Reputation was a fine thing. The goodwill Franz had built up over the years had finally come time to show its power.
No matter how much the Russians guaranteed it, no one dared believe them. But once a member of the Habsburg Family stepped forward to vouch for it, everyone quickly accepted.
Since he dared give such a guarantee, Louis was naturally not making empty claims. The fact that this member of the imperial family had personally stepped in already showed that this deal was anything but ordinary.
Though the arms dealers appeared to be acting on their own, Vienna and Saint Petersburg had settled matters behind the scenes. The true seller of the arms was the Vienna Government.
It was not easy to catch a chance to profit from war. Having traveled thousands of miles to the Far East, Louis naturally could not let this opportunity to make money slip away.
The Vienna Government could sell weapons and medicine, while he could sell other strategic supplies! Once war broke out, it was worth ten thousand taels of gold—whatever one sold brought obscene profits.
It did not matter if he had no goods on hand; the local powers did. The Shanxi Merchants worried that Russian money would be difficult to collect, but Louis had no such fear whatsoever.
Russian bureaucrats were not idiots. Bullying merchants with no patrons or backing was one thing; even with ten times the courage, they would not dare cheat the Vienna Government out of its goods.
"Drape oneself in a tiger's skin and raise a great banner."
That was more than enough to intimidate Russian bureaucrats in the Far East. Even if someone influential enough to reach the heavens investigated, the Habsburg Family's name would still be enough to hold the scene down.
What truly