Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

223  Dakshin Bharatiya Empire Year End Report Part :5 (END)

Dakshin Bhartiya Empire, Vijayanagara state, capital city - Hampi.

The Next Day

After Kumar's report on the progress of postal services and post offices in the empire, it was 6 in the evening. Vijay concluded that the year-end summit would adjourn for the day and resume where it left off tomorrow. And hence, here we are.

It was 8 o'clock in the morning, and Hampi was bustling as usual. People were going about their business, unaware that the Empire was about to take a drastic turn after this year-end summit. As a matter of fact, even Vijay did not know this.

All the ministers woke up early in the morning, had their breakfast, and arrived half an hour early at the parliament building. Similar to yesterday, Vijay made his way to the parliament at 9 o'clock, just after the opening speech and customary rituals were done.

Vijay, as he did yesterday, took his throne as the meeting resumed.

This time, it was Nirmal, the Minister of Transportation. Vijay held a good impression of Nirmal because, from the reports he had been receiving, the road construction in the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire had been progressing at remarkable speeds.

Nirmal, who took the stage, began his report. "Good morning, respected ministers of the Empire and His Majesty the Emperor. The Ministry of Transportation has been tirelessly working every day of the week to complete and expand the unified road network of the Empire."

"The construction of roads has commenced and has never halted. Currently, we have successfully constructed national highways connecting major cities in the Empire. The expansion of the town network is also progressing at a rapid pace and is already 60 per cent complete. Roads have also been laid to some important villages with post offices. Presently, the Ministry of Transportation has completed the construction of 3386 km of highway roads made from cement."

"In addition, we have laid down 4156 km of network roads connecting cities, major towns, and large villages with post offices. These roads are constructed from stone and gravel. When some of these routes are identified as important economic roads, they are upgraded to cement roads later."

Everyone in the parliament was impressed, including Vijay. By calculating all the roads constructed so far, it amounted to 7456 kilometres. Considering that the construction started at the beginning of 1653, the average speed of road construction per day was 10 kilometres. This was an impressive number, as even in the 21st century, few countries could achieve this rate. Of course, it is easier to find manpower and overcome obstacles like land rights in this era, leading to faster infrastructure development. Nonetheless, it was still impressive, especially considering that the world record was 17.8 kilometres per day, set by India's own Transportation Minister, Nitin Gadkari.

Nirmal continued, "Our vision for the future is to extend the road network throughout the empire and connect every small village to the larger network of the empire's united roads. This is a never-ending goal as our ambition increases with the empire. Thank you for your time."

*Clap clap clap clap*

Claps rang out in the parliament as the ministers appreciated the excellent road conditions between the various cities in the empire. Previously, it used to take a few days to travel from one corner of the empire to another. Now, it only took a day, with regular horse changes ( Pit Stop, but horses are changed ).

Next, it was the turn of the old man Narasimha. Narasimha was the Minister of Agriculture, the most reserved among the ministers. He did not socialize very often and always spent his time with the scholars at the Bhartiya Academy of Sciences.

Although he may appear modest, Narasimha's achievements could not hide in front of Vijay, showcasing how capable this old man truly is. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the most successful minister in the empire.

Narasimha slowly ascended to the stage, giving a namaste to everyone as he began to report his achievements.

"The Ministry of Agriculture has been very busy in recent years. Out of the 50,000 villages in the empire, we were able to improve irrigation and reinforce reservoirs in 30,000 villages, about 60%. Due to this, more land has been reclaimed. We have recently popularized different crop planting methods brought out by the Bhartiya Academy of Sciences. Additionally, we have established a consultancy agency where we can suggest to farmers what crops to plant in their fields depending on the environment.

This year's harvest, after various upgrades to the agricultural infrastructure, has yielded a grain output of 12,220,000 tons, enough to make the Empire self-sufficient and even have a little surplus for export.

To store these grains, 500 warehouses with a capacity of 10,000 tons each and a thousand warehouses with a capacity of 5,000 tons each were built all over the Empire. This initiative increased the capacity of the food bank initiative of His Majesty, making it capable of storing 10 million tons of grain, enough to feed all its citizens for half a year. Currently, the food banks are filled to 10%, as most of the previous stock was used up for paying the workers in road construction. Starting this year, half of the excess grain is stored in food banks until they are full, and then regularly replaced with newer grain before the old grain becomes unusable.

As for the land owned by the people for farming purposes, it currently measures 90 million acres or 364,215 square kilometres, with arable land comprising only two-thirds of the occupied land."

*Clap clap clap.*

Claps rang out in the parliament once again as no one was expecting that the silent old man could achieve all this in the span of a few years. What the old man did was extraordinary; he completely eradicated the food problem in the empire. Vijay, although he knew this data, was still a little surprised by the amount of land that had been cultivated. Although he knew most of the reported land was reclaimed from wasteland due to the loosened land ownership regulations, Vijay was confident that within a few decades, this land would be full of agricultural products.

As for why the land ownership requirements were reduced, it was because Vijay had ordered it so. He wanted most of the people in the empire to be landowners so that the opportunities that would soon arise would be accessible to as many people as possible.

The next person to take the stage was the Minister of Health, Lokesh. "The Ministry of Health has been focused on raising awareness of sanitation and cleanliness in the empire. We have successfully spread the message throughout the empire, and the ministry has also established clinics in 3000 different locations throughout the empire."

*Clap clap clap*

Although the achievements were not outstanding compared to his peers, applause was still given for the work done by the Ministry of Health, as the parliament knew that the support received by the ministry from the government was limited.

The limitation on the expansion of the Ministry of Health was actually a directive from Vijay himself. Vijay remained uncertain about the trajectory he wanted the empire's medical practices to take—whether to embrace Western medicine or explore alternative paths. It wasn't that he held an overly favourable view of Bharat's traditional ayurvedic medicine; rather, he harboured skepticism towards Western medicine and its long-term implications. Given his unique perspective on the future, Vijay was keenly aware of the trajectory Western medicine had charted for humanity, prompting him to proceed with caution in determining the empire's medical course.

While Western medicine offers a formidable defence against diseases, the constant evolution of germs, as they are subjected to harsh chemicals and medicines aimed to exterminate them, renders those germs that survive increasingly resistant to various treatments, thereby bolstering their strength. There is a theory from his past life that evolution is easier for simpler life forms as opposed to complex life forms whose genes have stabilized. Concurrently, humans have grown reliant on Western medicine to such an extent that even common ailments like the cold necessitate pharmaceutical intervention, sidelining the body's natural immune response. Vijay is uncertain how long this eternal struggle will last, and he is content not knowing the outcome.

Amidst this backdrop, Vijay remains undecided on the future direction of medical practices. Presently, he finds solace in the technological advancements of ayurvedic medicine. Leveraging his transferred knowledge, Lokesh diligently conducts experiments aimed at providing ayurvedic medicine with a scientific footing. However, the lack of a robust scientific framework remains a glaring deficiency in Ayurvedic medicine. With his background as a scientist in his previous life, Vijay is acutely aware of this limitation, further complicating his deliberations on the optimal path forward for medical practices within the empire.

*Step Step *

Vijay's thoughts were interrupted as Jagannath Mohan took the stage, bringing along with him a thick stack of documents.

"Good afternoon, respected ministers and His Majesty the Emperor. I will not waste everyone's time this fine afternoon. Firstly, I am very pleased to relay the news that the empire's GDP has substantially increased from the year 1654 to 1655."

"Similar to my colleague, Minister of Trade and Commerce Rajesh, let me provide the data of some European countries as a reference. The GDP of Portugal is 15.303 million pounds, converted to gold it is 61.928 tons. The GDP of Spain is 20 million pounds, converted to gold it is 82.522 tons. The GDP of the Venetian Republic is 15.303 million pounds, converted to gold it is 61.261 tons. The GDP of Polish Lithuania is 5.10075 million pounds, with the weight in gold being 20.630 tons. The GDP of Russia is 25 million pounds, and the value of gold is 103.1525 tons. The GDP of the Holy Roman Empire is 10.2025 million pounds, with its value in gold being 41.261 tons. The GDP of France is 30.6075 million pounds, with its value in gold being 123.85 tons. The GDP of the Dutch Netherlands is 5.10075 million pounds, with its value in gold being 20.63 tons. Lastly, the GDP of the UK is 10.2025 million pounds, with its value in gold being 41.26 tons."

"Now, when it comes back to us, in 1650 during the time of the Vijayanagara Empire when His Majesty just inherited the throne, we had an economy of 11,764,705 varaha, valued at approximately 40 tons of gold. In 1651, we experienced a constant increase of 10% in the GDP, bringing our GDP to 12,941,176 Varaha valued at 43.4 tons of gold. The following year saw another 10% increase, with the GDP reaching 14,235,294 Varaha valued at 47 tons of gold. The subsequent year also saw a 10% increase, resulting in a GDP of 15,658,823 Varaha, valued at 51 tons. There was a significant jump in 1654 due to the reunification of some of the states in the north and the inclusion of Sri Lanka into the empire, along with the gold obtained from Mughal nobles during the war. The total GDP of the Empire from 1654 to 1655 was 23,055,570.8 Varaha, valued at approximately 79 tons of gold."

"The full benefits from the unification of the states have not yet been realized. Currently, only material possessions like gold from Mughal nobles and land have been acquired. In the next few years, as the economy is boosted by civilian businesses, these new states are poised to make a significant contribution to the annual GDP."

*Clap clap clap*

Claps rang out from the parliamentarians as it was the first time they had visualized the economic representation of their empire in so much detail. Vijay remained calm as he had already read all this information. Moreover, he was the one who proposed the system of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With the conclusion of Minister Jagannath Mohan's speech, everyone had a clear understanding of their roles in the coming year. Cooperation with different ministries would also become smoother after this year-end summit. With this, the first year and summit of the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire ended, followed by a large banquet to celebrate the beginning of such summits every year.

P.S. Finally over! I think I can add some filler stories in the middle of these chained chapters in order to reduce fatigue. Just got the idea now, and I think I will do that from the next arc.

P.S. Morning, I left my home in an EV for college. I travelled about 14 km when I realized I had not brought my cheat sheet. Then, I thought for exactly 10 seconds before turning around and venting back 14 km. When I reached home again, it was 9:00. The exam was at 9:30, and the EV could not be used again. I took my mom's car, put on some fast and furious music, made the 16 km journey in 25 minutes, and reached college at 9:35.

So the main question is, was the cheat sheet useful? ..... n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

F**k yes, it was! Everything I wrote on the cheat sheet came up in the test 50/50.

So smart decision? : https://shorturl.at/bHKQV