Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

July 1662 A couple of months after Vijay's inspection Puducherry Port, Cheranadu State Venkatramappa, a middle-aged man with his family of four, stood restless among a long queue of hundreds of people waiting on the dock of Puducherry, one of the major ports of the Bharatiya Empire. He had a complex mix of emotions on his face, worry, excitement, hope, and even a little fear. He was holding his 2-year-old newborn daughter in his arms, who was sleeping soundly, while his wife Shanthamma was holding the hand of his son and standing behind him with a worried look on her face. His son was continuously crying because he didn't want to leave his hometown and friends behind, but it had been going on for so long that it had become background noise for Venkatramappa and his wife. 'Dong!!!' Suddenly, a loud sound of a bell was heard, attracting the attention of everyone on the dock. Venkatramappa looked up to see what was going on. Suddenly, he saw a man appearing on the deck of the giant 1,500-tonne Ganga-class merchant ship that was newly designed by the Southern United Naval Design Bureau and manufactured by several shipyards in the empire. "The boarding will start in 10 minutes. Please call back any of the travellers who had gone to roam. We will be departing the port in 40 minutes. This is the last call." Venkatramappa immediately became fidgety, but the next moment he calmed down, not for anything else, but only to stay strong in front of his wife, who suddenly held the corner of his sleeve. Even if she didn't hold his hand, he could feel that it was trembling. "Don't worry, everything will be alright. We will have a bright future," he comforted, not only consoling his scared wife but also reaffirming his decision. He wasn't going to second-guess the choice he had made. His eyes became firm, and he finally dared to look back at his wife, only to see panic, insecurity, and anxiety, his words seemed to have no effect on her. He immediately made a decision. Without hesitation, he held her hand. She was startled, but looking at her husband's eyes and feeling the warmth of his large hands, she eventually calmed down. No words needed to be said, she understood what he meant. The dock was noisy with children crying, and people restlessly discussing with each other. Venkatramappa saw several people get cold feet and give up the journey. Looking at them passing by, he could feel their uneasiness and confusion. Fortunately, he had made his will firm, and he would stick to his decision and move forward without any regrets. 'Dong!!!' The loud bell rang once again, and the authorities at the port pulled over a ladder platform that would allow the people to board the ship without any difficulty. The people started to board the ship slowly. Moments later, Venkatramappa and his family were on the ship. They were given a private compartment for themselves as well as a tour of the ship to introduce all the amenities available. The family of four was very satisfied. --- The journey of the Venkatramappa family, along with several hundred thousand other families, continuously happened between the Bharatiya mainland and the 7 different frontiers of the Bharatiya Empire. With the promise of cheap land whose fertility was no less than back in the Bharatiya Empire, abundant water resources, extremely rich mineral resources, and wider opportunities for growth, it attracted a lot of people from the Bharatiya Aspirational Class. Families like Venkatramappa's were only some of them. Venkatramappa was born into a lower caste family by birth, but with the suppression and gradual eradication of the caste system, he got a chance to go up in society. Luckily, using the labour-for-land initiative taken by the government during the first few years of the Bharatiya Empire's establishment, he was able to amass 15 acres of land for himself. The fifteen acres of land were enough to fulfil all the necessities of his family since he only had one son. However, unfortunately, as days passed by, he came to realize that farming was no longer as popular and profitable as it used to be a few years ago when he had just obtained the land. With large-scale farming practices being gradually popularized throughout the empire, the yield of food crops was increasing year by year. There was an abundance of food in the empire, and the crops grown by small-scale farmers like him were no longer too profitable. He was hesitant about what to do in the future. If his farm was in close vicinity to a main road or any major city or town, he would be more than happy to build a warehouse and rent it out like many other colleagues who had gotten their lands with him. But unfortunately, his plot of land was in a village where most of the farmers had already sold their land to large-scale farming companies and joined the company as a minor shareholder or a worker on the farm. It was then that he heard the call of the Bharatiya Empire to encourage childbirth and migration to the Southeast. The benefits promised were too mouth-watering. Simply by agreeing to work in the frontiers for five years, he could obtain over a dozen or more acres of high-quality fertile farmland, and for the people who were immigrating, the benefits were even larger. Venkatramappa saw this as an opportunity and immediately travelled to several frontiers for inspection. What he saw greatly satisfied him. Not only were the places they were allowed to choose highly sustainable for their living, but they also had all the modern facilities of the Bharatiya Empire, like the post office, police station, court, school, colleges, universities, etc. Although most of these were still under construction the last time he inspected them, he was still very happy that he wouldn't have to emigrate to a jungle even if the benefits promised were sky-high. The modern facilities and infrastructure were only present in a small area in the frontiers where the Bharatiya Empire wanted to establish an initial foothold, but it was still a great attraction for people like Venkatramappa who came in search of opportunities. In the end, Venkatramappa chose to settle in Java, in the city of Jakarta, where he signed a contract with the frontier government to work on developing a plot of land for five years. Additionally, using his own money, which he got from selling the five acres of land back home, he bought a large plot of land adjacent to the one the government allocated to him. In the end, he was able to exchange the 15 acres of land he had earned for over 68 acres of land in Java, right on the outskirts of Jakarta. If it wasn't for this, he wouldn't have dared to emigrate to a foreign land with his family, even if the government had given twenty acres of land instead of fifteen. Several weeks passed by in the blink of an eye... Venkatramappa, his wife, his son, and his daughter stood on the deck, looking at the lively scenery at the port of Jakarta. The hustle and bustle were no less than what they saw in Puducherry. Getting down, they were surprised to discover that the locals wore their traditional lungi and did a namaskar to them very respectfully. Venkatramappa and his wife were immediately surprised. They looked at each other in bewilderment. For them, who had been at the bottom of society for most of their lives and had only recently risen bit by bit, they did not know how to react. Maybe if they had enjoyed their lives a bit more, they would be flattered, but for them, who had no concept of someone being a lower class person, they didn't know how to react. "Quite surprising, isn't it? But this is normal, as Bharatiyas are highly respected in the frontiers." "The colonizers who ruled over them did not treat them well." "Even if they were not abused or forced to do things they did not like, they were not given the opportunity to grow, which every human deserves." "So when the Bharatiya Empire took control of the uninhabited lands and areas without much social structure, like kingdoms or empires, the locals were very happy and respected us a lot because the first thing we did was to completely distribute the resources obtained from their previous masters among them, build a lot of infrastructure, start many development projects, provide numerous jobs, create opportunities for growth, and much more." "You could say that the Bharatiya Empire is responsible for teaching them how to fish rather than just giving them the fish." "For this reason, no matter the wealth and status of a Bharatiya in the mainland, when they come to the frontiers, they are highly respected." Venkatramappa listened to the words of the guide patiently and, in the end, nodded in understanding. "That's good to hear. The last thing we want is to have conflicts with the locals." "Haha! As you can see, you don't have to worry about this aspect. In fact, if you had chosen other regions where migration is concentrated, you wouldn't even need to consider these things because those are all uninhabited areas without any human activity. The people living there along with you are also Bharatiya, so it might be easier to adjust to the new environment." "It might be a little difficult for normal first time Bharatiyas to acclimatize here because local customs and cultures have been somewhat preserved, even after the Dutch completely tried to destroy them. But the advantage is that the infrastructure here is relatively complete, and the level of urbanization is also very high, catching up with some of the third-tier cities of the Bharatiya Empire." "Not to mention, Jakarta has always been a popular port for countries in Southeast Asia, so after the rebuilding of the city is completed, it is bound to become one of the most popular, if not the most popular, cities on the Java island." "People settling in now could be considered to be the luckiest." "I heard that you bought a large plot of land and have decided to settle down here." "I have to say, Venkat, you are very brave and decisive. Thankfully, you have made a huge profit from your actions." "In five years, even if you want to go back to the Bharatiya Empire, you can simply sell all the land, and land prices would have appreciated by several folds. Going back to the empire, you could then use that money to get a big stake in an agricultural company, settling your family for life." Venkatramappa smiled and profusely thanked the guide, but in his heart, he did not want to go back. All the advantages mentioned by the guide had already been considered by him, and it is precisely because of that he chose this location, unhesitatingly buying such a big plot of land. He wanted to see if he could occupy the processed food industry in the Java frontier. If he were to succeed, not to mention his children—even his grandchildren's grandchildren would not have to worry about resources. At the end of the day, they were shown their own villa that had been recently constructed for the immigrants coming from the Bharatiya Empire. The villa seemed to be built on the plot of land where he would be working according to the government's orders, which saved him a lot of trouble because the land he had bought with his own money could be combined with the government-granted plot. With this, he could plant crops, and with the help of benefits provided by the government, he could import a harvester on a low-interest loan, immediately transitioning into a grain merchant. He could also rent out the harvester during the time he was not using it. He got on top of his villa in order to get a full view of his land, but when he got there, along with the land, he was surprised to find out it was actually right next to the Cisadane River. It could be said that his large plot of land was on the western bank of a large river. 'Can I rent or can I buy an atmospheric steam engine to suck out the water from the river and pump it into a water tank?' He looked around and quickly located the highest point of his plot of land and quickly realized that if he could build a reservoir here, then the water would easily flow downhill to the crops without any need for manual intervention. Attaching ceramic pipes and controlling the valves should do the trick. 'With such an abundance of water, maybe I can even plant rice on a large scale?' Thinking of this, he suddenly got another idea. 'What if, in order to control the pests, I release small fishes into the rice-growing pond so that the pests could be controlled effectively? I could then use these fishes and sell them after the harvest, and the fishes that had died before the harvest would turn into fertilizer and keep the land fertile for a long time.' This was a method he had seen when he traveled to other frontiers. He was amazed at how ingenious the method was. He thought if he got a chance, he would definitely try it out, but now that he had the chance, he was dying to test it. "Let's do it," he firmly decided as he clenched his fist. But first, he would experiment through trial and error. If it worked, he would implement it on a large scale.