Chapter 111
Chapter 111: First step
16th April 1574
"Here, now the area of Ropian officially belongs to you. Congratulations!"
As soon as I placed the last signature on the document, I stood up and grabbed extended Governor's hand, before shaking it decisively. Yet before I could even have a moment of happiness for achieving just a first step to the world domi eee my lands development and unification, Jan instantly turned my attention back to the topic we just spoke about.
"Tell me, please. What will be your first step, and what do you need to get it done as soon as possible? If we can use the gold to speed up the process of getting even more gold, then I won't mind investing my own resources. But I hope you do realise that by doing so, you will be getting quite a huge debt of my trust."
With governor putting the matter like that, instead of answering right away with some washed-up thanks or affirmation, I sat back down on the chair, and let my thoughts run amok.
In theory, any project should start with obtaining the resources. If we were to procure enough manpower to push the roadmaking project forward at a satisfactory rate, all the resources should be already piled up by the place where the road would go through, while even more would be produced during the roadmaking process itself.
But if I wanted to effectively start any reasonable production of either concrete required for the bottom layer of the road or the asphalt, I had the entire manufacturing base in place. But to do so, there was a need for at least a few steam engines that would power up the mining of the limestone, along with at least a basic refinery that would be capable of supplying those few engines with fuel!
But with how crude my design of the steam engine would be, I had to additionally come up with a way for my own people to be able to make one, forcing me to invest in the process of creating the engines in the very first place!
Yet just as I was about to speak my mind, I realised one, a great mistake I made!
There was no point in fueling the stationary steam engines that would serve to help in mines with petrol! With how most of the entire commonwealth was covered in dense forests, as long as every mine would have a charcoal plant right beside, then any desired amount of steam engines could be rolling on it!
With that in mind, as long as I would be able to provide even one or two steam engines for the iron mines that the governor gifted me while making him invest in the charcoal plant, the output of the mines could be funnelled into the factory making crude but working steam engines that would provide the further horsepower for all the other plants we would set up!
"Sir Jan I just got a very dangerous, yet profitable idea. Before I will answer your first inquiry, I need to ask something that could be easily considered treason. Will I be allowed that privilege?"
Considering how the efficiency required to set up all the steam engine production plants in the proximity of the mines, meaning they would be all under the direct jurisdiction of the governor, I had to make sure no one would dare to attempt laying their hands on those lands.
As soon as the engines would start moving the gears of the productivity in all the lands that we would invest them in, not only the commonwealth neighbours, but all the nobles smart enough to see the potential behind those machines would do their absolute best to secure at least one for themselves. Yet surprisingly, the thing that worried me the most was the king!
While I couldn't tell anyone that this bastard would defect to France as soon as its throne would be given to him due to his older brother death, I was sure that if we wanted to make the most of this investment, we had to go through few more steps before the troubling time of interregnum, meaning that our steam engines would have to start rolling out before the King would escape the country!
And what if he decided to take this entire business over, seeing its potential benefits? What would be even worse, what if he saw the insane potential behind it and decided to stay in the country that was capable of producing and using those engines?
"Speak your mind. If you were a traitor, you wouldn't even bring that point to my attention, so you don't need to worry about any repercussions about your worries alone!" Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
With his face turned slightly red, I felt like Jan took my question personally, as if someone who he put his trust in, dared to doubt his loyalty to those who he worked with!
"Sir What if the King decided to claim our investments for his own, seeing through their value and declaring them a royal property?"
While our current King, Henry of the Valois house wasn't famed as someone who would dare to reach for the property of his temporary subjects, especially with how the entire noble brotherhood would oppose such move, when it came to the royal power, he could still manipulate the situation to get what he wanted from us!
"While I can see what you are worried about, I don't think that will ever be the case. Yet, if you think that what you have in mind is so valuable that even the King wouldn't mind stealing it even for the price of his crown, then we can make sure that your plans won't be revealed to the public before we will be ready to deal with the backslash."
Hearing the reassuring words of the Governor, I couldn't help but sigh with relief. Even though I knew how little value did the words hold in real life, the fact that he was willing to shield me from the royal envy still meant a lot to me.
"Okay then. Sir, I don't think there is any need to explain how does the gun work. The gunpowder is ignited, and due to the explosion being contained within the barrel, its force pushes the bullet out of its only open end. I don't think I need to explain what would happen if we were to put a pot, filled with water, over a fire, and cover it tightly with a lid. But have you ever wondered, sir, how could we use the force that makes the lid tremble as the steam escapes the pot?"
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Chapter 112
Chapter 112: Potential problems
17th April 1574
"Are you really sure it was a good idea to share your inventions, even if they are still nothing but a project on your drawing board, with the governor? While I can get while you went all out while speaking to prince Cherrie, I'm not that sure if putting all our hopes in the protective umbrella of Jan can work in the long run!"
Riding down the earthen road that connected the town of Pilzno to Tarnow, where the second part of the festivities would take place, I made sure to ditch all the responsibilities of the host and move at the very front of the entire column of the guests, traders and even whores that followed such a big gathering of people, hoping to use the time that this manoeuvre would save me to further at least a single project of mine.
"It's not like he can come up with any design by himself if he only knows the base idea for the entire project. Just like you know how gunpowder works, I'm quite sure you wouldn't be able to make it from its base materials, could you?"
Speaking about it, this was the problem that I had to face myself. While I knew that in the modern mining, people used nitroglycerin to smash the huge parts of the stone wall apart to make the mining process easier, even though I knew that I only required two acids and glycerine I had no idea how to obtain either one of them!
Thankfully, just like I mentioned the gunpowder to Elia, it could be used as a replacement for the nitroglycerin or even dynamite, even if its effectiveness was way worse. But that also meant that I would've to start some massive orders for any given amount of gunpowder!
Even though any of my projects related to mining have yet to really start, I could already tell what would be the reaction of both my local neighbours and the countries rivalling the commonwealth when the market would be swept clean from all traces of gunpowder!
In the end, if I really wanted to use gunpowder as the viable solution for the mining, then once again I would most likely have to rely on the system capabilities to create both the item in question and the recipe for obtaining it. Even if setting up gunpowder factory would cost me more than all the other projects put together, it was still something that simply has to be done, especially with my intention to develop rapid-firing guns later on!
"While it's true that I can't really make gunpowder on my own if I were given the general idea how it is made and enough resources to fund the research on it, it wouldn't pose me any problem to figure out the way to make it!"
Contrary to my expectations, Elia actually managed to bring a really good point this time! After all, I wasn't some kind of super engineer well versed in math, chemistry, biology as well as social studies, politic and diplomacy like in some of the books I read back in my original timeline. While I should be glad that I was the one to transmigrate or be chosen to reincarnate after sudden and unexpected death, I couldn't help but curse at my fate at this point.
How much easier all of my projects would be if I had a proper scientific background to know how to make all of this stuff instead of relying on my system?
But thinking about it in this way, maybe I received the help of the system precisely because rather than being an omnibus engineer, I was a simple white-collar worker knowing only how to code back-end for the phone apps and just enough of marketing to sell them on the modern markets of yet another set of mobile apps? Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
"Well, point for you. Thinking about it in this way, the governor will most likely be able to create a design for the finished product basing on the idea alone but why would he do so in the first place?"
Just as I was about to admit to losing in this debate, I realised that we couldn't limit ourselves to just a single point of view! After all, human relationships and one's actions were caused not by a single emotion or reason, but a complex formula that brought forward the result that certain action was either worth the effort or not!
"What do you mean by that? Isn't it obvious that he would love to free himself from the disadvantageous position he is when compared to you? Seeing how big of a figure he is, I don't think he likes the idea of you holding all the aces in this game!"
Shifting her position on top of the saddle, Elia almost managed to throw me off my train of thought with how this subtle movement of her forced my mind to replay all the images of when she, rather than riding the horse, was happily riding on top of my hips.
After taking a moment to calm myself down and push aside those impure thoughts, I looked back at Elia, trying my best to not let her cute face throw me off once again.
"I already agreed to work with him. What's more, with how reliant we will be on the mines he gifted to us, he will be forced to take care of one of the most important places in the entire project of mine, the one producing all the steam horses. And just like I told you last night, most of our future projects will rely heavily on those!"
Considering how I already changed the name for the machine guns to reaper guns, there was no point in trying to stick with the conventions I knew from the future times. With how insanely popular and deeply engraved in polish culture the horses were, using the name of a steam horse would make the steam engines even more popular where the time for selling them all over the country would come!
"Don't you think that on the other hand, puts us at his mercy? What will happen if he were to suddenly die? In the end, there is no way for us to make sure that his successor will like the idea of cooperating with us!"
Once again, Elia was on her roll of proper points that I didn't think about before, yet this time, she managed to hit at the matter I didn't have any real countermeasure for. Just like she pointed out, if something were to happen to the Governor and his heir would block us from both the mines or just the steam horses factory, most of the rapid progress that would hopefully be happening all over my lands, would almost instantly slow down to the point of stalling!
"While there is nothing we can do about this, who said that we can't set a single factory for the steam horses on our lands? Even if we would lose the access to the mines, we could still buy the iron all over the continent, and as soon as our roads will connect us to even a single diffrent mine, just by throwing enough gold at its owner we could not only help to modernise it, but also buy the rights to a part of its haul!"
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Chapter 113
Chapter 113: Atmospheric Steam Engine
17th April 1574
"Let the feast begin!"
Despite quite a lot of the guests still travelling with their more extensive luggage and entourage, as soon as I got back to the Tarnow with Elia and just a few of my trusty retainers, I rushed towards the town centre to announce the start of the fest.
Rather than trying to make them skip the fun, I simply wanted to save them the trouble of dealing with the official part that unofficially most of the nobles simply despised, yet did their best to uphold due to the nature of their social standing.
With the new batch of my premium beer instantly delivered to both the town centre where the higher social circles would have their town and in lesser quantity to the commoner's ground, so that even the poor part of my subjects would have the chance to revel in the luxury of normally only applicable to the lives of the nobles.
At first, I thought that this entire event would be nothing more than just a waste of time with some occasional chances of meeting with a figure that I could use later on for the sake of expanding my projects or influence, and the reality didn't disappoint me all that much.
As soon as the official introductions were done, rather than wasting my precious time on silly dances or just drinking beer with the nobles around, I instead moved back to the castle, while leaving Elia along with a few people to make sure she would be safe to cater to the guests.
If I were to do something like this in the modern times, I would be met with the huge scorn of all sides of political spectrum, starting with leftists hating the fact that I pushed the responsibility on a damned woman, while those on the rights hating me for not taking proper care for my own wife, who could be pregnant.
Yet in my new times, the wife wasn't only a womb that was supposed to bring more children to the family, but an important person in a said household! If not for the fact that in this particular case I had to hold the control over the entire treasury of ours to make sure all the projects had enough gold to develop at a fast rate, I could forget about ever seeing a red-golden again in my life!
As soon as I got back to my own chambers, I sat in front of what Elia called a "drawing table" but what was, in essence, the simplest of the desks one could find in the world, along with a pile of clean paper sheets, a piece of charcoal in a special handle aimed to prevent one's fingers from getting dirty and a set of sharpened, goose feathers along with a capped, small bottle of ink.
I knew that for most of the nobles in not only the commonwealth but the entire continent, this set would be worth a few silvers at most, with most of them only bothering to spare any thought about the writing utensils as they could fetch a few beers worth of price on the market, yet for me, this was the greatest treasure that my lands could offer!
Without even a hint of hesitation, I grabbed a piece of charcoal from a small tray on the far corner of the table, and pushed it along the dry layer of paper, adding first few lines for the project of my steam engine.
With no prior experiences of trying to create this kind of tool, I couldn't rely on the system to provide a complete blueprint for me, catered to the problems this particular engine had to solve. Rather than that, I wrote down a few lines highlighting the points of what I wanted this steam horse to do, before trying to figure out a way in which it could work.
Yet instead of trying to create complicated machinery required to make a proper steam engine, I decided to go with the mechanism far more popular and easy to make, yet for the wider populace known only from the places that used it even in modern times.
The atmospheric steam engine that is!
Instead of using the high pressure created by turning the water into vapour, it was the force of counterweight that lift the cylinder up, while turning the valve between the cylinder pipe and the boiler and allowing the steam to fill the tube. At its maximum height, another valve would turn, opening a pipe that sprinkled cold water inside the tube filled with vapour, instantly lowering its temperature, and leading to its condensation. With the volume inside the tube now changing, the pressure from the air itself would push the cylinder back down, closing the cooling water valve, and opening back the valve connecting the cylinder to the boiler, allowing the process to be reset and restarted.
But while turning the up and down movement into a circular movement required by any of the real machines to work was easy, how I would go about transfering this momentum through the expanses of the mine?
A rope.
Putting the massive building outside of the mine itself, it would simply spin a single, big circle, that would be connected with rope or later on, a metal chain. This kind of connector would be later pulled to the transmission pole, on which a set of gear circles would spin as well, and allow yet another rope or chain to be attached to the next pole, all the way to the place where the energy would actually be required!
As for the systems that would make use of this free energy, if I were to waste my time on figuring out the designs for all of them, then before any of the machines would be put to actual use, my sons would be ruling what would remain out of my underdeveloped lands!
Yet as soon as I finished drawing the project for this atmospheric engine before I could even waste some of my precious materials on making my first attempt at building it with my own hands, I felt my consciousness trembling before I saw a flash in the corner of my vision. Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
Instantly moving the window with the system back to the royal place in the middle of my sight, I couldn't prevent a big, crazed smile from emerging on top of my lips.
"Steam engineer title acquired!"
"Unlocking basic steam engineer tools!"
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Chapter 114
Chapter 114: Not-yet golden area
17th April 1574 Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
In the end, while the notification from the system sounded like a solution to all my problems, I hit the same wall I did back when I first used the crafting tool with the beer. But this time, instead of a few handfuls of grain, some fruits and water necessary to make the final product, creating the atmospheric steam engine would require me to provide only about fifty kilograms (110pounds) of iron for the boiler and cylinder tube, twenty kilograms of wood for the cold water container, twenty kilograms of iron for all the miscellaneous parts like pipes, valves and sprinklers and only about three thousand bricks!
But at least there was a tasty topping on this cake made out of bullshit, in form of a complete blueprint, that I could simply redraw on the physical paper to avoid making all sorts of mistakes that I would do by following my gut feeling alone.
Yet while the cost of creating an atmospheric steam engine was rather steep for a personal project of mine done only for the sake of testing its capability, if I wanted to, there would be no problem with investing only about one hundred, fifty kilograms (about 290 pounds) to make a more compact version of a proper steam engine, using the densely condensed water vapour as its driving force rather than the pressure from the air itself.
Sadly, this wasn't something that I could just make in one day and claim that I was working on it since a while ago. With the level of details that this example would require to be replicated, one would need to just go around few smiths in the lands that I visited in the last month to realise that the orders for such precise and fine elements were never placed in their workshops!
In the end, while I had to abandon the idea of creating a small engine for myself with how the customizing ability was locked behind higher level of the title I just received, as soon as I would get to those iron mines, completing the design that I came up with and improved with the help of my system would take only a few days, allowing for the swift exploitation of the reserves of iron hidden deep underground.
As for its usages, I already talked about this topic back when I introduced the idea of steam power to the governor. With how the mines lied to the north of the Stone River, just a bit to the north of the middle-sized city of Kiel, any kind of the finished products in the area of the mines could be transported downstream on the stone river, and then upstream the Vistula River with barges all the way to my lands!
What was even more important, those mines were hidden in the area rich in the actual limestone, as compared to my lands mostly consisting on the sandstone, with the rare exceptions like Saint Martin hill, on which my castle stood. With that in mind, the development of the mining area would take an absolute priority, forcing me to rush towards the level of steam-powered boats before any form of industrial project that required either cement on iron could be implemented!
At the very least, the reserves of oil could be found directly on the lands that I owned, giving me the window of an advantage as soon as the engines working on oil alone could be produced Meaning that for the next few years at the very least, the grace and friendship of the governor would be of the utmost importance!
After weighing all the pros and cons of the current situation, I finally came to a realisation that in order to put the development in its full spin, there was no other choice than to start most of my industrial projects in the iron mining area!
Thankfully, with how much land did the governor directly own around this place, I could ship the sulfur directly from his own mines barely fifty kilometres (about 31 miles) to the south, providing the two of us with ample resource of gunpowder required in mining the limestone required to make the concrete and the asphalt mix itself.
With the decision where my next focus would be, I forced myself to ignore the pain in my heart as I did so, but still written off three major projects that would start in this area, while hoping that I would somehow convince the governor to pass those lands directly to me later on, in exchange for the insane wealth that they would bring to him in taxes.
At first, the first atmospheric steam horse had to be built. With how the mines would rely on its power to speed up the most annoying tasks like pumping the water out, moving the haul up to the surface or even crushing the hard rocks with a primitive steam tool I already found a design for in the system, there was no other way to start it out.
Later on, when enough of the necessary resources would be gathered, I would go on and build a first, massive smelting area, with air pumps powered by either the same steam horse that would be already in place or by its twin that I wouldn't mind paying for from my own pocket. While making steel would still require me to find a stable source of coal, as long as even a minimal amount of it could be found on the market, creating proper steel in almost any given amount wouldn't be that far from reality!
As for the last of the projects that I would place in the same area, it would be nothing else than a stone quarry. With how much power would be required to bring its production levels to what would satisfy me, I already expected two, three or even more steam horses to be required for all the tasks from transporting the ore around, through crushing it into small pieces all the way to storing it in a place where either carriages or barges could pick it up.
While all of the tasks that I outlined already felt overwhelming, once again following the advice of the governor, all I really had to do to kick them off, was to gather the materials that the system asked for and get some people to assemble them into the very first steam horse!
As soon as that bit would be done, not only I could prove to the governor that there was nothing more profitable than investing in my projects, all the other steps required to push the commonwealth into industrial ear would become easier as well.
Tired from all the thinking, drawing and analyzing, I took a last look at the piece of paper that contained the blueprint for the very first steam horse that this world would see, along with the insane number of notes, smaller pictures and quick ideas that filled all the gaps outside of the main image of the machine before finally standing up from my desk only to realise that while I was so focused on my task, a bowl filled with meat and pieces of bread somehow found its way to the room!
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Chapter 115
Chapter 115: You want to expand even more?
19th April 1574
Contrary to all the events in Pilzno that concluded after just a single day, the partying in Tarnow lasted an entire three days before the guests finally started moving on and returning back to their own homes.
Overall, while the cost of organising all the festivities sucked all of the profits from the beer trade ever since its establishment, just the amount of primary contracts and down payment I got from all kinds of nobles willing to pay with their own blood for just a barrel of the premium beer allowed me to not only make up for the cost of the party, but also gain a hefty sum of about two hundred red goldens!
With how insanely huge the demand for the product was, all of the resources that were in the town were instantly turned into additional brewing lines for the beer, yet contrary to what some might expect, after doubling the output of the premium drink, all the further expansion focused solely on the basic one.
Yet I perfectly knew that if I flooded the market with more beer than I could sell to the nearest neighbours of mine, rather than earning from it myself, people would just use it as yet another luxury product that could bring them money a bit further down the road either west or east. Even if this kind of natural promotion done by the smaller merchants could work wonders in terms of popularizing the brand, with how insane this beer was as compared to the modern standards, I could make far better use of it by introducing it myself and using the sudden rise of popularity to promote all the other products.
But while the drink business was insanely profitable, rather than managing it myself, I shifted all the responsibility for it on Matsu's shoulders, even going as far as starting the construction of the very first, administration building, located right beside the castle, where all the managers for all my projects would tune the fine details of their respective responsibilities.
After all, while I could focus my entire attention and bring far more benefits by constantly upgrading it and expanding to new fields of with new products, that would be a waste not only of my time, but also of my capabilities. Just like with the monopolisation process of all the taverns in my lands, rather than dealing with it myself, I simply pushed the responsibility on the shoulders of the most prominent owner out of those who decided to cooperate with me, and after setting the outline of what I expected him to do, I simply pushed this project out of my memory, limiting my interaction with the matter to the occasional reading through reports.
Because right now, I had a far more important task on my hands!
With the end of the month already closing in, in less than a single month, the king would finally escape from the country, leaving me with only two more months before the parliament would announce the interregnum period, starting the race to the throne. Even though I knew that the King that would end up elected would be one of the more memorable ones due to his various exploits that greatly improved the standing of the country as well as its stability and position, without creating a stable foothold for my own household, I would be unable to influence any of his decisions at all!
"So that's the lists of the items you need to create the first steam horse?"
Using the opportunity that the Governor would return to his own lands from the Tarnow, I decided to accompany him on his way there. With various tasks still requiring the attention of the owners, I already convinced Elia to stay home for about two weeks, before she would get her own escort and join me at the mining town that I was going to establish at our mines.
"Yeah. What's more, this steam horse is just a first step in my plan of developing those lands, so I hoped that as soon as it would be made, we could reach an agreement in which the lands where those mines are, along with the settlement that I want to establish there could be transferred to my ownership. While all its taxes could be transferred directly to your family coffers, sir, if I want to set all the projects I have in mind for that land, I need to be in direct control over this land."
Just like Elia pointed out unless the governor would gift or sell me that part of his own lands, I would be unable to really invest myself in it. But there was no way he would deprive himself of all the benefits stemming from the fact that not only he promoted the development of this place but also invested in it as well. That was the reason why I before even talking about the terms of this potential transaction, I already gave up the rights to any taxes collected in that place!
"You just tripled the amount of land you own directly in a single place, and you are already seeking a way to expand even further? Aren't you a bit too hasty here?"
It was only understandable that Jan would oppose this idea. If I were to grow too fast, not only he could feel his control over my actions wavering a bit, but all the neighbouring nobles both in the southern part of the province as well around the lands that I was currently trying to buy, would find me quite annoying, especially when the prosperity of those lands would start attracting the refugees and free men from their lands directly under my rule!
"Sir, with all due respect, I do not aim to become one of the grain potentates. I do not wish to receive large swaths of land that could be farmed for profit, but only as much as it would take to establish a proper housing and amenities for all the workers that will soon flood this place! With your coffers filling with a part of the wages I would pay them, along with a portion of the haul from all the investments I will focus myself in, rather than keeping it to yourself, wouldn't it be easier to just wash your hands away from it while collecting the taxes in peace? But just like you said, sir. We can always talk about this topic when the first steam horse will start operating!"
As the entire travelling column already formed at the fields outside of the city, if we didn't want to stall the entire group from leaving, we had to end our talk right here. Jumping on Helga's back, I looked back, only to spot some of my own carriages filled with barrels upon barrels of beer. Rather than taking the heavy resources required to settle the first engine along on this rather lengthy ride, I preferred to take way lighter beer with me, sell it during our stay in Sandomir and use the money obtained to procure all the materials right there, before letting them all flow down the Vistula and then upstream the Stone River all the way to our final destination.
"I think that's a good idea. As for the workers required for your mines and the building projects, I think you can obtain them cheaply from the Sandomir slums or fetch them from the villages along the way. Anyway, are you really sure you don't want to travel in the carriage with me?"
Hearing the governor's kind invitation, I shifted my head to the side, watching the simple construction of the massive vehicle he intended to ravel in, only to shift my eyes back to the soft back of my loyal mount. Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
"Thank you, sir, but I think I will stay on the horseback. With the quality of our roads, we wouldn't get to talk all that much anyway, so there is no point in making my buttocks sore from all the bumping!"
Kindly refusing the generous offer, I nodded my head, before tickling Helga's sides with my heels and making her jump into a slow trot. With the two of us finishing our conversation, there was nothing else stopping the entire column from starting its journey, so with just a simple gesture of the governor's hand from the insides of his carriage, the men started shouting around as the horses stopped grazing on the roadside grass and finally pushed the entire group forward.
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Chapter 116
Chapter 116: Meeting the merchant
20th April 1574
Back in the times where I studied the history both on my own and while listening to my class teacher, I never imagined how important the water connections would be for the people living in the times that now turned into my own timeline. With all the automation, mechanisation and most importantly - cars and roads, I simply couldn't understand what was so great in living beside a big river, outside of the easy access to an abundant source of water.
Yet after a slightly painful trip on top of Helga's back during which I had to adjust my tempo to the unimaginably slow speed of the carriages when we finally reached a small town on the right coast of the Vistula river, I finally got my answer to the doubt I had ever since learning about the water transportation all those years back.
As soon as the most important wares that would be instantly required in the Sandomir were moved on top of those simple boats, the governor along with some of his most loyal men boarder the first barge and invited me in. With no other choice, after making sure that the all the barrels with my beer found its way to one of the other barges that would normally remain idle all the way to the harvest season outside of rare situations like the one we had right now, I accepted the invitation and boarded the wooden vessel.
And then I realised how wrong I was so far when disregarding this kind of transportation!
Despite two paddlers priming the way in front of the transportation barges, the rope that held them together was constantly loose, with the only source of our momentum coming from the flow of the river itself. Yet even then, judging by how fast we were skimming through the vast expanses of land I could already tell that while the marching speed for the horse was still a bit greater, compared to using mounts, the boats didn't tire at all!
In just three hours we moved all the way from the small port to the River docks in the major city of Sandomir!
Even though I hoped that I could instantly unload the cargo and go around the town selling it to every merchant willing to buy it, as soon as Jan saw my eagerness to start working, he had to force me to slow down and take it easy. Unable to refuse the direct order from my superior, I could only swallow this sour pill and sit down on my bottom in the chamber of the Sandomir's palace, anxious about wasting so much time!
Yet contrary to my expectations, as soon as the morning of the next day came, rather than putting me through a set of official feasts or even a proper breakfast, the governor himself leads me to one of the merchants that had close ties with the palace, instantly liquifying all my assets at once!
Instead of wasting quite some time on the city market, trying to convince everyone that by selling my beer at a price several times higher than what a normal beer would be sold at wasn't a mistake, I managed to exchange all the barrels still kept on the barge for a weighty sack filled with gold coins without even a single moment wasted on negotiations!
While I was quite happy to get this useless load off my back and wanted to go to the market myself to procure all the resources necessary to start the development of my mines before I could even leave the place, the very same merchant already promised to deliver iron, bricks, mortar and even the food required to feed all the workers I would have to bring while promising to rally up a group of at least one hundred people to work under me!
At this point, I couldn't help but suspect that rather than being a merchant, this man was just the governor's retainer tasked with fulfilling all the requests I would have just in order to put me in debt of his lord, yet when all the details were finally discussed and most of my money that I just got had to be returned back to this man, I had the chance to see him board one of the most exquisite carriages I ever saw in my life!
With its walls decorated with true gold, and doors with a real, clean glass that I didn't expect to see in this time and age, I finally have begun to believe that this person was, in fact, a huge merchant, capable of providing all the stuff I required but also smart enough to believe when Governor recommended a product himself!
"I know what you were thinking, and no, it's not one of my men dressed in fancy clothes. If you are willing to use at least some of the haul from all those projects of yours, there won't be a better trading partner for you than him."
From how respectful the governor was towards this rich person, I could tell that rather than being just a big and wealthy merchant, his influence had to reach far further than I expected, maybe even all the way to the northern, port city of Gdansk (Danzing). The fact that he, as a trader, managed to create such a powerful position for himself in this nobility controlled country, only meant on how crafty and decisive he had to be!
Thinking about his position and what it would mean for me, I couldn't help but once again think about the silly idea I had whenever I looked at the map of the commonwealth in this period. If all my projects turned out to be as successful as I hoped they would, then maybe connecting the northern ports on the baltic sea with the southern trade hubs lying on the coast of the black sea could become a reality? Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
"Sir, what is the name of that man?"
"He is Dantan Grunning, a polonised Noble whose family got exiled from the Saxon Electorate. Rumours says that he built his power with the help of the Hanseatic league."
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Chapter 117
Chapter 117: Anxiety and lesson
20th April 1574
"Hanseatic League you say"
This name was enough to awaken the memories of the great time I had when reading quite a popular book that spoke about the characters that happened to find themselves in quite a similar situation that I currently am, despite the fact that they would be reincarnated not in Poland, but in the Danish occupied Norway. The other differences lied in the fact that instead of simply appearing in the different timeline, they were killed during the apocalypse and kind of remade from the super-ultra-futuristic hard drive that the alien responsible for said apocalypse created to rebuild their bodies and psyche in another timeline for the sake of making them find some kind of artefact.
But with how I was transported to this time with not even a hint of a clue what might be the reason for it, could I maybe find the traces of their existence during my own endeavours?
Yet before my mind could be flooded by the memories of the good old days where my greatest worry was nothing else but the incoming math test, I realised that after dropping this vague mention of this powerful organisation, the governor expected me to follow up with something else.
"That means if we could rope him to our project, making him the main outlet for all the wares that will be produced in the mining area Then wouldn't our influence overwhelm the entire baltic and northern sea regions?"
The Hanseatic League was nothing else but a powerful merchant company, that not only held the lands in various coastal cities in the eastern and northern Europe, it was also one of the most influential organisations, not bound by the country, but that also existed in the current age!
If not for the trends of the western part of the continent to focus more on the exploration of the faraway lands, their strength could remain a deciding factor for far longer, which would, in turn, keep Polish trade far stabler than it was after the downfall of the Hansa and the rise of the national fleets of both the Russia and future Swedish empire.
But what if instead of failing to compete with more western-oriented merchants, I would give them the tool to promote Commonwealth as the centre of the modernisation for the entire world? With their money, creating multiple, portable steam engines would be as easy as wrecking an entire island from the hands of militaristic Teutonic order - something they accomplished by pushing both the Poland and Lithuania, yet to be united at that time, to the war that ended up with the greatest medieval battle that ever happened!
"It's not me that you should be asking those questions. When you will get this steam horse prepared, I will make sure to invite him so that he could take a look and judge its worth himself." Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
Seeing the serious expression on the governor's face, I realised that this matter was slowly turning far deeper than I initially thought it would be. While it was obvious that something as grand as inventing a damned steam engine would change the course of the history, but I only believed that any real change would happen when anyone could see their influence on the prosperity of my territories, giving me far more time to prepare for the storm that this invention would cause in the entire world!
But on the other hand, if I could prove to the governor and Dantan the true worth of modernisation, then wouldn't I have far more resources at hand than necessary to make the development drive explode in the entire country?
With proper financing, instead of building a silly road between the cities that I owned, I could connect all the major cities with proper tracts. By turning the traditional mining and smelting into highly industrialised projects, even creating the very first train in the entire world didn't seem all that impossible!
"The look on your face has changed, what happened?"
Instead of waiting for me to reply to his words, Governor used his years of experience of dealing with people to see right through the anxious look on my face. Only when I heard his question did I realise that under the immense joy of turning the country I loved so much into a powerhouse even greater than it already was, but most importantly - giving it a way out of the quagmire its system would soon put it in, my actions would most likely lead to an all-out war where industrialised commonwealth would have to face all its neighbours, worried about its sudden development spike!
"Sir I just realised what my inventions will lead to. And I'm not sure if someone as small as me can handle the consequences that this change will bring not only to this country but to the entire world as well."
Speaking those words, I fully opened myself to the governor. While I grew up in the future and speaking about the matters concerning the entire world should be far easier for me, when faced with the fact that I would be at the forefront of this change, not only sparking the fire of development in the country but also being its main fuel with all the inventions I had in store, I realised that I simply had no way of protecting myself against the wrath of all the people whose ages-long traditions would be tackled and destroyed by the movement I created!
"There is no point in worrying about it, brother. Just like you got overwhelmed by how complicated some of your ideas are, to the point where I don't really understand whats their point myself, now you are just anxious about exactly the same thing. But rather than trying to take it a step at a time, this time, I need to give you different advice."
Suddenly approaching me, the governor put an amiable smile on his face, only to suddenly reach with his hand to the back, only to slap me straight in the face with all the might that this veteran had!
"Stop being so fucking arrogant!"
With the slap making my face sting all over, governor's words only added the insult to the injury. Initially flaring up against this unfair treatment received for the honest worries I had, when the pain in my cheek subsidised enough to let me think straight, I realised that rather than following up his initial attack with the next round of beating, Jan was simply standing a single step away, with an expectant look on his face.
Stirring my mind to its highest spin, I did my very best to understand what did this man meant by both his actions and words. It wasn't like him to just slap someone in the face for no good reason. What did he mean by calling me arrogant?
"Ah, I get it."
With the sudden realisation finally pushing all my worries and anxiety aside, I straightened myself back to the normal position, before bowing deeply to the man in front of me.
"Thank you for your advice."
Just like the governor said, I was truly arrogant. Not only I have yet to build a single steam engine, but I was also already worrying about the matters that would turn into reality only if everything would go exactly as I planned it to go.
But what if the blueprints I had turned out to be faulty? What if the materials would turn out to be not resilient enough to handle the stress that the engine would put on them? What if literally anything happens that would prevent some of the other projects I had in my mind from succeeding?
That alone showed how defiant I was to the fact, that rather than the creator of my own fate, I was just a small ant in the eyes of the God that created this world and that I, despite transmigration to a different timeline, still choose to believe in. Yet even if my faith was directed in a wrong place, what did I meant to someone who managed to transport me here from my original place?
And to top it all up, even if everything would go just as planned, the responsibility wouldn't rest on my shoulders alone! If I got the backing of Hansa, along with all the help that the governor already offered me, wouldn't they be here to share this burden with me?
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Chapter 118
Chapter 118: Difrence between a story and a reality
21st April 1574
Despite my initial intention to have a serious talk with Dantan, even though I had the opportunity to do so right at the evening of the day when all the resources would be loaded on top of the barges while the workers would be temporarily housed in a big barn near the city docks, yet after thinking this through, I refrained from doing so. Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click www.webnovel.com www.webnovel.com for visiting.
According to the Governor's words, in about two weeks time, he would bring him along in order to check the progress on building the steam horse, giving me the chance to start the talks based on an existing machine rather than something that for now remained as nothing but a simple concept.
After a good night of sleep preceded by a sumptuous supper at the Jan's palace, I woke up with the first ringing of the city bell, and after dressing as soon as possible, I almost ran to the docks. With how the road to our destination would still take us around five hours, most of which we would spend by being pulled upstream the Stone River which would drastically reduce our speed, there wasn't any time left for me to waste.
Instead of visiting the palace's kitchen on the go in order to grab something to eat, I used the fact that most of the shop vendors on the streets woke up way before just for the sake of catching the same kind of people like me, rushing towards their tasks without any time to waste on such a stupid matter like food.
After a fast exchange of a single Grosh (*Check A/N) for a dish that I honestly would never believe if someone would tell me it wasn't a modern invention. With a long, crunchy baguette serving as the base for the meal, filled with all sorts of ingredients from meat, through onion all the way to the cheese, and then baked again in a portable oven that the shop owner had on the side of his stall, I could fill my belly with a juicy mix of various flavours that otherwise would only be available all the way in Italy, in form of the dish that does not need an introduction.
Destroying this meal that came close to the level of a piece of art with huge bites that didn't even allow me to fully enjoy the complicated taste I ran towards the docks area, only to see the crowd of people already boarding the barges. Contrary to the previous travel we caught in a small village on the coast of Vistula, Sandomir could offer all sorts of high-end ships, even ones that outside of the pulling factor for the barges could serve as a proper housing for the higher ranked nobles who rented them.
Instead of cramming in line with everyone else, I simply boarded the ship at the front, spending the loading time on watching the events in the dock. While almost all of the materials were already loaded yesterday or through the night, there was still quite a lot of wares that some of the craftsmen worked overnight to prepare, as there would be no specialistic tools required to make them already in the mining area.
From the two sets of metal bearing for the log that would serve as the arm of the leaver that would balance the counterweight and the steam horse cylinder, through all sorts of smaller and bigger pipes and connectors at the resilient, heat-resistant valves ending. Those kinds of pieces were simply too complicated to be made on the spot, even though amongst the hundred or so people that would accompany me on this trip, at least three smiths and several other skilled workers were ordered by the Governor to help me out.
Finally, after about an hour spent by the workers of the dock mostly on moving the heavy metal parts from the land on board the barges, the entire naval group finally started to move.
At first, all that the sailors did was to drop the securing lines that bound the ships to the pylons ashore, yet instead of just allowing the ships to drift along with the current of the river, the people that remained on land used long, wooden poles to push the ships away from the danger of crashing them against landed infrastructure and other docked ship.
Moment by moment, the port area of the town was moving further and further away, indicating that my journey towards the mines gifted to me by the governor was finally fully starting. While there was still quite a lot of time before I would get to see the lands that would soon become a focal point for the development in the entire country, and the basis for the development directly in the Tarnowian region, I could already feel the hype growing in my mind.
Yet this was also the moment what I once again painfully realised the difference between dreams, novels and reality. While in some kind of book, just by using the words "and so a day passed" the story would move on to the next important or interesting point, keeping the reader's attention to the stuff that would actually keep him entertained, yet living those events with my own most likely mortal body, I had to sit down and endure the long hours of the journey.
At first, I managed to keep myself occupied with the novelty of travelling on the ship, yet contrary to moving around by horse, I didn't even get this trusty mount of mine to talk to in the moments of loneliness. Even though the ship was full of people taking their time to rest before the long hours of paddling would start, with the difference between their common and my noble status, even attempting to start an empty talk would be seen as a gross slap to the social expectations placed on my shoulders.
God, how I wished to just be able to snap my fingers and say "and so the mundane journey came to an end" only to appear in my destination already! Watching the changing landscape wasn't as interesting as poets liked to put it, not even the playful moves of the ships easily traceable from the deck of my ship could kill my boredom at this point!
And so, this boring journey came to an end.
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