Chương 161: All roads lead to Rome

Ever since the signal towers and postal network had been established, news from Rome spread across Italy with astonishing speed. At the same time, Lucius had hired criers to announce the news daily in the Forums of every major city. By the very next morning, urgent news of the great fire in Rome had been sent across Italy. Such speed would have been completely unimaginable in the past.

"A fire broke out in Rome? If they're spreading the news like this, it must have been massive."

"Rumor has it half the Subura burned to the ground."

"Half of the Subura? Isn't Caesar's estate located there?"

"Fortunately, Caesar's family was unharmed, they say." Citizens all over Italy were having similar conversations at the same time. However, another group of people took a very different interest in the news.

"Is it true that the massive grain storehouses burned down?"

"That is what my associates in Rome told me. They said an official announcement will be made soon."

"Then shouldn't we head to Rome right now?"

"I heard some merchant collegia have already set out." Just as water flows downhill, merchants carried goods from places where prices were low to places where prices were high.

"As long as we keep an eye on his movements, we can seize plenty of opportunities." They had been watching Rome closely, especially ever since Lucius started his various ventures.

"But what if Rome announces price controls? If they do, we'll have hauled all this grain there just to sell it for practically nothing."

"No. Gaius Caesar said so himself. They will strictly ban hoarding, but they will not control the market price itself."

"Are you serious?" Soon after, wagons all across Italy began rolling toward Rome.

"If we do it right, we can make a fortune."

"I heard Caesar's postal couriers are even providing armed escorts." On the consul's orders, grain wagons were given priority at the ports and city gates. Furthermore, armed couriers from the postal service escorted the merchants to protect them from bandits along the road. However, the grain merchants who arrived in Rome could not hide their bewilderment.

"Why are there so many grain wagons?!" The gates of Rome were completely clogged by the sheer number of grain wagons pouring in from all corners of Italy. The panicked merchants looked at each other and muttered,"What are we supposed to do now?" ＊＊＊"The city gates are nearly impassable. But we can't exactly tell them all to wait until nightfall." Felix said, following closely behind me. I stared at the wagons choking the streets.

Most of them belonged to merchants and farmers from nearby regions who had rushed over after hearing the news of the fire. Almost all of them were driving wagons pulled by horses or oxen, and Rome's road system simply couldn't handle this volume of traffic.

"I did not expect your plan to work this well, Young Master. At this rate, the food shortage will be solved immediately."

"No, it's not that simple," I replied. Right in front of us, pedestrians were shouting at the wagon drivers blocking their path.

"Too many merchants flocked here at once."

"I thought that was the point. Why do you make it sound like a problem?" I remained silent. This had far exceeded my expectations. Even with the signal towers, I never imagined this many merchants would scramble to Rome so quickly.

"The state grain storehouses in the Subura have burned to ashes. Finding a place to store all this grain is going to be a problem, too." I continued.

"Send a message through the nearest signal towers. Divert any grain wagons that haven't reached Rome yet to Ostia."

"We can just ship it up the river from Ostia on barges, then."

"Exactly. That will prevent Rome from being completely suffocated by wagons." I nodded. We could store the grain in the warehouses at Ostia and transport it upriver daily via barges.

"Actually, we could store the grain in Nova Troia."

"Pardon? What do you mean using Nova Troia?"

"There is plenty of space for storage, and the roads are already paved and organized. The only downside is that just two bridges connect it to Rome, but..." We could just use the Tiber River. With boats, we could easily ferry the grain across the river. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"But there's an even bigger problem." The plan had been simple: broadcast Rome's situation across Italy and induce merchants to bring grain. The trouble was, it had worked too well.

"Once the news spreads, merchants will stop bothering to bring grain here. And then the supply will dry up again." What I wanted was to maintain a proper balance. Grain had to be expensive enough to keep merchants coming, but not so expensive that ordinary citizens suffered. In the current situation, the price of grain was likely to swing violently back and forth.

"Father will have to step in." I said. To maintain a stable grain supply, we needed to provide the merchants with an incentive.

"A large portion of the grain reserved for the state-subsidized distribution burned in the fire. We just have to buy replacement grain from the merchants."

"If we purchase it at a price slightly above the market rate, the merchants will keep coming to sell."

"Exactly. That will stabilize the supply until the grain shipments from the provinces arrive." That would not be an easy task, either. Persuading the Senate to open the state treasury for this would be a monumental task.

"I have no choice but to trust Father." But less than a day later, something entirely unexpected happened. There was, it turned out, another highly capable financial mind in Rome — a former quaestor. ＊＊＊"If things continue as they are, the number of merchants bringing grain to Rome will plummet. Until the wheat ships arrive from Egypt and Sicily, we must dip into the state treasury to subsidize the merchants. That is the only way we can maintain a stable grain supply."

At the man's declaration, the senators exchanged bewildered glances.

"Did I just hear that correctly?"

"Cato is suggesting we use the state treasury to subsidize merchants? I'd sooner believe an eagle had started grazing on grass." The senators whispered amongst themselves, staring at Cato. Until now, Cato had been the most vocal opponent of this exact kind of policy.

"But why should the Senate go so far as to subsidize merchants by buying wheat from them? The market price is already stable," One senator argued.

"By law, we must continue to distribute wheat at subsidized prices." Cato replied in his usual calm, unwavering tone.

"Order can only be maintained if the Republic proves that it keeps its promises, even in times of crisis. To achieve this, we have no choice but to use a portion of the state treasury."

"What do the consuls think of this proposal?"

"I agree with Senator Cato's proposal." Caesar said after a deliberate cough. He had not expected Cato to take this stance either. But he could not simply stand there, stunned.

"If the Senate agrees, Luceius and I will take immediate action." The senators looked at each other in silence. Since the proceedings were now published daily in the Forum, none of them could openly argue against using the treasury to feed citizens who had lost their homes. Thus, the Senate approved the purchase of grain from arriving merchants at slightly above market value. When the news reached the merchants, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"I thought we were going to suffer a massive loss, but thank the gods."

"The profit margin isn't as high as we initially hoped, but at least we won't lose our coin."

"It will still be a while before the Egyptian wheat arrives, so we should be able to make an easy profit until then." Using the signal towers and the postal service, they quickly relayed the news back to their home cities.

"Wait, yesterday you said to stop sending wheat. Why are you telling us to send it again today?"

"The Senate is purchasing grain at above-market prices for the time being. At the very least, we won't take a loss." As grain poured out of towns and farms across Italy, the price of wheat throughout the peninsula rose slightly. However, it wasn't a significant enough spike to threaten the livelihoods of the ordinary citizen. As if guided by an invisible hand, grain filled the roads of Italy, moving toward wherever it fetched a slightly higher price. Little by little, the market was finding its balance.

"No matter how much the Senate subsidized it, our city is just too far from Rome."

"Yeah, considering the cost of hauling it all the way there, we're better off giving up." While the citizens of Rome could finally breathe a sigh of relief, not everyone was pleased with how things had turned out. ＊＊＊"So, how much do we owe in insurance payouts?" Caesar's Strategy Office. Felix, Vitruvius, and Babu sat together, their expressions grim. These three were the core figures managing the various branches of Caesar's sprawling ventures. Among them, the man in charge of the insurance venture was the Babu.

He was widely acknowledged as the the finest mathematical mind on Caesar's staff.

"We have not finished calculating the total, but these are the rough estimates." Babu said, sliding a document across the table. Both Felix and Vitruvius let out pained groans the moment they saw the numbers.

"That is an enormous sum."

"Considering how many homes burned down, this is actually lower than expected."

"Even so, we are going to face a serious shortage of ready cash for the foreseeable future." Felix said with a heavy sigh.

"We are already spending a fortune on the development of Nova Troia. Once we include the cost of building emergency shelters, providing food, and setting up facilities for the displaced citizens..." He added,"If not for the silver flowing in from Hispania, we would have gone bankrupt already."

"We may have to sell off some of our assets just to cover the insurance payouts. But there's a much bigger problem." Babu said.

"When Caesar negotiated the ownership shares with Crassus, he established one specific condition. If the insurance business operates at a deficit for three consecutive years, Crassus gains the right to take over management. We haven't had any issues so far, but..."

"Are you saying this fire alone could cause three straight years of deficits? But this year's deficit should not count against next year."

"The losses are that severe. It could take us years to recover from this." Babu nodded, his face shadowed.

"It's not as if we have no options. For instance, we could examine claims far more strictly than before. Or delay the payments as long as possible. But..."

"Caesar would never allow that." Babu nodded at Felix's assessment.

"Which means we have very little room to maneuver. We need to find a solution." All three men fell silent, staring at the map spread across the table. The map of the Subura had the fire-damaged districts clearly marked. Beside each section, the estimated insurance payouts owed to the landlords were jotted down. As the heavy silence dragged on, Vitruvius finally spoke.

"Does any rule require us to pay the insurance payouts in coin?"

"What do you mean?"

"When the landlords receive their payouts, what exactly will they do with all that coin?"

"Well..." Felix and Babu answered almost simultaneously.

"Wouldn't they simply build new insulae? They need new buildings to start taking in tenants again."

"Exactly. And who in Rome can organize construction faster than anyone else right now?"

"Are you suggesting..."

"Yes. If we handle this properly, we can recover the very insurance payouts we give them through construction contracts. That would greatly reduce our losses." Vitruvius said with a cunning smile.

"It sounds quite plausible to me. What do you two think?" Felix and Babu stared at him in silence for a moment. The next second, Felix let out a wry chuckle.

"You just want an excuse to put up more buildings, don't you, Vitruvius?" ＊＊＊"It's a brilliant proposal. If we do this right, we can completely transform the Subura. We can build proper, structurally sound buildings that aren't nearly as vulnerable to fire." Lucius embraced Vitruvius's unconventional idea. But as always, he decided to add something even more outlandish to it.

"However, we can't just force the landlords to accept our proposal. If we do, people will think we are trying to cheat them out of their insurance payouts."

"Then what do you intend to do, Young Master?"

"We do what we always do." Lucius said, staring at the charred sectors marked on the map.

"We give them options, and we let them make the choice themselves." Words alone would not be enough to persuade all those landlords. But it was also impossible to visit each one and explain the proposal individually.

"If you want to sell something, you have to put it right in front of the customers first, don't you?"

"Are you saying..."

"We invite them to Nova Troia." Lucius declared.

"We show them exactly what a home in Nova Troia — our New Rome — looks like. And we prove that choosing us will earn them the greatest profit." He smiled.

"All we need is a single, perfect model home."