In the Toscana Empire, being a noble is akin to being a retired civil servant.
When someone of high rank, such as the emperor, duke, marquess, or count, “appoints” you, you can become a parachute hire at any time.
“The emperor oversees the entire empire, while nobles below dukes can only appoint within their direct jurisdiction.”
Thus, my sudden appointment did not surprise or face any rejection from the city hall staff...
Yet, this kind of occurrence is not common in our empire, so my subordinate officials looked at me with puzzled expressions.
“I am Baron Fabio de Medici, appointed as the temporary director of public safety and the head of gunpowder production starting today. From this point forward, you will all be members of both the public safety and gunpowder production departments, based on your original affiliations.”
Everyone looked dumbfounded by the abrupt reshuffle order.
Well, considering it wasn’t even a time for reshuffling, it’s understandable they’d be flabbergasted to be assigned to departments that didn’t even exist until now.
However, they seemed to know that I was favored by the emperor, so there was no sign of despair on their faces.
“In any era, being transferred to a department that didn’t even exist before isn’t generally a good thing.”
Of course, a department that’s suddenly created under the strong will of a high-ranking individual could be seen as an opportunity for promotion.
“Gunpowder production was originally under the Ministry of Military Affairs, and there is a higher organization, the Public Safety Bureau, responsible for urban security. So, it’s reasonable to question why a separate, independent agency has been established. Allow me to explain everything one by one.”
Given my position, I could practically command the officials here.
The emperor’s favor, the duke’s favor, the position I aim for as a merchant leader, and the resolution of military procurement issues and supply problems.
With just a little bit of leverage on these significant issues, I could easily ask for “cooperation” from the department heads while it sounds like “orders” coming from my rank.
However, I choose not to do so because explaining to people why they are doing a task is more efficient.
“First and foremost, the reason I’m in charge of gunpowder production is to test a new manufacturing method for gunpowder.”
At this, a man serving as the assistant to the head of the department asked,
“Does this mean we will also oversee the collection of dirt from around the toilets, walls, and ceilings?”
The people here are equivalent to government officials above the 5th grade in Korea.
Based on their social status, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to refer to a doctor who claims a net salary of ten million won as “a mere doctor.”
Gathering such individuals and saying we’re going to collect excrement could elicit protests.
“If I were a count, I’d likely face similar protests.”
“You only need to organize the documents. You have plenty of subordinates under you, right?”
I’ll send the subordinates below them to supervise on-site, and the task of collecting excrement won’t fall on soldiers but rather on others.
“It’s one thing to be dragged into the army, but making them collect excrement for a meager salary crosses the line.”
“Upon reviewing the production methods for gunpowder, I found that the soil used as a raw material can only be collected from areas rich in excrement and urine. Therefore, I pondered that the true raw material for gunpowder is not actually the soil, but excrement and urine.”
The raw material for gunpowder is potassium nitrate.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
And potassium nitrate is most abundantly found in excrement and urine.
It took humanity a staggering 400 years to realize this after starting to use gunpowder.
But do I really need to go through all those trial-and-error processes myself?
“So instead of toiling away collecting dirt, I thought it’d be better to collect excrement and urine for production.”
While there might be significant trial and error here as well, I have a rough idea of how it works.
If we significantly scale up the experiments, we’ll likely see results within a year.
“The most important task we have is this. Now, you may wonder why we are also taking on public safety duties. This is because we intend to assign the collection of excrement and urine to the poor.”
From what I’ve heard, in the city where I had the military supplies managed, they’ve been lacking in the number of “artisans,” leading the guild to kidnap the poor and use them as apprentices.
Originally, apprentices had no families, so they were easily managed with just food instead of wages, but since the poor have families, they are at least given some pay.
In the future, they will become respectable members of the middle class.
Apparently, the city’s mayor and the baron, the lord of that city, shed tears upon hearing about this beautiful act.
Isn’t it the best form of welfare to rescue the poor, who are living in dirty and horrific conditions while committing crimes, and make them do cleaning work?
“Welfare is meant to keep those who can’t work from starving and to enable those who can work to do so properly.”
Commonly, if someone is simply receiving welfare while able-bodied, that reflects the downside of the welfare system.
“If we give jobs to the poor, won’t public safety improve? That’s why we are also handling public safety duties.”
In our Albanian continent, or rather, in this current era, across the globe, there are almost no jobs available to the poor aside from crime.
If they manage to secure positions that are commonly associated with the poor, such as porters, laborers, and construction workers, they are no longer considered impoverished here but rather part of the lower middle class.
The poor are people who can only be thugs if they are men, and prostitutes if they are women.
It’s not a good thing to leave them stuck in such occupations.
“Furthermore, since both excrement and urine are materials for gunpowder, leaving them on the streets is unacceptable. Therefore, it’s our job to create public toilets in areas where the lower and impoverished classes reside and to monitor those who are secretly committing acts of defecation and urination.”
Scenes like this often appear in reincarnation stories in another world.
“Washing your hands prevents disease! So, please clean your bodies and dispose of excrement and urine!”
With just a few words like this, people will comply, and shortly afterward, the effects will become apparent...
I could honestly see how people would believe in the effectiveness, but how annoying would it be to not litter excrement and urine in the streets, and would they really comply just because they heard a few words?
“Moreover, there are homes among the poor—no, below the middle class—without toilets.”
“Though they are breaking the law, punishing them all and throwing them into prison would cause the prisons to overflow. Therefore, you’ll need to collect ‘appropriate fines.’ Don’t collect too much or punish them harshly, just be reasonable. If there are complaints about this, His Majesty will be very displeased.”
It’s acceptable to give a few lashes and collect ten coins during the process of imposing fines.
But taking their silver and gold after half-killing them crosses the line.
“If you start harassing those without charges, enforcement won’t go smoothly, so if you touch innocent people, you’ll all find yourselves taking a tour of the high court’s prison. I’m on very friendly terms with the chief judge there. Oh, and I can also comfortably visit Duke Visconti’s residence. And this is imperial edict.”
All of that is true.
And the high court prison is like the central intelligence agency.
Unless someone has a certain degree of social standing, it’s standard for even the innocent to end up with broken limbs.
Getting imprisoned on charges of obstructing imperial orders?
You’ll be forced to drink mushroom soup straight from the pot.
“And lastly, I’d like to give a warning that you’ll not be able to complain about this to anyone else.”
“First, let’s focus on gathering personnel to collect excrement and urine; prepare to head to the slums. We’ll do it properly, so bring about two companies from the Florence garrison. Have the officers come dressed in their uniforms.”
In fact, I only need to borrow about a platoon, but ‘providing jobs for the poor’ is seen as a good deed by the standards of this era.
And to achieve success, it’s better to carry out good deeds in a way that everyone can see.
Playing a trumpet and dressing in fine clothing is the proper decorum.
That way, we’ll have a good reputation.
“Just the assistant head will remain for a while; everyone else, prepare to go out.”
I waved for the remaining assistant head to come over.
Upon closer inspection, he appeared to be five to seven years older than me.
It seems he, like me, was either a second son of a baronial family or the first son of a baron with a legal robe, starting his career in public service.
If he’s the head of a baronial family with a legal robe, he would typically reach my position or possibly even a deputy director with just average work performance. If he’s the second son of a baron, my position might be his limit.
“He must be very eager for promotion.”
“Assistant head, I’ll be direct. Do you wish to be promoted?”
“Yes, indeed.”
There wouldn’t be a single person in our empire who doesn’t want to be promoted.
Just becoming a non-commissioned officer from a mere soldier significantly improves the quality of life and treatment for serfs, and bureaucrats receive far better treatment with just a single rank increase.
“As you know, I’m only serving as a temporary head. So, when this work is completed, I will step down. However, what will happen to this organization once gunpowder production stabilizes?”
It goes without saying: it will grow.
Currently, it’s the Gunpowder Production Division, but later it will likely expand into the Gunpowder Production Bureau.
“Even if someone else occupies the director’s position, the job will only run smoothly if someone who fully grasps the operations heads the department. If the organization expands to a national level, there should be about four or five head positions... unless the mayor of Florence is a fool, you’ll undoubtedly...”
I intentionally paused.
“Your promotion to head is guaranteed. At your age to be a head, if you perform well, you’ll surely rise to the position of director.”
From the position of director, one is considered a ‘key bureaucrat’ within the empire.
That’s the pinnacle of success.
“Let’s make sure to work well together. And if there are any complaints, it’s your job to handle them.”
With that, I placed a substantial amount of money in his hand.
“After overseeing the subordinates, give a little to those who perform well as incentives. That way, you’ll also be promoted. Now, go.”