Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

15th September 1657

Akhand Bharatiya Empire, Imperial Capital-Bengaluru, Simhasana Bhavana

Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar personally sent off the Spanish diplomat Pedro Santiago at the port with a smile on his face.

Technically speaking, Jaishankar should have been the one to deal with the backlash from the Spanish ambassador Pedro Santiago instead of His Majesty. But things could not always go according to plan; since the matter of Philippines’ independence from Spain was too significant and Jaishankar was still inexperienced, he could not immediately take over the nation’s biggest diplomatic task.

As a result, Ganesh had to lead the Spanish ambassador directly to His Majesty.

Jaishankar felt ashamed and upset after he learned about the diplomatic ordeal. He was saddened that he could not take on the burden of his nation, a burden he had vowed to bear.

Ever since Jaishankar was selected as the Minister of External Affairs by His Majesty, He had been cooped up in the Special Economic Zone, constantly absorbing knowledge about all the European countries the empire had come into contact with.

Given that the Special Economic Zone attracts Europeans from various countries, it was the perfect place for Jaishankar to learn about the behaviour and habits of the Europeans.

Not only that but while he was continually preparing himself for his role as the Minister of External Affairs of the Bharatiya Empire, he also had to train a dozen or more diplomats capable of heading embassies in European countries that had diplomatic relations with the Bharatiya Empire.

Hence, his task was not easy, to say the least, and the only guidance he had were ancient Bharatiya books written in the Vedic age about diplomacy and his own experience as a diplomat between different states in the empire.

After sending off Pedro Santiago, Jaishankar put on an absolutely determined expression and immediately took the next boat to Thiruvananthapuram, The current School of all the diplomats of the Bharatiya Empire.

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Vijay is in a pleasant mood lately. Getting rid of the Spanish from the Philippines went unexpectedly well, and the economic ties between the Philippine archipelago and the Bharatiya Empire are increasing day by day. It hasn’t even been a week since the war ended, and there have already been 20 to 30 medium-scale merchant ships carrying nearly 15,000 tons of cargo between the two nations.

Vijay is looking forward to seeing how things will turn out for the Philippine people, as he is still not sure what the Sulu King Sultan Harun al-Rashid and Resistance leader Tamblot will choose. The future of the Philippines is bound to be determined by these two men.

While Vijay awaits their decision, he is also pleased to see significant progress in the empire’s own integration efforts. Considerable progress has been made in developing the northern parts of the subcontinent. Currently, more than 5,000 kilometres of road have been added to the empire’s backbone road infrastructure network.

Cities are being connected every week, and public infrastructure like police stations, schools, courts, post offices, communication towers, and colleges have been popping up regularly. At the speed at which things were going, by the end of the year, the economies of the southern and northern parts of the empire could finally be connected, bringing unprecedented unity.

Moreover, Vijay recently received more promising news: Roshan, Director of Bharatiya External Pragya, is ready to infiltrate the Safavid Empire. Having trained 400 intelligence agents to operate in Persia, Roshan’s mission is set to begin soon, adding another layer of strength to the empire’s strategic goals.

But perhaps the most exciting news of all is the dramatic rise in trade with Europe. At the beginning of the year, gross income was hovering around 40 million Varaha per month; now, nine months later, it has risen to 60 million Varaha per month.

For context, at the beginning of the year, the Bharatiya Empire was earning 1.3 tons of gold per month from exports, which is around 16 tons of gold per year. Now, it has risen to 2.04 tons of gold per month, meaning yearly European exports to the nation contribute 24.48 tons of gold.

This is a staggering number, considering that in the year 1655, the total GDP of the nation was only around 80 tons of gold. This means that if the numbers generated by exports were to be considered in 1655, then 30.6% of the nation’s gross domestic product would be contributed by foreign trade and exports alone.

Although the GDP of the year 1657 is bound to be nowhere close to the GDP of 1655, it still goes to show how immensely foreign exports have contributed to the empire’s economy.

Considering that all of this has been achieved by utilizing only the resources of half of the empire, Vijay couldn’t help but get goosebumps thinking about what fully integrating the empire would accomplish.

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Vijay felt that he should bring awareness to the people about everything happening in the empire, so he finally decided to start a newspaper company. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Until now, the Bharatiya Empire has had no local newspaper companies. While there isn’t a specific law outright banning citizens from starting a newspaper, there are existing regulations that effectively hinder such ventures.

To put it simply, the Bharatiya Empire has a law stating that a media company focused on information dissemination (i.e., newspapers and other news media) is not allowed to have multiple shareholders, and the whole company must be owned by a single owner. In other words, it has to be a sole proprietorship.

Vijay implemented this rule when he established the Ministry of Communication. There are several reasons why he made this decision. First, it would be easier to hold the media company accountable if there weren’t too many people shirking responsibility.

Second, it would be harder for political figures to influence the general populace through these news media companies, as Vijay set up strict anti-monopoly laws on news media. This ensures there are always multiple news media companies in a state, making it very unlikely for politicians to fully control all of them.

Third, although it is a stretch, implementing single ownership could significantly reduce the chances of foreign interference in internal affairs.

Overall, Vijay’s final goal was to ensure the independence of media companies as the most important objective.

However, all these advantages were not without disadvantages. Aside from the limited scalability and heavy liabilities that fall on the business owner, the significant funding requirements alone would put off many people.

With the rules Vijay had set up, only the top business families in the empire could afford to start a media company. But the problem with these big companies and business families is that they are, like all other business families, rigid in their thinking. For example, the famous Bakshi family, known for their work in the textile industry, could certainly set up a media company. But why would Mr.

Arjan Bakshi or his daughter, Latha Bai, set up a media company they are not familiar with, which costs a lot of money and carries very high liability to the owner? It simply does not make sense.

Adding to the fact that the Portuguese who brought newspapers to India hadn’t been in India for long also explains why newspapers are not very familiar to the normal Bharatiya Citizen.

The same reasoning applies to other wealthy businessmen or families. For example, why would Mr Bhupathi leave his medical industry to suddenly enter the media sector? Why would the Shetty family abandon their family business to venture into media? Or why would the Kalyan family shift their focus from the thriving infrastructure contracting industry to the unfamiliar media industry?

There are many such examples. In almost all cases, the reason for not considering establishing a media company is quite simple: unfamiliarity, high risk, and significant funding requirements for scalability.

Vijay, having some time on his hands, decided to start the newspaper company himself. He realized that if he did not take the initiative, it would take a very long time for someone else to do it.

The first step was finding a professional to run the newspaper company. Unlike other commercial companies, this company would be managed not by a manager but by an editor, Which would require him to find someone with a very specific skill set.

While others might have struggled to find such a person, Vijay, being an emperor, knew just the department that would have individuals with the skills he needed.

"Ganesh, summon the Director of Bhartiya Internal Pragya, Selvan."

Ganesh nodded and left. Fortunately, Selvan happened to be in the capital, so when he received the summons, he did not take long to arrive at the Simhasana Bhavana.

"You called, Your Majesty?" Selvan asked, curious because, as far as he knew, there hadn’t been any important developments within the empire in recent months.

"Yes, Selvan, sit down."

Vijay, who had been looking at the parliament grounds where the venue for the nobility promotion ceremony was being built, diverted his gaze and looked towards Selvan.

"Selvan, is there anyone in Internal Pragya who has a keen observation of their surroundings, predictive intuition on intel, is a critical thinker, and also has high ethical standards?"

Selvan, although confused about why His Majesty was asking this question, nodded. "Your Majesty, Internal Pragya has quite a few people who match your description among the higher echelons of the agents. If you need them for any mission, please let me know, and I will arrange it."

Truth be told, the qualities His Majesty was asking about are what any ideal spy would require.

Unexpectedly, Vijay shook his head in denial, "No, I do not have any task for them, but among those who meet the above requirements, do you have someone who is very poor at camouflage? That is, someone who doesn’t know how to hide?"

Selvan furrowed his brow, unable to determine if this was a test or a genuine inquiry. Camouflage and stealth are essential skills for any spy. He began to second-guess himself, thinking, ’If I say that I know someone like this, will His Majesty punish them or think less of me?’ Worried but knowing that lying to His Majesty would be a bigger mistake, Selvan decided to tell the truth.

"I know of three people who meet all your descriptions, Your Majesty. Although they are very poor at hiding themselves, all three are exceptional at data gathering, analyzing, and finding odd details among the data."

"For this reason, they work primarily in the background, providing field agents with usable data in a visual form from the large collection of raw data within the highest hierarchy of Bharatiya Internal Pragya. The data they have access to is not even available to the members of the Research and Analysis Wing of Bharatiya Internal Pragya."

Seeing the panic on Selvan’s face and his hurried explanation, Vijay realized the misunderstanding. However, hearing the explanation and the role Selvan had assigned to these three people, Vijay was very satisfied. "No need to worry. I’m not blaming you. On the contrary, I think what you have done is a good idea. I hope you share this small management detail with your colleagues Aditya and Roshan."

"That aside, I’m starting a new company and need people with the expertise I mentioned earlier. Immediately arrange for these three people to come for an interview so I can see if they are suitable for my purposes."

Selvan let out a sigh of relief as he finally understood His Majesty’s intentions. However, he felt a bit bitter because these three individuals were what he considered his secret weapons. Now that His Majesty had a use for them, he had no choice but to let them go.

He felt it would be troublesome to find people with similar expertise and qualities but decided to train new individuals for this exact task, selecting top agents and analysts from the Research and Analysis Wing. With this solution, his somewhat troubled heart was calmed.

"As you wish, Your Majesty. I will have them meet you tomorrow," Selvan promised with a serious expression on his face.

P.S. Thank you for the IceCola, Yashwant_Reddy