The Cotton Kingdom (2)
“...Hup.”
Ben, the general field manager of the Sett plantation, reflexively caught his breath as he read the letter James had sent with lightning speed.
I am inviting the woman I am courting and her father, a British nobleman, to the plantation, so prepare a grand welcome event.
This order spread through the entire plantation in an instant, and Ben urgently called the field foremen and the head maid of the house to divide the roles.
“We have exactly four hours! In that time, we must prepare a spectacle so astonishing that the British nobleman will fall over backward!”
“Ooooooh!”
“Wait... does this mean the Master is marrying into a British noble family? Does that make the Master a noble, too?”
“...Who knows? Is there even such a thing as nobility in this country?”
“I have no idea. Isn’t the President a noble?”
The foremen, who didn’t really understand what nobility meant in the first place, racked their brains, but there was no way a proper answer would come from their common sense. Regardless, James Sett was the greatest person they knew, so they decided to use him as their standard.
“Anyway, just think of them as someone as great as the Master. Besides, if they marry the Master, they might become our Mistress, so we must leave a good impression no matter what!”
“Then what should we do? Should we fire the cannons again?”
“Good idea. We have blanks this time, so let’s just fire them like crazy. And...”
They didn’t know exactly how great a British noble was, but if the Master was considering marriage, they certainly weren’t an ordinary person. To a third party, they would sound like a bunch of lunatics, but at least within the plantation, this was the perfectly normal way of thinking.
I don’t know what a noble is, but I’ll make sure they fall over backward in surprise.
Sett’s order to hold a grand welcome event was being processed in the brains of his loyal servants in a slightly different direction.
Baron Eldery was extremely displeased.
The reason he hadn’t flipped the table right then and there was, as mentioned before, because his bewilderment had exceeded its limit and flown right through the ceiling. He hadn’t expected to experience the truth of the saying that if absurdity goes beyond a certain point, you don’t even feel anger.
When he missed the timing to get angry, Cecilia had desperately begged him, talking about how well Sett listened to her, and somehow, he had ended up here.
In truth, he did have a secret worry about whether any wealthy man in the world would take his daughter, who ran around like a wild colt. If only she would abandon her greed for finance and investment, she was a truly kind, pretty, and modest girl, but since she insisted she couldn’t give that up even if she died, what could he do?
Of course, he still had no intention of marrying her off to a Southern planter, but after talking to James, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of curiosity. Wasn’t he honestly curious about what a man who was certain that the North and South would inevitably go to war, and a slave owner who flatly stated that the South couldn’t win, was plotting here?
If it were a clumsy lie, he could just put his foot down, say marriage was absolutely out of the question, and return to London. Of course, even if everything James Sett said was true, it didn’t mean he would give him his daughter.
The only case in which Baron Eldery would accept James as a son-in-law was if he liquidated all his assets here and moved to the North, or followed him to England. Honestly, they said he had over 900 slaves; if he sold all those slaves and sold off the plantation, what a massive amount of capital that would be. If he used that to buy land in England and build factories, he could enjoy wealth comparable to any capitalist.
Then there would be no reason not to give him his daughter. Seeing as Sett himself predicted a war between the North and South, if he persuaded him well, he might be able to lead him in that direction.
I, the First Lord of the Treasury, am offering to back him up.
It was true that Sett’s wealth, which could easily slap the cheek of any decent noble in England, was a waste, and just as he was about to seek a more realistic method—
“Baron, that is my plantation.”
“...A plantation?”
Baron Eldery’s eyes were stained with strangeness as he looked at where Sett was pointing. Did plantations these days have iron gates and guard towers?
“That... is a plantation? Not some kind of fortress?”
“It was built that way to avoid the prying eyes of the outside world. No one will bother you while you stay here, so please rest comfortably.”
“Hmm... I see.”
What is this? Do all Southern planters run their plantations like this?
It didn’t make sense by common standards, but since they said planters usually imitated European nobles, he tried his best to understand. He wondered if they had taken medieval lords as their role models rather than British nobles, but for now, he could just brush it off as, “These people are particularly fussy.”
“The Master has returned!”
“Salute to the Master and the distinguished guests from England!”
That was until he saw hundreds of Black people lined up in front of the mansion, saluting toward the sky like well-trained soldiers.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
Dozens of gunshots rang out, and a young Black man in a suit politely opened the carriage door.
“Welcome to the Sett plantation! We promise to serve you with all our hearts so that you do not feel any discomfort during your stay.”
“......?”
Even when he went to the mansion of a Senator who owned 200 slaves, he swore it wasn’t this kind of atmosphere. The slaves there wouldn’t even try to make eye contact with their master, and their nutritional status didn’t look very good, but why were the slaves here all so well-built? And what was with those slaves holding guns?
Louisa, the younger of the two daughters who came with him, was fascinated, saying it felt like entering a palace, but Baron Eldery felt his mind going hazy at the sight that defied common sense. Cecilia had a similar expression, staring blankly at the line of Black people who were still standing at perfect attention.
When he glanced over, Sett was shaking his head with a wry smile, as if he couldn’t help it.
“These guys are overdoing it again. I just told them to welcome us grandly...”
“They did that voluntarily?”
“They are so overflowing with loyalty that they do that sometimes. Last time, they even fired live ammunition for a salute, and I was flustered too! Hey, Leo. If you welcome guests in such a military style, they’ll be surprised.”
“Since it is a seat where the Master is hosting distinguished guests, I thought it was only natural to show the utmost respect we could!”
At first, he thought it was a staged performance, but it didn’t look like that at all. Perhaps those high stone walls and guard towers were barriers to prevent the reality of this plantation from leaking out? The observant Baron could immediately guess why Sett had created such a strict security system. It wasn’t outside intruders he was trying to block, but the eyes and ears of fellow Southern planters.
The shock didn’t end there.
“Alright, everyone, let’s read along: I like James Sett!”
“He is a great master!”
In one of the plantation’s huts, young Black children were reading letters that looked like some strange drawings.
“...You teach slaves to read?”
“Children learn quickly. By the time those kids grow up, slavery will already be gone. Then I’ll be able to use them as immediately deployable office workers, so I have to educate them from now on.”
“......???”
That evening, Baron Eldery and his two daughters ate the Sett plantation’s famous fried chicken and enjoyed a performance by the slave choir. They sang with strange vocal inflections, enjoyed a ball game that looked like a imitation of cricket, and even played cards with strange pictures on them.
“What is that again?”
“It’s a card game I devised. Baseball is fun, but I thought we needed games to enjoy indoors, so I introduced it boldly.”
“And you’re making such massive profits even while letting the slaves go like this?”
“Yes. Slaves don’t work 24 hours a day anyway, so what’s the problem with letting them have leisure time during their breaks? And the work efficiency of the slaves on my plantation is on a different level from those on other plantations.”
If he had only heard it in words, he would have dismissed it as the ramblings of a madman, but in reality, James Sett had a lot of money. A massive amount of it. Unless it was a ducal family in England boasting immense wealth, there would be almost no one who earned money better than this young man in front of him.
That much money, that much profit, is coming from this system?
Just looking at today, the slaves here seemed to be living a much better life than the citizens working in London factories.
“James Sett... what on earth are you thinking?”
“Then, are you now willing to listen to my explanation seriously?”
At that confident question, Baron Eldery had no choice but to nod. It wasn’t because his daughter’s marriage was at stake, but because he truly, purely wanted to know what this man was plotting.
“First, I will continue to expand my land and increase the number of slaves for the next two years. My primary goal is to increase my personal slaves to 2,000, and up to 3,000 including the family.”
“No, that doesn’t make sense. Didn’t you say slavery would be abolished by the war? If slavery is abolished, your assets will literally evaporate, yet you’re still increasing their numbers?”
“The assets shown on the books will disappear, but their existence itself will not. When that time comes, I won’t have 2,000 slaves under me, but 2,000 skilled workers.”
And he would repeat the work he had already done to devour the entire cotton industry of the South. Therefore, the more workers, the better. In the long run, they would return profits several times the amount he had invested.
“Then, does that mean your existence will be a gain for me as well...”
“I’m not saying I’ll marry Miss Stanley right away. We will take our time and narrow the distance, and wouldn’t that give you enough time to reform me, Baron?”
“...Reform you?”
“After the war ends, the whole world will know. That Sir Edward Stanley, Baron Eldery, reformed a heinous planter who owned thousands of slaves in the South and brought him back into the bosom of the Lord. His noble spirit and dignity were so high that they turned the heart of even a vicious slave owner.”
Since a noble with a title could serve as a member of the House of Lords for life, honor was far more important than immediate popularity. Based on that honor, he could challenge for higher positions and boast in noble society.
“Not just honor, but as a son-in-law, I will do my best to help my father-in-law reach a higher position. You can grasp both honor and practical benefits.”
“Then what is it that you want?”
“There is something I want right now, and something I will absolutely need after the war ends...”
“The war is just a prediction, so let’s hear what you want right now.”
“If I continue to increase the number of slaves, the South will inevitably try to keep me in check. When that happens, I need a justification to shut their mouths.”
Baron Eldery frowned and clicked his tongue.
“Don’t tell me you want me to put pressure on them?”
“No. I just need to be able to show that I am working fiercely for the independence and future of the South, and to build connections in the British House of Lords.”
Father-in-law, you just need to lend me your business card. I’ll take care of the rest.
I looked the Baron straight in the eye one last time and promised.
“Your daughter will become the wife of the world’s greatest tycoon, and your grandchild will inherit the world’s greatest wealth.”
Baron Eldery’s gaze turned toward Cecilia, who was fascinated by the baseball game unfolding in the distance. And in a much softer voice:
“Make sure she can play to her heart’s content on Wall Street in New York.”
He had uttered words that were practically consent. Success! Finally, my life as a solo, which continued from my past life to this one, ends today.
As a bonus, he had been able to start the preparations to completely monopolize Mississippi’s cotton industry without worrying about anyone’s eyes. It was more than enough as a dowry.