Trading Platform

Good news!

Good news!

It's nothing but good news. These days, Hudson has been receiving so many good news that he's practically overwhelmed.

I don't know if it's some kind of competition to report our victories, but the number of victories reported by various forces is countless, as if they all agreed to show off to him together.

Especially the major powers, each one playing on a bigger scale than the last. It was as if they were having a decapitation contest, and the number of enemies they killed was enormous.

Hudson originally thought he was heartless enough, but after reading the contents of the Projection Stone, he realized he was too kind.

There's nothing wrong with racial warfare. Being cruel to the enemy is also a way of being responsible to one's own people.

Despite his reluctance to see his allies slaughtering their enemies, Hudson wholeheartedly approved of the plan.

Want to show off your achievements? No problem at all. Lord Hudson is more than happy to play the supporting role and highlight their impressive record.

A little bit of empty fame, take it if you want!

Of course, the reason why it didn't stir up any ripples in Lord Hudson's heart was because everyone was killing Beastfolk cannon fodder.

Such mediocre military achievements, if the number of heads taken doesn't end in "ten thousand," are shameful enough to be shown to others.

If we want to take it back for publicity, we'll have to kill a large number of Beastfolk royalty to cause a sensation.

Since enlisting, Hudson has commanded countless battles, annihilating at least seven or eight hundred thousand or even a million or more Beastfolk troops.

However, their truly notable achievements are few and far between. The main reason is that they annihilated too few of the Beastfolk forces.

However, this "few" is relative. With his record of annihilating tens of thousands of Beastfolk royals, Hudson still surpasses many of his colleagues and is temporarily ranked first.

"Jose, draft separate documents for these guys, congratulating them on their great victory at the front!"

Jose looked dejected after hearing Hudson's words. He had originally thought that by seizing this opportunity to join the army, he could turn his life around and clear his name of the stigma he had been tarnished.

Unfortunately, the Kingdom Army became involved in the transport business, leaving them with very little room to maneuver. The few battles they finally had were snatched away by the Northern Nobles.

As a member of the King, even if one wants to gain military merit, one must act with the royal army. If one were to associate with the Northern Nobles, it would most likely be a one-way trip.

As loyal subjects of the King, they naturally had to preserve the strength of the royal family, so the royal army was left behind to guard the supplies early on.

The opportunity to gain merit in battle is gone, but that only applies to Jose personally.

From the royal family's perspective, they have recovered lost territory in this war and are well-fed and watered. The most important thing now is to digest the spoils of war.

Without any merit, he could only earn a living through hard work. Handling official documents for Hudson became his main job.

If this continues, I reckon when the time comes to reward those who have made contributions, I'll be able to get the title of Honorary Knight.

Don't look down on low-ranking titles; that's just how the game is designed. To obtain a title, you either inherit it or take it on the battlefield.

Without military achievements, you can spend your whole life accumulating seniority and never get a chance to advance. Even if you're working for the King, you still need to make your presence felt on the battlefield.

The rules were set so rigidly in order to uphold the kingdom's "martial" spirit. It was formalized into a system that nobles were required to go to the battlefield.

"Yes, Your Excellency!"

Spending time working alongside the head coach should have been a good thing. But Jose was extremely frustrated, because two years ago, when they first met, he was the head coach in charge of overall coordination.

As a smart man, he naturally knew that Hudson wanted to recruit him. However, as an ambitious man, he preferred to follow the King.

Don't let his current downfall fool you; it was all intentional. He sacrificed himself for the Crown Prince this time, so how could the royal family not offer compensation?

However, the clever Jose did not choose to accept the compensation, but decided to start afresh and leave the favor behind.

Watching the busy Jose, Hudson shook his head inwardly. Both knew what the other was thinking, yet neither wanted to voice their true feelings, and so the situation remained at a stalemate.

It's not easy to undermine the King's foundation, and it's equally difficult to undermine the foundation of the country's great nobles.

Taking advantage of his position as commander-in-chief, Hudson recruited many talented individuals from the army to serve under him, but unfortunately, none of them were willing to join him.

There's no way around it; smart people have a lot of ideas. Everyone is weighing the pros and cons, and compared to starting from scratch, people prefer a comfortable life.

Unfortunately, these are things that Hudson cannot provide. Compared to the bustling metropolises owned by the great nobles, the Mountain Territory is a remote and impoverished area. It's uncertain when it will develop.

Hudson wasn't surprised by the crowd's choice. It was just like in his previous life, where people had to choose between a major city and a small town.

With its disadvantages in terms of entertainment, career development platforms, and personal benefits, it's no wonder it struggles to attract talent.

It's not that Hudson is stingy; he simply doesn't have enough leverage to offer what others want.

They failed to recruit top-tier talent, but they did manage to gather quite a few second- and third-rate individuals. These were mostly from minor noble families, and lacked any inherited titles.

For Hudson, who was short of manpower, talent was all that mattered; social status was irrelevant. He welcomed any noble scions who wished to join him.

It has been built up over time, and now it can be said that all the bricks and tiles are in place; all that's missing now are a few "main beams".

It's all the fault of the war. After the war, everyone needs to repair their houses, and now they've started scrambling for "building materials," to the point that Hudson can't get any "main beams."

If it weren't for his title as head coach, which attracted some talented people to join him, Hudson probably wouldn't even have gotten these "bricks and tiles".

Just because they can't dig them up doesn't mean they're unusable. At least during his time as commander-in-chief, Hudson was still able to command these guys.

For example, if a few assistants are sent over to learn from him, people will still give him face.

Learn as much as you can. Even if you send out a hundred people and only one of them succeeds, it's still a huge win.

In a sense, the greatest significance of Hudson's role as head coach is that he can openly utilize the kingdom's resources to cultivate talent for his own country.

Not only did he learn from them, but Hudson also sent his own people to train in various key departments.

The fact that it didn't cause a backlash is mainly because he acted with discretion. Even when he wanted to train his own people, he usually wouldn't assign them to full-time positions, and he rarely even assigned them to deputy positions; they were mostly just there to do odd jobs.

Hudson really went all out to develop his core team.

While patrolling the camp, Hudson noticed a peculiar group in the distance.

It must be admitted that profit is a powerful motivator, and surprisingly, some caravans still dared to venture deep into the grasslands at this time.

"Tom, send someone over to question them and find out which chamber of commerce they belong to."

Why venture deep into the Orc Great Plains at this time?

Back when he was fighting in the Moxi Duchy, Hudson had dealt with the local merchants quite a bit in order to deal with the spoils of war.

However, those merchant guilds all established their partnerships through connections made by local nobles. Since the transactions were guaranteed from the outset, there was no risk of being ripped off halfway through.

This caravan was clearly different. If it were a merchant guild from within the kingdom, nobles would have already come to greet them.

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Doing business alongside the army is all about networking and connections. If they didn't have anyone protecting them, Hudson would bet they wouldn't have made it out of the Great Plains alive.

Gambling on the integrity of nobles? Forget it! There are all sorts of birds in a big forest. There are certainly many upright knights, but there are even more greedy and ruthless nobles.

Hudson vaguely realized that he seemed to have found a business opportunity to get a share of the war profits.

With continuous victories reported from the front lines and countless tribes destroyed, the allied forces must have a lot of spoils to deal with.

This is a deal that any businessman could make, and he could do it too, perhaps even better.

Directly engaging in trade would be too unseemly, and selling off the supplies would be a troublesome matter, potentially resulting in them becoming unsellable.

If we were to partner with several chambers of commerce to create a trading platform for all parties, things would be different.

In any business, there's a possibility of loss; only by operating a platform can you consistently make a profit without any risk.

The main costs involved are providing a guarantee of credibility; the venue and labor costs are negligible.

Most importantly, no one has yet tried to steal this business.

Although there are many senior figures in the allied forces, they are all fighting on the front lines and could encounter the Beastfolk army at any time.

A place where safety is not guaranteed cannot serve as a center for commodity trade.

In the blink of an eye, Tom was seen leading a middle-aged fat man, walking briskly towards them.

Two burly men followed behind, carrying a box, but they were stopped by guards a hundred meters away.

"My lord, this is Sir Xavier, the head of the Cartesia Merchant Guild. He has come specifically to pay you a visit!"

As soon as Tom finished speaking, the middle-aged fat man hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to Hudson, saying, "Xavier, a fifth-level deacon of the Cartesia Merchant Guild, greets the esteemed Count Hudson."

"In the box behind us are some small gifts we've prepared; please accept them, Your Excellency!"

One doesn't hit a smiling face; this middle-aged fat man was clearly prepared to pay up to avoid trouble. To dissuade Hudson's greed, he even invoked the banner of the Cartesia Merchant Guild.

Unfortunately, he miscalculated this time. Hudson's men stopped them, not to extort money from them at all.

"Sir Xavier, I am very familiar with your guild. But haven't you always been operating in the southern part of the continent? When did you expand your business to the Orc Great Plains?"

Hudson asked, feigning confusion.

As one of the four major chambers of commerce on the continent, the Cartesia Merchant Guild of Commerce has businesses all over the continent, but its main business is located in the southern continent.

"Your Excellency, we are here at the invitation of Marquis Sunil to help the Frankish Kingdom army deal with some minor troubles!"

Xavier replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

As a fifth-level deacon of the Cartesia Merchant Guild, he is considered to be in the middle to upper echelons of the guild. He has dealt with quite a few nobles and has long since developed a strong mentality.

"Oh! Your headquarters are in the Frankish Kingdom, so it's only natural that you have some connections with Marquis Sunil."

The main reason I invited you here is to inform you that, to facilitate the Allied forces' handling of spoils of war, I plan to establish a commodity trading platform, providing everyone with a safe trading venue.

Hudson emphasized the word "safety" very heavily. Anyone with half a brain knows that's the key point.

Xavier's brow furrowed slightly, but his expression instantly brightened, and he asked Hudson with a smile, "Your Excellency, rest assured! We will definitely be there to support you. The only question is the cost?"

Despite the formidable reputation of the Cartesia Merchant Guild, it couldn't intimidate the wolves. Even with the best mercenary group they hired, this journey deep into the Orc Great Plains was fraught with danger.

Even with Marquis Sunil's endorsement, there's no guarantee that someone won't succumb to the temptation of profit and try to sabotage them.

If it's done cleanly enough, leaving no obvious evidence, it's very difficult to investigate afterwards.

As far as Xavier knows, more than ten chambers of commerce have been involved in accidents on the grasslands.

A thorough investigation is needed; the culprit is the "Beastfolk." Appeals are pointless; everyone is busy fighting and has no time to care about the fate of a caravan.

"Don't worry, the main purpose of setting up this trading platform is to facilitate free trade for everyone, and incidentally, to make friends. I won't charge commissions or anything like that!"

Hudson said, feigning magnanimity.

According to the usual practice in mainland China, platform operators charge commissions based on transaction volume, but this time the situation is different.

The transactions involved numerous nobles within the allied forces, and directly extracting commissions from the transaction amount could easily make people feel that this was profiting from their pockets.

Not taking a direct cut doesn't mean you can't make money. Compared to making money openly and blatantly, making money covertly is more in line with Hudson's character.

"Your Excellency, this..."

As a businessman, Xavier didn't believe that Hudson had gone to such great lengths to create a trading platform just to make friends.

"Sir Xavier, there's no need to be too surprised. I'm setting up this trading platform for free because I genuinely want to make friends with everyone."

As you know, I am also a lord. In the process of developing my territory, I inevitably encountered many troubles.

Fortunately, many of the problems here are things that everyone can help solve. As friends, it's only right to help each other out!

Hudson said without changing his expression.

Xavier, who had been uneasy, instantly smiled again. An exchange of benefits—that made sense.

If it were truly a free pie, he wouldn't dare eat it. Noblemen are easy to deal with; taking a free benefit often comes at a much higher price.

This kind of transaction, where the demand is made public, is actually more reassuring. Specific details of the deal are not convenient to discuss now, but Xavier knows that the deal is highly likely to go through.

"Your Excellency is right, friends should benefit each other!"

However, the most important thing in establishing a commodity trading platform is strength. If just anyone joins, it can easily damage the platform's reputation.

For everyone's benefit, it would be best to...

Before Xavier could finish speaking, Hudson knew that the fat man in front of him was already harboring a lot of bad intentions. His constant talk of strength and reputation was nothing more than an attempt to reduce competitors.

"Sir Xavier, you can rest assured. Any merchant guild qualified to handle the spoils of war for the army must be of impeccable reputation."

Considering the large transactions and the inconvenience of carrying so many gold coins, bookkeeping will be essential. This places even higher demands on the merchant guild's reputation and strength.

In addition to paying a certain deposit, we also need to obtain guarantees from at least three nobles in the allied forces, and prove to us that the Chamber of Commerce has a well-established sales network.

Caravans that do not meet the requirements but wish to enter the trade fair will be required to pay a deposit. We will also provide risk warnings and recommend that all transactions be conducted in cash.

It's not that Hudson is discriminating; it's just that this kind of big business simply can't be done without sufficient political backing and substantial financial resources.

Even with significant discounts, the spoils of war from an army still amount to tens or hundreds of thousands of gold coins, making it unsuitable for all-cash settlements.

Demanding all transactions be in cash is, in effect, a subtle way of discouraging people from getting involved. It's a clear message to businessmen without connections: don't get involved in this business, or you'll suffer the consequences.

The struggles in the business world are far more brutal than the squabbles within aristocratic circles. It's all about naked self-interest, allowing no room for sentimentality.

Even the most profitable deals depend on who's in charge. Forcibly venturing into businesses beyond one's capabilities is a recipe for disaster; escaping complete financial ruin is a stroke of luck.

"Your Excellency the Earl is truly thoughtful! It was my narrow-mindedness that led me to focus solely on reputation while neglecting practical considerations..."

He said that, but he didn't really think so.

Essentially, both approaches raise the bar for transactions; the difference lies in Hudson's handling—he presented it as a formality. There was no one-size-fits-all solution that completely shuts out small and medium-sized chambers of commerce.