The Mad Tycoon of Rome

Chapter 283:

The crowds anger did not subside easily after they suffered huge losses from the sudden drop in flower prices.

It was not too bad, considering that they had burst the bubble when it was at its peak.

If they had left it alone until the bubble naturally deflated, the situation would have been much worse.

The knights, who usually strutted around as prisoners of Rome, kept quiet and did not even breathe loudly.

They only sensed the atmosphere.

They had to stay at their relatives houses for food and lodging, for fear of being beaten and killed by the enraged mob if they stayed at their mansions.

Even those who had sturdy guards by their side could not feel safe.

Some of the wealthy people who did not grasp the mood and wandered the streets had already met a terrible fate.

It did not matter if they protested that they had nothing to do with the flower frenzy.

The newspapers had continuously published articles that lowered the reputation of the knights to the bottom in the minds of the citizens.

Those who lost money blamed them for everything.

The rumor spread endlessly that all the wealth they had accumulated was stolen by inciting the innocent citizens.

A wave of madness that could not be called normal was sweeping over them.

When Caesar judged that the atmosphere was ripe enough, he sent his subordinates to bring the merchants who were in trouble.

They were all people who boasted that they had some power in Rome.

As soon as they saw Caesar, they begged him to stop the riot of the mob.

I pity your plight, but isnt it your own fault? Of course, I can suppress the citizens by force, but its a bit vague whether I should label them as thugs. On the other hand, cant they be seen as victims of a kind of fraud?

Fraud!

The face of the fat merchant who was raising his voice as a representative in front turned blue.

No matter how much wealth he had piled up in Rome, he could not be confident in front of Caesar.

But his voice, soaked with injustice, broke through the fear and exploded loudly.

This is clearly not our fault. Its all because of the newspapers that portrayed us as greedy scammers

Oh. Then are you saying that everything you said was true?

Uh? No, of course not everything was true, but commerce is

Its fine to exaggerate a bit when you do business. But isnt it fraud to mix lies?

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Caesar already had plenty of evidence that the merchants had spread false rumors and incited consumers to raise the price of flowers.

Another merchant trembled and spat out a protest.

Didnt the newspapers also incite them? In fact, this is not our fault at all

The fat merchant quickly took over his words.

There were even rumors among us that someone was trying to pin all this blame on us and sacrifice us.

Pinning? Are you talking about me?

Caesar casually fixed his sparse hair and smirked.

Are you saying that I and the Senate are controlling the media and brainwashing people as we please? The law clearly states that Romes media has the right to be free from anyones interference. You are implying that I am a lawbreaker who violates the law.

No, no! That was not our intention at all.

We just wanted to tell you that the newspapers are attacking us maliciously

The merchants who realized that they had made a mistake bowed their heads and groveled.

As Caesar said, the media outlets that printed newspapers were independent institutions on the surface.

They even issued stocks and received investments.

There were even some merchants here who owned stocks of newspapers.

But in reality, the largest shareholder of the newspaper company was Marcus family, and the next largest shareholders were his clients.

Of course, Caesar had never put any pressure on the newspaper company, so he was not lying.

You have just raised a conspiracy theory that Romes consul is trying to slander the knights with false information. I already knew about it. There are people who explain it to the citizens like that. What do you think?

The cold gaze of Caesar made the face of the fat merchant lose all color.

Caesar then turned his eyes to the merchants behind him who were watching across the river.

They were curious why they were brought here together, as they had nothing to do with this speculation frenzy.

Some of you may be relieved that you have nothing to do with this case, but do you know that your charges are worse?

What?

There are people who want to pay a large amount of tribute money and get the right to publicly disclose stocks. I want to ask you here, how do you plan to make profits by paying tribute money?

Th-that is, well

I can guess what kind of method you are going to use. You are going to inflate the stock price by force. You are going to make the investors open their wallets by spreading all kinds of exaggerated rumors. But dont you realize that if you raise the stock price like that, it will eventually burst?

No one dared to open their mouth.

Caesar looked around at the merchants who were trying to avoid his gaze and continued in a solemn tone.

You may have planned this out of greed for your wealth. But the ones who suffer the most are the innocent citizens who were deceived by you. And the people who lost their money will blame me and the Senate for not preventing this in advance. I cant stand to see corpses being fished out in groups from the bottom of the Tiber. What do you think I should do?

We will cancel the plan immediately! Please

Its not enough to leave it to your conscience. You will make the same mistakes again. I intend to enact a much more advanced law as a lesson from this incident. And as commerce becomes more and more influential in the lives of the citizens, the punishment for those who abuse it should also become harsher.

He intended to pour cold water on the overheated market and give a warning to the newly emerging capitalist class.

The course of everything in the world depends on how the first button is buttoned.

He had to set a precedent that crossing the line from the beginning would result in a hammer blow, so that similar incidents would not happen again.

If they treated the masses as ignorant and used them as tools for making money, they could end up in the same situation as now at any time.

The merchants had no choice in the current situation.

They felt like they had been set up, but they had no way to prove it.

Then what about our punishment?

Since you disrupted Romes economy, it would be natural to confiscate all your assets and exile you according to the law that will be enacted later But since this is the first time this has happened, I think its reasonable to give you a one-time reprieve.

Th-thank you! You are generous, Caesar!

We will abandon our greed and run our business fairly and justly from now on.

The merchants who were literally saved from hell bowed their heads repeatedly.

Caesar handed them a piece of paper each with a benevolent smile.

But you have to share the responsibility for this loss, right? We cant compensate the victims for everything, but we have to pay them a certain percentage. That way, they can calm their anger and return to their livelihoods.

The contract written on the paper stated that Rome would first open its treasury and pay compensation to the citizens, and then the merchants involved in this incident would refill the treasury with that amount.

Not only that, but there were also guidelines that they had to follow from now on, which were so dense that they made them dizzy.

Do we have to follow all of this from now on?

Of course. In return, I will cover your faults by signing this contract.

But Caesar, this is

I forgot to tell you one thing. Do you know that Marcus expressed great displeasure at your actions?

The merchants bodies stiffened on the spot.

Marcus

Hes not happy that you used him as a tool for making money. It would be one thing if you just made money, but you made his symbol out of something that was bound to crash later. I wouldnt have forgiven him either if I were him.

But I signed this contract here and showed signs of repentance, so I agreed to forgive him with difficulty. But if you dont like it, theres nothing I can do. I wont interfere with whatever punishment Marcus imposes on you.

Y-yes. We will sign it right away!

The knights feared Marcus not only because of his power.

He had an unfathomable amount of wealth and talent that no one else could compare with.

Marcus had the ability to bury any merchant without even using a little public power.

The merchants who signed with trembling hands looked up at Caesar with opposite eyes.

His eyes were as calm as ever.

Thanks to the commotion in Rome, the laws and systems related to finance advanced rapidly.

The biggest benefit was that Caesar and Marcus regained control of the reins of the merchants who had been growing their wealth and power.

People tend to grow their guts in proportion to their strength.

If they didnt press them down properly, they could cause unexpected problems later.

The commotion that had been disturbing Rome subsided as a large amount of money was distributed to the victims.

Some merchants vomited out all their profits until now, but the citizens praised Caesars decision rather than suing them.

On the other hand, there were people who were not happy about this commotion.

It was Cicero, who had returned to Rome after a long time.

He was a person of his caliber, but the only ones who welcomed him back to Rome were his family and close friends.

He was upset from the first day he returned to Rome, and he wrote his feelings down and sent them to Marcus.

It was a letter full of irritation, but that made it more fun to read.

Marcus was writing a reply to Cicero on a piece of paper.

Publius entered the room and sat down on a chair with a groan.

The envoys and merchants from Han have arrived. I just saw their faces on my way here.

Good job. There was nothing that I had to review personally, right?

Well, they always say the same thing. But this time, there were some people wearing costumes that I had never seen before. What did they say? They were foreign merchants who paid a huge amount of money to join the trade delegation.

Really? Thats interesting.

Seeing Marcuss interest, Publius tried to recall the appearance of the merchant he had just seen and gave a rough description.

He wasnt an envoy from Han, but he was wearing a white outfit that stood out. And he said he wanted to buy a large amount of sugar, which took him several years to get here.

It took him several years to get here? Where did he come from?

I just heard it from my subordinate as I passed by, so I dont remember it well. Ill ask him again. I think it was something like Buye?

Marcuss expression, who had thought he came from a country south of Han, hardened in surprise.

Buyeo?

End

Note:

Buyeo is a city in South Korea and was once the capital of the Baekje Kingdom in 18 BC.