Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

20th January 1659

Bharatiya Sansad (Parliament), Imperial Capital Bengaluru, Akhand Bharatiya Empire

"No matter how you look at it, the way to solve the labour surplus is by temporarily using manual labour for farming instead of large-scale harvesters. I mean, just imagine how much strain it would immediately reduce on the public sector after so many unemployed migrants disappear from the streets," a Cabinet Minister from the Conservative Radical camp proposed.

"That’s right."

"The solution is so obvious. Why don’t we just propose this to His Majesty so that it can be implemented?"

All the ministers in the Conservative Radical camp raised their hands in agreement and clamoured to pass the bill.

However, the voice of disagreement was not absent.

"No, how could you revert to such a backward system after we have grown past it with great difficulty?"

The Cabinet Minister from the Liberal side directly refuted.

"Instead of undoing His Majesty’s hard work, wouldn’t it be better to start a few large-scale public infrastructure projects? Our finances have been doing well recently. By initiating some infrastructure projects, the labour should be absorbed without causing much trouble."

The Cabinet Minister’s words echoed through the Parliament Hall as many people fell into deep thought.

"Technically, it could work, but the problem is gauging the extent," a stout minister murmured, rubbing his chin.

A grey-haired minister sitting next to him nodded in agreement. "I think so too..." However, he soon noticed something amiss. "But the problem is, the backbone road infrastructure network in the southern part of the empire has already been completed. Even the water conservancy projects are mostly finished, including renovations of the older water conservation facilities. With all this done, what large-scale infrastructure projects could still be undertaken in the southern part of the empire, large enough to employ at least 5,000,000 people?"

The sounds of conversation immediately stopped and the atmosphere immediately turned depressing. The remarks from a minister who had previously worked in the Ministry of Communication only deepened the disappointment. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"We could technically improve the coverage of the Arkha Drishti communication channels, but even that wouldn’t absorb so much of the labour force."

Vinod, seated at the front of the parliament, couldn’t help but feel a headache. He and his cabinet had been deliberating on this issue of excessive labour coming in from the north for the last few days, and all they had gained from these discussions was a barely feasible solution that might alleviate the problem temporarily but offered nothing permanent.

His expression was downcast, and his spirit seemed a bit weary, but there was little he could do. As Prime Minister of the empire, stress and exhaustion were prerequisites of the job.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, you have a summons from His Majesty."

Suddenly, an unexpected message arrived, and Vinod’s eyes lit up as he immediately guessed that His Majesty might have found a solution.

Vinod eagerly stood up. "Attention, everyone. I’m going to meet with His Majesty to discuss this issue directly, so until then, the meeting is adjourned," he said, turning and leaving.

Jagannath Mohan and Nirmal, who were in their offices; Dharmendra, who was reviewing accounts; Karunanidhi, who was inspecting a map; Sanjeev Bansari, who was intrigued; and Chaitanya, who was overwhelmed—all were summoned by His Majesty, just like Vinod.

---

Ganesh politely invited all the guests into the conference room of the Simhasana Bhavana.

Most of the guests invited were regular visitors, so they showed little reaction; however, Karunanidhi, Sanjeev Bansari, and Chaitanya were new visitors, and all three looked around with intrigue and curiosity.

Vijay was waiting for them in the conference room.

"Long live Your Majesty! Long live, long live!"

They all immediately greeted Vijay with a respectful attitude.

Vijay gestured for them to sit down and directly stated his purpose for summoning them.

"For those of you in governance, you are well aware of the current troubles of the Bharatiya Empire."

The ministers nodded in acknowledgement, while the scientists and intellectuals looked clueless.

Karunanidhi, Sanjeev Bansari, and Chaitanya exchanged doubtful glances, their faces reflecting their confusion. ’Current troubles of the Bharatiya Empire? Isn’t everything going well? What could have happened?’ thought Sanjeev Bansari, the expert in fluid mechanics whom Vijay had invited, with a puzzled expression.

Fortunately, the doubt didn’t last long, as Vijay soon began to explain.

"Unfortunately for all of us, the problem is more severe than we imagined." Vijay’s expression was dignified and stern. "I have just received a report that the total number of migrants we have received has already reached 9 million people, and the rate at which people are arriving is only increasing at an incredible pace."

"According to the predictions of my research and analysis wing, by February we can expect nearly 13 million migrants, by March 16 million, and by April 20 million. This number will likely continue to rise."

"Gasp!" Everyone were immediatly shocked, the intellectuals sucked in a breath of cold air. Even though they did not fully understand the workings of society in practice, they could still tell that this was not a good thing.

"What! So serious?"

Exclamations immediately rang out within the conference room, as the numbers mentioned by His Majesty were a bit too much for even the ministers imagination.

Even Vinod, who had tried to overestimate the trouble as much as possible, couldn’t help but feel a chill down his spine. What was the concept of 20 million migrants? It was nearly half of their southern population.

*Shiver*

Vinod was jolted from his thoughts. His face immediately became worried. "Do we have a solution for this, Your Majesty?" He asked, as he, along with everyone else in the conference room, stared at Vijay with anticipation.

Fortunately, they were not let down. Vijay nodded his head, "I do have a solution, or to be precise, two different solutions to solve this problem for at least a few years."

Everyone felt as if the invisible pressure they had been feeling was suddenly lifted, and they heaved a sigh of relief.

Vijay looked at Jagannath Mohan and asked, "Before I tell you all about my plan, Jagannath, how are our finances doing?"

Jagannath answered without much thought, "We are doing extremely well, Your Majesty. Our treasury is in a very healthy state."

"Give me a breakdown," Vijay asked.

"For sure, Your Majesty," Jagannath Mohan replied, picking up his notebook.

"Starting from the financial year 1649 to 1650, the year Your Majesty took the throne, the finances or the amount of money in the Treasury amounted to over 40 tons of gold. This amount has been increasing drastically year by year. It went from 40 tons to 43.3, then to 47, 51, 79, 82, 96, and finally, with the arrival of industry, we broke through the 100-ton mark and reached an annual GDP of 160 tons in the last financial year, 1657 to 1658. Now, in this financial year, 1658 to 59, we are looking at an annual turnover of at least 240 tons. For the financial year 1659 to 1660, although we are not able to estimate accurately due to the many variables presented by the integration, if things remain unchanged, we can easily reach a GDP of 350 tons or more."

Vijay was very satisfied with the empire’s growth so far. "Putting aside the money allocated to the Navy and normal expenses of the empire, how much could be used on large-scale infrastructure if I wish to start a project or two?" Vijay asked while leaning back in his chair.

Jagannath Mohan quickly flipped through his book, made some calculations by hand, and replied, "The empire can afford to spend 26 tons of gold, or 1,070,588,235 Varaha, Your Majesty."

’A little less than expected, but this should do for the first year,’ Vijay thought.

"Alright then. Here’s the plan."

"I have two different infrastructure projects to alleviate the influx of migrant workers from the north."

Vijay took out a rough sketch he had made of the southern part of the empire with a perpendicular line cutting through the region from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal.

"The first project, called the Great Tri Nadhi Canal Project, is to construct a canal connecting the three rivers of Bharathappuzha, Kavari, and Kollidam, cutting through the states of Cheranadu and Cholapuri. This project is mainly aimed at connecting the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal."

The project idea immediately shocked everyone present in the room; however, not many could see the utility of this canal.

"Your Majesty, although by excavating this canal we can indeed solve the urgent excessive labour problem, is this canal useful?" Vinod directly voiced his doubts.

"That’s a good question."

Vijay nodded his head without taking any offence. "There are many uses," he said, as he went on to point out the advantages with the help of the map. "First, just in terms of logistics alone, we can save nearly 1,750 kilometres off the travel distance for naval vessels travelling from the East Coast to the West Coast and vice versa, which was previously wasted circling around the island of Anuradha Puri. This would permanently resolve the debate about whether to break down the Ram Sethu to make transportation more convenient. Additionally, the water problems shared between the Vijayanagar state and Cholapuri state can be greatly alleviated, and not only that," Vijay looked at the Minister of Transportation, Nirmal, and went on to draw a few branching lines from the central city of Coimbatore, like a branching spider web.

Nirmal paid extra attention to the sketching of his majesty

To be Continued...