The Sword of Jupiter (Imperium #1) - Chapter 20

The sun was streaming in through the slats in the window shutters of his room. Romans didn’t have glass, except for opaque glass used in mosaics, so any opening tended to have shutters that kept birds and other things from flying in while still allowing fresh air through. Having lived nearly his entire life on recycled air, Ky had never thought much about the air around him before being stranded in the far past. He found it strange the surge of positive feelings he got just from taking a deep breath of the air around him.

Of course, once out on the street, those smells weren’t always pleasing, but when not breathing in the odors of others, the smell of just the air was a strange new discovery.

A knock on the door pulled Ky from his thoughts. Stretching, he went to the door and found Carus on the other side, which was a surprise. Carus headed the evening watch and should have handed the detail over hours ago.

“Consul, if I might have a moment.”

Ky stepped aside, letting him into the room and shutting the door behind him.

“I wanted to give you an update on the men I’ve been getting in place for our information update. So far, I’ve managed to get quite a few paid informants on the books here and several of the larger towns up north, as well as trained operatives in the households of some of the more notable men here in Devnum itself.”

“What do the trained men provide that you don’t get from the paid informants? Instead of having someone go through the effort of working their way up in someone's household or on their staff, wouldn’t it be easier to just pay off someone in one of those positions already to gather information for you?”

“No. A paid informant has some limitations and some dangers associated with them. First, there’s the danger that your offer to pay that person to inform on their masters could be relayed to your target, letting them know you’re investigating them. Paid informants are better in general positions, where you aren’t asking them to provide information on a specific person, but finding someone in a position where they might hear something useful and asking them to tell us if they hear anything. That way, there’s no one specific target to tip-off.”

“The second reason is that a trained agent does more than just watch for information that might pass in front of them. They actively look for information on their own, which requires its own set of skills, especially if you don’t want the asset caught.”

“You have some of both in place now?”

“Yes. We’ve started building a network of informers among clerks, physicians, soldiers, and so on. Our placed agents are much fewer, and most of those have not made it into positions where they will have any significant access yet. That is unfortunate, but expected since it takes time to get a man in place without making the people we are watching suspicious.”

“I understand, and I’m impressed you’ve been able to do as much as you have in such a short time.”

“A lot of these were contacts I already had, and we’ve piggy-backed off of Ramirez's operation, at least as far as our informer network. I am getting in place some of our own, independent informers, but that’s taking more time.”

“Still, you should be commended on a job well done.”

“Thank you, although that is not why I’m here. I wanted you to understand that our network had already started to fall into place so you took my next piece of information seriously.”

“Which is?”

“We’ve started getting reports of an active conspiracy against the Emperor among some of the more wealthy members of Rome. There are even hints that some senators are involved. This isn’t limited to just Devnum, either. We believe this conspiracy extends out into several other major towns in the empire. Right now, it mostly seems to be in the form of money being moved around into known provocateurs, but we believe it goes deeper than that. There is some indication that money is going to legates as well.”

“They’re paying military commanders? For what?”

“We don’t know. We don’t even know who is being paid, nor are we positive that anyone is being paid. Right now, that part is little more than a rumor. All we do know is that large sums of money are being sent out without any indication of where that money is ending up.”

“Can we stop it? If we know the men paying for this conspiracy, shouldn’t we arrest them?”

“We think there are more wealthy men we don’t know about, yet. If we arrest those we do know about, we’ll most likely force them to be more careful in their activities. Right now, we are trying to put men in positions with those conspirators we are aware of, in hopes of being able to track their co-conspirators. For now, I believe it is best to leave everyone where they are.”

“If you think that's best, then fine. We need to concentrate on the military commanders being paid off. A conspiracy of just wealthy men is a benign threat. If they have soldiers at their command, it becomes very real. Right now, we need every sword we can get to fight off the invasion that you and Ramirez believe is coming in the spring. The last thing we can afford is to lose some of those soldiers in a civil conflict.”

“I agree, and that is our focus right now.”

“Good. It sounds like you have everything well in hand. Let me know if we learn anything new about this conspiracy.”

“I also wanted to point out that this conspiracy seems to have been in place before your arrival and doesn’t look to be a recent addition. I don’t have proof yet, but I believe they might have been the ones behind the Emperor’s poisoning.”

“Maybe. That is, of course, important to find out; but what has happened isn’t something we can change. Better to stop unrest in the future than searching for revenge for the Emperor. If we unravel this conspiracy, all of its secrets will eventually come out anyway, won’t it?”

“Yes, Consul, and we are focusing on current threats, of course. I just thought I should let you know.”

“Thank you, Carus. You’re doing excellent work.”

Carus bowed and showed himself out. Ky had a long day ahead of himself; including the first of the conversations with senatorial blocks, and a gathering of mechanics and blacksmiths. The blacksmith meeting was particularly important, considering the need for new types of arms that Ky would be introducing.

All that was pushed from his mind as he contemplated the problem of an actual military uprising against the government. It wasn’t something that had happened in his timeline, for more than a century! He was unsure of how to deal with it, but it was something he would need to begin planning for. If the threat were real, it could mean the end of everything he was working towards.

Ky followed Carus out of the palace, where he met Taenaris, the primary senator from the imperial faction. The aged legislator arranged a gathering of senators who controlled the northern districts along the border with the Picts.

“Good morning, Consul,” Taenaris said, dipping his head slightly.

“Senator,” Ky responded.

“It has not gone unnoticed that all of your discussions recently have taken place in the imperial palace. I think it is important that we position you as a power separate from the Emperor, allowing us the leverage of his support if needed. If you are seen as just a functionary, timely words from the Emperor would have a lessened impact, since your words will have already been interpreted as coming from the Emperor.”

“If you think that’s best. I’m a soldier, not a politician, and will have to trust your sense when it comes to things like this.”

“Good. I’ve arranged for us to meet at the home of Flavius Visellius Opilio. He owns a series of mines along the border and is essentially the leader of the northern faction.”

“If we convince him, will others follow?”

“Probably. Of all of the factions, the northern districts are the least unified. The men who run that region are the furthest from Devnum and tend to be more independent-minded than senators closer to the base of imperial power. Or maybe it’s just the miner in them.”

Taenaris lead Ky through the winding streets of Devnum to an impressive Villa on the northern end of town. A slave met them at the door and took them to an open area with low resting chairs laid out roughly in a circle. A man nearly as old as Taenaris rose and greeted them as they entered the room.

“Taenaris, I was surprised to hear from the Emperor’s favorite. You had good timing. Most of my colleges were planning trips back north when your messenger reached us.”

“It wasn’t luck. You lot always head north for a final visit to your lands before the freeze sets in.”

“Do you blame us? In a month, it will be unbearable. Devnum isn’t much warmer, but this close to the sea the ground at least isn’t continually covered in ice.”

“Of course. I’d like for you to meet the Consul.”

“Ahh, the savior of Rome. We’ve heard interesting rumors about you.”

“Such as?” Ky asked.

“Such as telling the Emperor that we must change a thousand years of tradition on the governing of Rome.”

“Those aren’t rumors.”

A murmur rippled across the seated senators as Opilio’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“This should be interesting then. Please sit and tell us why you believe Rome has been governing itself wrong all these years.”

“Don’t misunderstand me,” Ky said as he lowered himself into one of the lounging couches he still found strange. “I am not saying your traditions are bad. Rome has stood for a long time, which is a testament to the strength of the Roman system. I do believe you are on the brink, though. If something doesn’t happen soon, there will be no more Rome to follow your traditions.”

“We’ve survived this long. With your help, we defeated the Carthaginian army on the steps of this very city.”

“If I convince you of nothing else, I want you to understand that was a warning, not a victory. The Carthaginians did not believe Rome offered a significant threat, and dispatched but a portion of their forces here on Britannia to sweep you aside. That was not all of the Carthaginians on this island. It wasn’t even most of them. They were humiliated, but they won’t underestimate you a second time. They are planning to use Rome as an example for others who chose to stand against them. At this very moment, the Carthaginians are gathering strength. When the ground thaws, a horde will descend on your lands. You do not have enough soldiers to stop them if you do things as traditions suggest.”

“We have you here now, though. I’m confident that you will be able to lead our men to victory again.”

“Then you’re a fool.”

Opilio pushed himself up, his face flushing in anger.

“With the forces Rome has now, that is not possible,” Ky said, talking over whatever the Roman was planning on saying in his defense. “Even if every legion Rome has is in the field, Rome will still fall.”

“So we’re doomed, then? Why bother with any of this charade if you don’t think it will work?”

“No. I believe Rome has a chance, but it requires your entire civilization to rally to the effort. We will need every Roman if you are to survive.”

“What, you want us to all join the legions? Old men and young boys standing in the fields of battle. That is desperation.”

“Again, no. When I say we need all Romans, I mean we need all Romans to contribute to your survival. I am offering new technologies that will help give Rome enough of an edge to survive.”

“From what I heard, it goes beyond new technology,” one of the men still lounging on a couch said.

“You need to understand that new weapons and technologies don't just mean slight improvements to the ways things are now done, or magical devices delivered from the heavens. New weapons need new types of manufacturing to create them, which in turn needs new types of metals that can stand higher stresses and not break down. That, in turn, requires new factories and new ways of assembling your weapons. We need more than any skilled artisans can produce on their own, which means new ways to use labor more efficiently, which means changing labor-intensive areas to be more efficient, in order to free up that labor. Most importantly, all of this requires new ways of financing a massive explosion in technology.”

“We can appreciate that, but there is only so much we can do. We cannot bear the weight of all these changes.”

“You won’t! More importantly, you won’t be expected to provide more to the empire without getting more in return. Some of the new things I’m offering Rome include new ways of mining metals, and new metals to mine, as well as help finding new places with rich ore deposits. Beyond that, I will be able to teach you more efficient ways of smelting down your ore to get a greater yield out of all the new ore you’re able to dig out of the ground. You will be able to produce more with a smaller workforce, meaning more money for you.”

“Which won’t mean much if you convince the Emperor to take away our slaves,” Opilio said.

“I know that seems extreme now, but hopefully, in the next year, slaves will be completely unsuitable to work for you, especially in your smelting operations.”

“What do you mean?” another man said.

“As I introduce these new technologies, they will require a more specialized workforce. Eventually, you’ll find that most of your workers will need to know their numbers and how to read to perform their basic tasks. I know that sounds absurd to you now, but it’s true. When that happens, you’re not going to want slaves involved. In the long run, forced labor might be the cheapest option, but it’s also the most inefficient. With the technology you use now, that difference isn’t much. When we get most of the new ideas I’m going to be giving you in place, one worker will be able to produce five to ten times the product they can produce now.”

“Which would mean they make us more money than multiple slaves would make us,” Opilio said. “How can we be sure? The changes we are expected to make now are drastic, with the promises in the future. If they don’t pay off, we’ve destroyed ourselves.”

“That’s true, but imagine what happens to you if you refuse to change and your competitors take the risk? Even if you get the designs and ideas of everything I’m going to teach, you still won’t be able to get your slaves to keep up with your competitor's workers. Not unless you’re willing to educate them.”

Nearly every man in the chamber reacted viscerally to the idea of educating a slave. For every slave-owning society, one of the biggest dangers was in educating your slave population, since it nearly always led to unrest at best and often outright revolt.

“Besides, one of the benefits of taking on the new policies is that you will be allowed to receive business from the empire, while owners who chose to stick to their old ways will not. We won’t interfere with your private business, but consider how much the army and new municipal services the empire will be starting will need. True, you will be footing some of that bill in the form of new taxes, but you will also be getting a lot of those taxes back. Rearming the legions and arming the new legions we will need, requires a lot of iron.”

Taenaris had advised that the best way to talk to these men was through their pocketbooks. They weren’t ideologues. Their only real allegiance was to their own pockets. If they saw value in making changes, then they would support them.

“All I ask is that you consider this when hearing out the new laws that will begin coming before the senate. If you are unsure or worried about what you’re hearing, come ask me. I will try and explain why we’re making the argument we are making, and how it will benefit you. I know at first you have no real reason to trust me. Hopefully, you will see in the coming months that I stand by what I’m saying. Lying to you might win me the support of one bill, but it will lose me your future support. The changes we really need will take years to fully enact. Because one day, we won’t be fighting to hold onto Britannia. One day we will expand beyond that, reconquering Rome’s ancient lands and, eventually, taking the fight to the doors of Carthage itself. For that to happen, I need you to support me tomorrow, next week, and next year.”

“If we agree to take on the new technology, what would we be expected to do in return, other than vote on new laws?” Opilio asked.

“Very little. We would expect you to negotiate fairly on new government contracts for the new metals we will be ordering. We will also ask that you allow a clerk, supplied by the Emperor, to work with you at your forges.”

“Why? Do you think we need some kind of minder ensuring our loyalty?”

“Not at all. Beyond the actual technology, we will be introducing efficiencies in the way money is tracked and a new numbering system that will seem strange at first, but you’ll see how much easier it makes life, once it’s implemented.”

“I think you will find many of us will be skeptical of having someone under the Emperor’s employ in our foundries.”

“I can understand that. I believe, once you hear some of the things we are proposing, you’ll agree to take the risk.”

“We’ll see. Before we get to that, however, there is one thing we need you to agree to as well. It will go a long way to convincing me and my competitors that you are serious in your commitment to work with us.”

“What is that?”

“Even with the legions on the borders, we are continually harassed by the Northmen. We are raided, our men are slaughtered, and our facilities are ruined. The legates are satisfied with sitting in their camps and marching out only at the sign of large engagements. It may keep us from losing the territories, but it does nothing to stop the raids. We need you to come north and see if you can help stabilize the situation.”

Ky stopped to consider it. He had so much to do to get Rome ready to fight. New technologies to oversee, new training for the armies, and new laws that had to be passed. A trip north would take weeks at a minimum.

However, the Picts were a problem that needed to be addressed. Beyond the impact on mining operations, something that would become very important soon, it also occupied significant numbers of Roman forces. In the coming battle, he’d need every trained man Rome had, and having entire legions standing guard in the north while the Carthaginians marched from the south did him no good. He had to find a way to free up those men, leaving behind a token force to keep the peace.

“I can do that. It won’t be immediately. I still have to set a lot of things in motion here. New technologies sound wonderful, but Romans have to be the ones to actually produce everything, which will take time. I need to get those processes started before I disappear for several weeks to deal with the Picts.”

“We understand that, and we will be patient. Do not take too long, however. Our patience, and ultimately our support, will not last forever. Now tell us about these new technologies.”

It was well into the afternoon by the time he and Taenaris left the senators from the northern district faction. After Ky's agreeing to go north, the assembled men became much more engaged.

Three of the gathered senators refused to even consider the new taxes or accepting a clerk provided by the Emperor. They stormed out of the meeting, unwilling to entertain either Ky's or Taenaris’s arguments why the deal would be suitable for them in the long run. Ky had expected some of the assembled men to balk at their demands, but it worked out better than he had hoped. The men who had walked out owned some of the smaller concerns. All of the large mines and foundry owners stayed, which meant that if they could switch over to the new technologies, Rome would have the material it needed to arm its legions.

The bulk of the afternoon was taken up by describing the new foundries they would need to create to make higher-quality steel.

Ky had spent hours with the AI trying to figure out the best level of technology to introduce. Any of the steelmaking processes after the nineteenth century were out, since they would require the creation and rapid advancement of a chemical processing industry to create the additive chemicals used in twentieth-century and later steel making. The problem was, he needed steel basically as good as available during the industrial revolution, since it had the material strength to be used in more advanced machining. What they’d settled on was a series of steps up until they reached the new technologies, skipping most of the intermediate steps taken during the original invention of more modern steelmaking processes.

Step one was to move away from using bloomeries and instead have the Romans create blast furnaces. Ky would skip past the use of charcoal for heating the blast furnaces and instead have the furnaces powered by coke made from coal; which was both plentiful on the British Isles, and allowed for skipping the process of cutting down and burning trees.

The end result would produce a better quality iron, which would produce slightly better quality steel when worked by the blacksmiths. At a later point, Ky would take the Romans to step two, and introduce the Bessemer process, which would allow them to begin mass producing steel.

It wouldn’t help with their current situation, but by the time they were ready to take the fight to the Carthaginians, Ky hoped they would have the industrial base needed to produce large quantities of good quality steel.

It was agreed that two of the largest foundries would begin altering their overall layout and each construct a blast furnace. Ky promised them loans from the Emperor to help offset the costs of construction, and promised them documents and diagrams, along with a clerk trained in the new numbers, to help interpret the calculations they would need.

Taenaris turned to head back to his villa, back towards the imperial complex. He’d been a big help in explaining the intricacies of how some of the new laws might work. While Ky had told them what he needed, even with the help of the AI, he wasn’t knowledgeable enough to help in the actual construction of Roman laws. The process had become even more Byzantine than the records showed as being possible, thanks to the changes in how the Emperor functioned in this reality. He had to leave it to the Emperor’s functionaries and their allied senators to do the actual work of writing laws that would ultimately complete what Ky needed done.

Taenaris, even with his drive and stoic personality, had started to flag by the time they left the senators. He was an old man and needed his rest before returning to the senate tomorrow to continue drafting the necessary legislation.

Ky’s next stop was a meeting arranged by Hortensius with the largest blacksmiths in Devnum. They had agreed to meet at Hortensius’s forge, which was the largest of Rome's forges, and was closer to a factory than what some might think of as a blacksmiths forge.

Unlike his previous meeting with the senators, this was much less contentious, since he was essentially sharing information with the smiths, which would make them more money, rather than demanding concessions. They started by giving him a tour of the building, which consisted mostly of stations where workers would create blades or plows or whatever was ordered from bar stock delivered from the foundries up north.

The bar stock was essentially pure mined metal, smelted down to remove most of the impurities out of it. The blacksmiths would take that bar stock, cold hammer it until it became low-carbon steel, which they would then grind into sharpness, before slotting it into wooden handles they bought from the carpentry mills located along the river north of town.

While they could produce an impressive number of blades, it was incredibly inefficient and the quality of the metal itself required frequent sharpening and maintenance.

“I have to say, I’m impressed by the operation you have here. It is significantly larger than I thought possible.”

“This is the largest one in Devnum, Consul,” Hortensius said. “There are many other forges in the city, some as small as a single smith. We handle larger contracts such as military supplies and government contracts, while they primarily focus on requests by individual citizens.”

“Many of the new technologies I’m going to be explaining will be able to be produced and worked in larger factories, using a process I’m going to teach you called 'an assembly line.' That requires a large facility like this to be practical, which unfortunately leaves out the smaller, independent smiths. We will be able to give them plans for some of the new consumer products using cast iron, one of the two new materials you’ll be able to receive from the foundries up north. I’ll need help giving the designs to them, however.”

“We can help with that,” Hortensius said. “You mentioned changing our forges to use something called assembly line?”

“Yes. That will be one of the biggest things to help your productivity. Right now, you have one man do all steps of making a product. There are limitations for how you can change that now, since one man has to pound a bar of metal out into a useable shape, sharpen it, polish it, and get it seated in its handle. With the assembly line process, we would change that so each station will only do one thing. The men who pound the blades into shape would do only that. They would then send the blades to a worker who seats the blades in a handle. Once the blades are shaped and in the handle, they would hand them down to another man, who only does finishing shaping. Then the next man sharpens the blade. Finally, it goes to a worker who polishes and finishes the sword before putting it in a crate to be delivered to the buyer. The workers wouldn’t be one for one. You might have five men turning the metal you receive from the foundries into shaped blades for everyone that is sharpening, depending on how many weapons a man can make in an hour. By limiting the process to one action, each step will become more efficient. We’ll be able to make this more so once we start getting better metal from the foundries and can introduce powered machinery to increase the speed of some of the steps.”

“It seems a strange way to do things, having one man do only a partial step,” one of the assembled men said. “Each man is a craftsman. If you break it down into simpler steps, you lose some of that skill.”

“That’s actually the goal. How long does it take to apprentice a new smith, and train them in the art of making swords, and plows, and horseshoes? How much faster would it be to take a new worker and train him on just one step of the process? If they repeated that step over and over, how much better will they get at it? This isn’t the only reason for the assembly line. For now, the things being made are simple, without many moving parts. Eventually, as new weapons and tools are introduced, you’ll need to make more complex machinery. For that, you’ll need to work making parts that are exactly the same, every time; so that any part from one machine will fit in as a replacement in another machine, allowing them to be put together and later repaired easily. That system will increase the efficiency of the process even more, but we aren’t there, yet.”

“I think I can see how it will be helpful,” Hortensius said. “I will offer to change my forge here to your new design.”

“It won’t be all for one thing. You’ll have to set up different ‘lines.’ Basically, you’ll have one section working on swords, handing the piece down to the next part of their line for that product. There will be other lines that will work on other things, some of which I will be giving you designs for today. I have a new weapon. It's an improvement on the arcuballista Rome already has. It will make them both much more powerful and easier to use, with greater range than your current arcuballistæ. The body of these will be made in the lumber yards, and I will be talking to them soon about more efficient ways of producing items. You will have to set up a production line creating specific metal parts for these weapons. In addition, you’ll also have to set up a line to produce some domestic items I will show you how to make, including new tools for farming, such as a heavier plow than you currently make.”

“I am assuming each of these would be worked on by one set of workers who will become experts at making that single item?”

“Correct. You will only have to train your workers on one thing, making it easier for them to become expert at it.”

“So we’ll have no more need for true craftsmen anymore?”

“No! Skilled workers who see it as an art will always have a place. There will still be those who want items that are more than just functional. The assembly line process will take most of the individuality out of your product, since the point of it is to be as efficient as possible, to increase the amount of product you can make.”

“I’ve been working with iron since I was a child,” one of the men said. “The one thing I know for sure is no two items are the same. Not just between one smith and another, but even for just myself. If I were to make just blades, they would be different. Even the best smith I’ve ever met had differences. They were small, but they were there. A slightly wider blade, a little bit longer base, it all changed.

“That’s going to be an even bigger change than going to the assembly line process. I’m going to work with one of you to create a set of measurements. You will be able to see the exact measurements, so you can check them to make sure they are right. We can then use those to keep everything the same. You can put your item against the assigned measurement and see if it matches, or if it’s too long or too wide. Ultimately, everyone will work off these measurements, not just smiths, so we all have exact comparisons when talking about something.”

“This is a lot to change,” the same man said.

“I know. It’s going to be a lot, and it’s going to require a lot of trust on your part. You’re going to have to change over your entire forge to the new process, and that will be troubling for most of you.”

“'Troubling' isn’t the word for it. If it doesn’t work, you will have put us out of business. We’ll have to go to all the expense to change our shops only to have to change them back, and we won’t be able to take any commissions that whole time.”

“I’ll do it,” Hortensius said.

“It will be expensive. If this doesn’t work, this could end with you and your family being sold to cover debts.”

“I know, but if it does work, I’ll be ahead of everyone else. I'll be able to produce all the new items the Consul will be showing us, as well as becoming the go-to source for the empire for all the new weapons we’ll need. The only way to really succeed is by taking risks. When my father set up our first forge, he took the same risk, and it paid off.”

A few of the assembled men looked to be considering Hortensius's words carefully, and Ky thought they might sign up to take the same risk. As with the miners, he didn’t need all of them. When the Hortensius and the others who joined him started showing results, they would all come around. The hard part was getting the first ones to take the leap.

In the end, three other large forge owners agreed to stay and go through the specifics of what needed to be done. Ky walked them through Hortensius forge, showing the layout they’d need to set up and how it would work. He then handed out the designs he’d written down for the crossbow parts and new plow. The plow would be something hopefully some of the larger farms would be coming to ask about, once he met with them, but the crossbow parts were easier. He agreed to large purchases of them, as long as the parts met the exact specifications.

By the time they finished, Hortensius was worked up. Of all of the people he’d spoken to so far, Hortensius seemed to have the ability to look ahead and see the possibilities. While many of these new processes were far outside of their understanding, Hortensius seemed to see the potential, which was probably why he was the richest man in Devnum.