Chapter 81 – Flood Control II
Translator: Isekai Shousetsu
“My King Almis. For the meantime, I have made a rough outline so please read it.”
Ismere hands me the project doc.u.ments.
It’s very rough to the point the you can’t even call them project doc.u.ments.
However, she made this just three days after the brief so it’s a job well done.
“I am still waiting for the River Survey and the Capital Area’s Geological Survey from Lady Tetra and the perver………Nikolaos. That’s why I intend to add small revisions to the plan depending upon their results.”
“I see…”
Ismere chose a plot of land located slightly east of the three rivers’ confluence point as the construction area.
According to her plan, because the land around that area leans slightly to the west, the water will also head to the west when the river floods.
Therefore, building on the eastern side would be quite safer.
It appears there are seven gently sloping hills in the area and building the important inst.i.tutions on top of those hills would reduce the risk of flood damage against them.
However, there are fears of 10-year floods that, once they occur, would spare the top of those hills from damage but might submerge the lowlands below it in flood waters.
We plan to turn these lowlands into residential areas for the commoners so flood control would be absolutely necessary.
That’s all regarding the report on the capital.
“What do you plan on flood control?”
“I intend to make concrete plans when the report comes but……for the meantime, I would like to deal with levees and water diversion. There’s a troublesome area but it’s not to the extent of constant flooding.”
“Levees and water diversion, huh.”
Diverting water would be good. It’ll play a part in establis.h.i.+ng irrigation and it would also reduce flood control damage.
Hitting two birds with one stone.
“Ah, I just remembered. I actually want to show you something.”
I clapped then two slaves enter to bring the items in question.
One is a gray colored dripping liquid and the other is a gray colored stone.
“These are?”
“These things are called concrete. It normally starts as this dripping liquid and, in time, it hardens into this solid ma.s.s.”
I hand over the solid concrete to Ismere. She looks at it with great interest.
“It’s made by mixing volcanic ash and lime. We have lots of these materials so use them to as you desire.”
“Th, this is……If such a convenient thing exists, please teach it to me more quickly!”
Ismere draws near with an excited face.
It took some time to develop so I wasn’t able to tell you about it. I didn’t want to raise up your hopes for nothing after all.
“So, with that much manpower, how much time do you plan on spending? I don’t want to wait that long so……”
“First, regarding the flood control, for the meantime, the water diversion project and levee construction would take about a year. We would then take another four years to strengthen both projects and perform irrigation. If we did these projects with this much care, then barring any natural disasters occurring, no break downs should happen.”
Five years, huh…
This is the long projection? Or is this the short projection……I pretty much don’t know.
“As for the capital’s construction……as per the previous explanation, we will start construction from the hill tops. I think it’s fine to begin construction around one year after the flood control project starts. We should settle down for the present. The walls would take around a year and the palace and the other bureaucratic buildings would take approximately three years. At the verly least, we should take at least four years for just the capital functions.”
I see……I had just asked sometime ago but it’s quite the short estimate……
“How much manpower is necessary? That is, to achieve that plan?”
“2,000 people. Considering the national power of this country, the most workers we could maintain would usually be around 4,000 people. That said, employ too little and it would take longer. Conversely, employ too many and the costs would mount. 2,000 people would be the most suitable if we are to conduct this project with the highest efficiency.”
2,000 people huh…
Our standing army would only number around 1,000. Therefore, the remaining 3,000 would have to be transferred from agriculture into military and construction affairs.
It’s around 1.2% of the population. Well, it’s a somewhat manageable level. Just thinking about maintaining these levels for five years makes my head hurt. However, it’s not to the extent that I’d take us down.
“So, Ismere. I actually also wanted to construct some roads but…would that be possible?”
“Some roads, milord? We still have them even now, yes?”
Yes. If we’re talking about simple roads, then yes, we do have them.
Rather, they are natural roads - paths that have been hardened by years of being walked on by people.
Their width is around 4 meters, fairly wide. They’re not inconvenient in fair weather.
It’s a different story, however, on rainy days.
Since they’re made from earth, once they’re inundated with rain water, they’d immediately turn into mud.
Feet will get stuck. Carriages will sink. Horses will fall over…
Good infrastructure……there’s no way I could call it that.
I want to revitalize commerce and further increase tax revenues.
“I want to lay out a road system where it won’t be a problem for carriages to run at full speed. First, I want a route that starts from the palace and continues to the De Morgal Kingdom, the Eville Kingdom, and the Belvedere Kingdom. It’s fine even if it’s not made with that much priority and importance. I also want a route from the new capital to each of those kingdoms. This one, I want to be made with utmost care and quality.”
According to the plan, this palace would become unused five years later.
Well, as expected for having a palace, the population of the area is high and the wealth of the land is true. Thus, everything hadn’t been for naught but……the efficiency would be better if we prioritized the new capital and focused there.
“Specifically?”
“Please let the roads stretching from the present palace be made in crushed stone. For the meantime, this should prevent the raods from being unusable due to turning into mud. As for the roads stretching from the new capital, let them be made in stone paving. I have been to Lezzad……I want these roads to be of higher quality than those found there.
“I see……then shall we do it in this way?”
Ismere puts the plane for the highway in paper and shows it to me.
We will excavate the earth deeply. We will then fill the lowest layer with gravel and the second layer with a mixture of clay-like soil and gravel.
We will then cram the third layer with huge stones the size of fists loosely layed down in bow shaped patterns.
Finally, we will lay down square shaped stones cut so that they’d fit each other on the top most layer.
The bow shaped pattern is probably so that the water won’t acc.u.mulate when it rains.
“For the time being, this is the foremost Cretian road building technology. Important points in Claris and Alto have this kind of road. If we succeed, we will most certainly make roads better than those in Lezzad.”
“Can we accomplish this with our country’s technological strength?”
“………I daresay it’s indeed possible. It’s not supposed to be that hard of an undertaking. I’m worried about the stones for the topmost layer but…we’ll probably work something out on that area.”
Oh, isn’t that great? Our technological power isn’t that much far behind, huh.
Well, if you think about it, the palace and the houses around it are quite well made.
While pit houses are the norm in the countryside, those are handmade houses by commoners that can’t spend much on housing.
“I have something I want to add.”
“What could you want to add over this?”
“Add some drainage channels on the sides of the road. Also, I wan’t you to add sidewalks. If the roads carriages and humans used were the same, then carriages won’t be able to run fast.”
We need to properly segregate cars and humans. Otherwise, unforetunate accidents will occur.
We should also guarantee the width.
Roads for carriages should be more than 4 meters wide. I’d want the sidewalks to be more than 3 meters wide left and right. 10 meters in total.
Well, it would depend on the amount of traffic too, anyway.
At the very least, this should be the standard for the main roads.
“How much personnel would we need?”
“How much time could we have to create the roads?”
“I want to have the crushed stone roads quickly done in a year. I want the stone paved roads……done around four years.”
I wonder if my request is quite severe?
If my calculations were correct, the two would each stretch for around a 110 km long, I think.
“1,000……or around that number.”
“Alright, then we’ll mobilize a thousand more people.”
In other words, the number of people we’d have to maintain have now become 4,000 people.
That’s 1.6% of the population. While it’s a little difficult……if we think about how it’ll improve our revenues, then we’ll have to make do.
“Now then, once the geological report arrives, I shall once again revise and present to Your Majesty the official plan.”
“Yes. I’ll be relying on you. I’ll be taking care of all the troublesome aspects such as the right to land and what not. So please concentrate on the rivers and land in front of you.”
Around the time Ismere and Almis are having a meeting. Tetra and Nikolaos are working hard at surveying as per Almis’ orders.
They are investigating the planned capital area’s geographical features, and examining the quant.i.ty, speed, and shape of the rivers.
Everything is vital for flood control.
They are also gathering and sorting stories from the residents in the area.
It’s actually a very troublesome duty which the two are silently carrying out.
“Lady Tetra, actually, I’m very interested in the magic techniques that you speak of. Can I also design such things?”
“Theoretically speaking, it’s possible. It’s just drawing lines, after all. However, it would probably feel difficult for a person who can’t use sorcery to do.”
Tetra lightly explains to Nikolaos the theory behind magic techniques.
Nikolaos tilts his head.
“What is this zero you speak of?”
“It’s nothingness.”
“You attach nothingness to numbers? Insn’t that ridiculous?”
Nikolaos frowns.
“It’s more convenient if it exists.”
Nikolaos makes a little unsatisfied expression. Another person not quite accepting Zero.
“By the way, it’s something I’ve been bothered about, what is that strange tool?”
He points to the tool Tetra holds on her right hand.
“It’s an abacus. It’s something Almis recently made. If you have this, arithmetic would be a breeze.”
“Oh?…”
Nikolaos looks at the abacus with great interest.
“How do you use this?…”
Nikolaos tries to use the abacus while receiving instruction from Tetra.
“Wow! This thing’s amazing!…”
He feels as if the world just got a little bigger.
“As expected, math is great.”
“I understand what you feel! Math is truly amazing yes?”
The two hit it off with their love for maths.
However, their conversation immediately turns for the worse.
“Math is able to express any number after all. Such a wonderful thing, yes?”
“That’s overdoing it. There exists irrational numbers.”
“Irrational numbers?”
“Like the square root of two. You can’t represent that using rational numbers.”
A slightly strange atmosphere brews between the two.
“No no, it can, you know.”
“It can’t.”
After first explaining the Pythagorean theorem, Tetra writes down the explanation for the square root of two and explains it carefully.
In addition to that, she explained through argument to absurdity that the square root of two is an irrational number.
“I, I see……I had thought of numbers as a collection of points…To thing there exists a possibility like this.”
“Mathematics is an arbitrary concept made by man. Therefore, it would yield irrationality. It’s something that couldn’t be helped.”
The two abandoned their work for the meantime and exchanged expertise.
Tetra talked about Mathematics, Chemistry, and Sorcery.
Nikolaos talked about his specialties - Astronomy and Philosophy.
“What do you think about the origins of creation? As expected, is it numbers?”
“………I don’t know. Although I do think a mathematical blueprint exists. However, it couldn’t be expressed by numbers. I dare say it’s another thing. How about you?”
“It seems there exists things called atoms. It appears the world is made up of very small beads invisible to the eye, or something like that. However, wouldn’t that make you think why do those beads exist?”
The two had started an unproductive argument that, perhaps, won’t get reliably resolved even if they spend several thousand years discussing.
The people around them had also ditched their duties, looking coldly at the two’s idle chatter from a distance.
What the h.e.l.l are these two talking about.
“You know that I espouse the Heliocentric theory, yes? What do you think about it?”
“If I consider it normally then I’d think the Geocentric theory is correct. Observationally speaking, the Geocentric theory is also correct. Although it would require complex calculations, I also think that you can even sufficiently show it through mathematical formulae. However……”
Tetra pauses.
In the end, unless we have proof through observation, I can’t be sure. It’s an unproductive argument as both sides can’t produce conclusive evidence regarding the world.”
No matter how many arguments you can pile up, unless you have conclusive evidence then everything is for naught. If you say it’s pointless then that would be the end of it.
“Is that so……”
Nikolaos returns to a dissatisfied expression.
Even the outspoken Nikolaus, as expected, would restrain himself at the presence of Tetra, a queen.
He had hesitated to go against Tetra’s proposal to stop this discussion that won’t reach a conclusion and contend it.
“It’s about time we go back to our duties. Almis will get mad at us.”
“I agree. Let’s quickly end this investigation.”
The two finally return to their jobs.
“First, the capital city’s construction. In order to do that, flood control is necessary. If we managed to complete irrigation facilities while were at it, it’ll be hitting two birds with one stone. However………once we complete the flood control for the new capital’s environs, we would first need to round things up and construct the roads…”
Roads are an important aspect of the country, economically and militarily.
If we are to achieve a maintained road system, commerce will become lively and the army, too, would be able to move quickly.
While it depends upon the location, it’s something that we should prioritize even more than flood control.
We should be able to secure enough funds.
The problem is, as expected, human resources.
Since our territory has increased by several times, we couldn’t squarely process them.
At present, the only territories where land surveys and tax collection are happening are the former Ars Territories and the Palace environs. It’s simply impossible to cover all the directly controlled territories around the country.
We also can’t continue providing orphans with hospitality and education for a long time.
The consciousness of the crime of throwing away children might become trivial.
In any case, we’d be troubled if the people threw children away left and right if they get poorer just a little if they knew that the country would take care of them anyway.
It’s necessary to introduce a system similar to ancient Chinese civil service examinations but…in the end I reached an impa.s.se. I don’t have any need for my country’s bureaucrats to be versed in poetry and prose.
Besides, if I concentrated power on the bureaucracy, I’d just be repeating the same mistakes of countries in history.
The inflation of bureaucractic systems is due to Kings and Emperors allowing concetration of power after all.
In the end, even if you centralized power in such systems, unless the King or Emperor himself is excellent, no governance can be done.
Therefore, the government will become completely reliant on the bureaucracy.
When that happens, the post called bureaucrat would rise in popularity. The number of people who would pa.s.s the exams will increase. The problem, however, is that they’d increase too much.
Unless you choose a difficulty where you can’t pa.s.s with just mindless memorization of poetry, the selection will become impossible to conduct.
In the end, the gap between exam contents and a bureaucrat’s ability would completely widen.
In other words, while advancing centralization of power is good, concentrating such power on a single person must not happen.
Nevertheless, I can’t just leave the existences called the great clansmen as is.
I wonder what should I do.
Well, let’s just think about the examinations on the way. Right now, we need to immediately raise the necessary human resources.
Bureaucracy is not the only thing important.
For example, commanders who could direct work in the actual field. We have very little of people like this.
We’re flush with top cla.s.s people but we’re short on the middle cla.s.s.
“Sigh, problems are piling up, huh.”
I want to pretend like I can’t see them.
“My King.”
I was abruptly greeted.
When I looked, it was Julia and Tetra.
“You two, since when did you?”
“What are you talking about? You gave us permission to enter, right?”
“You brood too much.”
The two look displeased.
My bad, my bad.
“So, what is it?”
“Actually, it’s about human resources. We have a concern which needs to get immediately resolved.”
The two push a paper before me.
This is……
“We’re proposing a bill regarding regulating sorcerers around the whole country and manage false sorcerers. We ask your cooperation regarding this matter.”
The two smile together.