Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 813

Chapter 813: 1664 – 1670 Part (3/4)
Overall, by the end of these five projects, rainfall will be more stable across the Bharatiya Empire, ensuring that the monsoons will no longer fail. The land will become more fertile in Pratihara Puri (Rajasthan), and greater quantities of rice will be cultivated in Pala Nagari (Bengal). Agricultural land will expand in Cholapuri (Tamil Nadu), Kakathiya Puri (Andhra), and Vijayanagara (Karnataka), supporting a wider range of crops. Regions like Baluchistan, Sindh, and the western parts of Pratihara Puri will begin receiving increased rainfall, which could even lead to the revival of ancient rivers such as the Gaggar and Hakar.

As far as the global concerned, Eastern Africa would get more rainfall in regions like Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

The places that will be adversely affected because of the changes made in Suvarna Dvipa and the Bharatiya Empire are mainly China, Mongolia, Chile, Argentina, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.

Eastern and Northern China will get drier and hotter. Rivers like the Yellow River will reduce in volume, and the Gobi Desert is likely to expand into Inner Mongolia.

Mongolia will get drier, along with other Central Asian regions like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, all seeing less rainfall.

Southern China, especially in the regions of Guangdong, Yunnan, and Guangxi, would get more rainfall.

Chile and Argentina could get drier. Argentina’s Pampas could see less rainfall. Patagonia could be drier, and the pastureland could be reduced. Snowfall could be reduced in the Andes, reducing the freshwater supply. And finally, there would be more droughts in the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and Lashkaristan. Forests may be lost in the Ottoman Empire and Greece. Desertification could spread in Jordan and Israel under the Ottoman.

Overall, from the perspective of the Bharatiya Empire, there are more net positives than net negatives with the completion of the two projects. Hence, after all the planning, Vijay decisively passed an imperial decree to initiate the projects in both regions of the empire simultaneously.

A public auction was held for construction companies to bid for the tender. The tender was sold according to the five major infrastructural projects in both regions of the Bharatiya Empire and Suvarna Dvipa, as well as sub-projects within the projects.

When the plans were made public, almost a war was started among the construction companies in the Empire to win the contracts for the core projects and sub-projects. In order to encourage more construction companies to participate in the infrastructure building, Vinod, with the permission of Vijay, exempted the tax for all the companies that won the contracts until the infrastructure projects were completed. This was mainly done in order to encourage the companies to employ more people without having to worry about paying taxes to the government.

The government was at no loss either, since although the tax would not be collected directly, indirectly the jobs would greatly benefit the government because the more people are employed, the more productivity is generated, and for every transaction in the economy, the government takes a cut in the GST. So, in a sense, the construction companies are helping the government by employing the unemployed people in the Empire and controlling the social instability caused by large-scale farming practices.

Almost immediately, millions of jobs were made available, and people began to be concentrated in the northern and southern parts of the Empire, where the infrastructure projects were taking place. Singha Construction Company, Shetty Construction Company, Kalyan Construction Company, Bhonsle Construction Company, and Frontier Construction Firm became the five largest construction companies in the Empire, reaping the biggest benefits from the government’s initiative.

Starting such massive projects in two different regions can be considered almost impossible to complete at any time in the future. But now is the perfect era to get both projects done before human resources become too costly, not to mention that in the next four to five years, there is a high chance that steam-powered excavators could be manufactured.

At first, when the leaders of the European countries—such as Leopold I, Balthasar Charles, Louis XIV, Giovanni Morosini, Charles Gustav, Alfonso IV de Braganza, Charles II Stuart, William III of Orange, along with other kings and leaders—heard about the two massive large-scale infrastructure projects the Bharatiyas were planning, they believed the empire had completely lost its mind. But when they actually heard the news about the projects being initiated and tens of millions of people, a number mind-boggling for their minds, as even the population of their countries was not that much, began to actually start the project, they did not know how to feel.

They were bewildered, they were amazed, they were shocked. Some showed disdain, some showed admiration, some showed doubt, some showed skepticism, while in the depths of their hearts, there was also a hint of fear: if Emperor Vijay is willing to mobilise so many people for an infrastructure project, what will he do in case of a war?

It is after this show of strength that the whole of Europe began to finally realise the monster that they had unconsciously ignored for the longest time. What would happen to them if one day this monster showed its fangs towards Europe? Would the proud and self-righteous Europeans be able to bear it? Nobody knew how to answer this question. Nobody talked about it either. But like a seed planted in the hearts of all the European kings and leaders—allies and enemies alike—they unconsciously reached a consensus that the Bharatiya Empire might become the largest hurdle for Europe’s dominance.

Putting the threat of the Bharatiya Empire aside, there were also some smart kings in Europe who noticed the advantages of large-scale infrastructure projects by the Bharatiya Empire. For example, Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia immediately realised that infrastructure on a large scale could not only improve the economic strength of a nation but also cultivate more able-bodied men who are ready to march into battle.

Additionally, he had purchased a few harvesters from the Bharatiya Empire, which led to a lot of unemployment in his territory. He was worried about what to do with all this population, who would end up causing trouble for him. But now, he got the answer to this dilemma from the Bharatiya Empire itself. With countless ideas and realisations in mind, he too immediately started road construction projects throughout his territory. Spanish Emperor Balthasar Charles had a similar idea.

Most, if not all, societies in Europe are profit-driven, so when harvesters were made available to the European market by Bharatiya manufacturers, most nobles, after realizing that the harvester could not only increase the speed at which the grain is harvested but also be more economical than employing slaves or serfs, immediately switched to large-scale farming with harvesters, with no regard for human lives. Most European kings, including Charles, were in a dilemma about what to do with all the excess unemployment.

The slaves were easy to deal with, as they were either sent back to the colonies or sold to countries with colonies that used them as disposable labour. But serfs, who were people of their own country, no matter how lowly they were, could not be treated as unkindly as slaves. The Bharatiya Empire’s action of starting large-scale infrastructure projects and employing tens of millions of people soon provided an answer to this problem.

Following suit, not only did Charles start road construction and canal construction projects in Spain, but he also initiated a few projects in the Viceroyalty of New Spain in order to not only heighten the military effectiveness of his colonial army but also increase the development speed of the colony. Unfortunately, Charles Stuart of England and William III of the Netherlands also noticed the advantages, and they too started infrastructure projects.

Alexis I of the Tsarist Russian Empire mostly thought the infrastructure projects of the Bharatiya Empire were a waste of time and money, but Peter Alexandrovich Romanov thought completely differently. He decisively started several infrastructure projects in the Far East and increased the migration of people from the western part of the Russian Empire to his duchy by giving out job opportunities as well as putting out good migration policies.

Overall, Vijay’s action of starting the two massive infrastructure projects inadvertently set off an infrastructure construction frenzy around the world. The usage of slave labour was reduced in Europe, but it further increased in the colonies as a result. At this time, the world was experiencing the growth of economic surplus like never before. The subcontinent, Australia, Europe, and the Americas all initiated major building projects. Some historians in the future would even claim the decade as the “Decade of Humans Building Civilisation.”

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The money required to initiate the projects was in several billions of Varaha, which was not a small amount even for the rich and wealthy Bharatiya Empire Treasury. It is especially so now because all the gold in the treasury is being converted into legal tender, making it impossible for the government to touch the money—apart from 20 tonnes of gold that is kept in reserve in the Bharatiya Empire’s Treasury, there isn’t anything left.

In order to arrange the money, Vijay sold security bonds in the name of the empire for the first time.

The bond was directly issued by the government of the Bharatiya Empire as well as the governor’s offices of various frontiers in Suvarna Dwipa.

The reason why all the bonds were not issued by the Bhartiya Government was to reduce the risk and also to increase the pressure on the governor’s offices in various frontiers in Suvarna Dwipa.

The purpose of the bonds was outlined as an infrastructure development project under the name ” Bharat Nirman Bond “, with a total valuation of 5 billion Varaha. These bonds were issued in 5 million units, priced at 1000 Varaha per bond, with a maturity period of 10 years.

The interest per annum on the bond was issued as 6.5 percent, meaning after maturity each bond would be worth 1650 Varaha, creating a total interest of 3.25 billion for the customers who bought the bond and requiring the government to repay 8.25 billion Varaha of money.

To Be Continued…

P.S. Im better now