After lunch, Coeur continued to inquire about information on Municipal Square.
This time, he keenly noticed a phenomenon. More than twenty businessmen were walking around the square, looking for partners to jointly operate manors or horse farms in the eastern interior.
Coeur probably guessed the reason why they are looking for partners:
The situation in the interior is chaotic, and most manors have hired guards, who need to bear high transportation and security costs. Some manor owners have insufficient financial reserves and can only seek bank loans or recruit other people to form partnerships.
Unfortunately, their marketing efficiency in the square was too low. Coeur observed for more than half an hour and only saw one successful transaction.
"We should find a fixed place to gather this kind of group. Manor owners can write on the bulletin board the scale of their industry, operating conditions, as well as the time and rules for dividend distribution."
Coeur's mind was spinning quickly, and he felt that it should not be limited to the private transactions of the manor owners. Such efficiency was still not enough.
The dividend rights should be broken down into smaller shares and sold to the small shopkeepers who have a slightly looser economy. In this way, funds can be raised faster.
"Yes, that's it."
Coeur's heartbeat accelerated, and he quickly took out a small notebook to write down this idea. At this moment, City Hall resumed work, and he rushed up the steps and ran straight to the counter on the right side of the hall.
"I want to buy a piece of land, located as close as possible to Bank Street."
The next moment, the clerk behind the counter raised his head and looked at the excited Latins. Constantinople's business was prosperous, and the clerk was used to such wealthy foreign businessmen who were eager to invest. He didn't say anything more. He opened the land registration book and introduced three plots to Coeur.
"If you want to start a bank, I recommend you buy this land. It was once a branch of a Genoa bank. It has luxurious exterior decoration and a solid vault. The disadvantage is that it is a bit expensive."
The clerk flipped through the register and began to look for information on the other two plots. Overall, the cheapest real estate cost one thousand five hundred Florin, and the most expensive bank branch cost five thousand.
Coeur wrote down the detailed addresses of the three plots. After visiting them one by one, he selected the reasonably priced plot and then returned to the City Hall to apply for the transaction.
After solving the venue problem, the next thing Coeur needs to do is to advertise, introduce the concept of "Dividend Certificate Exchange" to the outside world, and then find a way to attract the first wave of customers.
March 1, 1445, Armenian Highlands.
Uzon Hassan led hundreds of cavalrymen on the road in the suburbs. As far as the eye could see, both sides of the road were covered with last year's withered weeds, a desolate gray-brown color.
At nine o'clock in the morning, the terrain gradually opened up, and a stream that had become turbid due to melting snow lay across the front. Everyone rode their horses to cross the stream, and the horses' hooves stepped into the water, splashing cold water.
Arriving at the west coast, Uzon Hassan used his telescope to look at the mountains at the end of his field of vision. He could not see the specific conditions of the slopes, and could only see some gray-black smoke.
He put away the telescope and led the horse team to continue marching. After climbing over a gentle slope, the Iron Mine area spread out in front of him without warning.
The ore deposits on the hillside were exposed, and some areas were reddish brown. A large group of Miner wielded iron picks to mine the ore, making a rhythmic knocking sound. After a while, they put the mined ore into backpacks and transported it to an open space near the iron smelting furnace. A group of Miner were swinging hammers to smash large pieces of ore into small pieces that were easy to smelt.
At the foot of the mountain, several simple iron smelting furnaces were in operation. They were about the same height as an adult, and thick black smoke was spewing from the top of the furnace, rolling and spreading under the leaden sky.
On the right side of the iron smelting furnace, two Miner worked together to pull the huge bellows. At the furnace mouth, the red fire light flickered on and off as the bellows instigated. Even Uzong Hassan could feel the scorching heat even though he was more than ten steps away.
"Turn on the stove!"
Miner's shouts attracted Uzong Hassan's attention. Not far away, a strong Miner smashed the iron smelting furnace with a heavy hammer. Another man walked over, picked up a red hot object with iron tongs, and moved it to a work shed dozens of steps away.
While the lump of iron has not yet cooled down, the blacksmith repeatedly forges it with a sledgehammer, causing the iron to continuously deform, as if he is kneading dough.
At this time, the mine owner heard the news and came to introduce the operating conditions of the mining area to Uzong Hassan. Compared with half a year ago, the output of the mining area increased by 20%, and the mine owner felt that this was a good deal.
Uzon Hassan interrupted the mine owner's story, "The edict tells you to use new technologies, such as new iron furnaces, Water-Powered Ore Crusher, and large bellows driven by animal power... Why is there no improvement in this Iron Mine?"
During this inspection, he visited five Iron Mine mine owners. The mine owners are still following the practices passed down from generation to generation. Although the output is low, the advantage is that it is mature and reliable, and at least it will not make mistakes.
"I warned you before that if the output and quality of Iron Mine fail to meet standards, I will not let you off lightly. It seems that you are already prepared."
Sultan stopped talking nonsense and drew his sword to kill the mining supervisor.
In an instant, the entire mining area was silent. The Miner people put down their tools and stood there in a daze, daring not to move. Sultan was holding the machete that was still dripping with blood, and stared coldly at every Miner present. After a long time, he stopped and pointed the machete at an experienced old Miner.
"From now on, you are the new owner of the mining area. I will come over for inspection in the future. I hope you can give me a good answer."
After saying that, Sultan found a rag to wipe the blood on the scimitar, then sheathed the sword and led the cavalry away.
Three days later, Sultan returned to the capital city Kars, and first visited the newly established Blacksmith Workshop in the south of the city.
White Sheep was inland and could not obtain firearms in batches from Venice. Therefore, Sultan forcibly recruited a group of experienced blacksmiths and ordered them to make barrels and assemble Matchlock.
The current situation is urgent, and Sultan is eager to expand the scale of Firearms Corps. In order to increase production, he has extremely strict management methods for the blacksmiths.
Since last autumn, he has regularly checked the output and quality of the workshop, whipping or even executing some unqualified personnel. As of now, the workshop's production capacity has reached 60 pieces per month and is slowly increasing.
Sultan has two thousand Musketeers. These Matchlock come from Ottoman, which is the reward he received from the battle last year.
During this period, Sultan mixed Musketeers with melee infantry for training, and twenty muskets were scrapped every month. After subtracting losses from the workshop's output, it was able to increase its inventory of forty muskets every month, which was far from Sultan's expectations.
"At this rate, I won't be able to collect a full Field Legion until the end of this year."
Thinking of this, Sultan summoned all the blacksmiths and asked the guards to hold a plate of gold and silver and give rewards to certain people, urging them to work hard. Blacksmiths with average performance were not rewarded, and blacksmiths with poor performance were whipped. Fortunately, everyone met the minimum requirements and no one was executed.