Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt - Chapter 183



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Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt Chapter 183

32-Post-war revival

Even if I wanted to run away, I couldn’t. The thick white smoke made it difficult to see my surroundings, and if I left the line, the poison officer’s sword and bullets were waiting for me.

At that point, Hans closed his mouth, unable to forget what he was saying. His expression was stiff.

Arthur looked at his expression and asked.

“The ranks broke down?”

“… … Yeah. I tried my best to keep the line together, but once morale collapsed, there was no way to stop it.”

Infantry, artillery, and cavalry were in a biting relationship. Cavalry was strong against artillery, artillery against infantry, and infantry against cavalry. This was the compatibility of the armies in this era, and the common-sense winning strategy was to mix the hammer and anvil with the Nigawa tactic using artillery.

Weaken the infantry protecting the artillery with artillery, and then disintegrate the artillery by hitting its flanks with cavalry, and then continue hitting the infantry with artillery again?

However, since the opponent also tried to use such a surefire method, a fierce battle of wits ensued and various strategies and tactics were developed.

However, in this most basic tactic, the Skara Kingdom’s army suffered a fatal blow.

“There were too few artillerymen.”

The biggest problem was that they went too deep into the Traba Basin and then their defenses were breached by the local forces. In the process, they lost a significant number of guns and artillery.

The Skara Kingdom army, which had a numerical difference in artillery, had no choice but to forcefully advance or retreat in the face of the Nigawa tactics unilaterally deployed by the Jatra Kingdom army.

However, most of the recruited soldiers were new recruits, which meant that they were not elite enough to advance through artillery fire.

In the end, they had no choice but to retreat repeatedly. If it weren’t for the cavalry unit that was saved because of the high training and maintenance costs, they would have literally been head-snapped by the cavalry of the Kingdom of Jatra.

That’s why we couldn’t just randomly push in cavalry units to eliminate the artillery of the Kingdom of Jatra.

They had to shoulder the double burden of protecting the backs of the retreating friendly infantry from enemy cavalry while also keeping the artillery from relocating at will.

Ultimately, the reason why the army was pushed back so quickly in the eastern plains was because of the breakdown of the military balance.

The kingdom of Jatra did not become greedy even after securing victory. They had already taken over half of the eastern plains, and the supply lines were too long to go any deeper. War was a money-eating savage, so it was wise to end it when they had made enough profit.

Given King Rai’s belligerent nature, it was natural for him to dream of revenge, but it may also be that the Jatra Kingdom’s army stopped halfway through the eastern granary region. It may have been calculated that weakening the king’s power would cause conflict with the nobles.

Anyway, the war ended like that, leaving many people with scars on their bodies and minds.

“Thank you. That was useful information.”

At Arthur’s words, Hans nodded with a tired expression, closed his eyes, and tilted his head back. After recounting his war experiences, Hans’ expression looked tired but also much more relaxed.

Arthur nodded inwardly at the sight. That was the way to do it. Overcoming trauma was about facing it. However, the point to be careful of was that facing trauma had to be done naturally and of one’s own will. If there was any kind of pressure, it could actually stimulate and aggravate the trauma.

So Arthur only thanked him for the useful information, and did not say anything about his hard work or his suffering, because such words would have risked giving Hans a heavy meaning in his trauma.

There were times when people had to laugh off difficult events in order to survive. There were also times when they had to forget terrible events as if they had never happened or treat them very lightly.

That’s how we can survive in this harsh world. If we only face difficult things as difficult and sad things as sad, at some point we will go to extremes, and weak humans will not be able to endure that.

That is why only strong people can face the harsh reality.

And Hans wasn’t strong enough to face the reality of war head on.

In the battlefield, human life was so light that it could be replaced by a few lead bullets and a handful of gunpowder, and it was the fact that a person who had experienced war could never go back to the way it was before. It was good for mental health to just let it go without giving it any meaning. Forgetting was a blessing.

Arthur said to Rel, who had sent Hans, who was growing increasingly tired, back to bed.

“War… is… a bad thing.”

Arthur nodded and took Rell back home.

Even if many people die in war, the lives of the living continue.

Hans survived the war, but he did not abandon his military status. The experience of being educated as a soldier and leading a small unit of soldiers gave Hans a fulfillment he had never experienced before, having farmed in a remote village until he became an adult.

A form of life where he could feel the value of his own existence. Hans could not give it up and return to the countryside. A life of digging with a pickaxe until the back of his neck turned red under the sun and the skin peeled off.

“Brother, are you okay?”

When Rel looked worried, Hans snickered and ruffled the youngest’s hair.

“It is natural for soldiers to return to their units.”

Hans said that and looked at Arthur.

“thanks.”

“What? I just did it because I could. If you were in my position, would you have done the same thing?”

Hans nodded at that, but smiled faintly. When you get along with all sorts of people in the unit, you naturally get to hear about someone’s personal history. When you hear all sorts of people lamenting their circumstances, you can’t help but think that your house is really nice.

When his father came home drunk, he would hit his mother as a show of affection. There were also cases where he was kicked out naked by his older brother who ate all the family property, or where his mother had an affair and ran away. There were also cases where he grew up eating bad food because his relatives came and took the property after his parents died.

Are humans animals that feel a strange sense of relief at the misfortune of others? Of course, comparing myself to others who are better off with others who are worse off is bound to be stressful. Why am I so unlucky? Why wasn’t I born like that?

On the contrary, humans naturally feel a strange sense of relief, or even happiness, when they see someone who is less fortunate or less fortunate than themselves.

Hans, who suffered from a sense of entitlement and victimhood because he had a younger brother who was more talented, was healed in the military, where he escaped. Still, he was able to make a relative assessment that it was okay for him to be in an environment of his own.

“Then, thank you for your hard work.”

“you also.”

Rel looked troubled as she watched Hans nod to Arthur’s greeting and turn away.

“why?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

It seemed like he had a lot on his mind. Arthur didn’t bother asking questions and just let it go. He had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Post-war reconstruction project. In order to pay the compensation for the defeat, the economy had to be stimulated and exports had to be promoted to secure gold and silver.

It was not an easy task. The purpose of the Kingdom of Jatra was to weaken the national power of the Kingdom of Skara through compensation, so the amount was enormous.

The reason the Kingdom of Skara was able to survive was because it did not use gold as currency, but instead used scalons. Of course, it had to endure painful inflation, but somehow the Kingdom of Skara’s economy kept rolling along, and at the center of it all was Ignaqua, who had begun exporting.

“Oh my, it’s nice to meet you, Your Majesty Arthur.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Lanick.

Arthur smiled and laughed with a middle-aged man who was dressed nicely but looked awkward.

The man called Lanik was the guildmaster of the Jezen Pottery Guild. Although he was the guildmaster, he was just a country bumpkin who ruled over a small town called Jezen and had little influence in the capital, St. Scar.

The reason he came here was because of a big contract.

“I would normally treat you to a tour of the capital, but I am too busy. I am sorry, but I think I need to talk about business right away.”

“Of course, of course.”

At Arthur’s words, Lanik smiled and nodded. From his perspective, he had to nod no matter what Arthur said, and Arthur’s face was obviously tired.

“The business proposal I am offering you is the production and delivery of containers to contain Ignaqua.”

“Just leave it to me!”

“Don’t take it lightly. I plan to export Ignaqua in containers made by your guild. That’s why they need to be sturdy, and they also need to prevent them from leaking out during transport.”

“Of course, of course.”

Guildmaster Lanik, who had been nodding confidently, stopped at Arthur’s next words.

“The stopper that blocks the entrance should also be made of ceramic. Is that possible?”

“Uh… um… … .”

It wasn’t difficult to make it sturdy, because the know-how for producing pottery to hold liquids such as oil had been passed down from long ago.

But how can you make a stopper that doesn’t leak liquid out of pottery? It wasn’t easy. Because pottery changes size when it dries and shrinks when it’s fired.

If such precise specifications were required, mouth-blown glass would have been better. Since it was made by shaping already molten glass, it would not be difficult to make a precise glass bottle and glass stopper that would not leak if there were precise tools and skilled craftsmen.

Arthur sighed as the Lanik Guildmaster hesitated. Yes, how could you not know that it was difficult? In order to mass-produce products to exact specifications, variable control was required in almost every process.

It was nearly impossible to control variables throughout the entire process, including the clay’s material, moisture content, humidity in the drying room, and even the temperature of the kiln, in this day and age. It wasn’t for nothing that skilled craftsmen were needed. This was because the variables that had to be strictly quantified and controlled through all sorts of measuring tools were done purely through experience and intuition.

The reason for making this suggestion was simple. Glass bottles were too expensive. One of the reasons was the cost of fuel. In an era when oil was not used as fuel, the cost of fuel to build and maintain a glass kiln helped to keep glass products in the realm of luxury goods rather than industrial products.

So, if you want to sell Ignaqua to neighboring countries, glass containers won’t help. That’s because Ignaqua is a commodity for everyday use, not a luxury item like expensive wine or liquor.

Something that can be used for disinfection once a quarter? How does that help with hygiene? It doesn’t have much utility, so from the buyer’s perspective, it’s better not to buy it. This meant that Ignaqua sales would decrease.

So, it had to be sold as cheaply as possible, and of course, expensive glass containers had to be excluded. No matter how much Arthur racked his brain, considering the industrial power and technology of the time, it would have taken the petroleum civilization to make glass bottles move from the realm of luxury goods to the realm of manufactured goods.

So it was pottery. It was something that could be produced much more cheaply than glass. Wooden barrel? If gas leaks out of Ignaqua, people die.

And Lanik was a more honest person than you might think.

“It’s difficult.”