Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 464: The Royal Dilemma 4

Northwest Bay?

“This shouldn’t be a problem,” said the Foreign Minister with a relaxed tone.

“The lords in the northwest have always been submissive to the royal government. I think they will cooperate with the kingdom’s strategy to blockade Jars, and they will restrain the merchants under their rule.”

The Minister of Military Affairs suggested, “We should purchase more steel and military equipment from the Northwest Bay. The products there are cheap and of good quality. This way, we can save funds and compensate for some of the losses in the Northwest Bay.”

The King nodded in agreement, “Then let’s do it this way.”

The Minister of Finance continued to suggest, “The Cloud Mist Mountains also produce tea and precious timber. We should support the industries there to balance the shortage of goods caused by the blockade of Jars.”

One by one, the suggestions were recorded by the secretary, and the kingdom’s high-ranking officials prepared a tight net for Jars.

However, the meeting eventually returned to the unavoidable topic – how to settle the southern nobles at this stage?

The King sighed in resignation, “I plan to allocate some land from the royal domain to them.”

The ministers present were shocked.

Rupert urgently advised, “Your Majesty, this won’t do. Considering the number of southern noble families, after the allocation, the royal domain will be no larger than a duchy.”

The King explained to everyone, “I am thinking of only selecting a portion of families with significant influence to grant lands, and they cannot have armed forces. Hmm… let’s go with the top one-third in terms of influence.”

The land in the royal domain was far more fertile than the south, and he did not believe that those nobles would refuse.

“For the middle third of the families, give the adult males of the family a position in the military and government departments, so they have something to do, but the treatment should be slightly higher than the existing stipend.”

“As for the remaining third of the smaller nobles… sigh, let them fend for themselves.”

…

After leaving the council hall, Catherine walked dejectedly through the corridors of the palace, planning to visit the garden to clear her mind.

Just as she was passing a corner, a hurried figure collided with her.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch…”

A pretty figure sat on the ground, holding her head.

“Really!”

Catherine, somewhat helplessly, helped up the person in front of her.

“Eileen, you’re too careless. Where is the demeanor of a royal princess?” she chided her sister somewhat reproachfully.

Ever since her trip to the Northwest Bay, the young princess had become somewhat careless.

She gave her sister a thorough look up and down.

“Have you just come back from school?”

At this moment, Eileen wasn’t wearing a court dress, but rather a simple, neutral outfit, her platinum blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

This was her usual attire when she visited the school.

The school was her own creation, from choosing the location, to designing the building, to hiring the teachers; the young princess had done it all herself.

What was puzzling was that all the students came from commoner families, and a significant proportion of the younger children were orphans who had been abandoned. The school also functioned somewhat like an orphanage, a kind of monastery that did not teach theological knowledge.

Running such a school was naturally not cheap, but Eileen, being a princess of the kingdom, had her own fiefdom from birth, the produce of which provided most of the funding. Her group of lady friends also occasionally donated to the school.

“Forget about demeanor and school for now! Sister, I need to see father immediately,” Eileen said, her face a mix of guilt and urgency, like a restless canary.

Catherine, frowning and hands on her hips, asked sternly, “What has happened to make you so flustered? Tell me, have you caused some trouble again?”

Misunderstood by her sister, Eileen shook her head rapidly, “No, no, it’s nothing like that. Ah, my dear sister, it’s too much to explain in a few words. Here, take a look at this letter. It’s from a friend of mine in the Northwest Bay.”

Catherine took a piece of paper from her sister’s hand.

“My dear friend Betty…”

She quickly skimmed over the opening pleasantries. She knew Betty was the name her sister used in the Northwest Bay.

What followed piqued her interest.

“In a meeting last week, a report by the statistics committee led by Count Ganard revealed that four years ago, the maternal mortality rate in the Northwest Bay was over twenty percent. This data might not be entirely accurate, as the committee wasn’t established then, and it was gathered by interviewing families with living children. But it should be pretty close to the truth.”

“I was stunned when I first came across this data. It means that one in every five women about to become mothers would lose their lives. It’s terrifying. The committee recorded the family backgrounds of the samples – that’s what they call the interviewees. Regardless of whether they were rich or poor, noble or commoner, the maternal mortality rate was extremely high. Better-off families might fare a bit better, but the overall difference was not significant.”

“If you ask a midwife, they will tell you about a fatal condition that often occurs in women who have just given birth – puerperal fever. Many of these women suffer high fever, chills, unbearable pain in the lower abdomen, struggling and moaning, eventually dying tragically. This was the horrific cost of human reproduction in the past.”

“But the committee’s data shows that in recent years, the maternal mortality rate has been declining year by year. Do you know what the turning point was? I think you, being smart, can guess.”

“Yes, it’s the booklet we compiled together, the one promoting hygiene. It documented various disinfection measures proposed by Count Grayman, all proven effective under the microscope. Now, with the statistics on maternal mortality, it’s reasonable to infer that puerperal fever is caused by infections from microorganisms visible only under a microscope. Think about it, isn’t a woman who has just given birth just like a soldier wounded on the battlefield? Similar disinfection measures have greatly reduced the rate of fever in wounded soldiers in the Alda army, so they should be effective for women in childbirth too.”

“Count Grayman has been using his administrative power to promote the New Life Movement in his territory in recent years. Doctors everywhere are being forced to learn the contents of this booklet. I think this is the main reason for the decrease in maternal mortality.”

“My dear Betty, I hope you can use your influence in the noble circles of the capital…”

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