35 Noblesse oblige I

As I said, I am free for the moment, so for the next month we will continue as normal.

I consider lothar's option 2 in essos as the winner.

There will be 3 more chapters, and we will start with lothar's chapters, I warn before that they will be very bloody, and I will do my best to make them extremely realistic.

The other thing, you want me to continue with intercalated chapters, or I will do all the lothar chapters in a row.

I leave open the possibility of an additional chapter 15 comments in THIS paragraph or 15 reviews (cumulative).

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Friedrich von Roon

once again the king has handed over to me his absolute power to rule in his name, in truth it is not a burden I wish, for the duties my king must do every day are surprisingly extensive, whether by his diligence or his love of work the king personally does almost everything that can be done

after securing my king's departure in the morning and the next hour dispatching Charles to the capital, my duties as my king's regent had begun.

Unfortunately, this did not mean that I could put aside my duties as captain general of the Prussian armies, so my day began very early to make sure that everything was running smoothly in the city.

The sun wasn't even up yet, and I was already arriving at the arsenal to make sure that all projects can meet the imposed time goals, as well as to check if it is necessary to increase the hiring of more shipbuilders because Charles is about to negotiate a treaty on the production of some war galleys.

It might look like we are strengthening the westerosis, but these war galleys were going to be built anyway why not build them ourselves and earn some gold for it, besides they are still inferior, as they do not have the siphon with the ability to launch Greek fire in a safe manner keeping our superior naval capability intact

arriving at the arsenal, I could see how a group of engineers were already working on the construction of galleons for our commercial project.

''my lord Friedrich, how may we help you'' said the leader of the engineers with a small bow.

''I come for reports, will the quotas set by the king be met?'', I said with a serious tone.

''the 2 galleons that must be launched to the sea will be ready in time, we may even manage to build a third one this week'' said the engineer showing me the almost finished galleons.

''Well I am pleased to hear good news, anything else to report?'', I said looking at the group of men.

''Yes, we will have more logs again?, the whole process is in danger, since in 20 days the raw materials we have stored to continue with the construction of galleons will be finished, if we continue perfecting the method we will increase not only the production of galleons, but we will also increase how many logs we use per week'' said the engineer with concern.

''the king is already working on it, you can count that we are doing everything possible to ensure that the logistics line for obtaining logs that meet your requirements'' I said while looking at the ships.

''we appreciate the king's concern, is there anything else we can do for you?'' the engineer said with a smile

''no, just send me the expense report and that would be all for today'' I said as I turned around.

Finished my review of the arsenal it was my turn to check the new sailor training camp that the king is financing, luckily the place is only a few meters away from the arsenal.

After leaving the fortified sector of the arsenal, I went to see the sailor recruits.

I could see that since early in the morning they were already practicing what the king had determined that a good sailor should be

for the sailors who would fight in galleys they were rowing in an anchored galley so that they could practice rowing together, besides practicing with the crossbow and obviously learning the signals of communications between ships.

The practice of the use of Greek fire was exclusive to Prussian sailors, the king determined that the more secret the existence of this element the better, since there is already a guild that creates the unstable version of the maximum creation of the Byzantines.

The sailors of the galleons was something different, they had to learn to climb and move around the masts to change the knots of the ropes to allow the sail to take advantage of the maximum possible wind force, since not having oars if there are no favorable winds the galleon is practically immobile until the arrival of favorable winds, and their combat training consists of using crossbows and light scorpions.

Ensuring that all ship's officers are Prussian was quite difficult, we do not have a long naval tradition like other kingdoms, but we are doing our best to attract men to sea life, ensuring that all officers are Prussian is vital to keep our sailing secrets safe, Aleksanteri does not trust the people of the reach and neither do I at the first moment that a spy offering gold would hand over our Prussian tables and our naval advantage would be over.

I had a small conversation with the officer in charge of the training Johann von Rügen and his 2 sons, he was the only ones who have some kind of knowledge of naval tactics, since they served with the king of Denmark during the religious war and only because of that now he is the only trained admiral that the king has for the moment hopefully in the future we can have more trained men and be able to have several active commercial enterprises and not just try 1 at a time.

After finishing my meeting with Johann, I went to the city, since I had to see the progress of the construction of the buildings and verify the flourishing of new industries that the king was financing.

Returning to the city I saw the main problem of the city of nue danzig something that not even the efforts of our king has been able to solve, the ghetto that is growing day by day.

The people of the reach are desperate to try to find a job in the city, the wages are as generous as our soldiers except that they pay taxes on those wages without the extra benefits.

But the difference in life for them is abysmal, the food in the city is cheap and wages are high, all this makes the perfect breeding ground for this problem, every day hundreds of people arrive with the hope of a better future in the city

but few find that better future, as most of the jobs are given to other Prussians, the bonds that are generated by fighting side by side shoulder to shoulder are too strong to ignore and it is very common practice that Prussians with successful businesses only hire their fellow Prussians for trust and not to leave a brother in battle in misery even if he does not know how to do the job well.

The king's plan to create small villages in the area has worked well, but the continuous increase in the number of people coming from the south to the city is too much for our king's expectations and the ghetto is growing and is not something we can solve at the moment due to lack of funds.

We have spent like crazy in the last 2 years, and we are already very close to emptying our reserves, we have one more year of funds to maintain the current operations, we need the commercial operation goes well, or we will have to reduce our spending considerably.

Entering the city, I went to check the streets , to verify if everything is in order

something that has always made me laugh at the inefficiency of the westerosis is their tax payment system, many of them buy something in a port city and must pay the tax at the port customs to leave, many of the combat against smugglers is for this to verify that they pay the 5% tax of the cargo purchased

our customs only verifies that nothing illegal enters the city, since our tax system depends on the artisans as the ones obliged to pay the tax because they must put the price to their product considering the customs tax, and we have seen many merchants who think that here it works the same as in other places and ''try'' to smuggle and not pay the tax leaving silently at night from the port before the naval chain goes up without realizing that they already paid the tax, such idiots.

After 3 hours of checking account books and verifying that those using weighing scales to sell had not modified the scales to benefit themselves, I headed for one of the king's new companies

an engineer had promised that he could make a portable clock, it sounds crazy just see how big the clock tower is and that he had promised that he could make a handheld version seems ridiculous, but when the king invested in it my vision changed totally, it meant that it made sense, it should be the king who received the first clock, but as he is not here it is my duty to verify that his gold has been spent in the right way

Entering the shop it was full of gears all over the place, it looked a bit messy, but what can you do.

''Is anybody here?'' I said, raising my voice a little bit.

''I'm coming'' someone shouted back.

I saw a man with a sooty black face approaching, trying to wipe his hands with a handkerchief.

''How can I help you, sir?, I'm not yet serving the public'' said the man in a calm voice.

''you promised a watch to my king, I have come to take it back'' I said with a serious tone.

''oh; but the king said he would come personally'' he said a little sadly.

''the king is busy at the moment, he won't be able to come in person for the next 2 or 3 moons'' I said looking into his eyes.

''I see I waited a moment, I have ready what I promised to the king'' he said as he went to the back of the shop.

After a few minutes, I came back with a beautifully decorated wooden box

''let's go outside, I want you to compare it with the clock tower'' said the watchmaker with a serious voice.

What a bastard, so sure of his product

I accompanied him to the central sector of the city, and finally, he started to open the box, taking out a miniature version of the clock and started to do some things to the clock, and finally, he handed it to me.

"Here it is ready, please compare it," he said as he handed it to me.

I compared it with the clock tower and saw that what he promised was true, they were perfectly synchronized, they marked the same time, only now I had this knowledge at my fingertips.

''Amazing, you have left me speechless, I thought you were just exaggerating when you promised this'' I said looking at the man.

''I hope the king will keep the other thing he promised'' said the watchmaker with a serious voice.

''the king will use it and recommend your store, as it is also his own investment, so lose care for the time being as his regent in charge I will use it for the meantime, this is a personal commission, but I want 3 more for myself'' I said with a smile

''15 golden dragons a unit and I need a week for each 1'' he said looking me in the eyes.

''a bit expensive, but well, pay him'' I said looking at one of my Teutonic knights.

my knight took out a coin purse and paid the 45 golden dragons, and we went back to work.

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