Enlightened Empire

Chapter 331: Two Sides of Progress

After their visit to the cotton fields and the jungle reclamation, Corco and Llamka had completed their inspection of the raw material procurement for Rasacopa’s new textile industry. After, the maid led the king to inspect their plans for the refinement and manufacturing of said raw materials.

Not far from the edge of the jungle, next to a river that led into the depths of the green hell upstream and into the sea near Rasacopa downstream, the workers had begun to build a camp for themselves. Already, a large number of tents had been put up, and even some simple, wooden houses had been built. In the new town’s best position, right next to the river, its new industrial zone would soon rise up. Here, the first modern cloth manufacturing was planned to take place.

Although for now, it wasn’t much more than a few lines in the compacted and evened soil. Some of the buildings already had short, wooden walls made from logs taken from the land reclamation. They did nothing more than to protect the foundations that had been laid for the later construction a bit. Apart from that, there was nothing here.

Even so, Corco inspected the barely existent buildings with great interest. After the king had been walking around the premises for a while to get a feel for the building and imagine the sophisticated buildings that would soon envelop the area here, he pulled out one of the newer instruments the people of Saniya had come up with.

“Hold this,” he said, and handed Llamka one end of the measuring tape. “I’ll go measure out the hall.”

This long strip of tape was made from cheap leather, and marked to include measurements from meters down to millimeters. Only a small portion poked out of its metal casing, with the rest spooled up inside. Although Corco was getting ready to walk the length of the wall, the maid just stood there with a dumb expression on her face.

Sometimes I forget that these things are new for most people.

“Stand over there, and hold the end of this tape against the edge of the wall. Like this. The inside edge, that is.” Pointing and showing, he explained patiently. The maid did as ordered, so Corco could finally walk along the length of the soon-to-be factory. All the while, the tape unspooled out of its metal casing with a satisfying clacking noise.

After a while, Corco had worked out the exact dimensions the planned building would have. As he wrote down the results on a piece of paper, he worked out the future layout of the building in his head.

Spinning wheels, looms… Along the back wall, we’ll need some space for the water wheel and the gearbox as well. Though for that, we’d need to extend the area all the way to the river anyway It’d be nice if we could put vats for dyeing and bleaching in a separate room... and some space to walk would be nice too.

“These halls are too small,” he concluded after some more measuring and some more thought. “They need to be at least fifty percent longer, in both directions.” Again, he thought for a moment, while he stared at the disembodied numbers on the paper.

“You know what, I’ll just make you a floor plan. That’ll be easier,” he concluded.

“However, building something this large will prove difficult.” While Llamka noted down Corco’s orders, she still objected. “The local workers are not used to making halls of that size. Rasacopa’s building style mainly focuses on many, smaller buildings, which make up large courtyards for housing. The current arrangement of these halls is already the largest size the locals can manage safely and quickly.”

“In that case, we’ll have to bring in experts from back home to teach the locals,” Corco concluded. “This industry is too important, we can’t make compromises already.”

Corco was looking for a clean spot on the ground to sketch a vague floor plan before he put it on paper, but Llamka looked uncomfortable.

“Of course,” she said, but she looked unconvinced. “Just…”

“Yeah? Speaketh thee upeth.” Corco stood up and turned towards her.

“King Corco, this servant is still confused why both you and Lady Queen Sumaci would invest this much strenth into this one trade. Of course, clothing is important, but there are many other areas that require attention. Would our time not be better spent on them? Say, weapons manufacturing, or shipbuilding? We are in a war after all. Even just building more advanced manufactories like in Saniya would bring great wealth to the island, enough to buy as many clothes as the people may need.”

“So, do you think I’m giving Rasacopa scraps, while I leave the best industries for myself?” Corco asked, a bemused smile on his face.

“Of course not!” Llamka denied quickly enough to prove her real thoughts. “Just…”

“Making clothes seems trivial compared to guns? Something like that?” Corco guessed, to which the maid nodded.

“You're underestimating just how big an industry textiles are,” the king continued. “Everyone wears clothes after all.”

“Yet everyone needs to eat as well. Why not plant food crops instead of cotton?”

“Big demand, large profit margins, and a need for machinery, which will drive innovation. Plus it’s easy to develop during early industrialization, since the technology isn’t super complicated. But the biggest advantage of the textile industry is that it spans all areas from agriculture across to manufacturing, so an improvement this area improves almost all areas of a country. In the future, no advanced economy will function without the support of the textile industry, and that starts with cotton. At least for a while, textiles will be the primary engine for economic growth. We should get ahead while we have all the advantages on our side. And while our enemies are still in the dark about the future.”

“Yet Saniya does not seem to grow any cotton,” Llamka insisted. After all, she was also a Saniya native and knew well about the city’s development direction.

“Well, we're in the south.” Corco shrugged. “No one in the southern kingdom can grow any cotton anyways, it's too cold. I guarantee you, once I've finally dealt with my brother and my uncle, you'll see fields of the stuff all over the north. And until then, Saniya’s factories get to build all the advanced machines for weaving and such. Then we sell them to Rasacopa for a tidy profit. So it's not like we're not involved in the industry at all.”

“Understood.”

“Well, not yet. But I'm sure you'll understand once you see the finished article. Again, any modern society, if it wants to progress beyond a certain point, will have to rely on the textile industry. What happens after that point just depends on their cohesion, ingenuity, and destiny. The ingenuity and destiny I can supply, the cohesion is still an issue. If you're interested, I'm sure you can ask Maci about more details, I’ve annoyed her quite a lot with my thoughts on this.”

“As you wish, King Corco.”

After that non-committal answer, even Corco lost the interest to drone on about the future.

“Right, we should move on to the next item on the schedule,” he said instead “Please show me the way to the hospital.”

Thus, the two left the barren industrial area and moved to a different section of the new town. On their way, Corco mused on the final thoughts of his big speech just now. Cohesion was indeed the biggest problem right now, be it on the Verdant Isles or in Medala.

As always, Corco had big plans for development, not only for Rasacopa. The establishment of a textile industry was only the first step, but after that, the following development would become almost inevitable, creating an avalanche that would sweep the entire world. Although unlike most people, Llamka had gotten a glimpse of his vision already, she still wouldn’t understand the downsides of these changes. Of course, there were many great benefits to these new developments, but they would also mean change to society, and change could never happen without upheaval.

The old forces would never go quietly, and Corco himself was wary of a violent counterattack hitting before he was ready for it. Those old ruling classes would start trouble as soon as they felt threatened in their position.

For now, he tried to keep them preoccupied with banquets and internal squabbles, while he quietly launched his revolution where no one was watching, but that would only work for so long. Once they became aware of the threat to their status, the only options were to either compromise and give them a higher role in the new order as well, or suppress them by force. Unfortunately, there was no room for compromises in Corco's perfect vision.

“As an aside, how is the soldier training going?” he asked Llamka on their way. Of course, the question wasn’t really much of an aside. Rather, his train of thought had led him to a reminder that they may soon need to fight a bloody war with the local ruling class – the captains. There was a need to prepare here as well as he had prepared in Saniya. While the maid wouldn't understand the context of his question, she still replied diligently.

“Soldier training has been smooth so far. At the moment, the soldiers are being drilled every morning in the town square. After, they move on to running, in a route through the city. This step is meant to build up the weak constitutions of the commoners. Halfway through their route, they halt at a camp and do some close combat and firing exercises. Finally, they march back to the town square, in formation, where they assemble for one final drill. All throughout their training, we have taken great pains to make sure they would be seen all throughout the city. In fact, their running and marching routes directly lead past the living quarters of the warriors, and right along the harbor, so the captains and their crews cannot possibly miss their presence.”

Corco had to grin at the thought of captains trying to close their eyes and ears, while the soldiers were marching past them to the sound of drums.

“That’s hilarious. And I expect that the effect has been decent as well?”

Once the local warriors were confronted with their imminent replacements, Corco really couldn’t imagine that they would remain calm for too long.

“Indeed. Although there have not been any official complaints to the court yet, there are many private rumblings among the warriors, who seem worried that the Hulpatec family may exile them once their positions have been taken by commoners. However, the firm refusal of the captains to Queen Sumaci’s offer has been spread throughout the city, and has become an open secret. Thus, the warriors seem too preoccupied with pressuring their own captains into a compromise, so they don’t have time to lodge complaints. All in all, the results are satisfactory. We expect the first captains to crack over the next few days, and reopen negotiations with the crown.”

“And this time, we hold the initiative,” Corco added.

While they were talking, they came to a large tent on the edge of the nameless town. In fact, since only a few permanent homes had been built so far, most workers had to make do with tents like these, though the worker’s tents were generally smaller.

All of them were made from sturdy cloth, with a thin inside net to keep out the dangerous insects of the jungle during the night. This tent was several scales larger, but otherwise identical in build and material. Though its purpose was a different one, so the usefulness of the insect nets felt dubious to Corco.

After all, the patients inside this medical tent would mostly be treated for malaria. What was the point of protecting them from mosquitoes now, when it was already too late?

This would be the last part of his inspection, before he could return. All this time, he had pushed back this part of the schedule. Because he was dreading the image, he had tried to avoid this place. However, he owed his visit to the people inside, so he didn’t hesitate when he entered.

Even before Corco had pushed aside the large insect net, he could smell the blood and sweat of the ill. However, he couldn’t take one step into the medical tent before someone stood in his way to bar him from entry.

“Heavens, Lord of Green! This servant has long heard word of your arrival and was about to greet you outside. Please, this servant would never force noble Lord to enter such a dirty place.”

While tripping over his words, a man in a Yaku doctor’s robes was rushing out of the tent, blocking the way for Corco to pass through. With a frown, the king tried to look past him into the room, but the doctor shifted his body to block the way.

“Right. Are my eyes noble as well?” Corco shoved the doctor out of the way and soon realized why he was hiding the insides of the room.

From Corco’s first impression, it seemed like the local physicians had returned to working with their older methods. Otherwise, the smell of blood and herbs wouldn't have been as strong as it was. In the center of the room, a large cauldron was boiling away, filled with all kinds of herbal remedies, Corco was sure.

Though of course, none of those herbs would contain any artemisinin or quinine, nothing that would help against malaria. In a cruel twist of fate, the Divines hadn’t provided the Verdant Isles with any way to protect themselves against their harshest killer. On the beds left and right of the cauldron, the patients were lying in pain. Some were shivering all over their bodies, and sweating their life away.

“What's going on here!?” he asked the doctor in shock. “What happened to all the medicine I sent you? Is it not effective, or do you need more?”

“Lord carries no fault,” the doctor said. “The new medicine is like a miracle, curing even heavy cases of the jungle fever. It has made the workers braver, and made them harder workers as well. The few who remain ill are the fault of this useless servant, who is incompetent as a doctor. Please lord, punish this servant.”

For the man grovelling at his feet, Corco only had a faint gaze to offer. Something was going on here, but the doctor seemed unwilling to tell the truth.

“So you don't need any more medicine,” the king finally said.

“Lord of Green, this servant is indeed happy for any additional gifts he may receive. However, beyond the gifts already bestowed by Lord, there is nothing more to ask for.”

“Right.” This was about as much as he could expect to get out of the doctor, so he turned to the maid instead. He deliberately spoke up, making sure that the doctor heard him. “Miss Llamka, I want you to put some trustworthy people into these tents. Make sure the doctors use the Artemisinin properly, and make sure none of it disappears all of a sudden. Maybe I underestimated how much medicine we need, or maybe someone’s earning extra. So let’s get rid of both possibilities at once.”

To his feet, the kneeling doctor was trembling in fear, but Corco’s thoughts were already back in Saniya. Once he returned home, he needed to ramp up Artemisinin production further, no matter whether or not the locals were taking advantage of him.

To him, the lives of the workers were the most important. When he saw them suffering like this, either because of neglect or greed, his blood began to boil, but getting angry and arresting their doctors wouldn’t help them. All he could do is try to provide as best as possible, and then let the locals save themselves.

Though of course, he wouldn’t be silly either. On top of additional medicine, the newly installed people in these tents would help him understand what was going on here. Were the doctors overwhelmed by the number of cases and too afraid to ask their lord for more support, did they use the medicine improperly and overdosed to make sure, or did they earn on the side?

By the time he returned from Saniya, he was sure to get an answer. For the sake of the kneeling doctor’s head, Corco hoped it wouldn’t be the last option.