The Mad Tycoon of Rome

Chapter 279:

After that, there were two more loud booms.

A few moments later, there was a sound of something knocking on the thick iron door three times in quick succession.

It was not a boom, but a sound of something hitting the iron door.

It seemed to be some kind of signal, as the researchers scrambled to unlock the door.

Finally, the heavy iron doors opened one after another, and Marcus entered.

He felt the smoky smell and haze filling the inside.

Great Shahanshah, it is a great honor that you grace us with your presence.

Philitrios, whose face and clothes were blackened by soot, bowed his head, and the other chemists quickly followed suit.

I see. You were doing some interesting experiments.

Lord Marcus, what is this?

Surenas, who arrived late at the scene, opened his mouth wide and looked around.

Unlike Marcus, who already knew what had exploded inside, Surenas had no clue what was going on.

What on earth happened here? Was it struck by lightning?

No. It was the result of our chemists experiments.

Alchemy no, you said they are chemists now. But what kind of chemical experiment causes this phenomenon?

They will explain that to you.

Philitrioss eyes flashed with a curious light at the two mens contrasting reactions.

Did you know that this material called saltpeter causes this reaction?

Saltpeter? You mean the natural fertilizer that came in large quantities from Satavahana?

Surenass eyes turned to the unnatural crater in the distance.

The concept of something exploding was rare for the people of this time.

The best they could think of was lightning striking or a large wildfire breaking out.

So it was natural that they did not understand the current situation.

They were also amazed by the traces left on the steel plates that they had left to test the power of the explosion.

The steel plates that were hard to scratch even with weapons were torn or shattered in places.

It was a terrifying sight, as if a dragon from mythology had appeared.

Its amazing that you managed to elicit such a fast reaction of explosion with saltpeter. I thought it would take a few more years. Especially since you didnt tell me anything about it being an oxidizer.

You knew it all along. Truly, you have the wisdom of a god Im ashamed that I even thought for a moment that we could surprise you.

No. As I said, Im quite surprised. You mixed saltpeter with charcoal and sulfur in a certain ratio, right? How did you come up with that idea?

Ah, yes. First of all, we tried mixing saltpeter and sugar. But when we applied a little heat, it burned at an incredible speed. So we thought it would be interesting to experiment with sulfur, which ignites easily at low temperatures, or charcoal, which produces heat. And while we were experimenting with different ratios, we suddenly had an explosion Thanks to that, one of our researchers was seriously injured.

How did you treat him?

Philitrios pointed to a man who was leaning on a crutch behind him.

Fortunately, he received timely treatment and is now recovering well. Since then, we have been taking thorough precautions to prevent anyone from getting hurt during the experiments.

Philitrioss body was also covered with minor wounds, and his beard was slightly burned.

But his face showed an undeniable pride.

He was confident that he had made a historic invention that would last for centuries.

Surenas, the great strategist, showed great interest in this explosion.

He wanted to observe the traces of the explosion closer and his body heated up.

Is there any more risk of explosion? I want to go and take a closer look.

Weve already exploded all the materials we mixed beforehand. Its safe now. You can go and see for yourself.

As soon as Philitrios finished speaking, Surenas hurried to the place where the explosion occurred.

The only thing on his mind was how to use this phenomenon in war.

If we can control this explosion freely, it will change the game of war. But since its an indiscriminate explosive device, we need to be very careful in handling it.

It seems difficult to control it in the way we want The more I think about it, the more I think it might be more useful in siege warfare than in rotation. If we can handle it well, we could be invincible in naval battles too, but I need to think more about that part

Yes. But it takes a lot of preparation to cause such a powerful explosion. Maybe more research will find other ways.

Surenas grabbed one of the researchers and asked him various questions, completely immersed in his own world.

Marcus, on the other hand, calmly checked the current research achievements of the chemists.

What do you call that explosive substance?

Well, among ourselves, we call it Mars Wrath, after the war god we worship in Rome.

Thats a name that sounds quite effective for propaganda. Then who else knows about your research achievements? This is a very important matter, so dont leave anyone out and tell me everything.

In this era, the formula for making gunpowder was a top secret that could not be sold for any amount of money.

If this leaked out, it could cause a huge disaster.

Especially the black powder that they had made, which only required mixing charcoal and sulfur with a certain proportion of saltpeter, was easy to manufacture.

Since the method was so simple, it was inevitable that it would leak out someday, but they needed to delay that point as much as possible.

By the time other countries got the leak and started developing gunpowder weapons, Rome should already be preparing the next generation of weapons.

As long as they maintained that gap, there was no risk of losing the balance of power, since they already had a monopoly on saltpeter.

Crucially, gunpowder weapons were not something that could be made with just gunpowder.

The development of firearms had a long and rich history that spanned hundreds of years.

At first, they would only be able to throw non-explosive projectiles.

Even the gap between the appearance of the first firearms and the development of curved cannons was almost 300 years.

But if they thought about it the other way around, if they followed the speed of modern technology development, they could have something similar to an Armstrong gun by the 5th century AD.

That was too fast.

The need to concentrate all their efforts on monopolizing information and technology grew more and more.

Your contribution is certainly great, but if this leaks out, it could bring severe chaos to the world. So dont omit anyone who has even a minor connection to this and report it.

Philithrios bowed his head as if he would bury it in the ground, overwhelmed by Marcus whispering voice.

As far as I know, all the researchers here are involved.

Its likely that you dont know everything. We need to conduct a thorough investigation and maintain strict security on this matter, so please understand. Of course, we will reward you generously for your merit, so dont feel resentful.

Resentful? I understand that this is a necessary procedure.

Thank you for that.

Marcus gathered all the chemist researchers and thoroughly investigated the details of this matter.

Fortunately, they also understood how important the development of gunpowder was.

It was lucky that they had warned them not to tell anyone about their achievements in this research, including their families.

Once the gunpowder development was successful, the researchers all stayed here and devoted themselves to research, solving their meals and lodging.

That fact was also confirmed.

For the time being, there seemed to be no chance of gunpowder leaking out.

Well, then there are two choices now

Marcus looked at Philithrios with a gleam in his eyes, expecting something from him.

He paused for a moment in thought.

That expression was again asking for some guidance.

Surenas was also racking his brains to find a way to use this explosion for war.

Then what choice should Marcus make here?

The first thing he could think of was to just order the chemists to keep the secret and leave them alone to do their research.

If he kept an eye on them so that the secret wouldnt leak out, he could maintain enough security.

But that would only slow down the leakage and development of technology, without any real benefit.

In fact, the development of gunpowder applications was not only used for military purposes.

It was just hidden by the overwhelming military use, but gunpowder was a useful substance in various fields.

As soon as they could synthesize nitroglycerin stably, they could make dynamite using clay.

Dynamite could bring about a great innovation in blasting and civil engineering if used for construction.

They could even dig a canal in Egypt or build a reservoir in the East Indies easily.

Considering various aspects, it was not profitable to pretend not to know about gunpowder once it was developed.

The second choice of maximizing security and profit was a rational decision.

The problem is how far to develop and use it

In fact, for the army, Romes army was almost invincible even without firearms.

So the urgent task was to develop firearms that could be mounted on warships.

The development of warships that could replace galleys was also almost finished, so it was a timely opportunity.

Anyway, Romes stage was gradually expanding beyond the Mediterranean Sea.

The usefulness of galleys was declining, and their lifespan as combat vessels was almost over.

It was time to replace them with a new generation.

When the construction of the warships was completed and the navigation skills improved, it might be possible to sail to the New World.

If he thought that far, it seemed right to develop firearms and enhance the power of the navy and the army.

Ahmy head feels like its going to explode. Why are there so many things to consider?

He grumbled inwardly, but there were also positive aspects.

If the technology progressed faster than expected, someone might reach the New World while Marcus was alive, and then various new things would come to Rome.

Wait. If I think that way, it means that Rome will do the same thing that Europe did in history

Of course, what mattered most to Marcus was his own interests and those of his followers.

In this era where war, plunder, and domination were natural, it was useless to preach modern ideas that would not be accepted by anyone.

Thats why he had waged conquest wars until now.

Whether it was the New World, India, or China, he did not hesitate to attack and subjugate them if necessary.

But Marcus policy was to do only as much as needed, not to wipe out the seeds of the natives.

However, considering the enormous resources buried in the New World, there was a high possibility that things would go differently than before.

The rulers who had built civilizations there would not welcome them if they said they wanted to take their resources.

Not only the New World, but whichever direction they went, the war would escalate more than before, and Rome would be the one who slaughtered most of the time.

Whatever it is, as long as I do only as much as necessary

He hoped that his descendants would not go down in history as mass murderers who dried up the seeds of the natives.

For now, the development speed and the flow of the era were still under his control, so he did not need to worry too much.

In the meantime, he had to devise a more advanced ruling system that would not repeat the colonial policies that had failed in Europe.

He would make sure that his successors followed his policy so that they would not be swept away by the singularity of the era.

The End