Son of Julius Caesar: Rebuilding Rome [Business/Republic building] Chapter 10 : Two Million Sestertii

"So you’re suggesting we create a new publicani run by you and ."

Crassus’s eyes narrowed—then glead with interest.

"That is correct."

I nodded in response.

In Ro, deals like this weren’t unheard of. The publicani were private companies that bid on state contracts—taxes, roads, supplies.

They raised money by selling shares.

But what I was offering Crassus wasn’t a one-off contract.

It was sothing Ro didn’t have yet—sothing permanent.

"I purchase one-third of your business’s shares for two million sestertii," Crassus said, tasting the numbers. "And I receive a proportional share of future profits. An interesting publicani indeed."

"It is sothing that has never existed before."

I nodded.

What I proposed to Crassus was an early form of a limited partnership company.

Publicani usually dissolved after a project ended—so I was proposing a structure that wouldn’t.

"To keep the books honest, I can send a representative once a month to check the financial statents. And after six months, I can sell my shares to others. Up to here, it makes sense."

Crassus snapped his fingers once. He was weighing profit and loss in his head.

"But you’re retaining managent rights. Doesn’t that an I’m the one taking the loss? If your business loses money, I won’t be able to recover my investnt either."

"I don’t think so."

I replied firmly.

The most important thing in this tug-of-war was managent rights.

If I did sothing like joint managent with Crassus, it was highly likely that I would be eaten alive.

"I started the insurance business first. Roman citizens think so too."

I raised my tone slightly.

"If I give managent rights to you, sir Crassus, Roman citizens will think you forcibly took my business."

In fact, that was proven yesterday.

When it beca known that Crassus visited , hundreds of protesters flocked to Crassus’s ho.

"Of course, I know you are not soone who would do that. But people jump to conclusions, don’t they?"

"I have no choice but to agree with that. But the fact remains that the conditions are too unfavorable for ."

"Then how about this? Support my business with your fire brigade. You will receive the additional profits from that."

"My fire brigade?"

"Yes, we add your fire brigade as part of my insurance product."

As the insurance business succeeded, I was considering establishing a fire brigade.

Providing fire brigade support to insurance subscribers.

Through this, custors could protect their buildings from fire as well as receive fire compensation.

In the 21st century, most countries provided such services through taxes.

But in this era, there was no such concept.

If I provide a fire brigade through insurance, I can make even more money than now.

And citizens will praise the na of Caesar even more.

"People who haven’t signed up for insurance can also be charged a reasonable amount later after the fire is extinguished."

"Fine, let’s do as you say. Instead, I have two conditions."

Crassus said, snapping his fingers.

"First, citizens must be able to know that the fire brigade belongs to ."

"Agreed. We’ll have them wear outfits embroidered with both the Caesar and Crassus crests."

"And this is the final condition."

At Crassus’s words, I gulped.

Even though the concept of stocks was unfamiliar in this era, Crassus was a genius at business.

His insight regarding contracts could not be ignored.

"Even if you have managent rights, as an investor, I need safeguards."

"Safeguards?"

"If you continue to incur losses due to poor managent choices, wouldn’t that be a huge loss for too? If your business incurs a loss instead of a profit for three consecutive years in the annual accounts, hand over the managent rights to then."

He continued in a calm tone.

"At that ti, it would be mutually beneficial for to take over managent and for you to receive dividends."

"...."

I imdiately recognized the true intention hidden behind Crassus’s words.

Simply put, if I slipped up even for a mont, he would swallow the business whole.

"Fine, let’s do that."

I responded with a smile.

Even if it was Crassus, there was one thing he didn’t know.

That I possessed thousands of years of future knowledge.

Unless the sky falls, I can continue to make a profit.

"In return, I also have one point I would like to add."

"Feel free to speak, my friend"

"I want it specifically stated in the contract that as long as I maintain a profit, you leave managent in my hands, sir Crassus."

"Hmm, aning you want to help your managent as enthusiastically as possible. I can certainly promise that much."

Hearing his answer, I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

Crassus considered publicani and stocks to be the sa thing.

The proposal I just made was essentially restricting Crassus’s voting rights forever under certain conditions.

Crassus, who essentially only knew publicani as a one-ti investnt, couldn’t notice my intention.

Now, as long as I make a profit, I don’t have to hand over managent rights to him no matter what happens.

Before long, Crassus will surely beat his chest in regret.

Negotiations continued on minor details after that, but the general frawork was already complete.

After what felt like an eternity, Crassus finally stood up and offered a handshake.

"Lucius, personally, I think you and I can be good friends."

"I feel the sa way, sir Crassus."

I grasped his extended hand.

We looked at each other and smiled.

For now, each of us had obtained what we wanted.

Crassus gained not only revenue from my company but also reputation among citizens through the fire brigade, and I gained Crassus’s investnt funds and his voluntary cooperation.

Watching him leave, I sighed inwardly.

I had managed to cross one big mountain for now.

I’d kill for a cigarette right now. I guess nicotine addiction carries over to the next life.

I’ll have to soothe myself with wine for now.

Slumping into the chair, I sighed.

Tobacco was still only in the Aricas, so I could only enjoy nicotine in my imagination.

***

"I really don’t understand, Pollio."

"Are you talking about the stocks Lucius proposed, Master?"

"Yes, it’s amazing that such a young kid ca up with such an idea."

Crassus replied, leaning back in his litter.

Just a few days ago, he had tried to threaten Lucius into buying the insurance business.

But instead, he was won over by the boy’s eloquence.

Lucius proposed a joint-stock publicani, sothing he hadn’t expected at all.

But there was nothing strange in the contract.

Crassus thought to himself.

There was no loss for Crassus in this contract.

Rather, most of the contract terms seed favorable to him, not Lucius.

Lucius held managent rights for now, but if he failed to make a profit for just a few years, managent rights would naturally pass to Crassus.

Even a soaring eagle must fall to the ground at least once.

In a way, Crassus had obtained the insurance business at a much cheaper price than he initially thought.

Moreover, the clauses Lucius requested were mostly moral obligations.

"The fruit isn’t ripe yet."

Crassus muttered with a smirk.

"Anyway, the bastard and I are in the sa boat now."

Crassus said, looking at Pollio.

It was like a deer clinging to a lion’s back that ca to eat it.

Now the lion and the deer had to cooperate for survival, whether they liked it or not.

For now, it seed to be going according to Lucius’s will.

But he was the one with experience, capital, and influence.

The bigger the business grew, the higher the chance Lucius would make a wrong choice.

"By the way, how is the elder Caesar doing in Hispania?"

"Are you talking about Lucius’s father?"

"Yes. The friend who gave birth to that wolf."

"I heard he recruited legions locally to pacify the outskirts of Hispania. News of victory or defeat should arrive soon."

Hearing that, Crassus sighed deeply.

"The father is an Imperator, a military commander, and the son is a genius businessman. The Caesar family must be blessed by the gods."

He spoke again with a rather serious expression.

"I should put more effort into educating my children from now on. Tell Publius to co to as soon as we get ho."

"Understood, Master."

Pollio replied, bowing his head.

Mixed into the bustling crowd, they gradually disappeared into the streets of Ro.

***

After the issue with Crassus was resolved, the insurance business was on a solid path.

But as always, problems soon revealed themselves.

"We are desperately short of people who can handle numbers, sir."

Babu scratched his head and sighed.

"Since adding the fire brigade to the insurance benefits, subscribers are increasing like a tidal wave. Every ti we receive a new insurance subscriber, we have to add a new address."

"It’s not an easy task."

It would make less sense if it were easy.

In this era of Ro, the concept of an address did not yet exist.

Thanks to that, we had to create addresses ourselves every ti we accepted a new insurance subscriber.

With thousands of registered households, we had effectively created addresses for all of Ro.

"We have no choice but to increase overti until the new employee training is finished."

Hearing my words, Babu’s face turned pale in an instant.

He waved his arms and shouted.

"Sir! I beg you on my knees! Please, no more overti!"

Babu pleaded with a look of exhaustion.

"It took three whole days and nights just to study the double-entry bookkeeping you taught last ti!"

"Alright, alright."

Employees feared listening to my ’special education’ more than working overti.

Many people don’t know, but double-entry bookkeeping was a concept akin to a revolution in accounting history.

The household ledgers generally used were single-entry bookkeeping, recording only cash inflows and outflows.

Double-entry bookkeeping was a thod of recording even the causes of cash transactions in detail using two sides, debit and credit.

The biggest advantage of double-entry bookkeeping was that forgery or errors in the ledger could be quickly detected by comparing debits and credits.

After teaching the basics of Arabic nurals, I imdiately applied this double-entry bookkeeping to practical work.

However, the number of employees motivated to learn the new numbers was woefully insufficient.

In the first place, there weren’t many talents in this era who could handle both writing and numbers.

It’s at the level where we might need to kidnap people from Greece...Wait, Greece.

Maybe we could benefit from the wisdom of the Greeks.

"Why are you looking at like that?"

"Babu, if the number of employees increases, your workload will decrease too, right?"

"Yes, I suppose so. But there are no talents available right now."

"Then shouldn’t we just kidnap, no, recruit more?"

Saying it like this makes sound like a villain.

A boss telling an employee to find other slave employees if he doesn’t want to work more.

"Recruit? How exactly?"

"By using the most appetizing bait we have."

Saying that, I held up a papyrus.

A papyrus filled with Arabic nurals.

"Do you an the numbers you created, sir?"

"Writing and numbers are like a rchant’s weapons. As soone who worked in Egyptian rchant groups, you should know that better than anyone, right?"

An efficient number system.

There’s a reason why rchants were the first to adopt Arabic nurals in Europe.

"And right now, we are the only ones with this weapon."

Saying that, I stood up from my seat.

"Let’s use this then."