Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

26th October 1657

While Operation Silent Eclipse was coming to its final stages in the three major port cities of Chabahar, Gwadar, and Ormara, Vijay had finalised the economic growth model of Madhya Pradesh.

Since Vijay arrived in Madhya Pradesh a few weeks ago, he travelled to Chanderi to inspect the famous handwoven Chanderi silk sarees, which are popular throughout the empire. Vijay was impressed by the unique and traditional designs and the rich cultural heritage of Chanderi, but he was not willing to make the textile industry the main economic growth model for Madhya Pradesh.

It’s not that he felt there was no potential for textiles in Madhya Pradesh, but rather, he did not believe it could scale up. Even if he did invest in it now, it would become uncompetitive compared to Bengal with the industrial revolution.

The only way for textiles in all parts of the empire, including Madhya Pradesh, was to focus on boutique products, taking the route of geographical indicators (GI), like the famous Kanchipuram textile industry, Mysore textile industry, Rajasthani textile industry, and other regionally renowned and reputable textile industries.

Not getting what he wanted, he bid farewell to Chanderi and moved on,

Vijay’s next stop was Ujjain, where he found some of the best craftsmen in the empire, their precision even rivalling some of the technicians in the Bharatiya Academy of Sciences. However, once again, he was not sure he wanted to make handicrafts the main economic growth model for Madhya Pradesh.

There was also the city of Maheshwar, famous for its Maheshwari saris, which are handwoven textiles made of silk and cotton. The same problem arose as with Chanderi: it would become uncompetitive during the industrial revolution when compared to Bengal.

However, he found a highlight in the Zardozi embroidery, which, if Vijay was not wrong, was a famous and popular embroidery technique used widely even in his past life in the 21st century.

He went around inspecting cities famous for their crafts, cities renowned for classical music, and especially the city of Gwalior, known for its sweets. However, in the end, he was not satisfied with anything.

Feeling a little comforted by the fact that he had already found an auxiliary industry to focus on, he finally decided to end his trip in Madhya Pradesh and return to Jabalpur, the place where he started his journey in the region.

Coincidentally, on his way back, he was surprised to find various quarries around Jabalpur. When inquiring, he discovered that Jabalpur is one of the famous places where marble deposits are found. Vijay had not realized this, but once he searched his memory, he was surprised to find that Jabalpur was once called the marble capital of Bharat before it was replaced by Kishangarh in Rajasthan.

The region of Jabalpur, particularly near Bhedaghat town, possesses rich and high-quality marble deposits.

Vijay finally decided to make marble processing and cement manufacturing Madhya Pradesh’s main economic growth model.

One advantage of this decision is Madhya Pradesh’s abundance of raw materials. Vijay recalled that, in his past life, Madhya Pradesh held 9% of the country’s total limestone reserves, amounting to 9,424 million tons. This substantial resource base makes the state ideal for cement production.

Additionally, Madhya Pradesh’s strategic role as a central state and transportation hub enhances its economic potential. The state’s location, bridging the North and South as well as the East and West, means that cement produced here can be distributed across the empire quickly and cost-effectively.

Even if the economic model chosen for Madhya Pradesh is not particularly exciting, Vijay is not worried that Madhya Pradesh will fall behind, because, the state’s strategic location allows it to rank high in the development index due to the sheer amount of transactions and trade it facilitates throughout the empire.

Having resolved his troubles, Vijay moved on to the next state. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

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Southeast Asia, The Philippines, Manila Bay

Manila has drastically changed from a few months ago when the Spanish fully occupied and ruled the city. Now, the Spanish are nowhere to be seen, as all the nobles in the city were taken back to the Bharatiya Empire and imprisoned. These prisoners are valuable because they can be redeemed by the Spanish if they are important enough.

The prisoners ranged from the governor and his family who were located in Manila, to many important nobles who were stationed in the Philippine colony.

There is even the captain of the Manila galleons who has been held in prison, waiting for his family to redeem him.

Putting the matter of the prisoners aside, Manila City is currently in the midst of a celebration, as evidenced by the various traditional decorations hung up at every corner of the street.

The people looking around had emotional expressions on their faces, as only a few months ago this was unimaginable. During the reign of the Spanish, they couldn’t even imagine themselves being slightly high profile or celebrating their own festival on a random street corner in the most remote part of the city, much less a grand celebration to establish a nation on today’s scale.

Fortunately, hosting the celebration did not require too much money.

Since the actual battle did not take place in Manila City, the city was left mostly undamaged. For this reason, the city didn’t need to be overhauled, and minimal restorations were sufficient. Surprisingly, in the process of restoration, massive amounts of empty houses and property were discovered. The temporary city administrators took this opportunity to make some money through real estate.

As the gold that was previously in the colony had been taken away by the Bharatiya Empire as payment for their services, the only thing left in the treasury was silver, which was barely sufficient to maintain the economy.

When the properties left by the Spanish were put up for sale, most of the wealthy people from the main provinces of Luzon and Visayas immediately snapped up whatever property they could buy. They would have been foolish not to acquire properties that they knew would appreciate significantly in the future. Additionally, the price was not too high—it was only a few grams of silver.

Unfortunately, even though the price was low, due to the suppression of Spanish merchants on local merchants, even the so-called wealthy people of Luzon and Visayas could not afford the most premium properties in the city.

This is where the merchants of the Bharatiya Empire took advantage of the situation. They immediately seized the opportunity and bought a significant amount of property in Manila. Even as costs continued to increase geometrically due to their actions, they did not care and continued to pour money into the real estate industry of Manila.

The merchants had a keen sense of opportunity. Since His Majesty decided to station the Navy here, they had already guessed that His Majesty had a bigger plan for this city. Even though they did not know Vijay’s plan to establish a trade route with this new colony of the Spanish Empire, they seized the opportunity as it was not too costly.

Although the local merchants felt a bit of regret for not being able to take advantage of this God-given opportunity, there was not too much bitterness or jealousy toward the Bharatiya Empire as a whole. Being merchants, they knew better than anyone else that it was the Bharatiya Empire that supported them throughout the rebellion and not anyone else.

Without the Bharatiya Empire, even if they could achieve independence with the help of their freedom fighters, they would have lost many people and fought for a longer time. Thus, most of the people of the Philippines were grateful.

For the nation’s establishment, many people of all kinds from all over the archipelago have arrived at the Palacio del Gobernador.

The Palacio del Gobernador, or the Governor’s Palace, as the name suggests, was the political and power capital of the Spanish colony in the Philippines and also the residence of the Governor-General.

The Governor-General’s palace is located within a walled city called Intramuros on the south bank of the Pasig River, barely a kilometre away from Manila Bay. The city was similar in function to the Kremlin of Russia, serving to protect the leader of the state within its walls.

It is for this reason that the Spanish Governor’s Palace was once again chosen as the nation’s political centre. For now, as not much time has passed, the Spanish architecture and writings have not been removed. In the future, the city is slated for an overhaul to a design that will be entirely original to the Philippines.

The people gathered were excitedly talking with one another, anticipating what the future of their nation would be like.

"Brother Bayani, our efforts have paid off. Chief Tamblot finally fulfilled the promise he made to the people of our tribe." There was immense joy on the man’s face. He could be seen as a warrior, looking at all the scars of battle and a knife at his back.

His companion, who also bore similar knife wounds and carried a weapon, responded, "You’re right, but it’s a pity for Lakhd and his brother. They fought side by side until the end. Unfortunately, before they could see their efforts bearing fruit, they ended up getting killed."

"Hehe."

"Isn’t this the greatest irony, Datu? We, who were the most cowardly at the beginning, are alive and well, while Lakhad and Brother Pulla, despite being so brave and strong, ended up falling to the Spanish?" Even though Bayani was smiling, his eyes betrayed him; teardrops couldn’t help but flow over his cheeks, reminding him of all the brothers he had lost during the battle.

Obviously, Bayani and Datu were not the only two warriors gathered at the Governor’s Palace. Many similar warriors had also assembled In front of the Governor’s Palace as they were curious and worried about what their nation would become.

Having received their rewards for participating in the battle, some land, some money, and other various benefits, they should have had no other worries if they returned to their previous way of living.

But unfortunately, decades of Spanish rule had made them realize that if they are not unified, there are hypocritical monsters who could suck their blood to the core and evily think that they are saving them, the lesser humans. In the end, having been unified, they did not want to be separated and split apart again.

They wanted to be in what the Bharatiyas call a ’nation’, a nation of their own.

They wanted to feel the same pride and confidence that the Bharatiya feel when they communicate with them.

They wanted to ensure that anyone would think twice before even considering setting foot in their nation with malicious intent.

One thing to note is that the concept of a nation had not yet been established in this era. In Vijay’s previous life, it wasn’t until the 18th century, during the French Revolution, that the concept of a nation was firmly established. However, things are different in this era. There could be no greater representation of a nation and its people than the Bharatiya Empire.

Although Europeans still do not fully understand this concept due to their rigid class structures—where classes form their own nations—the people of the Philippines, with their simpler social class structure, quickly grasped the concept of a nation, its connection to the land, traditions, culture, and people, and yearned for it.

To be continued...