Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 760

Chapter 760: Kiran’s surprise: (3/3)
Kiran Pujari signing in as the Cabinet Minister of the empire and giving up his post as the Marshal was like a Magnitude 9 earthquake spreading across the empire.

“How could this happen? How did the Marshal accept it so readily?”

“These stupid politicians’ schemes have worked really well, Damn!!!”

“The Marshal is being too kind-hearted even after being backstabbed. He should have at least taught some ministers a lesson.”

The surprise was not only from the people but also from the commanders of the empire—Ramayya Senapathi, Narasimha Nayak, Yogendra Singh, Lachit Borphukan, Akhil, Sarvesh, and others.

Even Gangadhar, who was newly sworn in as the Marshal of the empire, was also a little confused about how things had reached this point. One day, when he was looking at the commotion in the empire like an outsider, he was asked by the emperor’s office to take up the post as the Marshal of the empire, given that he was naturally the second in command even when Kiran held power.

A lot of people wanted to know what His Majesty did to make Kiran so willingly give up his power, which was second only to one person.

However, no one was more surprised and shocked than the newspaper companies, who were writing all sorts of rumors and conspiracy theories on the front page to increase their viewership, as well as the leaders in the military, whose voices had jumped up a bit too high during the past three weeks.

—

March 20th, 1662

In Vijay’s office gathered all the heads of the three intelligence departments, as well as major lawyers from the top law firms of the empire.

They were all looking at Vijay with bated breath as they had no clue why they were called.

Vijay was not in a hurry to explain. He casually talked with them and made some small talk. This went on for half an hour, after which Vijay finally felt like the time was right.

“THUD!”

He slammed down several documents onto the table and motioned at the lawyers, asking them to take a look.

The lawyers picked up the files one by one and opened them carefully. To their surprise, it was a litigation document.

“Your Majesty, this…?” Janaki Vishwas, one of the top lawyers in the empire and the owner of Vishwas Law Firm, asked in surprise.

Vijay nodded, motioning for everyone to look further. “I am filing a case against all the newspaper companies and media groups that have publicized false narratives to show the empire’s military and government in a bad light.”

“I need all of you to represent me in the case and help me bring down these unscrupulous media companies.”

The lawyers kept gently nodding. This much they could understand after reading the document, but they were confused. Why had His Majesty not done this in a much easier way by simply getting those unscrupulous newspapers arrested? Why go through such a tedious process as filing a complaint in the court of law?

Vijay, from their expressions, could somewhat understand what they were thinking, but he did not explain. He didn’t want this incident to be a show of his power, which everyone in the empire knew very well, but rather to introduce the empire to the power of the courts.

He wanted to show them through this incident that even a common man could bring down a business giant if the business giant was in the wrong. It was his secret endorsement and promotion of the judicial system of the Bharatiya Empire, which, until now, had not been properly utilized by the common populace when they had grievances against big companies and organizations.

Seeing that His Majesty did not speak any further, the lawyers quickly understood that they would not be getting any more answers from him.

Hence, the next topic of discussion shifted to the specifics of filing the case.

Janaki Vishwas quickly pulled out a blank sheet of paper and asked, “Your Majesty, on what account will the case be filed? Will it only be for spreading misinformation and rumors, or also for inciting violence and causing a lot of panic in society?”

He felt that by using the two newly added points, he could bring down these companies much more easily and even faster.

However, Vijay, hearing the suggestion, shook his head.

Looking at the incredulous eyes of everyone, Vijay explained, “Cases can never be filed against anyone for inciting violence. The Constitution promises free speech, even if the speech is wrong and hurtful. If the news written in the newspaper did indeed cause mass panic and violence in society, it is still not warranted to take action against the newspaper, since they have the right to speak their mind. As long as what they are speaking has strong evidence as a basis—for example, the top 10% of the empire control more than 70% of the wealth—this portrays the empire’s inequality of wealth in a negative light, but it is also a fact that this is true. This may cause resentment among the people if the condition does not change, but even if someone brings up this point, he cannot be arrested on the grounds of inciting violence since what he said is true and factual. If his words had any reaction, then the entity that could be blamed could only be the governing body and nothing else.”

“And even if the worst comes to worst, it is the business of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make sure that no riots happen in the empire. No matter how outrageous the words are, the people are paying taxes for them to live in a stable society. If that is not the case, what is the point of the police existing?”

Vijay hoped that the police in the Bharatiya Empire in this life would be completely different from the police in his last life, who were corrupt to the core. Meeting a police officer with integrity and an incorruptible nature was extremely rare. He had clearly seen the truth of the police in his last life—they strictly followed the system left behind by the British during their colonial era, where grassroots officers lived off the people, and top officers lived off the government, while what they earned legally was only meager. He did not want things to be the same in this life as well.

The lawyers all understood and quickly nodded, as they now knew what they had to do.

Ganesh sent away all the lawyers, leaving only the three intelligence directors in the room. Throughout the couple of hours they had been there, they had been sitting silently without making any noise.

Vijay handed over a couple of documents to the three of them. Opening the documents, they were surprised.

“Your Majesty, this…?” Adithya was shocked. So many dissidents—even he could not find them. Being the director of Bharatiya Sainik Pragya, he naturally had knowledge about whatever was going on in the military over the last few weeks and had his own list of problematic people, but the list given by His Majesty was bigger, and the people in it were more hidden.

Vijay smiled and didn’t answer. In fact, he could have used his own channels to get rid of the dissidents in the military, who were mostly the remnants of Balochi tribes, Sindhi tribes, and Rajput tribes, but he didn’t want to reveal his whole card—that is, the Royal Intelligence Bureau and Asura special forces. Instead, he still used the existing channels.

Plus, in this way, Vijay would get to see how efficient the intelligence departments were after several years of not having any major work. If there were problematic agents within the three intelligence departments, he would get to know immediately.

Knowing that they weren’t going to get any answers, Roshan, Selvan, and Aditya looked at each other, nodded, and left.

—

“Boom!”

“Big news, come one, come all! His Majesty has personally filed cases against several newspaper companies across the empire! Buy the newspaper and learn more,” paper boys and girls across the empire exaggeratedly boasted, enough to whet the appetite of the people.

Hearing that the news was about His Majesty, most people quickly snatched the newspaper and were shocked to find out that His Majesty really did file cases against over nine different newspaper companies spread across the empire for misinformation and fraudulent practices.

The whole judicial sector was mobilized for this work.

The people of the empire suddenly realized that even they could have done what His Majesty was doing since the law allowed it.

—

Meanwhile, in the dark, the intelligence forces began to move.

Lahore Regiment

“The Marshal has betrayed us! We can no longer stay in this rotten army. Let’s get out and fight for our freedom ourselves,” the lieutenant said with great resentment, as his company of 160 men, upon hearing his order, suddenly became hesitant.

However, at this moment, a gunshot was heard.

“Bang!”

The lieutenant wanted to look back, but suddenly he felt cold all over. Looking down, his chest had been punctured, and blood was pouring out like water from a faucet.

Many thoughts ran through his head, but in the end, he looked towards the man beside him with disbelief on his face. Even in his last moments, he could not understand how his brother, whom he had grown up with, could betray him.

The man, on the other hand, did not change his expression. His eyes remained firm and emotionless. The next moment, people rushed in, arrested all 160 soldiers, and dragged them out.

After everything was cleaned up, the hooded man walked towards him with a suitcase.

Coming in front of him, he opened it up and showed him bundles of Varaha notes. The man’s expression finally changed—he greedily touched them with a smile, but in the next moment, the smile stiffened.

“Bang!”

His thinking stopped, and there was a hole in his head. With his eyes still wide open, he slowly fell back, hitting a rock on his way down, causing his skull to shatter and all the semi-solids to flow out.

“Captain, isn’t this too cruel? Even if this guy was one of them, he still helped us at the end of the day, didn’t he?” an another masked man asked.

“No! A man who was able to betray his own brother, whom he had grown up with, for a little money—what confidence do you have that he will not sell out the interests of the empire for the same money as well? Not to mention that he somehow became the sergeant in this regiment. The damage he could do is only greater.”

“Stop worrying about it,”

“Everyone. Clean up the place.”

“Yes, Sir!”

Several similar scenes happened in various regiments. People were arrested in the droves, and some people mysteriously disappeared.

However, no one top brass complained, as they were already informed about what was happening, which once again increased the military’s awe and respect towards His Majesty, the Emperor.