Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

24th July 1662 Simhasana Bhavana, Imperial Capital, Bengaluru, Akhand Bharatiya Empire " So how's the migration going? " Vinod and his fellow ministers, who were just about to get up and leave as the meeting had ended, immediately stiffened and sat back down. They were taken aback, but it was not an unexpected question. He, along with the Cabinet ministers, had already been prepared for this question to be asked—it's just that it came at the last moment, catching them off guard. Vinod took a deep breath, organized the words, and responded, " It's going on smoothly, Your Majesty. In the last five months, at least two million people have migrated to the frontiers, both on a temporary and permanent basis. " " The number keeps increasing day by day with word of mouth from the people who had gone spreading back to the mainland. " Vijay nodded in understanding, this was what he wanted to see. But suddenly, he remembered Raja Jayadwaj Singha. Jayadwaj Singha was an outlier among the people whom he had promised to give an opportunity to form their own kingdoms because, unlike others, Raja Jayadwaj Singha already had a kingdom before he joined the Bharatiya Empire. The people already loved and respected him. He only joined the empire out of helplessness and necessity. But now, if the people of Ahom find out that their king is no longer Jayadwaj Singha, how will they react? ' Did he follow my suggestion? ', Vijay wondered. He looked up at Vinod. " Are there any migration patterns that are unusual from the state of Ahom? " As the matter was brought up, Vinod suddenly remembered. " Yes, Your Majesty. At first, it was not too noticeable, but now it is very clear that most of the Ahoms are migrating to only a single particular frontier, and that is the frontier of Papua New Guinea Island, one of the largest islands in the Southeast Asian region. " " The several foothold cities we have established are now majorly occupied by the Ahoms as well as the neighbouring Bengalis and Biharis. " "Oh! ", ' So he did follow my suggestion ', Vijay smiled. It was he who had asked Jayadwaj Singha to spread propaganda to migrate his staunch supporters to the frontier of his choice—not only to avoid any complications that might arise from a new Ahom kingdom being established several decades from now but also so the people would not be angry that their king was no longer Jayadwaj Singha. As far as Vijay was concerned, he was quite happy because the kings of the empire, like Jayadwaj Singha, Sarvaish, Senapati, and others, had been increasing their economic power slowly but steadily for many years, putting them in a position to alter the policies of any state by simply blackmailing the politicians with the number of jobs they provided. There was no need to bribe the politicians to get their wishes fulfilled—threatening them was enough. Nobody had done this until now, but their having the ability alone was enough to threaten the integrity of the empire. The kings and top industrialists of the Bharatiya Empire were currently very similar to the monopolists and oligarchs of the Americas in the 19th, and 20th centuries, with people like Rockefeller, Morgan, Ford, Vanderbilt, and others taking the lead. Although they were instrumental in the growth of America's industry and were the founders who laid the foundation for America's global dominance, their existence had, in the end, become a problem instead of the convenience it was a few decades ago. Hence, their wealth was ruthlessly curbed before they could threaten the core power of America. Vijay knew that he had to do something very similar if the Devaraya family was still to have a lot of influence even after he died. But he didn't want to be as ruthless as the Americans, so opening up the frontiers was like leaving a way out for these top giants of the Bharatiya Empire so that there wouldn't be any major contradictions between them and the royal family or the government. With them finally focusing their attention outside the Bharatiya Empire, the resources they left over would be swallowed up by local private forces, solving the issue for a long time to come. The monopoly industries the kings of the Bharatiya Empire ran were only monopolies because they started at the very beginning, and there was not much competition. But now, if they let go even the slightest, these enterprises and industries would be split up until they no longer reached a monopoly—unless the top companies in the field were only four or five. Then, it could be a monopoly if they talked with each other and set the prices, but Vijay would never allow that to happen. Not to mention, it was impractical for an empire spanning 5 million kilometres to have only four to five companies in core sectors. All the thoughts in Vijay's mind might have been complex, but they lasted only for a few seconds. " What about the military? To what degree has the construction of military bases in the frontiers been completed? " Kiran Poojari was quick to respond, " For now, the basic facility has already been constructed—enough for a battalion of 800 soldiers and a battle group of four to five large ships or a few dozen small warships to dock. " " We are looking to increase the strength iteratively by maintaining the ratio at a level with the number of Bharatiya citizens residing in the frontier. As the number increases, the strength of the military will also be expanded proportionally. " Vijay nodded. Even though in 20 or 30 years he wouldn't mind these frontiers being upgraded to their own kingdoms, for now, these lands were directly under the control of the Bharatiya Empire. He would only grant them independence after he had moulded them according to his vision. For this, the military presence was extremely important. " What about the infrastructure in the frontiers? " " Your Majesty, in the selected footholds, the basic living infrastructure is already complete. We have already expanded the branches of the police force, post offices, and judicial power to the frontiers. Also, with private participation, several universities and schools have already been established." " A few industrialists in the empire have set up imported industries that are essential for constructing the infrastructure, like iron melting industries, mining industries, and cement industries, along with others, for which the locals are very excited due to the number of jobs they have created." Vinod explained and nodded, satisfied. For the first time, he experienced the benefits of letting private organizations take the lead in completing tasks. Since everyone works for profits, they value time and efficiency, and everyone is looking for opportunities to expand. As soon as the opportunity was brought in front of them, a lot of private educational institution owners and small-scale or medium-scale factory owners jumped to claim the opportunity for themselves. If these things were still manually done by the government, Vinod wouldn't know when they would be completed. But now, they had only selected a place, built basic port infrastructure, established a few agencies to maintain security, and the rest was all taken care of by private individuals. Starting from the construction of buildings in the foothold to providing education and medical support, all was handled by private companies simultaneously with an efficiency that was extremely surprising. At first, he was not too sure why His Majesty wanted to privatize almost everything that was not essential to the government. But now, handling the matter of immigration to the Southeast, he finally understood what efficiency was. He was shocked when he was informed that most of the facilities in strongholds had completed their construction, while the police stations, post offices, and courts were still getting their finishing touches. He had already thought that the government was very efficient compared to all other governments he had come across, but comparing it with private companies was like the difference between manually dredging out all the water and using the atmospheric steam engine. The private companies were like starved wolves hunting desperately for their prey, while the people he ordered around were like hardworking bulls. Although they did responsibly fulfil their work, they were just too slow. He could already imagine that if left unchecked for too long, these bulls might turn into water buffaloes—extremely lazy and lethargic. Remembering the recent letters he had gotten, Vinod informed, "Some of the frontier governors have already put forward a petition to establish one more or even two more footholds on their frontiers to increase the development." Vijay smiled with satisfaction. "It can be allowed, but what do they want?" "The Governor of Malaysia wants to establish a foothold in a village called Singhapura, located at the end of the peninsula, as well as in a village called Kuantan on the eastern bank of Malaysia. He mentioned in his letter that he is looking to connect these three places in a triangular formation by road networks and slowly urbanize the area in between." "The Governor of North Sumatra has requested to allow for another foothold to be built along with Medan." "The Governor of South Sumatra has requested to quicken migrating the local staunch Islamists to their new home, and he also requested to establish a new foothold in Jambi Village." Vijay was taken aback. "Are the Islamists not evacuated yet?" The southern part of Sumatra had a lot of people who were Muslim, so Vijay had made a decision to migrate them all to the northern part of Kalimantan, where there were equally large numbers of Muslims, thereby isolating the Muslim countries in Southeast Asia to only two countries. "No, Your Majesty. They are quite stubborn. They neither want to convert to New Testament Islam nor do they want to revert back to their ancient roots, but they still want to stay in their homes." "Well, figures," Vijay nodded in understanding. "No one wants to leave their hometown just like that." He still knew this, especially since a lot of Muslims did not want to go to Pakistan during the nation's split, and a lot of Hindus did not want to come to India simply because they considered where they stayed their homes. "However, unfortunately, we are not requesting them to migrate—we are demanding them to do so." "Use some military deterrence when necessary. Keep the casualties to a minimum," he ordered decisively. Vinod nodded with a serious expression on his face. "Alright, you were saying. Go on." "Um, yes, Your Majesty. The Governor of Kalimantan requested to establish three new footholds in several coastal villages to increase the development of the island. He says that the island is too barren and that there are not many locals as well. He feels like it could be a security threat if the population is so disproportional when compared to the Islamic sultanate that is being built to their north." "Governor of Timor Leste has directly requested to allow immigration throughout the frontier, his point being that the frontier is very small and has not sustained any damage due to there being no war when it changed hands. Its urban infrastructure, built by the Portuguese, has been maintained, making it very convenient to further urbanization since critical manufacturing infrastructure is already present." "And finally, there was a surprise, Your Majesty." Vijay's brows furrowed. "What is it?" "The King of Bali wishes to join our frontier system, and he wants the land he controls to become one of the frontiers of the Bharatiya Empire." Vijay's eyes widened. "Does he understand what he is asking? Joining the frontier means giving up the ownership of the land he controls to the Bharatiya Empire. He will no longer be the sole ruler and owner of the Kingdom of Bali." After the war, for the help the King of Bali provided, Vijay had granted him the Nusa Tenggara Islands as well as the Sumba Island, expanding his kingdom from a city-state of only two hundred and fifty square kilometres to a large island nation with an area of 50,000 square kilometres under his control. Now, this guy wants to give everything up? What is he thinking? He couldn't figure it out. Especially since he had not made it public that he would allow these frontiers to become independent in the future. This was news to only a couple of people. "I have some ideas, Your Majesty," Vinod responded. Vijay motioned for him to speak. "Your Majesty, from what I gathered after reading the letter he had written, he seems to be very dissatisfied with the amount of resources he can control in order to develop the kingdom." "He has a lot of land, but unfortunately, he feels like he is not able to attract anyone to settle, especially with the competition of seven other frontiers, which are better in every way than the kingdom he has built." "Finally, he feels like the dissatisfaction among his people towards him will only grow in the future when all their neighbours are very rich and only he remains poor." Vijay was enlightened. "Is that so?" He thought to himself, 'I guess those who never wore shoes wouldn't mind wearing slippers.' 'If he had been a king long enough, he would definitely not take this decision.' "Is there any other request?" "Yes, Your Majesty, he requested that he be the permanent governor of Bali until he dies, and if an election is held after his death, his descendants get a chance to participate." Vijay stroked his chin and smiled because this was an exact copy of his powers over the Bharatiya Empire. "Alright, formally arrange a ceremony and welcome this new frontier." "As for the requests of the frontier governors, agree to them and increase the support." "As you wish, Your Majesty. The government will fulfil your orders. Please rest assured." "Good. Meeting dismissed."