Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 186: The East Looks West

Throughout the weeks since the trade negotiations, Vizier Al-Hakam traveled across the Mediterranean and got back to Baghdad.

At a certain point, the man was stuck in the Strait of Gibraltar due to an ongoing storm and thus had just now made his way back with the first crate of Fire-Lances.

At the moment, Al-Hakam was once more in the Palace of Baghdad, informing Caliph Harun al-Rashid about his successful acquisition.

The two had gathered in the grand courtyard outside the palace’s walls, where they walked around the beautiful geometric gardens throughout the area, the scent of jasmine heavy in the air.

Unbeknownst to the two executives, Princess Zaynab was nearby, calibrating a primitive astrolabe.

She was trapped inside the palace from a young age, like a scholar in a gilded cage.

Her only companion throughout this time was her mathematics tutor, a brilliant but deaf old man.

At the moment, she was adjusting the brass rings of the device while sitting on a marble bench hidden by a trellis.

A sharp smile spread across the young beauty’s face as she aligned the stars; she began to mutter to herself.

"Ah, the heavens are predictable. Unlike my father’s diplomatic policies. Our time together grows ever closer to an unjust end, old man. For I fear I will not be able to bring my library with me to Francia where I will be traded off to the Crown Prince as if I were a mere commodity. Only these stars make any logical sense..."

The tutor, being deaf, merely nodded and smiled at her, oblivious to her complaints.

While Zaynab was calculating the position of Venus, she overheard a conversation being held nearby. With nothing else going on she decided to eavesdrop out of intellectual curiosity.

After all, any topic her father and one of his greatest trade ministers were discussing would surely be more stimulating than reviewing the Frankish tax code.

The Caliph was smiling as he asked Al-Hakam the question he had been longing to hear.

"So tell me, good Al-Hakam, have you procured the new technology from the North?"

With an excited smile, Al-Hakam nodded his head and confidently proclaimed his success.

"I had managed to secure the shipment. Though they are not the same ’Thunder-Staves’ that Director Ragnar’s forces were equipped with when they audited the Mercian army, they are still far more efficient than anything else that exists in our current inventory!"

The Caliph smiled as he nodded with approval before addressing the issue at hand.

"Excellent! I will set our finest engineers in Damascus to the task of reverse-engineering these machines. However, that may take some fiscal quarters to accomplish, so until then, I want you to import as many of these ’Fire-Lances’ as the treasury allows. Our monopoly in the Levant depends on it!"

Al-Hakam quickly bowed his head in respect and responded to the Caliph’s request.

"I will issue the purchase orders immediately, Your Majesty!"

Zaynab, who was listening nearby, began to pout. She initially thought this conversation would involve a complex mathematical cipher, but it was just a discussion about a mere arms trade.

How impressive could these crude northern weapons be? As she was about to get up from her seat and return to her astrolabe, she heard the topic shift to something vastly more interesting.

The Caliph stroked his white beard before asking the question on his mind.

"Tell me the truth, Al-Hakam. Is what the merchants say about this ’Director Ragnar’ true? Is he truly the one managing the industrial output of the English Isle?"

Al-Hakam sighed heavily before expressing his professional opinion on the matter.

"Without a doubt. Despite being relatively young, Ragnar has risen from the position of a lowly raiding captain to the Sole Trustee of the Midlands.

The current Guildmaster of Nottingham is nothing more than a figurehead whose entire existence can be described as a liability on Ragnar’s ledger.

From the last board meeting I had with Ragnar, I get the feeling he intends to execute a hostile takeover shortly and establish himself as the absolute sovereign of the region."

Zaynab was instantly intrigued by this conversation. She had never heard of this Director Ragnar, but if what the Vizier said was true, he was an ambitious and highly analytical man to be able to consolidate such market power despite his barbaric origins.

Thus, she listened in closely to the conversation, analyzing every variable.

The Caliph responded to Al-Hakam’s claims with a slight nod of his head before expressing his approval.

"Truly a pragmatic young man. It is a shame he has made competitors out of most of Christendom. The Pope has declared him a heretic for his ’Iron Faith,’ which preaches efficiency over piety. The situation in the West has become volatile, and now the Isle is following in its footsteps under Ragnar’s management.

I fear the Catholics will try to organize a crusade to liquidate his assets. Do you think Ragnar has the capital to resist such an embargo?"

Al-Hakam thought about this subject for a few moments before finally giving his assessment.

"If he continues to scale his industrial power like he has been doing? Yes. Even if the Pope calls for a new crusade against his Corporation, Ragnar will bankrupt any army that enters his supply chain. The technology he has sold us is revolutionary, and supposedly the repeating weapons issued to all of his contractors are even more devastating.

It is no wonder he foreclosed on the West Saxon forces in a little over a month. I would not be surprised if Ragnar used the Papal response to his actions as a justification to aggressively acquire his neighbors and forge a new Empire built entirely on steam and steel.

Given a few years to secure his monopoly over the raw materials, he will soon have an industrial base that will be entirely unmatched, and I assure you his projections do not end with the British Isles. Mark my words, one day Ragnar will dictate the terms of the global market."

Hearing these words, Zaynab gasped; after doing so, she quickly covered her mouth in fear of her being found out by her father. She did not expect the infamous Vizier of Trade to praise a northern barbarian so highly.

Primarily since until now, she had never heard of this Director Ragnar. However, Al-Hakam’s words quickly filled Zaynab’s brilliant mind with images of the young Director as a ruthless innovator on par with the great architects of antiquity.

Zaynab had never met Ragnar; she had no idea what he looked like, nor did she even know his corporate structure.

Yet just from this conversation, a profile of Ragnar formed in Zaynab’s head, and a lasting fascination was built.

Finally, she had found a logical and ambitious man whose intellect might actually rival her own.

Even if she was already contractually obligated to the Crown Prince of the Franks, she had no intentions of merging with such a deficit and would rather analyze someone like this Director Ragnar she had just heard about.

If only she had a way to establish a line of communication. Thus, Zaynab began to scowl when she realized that the thoughts she had just now about contacting Ragnar were a statistical impossibility.

As long as she was trapped in the palace, she would never be able to audit the man and see if his ledgers lived up to the hype.

As such, she quickly sat down onto the bench nearby and once more began to speak to her deaf tutor. The young genius sighed heavily as she did so.

"Oh, Master, what is the optimal solution? There is no vector for me to contact this Ragnar, but if I don’t calculate a way out, I will be forced to marry that illiterate Frank, Louis. Can my variables get any worse?"

The tutor gazed at Zaynab with a blank smile before returning to his scrolls.

The old man had become tired and thus had gone back to reading.

Leaving Zaynab by her lonesome as she mapped out the geopolitical equations she faced.

As such, Zaynab tapped her stylus impatiently as she expressed the thoughts on her mind.

"Useless variable!" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

As for Al-Hakam and the Caliph, they continued to stroll throughout the garden and discuss various trade agreements; they had long since passed from Zaynab’s earshot.

Thus she could no longer intercept their data.

Harun had no knowledge that his daughter had overheard his conversation with Al-Hakam and in doing so taken a professional interest in this Director from the North.

For if he did, he would most certainly try to terminate such an infatuation before it could disrupt his diplomatic treaties.

The last thing he needed was a scandal about his brilliant daughter running away with some Viking CEO.

Instead, his conversation with Al-Hakam shifted from the topic of Ragnar to the trade war with the Byzantines.

With the new technology acquired from the Directorate, his forces would have to be trained in its use.

Al-Hakam had informed the Caliph of the ’pike and shot’ strategy Ragnar had briefly outlined during the product demonstration.

Thus, the men had to design a new operational manual for their armies to overwhelm the Eastern Roman Empire with.

With this, they hoped to secure a monopoly on the Silk Road and incorporate the wealth of the East into their mighty treasury.