Following the defeat of Llewelyn, king
Maredudd realised that his armies were weaker than they could be.
Especially given that they were diminished in the battle, it was
unlikely that the Ordovices would be able to face any external threats.
Even if it was so much as Llewelyn returning from Oxford with more
troops, the capital would certainly crumble.
Internally, the
Ordovices were very stable, but externally, they were more fragile than
ever. Maredudd decided to upgrade the military's equipment, equipping
them with axes that were much more intimidating than the former light
archers. With the new military, he claimed, nobody would wish to even
enter a battle with the Ordovices.
After equipping the current army with axes,
he also organised the training of another thousand axemen, in order to
refill the damaged reserves. They would be trained in Liverpool following
the construction of the Triremes for the hopefully to-be-great
Ordivican navy.
Finally, he revised the focus of the
kingdom's armies to be more focused on attack rather than defence. He
maintained that the rumours spreading among other countries that the
Ordovices were craven would soon be proven false.
What's more, two great men of the court of
king Maredudd, the ambassador Celyn and the artist Cadoc, were hired by
the neighbouring kingdoms, for a large sum of gold for the kingdom of
course. This was followed shortly afterwards by a royal marriage with
Nagantae.
However, even with the money offered for the services of the two men, the
naval and military construction that the Ordovices were conducting was
very costly on their economy. By April, 12 AD, the coffers were empty,
the king himself having no gold with which to pay his troops and
craftsmen.
Despite
ordering the minting of more
coins, that wasn't enough, and the kingdom was forced to borrow money
from rich Celtic traders from the south. Eventually, they would come to claim
their money back, and this concerned the king. Going bankrupt would
cripple the kingdom, and without any money to provide for weapons or
provisions, the troops would surely desert and the navy he had dreamed
to build would rot without craftsmen to maintain it.
To take his mind off the stressful matters of the economy, Maredudd decided to perform some other activities.
With a clear head, the king devises a
strategy for restoring the economy of the realm. He sends his best
merchants to Rome, to drive trade towards the Ordovices. There is a lot
of gold passing through that great city, and hopefully at least some of
it will reach Liverpool with the help of these merchants.
In the meantime, a new heir to the throne is
born. The king being unmarried has led many lords to doubt the
legitimacy of the heir, however, and many believe that he doesn't truly
have royal blood. For now, they stay silent, since the current king is
no doubt royal, but some whisper of some sort of rebellion when the time
is right.
Beyond dynastic affairs, Maredudd's mercantile machinations pay off, and the merchants return some
linen to Liverpool. This is put to use in constructing the ships, with
the large supply of Roman linen making the ships cheaper to build than
they would be otherwise.
Soon, the Ordovices are the pre-eminent merchant power in Rome, second only to the Roman Empire itself.
With the new imported linen, the ships are completed, a proud fleet of Triremes at port in Liverpool. With that complete, king Maredudd has achieved his naval goals, and sets his sights on the diplomatic arena. The first step is to tie his dynasty closer into those of the neighbouring kingdoms.
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