Road to the Crown

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!"

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?"