Chapter 44: catching up
well guys, for now in advance I guarantee you 3 chapters a week of 2k words, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, I will be uploading more chapters as well, I just commit to 3 a week even if I upload more than 3.
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Friedrich Wilhelm POV
My arrival at the port was discreet, but many of the high ranking members of my administration were waiting for me at the port to greet me, one never knows how the city changes when one was outside, one of my favorite pastimes is to control the construction and plan the expansion of Neu Danzig, but with almost 2 moons away on business I could see the city had changed quite a bit the fortress area was close to being completed and very soon we would begin to expand the city outside the walls.
When my ship arrived at the port we quickly set up a portable bridge to allow me to descend and step on land, rocking in the sea is not very comfortable to sleep on, so sleeping in my bed again will be well appreciated.
Many officers were waiting for my return, among them Friedrich von Roon.
''my king, I am glad you are back, your absence was very noticeable to everyone'' said Friedrich while holding a proud pose holding the pommel of his sword and placing a hand over his heart.
''yes I too am glad to be back, I need you to quickly organize a force to unload the holds of the ships I brought ice from the north, we can make a great profit, if we manage to sell it before it melts, are the prison dungeons empty?'', I said while pointing to the ships
''yes sir, our prisons are empty there is almost no law breaking in the city, what do you need it for?'', asked von Roon
''There we will store the ice temporarily, since being underground they will have better insulation and the ice will last longer, we will have to build specialized buildings to store the ice, so contact the bars that the wealthier men frequent and offer to sell them ice to cool the drinks, any price you get is good, for the fact that we got it for free in the north'' I said as I walk to the fortress
''yes my king I will do as you ordered, you call the dock workers to concentrate only on these ships, the rest don't matter, any luck with the business with the north?'', said the diligent Friedrich von Roon
''everything went according to plan, we managed to sell at a good price the wheat to the North men in fact, they were euphoric with the proposal, also I negotiated with the Glovers a separate treaty, we got enclaves in the North where we will be able to work the logs and send the prefabricated parts to the arsenal, the North men just became very dependent on our grain and above all our protection, from now on, we are the protectors of the Glovers and Ryswell's security, since we have enclaves in the area'' I said looking at the clock tower
''the iron born are very active in those waters, so we can take advantage and train with real experience the sailors we are hiring to establish a naval force in a position to dominate the region''I said as I continued walking
''I see my king, how many ships will we dedicate to the protection of the convoys going north, with the recent expansion of the merchant navy we are a bit short of competent seamen'' said Friedrich von Roon
''I had in mind about 40 galleys of the 300 ton models for escort and 10 galleons to transport the materials, we will have to coordinate the merchants who are interested to travel with us, so we can offer maximum protection from the iron born attacks'' I said looking at Friedrich von Roon.
''understood my king, I will see to it our new admiral takes care of the preparations for the new trade route'' said Friedrich von Roon with a serene tone.
''I need you to introduce him to me, as we will start very soon with the trip to the summer islands, to buy spices and return'' I said as we crossed the second wall.
''sure, he is anxious about his future mission'' said Friedrich von Roon, nodding.
''anything I should know?'', I said asking
''yes a lot has happened during his absence, Lord Tarly agreed to change his feudal contract to a Prussian vassalage contract, he is completely willing to join our administration, only he does not wish to convert to Protestantism'' said Friedrich von Roon.
''don't let lothar listen to you, luckily there are not so many fanatics after lothar took them to essos, go ahead with the report'' I said laughing
''ha, ha, ha, ha right without lothar, religious affairs are very quiet, I have been meeting with almost all the important merchants in the city, and we have raised a generous amount for the expedition to the south,18 million golden dragons between merchants, nobles and lord Tarly, the business you had financed with the watchmaker has paid off my king the merchants are buying them like crazy, a watch is now worth its weight in gold'' said Friedrich von Roon as he handed me a watch.
''That's better than I thought, great, more income to solve our deficit'' I said looking at the time on the watch.
''yes I too am surprised this watch is a wonderful thing, the missions of Charles and the diplomat we sent to negotiate with the rainwood lords were a resounding success, especially Charles' mission, I don't know how he did it, but he got King Robert to give him the rights to cut trees in kingswood without any restrictions we can cut as many trees as we can, plus we got a very lucrative deal with the crown to make 150 ton war galleys and lord cafferen agreed to let us use his land to ship the logs down the river'' said Friedrich von Roon with a cheerful tone.
''I told you King Robert has a soft spot for Charles, he is still a person who loves to hear war stories and who better than Charles has served my family for decades, he must have more battles than many Teutonic knights'' I said as we entered the fortress.
''no doubt about it my king, well, with that, I leave my report regarding the administration regarding the information about the southern lords, you can confirm it with Aleksanteri who is in his quarters, I think he is milking his snakes'' said a bit annoyed Friedrich von Roon.
''thank you, Friedrich, you did a great job, I'll take care later to organize everything else'' I said as I went to see Aleksanteri.
Arriving at one of the most illuminated places of the fortress you could find Aleksanteri's quarters, a greenhouse he has built, this is where he keeps his collection of poisonous animals and where he also breeds insects to feed them.
i knock the door and enter
Aleksanteri was holding a snake by the head while extracting venom from the snake and slowly turned to look at me.
''my king how nice to see you again, I thought you would stay living in the north, since you said you would be at most one moon'' said Aleksanteri smiling
''Northern traditions, they kept me waiting for almost 20 days just to confirm if they accepted the deal'' I said looking around.
''Wow nobles and their traditions I never understand them, to what do I owe your visit my king or did you come to observe my ''humble'' collection of cute creatures'' said Aleksanteri showing me several vivariums Aleksanteri and the Finns carry around.
''information about what happened in my absence'' I said in a calm manner.
''well let's see, don't be scared it doesn't bite, besides I already have resistance to the venom of this one'' said Aleksanteri seeing me as I reacted when he put snake on his neck
''mhhh, Robert is still doing his thing, parties, eating, drinking and whores many whores, Renly Baratheon is starting to rule like his brother he likes to party, Dorne is quiet, the lion has made no moves, the valley is still suffering from his barbarians living in the mountains, the Tully's have done nothing the lord's son likes to party, the north well you could tell me much better what is going on there and the iron islands are preparing for something according to the merchants who dare to go to those islands the pirates are bartering iron and tin for materials to build ships and weapons'' Aleksanteri said while playing with the snake
''about our territories, the rebellion is finally dead I personally took care of the last leader of the rebellion, there is no resistance anymore, your rule is absolute no one openly opposes, Tarly was controlled by von Roon and Tarly is very happy with the situation for the moment, the Florent are still trying to get help to push for their claim, but no one lends them an ear, the Hightower's are considering changing who they support and wish to join the winning side are considering offering you a daughter in marriage, the tyrell's and the Redwyne's are thinking of offering you mace's 2 year old daughter in marriage and the lesser houses are heavily in debt and wish to live in peace with you''Aleksanteri said as he began to feed his frogs.
''I see, I want to hear your advice on how to proceed with this delicate matter'' I said as I scratched my nose.
''you want the opinion of a commoner?'', Aleksanteri said, raising his eyebrows.
''you are the person I trust the most, you are not blinded by honor, and you have a critical mind, so tell me what you think about my marriage'' I said with a serious tone
''von Roon says a good vassal should never interfere in personal matters of his monarch'' said Aleksanteri with a sad voice.
''but who listens to that idiot, I would recommend the tyrell girl, the Hightower woman is a spoiled conceited brat she will be a constant pain in the ass and I have not seen a better candidate in other places, or they are just as young as the tyrell, or we have that culture problem with the Dornish, they are very libertine the time I spent there I did not get a very good impression of how their nobles behave, so I would not recommend a wife from that area, if you don't want to have problems with mistresses, the tyrell girl, on the other hand, can educate you with the Prussian values that your nobles like so much and would guarantee that they won't try to oppose your marriage plus you would be available for any decent opportunity as a powerful widow or another newborn girl heir to titles'' said Aleksanteri
''I see, thank you very much for your advice I will keep it in mind, what do they feed your reptiles that worm looks familiar'' i said doubtfully
''these?, I got it from the Ottoman Turks when we were campaigning against the Russians, when one of the Sultan's sons offered me a reward and I needed food for our poison frogs, they called it ipekböceği or something like that my Turkish is a bit rusty'' said Aleksanteri raising his shoulders
''damn son of a bitch they are silkworms, why the hell didn't you tell me you had that, silk is extremely expensive''I said angrily.
''oh, that explains a lot, I didn't pay attention to them, I only bred them because they were easy to breed, and my reptiles love them'' said Aleksanteri with an innocent face.
''me desperately looking for funds, and you had a gold mine hidden here'' I said annoyed.
''I didn't know that, I never pay attention to food, but if you want them, they are yours'' said Aleksanteri scratching his chin.
''well teach someone to take care of them or send me someone who already knows how to generate the whole life cycle of these worms, we must start to reproduce them, so we can produce our own silk'' I said as I prepared to leave
''you must plant many trees that worms eat they have a voracious appetite, so you must also find an area to plant many trees'' said Aleksanteri as I was about to leave
''Understood, I'll take care of the administrative issues, you go on with your business'' I said as I was leaving the greenhouse.
Finally, I arrived at my room, where there were many books waiting for me to review.
Damn Aleksanteri is so smart when he wants to, he can't tell the difference between worms, but he can tell me the difference of all his damn snakes or any poisonous animals
Started going through all the books that Friedrich von Roon organized, they were well very well worked, so the regent was not lazy while I was away, I checked our monetary balances and it seemed that everything was in order
I began to plan the funds for the new fleets that should guard the northern seas and secure our import routes for raw materials.
After 3 hours of work, I had completed all my work.
Now it only remained to meet the admiral of the expedition and start the spice trade and get the cocoa beans to make chocolate.
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