A full month passed since I announced the Fourteen Edicts.
Inside the royal hall
Prime Minister Vidhyadhar, Military Advisor Adhirupa, Chief Treasurer Kalyan, and Minister of Agriculture Bhumitra are all present .
Their face looked tired, but their eyes didn’t have their tiredness of work ,their eyes held expectations
They had spent the entire month searching every corner of Anga for the right person to lead the new departments, exactly as I had ordered.
“Your Majesty, we have finalized the list of new people for the new ministries,” Prime Minister Vidhyadhar said, stepping forward.
“We completely bypassed the traditional viewpoint held by people to make sure your edicts do not face any internal sabotage.”
“Read them,” I commanded, leaning back on the throne.
“For the sipping minister we recommend
Samudra.
Your Majesty, to meet your massive goal of building 2,000 ships in five years, he will be handling the river guilds and ferrymen.
But to run the physical shipyards, he need a direct architecture expert.
He recommend Varham.
He is an experienced merchant captain who understands timber and ship engineering perfectly.”
“Continue ,” I nodded.
“Tell Varham his first task is to secure the deep-water riverbanks to start building immediately.
Next.”
Vidhyadhar stepped up.
“For the Ministry of Education and Academies, we chose Devrat.
He is an elderly scholar who was kicked out of the royal academies of Magadha because he insisted on teaching commoners.
He has already drawn up a map to place the first ten schools in our border villages.
He is also preparing the special speaking groups to go house-to-house to convince parents to send their daughters to school.”
“A man who values skill over birth.
Excellent,” I said happily.
“Give Devrat the authority to take over some government empty public halls so we can start the free student food right away.
And tell him to meet me this afternoon”
Bhumitra, the Agriculture Minister, unrolled his scroll next.
He belongs to a blacksmith family but has spent years coordinating trade between different independent workers.
He will handle setting up the Forging, Medical, and but the Farmers Guilds will me managed personally by me ”
“Let Siddharth know that the Forging Guilds must prioritize government weapons and armor orders above everything else,” I instructed.
“For the three remaining ministries you requested, Your Majesty,” Vidhyadhar said, taking the lead again.
“For the Ministry of Road Construction, we recommend Nalin.
He is an expert builder who bulit houses for many merchant and rich people in anga.
We still need some time for the minister of medicine
But for the Ministry of Justice, we recommend Dharma.
He is an honest old scholar who agrees that our new state laws will be opportunity for anga to reborn .”
“Good.
Tell Dharma to start training the first batch of judges immediately,” I said.
“What about the resource exploration?”
Adhirupa nodded.
“We have formed the State Exploration Team under Kiran, a veteran scout who knows our mountains perfectly.
He has already selected more than fifty sharp-eyed hunters to start finding iron and copper deposits.
The royal soldiers have also been informed any private citizen found mining iron or copper for personal profit will face immediate public beheading.”
“Good” I said as I looked at Vidhyadhar, Adhirupa, Kalyan, and Bhumitra.
They had done an incredible job over the last month.
The ministry office workers had been hired, and the new ministers were ready.
“Listen to me carefully,” I addressed the ministers.
“We cannot dump all fourteen edicts on the people on the exact same day.
It will cause confusion.
We will implement them gradually, step by step.”
I leaned forward, telling them how we implement the edicts.
The sudden drop in taxes will give the people immediate financial relief.
At the same time, the speaker groups will tell the parents that they will lose this tax cut unless they send both their sons and daughters to study.
The free daily meals will make sure poor families willingly send their children to us.”
The ministers nodded rapidly accepting my orders.
“While the schools are running,” I continued, “Siddharth will establish the guilds, and Kiran’s exploration team will secure the iron mines.
When our first generation of students will hit the age of fourteen, ready to begin their two years of mandatory military service.
By then, our new iron mines must output enough metal for the Forging Guilds to make weapons and armor for them, unlike other weapons and armor used in regular army ,theirs should have specific symbols of training students ”
Treasurer Kalyan smiled.
“The logic is perfect, Your Majesty.
By the time the free hospitals open in two to three years, our state caravans and naval trade will already be making massive, independent money to cover all the costs.”
“Exactly,” I said, standing up from the throne.
“The list is approved.
Issue the royal decrees to every corner of Anga within this week.”
The ministers bowed deeply and rushed out of the hall to execute the orders.
Left alone in the massive court, I looked out toward the city.
The foundation of anga had just been laid,as thinking I entered my chambers to practice .
During the past month ,I had also received a letter from Duryodhan ,the weapons for the army was ready ,which meant they ready to go for war anytime …
And also in the letter Duryodhana mentioned his agreement with Pandavas, that Kauravas will first fight against Drupada….
so he can become king ..
and the Pandavas also accepted this
And of course I know Duryodhana going to lose ,Pandavas will win against the Drupada…
and Yudhishthira would eventually become yuvaraj.
Still , I sent a letter to Duryodhana that he must not underestimate drupada ,and
I strongly advised him not to besiege the capital without correct battle plan ….
If he followed my advice he atleast have some chances of victory….
I cannot do anything else now other than wait for the news …