Chapter 5 August 405 AD Roman Gold Fields of Africa (Patreon)

            Jinka had mixed feelings when he saw the small fortress protecting the eastern side of the Roman gold fields in the Roman province of Flavian. It was clearly set up to protect the fields from bandits, not an army. The Romans believed the terrain would protect the eastern side of their gold fields from foreign armies, as the Great Swamp was to the south of the fields, and the Great Desert was to the north. An army would have to cross thousands of miles of savannah to reach this side of the gold fields and be able to bring supplies over that terrain. Jinka’s army accomplished that feat.

            The army’s journey across the savannah was uneventful. Here were a lot of villages that surrendered as soon as they saw the army in the distance, anyone who was loyal to Rome fled, and almost nothing happened. Technically Rome gave savannah land to its soldiers when they retired, along with a bunch of serfs, but they could do little in the savannah beyond raise cattle, sheep, and horses, and they could only do that much because of the various medicines made in Paulsland, so it was by no means cheap or easy. That said, a movable food source meant that the Romans in the savannah had an easy time fleeing. In fact, since the Romans had been using this land for livestock for nearly three centuries, they had done a great job of wiping out the predators, so the trip was even more uneventful than it would be otherwise.

            The hardest thing about going across the savannah was setting up temporary fortresses about every thirty miles. The fortresses were made with wood, and dirt in between the wood. The purpose of the temporary fortresses was twofold. First of all, they were safe places for the supply trains to rest at night. Second, they were safe mooring points for hot air balloons. The main purpose of the balloons was to allow Jinka to communicate with Paulsland, but they had a secondary purpose of observation. That said there had only been four instances of anyone daring to attack the supply trains. Only one of those was by the Roman military, the other three were by locals attempting banditry. The reality was that the savannah was deeply depopulated because the Romans moved as many of the locals as possible to the gold fields to be local serfs, making their masters in the capital of Rome rich.

            At this point, everything was looking amazing for the invasion of Rome’s gold fields. Jinka had a million-man army, solid supply lines, new weapons unmatched anywhere in the world, an enslaved populace that resented their masters, and a weak eastern front for Jinka to crush, but here lay the problem for Jinka. Jinka needed this war to last as long as possible. At the very least, a year. Currently, he could steamroll the eastern side of the Roman gold fields because the defenses were not prepared for an army. Their main defenses were on the coast to protect from an invasion by sea, as they assumed nobody would waste the time to reach the savannah between the Great Desert and Swamp, then cross it.

            With that in mind, Jinka’s army set up camp three miles from the easternmost Roman fortress, and Jinka called together three of his five generals. Two of them were away due to other needs. One took out the Romans that had invaded western Paulsland and the other was publicly attempting to take out the coastal cities on the west side of the Great Swamp but in reality he was making sure Jinka’s holdings were not attacked by the Romans, especially since Jinka went out of the way and made his five generals equal partners in all his factories.

            When the three generals came in, Jinka asked them, “What do you think of the Roman defenses?”

            General Kisu said, “I did not expect them to be so weak.”

            General Upinde added, “We are going to blow through them like they are not there.”

            Jinka asked, “With a defense so weak, how can we slowly defeat this enemy, while also looking like heroes? Just look what Kitako is doing, invading Kush. He is quickly going into their land and getting things done. We are receiving reports of his exaggerated heroics. We have to be heroic as well, just not too heroic, and with the gold field’s eastern defenses so weak, we are going to have a hard time dragging our feet.”

            General Mamiz said, “I have a suggestion.”

            Jinka looked to the man and said, “Speak.”

            “This war will likely go extra quick because the Romans do not treat the slaves, or what they like to call serfs, well. As soon as those serfs realize that someone else is taking over the land, they will revolt. Sure, we will still have to take down the walls of the various fortresses, as the Romans won't be foolish enough to give serfs important duties inside their forts, but beyond that, they will either want to join Paulsland, or at the very least not care who their master is.”

            “How does that help our situation?”

            “As you know, I was given my rank as general because I am very talented in logistics. As we take over area after area, we could slow things down by giving the gold mines and surrounding properties to the serfs who work in them. It will drastically slow the invasion down if we are drawing property lines and making corporations for the serfs.”

            Jinka asked, “But how will that look heroic?”

            “This is what King Paul did during his invasions. Every time he took over a village he would give people property. You would simply be following in King Paul’s footsteps. Furthermore, if we are giving these people property and they need us to enforce those property rights, then they will not attack our rear once we pass by.”

            “I like the idea of being compared to King Paul.”

            “Of course, but that’s not the end of it. I have been thinking about your plan on using steam shovels to dig coal. You and I know that according to Paulsland law, you are only allowed to own land you are currently able to use, which means that most coal mines are small things dug up by individuals or friends. These serfs have been working in large mines all their lives, and so the Paulsland way wont work here, so we could make each mine a corperation, with each miner owning a piece of the mine, and thus getting a portion of the profit as a whole, thus giving us the excuse to change things in other parts of Paulsland.”

            Jinka nodded and said, “I like the sound of that.”

            “And that’s not even the best part. Rome is known for bribes, so imagine if you will, since we are setting up these new gold mining corporations, that we are partial owners of these mines. I admit sharing the profits with the miners means that each mine won't net us a lot of wealth, but there are thousands of gold mines in Flavian Province.”

            General Kisu said, “I like the sound of that.”

            Jinka nodded and said, “I do too, but we have to be careful not to get distracted. Keep our ownership small, at just one percent of each mine.”

            “One percent for all of us?”

            “No, for each, including the two generals that are not here. But we have to remember that these mines are only worth peanuts compared to the steam engines.”

            General Mamiz said, “Yes, Kingsminister, I remember, it's why I want to own parts of these gold mines. I know you want to mine coal with it, but mining gold will be so much more valuable.”

            Jinka shook his head and said, “Mamiz, you are a genius when it comes to organization and maximizing profits, but what we are doing is not about profit, it is about control. The seventy families have so much power because they are willing to give up financial gain to keep control. The seventy families could have more wealth if they allowed the steam engine to be released, as they agree with King Paul’s assessment that the wealthier the poor were the wealthier the rich were, but they would rather have control than more wealth. We could make more money by mining gold than coal, but we will have more control if we mine most of the coal in Paulsland. Wealth is nice, but control brings safety, power, and wealth.

            General Mamiz was something of a miser, so he frowned as he said, “Yes, sir.” He logically understood and even agreed in theory with what Jinka was saying, but emotionally he couldn’t accept it.

            Jinka smiled and said, “Let our men rest today, and tomorrow use the steam cannons to knock down the walls of that fortress.”