81 Luck is part of one's talent
Nine days later.
Felipe had prepared for his travel to France; however, during his time in England, he needed to micromanage things.
I'm not that obsessive about every detail, however. He was putting everything to run how he saw fit and went to other places to ensure they were doing it right. In other words, he became an auditor.
In his last two days, he has gone to Windsor Castle for another somewhat party and continued socializing with the upper class, which, to be fair, he did not find as annoying as the Governor of South Carolina.
Maybe because they were more interested in his stories than his money and titles.
His trip was already planned, and the ship was fully repaired to cross the icy English channel; it would not be a long journey as, on apparent days, the white wall of England could be seen from France. However, what he worried about now was his passage from North France to Italy, which, funny enough, he would have to ask British Protection to pass through the Straight of Gibraltar as the Portuguese nor the Spaniards were on good terms with him.
He has just finished a war with the Spaniards! If he wanted to live entering the Country, he would not be seen as weak, but he would have to be bold and put the Spaniards in a position in which they can not refuse to host him in his Country if his ship were to wreck and he would land on Spanish ground, he would surely become a prisoner of war.
Knowing his luck with ships, he wanted to avoid testing the water.
He could do it by traversing France on Foot and then meeting the ship back in the Mediterranean.
It did make sense, after all. The Embassy of France was deep inside France, and traversing it would be natural.
Then again, he hoped that the situation in Haiti would solve itself, or rather, he would not have to deal with it.
He declared war on the French when the rumour spread that he would back the Haitians when the French came up Knocking for money; Felipe also brought the Americans into the Fry Pan when the news of the letter of support to the Colombian Empire became Globally known.
The tensions were high, but not World War I, as neither had ramification treaties with other countries.
"What is it?" Felipe asked as Aurelius entered his office at the embassy.
He has been using the office to delegate everything from there.
"The Jews…"
"What about them?" Felipe has been finalizing final letters of micromanaging meant across the Atlantic, so his brain was already a bit overused, and thus, he was not picking in obvious clues.
"They are here."
"So what?"
"I wonder how you managed to build an empire… they are here and want to talk about the talk you had with them before," Aurelio said.
"Oh… okay… drive them away… Tell them that I will make the Kingdom of Jerusalem Happen." Felipe said, a bit annoyed. He did not care about them anymore; his mood had gotten so annoyed because of them that he didn't want to do anything with them.
"If you are going to war with the Ottomans, you need the money." Aurelio has already accepted that his price will be going to war with the Ottomans, as there was nothing that he would say or anyone would say that would change the fucked up mind of Felipe.
Felipe stopped writing as he got up. "I do not need any money from anyone. War has stopped in the Empire; all the weapons are now being recycled; we, after all, are re hauling the entire armament of the Empire, including the military uniform... We will no longer use normal stuff; the Napoleonic war strategies are dead. Any country that uses them will either suffer from huge casualties or straight up lose any type of war that happens for them to be involved in."
Felipe breathed again, "At most, I will direct a treaty between Greece and The Empire in which we will provide weapons for a very low interest next to Zero… I would still get the weapons and the end goal of stimulating the Imperial Economy."
They had no money problems; they were now breaking neutral with all the taxes, tariffs, Regalias and profit from the state's enterprises. With the re institution of Venezuela into the Empire, the budget needed to be balanced again; however, Felipe's work has put the new Gran Duchy back on track with the Rest of the Empire, especially due to the Region having the biggest deposit of Iron. Thus, he could pull much internal investment into the Gran Duchy.
All in all, the Colombian Empire was a thriving country compared to other countries in similar situations. They had the luxury of paying debts and investing in subterranean metros in the 1820s! In the capital plan cities with the Metro in mind. In other words, things were looking prosperous for the future.
Aurelio sighed and added, "One million Pounds… is a lot… that would prevent you from investing even more. Please lose your pride."
Felipe made a face of disgust, "… Puff… they will abandon their faith for fear of losing money… I am willing to invest my life to bring back the old center of Christianity."
"Well, they are here, so please at least hear what they say… It will go a long way into investing in the weapons manufacturing of the Empire. 1 Million pounds is one million pounds… we can build 45 Boats with that amount."
"…" Felipe sighed as he rolled his eyes and searched for the papers. "Okay… you do make an awful lot of sense right now… moreover, it does make sense to have Jews instead of Christians in Judea… anything else would not be accurate, I guess; plus, all the bad things that Jesus had with the Jewish Monks were because of individuals."
"And that they betrayed him... and."
Felipe quickly cut him off as he began speaking again, "He died on the cross for our sins, Jew or not… that is the premise on which Christianity is built upon… so yeah… let's not make this complicated anymore."
Aurelio smiled as Felipe came to their senses.
"Still, I want to be king of Jerusalem or something… I want to be the leader of a crusade to the Holy Land like back 400-500 years ago," Felipe said as his eyes shone with thoughts of war and glory. "Be the Leper King and wage war against Muslim Hordes From Damascus."
"Do you want to relive the stories you have written about?" Aurelio asked, referencing the Book of Kingdom of Heaven, which detailed multiple crusades well.
Felipe looked to the floor and then to the wall as if he was saying 'Don't look at me' but with his body, "Of course, who wouldn't? Remember, they were all very real situations and historical events… and it is by far the most played book turn play that we currently have… it makes 1/3 of the licensing revenue, not that it makes a lot, but still something noteworthy."
"Well, Mr. Leper King, you will have to compromise with the Jews instead of the Muslims if you want your capital back."
"Do not patronize me," Felipe said again, rolling his eyes but not fighting such logic; he was going there anyway.
"Funny enough, how you want me to meet the Jews while you were against it when I first arrived." Felipe mocked him as he left the room.
"That was because I did not know how great your determination to go to war was; now, it is just a precaution."
"…" Felipe stopped and continued going to the stairs as he had nothing meaningful to say.
--
"Gentlemen."
"Your Majesty." Nathan Mayer Rothschild saluted him as he spoke for the whole group of 10 people in the room, unlike the 14 he had met multiple days ago.
Felipe kept his composure and then asked: "What do I owe you the pleasure of all of you here today?"
Nathan took a paper from his open briefcase, which was already on the table. "We have come with considerations about what Your Majesty proposed a couple of weeks ago."
"What those considerations might be… hopefully, is nothing but a big loan… even so, I have come up with plans in which your support has now been taken out of the equation to consider the Ottoman empire destroyed," Felipe said while putting papers across the table.
Nathan looked at Felipe and then back to the papers in his hands, "Despite your ability of mass crowd movement and ability to raise money through said channels and the propping of Semitic sentiment against the Ottomans and every Muslim under their control across Europe, and of course, your new little toy of weapons… you will still have to win… and despite all the tales and beautified news, you are still a child who has been in one battle in which only sheer luck helped you."
Felipe became lost in words as he listened to the man talk about his untrue actions. He began to wonder as he heard him for a few seconds, 'Will history remember this way?'
"Luck is part of one's talent," Felipe added as he accepted the paper from the head of Rothschild.
"Certainly so; that is why we have considered doing business with you and your efforts to recover Constantinople and Palestine Region from Ottoman Hands. Aside from superstitions and wishes, what I said is not a criticism. It is an impressive set of goals in which you would have the public support before waging a massive war that will replace a superpower in the Region with your own."
"…"
"You have done the work, and we have reconsidered the weight of our faith and pocket… As long as you can assure us what you put in the initial contract, we will be willing to fund the total sum of 1 Million pounds spread over two years for weapons and everything required to recover the holy land."
Felipe looked at Nathan and went back to the contract. 'I might have created a monster.'
