Presenting to the Crown Part 2

The conference chamber fell completely, utterly silent.

King Edward did not immediately respond. Prime Minister Ashford stood motionless beside the table, his arms folded tight across his chest. Both men simply stared at the sweeping, hand-washed map spread beneath the heavy brass inkwells.

A National Heavy Railway Network.

The words were plain enough. The black lines rendered across the parchment looked simple.

Yet both statesmen understood the mechanics of government far too well to mistake simplicity of drafting for simplicity of execution. Those lines did not represent a mere mechanical design; they represented thousands of acres of contested land, millions of riels in fixed capital, thousands of migrant laborers, heavy bridge abutments, right-of-way disputes, municipal friction, new corporate legislation, and entire heavy industries that did not currently exist within the realm.