The Mad Tycoon of Rome

About three hours after meeting with the alchemists,

Marcus was discussing the future plans with Tadius over dinner.

“It’s been a long time since we talked face to face. How have you been?”

“Yes. I’ve been reporting to Publius in the meantime. I think this is the first time since the conquest of Parthia. Great Shahanshah.”

“That title might cause a fuss if you use it in Rome…”

“I heard that you have already ascended as the de facto ruler of Rome. I was sure that this day would come since I first met the old Shahanshah. Rome is now yours, so why bother with their opinions?”

Tadius was a Roman, but he had lived in the East for so long that he had adopted their way of thinking.

It was clear to see the differences between the people of Rome, Alexandria, and Parthia, having seen them all in a short period of time.

The Romans showed extreme respect for Marcus, but that was it.

The alchemists of Alexandria were a bit different.

They regarded Marcus as a living god and obeyed him.

However, they were still a bit awkward about what to call him.

He was a god, but he was already the incarnation of Amun-Ra and Horus, the gods of Egypt, who were also Pharaohs.

On the other hand, the old Persian region had maintained a consistent attitude from the beginning.

The local nobles who had their privileges recognized by Marcus, who had conquered the Persian lands, called him King of Kings, Shahanshah, and revered him.

Marcus also thought that it was advantageous for him to be praised like that for local integration, so he did not stop them.

As a result, it became natural that all regions east of Syria called Marcus Shahanshah.

The reason why the Han Dynasty recognized Marcus as an emperor was also because of this background.

“How is your business going? I hear that you are still doing well.”

“Thanks to your grace, Shahanshah, I have been enjoying unprecedented prosperity every year. Especially since I reduced the imports of tea and silk and shifted my attention to handicrafts, the trade surplus has increased even more. But did you call me in person because…”

“As you guessed. I want to give you another big business opportunity.”

There was a brief silence.

Tadius quickly reviewed the current situation, spare funds, and manpower of his company and nodded with a determined face.

“I will do my best to fulfill your mission, even if I have to trade my body for it.”

“It’s an opportunity that can benefit both of us, so don’t feel too pressured. You should also make money and enjoy yourself.”

“Yes! I don’t know which region I will go to, but I will scrape up all the gold and silver there and bring them here.”

“That’s a great attitude. Then let me explain what you need to do. Oh, before that, let me tell you briefly about the current situation in that region. Do you know what’s going on in India right now?”

As soon as the question fell, a glint flashed in Tadius’ eyes.

The Roman merchants had never actively traded with India until now.

They had only traded with the Han Dynasty until last year, and it was only this year that the restriction was lifted.

It was natural for his heart to flutter with anticipation at this point when he needed to diversify his routes and Marcus himself brought up India.

“I’ve heard a lot about India from Han merchants. They call it Shindok or Tianchuk, and it’s also a very old place. It is estimated that there was a very strong unified empire there during Alexander the Great’s time, but fortunately the situation is very chaotic now.”

“You’ve done your research well. As you said, the current situation in northern and southern India is very different. Especially in northern India, there have been quite a lot of accidents recently. If you’ve looked into it, you might know more than me.”

“The northern part of India is currently without a proper owner. The original occupant of that area, the Sakas, a branch of the Scythians, and several small kingdoms were completely shattered by the Huns who came down through the Silk Road.”

“So they unwittingly paved the way for us.”

If it followed the original history, northern India should be dominated by a branch of Scythians right now.

The Indian-Scythian kingdom established by the Sakas, a branch of Scythians, was powerful, but it was changed by the Huns invasion.

The Indian-Scythian kingdom, which was not a unified dynasty and had not fully integrated the power of northern India, had no power to resist against Huns.

In a blink of an eye, they were swept away by Huns and barely survived thanks to Huns going to Rome.

“Now the state established by the Sakas lacks even the minimum power to maintain order. I think they can be crushed by the power of the Suren or Karen kingdoms alone.”

“Then it’s possible that a new power will rise and change the country soon.”

“If we take advantage of that gap and go in, we can secure a considerable interest in the chaos. By the way, the south is also not unified. As far as I know, there are several kingdoms such as Satavahana, Chola, and Pandya, and they clash quite often.”

“An ideal situation for us to intervene. I see why you’re tempted.”

The route to southern India was secured because the Arabian Sea and Persia were completely under Rome’s control.

Moreover, the northern Indian region was practically no man’s land, so it was almost done with just planting a flag.

There was no better situation than this to start the action.

“But if you are going to send your army yourself, I don’t think I’m needed. If it’s local India, I can help you by hiring merchants who have been back and forth there.”

“No. We can’t start a war right now. We have no justification, and our territory is already too wide. If we send our army to India, there is a high possibility of negative reactions. They won’t openly complain since it’s my business, but I don’t think it’s desirable for us to move first.”

“Then what should we do…?”

“We have to make them pick a fight with us. Trade can create enormous wealth, but it can also create conflicts that weren’t there before.”

Tadius had a rough idea of what his mission was.

He moistened his lips with wine and lowered his voice slightly.

“So you mean I have to cause a huge trade deficit in India? I have to bring gold and silver to the point where they feel impatient?”

“Yes. That’s why I said it’s a great opportunity for you to make a lot of money. The goods are already prepared, so go ahead and show your skills. I don’t care how much you rip them off. And you only need one item to import.”

“If I import expensive items, the surplus might decrease.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. It will be dirt cheap over there.”

The material that Marcus wanted to secure was saltpeter, or potassium nitrate.

This powder, also known as saltpeter, was an essential material for making basic black powder.

Even though it was only basic black powder, its power would be equivalent to a decisive weapon if it was commercialized.

But Marcus had no intention of producing gunpowder right away.

The problem was that black powder had a drawback that was too obvious.

Black powder was made by mixing saltpeter with charcoal and sulfur in a certain ratio.

Charcoal and sulfur were materials that could be easily obtained even in ancient times, so if you had saltpeter, you could make gunpowder right away.

The problem was that this advantage could turn into a fatal disadvantage.

It was good to make gunpowder, but if you use it as a weapon on a large scale, technology leakage is inevitable.

Even if the armor plate, which gave Marcus an absolute advantage, was leaked, it didn’t mean much.

There was no country that had the technology to copy this armor, which was a combination of various technologies.

On the other hand, gunpowder was a different story.

If they only knew the concept, the dynasties of Han or India had the possibility of applying it as a weapon within a few years.

If chemical technology developed rapidly under Marcus’ leadership, even if he didn’t tell them, the simple principle of gunpowder would be discovered in no time.

Then eventually, the spread of gunpowder would have to be taken as a constant.

The low production difficulty meant that it was also an item that required a lot of risk reduction.

Especially if they saw something like a finished firearm somewhere, the development speed would be even more boosted.

But even for that reason, he needed to get his hands on India’s saltpeter.

Saltpeter was the most important resource that could determine the direction of war until the 18th century.

It was obvious because without saltpeter, you couldn’t make gunpowder.

In fact, saltpeter was not something that had to be mined from nature, but it could be produced enough.

But no matter how much you produce it, there is always a limit to the amount.

That’s why England and France were so eager to take over India in history.

The reason was simple.

Until the saltpeter mines in the New World were discovered, India accounted for more than 80% of the world’s saltpeter production.

Of course, if you import saltpeter in large quantities, people around you will wonder what you are going to use it for.

Marcus had also thought of a great excuse for this.

“This saltpeter is a natural fertilizer with excellent performance. I can make it myself, but it’s too cumbersome, so it’s better to scrape it off from India where it’s cheap and naturally produced in abundance.”

“If it’s an item used for fertilizer, they won’t control it too strictly over there. And the price won’t be too high either. I see. I’ll sell coffee, wine, sugar and bring in large quantities of that saltpeter.”

It would be easy to secure saltpeter in India if nitrogen fixation was developed later, but it was still far away from taking the first steps in chemistry.

Besides, even if Rome could make saltpeter as they pleased, it didn’t mean that India’s importance would decrease.

It was valuable in itself to preempt the largest production area so that saltpeter wouldn’t fall into the hands of others.

Even if he started producing gunpowder someday, the quality and quantity of firearms between Rome and other countries would be incomparable.

That would do.

‘The problem is that even if I win the war later, it’s impossible to directly rule over that vast land of India… Should I learn from the British way?’

He might be able to create a similar framework by using Tadius as in the case of the East India Company.

But the East India Company had a lot of negative effects on the country’s interior, so he was reluctant to apply it as it was.

Tadius also thought that it would be difficult to conquer India completely, but he didn’t bother to ask.

Anyway, he was a merchant and his role was to scrape off the wealth of other countries.

He thought that Marcus would take care of the rest and he had to do his job.

“Great Shahanshah, when should I start trading? Can I summon the merchants as soon as tomorrow?”

“The sooner the better, since we have to elicit a reaction from the Indian dynasties. I expect you to show your excellent skills as you did with Parthia.”

“You will never be disappointed.”

He couldn’t even guess how much wealth he could accumulate by sucking up from Han and India.

Tadius desperately held back the laughter that was about to burst out and lowered his head to hide his expression.

Marcus rather liked the merchant’s greed.

If he had such a desire for money, he would rip off as much money as possible from the other side and make them feel impatient.

He imagined the faces of the Indian dynasties who would soon be crying and smiled contentedly.

The End