The window behind him still stood open, letting the last of the night's cold drift into the room.
"The forges are where it starts."
Heinrich set his satchel beside the chair. "Every furnace making rifle barrels tonight is a furnace that isn't making hinges or cookware for the market. War spending rises, trade revenue falls behind it. The same forges have to support both, and they can't keep up with both at once."
"I know."
Beorn laid the quill across the open ledger.
"Borrow against it."
Heinrich froze.
His hands, halfway through folding together, remained suspended.
Beorn continued, "Sell paper in exchange for coin now. Promise repayment later, with interest, once the mines reach the production the audit already projected, once the market tax closes its gap, and once the marsh produces its first real harvest."
He let the silence linger a moment.
"People already believe those three things will happen. Let them back that belief with their own marks."
