Chapter 24 August 406 Flattop Mountain-Security

            When Shimbir, Busara, and the King’s guards reached the bottom of the mountain, the officers of man camp greeted him, and one said, “We have done as you asked, and separated the men based on their family’s employment.”

            Shimbir asked, “How many men have parents or siblings that work directly for one of the corporations?”

            “Those who have at least one parent or sibling that works for a corporation that is not partially owned by the throne are one thousand, one hundred and twenty-one. Those with a parent or sibling who works for a corporation that is partially owned by the throne is four thousand, four hundred and twenty-two.”

            Shimbir turned his head to Busara and asked, “How many corporations are partially owned by the throne?”

            “The majority.”

            “Where does the money that the throne earns from those corporations go?”

            “I don’t know for sure, and it would be wrong for me to give you my best guess in front of your military officers.” Busara nodded toward the military officers who were waiting for further orders from their young King.

“It's okay, I want to know your best guess, and I want these men to know it as well, as I have not seen any of the profits.”

“It would be different for each one, although I suspect that many of those corporations roll the throne’s profits back into the company instead of giving it to the throne’s proxies.”

Shimbir asked, “Proxy?”

“The throne owns stock in thousands of corporations. There is no way for the throne to keep track of it by themselves, so accountants, secretaries, managers, and other people collect and manage the throne's money. One way a corporation could hold onto your money is if a proxy stopped coming to that corporation because of retirement, death, or losing a job. Some of these corporations have been around since King Paul, like the Central Roman Trading Company. That said, much of the throne’s funds are probably sitting in dozens of savings and loan companies, but there by proxies with legal authority to do so. Other parts of the throne’s money are likely being used illegally by the throne’s proxies, especially since you are so young and caretakers were put in charge of the throne’s finances. With you so young, ignorant, and without advocutes to bring fraud to court its worth the risk to steal the thrones money.”

“Thank you for sharing that with me.” Shimbir turned back to the officer and said, “How many soldiers didn’t have any immediate family members working for a corporation?”

“Six thousand, two hundred and sixty-four.”

“Inform those men that they are my personal guard, and that for the time being I will take up residency here at Flattop Mountain.”

The officer was surprised and said, “I can’t do that. Those soldiers had places to go and roles to fill.”

Shimbir gave the officer a cold look and said, “So what? My previous guards were all traitors, traitors that these brave young soldiers killed. They have my loyalty, and they will be my guards. Inform them immediately, and also inf-- Never mind. You have lost my trust. You are to go to your commanding officer and find somewhere else to be. You are to no longer give any more orders to any soldiers within a hundred miles of this place.”

The officer grew angry, but knew better than to argue; instead, he said, “Yes, sir,” and immediately marched off, although as he left, even his marching was angry.

Shimbir turned to Uamin and said, “Go tell the six thousand two hundred and sixty-four men without family working for the corporations that they are now my guards. Also inform them that I require their parents to come to this parade ground immediately, and that I will pay for any loss they have through the Illuminati borrowing and lending company. Tell them that I intend to meet with each parent of my guards.”

Uamin faltered and said, “That may not be possible, many of the men have fathers that are fighting in the war against Kush.”

Shimbir paused, then said, “Have them write letters, and for anyone with a father serving in the war, let them know that I intend to take care of their mothers if there is any need, and in fact would love to have their mothers come here to take care of my guards.”

Uamin said, “Yes, sir,” and left to obey.

Then Shimbir turned to Busara and said, “When we were in the Hall of Mysteries, you said you wanted a private conversation. I think now would be a good time.”

Busara nodded and said, “I agree.”

“You know this area better than me, lead the way.”

Busara nodded and led Shimbir and his guards to a rather large building and said, “Could you have your guards clear the building of people?”

“Of course.”

Once the building was clear, the guards stood outside it while Shimbir and Busara went to a room in the middle of the building where nobody could spy on them.

Shimbir was the first to speak, “In the Hall of Mysteries, I said I could help you and the Illuminati rise, and your response was that we needed to have a private conversation. Why?

“Because I have already made a deal with Jinka.”

“What is that deal?”

“To help him as he creates a new monopoly, and be part of the new elite he creates.”

“What does that monopoly look like?”

Busara somberly explained, “Monopolizing the use of the steam shovel so that Jinka is the only source of cheap coal and ore in Paulsland. Then he wants to spread the use of steam, so that everyone has to come to him to power their devices. He has written letters to me since then, suggesting making steam-powered steel mills, so that we control the coal and steel industries of Paulsland.”

“You don’t seem happy about it.”

“Word is spreading that Jinka should be the next king of Paulsland. Even some of his papers, and some of the Universal Church papers, have talked about it. They say that Jinka has brought in the steam age, so he should be the next king. Jinka was nowhere near us when we first used steam weapons to defend this mountain, but he is receiving and accepting all the credit. Furthermore, Jinka is so focused on monopolies, I don’t think it will take him long to cut me out of his industries.”

Shimbir nodded and said, “So you don’t trust Jinka, and you are upset he is getting all the credit.”

“Yes, to both.”

“Now that the steam shovels are being built, does Jinka need you?”

Busara looked down, shook his head, and said, “No.”

“I am going to be completely honest with you, and this is why I wanted this private meeting. I desperately need you. I need you more than you need me. If Jinka betrays you, then you can at least go to another nation and find employment with all your technical knowledge. As for me, I have nowhere to go. I was a prisoner in my home, and nobody cared. When my maid was beaten because I didn’t obey, everyone looked the other way. If I were a normal twelve-year-old, it wouldn’t matter that I was powerless; if I ran away, nobody would care, but I am the King of Paulsland, so if I were to run, I would be captured by Paulsland’s enemies and used as a puppet. I have no choice but to gain power or be someone’s puppet, and as a puppet, those whom I love will be abused so that someone else can control me. I need you to help bring me into actual power.”

Busara laughed and said, “How am I going to do that? I am almost as powerless as you.”

“You have knowledge, and my title has authority. We can escape our trap together.”

Busara looked confused and said, “I don’t see what you are getting at.”

“What did you say Jinka wanted?”

“A monopoly. Similar to what the seventy families have.”

“Why haven’t any of the Illuminati been able to rise to prominence?”

“Because the previous Kings have not allowed us to.”

“Why didn’t the previous Kings allow you to?” Oddly enough, although those previous kings included Shimbir’s father and grandfather, he really did not feel emotional attachments to them. Honestly, at this point, the only emotional attachment he had was to Hani, and he had no clue where she was or whether she was even alive. He couldn’t even reach out to her in fear that someone would hurt her to hurt him.

“Because the previous kings were profiting from the monopolies.”

“I want to make this very clear: I view a monopoly as my imprisonment. I want to use you to break the monopolies.”

“How are you going to use me to break monopolies?”

“Before we came here, I told all the soldiers whose family members do not work for the various corporations to write a letter home telling their families to come here. I intend to talk to the families about helping us with steam industrialization. I will talk to the farmers about tractors, the fishermen about propellers, the artisans about steam-powered tools, and how the Illuminati and I need their help to bring these innovations into the world.”

“That doesn’t end the monopolies of the seventy families.”

“So, what? With steam, sooner or later, they will have to fight among themselves for their industries. I want our people to create the new industries.”

“What about Jinka’s monopoly?”

“Some of the soldiers have to have a family member working in a mine. I plan on giving them a loan for a steam shovel, and letting them start their own corporation.”

“A loan? Why don’t you start a corporation with them?”

“Because it screwed up Paulsland when previous kings did it. We should have had steam engines a long time ago, but because the previous kings thought they could make more money by suppressing the technology, due to their partial ownership of companies, we couldn’t.”

“I doubt Jinka will let you take one of his steam shovels.”

“The throne has authority. I have my soldiers here where he is making the steam shovel; his soldiers are thousands of miles away. He can’t stop me. All he can do is sue me, and by that time, his monopoly will be broken. Besides, I bet he made me a co-owner of his factory.”

“He did.”

“Then good luck suing me.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Not just you, but the Illuminati as a whole. I don’t want to be a part-owner with any of these companies, but you can be a part-owner with all of them. I plan on giving steam engines from Jinka’s factories to any of my guards’ family members who come and want one. As they figure out how to make steam-powered technology, they will need technical help; that is where you and the Illuminati come in. When the Illuminati members give technical help, they can become part owners in a lot of corporations on the bleeding edge of new technology.”

When realization hit Busara, all he could say was, “Oh.” And then he was quiet for a long time. Then, eventually, he asked, “Why would you do this. Clearly, this isn’t just a plan from nowhere.”

“Two years ago, my guard Kono betrayed me to the nameless manager, the man I shot on stage. Apparently, my guard had family members who worked for the same person as the nameless manager, and he threatened to have my guard's family thrown out on the street if he did not obey. I have no idea if my guard's family worked for the same corporation as the nameless manager or a different one with the same owners. Either way, my guard's family was threatened, and my guard chose his family’s well-being over mine. I don’t blame him for that, as in Paulsland, you are supposed to put your family above your King. With that in mind, I need every guard I have to link their family’s well-being to mine, and so I will be supporting their families as their families become the new companies, and become impossible to bribe.”


Authors note- Next week should be the last weird week for a while, although my schedual might change, but i it does things should be consistent.