African Entrepreneurship Record

"A total of fifty-seven people, let's just count it as sixty," Mikhail haggled with the merchant.

"That won't do, that's not how you round off, my friend. You have a big family business, with vast assets left by your ancestors. Why make things difficult for a small worker like me?" Giovanni, an employee of the Moscow labor company, said to Mikhail.

"Brother, I've had tough years too! Since the reform, my land hasn't increased, and I have to pay higher labor costs. I thought of buying some machinery to save costs, but the prices are ridiculous. That batch of machines hasn't even paid off yet!" Mikhail complained.

Giovanni, as if making a tough decision, said, "Brother, I can't stand seeing you suffer.

I know your character, you're famous for being an honest man around Moscow, but business is business, and I can't let the company take a loss.

Here's what I'll do: I'll personally sponsor you a bottle of Romantic Paris red wine, along with two bottles of Vodka, but the price, as we agreed before, will remain the same. I'll take a small loss, but our friendship, that's priceless.

Moreover, we're not doing a one-off deal here. You've known we've been in contact for quite some time, and whenever there's a benefit, you're the first to know.

Next time, when you receive 'goods', just send them over. Our company's demand is huge these recent years, and this business, in my opinion, can last another ten years easily. You can just accumulate some wealth over time; I'm confident you can earn some pocket money for cigarettes and drinks."

With that, Giovanni took out a very high-end looking box from the carriage, reluctantly handing it to Mikhail, along with two bottles of Vodka tied with strings, somehow obtained from somewhere.

Mikhail opened the box, and the first thing that caught his eye was the exquisitely packaged red wine. As a rough man, Mikhail immediately used the corkscrew from the box to open the wine and took a sip directly from the bottle.

Then, he thoughtfully smacked his lips and said, "This wine tastes good, but it's not strong enough. I still prefer Vodka."

Giovanni quickly interjected, "Brother, this is wine, naturally different from Vodka. Nowadays, city's gentlemen drink with a certain elegance, and next time you host some friends, this wine will definitely give you face.

Look at the name, Romantic Paris, it immediately suggests it's imported from France. Look at the description on it, all in French. You see, the story goes like this:

I've heard people talk about it. It's said that Romantic Paris was drunk by ancient Roman Emperor Caesar, during his western campaign in Gaul, near a place called Lover's Spring, when he was thirsty and drank from the spring, finding it refreshingly sweet.

Later, a winemaker from Rome, having heard of this, made a special trip from distant Rome to this place, using water from the spring to brew wine. It's said that wine brewed with this spring's water retains its bouquet for three days after opening.

Because the wine originated near Paris and used water from Lover's Spring, it was thus called Romantic Paris."

Mikhail puzzled, asked, "If this wine has such a grand origin, why have I never heard of it before?"

Giovanni replied, "Though the history behind this wine is old, due to wars and such, it got discontinued, and Lover's Spring eventually dried up, disappearing along with Rome into history. Thanksforreading—broughttoyoubyM|VL|EMPYR.

It wasn't until a decade or so ago that an Italian merchant, organizing ancestral manuscripts, discovered this record and the rough recipe for the wine.

A French winemaker heard about it, bought the recipe from the merchant, and specifically recreated this wine in Paris."

"Well, since Lover's Spring disappeared, the wine's taste must have changed!" Mikhail commented.

Giovanni was ready for this and said, "Brother, you might not know this, but even if Lover's Spring was great, it's still water from Paris, so the quality hasn't fundamentally changed.

This wine was verified by authoritative experts and won the gold prize at the second European Brewing Congress.

Look here, it's engraved on the lid of the box! This wine won the gold medal at the European Brewing Congress in 1867.

The event was held in the German city of Heixinggen, and it's said that this wine emerged victorious from many old brands to clinch the gold.

All twenty-four tasting masters gave it high praise, so how can its taste be bad?"

By now, it was pretty clear that this wine was just a marketing-crafted brand, definitely linked to Ernst.

The so-called Lover's Spring, Italian merchant, and French winemaker were all mythical.

Furthermore, Romantic Paris wasn't even produced in Paris; its raw materials and factories were all in Austria-Hungary. They just changed the label and marketed it everywhere.

To sell the wine, the Heixinggen consortium crazily created over thirty trademarks, each with a made-up romantic history or story that couldn't be verified, all from some merchant or obscure historical source.

And the so-called European Brewing Congress was self-staged by the Heixinggen consortium, where basically every wine produced by them received an award. Other invited manufacturers got the same treatment, just for participation!

Of course, in this era where information was relatively closed-off, no one could really tell the truth from fiction. This complete marketing trap easily baffled Mikhail.

Mikhail took it seriously and started inquiring about this wine. He asked Giovanni, "Brother, where is this wine sold, and at what price?"

Giovanni replied, "It's available in stores in Moscow and other cities, but to avoid counterfeits, it's better to go to Gorrigans Store, where there's official certification.

The bottle I gave you is just mid-range, worth six rubles, but I heard the high-quality ones are twelve rubles, and then there's a collector's edition, which isn't accessible to ordinary people — only about just over two thousand bottles in all of Russia."

"That expensive!" Mikhail was a bit surprised after hearing this.

"Brother, it's quite cheap actually. Compared to famous wines, Romantic Paris isn't that expensive, and it has the history, the taste, and the culture. If you host guests with this wine, it's bound to give you face," Giovanni said.

"No need for that, usually no big shots come to my place, they're not cultured people. Serving them Vodka is enough, I'll just buy Romantic Paris to drink myself later," Mikhail said stingily.

"Vodka is good too, at least it counts as having a great taste among Vodkas," Giovanni commented.

"That's right, Vodka is the symbol of Russia, and serving them Vodka is a gracious gesture," Mikhail said.

In fact, the Vodka was also a product of the Heixinggen consortium, specifically supplied to the Russian market to expand their civilian market, gaining a good reputation in Russia for its high intensity, purity, and low price.

Moreover, the name Vodka led many Russians to believe it was their national brand.

Vodka, isn't that just a Cossack? No need to mention Vodka. The Cossack, as the Tsar's cavalry, truly fits the high intensity characteristics of Vodka.