Chapter 1022: The Market Maker
Despite the current situation, Sluysken remained somewhat perplexed.
In the past, the Boers had tried to minimize conflict with the Xhosa by gifting them firearms and various trinkets, but the natives had never seemed particularly impressed or moved by the gestures.
After they had settled in—the Xhosa had even helped them construct several thatched huts in the mountains—Sluysken broached the subject with Marwick.
The latter did not bother to hide the truth. He smiled and said, "It is because our doctors cured several of the tribesmen who were deathly ill. As it happened, one of them was the mother of the Ngqika tribal chief."
Indeed, the elderly woman had been suffering from a persistent high fever. After taking two days' worth of the Crown Prince's Blessing, she had managed to pull through.
What Marwick did not mention, however, was that the Security Bureau had also delivered six hundred flintlock muskets each to the Ngqika and Gcaleka tribes. This was something the Boers would never have dared to provide. Since their arrival at the Cape, they had been seizing land from the natives; how could they continue to do so if those natives were well-armed?
With this single shipment of munitions, they had secured enough land from the Xhosa to accommodate twenty to thirty thousand people.
In the days that followed, the Boers began to learn pastoralism from the natives and started constructing their permanent camps.
They had brought a significant amount of grain from the city, and combined with the supplies brought in by French smuggling ships, they had enough to sustain themselves until the first potato harvest.
Amsterdam.
De Witt, a senior advisor to the French Ministry of Finance, frowned as he looked over the data his subordinates had gathered from the stockbrokers.
He was the lead official for this particular financing operation, but after nearly an entire night of maneuvering, there were no signs of a large-scale sell-off of British stocks in the Amsterdam market.
This made it impossible for him to even begin his short-selling operations.
He idly picked up the day's edition of the Commercial Investor and was immediately greeted by a bold headline on the front page: "Our money must never be used to fund the enemies currently invading our territory."
He skimmed the article. It had clearly been written by Mr. Scheller; the prose was highly inflammatory. Even De Witt, a Frenchman, felt a surge of indignation and a desire to fight the British who were attacking the Cape after reading it.
He recalled that the headlines from the past two days had been along the lines of "Between Profit and Nation, We Must Choose" and "Every Cent Given to British Companies Becomes a Bullet Fired at Us."
However, while the Dutch public seemed suitably enraged by such propaganda, it had failed to influence the direction of investment.
After discussing the matter with his assistants, De Witt had no choice but to report the situation to Paris via the Chappe optical signal tower in Brussels.
Back at the Palace of Versailles, Joseph frowned slightly as he read the report from the Netherlands.
The current era was a period of accelerated national awakening in Europe. Generally speaking, inciting nationalism was an incredibly effective tactic, especially with a "genius publicist" like Scheller at the helm. Theoretically, things should not have turned out this way.
'Why are the Dutch showing so little patriotic fervor?'
Wait! His gaze suddenly sharpened as he realized he had overlooked a critical issue.
The ones who truly controlled the direction of the Dutch stock market were the financial capitalist groups.
What did those people care about national or ethnic sentiment?
Even if the British were occupying Amsterdam at this very moment, as long as British companies remained profitable, those capitalists would hold onto their stocks without the slightest hesitation.
'I was too careless...'
Was the Dutch stock market truly unshakeable?
As Joseph pondered, he instinctively flipped through De Witt's report, his eyes scanning the share prices of various companies. De Witt had sent him data on all the major companies listed on the Amsterdam Exchange—since the government was paying the "telegraph" fees, he clearly wasn't worried about the cost of transmission.
When Joseph's eyes landed on the entry for the Dutch East India Company, a look of surprise crossed his face.
A month ago, the stock price was 300 shares per trading unit, and now it stood at 304 shares per unit.
The so-called "trading unit" was a standard in the Dutch stock market, equivalent to 3,000 Dutch Guilders. Buying and selling were usually conducted in whole trading units, similar to the "lots" used in modern stock markets.
This meant that despite an event as massive as the British attack on South Africa, the Dutch East India Company's stock price had barely been affected.
One had to remember that the Cape was a vital asset for the Dutch East India Company. Not only was it highly profitable, but it was also a guaranteed source of income—with the Boers doing all the hard work, the company simply sat back and collected the dividends.
Normally, such a major piece of negative news should have caused the stock price to plummet.
Joseph quickly reached a conclusion: someone had to be artificially propping up the Dutch East India Company's stock price.
Who would do such a thing?
The Dutch government? The major shareholders?
And what was their motive?
Joseph's eyes suddenly lit up. This was likely the work of the Dutch government because the East India Company was the "national stock" of the Dutch people.
Almost any Dutch citizen with a bit of spare cash would buy some East India Company shares.
It was a national habit; after all, the fathers and grandfathers of the current generation had truly made fortunes through the company.
This meant that any significant fluctuation in the East India Company's stock price would send shockwaves through the entire Dutch economy.
If it dropped even slightly too much, countless people would find themselves bankrupt and driven to despair.
Joseph followed this line of reasoning.
To move the Amsterdam stock market, the East India Company was the perfect fulcrum.
And the Cape just happened to be one of the company's most important assets.
'I'll start there!'
Even if the Dutch government tried to play dead, millions of Dutch investors would not let the matter rest.
He quickly penned an order and had it dispatched to De Witt immediately.
...
Very soon, the articles inciting nationalistic sentiment disappeared from the Amsterdam newspapers. In their place were detailed accounts of the British invasion of the Cape.
Of course, it would take at least a month for news from the Cape to actually reach the city, but that didn't stop Scheller from using his literary talents to "broadcast" the progress of the war.
"The British fleet has blockaded False Bay..."
"Thousands of British Marines have surrounded the Cape..."
"Port operations have ceased due to the war; a large number of merchant ships have been forced to bypass the area and seek supplies in Natal..."
"The Cape's defenders are reaching their limits and are expected to surrender to the British..."
"Following the loss of the Cape, the Dutch East India Company's revenue will take a massive hit, resulting in substantial losses..."
In reality, the loss of the Cape wouldn't be enough to cripple the Dutch East India Company—its core revenue came from the Far East, particularly the Indonesian archipelago.
Beyond that, there were colonies in East Africa, North Landa in India, and Guyana in South America.
However, the Amsterdam stock market seemed to have a raw nerve touched. People began to dump their East India Company shares in massive quantities.
Within three days, the price had dropped to 317 shares per trading unit.
The Dutch government could no longer sit idly by and began to intervene.
In response, even more negative news was leaked: "The British may impose taxes on East India Company cargo ships docked at the Cape," and "The British may have already drawn up plans to invade North Landa..."
As the short-selling volume continued to climb, the Dutch Parliament made a decisive move: Amsterdam began to enforce strict news censorship.
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