Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

'Slurp'

"Delicious!!"

'Smack!'

"So good! Who knew rice could be cooked like this!!"

"How long has it been since my old bones have felt this sort of flavour in my mouth?"

"Maybe I should bring back a chef from the Bharatiya Empire to cook."

Southeast Asia has some of the most unique, rich, and delicious cuisines in the world. The statement is true no matter the past, present, or maybe even the future. But when the chefs of the Bharatiya Empire, more importantly, the chefs from Boukha Youdha Street, cooked various dishes for the Southeast Asian kings and rulers, they ate it with great relish, constantly licking their fingers.

It was something they had never expected, and the dishes came in so many varieties that they wondered if all of this came out of a single nation.

Especially King Narai, who had almost incarnated as a starving ghost, it was as if he wanted to eat away his disappointment after major setbacks, directly swallowing the food of two men.

Vijay, upon hearing the praise from the kings, felt a little proud. Although he knew that some of it could be flattery due to his status, he was still happy knowing that the majority of the praise was coming from the heart.

A few hours passed, and eventually, all the kings gathered back at the mansion. But to their surprise, the seating arrangements had been changed. The earlier arrangement, which was like a typical conference room, had been taken out, instead, a round table had been placed with chairs around it. The emblem of ASEAN was seen on all four corners of the room. And finally, the flags of their nations were placed on the table.

Earlier, when they arrived at the mansion for the first time, it was their names that were on their seats, but now their names had been taken out and replaced with flags.

Kings like Sourigna Vongsa and Soriya Reachea II, with rich experience, quickly understood the meaning behind this change, 'The kings and rulers may change, but the nations will remain the same, ha?'

Once again, the kings were introduced to the determination of the Bharatiya Empire. King Narai wrinkled his eyebrows with a little unhappiness at not having his name on the chair, but in the end, he let out a breath of turbid air and disgruntledly sat in the seat, folding his hands in absolute silence.

Soon, he got up from his seat and looked at everyone.

"I'm glad everyone is here. I hope all of you had a pleasant dining experience."

"Now, with that being said, let us kick off the first meeting of the ASEAN Economic Summit."

'clap' 'clap' 'clap'

Sparse claps were heard in the room, and everyone looked at Vijay in anticipation.

"The core reason for this association to exist is naturally to improve economic ties between all its nations and to be a diplomatic platform."
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"So the first thing is to establish the economic ties between all of ASEAN's nations."

Vijay looked around and went on to explain, "Achieving this is easy if you say easy and hard if you say hard. In a straightforward way, you can have the merchants in your empire directly start trading with the neighbouring countries in large quantities, unlike now where it is only a few peddlers. This is essentially what economic ties are, but this might create a lot of disputes because it will definitely disturb the local economy in your countries, and interest groups relying on local economies will definitely not be happy."

"So, in order to avoid these problems, you can use the platform of ASEAN to decide what products in your nation need to be protected so that they will not be destroyed by outside competition, and the way you protect this important product is by adding a tariff to the price."

President Tamblot had an enlightened expression on his face, but the other kings looked clueless since they had never heard the term before.

'Tariff? What the fuck is that?'

Vijay soon understood the confusion. He stroked his chin in contemplation, thinking about how to explain the concept in as practical a way as possible. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Tariff means, if, let us say, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya is willing to sell a hundred kilograms of iron ore to a local merchant in the Chenla Kingdom at a price of 100 Varaha, then without any change, the local mining industry in the Chenla Kingdom is affected greatly by the trade because the price of iron ore in the Chenla Kingdom may be 120 Varaha. This makes it more cost-effective for the people to buy iron ore imported from the Ayutthaya Kingdom. In such a situation, the demand for locally produced iron ore greatly falls. If no one is willing to purchase the iron ore of their own kingdom anymore, then the whole iron mining industry chain is adversely affected. In order to combat this problem and to give local producers a chance to survive, a tariff could be added. A tariff is a percentage put on the cost of imported goods, increasing its retail price in order to protect local products."

"Taking the above example, let us put a 30% tax on iron ore coming from overseas into the Chenla Kingdom. Now, the local iron ore is bought at 120 Varaha per 100 kilograms, while the foreign iron ore is bought at 130 Varaha. As long as the quality of the iron ore is the same or with there being not too much of a difference, it will not affect the industry of the original market. Instead, it might create a better environment, with the extra competition forcing local business owners to find better ways to stay on top. Additionally, the revenue collected from the 30% tariff will fully go to the governing body of the kingdom, whether it is a dynasty, a council, or a government."

The king's eyes lit up. Everyone loved the last point. They never expected that even without selling anything, by only charging tariffs on imported goods, they could earn so much money. If they had known it before, wouldn't they have become millionaires by now? A lot of kings suddenly became regretful and clicked their tongues in annoyance.

"This is a very good method, Your Majesty," King Narathi Hapate exclaimed.

"I used something similar for the local craftsmen when I was young, but who would have thought it was applicable on such a wide scale," King Sourigna Vongsa lamented.

Vijay was very satisfied with the reaction he was getting.

"The choice for the amount of tariff you place on each other is completely your choice, and the Bharatiya Empire will stay out of it. But since you need assistance in making the decisions, and the assistance should come from a third party who has no direct interests in your tariffs, the Bharatiya Empire, which fulfils all the requirements, is willing to provide you with financial assistance and consultancy."

Nine different men, dressed in traditional Bharatiya attire and wearing white Pagadis, went and sat behind each of the kings and rulers of the nation.

King Narai looked curiously at the thin man who sat behind him and gave a slight nod as a greeting.

Narai did not know what to ask, so he simply stayed silent and waited for the other party to speak up.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness. My name is Ujjwal Malhotra. I am a graduate of the Bharatiya Institute of Technology, business major, as well as a person who has completed internships in both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of External Affairs." Thinking that the man opposite him might not be familiar with these terms, he quickly added, "Basically, I have worked in both the department responsible for the treasury of the whole Bharatiya Empire and also with the department responsible for handling foreign relations."

King Narai's eyebrows were raised. He did not expect that the thin young man, who looked like he would be blown away by the wind, had such a profound background. 'He might be from a noble family.' With this thought, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Tell me, Ujjwal, how do you propose I think about the tariffs?" he asked.

Ujjwal took out a document he was holding in his arm.

"Your Highness, please take a look. This document contains a table with products divided into categories, starting from agricultural staples, marine products, spices and herbs, textiles, processed foods and sugars, crafted goods and metalware, luxury and protected items, and finally, strategic resources."

"Under these categories, products can be added. For example, rice grain in agricultural staples, fish and marine salt in marine products, bronze items and ceramic metal tools in crafted goods and metalware, iron and teak in strategic resources, and so forth."

"Your Highness, all you have to do is consider the ability of your own kingdom and let me know how much tariff you are willing to place on these products in case they are being imported from overseas."

Looking at the table, he understood the concept, so he started to add in the values.

"Um... Sir!"

However, to his surprise, Ujjwal stopped him. He looked at the man with curiosity—what was the problem?

Ujjwal looked a little hesitant, but he still said, "Your Highness, please add higher tariffs. Three to four percent is too little. At least 10% or 15%, so that I can negotiate the most favorable price for the kingdom."

"Do these things still need to be negotiated?" Narai found it unbelievable.

"Of course, Your Highness. Or else, it will be a huge loss for us. These tariff prices cannot be too high or too low. They have to be just right in order to not have a negative impact on the country but instead have an overall positive impact."

Narai nodded his head in understanding.

While all this was happening, Vijay had already left the mansion and arrived at a small house located at the end of the street.

"Long live Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Bharatiya Empire!"

As soon as Vijay arrived, a middle-aged man with typical Asian features knelt down on the ground and gave him the most traditional kowtow.

"Get up, Mr. Zheng Chenggong. We do not have that tradition of kneeling down to greet others. A simple *namaskara* will be enough."

Zheng Chenggong was taken aback. He had never seen a noble or an emperor who rejected others deeply respecting him. This was the first time he had experienced such a thing. However, he was flexible, so he put a wide smile on his face and slowly got up. He then gave Vijay a *namaskara.*

Vijay nodded in satisfaction and sat down. "So tell me, Mr. Zheng, what brings you here?"

He could already guess the general purpose of why Zheng Chenggong was here, but he wanted to hear it from the man himself.

"Your Majesty, due to your might and strength, the Dutch, who had previously occupied Taiwan, could no longer sustain their operations there and evacuated. This slave took this as an opportunity to occupy the island with a few of his men."

"Your Majesty, the whole reason I got this opportunity was because of your magnanimity, so this slave has come to listen to your opinion. Please give me your orders. If you say left, I dare not look at right."

Vijay nodded. It was a little different from what he had expected, but overall, not too different.

He had thought that Zheng had come to him in order to request his support to establish the Kingdom of Taiwan, but it seemed that he had only come for legal support and had already handled all the opposing forces on the island. Then again, thinking about it, it made sense because the man opposite him was not an ordinary man—he was Koxinga, the man who was hailed as the saint for the Taiwanese. He not only beat back the Dutch in his last life but was also the first person who led an independent Taiwan. He was practically considered the ancestor of all Taiwanese.

In this life, due to the Dutch being beaten so badly by the Bharatiya Empire, they no longer had the ability to maintain their trading port and control over Taiwan, which led to this man, who was a loyal general of the Ming cause, occupying the island.

To be continued...