Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

29th March 1658

Akhand Bharatiya Empire, Imperial Capital-Bengaluru, Simhasana Bhavana

The Minister of External Affairs, Jaishankar, is nervously waiting in the conference room as he had been called by His Majesty for an urgent discussion.

Roshan, who had been called to attend the meeting along with Jaishankar, was intrigued as to why His Majesty had called him and what could have caused His Majesty to summon him in such a hurry, despite knowing that he was playing an important role in the civil war of the Safavid Empire that had just begun.

Fortunately, the intelligence base in Chabahar Port, in Makran State, is set up in such a way that even if he is not present, the intelligence gathering, data analysis, and task establishment can all be done according to set protocols.

This gives him the comfort of not worrying about the intelligence network getting out of control or spontaneously disintegrating in his absence, as if it did, he would never attend the meeting without fully handling the matters at Chabahar Port.

Any failure within the intelligence network would be disastrous, as it was only built after pouring in enough resources to employ a whole squadron of armed commandos. Additionally, to put Roshan at ease, his deputy Harpreet Singh Ghil has significantly grown in his command abilities after taking responsibility for the Chabahar base’s intelligence outpost.

While time slowly ticked by in waiting, Ganesh played his trump card. He knew that His Majesty was going through some documents and that it would take a few minutes for him to meet with the minister and the intelligence director, so instead of making Mr Jaishankar and Roshan wait idly, he served them some masala chai, today’s issue of the newspaper, and a few pastries made by the royal chef.

Unsurprisingly, both Jaishankar and Roshan fell in love with the tea that they had never drunk before, and adding to the fact it was served with delicious pastry and the newspaper, they both felt a ritual-like feeling. Jaishankar and Roshan were similar types of people; they did not drink the tea as quickly as possible but savoured every drop of it like connoisseurs.

They completely relaxed, and the time passed quickly.

Vijay came into the conference room while looking through the documents in his hand but, not hearing any greetings, he frowned with confusion. Not every day does he get ignored by his subordinates. He averted his eyes from the document, and he immediately realized what was going on.

Vijay simply sat down and ordered a cup of tea and pastries for himself. The whole scene felt like déjà vu, as the same scene occurred when the masala tea had first been served to the ministers. Now, the same situation has occurred.

Well, not like he could complain. He was happy to iron out all the details in his mind he was going to talk about.

---

A few minutes passed, and eventually, Roshan suddenly realized that His Majesty had already been seated in the main chair, so he hurriedly greeted, "Long live Your Majesty, long live!"

Startled by the sound, Minister Jaishankar quickly got up in embarrassment, repeatedly greeting and apologizing for his negligence at the same time.

Vijay did not mind and asked both of them to sit down.

"Jaishankar, it has been almost half a year since you took up the responsibility to train international diplomats for our empire, so I hope to hear good news."

Jaishankar had a hunch this would be the case, but he was relieved. "I have trained eight qualified diplomats who can head their own embassies representing the empire, Your Majesty. I have been active in Thiruvananthapuram for the past six months, and I have learned a lot about each and every European nation that has a relationship with us."

"Each diplomat I trained was instructed not only to learn about the detailed history of the nation they will be stationed in, but I also tasked them with working closely with the merchants of the said nation to be aware of their customs and behaviours."

Jaishankar was a little proud of his achievements, which was evident as his chest puffed up. However, Vijay did not dislike that pride.

"You did a good job. Immediately notify all the European countries about the diplomats we will be sending, and inform them to be prepared to receive our diplomats."

"I will make sure the message is sent, Your Majesty," Jaishankar readily agreed without hesitation. He felt that he had been taking a salary all these months without doing any actual work, which made him feel a little guilty, so he was very relieved to finally have something to do.

"Very well. Now, the reason I called you is not only to enquire about the diplomats, but I also have the first task for them."

"For this task, they will have to meet with some people in Europe and meet with the royal families or potentially the heads of state."

Vijay handed over the file he was carrying. Jaishankar took the file with a perplexed expression.

It was only after reading through the file that Jaishankar was shocked. "Your Majesty, this?"

Vijay had expected this reaction. "Yes, this is the first task: negotiate with the local nobles and rulers of the kingdom or empire where our embassy will be stationed and make a deal to take away all the Romani people from their land."

"In exchange, we can compensate the local nobles and rulers with five times the price of an average black slave for a single Romani."

"I have information that there are some Romani people living in certain parts of Germany in relative peace compared to their brethren. I want the person responsible for diplomacy in the Holy Roman Empire to meet with this tribe and negotiate with them to emigrate to Bharat."

Jaishankar could not understand why His Majesty had made this decision, but it was not his business to question it, so he did not enquire. Instead, he asked, "Your Majesty, from what I know about the European nobles and leaders, I believe this deal is most likely to go through. But how will we deal with those wealthy Romani who want to immigrate?

In my experience dealing with the Europeans, these local landlords are a greedy bunch and will not give up on these Romani, who are cash cows."

Vijay was thoughtful, but not for long. "In such a situation, investigate the rich Romani family. If their wealth is due to the family’s abilities, we can compensate the noble with a one-time payment of five years’ earnings from the said Romani family while putting diplomatic pressure on him.

As for the Romani people who have only inherited wealth from their ancestors, there is no need to make such a sacrifice for them; it is okay not to consider them in our policy."

Jaishankar was relieved. "This can work, Your Majesty. I will get it done."

"Good! As for Roshan..."

Roshan’s ears perked up as he intently listened.

"Within the delegation of diplomats, we will be sending to each kingdom or empire in Europe, place our best agents among them to blend in."

"As for what sort of agents to pick, I believe I do not need to explain it to you."

Roshan nodded, as he knew that His Majesty wanted him to pick agents who had previously served in politics. Agents serving in politics would definitely fit right in within the group of diplomats.

Vijay was happy that Roshan understood, so he continued, "The mission of these agents is mainly twofold."

"The first mission is to get in contact with a family called the Oppenheimer family, located in Heidelberg in the Holy Roman Empire."

"We have news that this family has a lot of influence over the Jews living in the western part of Europe. Your mission is only to make the Oppenheimer family willing to send their representative to the Bharatiya Empire in order to hold detailed negotiations."

Vijay took out a separate document and passed it over to Roshan.

"The intelligence in this document will be helpful in convincing Joseph Süß Oppenheimer of our sincerity."

Roshan did not open the document but simply nodded his head. He was waiting for His Majesty to mention the second task his agents would need to fulfil.

"The second mission is a long-term and permanent mission for the Bharatiya external pragya."

Roshan immediately understood, "Are we going to expand our intelligence to Europe, Your Majesty?"

Vijay did not hide it; he simply nodded. "Yes, knowing what is happening in Europe is very important. Although we no longer have to be wary of any empire in Europe, but we should still be alert against these Europeans who are arrogant, self-righteous, hypocritical, but most importantly, very united in their worldview that they are the master race."

Roshan agreed, and Jaishankar, who had been in contact with the Europeans the most, couldn’t agree more.

He felt the contemptuous gaze of the Europeans a few times when he was dealing with them. Although they hid it well because of his status, he could still sense that these Europeans, especially those who called themselves nobles, treated themselves as if they were gods and everyone else as lesser beings.

Vijay continued to explain, "As for the main targets to expand our intelligence agency, obviously, we cannot use our own people, as they will definitely not be able to go deep into the hinterland of any nation or empire due to their brown skin tone and different facial features.

Even if we place intelligence agents among professional workers we will be sent to the Spanish, I bet that the Spanish Emperor would keep a tight eye on our agents and not allow them to see anything they are not supposed to see.

This is the situation in Spain, where the Emperor is willingly accepting our people to live there, not to mention the rest of Europe, where anyone who is not white is treated as an animal."

"So, I want you to expand our intelligence network through the Jews and the Romani people."

"They have been living in European society for many centuries, so although they have a pretty low status, there isn’t any problem for them to move around in Europe."

"Also, due to their low status, instead of being a hindrance for us, it might even be a great advantage since the Europeans have always looked down on the Jews and the Romani. They wouldn’t put up any serious defences against them, so it is naturally easier for the Jews and the Romani to be informed of various things within the European continent."

"We can make use of this and turn them into excellent intelligence agents."

Roshan felt that the matter was feasible. "It can be done, Your Majesty, but aren’t you planning to migrate the Romani and most likely the Jews?"

Vijay nodded. "Yes, I am. But first, tell me, when you were suffering under the Mughal Empire, why didn’t you run away to Ahom kingdom since it was safe?"

Roshan was confused by the question, as he did not understand the correlation between the Jews and Romani and himself. "I did not escape to Ahom kingdom because I naturally wanted to take revenge against the Mughals, Your Majesty. So even if I knew that I could live safely in Ahom kingdom, I did not want to abandon my homeland." Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Then why did you come to the Bharatiya Empire for refuge?"

"That is naturally because I realized that I cannot take revenge on the Mughal empire myself, so I sought the assistance of the Bharatiya Empire, which I considered the place closest to home."

Vijay pointed at Roshan. "You see, even you wouldn’t escape your home if it was in dire straits, not even to a safe place like the Ahom kingdom. You had to wait many years to feel the hopelessness of your mission and finally chose to side with the Bharatiya Empire, starting with providing intelligence assistance, and then taking the first step to emigrate."

"So why do you expect the Jews and the Romani to willingly emigrate to the Bharatiya Empire just because we provide them convenience and security? Even if the place they live is hostile to them, they have been living there for hundreds of years.

It is not too crazy to say that these nomads, even though they do not consider a specific kingdom to be their home, they definitely consider Europe to be their home. So how can it be so easy to emigrate all of them at once?"

"So I want to immigrate the people in the most dire straits first, have the rest gradually build connections with the Bharatiya Empire with the help of these people in dire straits, and then slowly increase immigration by providing more benefits."

"So you will have the rest of the Jews and Romani as possible agents. These people will be the eyes, ears, and hands of the Bharatiya Empire in Europe."

"I will make the preparations, Your Majesty, "Roshan was enlightened.