the existing systems, export channels, merchant ships, and production facilities that His Majesty Leopold II has created. And in addition, I will bill the Belgian royal family for the costs incurred while running the business for the time being. If we fill up 6 million pounds like that, the debt relationship will be gone, right?”

The Congo is a very large land, dozens of times the size of Belgian territory.

And because rubber trees were scattered throughout the country, it was not an easy task to produce rubber and export it overseas from all over this area.

Leopold II also put his heart and soul into building a system for this, and now his efforts were beginning to shine in earnest.

I can just take it all and create a new organization, and all the costs incurred while producing rubber are transferred to them, so what a profitable business this is.

“But to manage that vast Congo as a colony, a minimum income must be guaranteed, but if the rubber business disappears…”

“I heard that there is a lot of wood, abundant copper, and some gold in the Congo, so wouldn’t they be at a loss?”

I’ve already calculated it all.

If they sell resources and diligently manage the colony while maintaining the infrastructure of the Congo, they will not lose money, even if it is a small amount.

So, even if they cry and eat mustard [endure hardship and bitterness], Belgium has no choice but to continue to take on the Congo.

They already said that they would take over the management rights from Leopold II, and it was impossible to throw away the country because it was not making a loss.

Of course, this is a short-term story, and the costs will inevitably snowball more and more as time passes.

Still, it’s the karma of having a bad king, so think of it as a good lesson in life and diligently pay your tuition.

In the end, the Belgian side could not say anything and quietly shut their mouths, trembling their hands.

Looking at their expressions, I think they beat Leopold II to death about 10 times in their heads.

I can bet all my fortune that news will come in less than a month that Leopold II has been ousted from the throne.

Maybe the Kingdom of Belgium will be converted into the Republic of Belgium.

Of course, even if that happens, the royal family’s debt to me will be charged to the government until the end.

“Then I will assume that the Belgian side has no objections. Let’s work together to soothe the wounds of the natives until the Congo returns to normal.”

Exactly ten days later, I received the news that Leopold II had decided to take all responsibility for this incident and step down from his position.

But it can’t end with that.

Leopold II did not admit his fault until the end and eventually revealed in public that all of this was a plot I had devised.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, a man who was the king of a country showed such an ugly appearance until the end.”

“He should have just admitted his mistake cleanly and apologized, but Belgium became like that because this kind of person was holding the position of king.”

Whenever articles dealing with Leopold II’s disgrace were published, people spread the news here and there like cuckoos [birds known for laying eggs in other birds’ nests, symbolizing spreading news] and gossiped among themselves.

Leopold II was telling the 100 percent truth to an astonishing degree, but no one seriously listened to his words, who had already become the liar of the century.

* * *

I, who had swept away all the lucrative business rights and all the authority of the Congo from Leopold II, immediately set about correcting the atrocities he had committed.

The Congo Association, which had been doing all sorts of trashy things, was naturally dissolved, and the Congo Recovery Committee, a new organization I created, took its place.

The Congolese natives initially viewed the intervention of the British Empire with eyes of despair and fear.

From their point of view, they could not know anything other than the difference between the white people who oppressed them and another white person.

In fact, Belgium also hid its true colors and approached them like the kindest white people in the world at first, so it is a natural reaction.

The officials who read the reports coming up from the Congo one by one sighed with bitter smiles on their faces.

“Why, is the work not going well?”

“No. Rather, it’s going too well, so it’s hard to appease the natives.”

“It’s natural that the natives don’t trust us. Would you believe it if the same white bastards with guns came and said that you don’t have to work so harshly from now on? They look exactly like the guys who cut off the wrist of the neighbor next door yesterday because they didn’t meet the quota.”

“…I don’t think I can believe it. What are these guys doing this time? Is this a new type of test? I think they’ll think like that. That’s actually what they say.”

I, who received the report from the staff, felt a little bitter at the atmosphere of the site, which was worse than expected.

In the case of the Eun-Gombi tribe, which was most severely damaged by the Congo Association, 20% of the tribe died in just one month.

The fact that many of these dead people were women and children, not adults, made me feel anger for the first time in a long time.

Even from now on, they are equipped with safety equipment, and the daily working hours are the same as those of ordinary workers.

Even if they say that there is no quota and only those who want to work, get paid, and get paid, it doesn’t work at all.

‘No! Lords! Please, please let me work!’

‘I’ll bring you rubber! So please, please spare my family! We have never hated working. Really!’

‘Our tribe works well! From now on, there will never be any disruption to the schedule again, so please give us one more chance!’

As soon as they said that they would change labor from forced labor to a form of work, the tribesmen grabbed the managers’ feet and poured out their grievances.

The staff who wrote the report felt the bleak feelings, and the atmosphere in the room naturally became solemn.

“Thoroughly investigate the current status of the tribes that have been damaged by the Congo Association so far and compensate them all. Make sure that people who can’t work because their hands have been cut off don’t starve to death. Anyway, this is not our money, but it’s coming out of Leopold II’s pocket, so don’t be stingy and show off as much as you want. Got it?”

“I understand.”

If we provide solid compensation for damages that we can’t even digest and continue to show it through actions, the natives will know that the British Empire is different from Belgium.

Of course, this is all money, but I don’t pay that money, so I don’t regret it at all.

Rubber production will not be good for the next few months, but Leopold II has produced a lot so far, so it will be roughly covered.

“But Your Majesty, Leopold II keeps making malicious remarks about the imperial family, are you going to leave it as it is?”

“That’s right. Even if people point fingers at him as a liar, he was the king of a country. Won’t it be a problem if he keeps saying such things? Should we tell the Belgian government to take action…”

“Of course I have no intention of leaving it alone. He’s giving me an excuse on his own like that, so there’s no way I’d just keep watching. For the sake of the dignity of this imperial family, it is necessary to take care of that human being at least once.”

The reason why I’m leaving him alone now is because he’s already accumulating more karma stacks than he can handle until he’s about to explode.

Just because he stepped down from the throne doesn’t mean his responsibility has disappeared, but it seems like he doesn’t have the time to think about that because his mentality is already shattered?

The contrast between the demon king Leopold II and the benevolent king Killian.

This is the best-selling novel that will moisten everyone’s eyes this year.

I decided to pay due respect to Leopold II’s tearful efforts to sacrifice himself for me until the very end.