Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

12th January 1658

Akhand Bharatiya Empire, Imperial Capital Bengaluru

The negotiation for the sale of the Philippines was a great success. Although the negotiation process was arduous and grueling, the result was something both empires agreed upon. For this reason, a small celebratory banquet was hosted jointly by the Bharatiya Empire and the Spanish Empire for the Europeans in the Embassy Street.

The banquet was not only to celebrate the deal but also to legalize the deal between both empires.

Count Don Álvaro de Mendoza, Ambassador Pedro Santiago, and the two treasurers once again came to the conference room and sat down for the negotiation. The Bharatiya delegation, composed of Prime Minister Vinod, Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar, and Finance Minister Jagannath Mohan, were already in their seats waiting for their counterparts.

Pedro Santiago started the discussion: "The second condition put forward by the Bharatiya Empire was that the Bharatiya Empire would be willing to pay for all purchases from the Spanish Empire in terms of silver. If there are no changes to the condition put forward, then our delegation representing the Spanish Empire is willing to accept this condition." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

None of the three delegates from the Bharatiya Empire were surprised by this decision, as they knew that the Spanish Empire in recent years had been facing financial difficulties, with their economy continuously shrinking. This economic turmoil stemmed from multiple sources.

It was due to the constant wars the Spanish Empire had to endure, which led to overspending on the military and hindered the stable economic flow of the Spanish. There being no notable victories or gains from the war further hurt the delicate Spanish Empire.

The other reason is that the Spanish had, throughout their history, been very dependent on the silver extracted from their New Spain colony, which contributed the most silver to the Spanish Empire. However, with continuous exploitation, the silver mines in use have come close to depletion, and new silver mines are yet to be discovered.

Unfortunately, the rate of depletion is faster than the rate of discovery, which led to a drastic decrease in total silver production from 200 tonnes to 100 tonnes.

Hence, the Bharatiya Empire knew how important silver was to the Spanish, which is exactly why Vijay originally put forward the condition, as he was sure the Spanish would agree to it.

Jaishankar had a gentle smile on his face. "Of course, we do not have any objection to this, but it must be mentioned beforehand how long this deal will last and what the minimum amount of silver to be transacted in a year will be."

Pedro Santiago was expecting this question, so he was not surprised. However, what caught him off guard was the Finance Minister, Jagannath Mohan, who got up from his seat, whispered something in Prime Minister Vinod’s ear, and left the conference room.

He did not know what the finance minister was up to, but he continued his words nonetheless: "The Spanish Empire has a lot to offer. We have a wide range of products popular throughout the world, so it will not be unfair to ask for a minimum of 35 tonnes worth of silver in trade. As for the duration, let’s set it at 20 years."

Jaishankar let out a sigh of relief. Although the price mentioned was still too high, it was not too far from the ideal price for the Bharatiya Empire, and he was sure that the negotiation would not be too troublesome.

Meanwhile, Jagannath had arrived on the upper floor of the parliament, in a room directly above the conference room. He opened the door and found His Majesty Vijay sitting there, looking at him with a curious gaze.

Vijay did not understand why Finance Minister Jagannath Mohan suddenly left the conference room and came to him, but whatever it was, he knew it was of great importance, so he did not comment much and waited for Jagannath Mohan to take the initiative to reveal his intentions.

"Your Majesty, I was thinking, since we are using silver in our nation to buy products from the Spanish and also to purchase the Philippine colony, it shouldn’t be too harsh for us to request that the Spanish only use the Varaha currency for transactions with us, should it?"

Vijay, who had been sitting in his chair relaxed, was immediately startled. He was greatly surprised. He did not expect his finance minister to actually start planning the currency domination strategy for the Bharatiya Empire without him even initiating it. Vijay, coming from the 21st century, knew what had supported the hegemony of America for the last few centuries.

Apart from unparalleled military dominance, the main reason was the universality of the American currency—the American dollar.

If the American dollar were not the universal currency, America’s hegemon status would disappear within a few years. Knowing its importance, Vijay naturally wanted to make the Varaha the dominant currency of the world.

But sadly, this is an age when trade is conducted with precious metals, and the economies of various nations have not reached the point where there is not enough currency to circulate. However, since it was directly proposed by his finance minister, he asked his doubt directly.

"It should be possible to put forward this condition, but do you think it will be practical? Normally, all the Europeans use gold coins to exchange with Varaha and vice versa."

Jagannath Mohan had already thought of this, and his eyes were confident. "Your Majesty, the simple solution is to fully waive the transaction charges with the Spanish. Normally, when a European merchant wants to exchange his gold coins for Bharatiya Varaha currency, a 2% transaction charge is applied."

"Instead, if we sign a deal stating that we won’t charge them transaction fees if they trade with us directly using Varaha currency, the deal is likely to succeed"

Vijay leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. " Indeed, It should be possible," but then thought of something and wanted to test Jagannath Mohan. "Why do you want the Spanish to use our currency in the first place?"

Immediately after hearing the question, Jagannath Mohan became excited, blood rushing to his face, making even his brown complexion ruddy. His excitement was similar to Columbus discovering a new continent.

"Your Majesty, according to my theory, by having the Spanish use our currency to transact with us, and potentially having them transact with other countries that use our currency, we will have major control over the economies of these countries. Additionally, since our currency is based on the amount of gold we have, we could potentially change the price of gold as we wish."

Jagannath Mohan’s eyes were bloodshot. "Just imagine, Your Majesty, gold—the most precious and most used currency in the world—will then be under our influence. If it is profitable for our empire, we can reduce the price of gold by a few points whenever we need, and if it is unprofitable, we can also raise the price of gold in the international market." His excitement was palpable.

"And all we have to do to alter the price is to decide whether we should print more banknotes or fewer banknotes, And the burden brought by this change will be borne by these countries using our Bharatiya Varaha to trade."

Vijay did not show much reaction on his face, as he already knew many of the advantages of having a universal currency. But for now, he was greatly impressed by Jagannath Mohan, who had figured out the main points of currency universalization.

Vijay did not hesitate anymore. "Alright, do it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will not let you down." Jagannath Mohan excitedly bowed to Vijay and left the room with brisk steps.

Vijay looked down at the conference room with a smile on his face, " Interesting !"

---

By the time Jagannath Mohan re-entered the conference room, the negotiation between Jaishankar and Pedro Santiago had already ended.

"Alright, Minister Jaishankar. Let’s sign a deal for 5 tonnes of silver annually over a period of 5 years, which totals 25 tonnes ."

"Is there anything that needs to be added?"

Pedro Santiago was about to directly agree to the deal, but he was suddenly interrupted by Jagannath Mohan, who whispered something in his ear.

"Are you sure?" Jaishankar inquired with a doubtful expression, as he did not know whether Jagannath Mohan could make such a decision. Meanwhile, he directed his questioning gaze towards Vinod.

Unusually, Vinod was also not aware of the condition whispered by Jagannath Mohan.

Jagannath Mohan, seeing the hesitation in the Prime Minister and the Minister of External Affairs’s eyes, quickly put them at ease. "I consulted the matter with His Majesty, and he agreed."

Jaishankar was immediately relieved, and he intentionally or unintentionally glanced towards the ceiling at a peculiar corner where a black glass window was present.

He simply nodded in affirmation and put forward the condition to Pedro. "There is one addition from our Bharatiya Empire to the deal, which comes under the second clause of payments in precious metals. The condition is that we require the Spanish Empire to make direct payments to us in our own Varaha currency. The amount of payment has no minimum or maximum, but the time span is 20 years."

Pedro Santiago was confused as he did not understand what this condition meant. Don Álvaro de Mendoza, who was the most experienced among the delegation, also could not grasp the intention of the Bharatiya Empire.

In the end, both Álvaro and Pedro concluded that this was the Bharatiya Empire’s way of maintaining its reputation with the public by having the Spanish use their currency. This was something the Spanish did not care about.

Just like the Bharatiya Empire would not care about its reputation in Europe, the Spanish also did not care about their reputation in the Bharatiya Empire, which wasn’t even that bad to begin with.

Pedro agreed without hesitation. "Alright, we can agree to this. From here on out, the Spanish Empire will only trade with the Bharatiya Empire in their own currency and nothing else for the next 20 years."

Jaishankar and Vinod just nodded in acceptance, as they did not fully understand the magnitude of the decision taken. However, Jagannath Mohan and Vijay, who knew the significance of the deal, were overjoyed.

The negotiation took a break that day and resumed the next.

P.S. Next is last I promise