18 - Chapter 16

The aftermath of the announcement went from pin drop silence to utter pandemonium as questions about what it would mean for the disgruntled business owners.

The biggest questions that were asked were about the availability of government contracts and the availability of raw materials. The minister continued to field questions.

“The government contracts are straightforward,” said Hang Fo. “We are the government, all government contracts will be available via the new guilds. We will look at the pricing on offer and make sure it is equitable. The guilds will have to take a percentage to cover expenses and to make a small profit for the kingdom that is allowing the use of their guilds in our kingdom. However, I am confident that we can negotiate a much better rate than is currently being offered by the old guilds.”

“The bigger immediate problem is the access to raw materials.” continued the minister. “While we can buy the materials from the businesses here who supply them for a more reasonable price and sell them for a more reasonable price, that will still limit the amount of raw materials available to everyone in the short term.”

Sa Bina stepped up and whispered in the minister's ear. “Offer them low interest loans to purchase materials for the short term from their existing guilds. Only for buying materials. We can also defer our fees for the next three months. They will still have to pay them later.” she whispered, “I am sure we can work out how to fix this issue in the meantime.”

The minister looked and continued.”We would advise that you buy as much material from the current guilds as you can before you move over.” he said. “We can look at low cost loans to finance the purchases. We can also look at deferring guild dues for three months. You can pay off your loans and make a profit with the government contracts we will offer. We will look at how to address the issues in the interim.”

With both a way to procure materials and potential contracts to make a profit, it was a low risk way forward for most businesses. The questions continued digging into how the guilds would be run and how the advisory committees would work. The minister managed to get through the questions and most people seemed satisfied with the proposals.

“I will finish with a word of warning,” said the minister. “You have all suffered at the hand of the guilds, if you let them know what we are doing, you are just likely to hurt everyone, including yourselves. We must maintain secrecy until we are ready to go. Also the more businesses that move to us, the easier it will be for us to fix the current problems. However, I would not suggest inviting other businesses for at least a week. The people who have not come to complain either have not done so because they are happy with the current arrangement or are susceptible to pressure, in either case we need to keep them from learning of our plans until it is too late for them to do anything about it. Everyone here has suffered and has been willing to be vocal about it, at least to us. I would ask you all to work together for the betterment of all.”

With that the formal part of the meeting came to an end. The business owners milled about discussing the developments amongst themselves. Sa Bina also overheard businesses forming business deals between themselves to cut out the old guild members too. She smiled at what she had managed to instigate.

The scribes started to take down details and get the business owners ready to start transitioning to the new guilds. Lines formed in front of the scribe counters as everyone wanted to get done with the paperwork. The mood was much more lively and upbeat compared to before.

Sa Bina took the minister aside for a quick conversation. “So minister, first I didn't realise that the things with the guilds were so bad. I would almost think the guilds are working to the detriment of the kingdom. That is something that will have to be looked into seriously. Secondly, there must be another archaic law that we can use to help us with the raw materials issue.” said she. “If guilds from other nations are able to operate here, there must be a law on providing access to raw materials, otherwise the guilds would not be able to function. Someone must have thought of it. I am sure there will be some form of limiting factor, but I can't believe it does not exist.”

“You are right, it must exist.” replied the minister, “But where do we even start looking, it won't be easy to review all the laws that still exist. It's simply too much work on top of the workload we are taking on with forming and running all the guilds.”

“Well there are two things there minister,” responded Sa Bina. “First, why do they need to be separate guilds? Why not set up one massive trade guild. All the businesses can be part of it, and have several sub-comittees to manage trade specific issues. That will also give the guild more power from day one as the number of members would be larger.”

“Would that work?” asked the minister. “Won't the guilds and nobles be able to challenge the setup as it's so different to what is deployed in this kingdom?”

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“The guilds are based on my nation’s laws, not yours,” smirked Sa Bina. “They can't tell another nation how to structure its legal system. They are operating here, but are not beholden to the strictures apart from as agreed in our contract. ”

“That is an interesting way to see the law.” replied the minister in thought. “Since we can create the laws of your nation as you think best, it will leave them little recourse to challenge the new structure. OK that may work. We would need to amend our contract to reflect that. What was your second point?”

“For the law, look around the time the first law was passed.” replied Sa Bina, “It's not possible that these laws were passed years apart, so your team should be able to identify it reasonably quickly.”

“I will issue instructions for both immediately.” replied the minister and went off to do just that.

It had already been a long day for Sa Bina, but she still had her original mission to try and source both businesses and ingredients for her own kingdom. Even though with the contract with the ministry, Sa Bina would have a reasonable amount of regular income, she still didn't want to be reliant on a single source.

With this move she was making an enemy of a lot of noble families, and they would do everything in their power to try and disrupt the new guilds. Having her own businesses, especially if she could provide luxuries that the nobles couldn't live without, would give her important leverage in return. Sure her power would be soft rather than hard, but if the modern world had taught Sa Bina anything it was that soft power was more effective at changing behaviour than hard power ever was.

A new plan was forming in her mind. If she could create her new luxuries, then present them as foreign delicacies, that would drive demand through the roof from the nobility. They loved nothing better than to show off to their peers. The natural friction amongst the various noble houses would keep her from being ganged up on. It was going to be a difficult one to juggle.

The minister came back after giving his instructions and went to answer more questions from the business owners. Sa Bina went back to working out who she wanted to talk to. She sent Lou Sie to gather individual business owners, and asked one of the minister's scribes for access to a private room to hold her discussions. She was led to another office.

Soon Lou Sie joined them with two of the blacksmiths from her first meeting. There was the elderly blacksmith and timid female one.

“Greetings, I am Sa Bina, representative of the kingdom of The Rising Dao,” said Sa Bina. “I am interested in having a private discussion with the two of you, if you are amenable?”

“I am Lin Ye, my lady” said the elderly blacksmith, “what could you possibly want to discuss with us?”

“I am Lin Song, my lady.” replied the female blacksmith.

“Are you two related?” asked Sa Bina.

“Yes, this girl is my granddaughter, she wanted to run her own business, but has been finding it hard to be a female blacksmith, my lady” replied Lin Ye.

“I can understand why that would be the case. Well to get to the point, I am looking to have several items built, to my design.” said Sa Bina. “Due to the nature of these designs, I am looking to buy out the businesses, but retain the people as partners. I had a good feeling from you both and wanted to see if you were interested.”

They were both left speechless again. Just who was this young girl who was not only advising the minister, but also representing an entire kingdom at her age.

“I would be happy to buy out both of you, or either one of you, depending on yor preference and us coming to an acceptable agreement.” continued Sa Bina. “The only caveat is, as you would be part of the kingdom of The Rising Dao, then you would have to accept an auxiliary position within the army and transfer to my kingdom. It would be a very difficult decision to undo, so please be sure that it is something that you want.”

“What terms are you offering?” asked Lin Ye. It looked like Lin Song was willing to sit back and let her grandfather do most of the talking.

“For that I need to understand a few things.” replied Sa Bina. “How much of your capacity is currently utilised. As is out of all the hours you could work, how many hours are you currently working on average on commissions. Secondly, how much profit are you making per year after paying for everything?”

The two discussed amongst themselves to try and work out an answer for this strange girl. These were not the sort of questions that small businesses owners typically looked at. It was more along the lines of did they have enough money to pay the bills at the end of the week. It took them a while, but they seemed to come to an agreement on some figures.

“Between us, we are probably busy a little under half the time, my lady.” said Lin Ye. “After paying everything at the current costs, we are just about making enough to survive.”

“Ok, how much do you need to make to live a reasonable life?” asked Sa Bina.

“We would need about 10 gold a week each to be able to survive,” said Lin Ye. “25 gold would be for a comfortable life.”

Sa Bina thought about what they needed, and what she could offer them.

“Do you own your current workshops and smithies or do you rent them?” asked Sa Bina.

It turned out they both owned separate smithies that they lived above.

“So I can offer you two separate deals, you can pick either.” said Sa Bina, “I can pay you 25 gold per week, and you can just work for me. I will take over the businesses in full. I will also buy the two workshops from you at market price. Or, I can promise you 10 gold per week, plus 20% each of the profits from the combined business. You will keep your own workshops, and I will just supply you with work. Take your time and think about my offer.”