Free Web NovelChapter 118: Chapter 118 : Magnificent Plan
As always, the Strategy Office was bustling with activity.
"So, is the preliminary investigation into the collegia more or less wrapped up?"
"For the ones currently in Rome, yes. Assuming Caesar doesn’t order us to investigate the allied cities too."
"Don’t say that. Around here, comments like that have a way of coming true."
However, the investigation into the collegia was only the very first step.
Their second task was to lay the groundwork for connecting them all.
"Has anything like this ever been attempted in Rome before? It seems practically impossible."
"Let’s try to brainstorm a bit more."
The organization that provided a breakthrough for those in dire straits was the Palmolive Victims’ Association.
Ever since Lucius Caesar’s personal visit, the organization had begun producing fanatical devotees.
"Then shouldn’t we establish regular communication with each collegium and encourage legal aid and mutual support?"
"That’s easier said than done. I don’t even know where to begin to actually make that happen."
After several consecutive nights of overtime, fueled by roasted moray eel, the outline of the plan gradually began to take shape.
The idea was simple: build an expansive network to gather intelligence, then support each collegium in return.
They could not simply force the collegia to cooperate.
If they wanted them to voluntarily join this new alliance, they needed to give them a very tempting incentive.
As the Strategy Office struggled to decide what incentives to offer, an unexpected situation unfolded. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"Wait, what do you mean inquiries about applications are already flooding in? We haven’t even sent out the official proposals yet..."
"They seem to be rushing to join in hopes of currying favor with Caesar. Many of these collegia already have ties to our businesses, after all... Plus, there are rumors floating around that we’ve promised extensive support."
"Suspend all applications immediately! If every collegium in Rome rushes us at once, we won’t be able to handle it! How are we supposed to process all that paperwork?!"
The primary reason for unifying the collegia was to gather intelligence and promote mutual exchange.
Consequently, any collegium wishing to join the alliance had to provide their members’ information.
Every new collegium meant another mountain of paperwork.
"Announce that applications are temporarily closed! If this keeps up, we’ll all be crushed under a mountain of paperwork!"
"Paper prices are climbing again. Even papyrus is getting more expensive..."
Ironically, announcing that applications had been temporarily suspended only caused even more collegia representatives to swarm the office in person.
"Why are some collegia being accepted while ours is ignored?!"
"Are you discriminating against us?!"
"No, this is a misunderstanding... Please, everyone, calm down."
In the end, they only managed to placate the angry representatives by assigning them queue numbers and putting them on a waiting list.
"Did accepting only a select few collegia end up drawing even more attention to this?"
The Strategy Office employees screamed internally as the paperwork multiplied exponentially.
"Names, addresses, personal information... Isn’t this basically a census?"
"No, this is far more detailed than a standard census."
"At this point, we’re practically acting as censors. At least a census only happens once every few years, right?"
No one in the room had an answer to that.
***
The employees of the Strategy Office weren’t the only ones drowning in work.
"Lucius, I’d like to make use of your insurance premium collectors as well."
"Make use of them? How so?"
Gaius Julius Caesar, elected consul for the following year, had officially begun making his political moves.
In Rome, a consul-elect commonly began political maneuvering before officially taking office.
They typically used this period to grant favors to their clients and finalize his agenda for his upcoming term.
However, Caesar’s approach was entirely different.
"Security of the streets isn’t the only thing that needs improving in Rome. Noise at night, road maintenance, reorganizing the market districts, improving street sanitation, and so on. Let’s have them investigate these issues as thoroughly as possible so we can set our priorities."
While Lucius was wholly focused on uniting the collegia, Gaius Caesar was gathering, sorting, and analyzing the citizens’ grievances.
It was the same method his son had used to create the streetlamp system.
"The streets are filthier than ever. So many people throw piss and shit out their windows every evening that you can’t even walk around safely."
"Petty theft has been on the rise lately, and there are more cases like this..."
"I’m terrified my insula is going to collapse at any moment. Sure, I’m insured, but that won’t do me much good if I’m crushed to death, will it?"
The reports gathered this way did not go to the Strategy Office.
Caesar established a new office in the Regia, the seat of his duties as Pontifex Maximus, and mobilized the priests for the task.
"From now on, the temples must take on a more crucial role in Rome. If we simply hoard the revenue from advertisements and merchant sponsorships for personal gain, what will the citizens think of us?"
The temples were assigned different responsibilities depending on the deity they served.
The Temple of Vesta handled support for widows.
Vulcan’s temple was put in charge of matters involving forge fires.
Mercury’s temple handled contracts and guaranteed the authenticity of goods.
Fortuna’s temple managed lotteries and disaster relief.
Apollo’s temple oversaw sanitation for streets and bathhouses.
Most of the priests were bewildered by these sudden changes in their duties.
Many of them were both politicians and priests.
"Is it truly acceptable to expand the duties of the temples to such an extent?"
"Is there any reason it wouldn’t be? We could, of course, just hoard all the new wealth our temples are generating. But if we do that, how do you think the citizens will view us?"
"I suppose that’s true, but..."
The collegia and the temples.
Lucius Caesar and Gaius Caesar.
With Rome now beginning to revolve around these two axes, the father and son reunited in the Forum.
***
"Your supporters seem to have grown in number, Lucius."
"Yours seem no less impressive, Father."
"But you still have a long way to go to catch up to me. After all, I have the men who fought beside me in Hispania."
"I have comrades who fought beside me in the bandit campaign as well."
We both burst into laughter at the sight of the massive crowds of supporters surrounding us.
It was hard to imagine a more comical sight.
A father and son showing off their respective followings to each other.
Father stepped closer to me.
"I heard you personally visited your supporters recently. And Brutus was active among them?"
"They gave me a rather embarrassing plaster statue modeled on me. I couldn’t very well display it at home, but I couldn’t just throw it into storage either, so I was quite worried."
"Your mother might actually like it. She’s been feeling quite lonely ever since you moved out. Not to mention your sister."
"I should drop by the family house more often."
With so much happening lately, I hadn’t been able to visit the family house very often.
I hadn’t been able to spend as much time with Julia as I used to, either.
Since she seemed to be getting along well with Pompeia, I should invite her to our house more often.
While I was lost in thought, Father whispered.
"Having your supporter base grow is undoubtedly a good thing. But you’d best be careful, Lucius."
Father warned.
"For politicians like us, supporters are like fire. They can be incredibly useful for clearing away obstacles, but sometimes, they can end up burning down our own house."
"It was the same during the recent incident involving the Jews."
They had tried to attack Jewish residents under the guise of helping me, after all.
While not all of them were my supporters, many of them were genuine supporters of mine.
"If your supporters cause an incident, you are the one who will ultimately bear the responsibility. You would do well to keep that in mind."
"Honestly, I wish I had fewer supporters at this point."
I let out a sigh.
"Do you think people would stop following me if I ran naked through the streets of Rome?"
"Or perhaps even more people would welcome the sight."
Father flashed a mischievous smirk.
"You are quite popular, as befits my son. I was quite the favorite among women in my prime as well, but after your mother caught me..."
Father cut himself off with a dry cough.
"That was indiscreet of me."
"They’d actually like it if I ran naked through the streets? Roman women aren’t that indecent."
"I never said only women would enjoy it."
"..."
Hmm, I hadn’t thought of that.
The image of Roman men drooling over me flashed through my mind.
That was an image I really did not want in my head.
"Anyway, I didn’t expect you to push ahead with the temple reforms this quickly, Father. I assumed you’d at least wait until you officially took office as consul."
This was genuinely unexpected.
There was still quite some time left before the new year.
Yet Father had initiated the temple reforms much earlier than I anticipated.
Just as we had discussed previously, he had begun using the temples to improve the lives of the citizens.
The very first step of the plan to expand the authority of the Pontifex Maximus without going through the Senate was underway.
"People are always afraid when they hear the word ’reform’. Every true reform must move slowly, wearing the skin of ’tradition.’"
Father explained.
"And if I start slowly making my plans known now, it will be much easier to carry them out next year."
"That makes sense."
He was right. No matter how unfamiliar an idea might seem at first, people naturally grew accustomed to an idea if they were exposed to it repeatedly over a long period.
On top of that, very few people would dare ignore the words of the consul-elect.
"But there is one problem. I suspect you face the same one."
Father said.
"If we are to unite the collegia and assign new functions to countless temples..."
"They need to be connected to one another."
I finished his sentence.
It didn’t just mean a superficial connection.
For Father’s plans and mine to succeed, they needed to be able to exchange news and intelligence, and move as a single cohesive unit.
A body could have legs, arms, ears, and eyes, but they were useless if they were not connected.
Just as the brain and nerves connect the entire body, gather sensations, and issue commands, Rome needed an equivalent system.
"I heard you proposed something to Felix a while ago. The plan to allow all Roman citizens to send and receive letters."
"A postal service."
I nodded. I was already employing numerous couriers to receive reports and issue commands throughout my various businesses.
But I couldn’t connect all the collegia that way.
The temples presented the same problem.
To handle the exponentially growing volume of information, Rome needed a new nervous system.
"We create an entirely new enterprise dedicated solely to the delivery of missives."
"That is going to be a monumental undertaking."
Father said, stretching his arms high into the air.
"But we have Felix. True to his name, Felix really is a blessing for us."
"I have a feeling Felix might see it a bit differently."
Well, I had brought it up to Felix several times after returning from the bandit campaign.
He must have prepared himself mentally by now.
The two of us headed toward the Strategy Office together.
Waiting for us at the door was... Felix.
"You’ve already finished the preparations?"
"Who knows you better than I do, Young Master? I knew you would bring it up again sooner or later."
Felix said, looking as though he had steeled himself for a brutal battle.
"Please, come inside."
With a heavy sigh, Felix guided the two of us into the meeting room.
The moment we stepped inside, employees placed stacks of documents before us.
[Mid- to Long-Term Strategic Plan for Facilitating the Exchange of Letters within Rome]
Now that was a provocative title.
As Father and I took our seats, Felix gave the signal.
At his gesture, the employees rolled a massive wooden board, covered in papers, into the center of the room.
"Then, allow me to present the framework devised by the Strategy Office and myself."
The presentation continued smoothly from there.
First came the number of couriers and carriages they had secured in advance.
Initially, the service would be offered primarily to businesses and collegia within Rome, then gradually open it up to ordinary citizens, and finally, once the system was perfected, connect Rome with the allied cities.
Father and I sat quietly and listened to the presentation, asking only the occasional question.
"That concludes the plan for now."
Felix glanced between the two of us with dread written all over his face.
"But why are you both so quiet? I’m sure you must have thought of something else. Some novel, incredibly innovative idea that I could not even begin to fathom."
Saying that, Felix let out another heavy sigh.
"So please, just tell us now. That way, we can begin revising everything immediately."
Father and I looked at each other in silence.
Apparently, we were thinking the exact same thing.
"No. This is more than enough."
"Yes, I knew you would say that. There is absolutely no way you would be satisfi—wait, what did you just say?"
"I said this looks like more than enough, Felix. Even I couldn’t have prepared a better plan."
I replied with a laugh.
All I had told Felix was only the bare-bones idea of a public letter-delivery system.
I had no idea he would develop it in such meticulous detail.
The documents Felix presented included detailed plans to set up relay stations along the roads, where exhausted horses could be swapped out, and even estimated exactly how many couriers each city would require.
Not only that, there were even forecasts of expected demand if the signal towers were operated in tandem with the postal network.
"Are you serious, Young Master? You must be joking."
Felix muttered.
"Every time I present a plan, you point out flaws, then propose some completely new and absurd idea. Do you have any idea how many nights of overtime we’ve suffered through because of that...?"
As Felix began to tear up, the other employees in the room nodded vigorously in agreement.
Now I actually felt a little guilty.
Well, since I knew the future, I often ended up introducing entirely new ideas midway through.
I let out a light cough to change the mood.
"This is an incredibly well-made plan. Let’s push forward exactly like this."
Just then, Father raised a hand and spoke.
"There is one thought I would add, however."
Silence descended upon the room, and Felix, along with every other employee, looked utterly terrified.
A moment later, Father smiled and said,
"I think this is a truly magnificent plan."
"Master!"
I chuckled softly, watching Felix release a sigh of relief.
"Let’s put this into motion right away. We are going to build a new road between the collegia and the temples."
I stared at the massive board standing in the center of the room.
The eyes and ears of Rome had already begun to take shape.
All that remained was the nervous system that would tie them all together.
