Chapter 51

< 51. Copper. >

The sanitation director continued.

“Not only the capital, but also other cities of the empire are in a similar situation as the black sky.”

Of course, these areas were better than the capital.

But if the population of the Wakan Tanka Empire Empire Empire increased rapidly as it did now, they would be no different from the capital.

After exchanging some more stories with the sanitation director, he sent him back.

Kim Kiwoo was alone in his office, spreading out a map of the American continent and immersed in deep thoughts.

‘The water supply itself is possible to build with our current capacity.’

The representative country that achieved water supply facilities before modern times was Rome.

Rome was a country that had achieved an outstanding civilization more than a thousand years ago.

They built countless water supply and sewerage facilities with their excellent technology.

Kim Kiwoo wanted to benchmark Rome’s water supply system. 

He didn’t have the technology to build a water supply system after modern times yet.

But one consolation was that the Wakan Tanka Empire Empire Empire was much better off than Rome’s situation.

‘Most of the current empire is flat.’

Of course, there were places where the Appalachian Mountains were connected, but basically the terrain of the empire was very flat.

That is, there were almost no geographical obstacles.

Basically, most of Rome’s water supply facilities were also buried underground.

But Rome’s terrain had quite a lot of obstacles.

To overcome these obstacles, Rome built arch-shaped aqueducts that were tens of meters high.

Of course, this process required a lot of manpower and money.

Of course, the Wakan Tanka Empire Empire Empire would also have to build aqueducts if necessary, but the cost would be much less than Rome.

‘There are also many places that can be used as water sources.’

The European region where Rome entered had a lot of calcareous water.

Therefore, it was quite difficult to select a water source that was not calcareous.

But the Wakan Tanka Empire Empire Empire was more free in this regard.

There were so many places that could be used as water sources that it was incomparable to Europe.

‘Besides, most of the cities are built along rivers.’

That is, it was a matter of building water pipes along the river.

‘The problem is the water pipe…’

To make water flow, water pipes were necessary.

Rome also used water pipes.

Kim Kiwoo planned to build a stone tunnel from the water source to the city’s reservoir like Rome did.

But he never intended to follow Rome when it came to water pipes.

Rome’s water pipes were none other than lead.

‘I don’t want to make water pipes out of lead.’

According to some theories, one of the causes of Rome’s destruction was lead poisoning.

At that time, lead was used so widely in Rome.

From paint, roofs, tanks, cookware, sweeteners, plates, bowls, wine glasses, wine, jewelry, cosmetics, currency, medicine and so on.

There was literally no place where lead was not used.

Even water pipes were made of lead.

Of course, using lead pipes would not have much effect because the distance was relatively short, the water always flowed, and the lime dissolved in the water coated the lead pipes.

But that was Europe’s water rich in lime.

There was no need to take such a risk for nothing.

He didn’t even want to spread lead itself in the empire anyway.

‘Lead poisoning causes abnormalities in the nervous system.’

Lead poisoning rarely leads to death immediately.

Rather, it causes symptoms such as mental disorders, paralysis, anemia, vomiting and so on and suffers for a long time.

There were many theories that nervous system abnormalities corrupted Romans and contributed to Rome’s destruction.

For this reason, Kim Kiwoo wanted to use copper instead of lead as metal for his pipes.

‘Copper pipes are still widely used in modern times.’

They are durable and have smooth surfaces so copper pipes won’t clog easily either.

It was a pipe with many advantages but the problem was copper supply.

Unfortunately, copper mining was not smooth in the mainland of the current empire.

‘It’s too far away from Bingham Canyon Mine.’

There is certainly a world-class copper mine on the North Continent.

But it was located in modern Utah.

It was too far away fromWakan Tanka Empire Empire now.

There were certainly copper deposits in Appalachia near modern West Virginia but it was hard to meet demand for pipes with that alone.

‘Inevitably we have to import copper to meet demand for pipes.’

The answer was to bring more copper from Central or South Continent.

Fortunately Central Continent had abundant labor force since ancient times and Andes region in South Continent was same too.

And both regions had a lot of copper deposits too.

EventuallyWakan Tanka Empire Empire’s hope was trade with two regions.

***

As soon as direction was roughly decided Kim Kiwoo called foreign affairs director right away.

“Did you call me?”

“Yes. How are you feeling?”

“Fortunately I got much better. I’m sorry for making you worry.”

“Haha. What do you have to be sorry for? But you should take more care of your health from now on.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Wise Moonlight, the head of diplomacy, was also getting old.

He had recently suffered from a severe fever and had to leave his post for a long time.

After the powerful archer retired from his position as the head of military, other heads of departments were also preparing to step down.

This was also the case for the head of diplomacy.

‘The diplomatic department has grown a lot.’

For a while, the diplomatic department was one of the most insignificant positions.

The empire had been isolated in the northern continent, so there was nothing for the diplomatic department to do.

But after they started trading with the Andes region and formed an alliance with the central continent, the diplomatic department became more active.

Recently, they had also established contacts with the central continent, the southern continent, and the tribes of the Caribbean islands like Cobao, and the size of the diplomatic department had grown significantly.

Now it was comparable to other departments.

Kim Kiwoo had a brief conversation with the head of diplomacy, then went straight to the point.

“How is the situation in the Andes region? I heard it’s still chaotic. Is that true?”

“As Your Majesty said, it is. Blood must be flowing in the Andes region right now. It’s a pity.”

“I see.”

It was because of Kim Kiwoo and the head of diplomacy that the turmoil in the Andes began, but the situation was much more intense than Kim Kiwoo had expected.

‘Not everything goes as I want it to.’

Kim Kiwoo felt this truth painfully as he looked at the situation in the Andes region.

‘Of course, I can’t say that it’s bad for the empire.’

In some ways, it could be better.

The direction that Kim Kiwoo had initially guided was a confrontation between the Inca Empire and its neighboring allies.

But before Kim Kiwoo could start trading with the Inca Empire in earnest, the allies armed with iron weapons attacked the Inca Empire.

If only the Inca Empire had collapsed at once…

But after they hastily imported iron weapons from the Wakan Tanka Empire Empire Empire and barely defended themselves, things started to go wrong.

The allies turned on each other and their alliance quickly collapsed.

From then on, the Andes region became a mess.

‘It’s similar to Japan’s Warring States period.’

The local forces began to fight for the nearby gold and silver mines.

As a result, many forces emerged and fell.

Thanks to that, trade profits were maximized.

There was no need to use any dirty tricks.

The forces were eager to trade more with the empire.

The main things they received in return were gold, silver, and guano, but…

‘There was also copper among them.’

Of course, it was less than those things, but since copper was abundant in the Andes region, there was a lot of copper imports.

But now that he wanted to bury copper pipes underground, he couldn’t be satisfied with that amount of copper anymore.

“The reason why I called you is one. I need to increase the amount of copper imported from the Andes region much more than now.”

“Copper?”

“Yes. Even if I have to raise the price enough, I have to.”

If he raised the price of copper, naturally, the scale of copper mining would increase.

Until now, copper production had been low because they were mining gold and silver instead.

‘I won’t be able to dream of copper currency for a while.’

If it weren’t for copper pipes, he would have considered copper currency sooner or later, but until there was enough copper left after using it for pipes, it would be difficult.

“I also need to develop copper mines in the central continent. There must be a lot of copper mines there if you look for them.”

Slowly,Wakan Tanka Empire’s products began to penetrate deeply into the central continent.

He hoped that he could get some copper from there in exchange for them.

“Are you planning to do something with copper?”

“Yes. I will need a lot of copper in the future. So I hope you will pay attention and increase your supply of copper.”

“I will do my best to fulfill Your Majesty’s wishes.”

Wise Moonlight’s face was determined as he finished speaking.

***

Kim Kiwoo’s will soon spread widely among the merchants who led trade.

“The government is buying copper so expensive?”

“They even buy it at the same price no matter how much we bring in. This is an opportunity!”

As soon as the state raised the price of copper, merchants who traded with foreign countries through sea became bloodshot for importing copper.

Naturally, imperial merchants quickly contacted forces that produced copper by boat.

“Please supply us with more copper! Then we will give you much more iron weapons!”

“Is that true?”

“Have we ever lied? Ask anyone else. You’ll hear the same thing.”

As they said, rumors about this spread far and wide by many merchants to even distant tribes.

“Haha! The empire is buying copper so expensive. We can’t just sit here, we need to increase the manpower in the copper mines. Get ready right now!”

“Yes!”

Thanks to that, the forces that occupied the copper mines screamed with joy.

But not everyone was like that.

“Damn. We don’t have as many copper mines as those guys…”

“What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean what? We can’t just sit and watch them get more iron weapons, can we?”

“Then…”

“Gather the warriors right now!”

Soon after, wars broke out around the copper mines.

The situation was similar in the central continent.

“Hey! This is our land, so get out of here!”

“What nonsense! This mountain is our territory, so you go back!”

“That was until there. This is clearly our area!”

It seemed that most of the mines were near the rugged mountains, and those areas were sparsely populated.

That meant that each force had enough evidence to claim that it was their land.

As a result, many conflicts broke out, and many forces askedWakan Tanka Empire Empire for mediation.

But the empire maintained strict neutrality.

They just protected their direct territories and sold their products to the surrounding forces.

-The empire never interferes in the conflicts between other forces.

This wasWakan Tanka Empire Empire’s foreign policy.

They just sold iron weapons and various products and bought precious metals and minerals smoothly.

That’s how a policy of raising the price of copper made the whole continent noisy.

< Copper. > The end