Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

”I take it the issues with the new machines have been resolved then, yes?” Celestina, who was naturally also in the know, asked her First Disciple.

In response, Lucas flashed a happy grin, one that had a hint of cunning mixed in with it as he nodded, ”Indeed! Earlier today, Old Braxton and the rest of the development team managed to resolve the last major issue with the new farm machines. We still need to do some field testing, and there will surely be a lot minor problems that pop up over time, but we’re confident we now have fully-functional prototypes ready for mass-production.”

”Excellent!” Celestina flashed a confident smile.

”Hah, that’s one evil plan you’ve come up with, Lucas,” Allina let out an uncharacteristic laugh.

”Ahem,” Pauline, who was having a bit of trouble following the conversation, cleared her throat audibly to interrupt, ”This seems like good news, but it is difficult for the rest of us to appreciate it without knowing what is being discussed.”

”Ah, you’re quite right, Great Elder,” Lucas chuckled and explained, ”Many of you must be aware that the Balfour Family recently entered into a partnership with the Carlson Count Family of Iron Rock to develop new types of farming equipment, yes?”

Everyone in the room was a leading figure in the Balfour Family, so they were naturally aware of this deal, but none of them had paid much attention to it other than Elder Lock and Old Braxton.

To these rich and powerful Cultivators, farming was something far removed from their lives, a job for the commoners and peasants. As long as there was sufficient food to keep everyone fed, which in the Rockwell Kingdom there always was, how much and how efficiently food was produced didn’t matter.

As such, the development of agricultural machines with the Carlson Family had never sparked more than a cursory glance from them.

Seeing the still confused looks on most people’s faces, Lucas sighed internally. These people weren’t stupid or heartless, they had just been too privileged all their lives to understand how important this project really was; however, that was about to change.

Not losing his patience, Lucas spelled it out in much blunter terms, ”Once these new machines, the seed drill, harvester, and thresher, are adopted on a wide-scale, the Rockwell Kingdom will be able to produce at least 4 times as much grain as before using the equivalent amount of labour. With further improvements in the technology and a few other farming innovations, within a few years, that number will likely rise to a 10-fold increase, if not higher.”

”Tss...” Another round of gasps was heard when Lucas made this bold statement.

The leaders in this room may have been a bit dismissive of the whole concept of farming, but they weren’t idiots. A 4-fold increase in productivity for any industry was a world-shaking event.

Assuming Lucas wasn’t exaggerating, the Rockwell Kingdom would soon see an enormous increase in the amount of food it produced.

Not only would this result in a drastic reduction in the cost of food for all citizens of the nation, it would also lead to a massive surplus of grain which could be used to bolster strategic reserves or exported for huge profits.

In other words, Allina was absolutely correct, Lucas’ plan was both evil and devious.

Why wouldn’t the kingdom throw open its markets to foreign grown food when local food could be produced at a quarter the cost any other nation could afford to sell to them for?

If they played their cards right, the Rockwell Kingdom would be able to gain near total control over the most important commodity in the entire South-Central Region.

Who would dare to wage war on them at that point? Wouldn’t that just result in their kingdom starving to death?

Of course, once the other nations realized what was going on, they would surely take steps to curb imports from the Rockwell Kingdom, but that would be far easier said than done.

Even if the leaders of those countries put in place total bans on food coming from the Rockwell Kingdom, many people who wanted to save money on this essential good would constantly look for ways to circumvent the ban, resulting in tension and internal disputes.

This would especially be true in the Darr Kingdom, which imported the most food per-capita each year of any country in the South-Central Region.

Praise for Lucas and Braxton was heard all around, with both the old and young man humbly brushing the compliments aside.

The two of them would have appeared perfectly humble if not for the proud smiles on their faces, but no one was going to point that out in this happy moment.

”Wait,” Timothy, who was also in the midst of celebrating, suddenly frowned and asked, ”I still don’t get how that relates to us damaging the Darr Kingdom in the short term.”

When those words came out, the various leaders in the room were jolted back to reality and realized that they had veered off-topic.

Being able to greatly increase the amount of crops grown in the kingdom was a good thing all around, even from a military perspective.

Having more food available meant larger reserves could be built up.

Growing that food with less people meant more bodies being available either for labour or military service.

Selling the excess food meant more money for the kingdom, money which could be spent on arming soldiers and building fortifications.

But none of that seemed related to dealing immediate economic damage to the Darr Kingdom.

If anything, selling cheap food to the enemy nation, no matter how profitable it may be to do so, would probably only increase their war readiness.

Doubtful looks were cast his way, but Lucas remained confident as he continued, ”Open agricultural markets are just the bait to get everyone to the table. Our real goal is to strike as many trade deals as possible with all the nations of the region, especially with the Tarnath Dynasty, Zilon Kingdom, and Elros Grand Duchy, even if we have to suffer a few losses in the short-term to do so.”