Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Vijay understood the look of unwillingness on Hey Ram’s face, as he had been in similar scenarios in his past life. "Don’t worry, I don’t want you to be directly involved in the project. I just need you to coordinate and hand over the tasks to the capable scientists in your Academy of Military Sciences."

"And as for you both," turning his head to Gambhir and Ramesh Hosaraju, "whether it is in the Academy of Civilian Sciences or the various BIT universities, you have the same task. You are required to utilize your funding to research these machine tools."

"Ramesh Hosaraju, Isn’t it your turn to be the director of all BIT universities across the empire this year, so you will be responsible for coordinating between all the universities and posting the project requirements after dividing the project into multiple sub-projects throughout the university system."

Ramesh clenched his fist secretly, knowing that the task given by His Majesty was both a great opportunity and a significant risk. Since he was fortunate enough to be given this chance, he resolved to do his best to seize it. Vijay, noticing the firm determination in Ramesh’s eyes, felt very satisfied in his heart.

Ramesh Hosaraju is currently the director of BIT Hoysala and also the director of all BIT universities in the empire. The director of all universities is selected based on a circulation system, which depends on the university ranking determined by the student ENEC Examination rankings of the previous batch.

Ramesh Hosaraju had the most students with high rankings in the ENEC examinations, so he is the director of all BIT universities this year.

Looking at the single document in Hey Ram’s hands, which was reluctantly being shared, Vijay suddenly had a look of realization. "Ganesh, get a copy of this document to everyone in the room before daybreak."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Vijay took out a new document and shared it with everyone.

"The next goal is somewhat different from the usual ones."

Hey Ram, upon opening the document, was somewhat taken aback, as he had not expected to find names of different chemicals written on it.

Hey Ram was not alone, as confusion was evident on each and every director’s face.

Vijay noticed this and understood the confusion, as he had never given a task related to alchemy or chemistry before. So, to leave a lasting impression, he took out the prepared glass utensils containing multiple chemicals.

"These first three liquids are acids, and these two are bases."

"The concept can be found in chemistry, and you can gain an understanding by reading the basic book of chemistry of The universities."

The directors nodded in understanding, as they were familiar with the basic concepts of chemistry, even if they were not entirely adept at it.

Vijay pushed aside the three acids to one side and the two bases to the other.

"These three acids were discovered in the 8th century by a Brilliant Iranian Islamic scholar and alchemist named Jabir ibn Hayyan. They are, from left to right: sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄), hydrochloric acid (HCl), also called by Jabir as ’spirits of salt,’ and finally nitric acid (HNO₃)."

"These two liquids on my right are sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)₂). These are some of the new discoveries in the empire."

Hey Ram, Gambhir, Ramesh, Badradri Ramanujan, and Raghavendra Bhatt all nodded their heads, as they were familiar with these chemicals since they are not something new.

Vijay pushed the chemicals to the front and leaned forward. Seeing his actions, everyone’s attention heightened as they knew important information was coming. "All these chemicals are ones we have either known for a long time or have recently discovered."

"My order is for everyone to work together to find a method to mass-produce these chemicals on an industrial scale."

Everyone was shocked, as they did not expect this requirement. It was not that it was hard; it was just that the Bharatiya Empire had never done such a thing before, so they did not even know how to gauge the difficulty, much less start the research.

Gambhir hesitantly stepped forward to request, "Your Majesty, we do not have experience in this matter. Could you please extend the time?"

Unfortunately, Vijay was not happy with the request. "No, it is not possible. These chemicals should be able to attain mass producibility by the end of the year."

Everyone’s expressions immediately became stiff, as they were clueless about how to proceed.

Fortunately, Vijay was not too unreasonable. "Don’t worry, I’m not asking your mechanical and physical scientists to work on this project. Those scientists can continue working on the machine tools and I’m not asking you to bother them. All I’m asking is for the chemical scientists of the empire to work together to figure out how to solve this issue."

"Also, you are not entirely without a clue," There was a slight glint in his eyes. "Don’t you know that we already have a ready-made example of how chemicals could be mass-produced right in our empire?"

Everyone, including the minister who was silently listening to the conversation, was taken aback. No matter how much they thought, they could not recall any company responsible for mass-producing chemicals. The closest thing they knew was the mass production of dyes for textiles, which are entirely different from pure chemicals.

In the end, they were left looking at each other’s faces, wondering if anyone knew something they did not. Knowing that the inquiry was futile, Hey Ram came forward to represent everyone’s doubts. "Could you point out this company, Your Majesty?"

"Haha, it’s not a company, but don’t you remember that our empire mass-produces medical drugs like morphine and penicillin? These two drugs could also be considered chemicals, so there should be some similarities between the mass production of these drugs and the mass production of the chemicals I mentioned before. Starting from this angle should yield results more quickly."

Everyone was enlightened. It was as if a thin layer of window paper had been pierced open by a single suggestion from His Majesty. The confidence of the directors increased somewhat, and they were willing to believe that the goal could be achieved.

Although the percentage of scientists proficient in chemistry is less than 5%, centralizing the chemical scientists from all the universities and institutes should enable them to complete the task. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

With his suggestion, Vijay knew that all the directors, even though not entirely sure, had some level of confidence to get the project started.

It should be noted that, unlike the directors, Vijay was 100% confident that the project would be successful. This was because, unlike the steam engine, which is not immediately needed and with which he refused to interfere, the chemical industry is immediately required. Therefore, he was willing to help the scientists find the right path with his knowledge seed Transmission.

Having assigned the goals to the directors of various educational institutions, Vijay turned his attention to the Minister of Education.

"Raghavendra, your task is to supervise and organize the research and development process. You’ll need to coordinate resources between the different project groups across the Academy of Sciences, various BIT universities, and their projects throughout the empire."

"Additionally, Raghavendra, you will coordinate with both medical professionals and chemical scientists across the empire. Make sure that you do not treat any project group preferentially, since the number of medical professionals is limited. Another important part of your role is to protect the intellectual property rights of everyone involved in the project."

"Your job is crucial to the entire R&D process. If you have any doubts, you can consult with Jagannath Mohan. He handled similar tasks when overseeing the conversion of military technology to civilian use and worked with algorithm scientists to develop an algorithm. See if you can adapt that for your needs."

Raghavendra felt a lot of pressure, as he had never taken on such a large responsibility. Even being the Minister of Education had not been as stressful. However, he knew that His Majesty was giving him a lot of power, so he strengthened his determination to not let His Majesty down. "Leave it to me, Your Majesty. I will not fail."

Finally, Vijay turned his attention towards Badradri Ramanujan. "Badradri, there aren’t many scientists under your command to participate in these projects, but this large-scale R&D project is a great opportunity for you to scout talent for the Nalanda Institute."

"Additionally, there will be many new discoveries during the completion of the projects, and there will likely be even more unanswered questions. See if these questions provide you with some inspiration."

Badradri was most thankful that he wasn’t given any research tasks, as he honestly did not know much about anything beyond numbers and theoretical physics concepts. Although the task His Majesty assigned him, finding talent for the institute, was still a little troublesome, it was not entirely unacceptable.

"Clap!"

Vijay stood up. "And that is it, gentlemen. Get to your duties."

P.S. I’ll start farming next I think