Became The Sultan Of The Ottoman Empire [EN]: Chapter 24

#24. A Bigger Picture (2)

‘I’m glad Shemsi joined.’

It wasn’t like he was a psychopath; it was only natural to grow fond of someone after spending nearly half a year together.

No matter how much Burka’s lessons lingered, the decision to kill him if necessary wasn’t easy.

‘Still, I had no choice. The cost of betrayal would be too great.’

It wasn’t just that he knew my tendencies and characteristics, but more importantly, he knew the ins and outs of the barley tea shop.

Of course, using common barley meant it wasn’t a lucrative business, but it was valuable as a route for gathering information.

More so than personal feelings.

‘Shemsi for internal affairs, Hassan for finance, Arda for military strength, and Sinan for medicine, huh?’

Hassan’s reputation is a bit lacking, and I need more time to fully trust Arda, but these are still satisfactory talents.

The problem is how to utilize them.

“Shall we start with the organization?”

For soil recovery, we planted clover last year, and we can fully implement the four-field crop rotation system starting this fall.

The results will be seen next year, and based on that, I plan to introduce the four-field system as much as possible.

‘This is a plan that needs at least 10 years to see results.’

No matter how good a method is, replacing existing methods doesn’t happen quickly.

It’s only when the supreme ruler has a strong will that you can even try to implement it.

If agriculture is a long-term plan, then cement is a short-term one.

“The main raw materials for cement, like limestone and clay, are easy to obtain, so making it shouldn’t be difficult.”

The cement that hardens when mixed with water is called hydraulic cement, and it can be made by adding limestone and clay and baking them, without needing volcanic ash like in Roman times.

The difficulty was more in baking and crushing than obtaining the raw materials.

Without a factory, large-scale production is difficult, and it will lack compared to modern cement, but it’s better than nothing.

“I should get Hassan to do it.”

I can already hear his screams.

“Your life debt isn’t even enough with this.”

With my former master ready to boil me alive in miso soup at any moment, giving him a lot of work will help extend his lifespan.

Next is the barley tea, and I called the key personnel directly for this.

He didn’t seem to be a nobleman, as he arrived quickly.

“Did you call for me, Prince?”

Yusuf tilted his head at Nene’s polite greeting.

“Where’s Aishe? I clearly called for her as well.”

“I thought it would be better to see you separately, so I didn’t bring her.”

If it were someone else, like Hassan, this would have earned a stern rebuke, but Yusuf didn’t get angry.

Nene wasn’t the type to do something like this without a reason. She was the person who wanted him to succeed the most, after Fatima.

“What’s the reason?”

“If you called her regarding matters related to informants, I hope she won’t be involved.”

This was crossing a line, but there was an expected reason.

“Is that also your mother’s wish?”

“It is.”

“You must be quite fond of Aishe.”

This wasn’t just a matter of not wanting to use a cherished child for dangerous work.

Keeping her away from power struggles meant they were considering Aishe as a member of the harem.

Nene’s following words also carried that meaning.

“That child is too clever. She easily learns and utilizes things just by watching. There’s a risk she might use that knowledge to gain your favor.”

It’s hard to imagine Aishe using underhanded tactics due to a desire for power, but the power struggles in the harem can happen because of love for the other person.

‘Just look at the love story between Hurrem Sultan and Suleiman.’

The letters they exchanged alone could be a romance movie, but Hurrem’s actions to monopolize that favor were just as sinister.

She even made Suleiman kill his own son.

With such examples, it couldn’t be dismissed as mere overreaction.

“Let’s leave Aishe’s matter to the two of them.”

“Thank you.”

Of course, if Aishe had a ruthless personality like Hurrem, Fatima wouldn’t have even considered keeping her close.

It was just about acting as cautiously as possible.

Yusuf got to the main point.

“You know that it’s difficult to set up shops like we do now in other sanjaks [administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire] to get information, right?”

“I know.”

The barley tea shop is closer to a low-profit welfare benefit, and you can’t spend money on that in someone else’s territory.

And it’s unlikely that the higher-ups in other sanjaks would spend money for the health of their underlings.

It means we need to target other avenues to get information.

“I heard that coffee milk is popular in bathhouses these days.”

“I know it’s thanks to Fatima introducing it to others.”

When explaining it to Fatima, I didn’t have a specific name for it, so I called it coffee milk, and it just stuck as the name.

Since the word ‘coffee’ doesn’t exist in this era, it doesn’t matter, but it felt a bit strange.

‘Like selling a knockoff.’

Anyway, coffee milk was quickly gaining popularity, centered around bathhouses, which were social venues for the upper class, and variations with sugar or honey were also emerging.

“Can we popularize coffee milk in other regions to get information?”

“If so, we’d have to send slaves who can make coffee milk directly to each bathhouse.”

After a moment of consideration, Nene’s attitude was negative.

“It requires skill to make it properly, so planting people won’t be easy.”

Just like roasting greatly affects the taste of coffee, the roasting process is also important for orzo, which is barley coffee.

Otherwise, it’ll just taste burnt instead of like coffee.

The brewing time is also important.

“The important thing is that we’d have to send female slaves, and it’s harder to control them the farther they are. You can see that from Hassan’s case.”

Hassan’s case seemed to have instilled distrust in slaves.

‘Hassan is to blame for this.’

If someone who’s been with you for 10 years betrays you, how can you trust slaves who are far away?

Yusuf almost died because of that, but he hadn’t forgotten it already.

“Of course, we need to take measures. Those dispatched to other regions can’t stay for more than 2 years, and after that period, they’ll be called back to Trabzon to stay for more than half a year.”

It was a minimal safety measure, and it wasn’t enough on its own.

“And slaves who have done this for 10 years will be freed.”

Nene’s eyes widened at the groundbreaking statement, considering the standards of this era.

Female slaves aren’t cheap, and it might seem wasteful to set a period of only 10 years.

But he didn’t need them for longer than that.

“In 10 years, the outline of the succession war will be clear anyway, and gathering information from the surroundings won’t be necessary from then on. There’s no need to hold onto those slaves.”

Succession is a gamble with your life on the line anyway.

If you’re attached to small sums of money, you won’t be able to save your most precious life.

“If you do as you say, you won’t have to worry about loyalty.”

“I’m more worried that coffee milk will spread too slowly than about loyalty.”

Because in this era, with no decent means of promotion, we have to rely solely on word of mouth.

Nene smiled slightly at Yusuf’s concern.

“You don’t have to worry. There are no people as thirsty for new things as women.”

Indeed, the activities of upper-class women in this era, which valued chastity, were very limited.

They even had to cover their faces, so they couldn’t go out freely.

This was evident in how bathhouses, where they could move freely, became major social venues.

Since Nene, not Hassan, confidently answered, he could trust her and leave it to her.

“I feel sorry to you and your mother for continuing to entrust this kind of work to someone who has to take care of her mother.”

“I’m just glad to be of help. Fatima feels the same way.”

“Thank you.”

After Nene left with a small smile, Yusuf let out a light sigh, and Arda’s roar faintly reached his ears.

It was loud enough to be heard through the thick stone walls, so it would probably feel like his eardrums were bursting if he were nearby.

“He must be really pushing them hard.”

As planned before, they gathered those who had lost ties with their families and formed a unit, and Arda volunteered to personally train them into an elite force.

‘He won’t have good feelings, so I don’t have to worry about him going easy on them.’

Arda didn’t show his past animosity towards him because of Burka’s last words.

However, he hadn’t forgiven those who had led the situation to that point, and that was the reason he volunteered to take charge of their training.

Naturally, the unit members were terrified at the thought of Arda personally taking charge.

“If they can’t endure this, they’re useless.”

Cavalrymen usually can’t be made with just courage.

The horse’s stamina is limited, so they can’t charge at the enemy soldiers from the start, and they slowly approached to close range.

To stop the approach, arrows and cannonballs fall, but they have to move forward without fear to do their job.

Yusuf shook his head at the screams that sounded like wails.

“If they’re trained like that, they’ll gain courage they didn’t have before.”

Anyway, as the problem of manpower was gradually being filled, there were those whose value relatively decreased.

It was the five Circassians who had been purchased with Aishe and used as escorts.

If he was determined, he could mobilize hundreds of troops within half a day, so he wouldn’t miss them even if they were gone.

“So I have to use them in another way.”

There was one last place where they could be active.

Yusuf called them through the guards outside, and it didn’t take long for them to come to his office.

“Did you call for us?”

Asker, who acted as the leader among the five, bowed his head.

Yusuf smiled slightly and asked.

“You’ve become much softer compared to when I first saw you, haven’t you? You speak our language reasonably well now too.”

The village they lived in was devastated by raiders, and they were just waiting for the day they would be sold as slaves, so it would be strange if their expressions were good.

Still, they were sharp enough to seem like they would cut you if you approached them back then.

If half of them didn’t have Circassian blood, he wouldn’t have even considered them as escorts.

“It’s thanks to you, Prince.”

Of course.

They’ve been treated well for slaves, and considering the work he’ll entrust to them in the future, he needs to remind them one more time.

After that, Yusuf, who had a light conversation about personal matters, moved on to the main topic.

“I’m thinking of sending you back to Circassia.”

They had surprised expressions as if they hadn’t expected it, and Asker asked as their representative.

“What do you want us to do?”

“Information about Circassia.”

Asker nodded.

To obtain information from a place with a different language, the best way is to utilize someone from the local area.

However, there is a problem.

“Can you trust us with the task?”

This was it.

There was no guarantee that a freed slave would do their job.

Yusuf answered as if he was asking something obvious.

“I can’t trust you.”

The five’s faces hardened at the firm answer, and Yusuf continued.

“Since I can’t trust you, I have to make it so I can trust you. First, I will free you from slavery.”

“Really?”

“And if you do your job, I’ll give you plenty of money. Is that enough to trust?”

You can’t get loyalty with threats, but you can get it with money.

At Yusuf’s question, who came from a world where this fact was extremely obvious, the five Circassians willingly bowed their heads.

“Trust us with the task.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

A few days later, the five Circassians and those who would act as intermediaries left Trabzon.

***

When the hands planting spring crops were busily moving and the same time as any other day was repeated.

Shemsi, with a hardened expression, came to find Yusuf.

“We’ve received word from Circassia.”

“Is that so?”

They were the ones who hadn’t been in contact for a while.

As Yusuf made a curious expression, Shemsi said the contents of the letter in a stiff voice.

“There’s a plague going around in Circassia.”