Otherworld Nation Founding Chronicles

Chapter 141 - Economic Reform 3

“Hey, Julia, Tetra. Should I cultivate hemp and poppies?”

I called them and asked.

Both of them are magicians.

Drug experts.

“Isn’t it good? I agree with it? It’s profitable, and it’s good if it’s exported overseas.”

“…It’s detestable to use such drugs.”

Julia seems to agree and Tetra doesn’t seem to agree with it.

Hmm…

In fact, there is nothing that would be detrimental to having a drug monopoly.

Cultivation and resale of narcotics in my country is strictly prohibited, and as a result, the narcotics epidemic can be stopped.

There is an advantage that the magicians can be stably supplied with high quality drugs and there’s the advantage of my country being able to limit them.

And above all, it is profitable.

Hemp is especially very useful.

It grows fast and is resistant to diseases.

It grows easily without pesticides or fertilizers.

In fact, it is rich in nutrients, the leaves become fibers, and the roots are useful for soil improvement.

In fact, in Japan, cultivation was encouraged after World War II and before the hemp Control Law was enacted.

Especially in Hokkaido, cultivation is flourishing, and even now, you can find wild hemp growing.

Hemp is less toxic in the first place.

Therefore, there was a tendency to lift the ban on the earth.

By the way, hemp consumes a large amount of carbon dioxide when it grows, so it also helps prevent global warming. Though that doesn’t matter much in this world.

There are only advantages.

Even then I’m worrying…

Because it would be a difference from the ethics of my previous life.

Again, the ethics of modern Japan do not apply to this world today.

“Let’s make a monopoly on it. From now on hemp and poppy cultivation in my country will be prohibited except for the royal family.”

Hemp and poppy will be cultivated at a ratio of about 5:1.

Hemp and poppies that are processed into narcotics are sold only to foreign merchants licensed by the country and domestic magicians.

Resale in my country will be strictly prohibited.

In addition to narcotics, hemp has an important use as fiber.

80% of the cultivated hemp will go to the textile industry.

This would be a good way to sell hemp to craftsmen at a fixed price.

“We should be able to make a lot of money with this…”

I feel like I’ve done something unpleasant as a human being.

…Though it’s too late to say that.

“Ron, Roswald, Gram. It’s good you came.”

After deciding to monopolize cannabis and poppies, I called these three.

The three kneeled and bowed their heads.

“”Your Majesty!!!””

“Recently, everyone has started calling me ‘Your Majesty’.”

I had a bitter smile.

They are laughing too.

The three are pleased that my authority has become solid.

“So what do you want, Leader?”

Ron asked.

“Well, to put it bluntly… I will take down the heavy infantry and light infantry of the guards. From now on, the guards will only be the cavalry… In short, Roswald will become the chief of the guards.”

It is the cavalry that decides the future wars.

Heavy infantry and light infantry can be handled well by conscripted soldiers, but cavalry is not possible.

And it costs money to maintain the cavalry.

There is no money to spend on maintaining heavy or light infantry.

“In other words, are we fired?”

I nodded and answered Gram’s question.

“Fired… or rather, I’m thinking of getting you to play a different role.”

Until now, the products that my country has monopolized were salt, distilled liquor, and paper.

Of these, salt can only be produced from the salt mine, and only I know how to make distilled liquor and paper.

Therefore, it was impossible to smuggle them.

However, cannabis and poppies are different.

Just get the seeds and grow them.

After that, if you find a magician for it, you can process them into drugs.

Smuggling can be done easily.

Smuggling of narcotics can be a financial resource for crime organizations, and it makes monopolizing on them meaningless.

This must be prevented at all costs.

Therefore, a strict crackdown is required.

At the same time, they will find domestic spies out.

Police… Rather, it’s closer to the public security police.

“It’s a behind-the-scenes but important job. It’s only for those I can really trust. So I want to leave it to you. Roswald will lead the cavalry, so either Ron or Gram will… ”

Ron nodded quietly.

“Then I’ll do it, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you. Please do not hesitate to tell us the budget and human resources you need. Be as flexible as possible.”

I turned my eyes to Gram.

Gram looks straight at me.

“What should I do then?”

“I want to ask you to reclaim the Romalia Forest.”

I will explain to Gram the plan to cultivate the Romalia Forest.

“After all, the person in charge of the Romalia Forest has to be an acquaintance of Griffon, and I think it is good to have someone close to him. So I would like to ask you to do it.”

“Okay, do you want to create a village and connect it by road?”

“That’s right… If you have something you need, don’t hesitate to tell me.”

With this, the person in charge of drug crackdown, anti-spy measures, and Romalia’s forest reclamation plan has been decided.

“Your Majesty. How much will you increase the cavalry by?”

Roswald raised his hand and asked me a question.

“Well, I’m going to increase as much as I can…”

The standing army costs money.

Especially cavalry are gold eaters.

Is a thousand the limit?

I think it will change depending on the growth of national power.

“For the time being, I’m thinking of doubling it to 600. I’m going to secure horses from the Equus tribe.”

I’ll barter with them using ironware.

The profit margin is higher and it’s more convenient than purchasing from Creatians.

“I understand. I’ll do my best and train the cavalry!!”

Roswald rolled his arms.

If you put too much energy into it, it won’t be as good, so be moderate.

“How are you doing, Your Majesty?”

“Well, I’m not doing horribly bad. Financial reforms are underway… By the way, it’s unusual for you to ask for a visit.”

Bartolo wanted to talk to me and came yesterday.

I was busy talking with Ron and others yesterday, so I had him stay for a day…

“Your Majesty. How are you going to confiscate the land of the powerful families?”

“I didn’t talk about it to you at all… you are rather perceptive.”

“Didn’t you insinuate it on the battlefield?”

Well, that’s also the case.

Bartolo is a clan that is neither connected to the Rosyth clan, the Ars clan, nor the Debell clan.

I was thinking of talking about the plan only after the Rosyth clan had been persuaded.

“I’m in the middle of negotiations with the Rosyth clan. Once that’s done, I’ll try to cut down the Debell clan. I think it’s going to be easy because the Debell clan is in financial distress. After that, I’ll deal with the tribes that do not belong to any powerful families like yours.”

And finally, the Ars clan.

The Ars clan is the winner of the previous civil war, so they are doing great financially.

Persuading the Ars clan would be extremely difficult.

It may be a good idea to prepare for a civil war.

“How much time do you plan to spend?

“I’m thinking of roughly three years? I think that’s enough. By the way, did you come to talk about that?”

Bartolo shook his head.

“No. Actually, I was thinking of reforming the military system.”

Military reform?

Regarding that, I called Ron and others yesterday to strengthen the cavalry…

“This is a more fundamental reform. Please read this for the time being.”

Bartolo submitted a written opinion on paper to me.

It is well organized.

As expected, he’s not just an alcoholic father.

Bartolo’s proposal was the following three.

One, divide the people into six equal parts according to property, occupation, and age, and determine the role of conscription.

Commercial workers, landowners, sons of powerful tribes… will be the cavalry.

Self-made farmers (young people)… will be the front row of heavy infantry.

Self-made farmers (middle-aged, skilled)… will be the middle row of heavy infantry.

Self-made farmers (old soldiers)… will be the back row of heavy infantry.

Tenant farmers… will be light infantry (javelins, archers).

Citizens with no land and unemployed people… will do reconnaissance and be stone throwers.

The army of King Rosyth’s country is made up of conscription.

In general, people purchase their own weapons.

Therefore, it is profitable to divide them by their assets.

It is also good to make a framework for the cavalry.

Two, conscription is done on a regional basis. They’ll be trained four times a month.

Until now, small and medium-sized powerful families had feudal control over each area, so it would have been better to leave the drafting to them.

However, as a result of the extension of the kingship, the number of powerful tribes has decreased.

There is an urgent need to build a new conscription system.

It is also good to train four times a month.

Their quality can be maintained.

I see.

It certainly seems better to reform like this.

After all, I’m not suitable for the military.

I wasn’t inclined to deal with military affairs until Bartolo’s proposal.

Well, so far it’s good.

The third problem is.

Three, tactical changes.

I want you to explain this to me in detail.

“Your Majesty. Until now, our army’s tactics have been phalanx assaults. However, flanking maneuvers by my Echelon formation and His Majesty’s cavalry are changing the tactics. It’s a way of fighting using mobility over power. ”

Phalanx’s weakness is its side.

Phalanx is very fragile when attacked on the side and collapses in a blink of an eye.

We have always exploited that weakness…

“Phalanx so far doesn’t fit our tactics. It is inflexible. And we don’t necessarily have to be vulnerable to our enemies. Countries should have recognized the importance of cavalry in previous battles.”

Hmm… continue.

“The weakness of Phalanx was also highlighted in the battle with the Kingdom of Rozel. Once broken, the formation could not be rebuilt. On the contrary, the army of the Kingdom of Rozel did not collapse. It had excellent flexibility.”

Certainly, the army of the Kingdom of Rozel was very different from my country.

Their weapons were longswords, and there was a large distance between their units.

I think their resistance to flanking maneuvers was also strong.

I thought it was because of General Curio’s command, but… is it a difference in tactics instead?

“What do you mean specifically?”

When he heard that, Bartolo smiled as if he had been waiting for it.

“Up until now, our army has been divided into ten, one hundred, and one thousand people, but this is inflexible, so let’s change to ten, one hundred, five hundred, and one thousand and five hundred instead. Divided into units, the basic unit is a unit of 500 people.

Let’s put a wide gap between each 500-person unit. Doing so gives the army flexibility. If the problem is that the army can get punctured, we can deal with it using flexibility.

If the unit is damaged, it will be quickly replaced with the rear unit. Doing so will allow for continuous combat.

The question is whether the soldiers will move according to the tactics, but this will be solved by training four times a month. On top of that, we will strengthen the authority of the centurions.”

It’s very specific.

It may not be bad.

“And from here on, the important part is… Soldiers using spears spoil the flexibility of the formation. So we need to switch to swords. The main weapons are a javelin, a shield, and a sword. We can use the Rozel kingdom’s sword as reference for our sword design.”

The main armament should be a sword…?

This is a famous story, but in a war, the longer the reach of the weapon, the better.

It is a famous story that Oda Nobunaga gave his soldiers a long spear.

The protagonist of a war is the spear.

However, Bartolo is well aware of that.

On top of that, he proposes to change to a longsword.

Are you alright?

Is it possible to unexpectedly block the enemy’s spear because they will have shields?

…Is it okay to change it so much?

However, I understand that something needs to be changed…

That’s right…

“Let’s go with this. Do you remember the land in the south that was cut in the previous war? I will transfer you to the land that is adjacent to that place. The population will be around 20,000. You’ll have around 3,000 soldiers. You can train them freely. And fight several skirmishes there to see if your theory is correct. ”

Bartolo bitterly smiled at my suggestion.

“Are you sure you want to give me such a vast territory and soldiers?”

“The territory will be confiscated at the end, so it’s not a problem.”

“Right, I should’ve known that was the case. Well, it’s enough if I get to have a war. I don’t want to deal with politics because it’s troublesome so I’d rather have a war.”

Bartolo bitterly smiled.

“As for soldiers, I trust you. But… please report the number and condition of soldiers in detail.”

“…Your Majesty… Thank you. For me… because I don’t want to deal with politics, please send a deputy. I want to devote myself only to the training of the army.”

Well, if that’s the case

Let’s select an appropriate person from the Rosyth clan and dispatch them.

They just lost their jobs after all.

“If you’re going to do it, do it perfectly. Is that okay?”

“I know, Your Majesty. I will make you the strongest army in the world.”

The tactics that Bartolo created later, although the details have changed, have been active as a winning tactic for the Romalia Empire for about 500 years, and the Romalia Imperial Army will overwhelm the western world with this tactic…

Though that was a little bit in the future.