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Back at the Weismann mansion.
(So that was the strength of a Rank 3 huh ?)
Add thought as he recalled the fight with Dave. He had briefly crossed swords with the enraged man, and although the man's strength was good, but he was able to push Dave back easily. The Rank 2 warriors were even less of a challenge.
"So then, according to this world's standards, my present strength should be around Rank 3 at least and close to Rank 4 at best…"
The gene enhancers really lived out to their name. With just two doses, he had already gained such strength. He looked at his status again, the Magic Aptitude : Enhancement Magic (Low) had interested him from day one. The system explained that he had the aptitude to use mana to strengthen his body just like warriors, but with his current talent he would only be able to become a Rank 2 warrior at best. Of course the system had items which could change his talent, but they were expensive and difficult to obtain. For now, he had to focus on perfecting his physical body to its limits. A series of knocks broke his revere, and Walter entered the room.
"You asked for me my lord ?"
After the previous events, most people including Walter had began addressing him as lord, instead of 'young master'. He was no longer the childish boy, but a man who could make serious decisions and take proper action.
"Ah Mr. Walter, I was expecting you. From tomorrow onwards, I will take over the management of the territory. You and all the officials will be reporting to me directly. You should also get some people to replace those dead officials."
"Understood my lord."
The study had been turned into an office at his orders. Add began looking at the reports which Walter had compiled while he was out in the hills. These ranged from the financial condition of the territory to the various problems and necessities of the common people. As he was looking at the papers, his gaze fell on Walter who appeared to be wanting to say something.
"What is it? You can speak freely."
The man hesitatingly began,
"Young Lord, yesterday you killed so many soldiers and today you killed those officials, their families are aggrieved and I am afraid that they will oppose you openly. How do you wish to deal with them? While it is true that those people deserved death, but from the perspective of their families…"
What he said was right. There were many families that had lost their men due to the purge that Add carried out. Aside from the loss of a family member, many of those soldiers were the sole earning member in their families. Now that they were dead, those families would be in a bad situation and many would probably end up out on the streets. Add frowned. This was a consequence he had to face, while on one hand he felt no remorse in killing those people, on the other hand as a lord he was also responsible for the families of those people. After thinking for a while, he made a decision.
"I understand, give 50 silver coins as a support to all the families of the dead soldiers. If they take things too far, deal with them as you see fit. Apart from that, in a few days time, I will be starting some major works and the families of the deceased will have the first opportunity to be employed."
"As for the family of officials, I will leave it to your wisdom. But if they are not cooperative and dare make a fuss, you can arrest them and put them in prison!"
"As you wish my lord, however if I am so bold as to mention that the finances…"
Add stretched his body while sighing, something he had been doing a lot recently.
"I know. For now gather what you can and take the rest from the house's treasury. Ask Martha to help you."
"I understand."
After Walter left, Add began thinking about the money problems he was facing. The treasury was steadily depleting and there was little income coming in.
"Looks like I will have to solve it soon huh…"
He had enough funds for now, but if the situation did not improve, he would be bankrupt soon. In the next few days, he families of the dead soldiers and officials had been dealt with, some chose to compromise while others had to be suppressed with force. During the remaining days of the month, Add repeatedly made trips all over the territory, even going to the farthest villages taking notes of the conditions of the people and the various problems and challenges before them. He also oversaw the working of the officials and routinely visited to watch the training of the cadets, which was nearly complete as per his currently set plans. After he had a rough understanding of the situation of the entire territory, he began making a plan for beginning the development process. Once again, he returned to the history of the Soviet Union for ideas.
When the Soviet Union was established in 1918, Russia was nowhere near being called a industrial nation. While most of Europe had been industrialising rapidly since the mid 18th century, most of Russia still remained agricultural. The Russian economy then was powered mostly by agriculture and industries were just beginning to rise. This economy was dealt heavy blows by the defeat in the first world war and the civil war between the Bolsheviks and the while army, which left it nearly crippled. After obtaining power, Lenin and the Bolsheviks realised that the Soviet Union was decades far behind the major European countries in terms of industrial and economic development. But before he could do much, Lenin passed away. His successor, Joseph Stalin then implemented the famous and ruthless 5-year plans to reform the Soviet Union into a industrial powerhouse, which were followed by other plans that brought the state out of its backwardness and into a developed society.
Add, right now was facing a similar situation. Although there were close to a million people in total living in the territory, they were scattered and far in between. Currently, including Rigel and nearby villages, he had around 20,000 people under him, the scales were nowhere as large as the millions back in the Soviet union, but the basic problems remained the same. To modernise the Weismann territory, he decided on a similar policy like the USSR had, but with major differences.
Instead of a totalitarian state, which the Soviet Union had become, he envisioned his state to follow a Democratic Socialist type of system. The state would follow the ideals of socialism, while also ensuring everyone had the equality, freedom and power that Marx had originally envisioned. True communism, Add reasoned would never work, not for humans. The system itself was perfect, no doubt about that. But the people who were to run that system did not deserve it. Humans by nature were selfish and greedy, and this was undeniable. Hence, Communism which emphasised on the collective well being would never truly work with humans. Firstly since in practical life, it was impossible for all the millions of people in a communistic society to come together and make decisions as there would be a million different views. This meant the need of representatives who would then inevitably hold the power over the millions of people and as the ones in power were still humans, sooner or later they would want to ensure their own benefits as power can corrupt even the noblest of hearts.
As such Socialism was a compromise between Communism and the selfish and greedy nature of humans. Add envisioned a state which would give its citizens basic rights such as owning property, but would strictly control the means of production to ensure that the 10% of the population, never had more wealth than the 90% combined. Of course till the state reached a certain level of development, he had to ensure his own control. Once it had developed enough, he would let an elected government take over the government. He started this process of reforming the state by formulating a five year plan for the development of the territory, and more would follow after its completion. This plan was based on the 5-year plans, Stalin had introduced, but there were many key differences. The main objective of the 1st five year plan was to boost agricultural production. Agriculture was the backbone of any state, and as there were no industrialising countries around him, Add saw no necessity of stating to build huge factories when the people had no food to eat.
The development in agriculture would be in all of its sectors. In the country of Reinglief, which was a stereotypical feudalistic society, almost all of the farmlands were owned by the Royal family and Nobles. The normal peasants worked on them as serfs to produce crops. After harvesting was done, the peasants were give a fraction of their produce and some wages while the majority of the produce was owned by the land owners. What the peasants got varied from region to region, but it would suffice to say that it was not much. Add decided to change this system instantly. The farmland around Rigel which was all owned by him, would be divided into parts and leased to the peasants for a period of 10 years, after which, depending on their performance, the lease could be extended or terminated. When leased, the peasants would be obliged to sell all their crops to the state, at prices which would be fixed to ensure that the peasants can make a decent income.
Next would be the variety of crops. wheat was the major crop grown in the territory and it was the staple which people ate. Aside from this, there were vegetables, potatoes, and some amount of fruits grown as well. But all of this was not enough. There had to be more variety, in the produce, and he decided that he would bring more types of crops into his territory as soon as possible. There was also an acute shortage of live stock such as cows, chickens etc. these had to be bought from elsewhere and bred to make new sources of income and boost animal husbandry. Along with this, there was a need for better irrigation systems as the people were mostly dependent on rain for their crops. The final problem which had to be resolved was modernization of agriculture. The peasants here, used primitive methods like hand ploughing, horse drawn ploughing, manual seed planting etc. all of these were slow, time consuming and not very effective. These had to be replaced with simple machines first and then as time progressed more sophisticated and effective machines would be used.
The secondary focus would be on education, healthcare and jobs. Very few of the people of the territory were literate, and only a small fraction of them knew subjects like math, economy etc. this was a major problem which had to be tackled as quickly as possible. No state could prosper without its citizens being properly educated and aware. Sadly, there was only one school in Rigel, if it could be called a school at all, and that too was for the ones who were relatively wealthy. He had once visited that place and inspected the level of teaching, which he had found to be very very lacking even by the standards of this world. For this he planned on establishing state run schools which would provide education on basic subjects such as language, mathematics and rudimentary science. There would be a minimal fee charged and the teachers would be paid by the state. In simpler terms, a public school. The exact courses would be selected later, but once the schools were set up and running, gradually more advanced institutions like colleges and universities would be built. The people had to learn and become skilled so that they could in turn contribute in the development of the state.
Healthcare in this era was basically confined to herbal medicines and diagnosis by traditional methods which had been passed down through the ages. There were no large hospitals or health centres, only a few private doctors, if they could be called doctors at all. Modern medicine and knowledge of biology needed to be taught as well. As for Jobs, they would appear as the various development projects started. Lots of man power would be required to do the construction projects and in the many new services which would be set up by the state. As the territory developed, and more people gathered, new opportunities of trade and commerce would also appear with time.
The third target was industrialization. This would begin by proper mapping and documenting of the various mines and quarries in this region. The hills behind Rigel were part of the great dividing ranges and were rich in various minerals, but due to the poor economic resources, not much could be invested in proper mining. Once this was done, small scale factories would be set up by the state to process the raw materials and these will then be sent to other factories to make proper items of use. The main products of interest would be iron and other metals, yarn and clothes, paper and wood. He would also introduce the use of machines, starting with the steam engine, which was the pioneer of industrialization. This would be followed by the production and usage of electricity followed by the railways and similar systems. For developing, constructing and operating such factories machines and systems, there was a need for skilled people and adequate food supply which would be met in the previous two targets.
The fourth sector would be the government. To manage the development of the Agriculture, implementing Education, Setting up industry and to ensure the safety and security of the State, a proper government was a must. Till now, the relatively small population of the Weismann Territory was being somewhat decently managed by Walter and some other officials who had been working under the Weismann family for years. In the future however as the various plans were implemented and the population increased, more people would be required to manage the state and its operations. Till his father's time, the officials were usually selected on the basis of connections. Ability was a secondary criteria. From now on however, there would be strict tests to evaluate the skill and qualities of the people before allowing them any positions in the government. Next would be the formulation of a proper constitution which would have all the laws, rules and regulations, the state and its citizens would follow.
Add would also set up a State Intelligence agency which he named the K.G.B. and would stand as the homonym for the Committee for State Security. Very original on his part. Just like the original KGB it would directly report to the government, and would be responsible for internal security, intelligence gathering; both inside and outside the state and also serve as the Secret Police. Aside from this a separate agency called the State Investigation Division would be set up to monitor crimes within the state and an Anti-Corruption Agency to keep strict watch on government officials and other people with independent powers. The government would have many departments within it, and more agencies would be added when required. Finally, there would be the Central Police Force which would be responsible for maintaining law and order inside the state. Also not to forget was the State Prison Committee, the infamous GULAGS.
The fifth and final target of this plan was the Military. A nation was only as strong as its armed forces were. For now, there seemed to be peace, but Add knew that the current kingdom was on the verge of collapse and as soon as he began his reforms, the royalty and the nobility of the kingdom would immediately try to suppress him. His and their ideologies were exact opposites and they could never allow the rise of the Farmers an Workers. If he was to ensure the Rise of a Socialistic state, he would inevitably clash against the armies of this kingdom and possibly the other kingdoms as well. So he had to form a strong armed force which could protect the state from any and all threats. Although he had started this process with the 100 freshly recruited cadets, but that was not at all enough. Add planned to make a proper defence force consisting of the three major division : The Army, The Air Force and the Navy. Apart from these, there would be the Special Forces (Spetsnaz), and some paramilitary forces.
A major problem was that all these forces would be armed with modern weapons and equipment, and to supply all that the previous 3 targets would have to be met. He could not just begin producing guns and arming his soldiers with them, as doing this would be difficult without properly developing the other sectors and even if he did, then that would attract too much attention. The current him was not prepared to deal with the various powers which resided in this country be it the millions strong armies or the many strong people who would come after him if he recklessly revealed the modern weapons and technology. All of it had to be done slowly and steadily, and could not be rushed. For now, he would develop the territory and bid his time. The situation of the country was not good and a war with the neighbouring countries could break out anytime. In this troubled times, one could never be more careful.
After setting the course of action, he injected the Grade C gene enhancer into his body. The pain came as usual, this time lasting longer than before, but next morning, the results were also better than before:
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STATUS
Name : Add (Adolf Kaiser Weismann)
Race : Human
Credit Points : 1,563,500
ATTRIBUTES :
Vitality : 18 -> 28
Strength : 20 -> 35
Agility : 15 -> 25
Dexterity : 12 -> 22
Defence: 15 -> 20
Intelligence : 7 -> 8
Wisdom : 6 -> 8
Stamina : 12 -> 24
Charm : 6 -> 7
Magic Aptitude : Enhancement Magic (Low)
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Strength was still his highest stat, but vitality had also increased substantially. The other stats were also increasing nicely. Intelligence and wisdom increased by one point each, but he was not upset. He felt that he was smart enough for what he had to do and did not need to be on par with Einstein and Newton anyway. As for charm, he considered it a bonus, nothing too important. But this poor ignored stat would have its revenge on him one day.
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On a sunny day, a large group of people stood in front of a vast patch of forest. The location was about 30 kilometres from the city of Rigel. A long line of carriages laden with various supplies and tools, stood still and hundreds of workers looked at the vast untouched forests before them. These people were peasants that had been recruited by the Lord of the territory as workers for what they knew as simply 'a large construction project', any further details were omitted. The workers themselves did not care what they were building as long as they got their wages on time. They brought with them food, supplies, simple tents and the various items which would be requires for them to stay out here for a long time, all of which had been provided by the lord. However, what most people had doubts about is what the Lord planne don building in this area, by spending so much money.
Add had long realised that the town of Rigel could not be his base of operations. It had been built too haphazardly with poor planning which left little room for development. He could of course tear down the town and built it a new, but that would be too costly, and time consuming. So that idea was rejected. Instead he gathered the few architects and builders he could find in the town and gave them a simple task of clearing a large part of the forest, in a location he had chosen previously. Giving them a rough estimate of the area needed to be cleared, he gave them a few hundred workers, and sent them away. Dozens of the militia, who had been stripped of their ego and powers were sent to guard the workers as well.
Only a few people including Martha and Walter knew what Add was actually up to. The Lord was going to build a new city up from scratch! The future was too large for the little town to accommodate, and it was easier to make a new city instead of trying to reconstruct Rigel. Although they protested greatly at first, which was given as this project would drain away wealth like sand drains water, but before his stubbornness they had to give in. It was not all bad however, the trees in the forest were of high quality and the timber could be sold to traders for money. To encourage the workers to perform to their best, Add divided them into groups and announced that the three groups that performed the best, will receive bonus salaries at the end of the month. This would also ensure that the people worked together rather than laze around. To the poor peasants this offer was worth salivating for.
Add also began revamping the agriculture sector immediately. Till now, almost all of the land which was farmed belonged to the Weismann house and the peasants worked as hired serfs who were paid low wages and had no rights to the produce itself. He made a new law which guaranteed minimal monthly wage for the farmers, and also promised a share of the crops to them after harvest. Supervisors were employed to monitor the work of the farmers, to ensure that the work went smoothly. To increase productivity he introduced the concepts of crop rotation, and promoted the use of natural fertilizer. Huge composts pits were made where the waste from the town was buried under layers of solid to produce manure. The farming here was too backward, with basically no scientific knowledge. But little by little the situation was improving.
The other major sector of revenue was the mining sector. The mining around Rigel was mostly done by private parties, the mines being leased to them by the lord. In return they would pay a share of taxes to the lord in proportion to the amount of ore they had mined out. Add changed the policy, he made a mining agency with retired miners, and new recruits who were directly employed by him. They were given free access to the mines, and in return they would have to surrender the ores they mine to the government. They would be paid directly depending on how much ore they mined per day, and the rate was fixed according to market prices. He also employed a few blacksmiths who had poor business and tasked them with building a refinery to smelt the ores. The raw ores themselves fetched low prices, but smelt metals even of low quality sold for much higher. He also gave them tips on how to smelt ores better and more efficiently, and this was the beginning of what would slowly come to be the first ever iron factory in Iseria.
All these plans required lots of money, and Add was on the verge of bankruptcy already. To obtain more funds, he 'convinced' the few rich people in town to 'invest' in his efforts. They were of course unwilling, but after some 'persuasion' most of them reluctantly agreed. A few who didn't were given two choices by the Lord.
"Either you willingly give me some of your money, or I will take all of your funds, seize your property, and then throw you out into the wilderness. Choose."
This scared the living daylights out of them. This was no longer 'asking for money' it was daylight robbery. However no one dared go against him, as they knew that he was really capable of doing what he said. Add too did not push them too hard. He had rough estimates as to how much wealth these few rich people had, and he only took a portion of it, leaving enough for them to live in comfort. He would also return the money when he had returns from all the ventures he was working on, with a little interest to even things out. Another source of cash were the various precious antiques stored in the Weismann estate itself. Without hesitation he sold off most of the useless stuff such as decorations, statues, paintings to traders, leaving behind only the family heirlooms and a few other precious items.
He was never much of a materialistic person, and if he could gain money by selling things he had no use or attachment to, then he would not hesitate even a moment. With all his efforts, he had secured enough funding for his projects for around a year. By then the next harvest season would be over, and the income of the territory would be at its peak. New officials had been employed from the fraction of people that had some literacy and he explained to them their jobs while entrusting the Administration to Walter once again. After sorting all of this, he returned his attention to the cadets who were on the verge of completing their basic training.
But before that he had one last thing to do. He once again sent for Joey the tailor who had made the training clothes for the cadets. This time, the request was rather important and serious in nature. As a noble, the Weismann Family had the right to have their own signature flag for their fief. However, his grandfather and father had never really cared for this as they were absolutely loyal to the kingdom and had not made a flag for themselves. Only the flag of the kingdom itself was used whenever needed. But Add would not have that.
"How may I serve you today my lord ?"
The short chubby tailor fidgeted in the chair, visibly tensed, as he looked at the cold and detached appearance of the young lord. This man before him could barely be considered an adult by this world's standards (which by the way was 16 years on Iseria), but he had already made a name for himself in town. Unlike his father who was kind and tolerant however, the current lord was ruthless and scary.
"It's fairly simple, Mr. Joey,"
Add showed him a drawing he had previously made,
"As you can see the design here, I need you to do is make a single rectangular flag, coloured completely red. And on its top left corner, there will be a hammer and sickle crossing each other beneath a star. The hammer and sickle will be completely golden in colour, while the star will only have a golden border…."
The man looked at the strange flag and felt confused. He had never seen such a flag anywhere before, it looked too simple, and vacant, not to mention the hammer and sickle. Nobles usually had showy flags with large flashy designs, and almost never would any one use such a dull looking flag. He rubbed his forehead which had gathered sweat and asked,
"My Lord, do you really want just this and nothing more ? If I can be so bold to suggest a better..…"
"Mr. Joey. I know exactly what I want… just tell me how fast you can do it ?"
Add's eyes were chilling, causing the later to feel involuntarily scared. He quickly stopped his blabbing and departed, taking the sketch with him, and promising he would deliver it in two days time. And the man kept his word, exactly two days later, the requested flag arrived. Lord Weismann was satisfied with it and without his knowledge, a tiny smile made its way across his lips.
The familiar, red flag with the golden, hammer, sickle and star. A symbol of power, a symbol of hope and a symbol of sacrifice, the flag was much more than just a flag. It represented the very soul of the Soviet Union, it was the banner which had united people of different religions, ages and status under one impetus and one notion. The 25 silver coins which he paid for this flag were well spent. The flag was just small enough to be held upright by a single person, any larger and it would take more than one man to keep it steady. But Add didn't furl it right away. That had to be done on a special day, when he could proclaim the existence of his power to the world, for when the red flag flew for the first time, the world was bound to change in more than one ways. For now, it was kept safely in the study.
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