Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 19 Steel and Wood

The room instantly became quiet, and the only sound in the whole room was the rustling sound of Zeus brushing his hair.

Alexei pressed his chest and looked at his lord in surprise.

What did he hear? No maritime tax!?
Ever since the Pirate King unified all pirate forces on the Storm Ocean and promulgated the Thirteen Laws of Gem Bay, all forces on the Storm Ocean have to pay maritime taxes to Gem Bay.

This order was quickly responded to from all over - the black-sailed fleet stopped at the port, and the pirates held up the documents and read them to the lords of all places. They could either leave with the sea tax or with the lord's head.

Not paying maritime tax means only one thing: declaring war on all pirates.

Indeed, generally, wherever a border earl is appointed, war will follow, but Alexi is the chief secretary, and almost all matters on the island will go through his hands.

Go to war? Castel had made no preparations for war at all, so what could he use to fight?

What's more, this is at sea, and no matter how powerful the empire's army is, it may not be effective here.

Alexei's face twitched, and his eyes fell on the two pirates.

Jeremiah just called the pirate king "Governor", but he didn't say it casually. It is a term recognized by all the people in the seven seas.

Governor is an imperial title, usually awarded by the royal family, but the pirate king called himself the governor, and the usually strong Queen was uncharacteristically silent.

The Empire's blade could not reach the sea for the time being, and the Pirate King had no interest in going to war with the Empire, so the two sides maintained a delicate balance: the Governor's men would occasionally rob the Empire's fleet, and border earls like Hughes were allowed to expand freely into the Storm Ocean.

My lord, even the queen on the high Ironthorn Throne has chosen to remain silent. Are you now going to declare an all-out war with Gem Bay?
Tomorrow, every inch of sea you see will be filled with fleets of ships with black sails, but before that, you will be beheaded by these two pirates and fed to the shit-eating fish in the sea.

Or maybe you can drag the entire empire into this, making the Queen pay the price of losing all four western territories and going to war with the Pirate King - then forget about the fact that you are just the Duke of Cohen's illegitimate son, it would be useless even if you were his illegitimate father.

Jeremiah was also shocked by Zeus's words. He looked around awkwardly, as if a group of tin cans were about to jump out and chop him into pieces.

How long had it been since he heard of anyone daring to go against Gem Bay on the Storm Ocean?

Even Blood Harbor, where the Candlelight Society built the Cathedral of Saint Titus, did not dare to openly oppose Gem Bay, where the entire naval fleet of the Empire was stationed.

The lord in front of him has the courage to overturn the table?
Could this be a trap set by one of his colleagues? Collecting maritime taxes is a lucrative job.

Jeremiah would rather suspect that Hughes was a gangster than believe that Hughes really dared to refuse to pay sea taxes, just because it was so outrageous to go to war with Gem Bay in the Storm Ocean.

Perhaps countries on land can seek a neutral position by relying on their dangerous terrain, but this is on the sea.

As long as he can go back today, the Black Sail Fleet will come to Castel and knock on the door tomorrow.

Jeremiah was already secretly making gestures to the tattooed man, but Hughes' next words stopped him.

"If Gem Bay accepts equal trade, we can discuss it."

Equal trade? You're talking about equal trade with pirates?

Jeremiah's eyes gradually became unfriendly. He began to wonder if he was thinking too much. Was this noble just a kid who knew nothing?
The tattooed man next to him didn't give any warning, so it seemed there was no ambush.

Was he overthinking it? Jeremiah's face twitched.

Jeremiah reached for the scimitar in his arms. He intended to teach the lord a lesson and tell him how pirates act.

But just as he grasped the hilt of the knife, Xiusi's slow words came again:
"Steel, for example, or wood?"

Jeremiah's hand stopped.

He stared at Xius intently and said in a hoarse voice: "Are you kidding me?"

Steel and wood?
What is most lacking at sea is steel and wood, or more precisely, weapons made of steel and ships made of wood.

This requires a blacksmith shop and a shipyard, which Gem Bay has in abundance, but it lacks raw materials.

Although the Queen's power at sea is too weak, it is different on land.

The empire cultivated with swords and gunpowder, and its external expansion had lasted for a full decade.

Although the empire still had many enemies on land, there were no enemies on the northwest coast. It was only across the sea from the Gem Bay, and border earls like Hughes were like sesame seeds sprinkled on a pancake, covering the entire coast.

Under such circumstances, the Pirate King's Court basically has no hope of obtaining any resources from the land. At least that's what it appears to be.

If Hughes could find a way to sell steel and timber, not to mention collecting maritime taxes at home, Gem Bay would even be willing to buy them at a price higher than the market price, and buy as much as they could.

You want free trade? Absolutely no problem. Whoever buys it in the Storm Ocean will eventually end up in the hands of Gem Bay.

Even for this matter, opening up a separate trade route is not a problem at all, and Gem Bay will personally ensure the safety.

On the Ocean of Storms, Gem Bay has this kind of influence.

But could he really get his hands on something this sensitive? Jeremiah didn't know much about the empire, but steel and timber were controlled resources no matter where they were. Did he have such a strong background?
Jeremiah looked at Hughes with suspicion.

Wait, Hughes, someone seemed to have told him about the origins of this lord before he came.
Well, for those who went to the border earldoms granted by the empire to collect taxes, Gem Bay would give them some information about the lords. After all, the border earls were notoriously tough, and there were even cases of direct conflicts on the spot. If the two of them didn't go back, the black sailing fleet from Gem Bay would come knocking on the island the next day.

Naturally, he also got information about Hughes, but he was drinking at the time, and the person who told him the details only mentioned it casually because he looked drunk.

Later, Hughes's honest payment of maritime taxes also made him completely relieved.

Jeremiah only vaguely remembered that the lord in front of him seemed to be the child of some important figure.

Wait, where did he say he was from before? The Duchy of Korn, I think?
Duke of Cohen?

Jeremiah took a deep breath. His knowledge of the empire was limited to a few names that could be counted on two hands, but Duke Cohen was one of them.

Duke Cohen's territory covers a large area in the southern border of the empire, and judging from Hughes's young appearance, it is obvious that this territory was obtained with the help of his father, the Duke.

What was his title? A Marcher? How high was the rank of an earl?
Jeremiah didn't quite understand the rules for the empire's noble titles, let alone the civil and military systems. Even under the influence of Guamon, the way he looked at Zeus was different.

(End of this chapter)