Enlightened Empire

Chapter 484: Year-End Review (Last Part)

"You're saying it'll take decades?" Corco tried to confirm that he hadn't misheard Atau's assessment. However, in defiance of his king's hopes, the admiral just crossed his arms and shrugged at the absurd estimate.

"Mostly depends on how determined our enemies are," he explained in a dry voice, one which proved that he had thought about this before, and that his numbers hadn't come from nothing. "As I said, we cannot take down their leaders by just hunting them. They're too slippery. So, until their people lose morale, so long as those kings still have loyal servants, the war will continue. Still, every time we find them on an island, they lose a few men, and sometimes they have to sacrifice a ship or two to delay us. With enough time, we can grind them down eventually. But at the current pace, it'll be decades. Maybe after a few years, loyalties will wane, but I doubt it'll be any faster than that."

"What about assassinations?" Corco probed. Although it wasn't his usual style, right now he was desperate for a quick solution. "You said they'll give up once their leader is gone, right?"

"I didn't. I just said we can't take them down in the first place," Atau calmly crushed his cousin's dreams. "Even if the assassination is a success, maybe they'll just decide on a new king and keep fighting. Though in the first place, assassinating someone who spends most of his time on a boat surrounded by his warriors sounds impossible. But that has nothing to do with me anyways. I just do my work. And I don't do assassinations."

"Then do you have any plans to speed up the progress of the war, as you have been tasked?" Fadelio asked this time, luckily with less vitriol than before.

"Of course I do." Atau made them hope, before he took it from them once more. "Not that any of them are useful. If we build some fortresses on every island we capture, and then station enough soldiers there, we can make sure the Colored Kings can't return there. Right now, any island we clear becomes a hiding place for them again as soon as we leave. But with permanent fortifications, they'll run out of room pretty eventually. But for that plan to work, we'd need enough men to hold their forces on every island in case they come back with full force. Otherwise, they'll just pick us off piece by piece."

"How many do you need?" Corco asked, ready to see his treasury bleed. Though in this case, he didn't mind spending a bit more in exchange for a swift conclusion to this war. However, Atau's answer only served to frustrate the king further.

"At least ten times the numbers we have right now."

"That is impossible. We could not find that many able-bodied men in all of Saniya," Scolo chimed in, before Corco could.

"That's why I said my plan isn't useful. There's too many islands anyways, so I don't think all that building will do us much good," Atau calmly replied in the face of the general's accusation, before he turned towards Corco again.

"Since the soldier plan isn't realistic, we could also close down their escape routes with a large enough fleet every time we reach a new island. That way, they can't escape, and we can wipe them out every time we find them." This time, Atau disparaged his own plan before Corco could get excited. "But for that, we'd need at least three times the number of ships we have right now. In the end, we just don't have enough men or materials to end the war."

Although thrice the number of ships was a lot, as Atau already commandeered almost their entire fleet, at least it seemed possible. In comparison, they wouldn't be able to afford sending ten times the soldiers on a long-term expedition. The cost of supplies alone would kill them. And just as Scolo had said, they didn't even have enough recruits for such numbers in the first place, not until they had fully integrated the new territories.

Even so, building all those ships would be quite a heavy investment as well. While Corco was still weighing the pros and cons of Atau's second plan, others had already made up their minds about it.

"Isn't this just an excuse for you to increase the navy's budget?" Fadelio argued immediately. However, this time, he hadn't interrupted his king, and he had brought forth a valid concern — and one which Corco shared as well, one he couldn't voice himself without insulting his admiral. Thus, he didn't interrupt his attendant for the moment.

"I'm just telling the truth. If I can't get more ships, I can't finish this war of yours as you wish," Atau shot back, in the same casual tone as before, as if he didn't care whether or not the Verduic War ever came to a conclusion.

"No matter whether they are necessary or not, the kingdom's finances simply cannot shoulder the construction of so many ships," another voice chimed in. This time, the objection had come from Brym's replacement, another of Corco's cousins.

Caecilia di Pluritac — Eclestius Caelestis Pluritac's daughter — had entered the Ministry of Finance right after the king's deal with his uncle back during their war with the central kingdom. That had been back when it had still been called the finance department and had been chronically understaffed. Through her own efforts over the years, she had worked her way up to Brym's trusted assistant, and now even represented the department at the year-end meeting in his absence. And in the true fashion of a proper accountant, she managed to ruin everyone's fun with a single sentence, in an effort to save costs even at the cost of the kingdom.

"Wasn't the kingdom making more money than ever before?" Atau argued back. "What about little Brym selling that worthless paper for mountains of silver up north? Some of that is surely good for a few extra galleons, right?"

"The kingdom faces many expensive projects over the following years. We cannot simply waste our efforts on a large-scale ship-building project. Worse, once the ships have been built, they will only be useful once, to end the war. Once the Verdant Isles have been pacified, The Kingdom of Medala will possess the largest naval presence in the Verduic Sea by a large margin, even with our current fleet. Any more will simply become surplus to requirements. In other words: A waste of coin."

True to her fierce personality, Caecilia didn't back down at all in the face of Atau's demands. Even more, Corco was inclined to agree with her: They were building too many ships already. After all, no nearby force even came close to their naval strength, at least not since the Arcavians left. Thus, any more ships would become expensive toys as soon as the war on the Verdant Isles ended.

Still, they couldn't just ignore Atau's suggestions because of increased cost. Otherwise, the war would never end. Yet since they couldn't just overspend on this project, he had to come up with an alternate solution, one which would end the war sooner, and would be both cheap and effective. Luckily, Corco had prepared one years ago already. Since he didn't want to build expensive ships for a single-use job himself, he just had to incite his people to do it for him.

"So what happened to our privateering efforts? Couldn't we temporarily enlist some of them for a modest sum? With those reinforcements, we could end the war immediately."

"What privateers?" a seemingly confused Atau asked, which served to confuse Corco in turn. How could his cousin spend all his time in the Verduic Sea, yet have no idea about the privateering licenses they had been handing out to induce state-sanctioned pirate activity in the western sea?

"The privateering project has been slow going so far," Fadelio explained towards Corco, instead of replying to Atau's questions. "Although we have made effort to promote the project among the population, and although many-"

"What privateers?" Atau repeated again, this time louder, and more annoyed.

With a sigh, Fadelio finally turned towards his eternal nemesis. An explanation was necessary after all, not only for Atau, but for most of the officials in the room.

"How could the admiral of the kingdom not remember such an important policy?" he taunted, and then quickly explained before Atau could start another fight. "Some years back, the kingdom decided to hand out privateering licenses for private individuals willing to operate in the Verduic Sea. They would be allowed to raid merchant ships and seaside towns freely, presuming they limit their actions only to forces which are not under southern Medala's protection. It was an effort to disrupt the trade from northern Medala to Chutwa, while also weakening the local enemy forces throughout the Verdant Isles."

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"Oh right, the pirates you guys wanted to hire," Atau patted his head in acted shock, before he returned to his calm, cynical self. "Sounds like your stupid idea was a stupid idea, huh? Not that I'm really surprised. What civilian would willingly run into a war zone and get themselves killed?"

"No, there has been plenty of interest in privateering from the public." Fadelio smirked as he saw Atau's shocked face, before he proceeded to explain the surprising interest. "After all, there are plenty of families in Sachay who have made a living off the sea for generations. Quite a few of those are ambitious enough to risk a life at sea in exchange for riches. However, the problem for most prospective privateers has been the lack of financial means. In general, the people of Saniya simply don't have enough money to make major purchases like buying a ship and hiring a crew. Even the big merchants often need to take out a loan for big projects, for example when we auctioned off some of the government businesses earlier in the year, or when they build their own manufactories. Even if they have that kind of wealth, they won't use it to engage in a risky business like privateering, not when there are safer, and more profitable businesses available. Instead of those large factory owners, our offer mostly interests the desperate and reckless, or those down on their luck. But they don't have enough money to buy a ship, and no bank would grant them a loan for a daring adventure. The risk is too high."

"Like I said, it was a stupid idea," Atau succinctly summarized.

Indeed, Corco had to admit that they hadn't thought about it enough back then. While only richer people would be able to afford a ship large enough for piracy, only the poor would willingly become privateers. Their strategy had been mismatched from the start. Even so, Corco wasn't willing to give up on an idea which had been proven successful in the other world in his memory already.

"No, the idea itself is sound," he thus insisted, and turned towards Fadelio for help. "I mean, we did get at least some privateers, right?"

"Yes, at least some pirates from Saniya should be sailing around the area," Fadelio claimed, though Atau snorted in response, so the prime minister had to adjust his statement. "But there should not enough to make a difference, or our navy would have noticed a difference. Presumably, most of them won't be acting as pirates most of the time. From what we can gather, most privateering licenses are held by small-scale merchants who take the chance to plunder whenever they see a weak target on their route. The few, more active privateers we got are just smaller boats owned by overambitious fishing villages. Their results seem to have been mixed, and they mostly operate along the medalan coast, and not among the Verdant Isles."

"That right! There's your solution!"

Excited at the reminder, Corco jumped up and pointed at Fadelio. Once he remembered those fishing villages, all the pieces suddenly fell into place and he managed to puzzle together a solid strategy immediately. However, his admiral wasn't quite so quick to understand.

"Huh?" was all the prime minister had to contribute. As punishment, Corco decided to launch into another lengthy tirade to make himself clear.

"Don't you remember how those fishing villages got their ships in the first place?" he asked. "Back then, we wanted those villagers to fish using larger vessels. On the one hand, we wanted to improve the output in those villages and improve their wealth to increase food production and tax revenue. On the other hand, we wanted to get them used to the operation on larger ships, so they could join our navy as sailors later."

"That's right, a lot of those types have enlisted on my ships these days," Atau interjected.

"Back then, those fishermen didn't have the money to buy our large ships, of course, just like the privateers now. In response, we simply gave handed out ships on credit on a village-by-village basis. Every village got one ship, collectively owned, and most are currently paying off their loans from the government with all the extra money they are making from fishing. We could try something similar in this case, I think."

After Corco's explanation was done, Fadelio was once again the first to react, alarmed face and all.

"You want to hand those ships to pirates? Master-"

"Of course not. I'm not stupid," Corco interrupted before his attendant could say something unreasonable again. Fadelio was so rattled he had even forgotten to keep up the charade and started calling the 'privateers' pirates, like they deserved, so Corco would never let him say something impulsive in his state.

Of course, Corco would also never lease his ships out to some pirates. He wouldn't expect to ever get his money back. However, that didn't mean that the fishing village model was completely useless for their privateering plans.

"While I won't loan any of my ships to prospective privateers, we can still let them split the bill between each other, just how the villagers did it. Remember, those ships are owned by the village as a whole, not by one individual person, which means that every member of that village owns a share of that ship. All we have to do is popularize that method, so people will be able to buy fractions of a ship, and then guarantee the rights of those shareholders by law. This way, a group of poor people can just go buy a ship together, and then go privateering to make their luck. In fact, this method will even increase our number of potential investors, beyond those looking for luck. Even a wealthy merchant might be interested in buying shares, since it's a lot less risky. Instead of betting on a single ship's success, which might just sink during its first engagement, they can partially invest in ten, for a more guaranteed output. That way, they don't even have to travel with the ship themselves, so the wealthy Saniyans just have to sponsor some mercenary pirates to make money for them. In fact, we can apply the same idea to the manufactories as well, which will allow the people to spend more of their money at once at a lower risk, and will benefit our economy greatly in the long run."

"Fractional ownership? A system similar to the worker cooperatives?" Fadelio understood almost immediately.

Corco could only grin at the thought that, in his kingdom, people knew about worker cooperatives before they knew about shareholders. Still, he patiently explained the idea.

"Yeah, except the people owning the company together wouldn't be workers. They're investors. But to make sure that people feel safe to do these deals, and to guarantee that the wealthy won't manipulate the market by arranging shady deals in private, we'll have to establish some new rules, and a new institution."

"Another one?" Fadelio groaned, no doubt unhappy about the upcoming increase in expenses, as well as his increased workload upon the establishment of yet another office in Rapra Castle. However, Corco wouldn't be deterred by the whining. Once he came up with a new idea, nothing would stop the enthusiastic king.

"Remember, you wanted the privateering business to be successful as much as anyone here. This one's necessary for the privateers, I guarantee," he argued. "Not only that, it's even more necessary for the government to have full control of the process. If we leave it to the open market, sooner or later, private parties are gonna establish this institution themselves, and then we'll lose a lot of control over the local economy. It's hard to explain the exact mechanisms, but just trust me on this one. It will take a while for me to work out the details, but soon, Saniya will be introducing the world's first official stock exchange!"

"Sounds great! Any more details, or should we just guess what you mean again?" Atau asked, though Corco chose to ignore the sarcasm.

"For now? The latter," he said, while the cogs in his head whirred into motion. "Over the next few days, I'll have to work out those details first, so I can't tell you anything concrete yet. I assume the finance department will help me in that regard. I don't want to miss any obvious loopholes."

"Of course, King Corcopaca. The finance department is yours, like all the lands of Medala." Although Caecilia's chosen words were subservient, her voice carried a hidden blade inside, and her eyes were sharp as knives. Even giving birth hadn't taken away any of his cousin's fire. "On that note, I believe it would be best to first address the country's finances, as well as the results of Minister Brymstock's bond sale over the past year. Otherwise, we will continue to make plans without any measure for the available budget," she added in a harsh tone. Yet through all the aggression, she had swiftly established both her competence, as well as her belligerence, which had greatly streamlined the process of budgeting these days.

While Corco watched her list off the numbers with confidence and rebuke the financial wishes of the various ministers, the king just thought how lucky he was to have found such a treasure on his uncle's Lonely Island. After hearing about Brym's marriage plans, he had become quite worried that a single family group could amass all the power below the king. With Fadelio as prime minister and his sisters either in positions of power, or married to powerful men, it felt more and more like the king's power was about to be overshadowed.

Of course, he wouldn't do anything drastic to his friends, but his principled inaction only increased his worry. Now, a start to a solution was staring him right in his face. With the new school system to be installed across the kingdom, more solutions were sure to follow soon. At least he hoped that the issue would resolve itself on its own, before he would have to get involved. As he stared into an uncertain future, the king once again felt the heavy weight of his office.

Country Name: Kingdom of Southern Medala Year: 7th Strife

Population: 4.31m (+3.9%)

-----Royal Territory: 1.63m (including new possessions)

Verdant Isles (all controlled territories): ~7m

-----Green Island: 3.14m

Income: 104.9m Sila

-----Seignorage: 11.6m Sila

-----Grain and agriculture: 29.4m Sila

-----Direct trade from government businesses: 8.2m Sila

-----Tariffs: 6.8m Sila

-----Other: 48.9m Sila (mostly bond and manufactory sales)

Treasury: 38.23m Sila Precious Metal Reserves: 63.2t silver Debt Ratio: ~70.5%

Standing Troops: 12k commoners

Reserves: 20k commoners, 16k warriors

Steel Production: 250 tons

Farmland: 365.000 hectares

Yield: 0.64 tons per hectare

Literacy Rate: 15%