Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

25th April 1658

Akhand Bharatiya Empire

The reaction to the expansion of the Navy within the Bharatiya Empire was intense, especially among the people living in the coastal parts of the empire. Since most of the coastal population is involved in some way or another in an ocean-dependent economy, they were very excited about His Majesty’s decision.

This is particularly true because most people living in the coastal regions are either merchants, sailors, or fishermen. These three professions dominate every coastal town and city of the empire, while farming and other activities have become secondary industries to maintain stability.

The coastal people immediately celebrated, knowing that the range of their operations had greatly expanded. The merchants were overjoyed, as their trade routes would become more secure, and potentially more routes would open up. The trade route between the subcontinent and the southeastern nations would become much safer and more accessible, opening a new gateway to wealth.

As for the already well-established shipping companies, they had mixed reactions. On one hand, the expansion of the Navy would lead to more people entering the shipping market, increasing competition.

However, on the other, it would also mean more opportunities for them as the level of development for them would increase, as improved technology and the construction of giant 2000-ton merchant ships could allow them to join Europeans in travelling and profiting from trade worldwide.

Overall, although there were some dissatisfied voices from those who did not recognize the advantages, the majority supported His Majesty’s decision to expand the Navy, as the majority of the elites in the Bharatiya Empire were just that, elites, capable people who rose through the masses with merit, not through nepotism or having it handed to them on a platter as a birthright.

If anyone had an adverse reaction to this policy, it was the central and northern regions of the empire, as the naval expansion signalled that the empire had completely abandoned territorial expansion. This was difficult for some in the northern part of the empire to accept, as they were hoping for territorial expansion and the subsequent improvement of their own livelihoods.

They had already attributed the prosperity of the southern part of the empire to the war against the Mughal Empire, the victory over it, and the territorial expansion that followed as a benefit of the war.

Unfortunately, Vijay noticed these dangerous voices and immediately used Bharatiya internal pragya to drown out these discordant comments. Although Vijay knew the voices did not intend to sow discord, he understood that such unintentional remarks could lead to disastrous consequences.

He did not want even the thought of the southern part of the empire draining the resources of the northern part to take root in the minds of the northern populace.

Although the current situation does resemble that remark, as the southern part of the empire does extract many resources from the north for its own development, the truth is that this policy is not because Vijay hated the north. It is simply that the Industrial Revolution required a significant amount of resource support and capital input.

If he does not get the raw materials for the industrial revolution from somewhere, his plan to kick-start the industrial revolution in the empire will fail.

Therefore, he currently has no plans to develop industry on a full scale in the northern part of the empire until the steam engine, the heart of the Industrial Revolution, is built. Once the steam engine is completed, it will be time to set up the industrial layout in the northern part of the empire, and he is confident that the complaints of partiality from the north will disappear.

However, until then, he does not want the idea of the northern part of the empire being a colony of the southern part to arise in the minds of the populace. This is a very dangerous precedent that Vijay does not want to set, especially now that the northern part of the empire and its people have opened their minds to the world and are far more knowledgeable than they were under the Mughal Empire.

Now that they understand the concept of colonies, Vijay does not want to give them the wrong impression.

For this reason, Vijay did not hesitate to decisively use anti-war propaganda to discredit those who raised such voices. Whether through intimidation or threats, he sought to silence them. Although Vijay knew these people could not be silenced for long and that the voices of doubt would only grow over time, he decided to act anyway, confident that the situation would resolve itself in a few years.

Putting aside the dissatisfaction from the northern side, large-scale expansions have taken place in all the major ports of the empire. A new and separate section of land is being used to build an entirely new dockyard for the upgraded naval vessels.

Although the merchants and onlookers of the construction understood the need for new dockyards and larger spaces, the people absolutely did not understand some of the things being built.

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The Port of Mangaluru

Basava Raju was very confused by his current work. He did not understand what the contractor wanted to do. A few days ago, he had just completed his work on a project tasked with road maintenance on a village road, but suddenly he was employed by a contractor for a large sum of money to dig a large hole in the newly expanded Mangalore Port.

Although he did not understand what the task was, he accepted the job nonetheless, as the payment was good. However, upon reaching the port, he was in for a big surprise. He was not the only one employed; a total of 300 people were hired for this one project. Basava Raju even recognized some familiar faces among the labourers, which left him wondering what the project was about.

"Naga, do you have any idea why we’re digging this hole?" Basava Raju asked his labourer friend, someone, he had worked with before.

Naga, just as puzzled as Basava, shook his head. "I don’t know, brother. But the contractor’s instructions must be right—three meters wide and ten meters deep?" He scratched his head, still baffled. "This depth isn’t even close to what you’d need for a well. What could the contractor be planning?"

Basava Raju shook his head in denial. "This is definitely not a well; it must be for something else."

"How can you say that?" Naga had no clue why it couldn’t be a well.

Basava Raju pointed his dusty finger toward the ocean. "This hole is being dug only a few feet away from the harbour. Think about it, if this were really a well, wouldn’t the water in it be contaminated by the salt from the ocean?"

"Also, if it’s for other purposes, like meeting water requirements for the port, why would the contractor build the hole right here and not further inland, in the upper reaches where it makes much more sense?"

Naga quickly understood Basava Raju’s logic and began to doubt his initial guess. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

This conversation lasted only a few minutes during the break they were given. For the rest of the time, both Basava Raju and Naga went back to work, continuing to dig the hole as instructed by the contractor. As the days passed, not only the two of them but the rest of the labourers became curious about the hole’s purpose, especially since it was clearly not a well.

Only a few feet away from where they were digging, another construction team was working on another hole.

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Similar constructions were taking place in all major ports in the empire because the resource and policy support for the container cranes received from the government was unusually eager.

Naturally, the emperor had something to do with this, as Vijay was determined and adamant in his decision to fully support the container transportation method of logistics. Not many people understood this decision, as they could not clearly grasp how rectangular metal boxes would increase the efficiency of shipping.

However, due to the majesty accumulated by Vijay, there was no one to question him, even if they had the right to do so.

Vijay knew that he had pushed something very advanced into an age where people were not ready to accept it. But considering the amount of trouble he would avoid with one single change of thinking, he decided to bring this simple upgrade to logistics nonetheless, as he knew that container shipping was the future of logistics, both intercontinental and interstate.

In order to not leave any doubts to the doubters, he temporarily employed some of the best mechanical engineers from the Bharatiya Academy of Civil Sciences to design a pulley system that could be scaled to build a crane capable of unloading and loading container packages from the new container carriers about to be built in the empire.

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As the days went by, the people of the Empire slowly realized why and for what purposes the unusual buildings on the dockyard were intended.

Cylindrical rocks ranging in weight from 1 ton each to 50 kilograms were custom-made, similar to weights used in the market, where the weights can slide onto a pole and hang there to measure the weight on the other end of the balance.

The same principle was utilized for the construction of the crane. The maximum tonnage for any container was decided to be five tons, while the minimum was set at an empty carriage weighing 1 ton. Unknown to many, the Bharatiya Standards Organization (BSO) had already put out a detailed specification for a standard container, where its length would be 5.5 meters, width 2 meters, and height 2 meters.

For better visualization, it’s the size of a Ford Expedition.

The cylindrical rocks, which act as counterweights, are meant to be placed on the heavy steel beam, which is then connected to various pulleys attached to gears with different gear ratios to easily lift the rocks with the help of some animals.

This is only in case there is no container for them to lift and the weights need to be manually lifted out from the hole. In case there are containers to be lifted, the crane is simply attached to the container, where two different cranes act in tandem, connected to both ends of the container.

With the help of gear levers, the counterweights are dropped simultaneously to lift the container from the ship.

To lift the container away from the ship, the crane arm is brought backwards with the help of the retractable crane hand, which has wheels attached on the top so that it can roll perpendicularly on top of the central beam.

In order to bring the container down onto the ground or onto a carriage, counterweights are slowly pushed away, starting with the 50-kilogram rocks, to gradually reduce the altitude of the container until it has been attached to the carriage located at the triangular position from the cranes.

The engineers have already done the calculations and have marked out the specific point in the equilateral triangle, of where a carriage could be parked to perfectly accept the container without much effort.

By the time the prototype of the C series ship was built, the crane mechanism was ready to be put into service.

Surprisingly enough, even after the empire passed the first industrial revolution and reached the second industrial revolution, the holes dug to use as chambers for counterweights had still proven useful up until the 21st century, as they were immensely effective for transporting liquid cargo.

All the oil could be dumped from the container ship into the wells, and the pumps attached inside the wells would do the rest of the job in transporting the liquid to the desired truck stationed way outside the port, away from all the congestion. The wells surprisingly made the transportation of oil very efficient.

In the meantime, Vijay had ordered the director of Raya Mobility to research a carriage that could withstand the weight of the container and could directly transport it from the port. Vijay aims to sell this patent, as he does not want to make his Raya Mobility company a trucking company.

P.S. Shout out to my friend Indian_Painter, Check out his novel, it’s about Indian history too