Road to the Crown

Chapter 268: Henry's Reveal

3rd August 1574

"First of all, to not put you in a tough spot. Every single development officer will be granted a preferential treatment during the sale of the inner city houses, allowing all of you guys to become the proper citizens in one instant. As for the rest of the workers, as long as they will continue to pay their respective rents for the shared housing, they will get the right to own their parts of the shared house, earning themselves the citizenship as well!"

The main idea behind the laws that I wanted to introduce was to prompt everyone to focus on working as hard as they could, with the promise of a better life just within their reach. For the people that were mostly locked to remain in the same social class as they were born with, openly giving them the chance to advance was already unheard off, yet when the fact that I was actively promoting the ongoing recrutation for both the army and the workers all the time

Back in the future, my history teacher told me about the common occurrence when serfs risked everything just to escape inside the city, as even being beggars there still made them immune to the influence of the nobles. This right to the limited self-governance was what made most of the late medieval cities prosper, constantly bringing fresh blood that could replenish those centres of crime and plague. 

It was yet another aspect that I thought about before even the idea of locating the city was brought to me.

Up until the early twentieth century, most of the cities were capable of increasing in size not due to the number of babies being born inside making up for the people dying, but only due to the constant flood of new souls flocking to the chance at better life they saw in the cities. 

"Sir If I may"

Finally, after a long time during which I could either talk with the best of my intentions or at least move on to thinking about the topic when my throat wouldn't be able to stand up to the task anymore, one of the officers moved to the front of the crowd with a look of uncertainty at his face.

"You may speak."

Rather than monologuing for the rest of the day, I would be far happier to actually have some kind of interaction with those people, especially if it came to explaining their doubts. After all, I couldn't even guess what they might be worried about, with how different our priorities in life were!

"Sir, while I really want to believe that such an approach would result in the unstoppable growth of this place I have two things that I do not understand. First thing first, about the internal stability of this place. For now, with the great majority of the projects financed and managed by us, under your name, nearly all means of production lie within the means of the wealth that you wish to give to the city, sir. But in the solution that was just proposed, there will be no organic way for the guilds to form!"

Hearing those words, despite how directly they attacked the idea of development that I proposed, I couldn't be any happier. In fact, even with the nobility gaining enough power to completely push both the lower and middle class out of the picture, the power that some craftsmen and merchants could amass just due to the powerful backing of the guilds they belonged to, allowed them to influence the decisions even of the monarchs!

Yet as great as it sounded in general, to have some kind of counterweight for the overwhelming influence of the nobility, establishing the guilds would only lead to even greater differences between simple workers and those who spent their lifetime mastering certain crafts. And just a single look at the pace at which this city was changing should be enough for a reason why I wasn't so positive about establishing organisations capable of monopolising entire sectors of the market, even if it was something that every other major city did!

"I understand this problem pretty well, but compared to what you might think, it's solution is simpler than you should be guessing it is. There won't be any laws giving preferential treatments to the guilds in the first place!"

For the people of this age, those words of mine had to be a bomb akin to the ones I dropped before. But this time, I could see the unrest appearing on the faces of many of my officers. Yet, rather than being surprised, I could only shake my head with resignation. After all, most of them, before coming to the this city of mine, actually belonged to one guild or another!

"Before you will start attempting to explain how necessary the guilds are for the development of the city, let me explain why I don't think they will be any need to establish them here. In fact, I won't even prohibit people creating guilds on their own! But rather than receiving privileges and rights just because they do exists, they will have to compete with the others on equal grounds. In other words, rather than creating guilds, every single citizen and aspirant will be allowed to create a brand on their own!"

Finally, rather than bothering my mind with talks about stuff that I was never well versed in, I could revel in the topic that I could claim to be an expert in. Even though I never reached the stage of sitting at the highest deciding table of any firm, not to speak about full-scale corporations, just this few years of experience of working as a measly gear inside the machine was enough for me to know the ins and out of how a corporation operated!

And just like others were bound to buy my products for the sake of attempting back-engineering it, I was capable of creating a formula for a successful business!

"Brand? What do you mean with this word, sir?"

Using the moment of confusion to sort my own thoughts, I moved a little bit to fix a small itch that appeared in my healthy leg before focusing on the topic once again.

"While there will be a set of certain rules aimed at limiting this possibility to those who proved to be capable of managing a project on their own, the brand will basically mean a personal guild that every capable person will be able to create. As long as it will be deemed feasible, the city will give out preferential loans to the brand owners, in an attempt to help them establish themselves on the market. But rather than trying to explain it in vague terms, let me point out at the already existing example. Al, is Henry ready?"

Henry, rather than being the former king of Commonwealth, was no one else but the owner of the very first privately funded project owner in the entire mining town of mine. With how I already had planned to invite him to this meeting since the idea of setting a new locating law appeared in my mind, I was sure to get him to wait somewhere nearby as to introduce him at the most opportune moment.

"Sir, he is waiting in the longue."

With Al's confirmation, I only had to nod my head slightly for this loyal servant of mine to burst out of the room.

"As we are waiting, I will ensure that all of you do remember who that Henry person is. He started as a simple travelling merchant who saw the opportunity in this place. Buying the wooden scraps for nearly no cost from the wood factory, he invested his entire wealth into building simple manufacture that produced a paper with the recipe that I openly shared. And now look where he stands?"

Whether it was fate or just smart play from Al's side, right when I spoke those words, an expensively dressed man came into the room. Just from his robes alone, one might think that he belonged to the upper tier of the nobility, yet the sharp aura that surrounded him belied this first impression, as there was no high noble that would be as attentive to his surrounding as Henry was.

"This man currently owns four paper factories, works in closed agreement with the wood factory, supplies hard paper for the ammunition plants and from what I heard recently, is planning to expand his business into the new areas. Henry, would you mind introducing the new projects that you are already working on?"

Despite it being the very first time when I had the chance to meet this crafty man in person, just a single look at him made me ensure that helping him with all my might would definitely pay off. Even though I initially did so for the sake of binding his loyalty to myself as his plants were of utmost importance for my current military effort, when I heard about his new idea, I felt as if I touched the pants of the God himself by roping him in to my side!

"Dear sirs, I'm Henry. You might know me as the owner of the currently four paper plants spread around the mining town area, with two more plants currently being built. As for what our dear lord already started to spoil Sir, with all due respect, revealing my intentions might end up with my entire plan failing. Should I consider your request as the confirmation that the terms I brought up are agreed upon?"

Rather than flaring up due to such a blatant attempt at forcing his own way on me, I couldn't help but actually smile! This was the spirit that I wanted to see in all of the future investors and managers! Without the wits and courage to fight for the welfare of their projects, how could I ever hope for even a single one of them to be successful?

"Yes, I already reviewed the proposition you brought up and even went through with signing it myself. I believe its only a matter of delayed handling that resulted in this information failing to reach your ears. With that said, I hope you could finally reveal your intentions, or I'm worried that the tension will bring some of the officers here to the brink of collapsing!"

Despite how poor the state of my health was at this moment, I knew that cracking even a simple and barely any funny joke like that could still soften up the atmosphere in the room. With how it tensed up after Henry's daring words, it was something that simply had to be done!

"Okay then, let's break the seal of secrecy on this fun project of mine."

Suddenly turning its sharp expression into the kindest smile that one could ever see, if not for the fact that I knew what he would say in his next sentence, I would most likely start guessing that he was about to open a theme park for the kids!

"As long as fate will allow, my new project will tackle the problem of building fully scaled trains, along with armoured, steam-horse powered vehicles that could be used for the war effort."