Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Vijay thought about it for a while. In fact, until a few days ago, before he had received the message from within the Qing Dynasty, he did not have any interest in participating or meddling in the internal affairs of the Chinese Empire and its internal struggles. But after reading the letter, he felt that he was being too conservative. He realized that he could do many things to ensure that he had no border with the orthodox Chinese Empire at all, and now, meeting with Zheng Chenggong gave him another idea.

Looking at the eager general in front of him, he slowly nodded his head.

"The Bharatiya Empire has no opinion of you taking over the island of Taiwan since we do not have any interests there," Vijay directly stated without beating around the bush.

Zheng Chenggong was immediately overjoyed. What he was worried about the most was whether the Bharatiya Empire would take an interest in Taiwan. Even though he was pretty confident in himself and was very sure he could get the Dutch out of the island even without the involvement of the Bharatiya Empire, he couldn't be too sure about the Bharatiya Empire. Unlike the Dutch, who had to travel around the world to reach his island, the Bharatiya Empire, in relative terms, could be considered a neighbour.

And having conflicts with neighbours of such power and might, enough to challenge even the Ming Empire in its heyday, was not something he wanted to do. The worst he was willing to accept was to reach some sort of an arrangement where he could govern the island on behalf of the Bharatiya Empire and pay a certain amount of tax every year. Thankfully, it looked like the emperor of the Bharatiya Empire truly had no interest in the island of Taiwan. A smile uncontrollably spread on his face. But, it was not for long.

Vijay suddenly added without any expression, "However...!"

"It is undeniable that the only reason you were able to occupy the island of Taiwan is that the Dutch evacuated it due to my empire, leaving a power vacuum that you seized. Even if the Bharatiya Empire has no interest in conquering the island, I have some conditions that I want you to fulfil."

Zheng Chenggong's expression immediately stiffened. 'Of course, things wouldn't be so easy. Where has your shrewdness gone?' He scolded himself for getting too excited too soon. But who could blame him? Just a month or two ago, even his life and death were uncertain as he was relentlessly pursued by the Qing watchdog. Yet now, he was sitting right in front of the Emperor of the Bharatiya Empire, discussing the possibility of ruling Taiwan as its king. Who could bear this?

"Please speak, Your Majesty. No matter what it is, I will try my best to fulfil your conditions."

Vijay was satisfied by the reply, so he went on to explain,

"Number one, I can allow you to establish a kingdom, but the Bharatiya Empire should get preferential trade rights, meaning the tariff imposed on goods and services imported from the Bharatiya Empire should be less than what Southeast Asian nations impose on the Bharatiya Empire."

Zheng immediately fell into deep thought. He did not immediately understand what His Majesty meant, but after some explanation, he realized that the tariff was similar to *guānshuì*, the tax collected by various Chinese empires on imported and exported goods. As for the tax rates, since they were similar to or lower than those imposed on Southeast Asian nations, he felt it was a little troublesome, but—

He considered the matter for a moment. Although the tariff would be very low and Taiwan would quickly become dependent on the Bharatiya Empire for even its basic products, he still agreed in principle. This was far better than the Bharatiya Empire demanding a percentage of the tax.

"It is acceptable, Your Majesty. I agree to this condition," he stated bravely, but suddenly, he became a little hesitant. "Uh.., Your Majesty, will goods and services from Taiwan be allowed to be exported to the Bharatiya Empire?"

Vijay didn't think about it for too long. "Yes, definitely, and the tariffs will not be too different from other Southeast Asian countries."

Zheng let out a sigh of relief. He felt a bit more comfortable now because, even though much of Taiwan's economy would be controlled by the Bharatiya Empire, he could still carve out a niche for himself by using the massive market of the Bharatiya Empire.

Vijay smiled; he liked how quickly Zheng figured out a way to remain autonomous and have at least a bit of say, but he continued to put forward his conditions.

"Number two, the diplomatic relations of your country with the Qing Dynasty will be monitored by the Bharatiya Empire." He looked at Zheng with interest, wanting to see how he would react.

Zheng Chenggong was shocked. 'Is this killing with a borrowed knife?' he thought. He never expected the man sitting opposite him to be so scheming. 'Does he want to make me offend the Qing Dynasty, making it impossible for Taiwan to reunify with the mainland?' He was horrified to realize this truth, but it only took him a few moments to recognize that he never had a chance to begin with. Even if Vijay did not put forward this condition, the relationship between Taiwan and Qing would be anything but cordial—not to mention that he hated the Qing Dynasty to its core.

"This condition is acceptable as well, Your Majesty," he replied, looking determined.

Vijay was taken aback, as he had not expected the man opposite him to agree so readily.

"Number three, the Bharatiya Empire will build one of its military bases in the kingdom in case you require military assistance."

Zheng Chenggong smiled bitterly. "Alright, Your Majesty, this is acceptable too."

Vijay clapped his hands and stood up. "In that case, I have no more requirements. Let us have a happy cooperation, Mr. Zheng." He did a *namaskara.*

"Thank you, Your Majesty, and yes, happy cooperation." Although the talk had gone very differently than he had expected, in the end, he still got to keep most of his autonomy.

Zheng Chenggong left the room, but Vijay still had a smile on his face. He had originally wanted to ask for a naval base to be built in Taiwan, but upon further consideration, he realized that he did not necessarily have to place it directly on the island—he could simply build it on the islands in its close vicinity.

In this way, not only would it make Zheng Chengjiang less wary, but it would also lower the dissatisfaction of the Taiwanese.

In his last life, many people were not aware that a sizeable navy of the United States of America had established a base smack dab in the middle of the Indian Ocean. In theory, nothing was wrong with it since the island of Chagos was not within India's naval territory, but anyone with a little common sense could understand that this was a move by the United States to control and project its power into the Indian Ocean.

It was precisely because it was located on an island farther from the mainland that it didn't cause any outrage. However, if the military base had been located on the mainland, it would have been seen as a threat and a challenge to national security and sovereignty—similar to when the Maldives expelled the so-called Indian Army from their homeland.

So the islands were the best choice. Even for the military base where troops would be stationed, he was thinking of using Green Island, which is only around 30 kilometres off the coast of Taiwan.

As for the naval bases, he was not worried since Taiwan had no say in all the surrounding islands.

He thought of establishing two different naval bases—one at the southernmost tip of Taiwan and one at the northernmost tip, both facing the Pacific Ocean.

For the southernmost base, he chose to use the Orchid Islands, an autonomous island where the Tao people had lived for hundreds of years. If he remembered correctly, this island and its people had not come under any rule until the 19th century, when Imperial Japan took over Taiwan and its surrounding islands.

As for the island at the northern tip, he thought of Yonaguni Island of the Ryukyu Kingdom. This island is located in the southernmost and westernmost region of the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was later annexed by Imperial Japan and became Okinawa Prefecture. Yonaguni Island has high strategic value, but it had not been valued too much by the Ryukyu Kingdom, so Vijay thought it should be possible to buy it from them.

In this way, not only would the Bharatiya Empire have a way to exert its influence over Taiwan and the mainland, but also over Japan and the Philippines.

These two islands could be the first naval bases of the Bharatiya Empire's Pacific Fleet.

---

Moments later, Vijay returned to the mansion. Upon entering, he was shocked to see all the Southeast Asian kings sitting there quietly like teenage boys, their faces filled with absolute shock and ecstasy, as if a beautiful woman in front of them dropped her purse and accidentally exposed her assets.

"Impossible! Lowering the tariff to 10% is absolutely impossible! The most we can do is 30%!"

"No, no, that's too much! Alright, let's make some concessions—15%. How about it?"

"25%! That's my last offer. It cannot be any lower than this, or else thousands of jobs will be lost, and the economic loss will be massive!"

In this way, the people from the Bharatiya Empire, as if their lives depended on it, negotiated tariffs on behalf of the Southeast Asian kings.

King Narai, sitting at the corner of the room, could not help but grin from ear to ear. Looking at the thin man, Ujjwal Malhotra, sitting as if he had not just rubbed his opponent into the ground and pulled him all over the floor, King Narai couldn't help but look at him in awe and respect.

To Be Continued...