Chapter 51 August 404 AD Paulsland Capital-Meeting of the Families (Patreon)

            Early in the morning, the heads of the seventy families began making their way to an auditorium near the center of the capital, just across the bridge from the king’s castle. The auditorium was technically owned by the king, but that, in effect, meant that the seventy families had control over it. Three days in advance, the security forces of the seventy families went through the auditorium, secured it, and kept it secure so that those in authority could talk in private; now that Roman and Kush's forces had been pushed out of Paulsland territory, it was safe to meet up. With the traitor Jinka controlling over a million militiamen, it was necessary to meet up.

            Jinka was really their only concern, as rebuilding was going very well, especially with the new stone-cutting equipment significantly reducing the manpower needed to make the stone blocks necessary for reconstruction. Furthermore, king Shimbir was completely in their control, especially since they were holding the life of his beloved maid over his head to keep him compliant. Even better, he thought Jinka was responsible for taking her away and threatening her.  

            As the heads of the seventy families came to the auditorium, the citizens of the capital didn’t really notice anything special despite most of the family heads showing up in elaborate carriages pulled by horses or oxen. Those who didn’t come in a carriage rode on the back of purebred horses. It was the capital, so it was assumed that the very wealthy would show up in their splendor. The only thing out of the ordinary was all the guards. Every head of family was surrounded by guards, which garnered more attention than the elaborate carriages because many people thought that if you were well enough to be a guard, then you should be out on the frontline with Jinka fighting the evil Romans. That said, since the guards were older, each either balding, bald, or grey-haired, they did not garner too much animosity.

            The guards wore various types of armor, from their necks to their feet. In contrast, the heads of the families wore intricate hand-woven silk long-sleeved clothing that went from their neck to their ankles, with at least one layer of silk cloth that was tucked into their boots. Despite Paulsland’s heat, the residents of Paulsland had long learned that their nation was filled with bugs that carried parasites, so the fashion of Paulsland was to wear clothes from neck to ankle. Whether man or woman, whether wearing a dress, skirt, or pants, the people of Paulsland covered up as much skin as possible. The heads of the family just covered themselves with the most expensive clothes money could buy. The more well-off they looked, the more likely others would want to do business with them.  

            When the heads of the families entered the auditorium, they were greeted by a well lit room filled with food and beverages, albeit there was no alcohol to be found. They had things to consider and could not become muddle-headed. Despite the food, few partook of it as they waited for the meeting to start. Instead, most chose to network. Everyone at this meeting had children and grandchildren, and each felt that it was best for their children and grandchildren to marry into the other seventy families; in fact, every man who was a head of one of the seventy families had at least five wives from five of the families.

            At this point, the seventy families were so interwoven with each other that they were almost one big family, albeit they did not want the people of Paulsland to realize that. Being perceived as seventy squabbling families that hurt each other for the benefit of Paulsland was much better optics than being seen as one big family that squabbled but, at the end of the day, put their big family ahead of the nation. The people of Paulsland were proud that they did not have nobles but did not realize that the seventy families had long taken that position.

            When it came time for the meeting to start, musicians softly played music to gently pull attention to the front of the auditorium as Malkia made her way to the podium. As the powerful heads of families realized it was about to start, they began finding their seats. When everyone settled down, the musicians were escorted out of the room so that the real leaders of Paulsland could talk in private.

            While they waited for them to leave, most of the family heads viewed Malkia with envy. She was the richest person in Paulsland, with the technical exception of the king. It was rare for a woman to become the head of a family, if only because it was harder to gather enough shares of your family corporations to become head when you could only marry once. Women only married one husband at a time as a matter of law because of the chaos caused when there was a question of who a childs father was. Despite only having the one husband, she masterfully used every trick in the book, and created a few new ones, to gather more shares to the Paulson company than anyone else, making her the defacto head. Everyone in the audience knew she attained her position through pure ability, so they did not mind allowing her to take the lead on the discussions between all the families at such a critical time period.

            Once the room only contained the heads of families and their guards, Malkia began to speak. “Thank you all for coming. I know our families have often been at odds, but our families are also responsible for leading Paulsland in safety and prosperity. Our families were wise enough to support either King Paul or King Alexander when our nation started, and we have benefited from our ancestors’ wise decisions while also benefiting Paulsland. Before me, today is the best each family has to offer. None of you were given your positions as head of your family's companies. Instead, each of you earned it through skill, wisdom, and experience. You are the greatest our nation has to offer.

            “With that being said, everyone here is well aware of Jinka’s rebellion. Our servant thinks he should become our king or perhaps even our executioner. Under his foolish leadership, he allowed both Rome and Kush to invade our great nation and used the chaos of their attack to gather an army to take a leadership position that was never his to take. His actions have caused tremendous disruptions to our nation’s economy, he has put our control of the young king at risk, and worse, he has released knowledge of the power of steam. As you know, now that the power of steam as a weapon has become widespread knowledge, we have difficult decisions to make. Jinka obviously intends to use the steam weapons to bolster support for his future leadership, but Jinka is gone. He has traveled into Roman territory and intends to head west until he can take the gold fields of Rome in their Flavian province. During this time I propose that our factories be retooled and supply all of Paulsland with steam weapons.”

            The head of the Uta family spoke from his seat, “Will this require us to start making steam engines?”

            Malkia harshly and instantly said, “No. We all know that our nation cannot afford steam engines, at least not now. According to the notes left behind by King Paul in the Illuminati headquarters, steam engines will allow heavy industrial mechanical devices to be built and run anywhere, not just where you can put water wheels. We estimate that as soon as steam engines become available, we will lose our best mechanists, engineers, artisans, managers, and workers. Currently, the best and brightest in Paulsland have no choice but to work at our factories because our factories monopolize the places along the rivers and canals that allow large mechanical devices to work.”

            The head of the Uta family was not happy with the answer, so he asked, “How long do you estimate it will take for someone to turn one of these steam weapons into a steam engine?”

            Malkia paused, then said, “I honestly do not know. I do not know how steam engines work. I understand that the Illuminati has several working steam engines at their headquarters, but I have never seen them work. Have any of you?” Nobody responded, and after a few seconds of hesitation, Malkia continued. “All of our families are fearful of steam engines, and due to that, we haven’t even looked at the Illuminati’s prototype steam engines. Maybe that was a mistake, but that’s not why we are going to make steam weapons.

            “Currently Jinka is a hero to the people of Paulsland. Jinka was able to devastate our enemies because he took the steam weapons made by the Illuminati and devastated our enemies with minimal losses to his forces. If we try to keep these weapons from the people, Jinka’s popularity will only grow. Worse yet, Jinka has forcibly seized land owned by two of the families. This land used to be where several factories stood, but they were destroyed by the Romans and Kushites. Jinka is building new factories to produce steam weapons, and we can't stop him because he left sixty thousand soldiers there to guard his steam weapon factories. Whether we like it or not steam weapons will be built. The only question is whether they will buy Jinka’s weapons or ours. If they buy his weapons then we might as well crown him king.”

            The head of the Saul family asked, “Is Jinka making steam engines?”

            “He would be insane to make steam engines. He has as much to lose as we do. We believe that he is making factories for the two pressure vessels, the small steam weapon, and the large steam weapon, and the various parts they need to work.”

            The head of the Alexander family asked, “How much have you confirmed?”

            “Everything. None of the workers consider the work at their factories secret, so they are open with everyone about how they are making weapons factories to protect Paulsland.”

            As she said that tension left the room. The seventy families were terrified of losing control.

            Everything was quiet for a few seconds as relief filled the room, but then one of the family heads asked, “Should we work together to build the same weapons or build our own individually?”

            Malkia said, “It would take far too long for our various factories to come together, design weapons, and retool factories spread across hundreds of thousands of square miles to build them. It would be far more profitable for each family to produce their own, that way, we all profit rather quickly. As you know, the Paulsland constitution requires that every militia man has modern equipment, so practically every militia man in Paulsland would be required to make a purchase from us for the modern weapons. As time passes and we learn which weapons are best, any militia man who bought substandard equipment will have to buy quality steam weapons, so we profit twice, assuming we do not work together.”

            The Saul family head said, “But steam weapons are more like artillery than personal weapons like swords and spears. It is more likely they will be bought for units instead of individuals.”

            Malkia said, “In practice, that may be true, but everything depends on what the two halls of representatives say. If the two halls of Representatives say that every man has to have a steam weapon then we have made tens of millions of sales. Besides that, we have thousands of ships leaving Madagascar soon. Imagine if we have steam weapons ready for those ships once they go around the continent and reach the Roman River? If steam weapons defeat Rome, then who would dare question the two Halls when they require the average man to buy weapons, according to King Paul’s original constitution?”

            “That’s great for our profit, but what then? That still does nothing to stop Jinka.”

            “Jinka is currently leading a million men to the gold fields of Rome. It will take him at least a year to get there. Meanwhile, he is leaving Kush alone. The Paulson family corporation should have steam artillery pieces ready in three months, and in another six months, we should be able to bring them to Kush’s border. Before Jinka is able to fight Rome, our armies will take on Kush, and our steam weapons will destroy their impenetrable mountain fortifications. If nothing else, Paulsland will have other heroes besides Jinka, and then if Jinka really wants to start a civil war, we will have thousands of soldiers armed with the new steam weapons, ready for him.”