Herald of Steel

Alexander’s decision to focus on steel rather than sugar was quite easy to make if one gave it even a second’s thought.

Politically it was far less troublesome.

The nobles, lacking the technical knowledge, very rarely asked troublesome questions such as how the steel was made, what was Alexander’s production capacity, or even just the blueprints for his complex foundry plant.

In their inexperienced eyes, what Alexander made was certainly better than the original, but nothing to lose their mind about. The increase in quality was seen as more as a magnificent leap than a miraculous jump.

Combine this with the fact that the volume of iron Alexander produced was more than enough to fulfill their needs, and there was little incentive for them to want to produce more.

All this was in much contrast with sugar.

Having never before seen such a delicacy, many were desperate, with some even going as far as to offer Alexander ridiculous things- like land, their sons as hostages, their daughters’ hand in marriage, and some even their wives as bed warmers, all to try and buy the technique of him.

Only the perceived notion that white sugar was very hard to make was able to barely keep these salivating hyenas away.

In addition to iron having none of these problems, it was also much more reliable in terms of production, as it did not have to rely on the weather or face the danger of a crop failure. As long as the proper ratio of raw materials was maintained, you would get your product within the acceptable quality.

Logistically it was also far easier to transport given it was nonperishable and much more dense, thus taking up much less volume.

And lastly, the market for Alexander’s iron was still far from being saturated.

He had calculated using various tax records and mining production numbers and then extrapolating on the numbers to find that Adhania needed 100,000 to 120,000 tons of iron per year, while he only produced around 10,000 tons.

So even if he were to double his production, it would be quite easy for the markets to absorb it.

Especially as although the demand for steel might sound like a lot, when you divide that number by the roughly 70 to 80 million people in the country- you get a paltry per capita consumption of just about 1 to 2 kg.

For context- the current global average of steel consumption is 200 kg per head.

Even the Romans had their levels around 1.5 kg.

So the average Adhanian was quite poor.

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Lady Parthia sitting on the opposite side, took a while to comprehend Alexander’s financial situation, until finally, seeing the man remain adamant, at last brought herself to terms with it.

"*Sigh*, it seems you have made up your mind, brat." She slightly shook her head, before nodding with slightly pursed lips, "If you are going to do it no matter what, then I will support you."

"But let me go on record saying I do not think this is a good idea. Lending money and then collecting interest on it… most nobles will not like it. *Sigh*, Hopefully no one will cause trouble using this issue!"

Lady Parthia repeatedly shook her head as she made an ominous prediction, her eyes covered with a complicated mist.

And sitting next to her side, Lady Nanazin was the first to sense this dilemma, finding the beautiful lady’s fair face turning almost black and bleak.

So in a soothing tone, she tried to assuage her,

"Hmmm… Lady Parthia from what I hear… it does not seem like you have any problem in Alexander lending money. Just him collecting the interest. So maybe you can try to say it is not really interest…. that is something different."

"....???...." Hearing the tempting words, Alexander’s heart suddenly stirred a bit, wondering what this ’something different’ could be.

’Perhaps I can disguise the interest as taxes. Pass a law that makes people with debt pay more taxes Alexander instinctively thought.

But quickly found the idea to have more holes than a sieve. Taxing already indebted people even more was simply a recipe for disaster. That person would just be forced to pay both interest and taxes.

No one would want to ever take such a loan.

So unable to figure it out on his own, Alexander quickly turned to face Lady Nanazin, wishing to know what kind of ideas she had.

"It will not work." However the plan was shot down by Lady Parthia even before it could take birth, as she solemnly shook her head,

"All the business and trading houses have already tried every little trick you can think of to try and dupe us. Disguising the interest as donations, gifts, favors, dowries… even just buying their goods at a higher price…. They tried it all. It does not work."

"In fact, I do not know if you are aware my lord, but we even have a very negative word for people who do take interest. The word does not really have a Azhak equivalent- the closest could be usurer, but it holds a far more negative meaning."

Indeed, to the Tibian nobles, an apt example of what Alexander was about to do was like the president of a country calling one of his minorities by the most offensive slang on national TV and then proudly bragging about it.

In all cases, his PR team would be having a meltdown.

Similarly, Lady Parthia really did not know how she was going to defend Alexander’s actions should he choose to proceed as she firmly made her point,

"...." Alexander thus once again visibly frowned at the obstacle.

"Hmmp! So what if the nobles are angry? We already defeated them. What can you do? Rebel?" While Lady Nanazin at last seemed to turn a bit irritated as she spat this out.

According to her, the losers should naturally follow the whims of the winners and have no choice in the matter. Thus she was also unable to understand why Alexander so much cared about the feelings of the Tibian nobles.

While Lady Parthia also did not answer her counterpart but simply turned to give Alexander an asking look.

This was because the word ’rebel’ was a very sensitive topic at the moment.

It was an open secret that many of the Tibian nobles were still struggling to decide whether to submit wholeheartedly to Alexander or just bear the humiliation for the moment and look for a chance to break free later.

And their once queen, Lady Parthia was right at the centre of it. She did not think it would be appropriate to even touch the topic.

And Alexander agreed, hence he quickly made up an excuse on her behalf,

"I am sure Lady Parthia is simply being cautious here, Your Highness Nanazin. It is a well known fact that many of the lesser and weaker nobles do not like us, their new ruler. They want to cling to their past."

"Many of them are even trying to rally themselves behind the various Tibian royal family branch members. These groups are all still very small and are not of any kind of threat to us… but, as Lady Parthia said, it will still help us to be prudent. I do not want to also deal with Tibias should trouble raise up in the capital."

Lady Nanazin was surprised by this new intel, initially even finding it quite hard to believe that Tibians were already thinking of ’struggling’ so quickly.

It had not even been two years since their thrashing.

Of course, the movement was still relegated to the lowest of the grassroots, and they were little more than whispers… but still, it spoke volumes to the Tibian spirit.

This was also one of the reasons why he was being so ’coy’ about starting his business.

While hearing the same thing, Lady Parthia’s eyes flashed a very hidden chilly light.

She was instead more surprised by how Alexander knew this much given naturally such talks should have been very secretive, uttered in only the most safe of places.

As proof, even she only knew of the existence of such a resistance movement, but nothing about the structure of their members.

And this made her really want to know how Alexander got his hands on this intel.

The answer to which was actually relatively complex- it was a combined effort of Lord Theony and his son Theony, a few turncoat nobles. and Camius’s intelligence network.

The gist of it worked like this-

Theony, working beside Prince Philip found a few suspicious nobles wanting to meet with the Prince, even though till now they had been too small to meet the royal family even once.

To add to his suspicions, many of these nobles were also known to belong to the royalist camp for generations. It was just that previously they were too small to get a direct audience with the king.

But now, with Alxx having thinned the herd, these fledging warlords got to fill the vacant seats of their bosses and most likely wished to rise up.

So detecting something was off, Theony quickly sent his father the potential list of conspirators.

Upon receiving which, with further orders from Alexander, Lord Theony bribed a few of the low level nobles with money and benefits to turn them, thus infiltrating the inner circle.

Let us say no to piracy! Don’t take part in a crime! Don’t patronize thieves!

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