Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

15th August 1660

Simhasana Bhavana, Imperial Capital, Bengaluru.

Chief Secretary of the Emperor's office, Ganesh, stood respectfully in front of Vijay, handing over all the documents and bills that had been accumulated over his absence.

Today was Warriors' Day in the Bharatiya Empire, but there were some matters that were best completed as soon as possible. So, despite the constant commotion of celebration throughout the capital city and major cities all over the empire, Vijay was stuck in his office, signing away at important documents like nobility legalization, promotions, and other crucial matters that only he could handle.

A few minutes later, Vijay finally let out a sigh of relief and closed the last document.

"Ganesh, is there anything else?" he asked, looking a little drained,

Ganesh wanted to say no, looking at the tired expression on His Majesty's face, but unfortunately, he knew that it was better for him to do his job properly rather than cater to the emotions of His Majesty, which would very likely backfire on him. So, he quickly nodded and mentioned in a very low voice, "Your Majesty, we have received an intelligence report from the Tsarist Russian Empire, which is a little unusual."

"Huh!" Vijay was a little disappointed when Ganesh nodded his head, as he was already emotionally tired from carefully going through hundreds of documents in the span of a few minutes and signing them. But once he realized that the matter was about the Tsarist Russian Empire, he became serious—this concerned his long-term plan for the Ottoman Empire.

Leaning forward, his face immediately losing the tiredness from before and becoming sombre and alert as he sat on the edge of his seat, he asked, "What is it?". He wasn't going to ignore any news related to his overall layout.

Ganesh did not hesitate and replied, "Your Majesty, the Russian Empire suddenly slowed down their war preparations, and what is more, the way it has slowed down is very unusual. The slowdown is not because of any orders from Emperor Alexis I, but it seems like a few traditional nobles who were previously in low ranks were suddenly promoted to higher ranks in the military on the front lines, leading them to make constant mistakes due to inexperience."

Vijay was momentarily taken aback. He was not surprised that the Russians slowed down their military mobilization for their war against the Ottoman Empire since it was actually him who asked Alexis I to do so. In order to make the Ottoman Empire spend more resources on their southern front by participating in the proxy war with the Bharatiya Empire within Safavid, he couldn't think of a better solution. However, he did not expect that Alexis would take this route. Neither in history nor in the present did he think Alexis was capable of such a thing, which left him confused. He naturally understood the aim of the Russians—it was nothing more than finding a scapegoat to wipe out the rust the bear had accumulated. It was a very smart decision, but because of this, Vijay was doubtful, as he didn't feel like this idea came from Alexis.

Thinking more about it, the figure of a young man immediately appeared in his mind. 'If it is that guy, then it is definitely possible,' he thought with a smile on the corner of his lips.

"Don't worry about this. Let Alexis do whatever he wants," Vijay replied. Since Ganesh brought up the matter of the Russians, Vijay immediately remembered something else.

"The Republic of Venice—what are they up to currently?"

Ganesh took a moment to recall and then reported

"Your Majesty, the Venetians have fully mobilized their naval capabilities to launch constant attacks on the Ottoman slave trading vessels. Due to the cheap warships they are buying from us, their naval power has already expanded to a size not less than the Holy Roman Empire's Navy. Additionally, due to the naval deterrence they have now acquired, their actions to annex small city-states and their efforts to mobilize their army on a full scale have mostly been overlooked by a lot of European countries. The best the Europeans did was to support the large Italian city-states and principalities."

"The Venetians are completely utilizing our propaganda tactic, where news is constantly bombarded into the mainland of Italy, fantasizing about a unified Italian nation dominating the Mediterranean region once again. Additionally, they have started to slowly sign treaties and deals with many Italian city-states to use port cities to dock their military vessels and commercial ships. Publicly, it was said that its purpose was to expand trade and strengthen ties between Italian city-states, but internally, from the news we have acquired, a lot of Italian businessmen have already been compromised, and they are starting to put pressure on their local governments to open up smoother trade channels to the Republic of Venice."

"Businessmen, not nobles?" Vijay asked, a little doubtful.

"Yes, Your Majesty. It is commoner businessmen with a lot of wealth in their hands. At first, the Venetians started to appease the nobles and manipulate them to do the republic's bidding, but down the line, roughly a few months ago, they seem to have figured out that the nobility could never fit into the unified Italian nation that they seem to want to build. After that, they seem to have realized that the local capitalists, although they do not have a lot of political power in their hands, have a lot of wealth, which could immediately turn into actual hard power."

Remembering something else, he quickly added,

"There is even intel that a few training camps have been secretly formed in order to train local mercenary forces to do the bidding of the Republic of Venice by utilizing the resources from the capitalists."

"Overall, the general verdict from the Research and analysis wing is that the whole Italian peninsula is a giant powder keg that is being constantly compressed. Although on the outside, since the Venetians stopped contacting the nobilities, everything looks very calm, internally, undercurrents are slowly building up, only to explode at the right moment."

Vijay's eyes brightened. At first, when he chose to ally with the Venetians, he was worried whether the corrupt capitalist nobility of Venice would be reliable. Now, with hindsight, he couldn't have made a better choice. People say that at the end of a lamp, it burns its brightest, maybe he had found this precise span of time where Venice had the best of people but the worst of conditions and resolutely allied with it.

Vijay was very satisfied with the situation. In this way, the Ottoman Empire would feel that the war with the Russian Empire was still a little far away and would focus more on the southern war they were fighting with the slaves. And with the Venetians constantly launching skirmishes with their naval ships, the price at which slaves were obtained was also being increased.

But the increase was not too drastic for them to completely change the strategy of constantly burning money to wage the war, it was just the right amount. It was like the Chinese saying—boiling the frog in warm water; the frog does not know until the last moment of its death how it died.

Additionally, to make it more convenient, if Vijay could infiltrate local tribes, city-states, and kingdoms in Central Africa and make them more resistant to the Ottoman plundering of their people, then the price paid by the Ottoman Empire for the slaves would be even higher.

The resources spent on the southern battlefield would only continue to increase, and if Vijay successfully made the Ottomans spend more resources than necessary, then when the war against the Ottoman Empire actually started, he could gain a huge advantage.

An Ottoman Empire besieged by land from the north, by the navy from the northwest, by land from the southeast and southwest, and by the navy in the south—fighting a defensive battle on five different fronts—was bound to be critically wounded, rendering it unable to rise for a long, long time.

What's more, taking this opportunity, if Vijay supported the Balkan countries in gaining independence by allying with the Russian Empire, then the mighty Ottoman Empire, the hegemon of the Mediterranean, would be no more.

A smile uncontrollably spread on Vijay's face.

---

The idol of Lord Ram is half completed. His tall stature, even though it consists only of two legs and an abdomen, is still very magnificent and regal.

It stands tall and mighty at the end of Parliament Road, the very road where the march is bound to take place for Warriors' Day. In front of the idol, a large crowd has gathered on both sides of the road. The seats were not enough for everyone, so temporary seating arrangements were made. No matter who the people were, as soon as they entered Parliament Road, their attention was caught by the pitch-black statue of the Half Man standing prominently at the end of the road.

People were constantly explaining to the curious guests about the idol, since with the march not yet starting, the only topic of conversation was the giant statue of the 50-foot Halfman at the end of Parliament Rd.

"The idol is not being built using cement or concrete because their lifespan is barely 40 to 50 years, which is not suitable for constructing monuments meant to last at least 1,000 years," a guide started to explain to the curious children of the capital high school.

"This idol can last more than 1,000 years?" a curious little kid asked, his mouth wide open and his eyes like saucers.

"Haha, yes, that's the plan. So the material used to build the statue of lord Ram is hard basalt rock. The options were between basalt, granite, or marble, but after thorough consideration, marble was ruled out because it was prone to staining and weathering. Granite was also eliminated because, despite having the same durability as basalt rock, its workability was harder. Finally, basalt rock was chosen because it is a very dense volcanic rock that can withstand high-intensity weather changes, resist corrosion, and is highly durable. Moreover, basalt rock has traditionally been used in making idols for temples, making it even more suitable."

The guide looked towards the curious children, who were constantly nodding, and asked them, "In every Shiva temple, don't you guys see the idol of Nandi?"

The kids nodded.

"It is made of basalt rock."

The kids had a look of realisation,

"For the statue of Lord Ram, which is meant to be over 100 meters tall, basalt rock quarried from various sites across the empire was brought to the capital and assembled slowly. The stones were cut into interlocking shapes so that, even without any binding, they would fit snugly and last for at least 1,000 years. Additionally, in case binding material was required, the best quality lime mortar, mixed with volcanic ash imported from Pompeii, was used to make it more resistant. Furthermore, since the mortar is within the structure and not exposed to external elements, its resistance to corrosion is also increased."

The guide looked at the kids with some interest, " Do you guys want to know another interesting feature of the idol? "

"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire

"The idol is built in such a way that in the future, it could be made earthquake-resistant."

"What? How is that possible?"

"We clearly read in our textbooks that earthquakes are waves sent through the ground that cause vibrations on the surface, and no rigid structure could withstand this violent vibration. Mr Guide, are you lying to us?" a girl who looked very smart asked the question, looking at the middle-aged man suspiciously.

"Haha, I'm really not lying to you. Although the statue is currently not earthquake-resistant, it is being built in such a way that in the future, if technology improves to make earthquake-resistant buildings, then this idol of Lord Ram could be made earthquake-resistant. In a way, this idol is already earthquake-ready."

"Ohh..."

In fact, Vijay wanted the statue to have some level of earthquake resistance, but he was not being unreasonable. He knew that technology had not progressed to the point where he could make hundred-meter statues earthquake-resistant. Given that no major earthquake had occurred in Bangalore for a long time and it was highly unlikely to happen in the future, he built the statue on top of a chamber with 101 pillars. In the future, when technology permits, these pillars can easily be replaced with dampening elements so that the statue will not be damaged by earthquakes.

In the meantime, Vijay smiled as he personally met with the important foreign guests he had invited. This time, a lot of Dukes and Archdukes had arrived from Europe. The most notable was naturally Archduke Peter, who had returned to the Bharatiya Empire after a few years.

Additionally, Dukes from Spain and Portugal had shown up. Surprisingly enough, he also saw the arrival of Friedrich William of Prussia-Brandenburg.

Vijay was not expecting to see him here. If anything happened to William, then the whole history of the German people was bound to change, since this was the man who laid the foundation for the Prussian state, which later unified the German region and built the Second United German nation, turning it into a world superpower in one go.

Additionally, he saw the Crown Princess of the Persian Kingdom, Roxana Athashban, the King of the Lalishtan Kingdom, Ezidi Serwan, the Sultan of the Afrar Dynasty, Khalid ibn Umar al-Mahri, and even the Imam of Qasimid, Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il.

He was very happy that all the collaborators and allies of the Bharatiya Empire had come to the Warriors' Day event.

Vijay had also wanted to invite the Southeast Asian kings and bring them with him, but unfortunately, he knew that this year he would have to skip inviting them since they would all be busy setting up the institutions and organizations for opening up trade throughout Southeast Asia.

Finally, with a loud and rhythmic drum sound, the march began.