217 Modern Transportation (1/2)
Once again, Corco had traveled down his new road from Saniya, east along the Narrow Sea. Once again, he had reached the lands of Cashan south of the Narrows and Qarasi Castle, the estate the Villca brothers had fought so hard over for the past year. And once again, Corco had brought a whole convoy of people with him.
However, this time he hadn't brought his army. Rather than soldiers, the bulk of the convoy consisted of various craftsmen. Chief among them were several Arcavian clock makers, together with their new Yaku disciples. Almost of the same importance were Corco's accountants and diplomats, who would do all the boring legwork for him in the upcoming discussions. Of course, the king and his guards stood at the very front of the formation.
Although they were still an hour's journey away from the city of Cashan, they had already reached their destination. While the gentle hills along the Tunki River weren't much to look at, beneath them lay treasures worth traveling for.
Though at first, they would have to deal with the locals. When they arrived, they were greeted by Guachimine Villca, youngest of the Villca brothers, who had come together with his own entourage of guards.
”King Corco, what a great honor it is for House Villca to be blessed with your visit.”
”Since you're here by yourself, I take it Uchu is in charge of Cashan now?” Corco asked. By the time he had returned to Saniya after the war, the two brothers Uchu and Pahuac Villca had driven their eldest brother out of the city, but had still not decided who between them held ownership of Cashan. It seemed like the former bandit Uchu had won the race, since his personal advisor Guachimine had arrived by himself to greet the king.
”Oh no, far from it,” Guachimine denied. ”For now, the sons of the former lord Villca have decided on a compromise. Both Lord Uchu and Lord Pahuac will be in charge of the entire estate and rule the lands together, for the harmony and prosperity of the southern kingdom. However, for now Lord Pahuac has been forced to take some of Cashan's army and occupy the various fortresses along the eastern Anticasa mountain pass. After all, there are new enemies in the east, and they have shown already that they dare attack Cashan without warning. Thus, only Brother Uchu sits the city at the moment, with this servant as his advisor. If Lord Pahuac had known of the king's arrival earlier, he would surely have sent his own delegation, so please do not consider his negligence an affront to the throne.”
Even though Corco felt that the simpler Pahuac was being pushed aside with this sort of excuse, the king didn't comment. Neither did he say anything about Guachimine's obvious attempt at framing Pahuac. Even though Corco was sure that Uchu had withheld information of the king's arrival on purpose to get his brother in trouble, this was an internal family matter, and he wouldn't let himself get dragged into a mess he didn't stand to benefit from.
While he felt like their treatment of their brother Pahuac was quite nasty, he wanted them to resolve the issue of succession as soon as possible and didn't really care who won. All that mattered to him was that they guaranteed peace in the eastern parts of his kingdom.
”Right, sounds like you've got things figured out then. Since we're meeting here in the middle of nowhere, I assume that your copper mine is here?” the king changed topics.
”Ah yes, it is only across these hills, King. Please let this servant act as a guide.”
Superficially servile as ever, Guachimine led Corco's party up one of the gentle hills, away from the river.
”You're not afraid someone's gonna steal your copper? I mean, the mine's just sitting here and I don't see any defenses.”
Not only was the area devoid of any defensive structures like towers or walls, he couldn't even see a single guard besides the ones Guachimine had brought.
”Theft is not much of a concern.”
”Any reason for that?”
”Once King sees the mines, King will understand.” With a mysterious smile, Guachimine led the group over the hill's crest. Although Corco wasn't big on mysteries, at least the mystery wasn't retained for too long.
As soon as Corco crossed the hill and saw the open-shaft mine in the basin below, he understood. Between three hills, the entire earth had been dug up and turned into a muddy mess. However, while there were at least ten pits dug out from the ground, places where the people of Cashan should have found copper, none of them were deeper than a few meters.
Even worse, there was almost no infrastructure here. A few shacks sat to the side of the pits, with a handful of rusty tools leaned against them. No workers could be seen anywhere. Rather than a mining operation, the site looked like a long-abandoned ghost town. No wonder they weren't concerned about theft, it didn't look like there was much to take.
”So... you're not actually using the mine?”Corco asked his guide.
”No, the mine is in use most days, but since King's arrival is such a grand event, work rests for today so as to not bother King's ears with the noise.”
”...you're saying this is an active mine? This? It's not some archaeological site where you're digging out ancient tools? You're actually mining copper here?”
”Indeed we are.” Despite his attempt at a calm demeanor, Guachimine's smile began to look a bit strained.
”How can you call this an active mine?” the king asked again and spread his arms to encompass the drab picture. ”How many workers can you possibly support with this sort of infrastructure?”
”Because of certain issues, the mine does not employ too many miners for now. At the moment, only around ten miners collect ores on any given day. The facilities on site are perfectly sufficient for these numbers.”
Again, Corco looked at the disorganized mess before him. The basin itself was huge, and the people seemed to have found copper close to the surface in no less than ten places. Ten people would barely be enough to post as guards for such a large operation, let alone be enough to work the pits. Before he had come here, he had imagined something... grander.
Still, there was no reason to despair just yet. At least the mines looked large enough to fit his plans. If their yield was fine, increasing their output wouldn't be too difficult either. All it took was a bit more investment.
”Okay, I'd say we should go talk about the details somewhere more private. In the meantime, my people will take a look at the area and assess what can and can't be done here,” Corco said to Guachimine.