16th July 1574
As devastating this realisation was, there was no way for to confirm this. After all, it was nothing more than just a hunch! Yet with that notion at the back of my mind, I had to make sure that all the movents I would make would be aid at soone no less than a potent enemy!
"Hey, Jan, can you co on board for a mont? Or no, can we have a talk sowhere where both your and my people will see the two of us, but won't be able to hear what we will be talking about?"
Rather than trying to convince everyone that I wasn't the traitor that they took to be, it would be far more efficient to just talk this through with Jan in a calm and composed manner. In the end, I wasn't even sure if it would be a good idea to clean my na so soon, as long as I could get him to protect my lands and pass the ssage to my workers to ramp up the weapons production!
"What, you want to have a duel? If that's your intention, then be my guest! n, move away!"
Seeing how either he greatly misunderstood my intentions or was witty enough to comprehend them perfectly, I could only smile as I turned on my feet to my n.
"Bring us closer to the shore."
Even though swimming those fewteen ters that separated us from the land wouldn't be a challenge for , if anything were to go wrong, swimming back would be the real problem, especially under constant fire of Jan's troops!
Seeing how the paddlers of the boat once again started moving in the proper direction, I waited for a mont for the ship to reach as close to the land as it could without risking any damage to its hull. Only when sailors finally reversed the engine to lose the montum did I gather my wits and jumped from the ship directly into the water.
Just a mont later, I finally reached the dry land, instantly turning it wet from all the water that was flowing down from my body and clothes to the ground.
"Okay then, what did you want to speak about?"
Clearly trying to ignore the fact that I was still soaked with water, Jan didn't bother himself with offering any sort of blanket or anything like that. After all, no matter what he said, he still most likely considered to have sothing to do with treason, even if the officially given cause was nothing short of bullshit.
"First thing first, we can't clear my na yet. Rather than that, you need to help build the legend of my exploits and make the worst, demonic traitor that ever existed to date. While I will go and lift the siege of Tarnow myself, I will leave it in your hands to keep it safe from those Ostros bastards."
Considering how Jan was surprised by my ntions of the east, I could only assu that telling him to only reinforce the rumours about being a traitor where my deanour clearly hinted that I wasn't one would make him listen closely to my next words.
"As for my own moves, I will gather all my troops from the mining town and go help the Tarnow. After that, I should have the proper confirmation whether the Russian invasion is true or just another plot that soone was trying to sche. Yet just in case that my worries are true, and Zaomyski family is not trying to push into a corner for so strange reason, then I will need you to lead the punitive army aid at taking down to the east."
Word by word, I finally reached the huge reveal. Considering how tense the situation was already, only adding the fuel to the fire by hinting at the invasion without actually explaining it could be considered a risky move, yet I still decided to go with it!
And I didn't have to wait for the results of my daring approach for long!
"Invasion?!"
Shouting out loud, Jan instantly collected himself upon realising that if anyone were to get a hold of that news, the entirety of my plan would instantly go down the drain.
"Invasion? Russian one at that? Is that the reason why you were so troubled back on the ship?"
Finally catching up to the speed, Jan looked as if he just swallowed sothing sour. In fact, I could understand why he looked like this. No matter what, in the past as far as one could rember, the rivalry between Muscovites and Commonwealth, sparked by their shared claim to the Russian part of the Grand Princedom of Lithuania, kept going. Even if most of the ti Commonwealth managed to keep its ground, it didn't an that the wars with its eastern neighbour weren't exhausting.
"It's not just an invasion. Here, read this. It's a latter I was tasked by Kristina from Zamosc to pass on to the capital."
As I passed this barely holding together piece of paper to the governor's hands, I could see how just this fact alone forced the expression on his face to change drastically.
"So you went to visit Zamoyski family recently? What for?"
Despite clearly glancing over the letter, Jan was still more interesting with an irrelevant detail of my story. Yet considering my current position and how much I had to rely on his silent support to save both my own lands and the country at a whole, I didn't have any way to voice my protest.
"If you were to visit the mining area's now, you would realise that the treeline that initially reached the buildings Is now barely visible from the middle of the arena. Heck, that was the case when I went there the last ti! As most of the wood is used to create charcoal, if we keep going like that, this furniture manufactory of mine won't get any wood for itself. That's why, I had to find a way to obtain another resource that those lands lack, that could replace charcoal as the main fuel for the economy."
This was never supposed to be a secret. While coal was already well-known fire fuel in the world, it never reached the level of common usage anywhere else than in England. That's why, revealing that I was intending to use it as the proper fuel rather than relying on charcoal was not sothing that would give any form of an advantage other than the fact that being the first to start producing it when everyone else would catch up to the level of steam horses, they would have to rely on !
"Wait, I don't get this. If you are looking for an alternate source of fuel to wood and charcoal, wouldn't it be only harder to get it all the way from Zamoyski family lands? Even if they have that coal or sothing, just the costs of bringing it to the mining town would be far more than enough to hire more people to just bring more and more wood!"
Hearing Jan's words, I couldn't help but smile. As great of a man and administrator he was, he couldn't comprehend the basic principle of industrialization. It was true that I could just gnash my teeth and start hiring even more people just to obtain enough wood to supply all my projects. It was also true that it would be far cheaper than setting a carriage route, not to speak about creating the world's first train line. Yet there was one, a single advantage that coal had over those falsely cheaper options.
"You see, after putting the initial investnt in coal, it will cost nearly nothing to obtain it. That's why, rather than constantly paying more and more only to bring wood to the place where it's needed, I will build a steam horse-based vehicle that will connect the iron mining site with coal mining site, allowing for a free and quick flow of the resources between those two!"
So people said that it wasn't the firearms or nurical advantage that allowed the whites to conquer entire northern Arica, but the existence of train. It was their ability to move n and resources through the vast distances of land in a quick manner that proved to be a deciding factor in regards to settling that continent!
And just a single look at the map of Commonwealth would prove that its situation was almost exactly the sa. If not for this invasion happening right now, if only I would get enough ti to create just a few train lines that would connect the furthest ends of the country with each other, then no army and no country would be capable of ever posing any threat to this land!
"I'm not gonna lie, you already bought with that steam horse-powered vehicle. Seeing how insane effects it can bring with simple machines, I don't even want to imagine what you would be capable of creating in terms of logistic But rather than that, now I'm finally certain that those rumours about your treason were just a bunch of lies. Yet, as much as I would love to believe in you myself, I need sothing that will allow to convince other great nobles. Could you maybe draw the blueprint of that steam-powered vehicle for ? With my word and your contribution, no one would dare to claim you went against the will of the country!"
Watching how the Governor's face changed as he spoke was truly an amazing experience. Whenever he would finish his sentence, his voice would turn louder along with his excitent, only to be toned down as soon as he realised that he should prevent others from hearing him.
"Yeah, just bring a piece of paper and sothing to write and I will do it in a mont. Just keep in mind, I can only produce a rough draft as there are still a lot of details to fix. But let ask this, why do you need said proof in the first place? Wouldn't it be better to just bait everyone by dangling my treason in front of their eyes?"
As much as it irked to be branded a traitor, as long as I could use this to not only save my own lands but also the country as a whole, I didn't mind sticking with it for a few more days, weeks or even months!
"No. While I won't tell a word about your plan to normal nobles or Ostros, if we want to bring a real force to the east, we need the help of other magnates. And you should know better what it ans to antagonise them!"
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