Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Vijayanagar State, Capital City: Hampi. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

|| 1655 Vedic Calendar, four months and four weeks after the New Year ||

A week had gone by since His Majesty Vijay Devaraya placed orders for the warships. In the economic hubs and shipbuilding coastal cities like Mangaluru, Kochi, Colombo, and Visakhapatnam, a palpable sense of vibrancy permeated the air.

While these cities had been experiencing rapid growth even before the orders because of the well-developed road infrastructure network, the pace intensified significantly with the orders placed by the Imperial Committee for the empire’s Navy.

The main economic heart of these cities, which was the shipbuilding industry, came to life. It began to beat Rapidly, pumping the blood of prosperity throughout the empire. The merchants who ran the supporting industries in the naval industry, important nodes of this bloodstream, became excited as the orders poured in showing them a way to immense wealth.

Each and every attribute of the cities seemed to increase as if injected with steroids. The main shipyards of the empire began to expand, and they immediately started laying the keels for the new warships.

The shipping route from Visakhapatnam to the Ahom Kingdom flourished as trade volumes doubled almost instantly, fueled by the rapid increase in orders for Himalayan timber. The timber merchants of the Ahom Kingdom rejoiced at the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire’s initiative.

With orders pouring in at such a brisk pace, they harboured confidence in acquiring significant land holdings in the royal capital within a matter of months. Meanwhile, the royal family experienced a windfall in revenue during this brief but lucrative event, as tax revenues collected from these merchants reached up to 30%.

Given the labour-intensive nature of the timber industry and the widespread availability of raw materials within the empire, such heavy taxation seemed justified. Theoretically, the timber in the Himalayan Mountain forests belonged to the Ahom Kingdom, making it only natural for merchants to pay a hefty tax to sell timber that originally belonged to the royal family.

Elated by the sudden influx of wealth, the king of the Ahom Kingdom wasted no time and promptly placed an order for 1000 muskets and 20, 25 kg caliber cannons at the Raya Armory. Sensing an opportunity to reclaim lands occupied by the Mughal Empire, the king seized the moment to bolster his military capabilities.

Back in the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, not only did the main shipyards experience heightened activity, but supporting industries also saw a surge in demand. Companies specializing in manufacturing tools and equipment for shipbuilding witnessed rapid growth in their market share.

Furthermore, the price of specific types of cloth soared as demand for shipbuilding materials, especially for the production of sails, reached unprecedented levels.

It wasn’t only the shipbuilding industry that experienced this boom; it was also the heavy industries of the empire, specifically the arms industry led by Raya Armory, a company of His Majesty Vijay Devaraya. Raya Armory was operating at full capacity due to the production of warships, leading to the manufacturing of artillery installed on them.

This surge in arms production, similar to shipbuilding, also extended to supporting industries, which began receiving a flurry of orders for carriages, bolts, nails, bearings, etc.

The orders for warships brought significant stimulation to the economy of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire. With the completion of the backbone infrastructure network connecting major cities, raw materials flowed swiftly across the empire. This economic surge benefited numerous supporting industries, including Vijayanand’s VRL logistics company.

As its founder, Vijayanand witnessed another surge in business within a few months. To accommodate the increased demand, he promptly ordered 20 more carriages for his logistics company. However, this proved insufficient to meet demand, and unfortunately, he lacked the necessary liquidity in the company.

Nevertheless, he remained determined to invest all available liquidity into purchasing additional carriages as soon as they were manufactured. Fortunately, the place where he procured carriages utilized machine tools, reducing production costs and time while enhancing carriage reliability, thereby easing his burden.

The Venetians, who had invested in the shipbuilding industry of the empire without expecting immediate profit, were pleasantly surprised to see signs of profitability within just a month of their investment. Among them, the main investor from the Republic of Venice, Francis Molin, was particularly delighted.

He viewed this development as a significant opportunity for their family’s fortunes to ascend in the naval industry. With the orders issued by the imperial committee, he now harboured certainty that the bottleneck their family had faced in the Republic of Venice could be overcome with the aid of their investment here.

Satisfied with this realization, he promptly penned a letter to inform the Patriarch of their newfound prospects.

However, despite Vijay selling three of the four shipyards he owned, the majority of the profits continued to flow back into his account. This was primarily due to the fact that most of the orders were being fulfilled by the Raya Shipyard.

The total order Vijay placed this time was for 200 Hampi Class sloops and 80 Vinayak class frigates. This was the largest order Vijay had ever placed, prompted by the drastic reduction in the combat effectiveness of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire Navy.

Originally, there were 220 sloops and 48 frigates, along with two man-of-war battleships, bringing the total tonnage of the Empire Navy to 48,000 tonnes before the battle against the Ottoman fleet.

Unfortunately, after the battle with the Ottomans, sixty sloops and twenty-four frigates were lost, resulting in a loss of 6,000 tonnes’ worth of sloops, which is a reduction of 27.27%, and 12,000 tonnes’ worth of frigates, which is exactly 50%. Overall, the Empire Navy lost 18,000 tonnes’ worth of warships, leaving only 28,000 tonnes of warships—a reduction of 39.13%.

Fortunately for Vijay, due to him placing some orders even before the war began, fifty sloops out of the 200 ordered had already been manufactured, along with ten frigates out of the 80 ordered.

With this immediate replenishment of warships, the Mughal Empire, which was quickly ramping up its naval capabilities, slowed down, stunned by the speed at which the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire’s lost warships were replenished.

This time, the orders placed for the manufacturing of warships were not evenly distributed as before. Despite Vijay’s inherent bias, he ensured a reasonable spread of orders across the various capable shipyards. The Raya Shipyard received an order for 60 Hampi Class Sloops and 40 Vinayak Class Frigates.

The Chola Shipyard, with a major investor being his uncle from the Shetty family, secured 40 orders for the Hampi Class Sloops and 20 orders for the Vinayak Class Frigates. Similarly, the Ashoka Shipyard, backed by the Kalyan family, obtained orders for 40 Hampi Class Sloops and 20 Vinayak Class Frigates.

As for the shipyard with the Venetian Molin family as the major shareholder, they received orders for 30 Hampi Class Sloops and 10 Vinayak Class Frigates. Notably, out of the fifty sloops and ten frigates already manufactured, they were split between the Raya Shipyard and Chola Shipyard.

The orders for the frigates were occupied by these four shipyards, while there were still 30 warships of the Hampi Class Sloops to be built. Vijay considered this order thoroughly and handed it over to the new Berunda Shipyard, a shipyard run by Gana Prabhu Berunda .

The reason why Vijay handed over the military orders to this civilian shipyard was twofold: firstly, to encourage civilian industries, and secondly, he was impressed by the track record of this shipyard. This shipyard was constructed in a similar structure to the Raya Shipyard and even had its own design bureau. The first product of the shipyard was a 300-tonne merchant ship.

The speciality of this ship was that, although it was larger than the Dhana Class Armed Merchant Ship, it was cheaper to buy, Had a larger carrying capacity, was easier to manage due to lower personnel needed, and its manufacturing process was relatively easier, Making it available much sooner than the Dhana Class Armed Merchant ship.

With the success of their 300-tonne merchant ship, the Berunda Shipyard embarked on designing a larger vessel. After extensive effort, they successfully produced a ship nearly akin to the Vinayak-class frigate in weight, boasting a speed of 7 knots and a two-mast design. This new ship captured the admiration of merchants across the empire.

While the vessel did not excel in any single attribute, its cargo capacity stood out, accommodating 270 to 300 tonnes despite its 450-tonne weight. Moreover, its price was only slightly higher than that of the Dhana Class Armed Merchant ship, which had a lower goods capacity of 120 tons. This merchant ship swiftly became an instant bestseller, driving significant expansion for the Behrenda Shipyard.

In support of this burgeoning shipbuilder, Vijay allocated 30 orders to the shipyard.

Additionally, Vijay sold the patent and manufacturing techniques of the Hampi-class sloop to the shipyard, under strict secrecy clauses. In exchange, he acquired 15% of the company’s shares through this technology exchange. Although Gana Prabu, who had to relinquish 15% of his shares, felt a tinge of disappointment, the immediate order of thirty warships lifted his spirits.

He understood the need to give something to get something and recognized the bright prospects of cooperation. With the royal family backing his shipyard and inclusion in the empire’s procurement list, Gana Prabu looked forward to a prosperous future and felt content about the collaboration.

Once the manufacturing of all these warships concludes, the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire will not only have restored its naval strength but also significantly enhanced its capabilities, surpassing many European countries in the process.

To Be Continued...

P.S. Sorry the chapter Became 2, had too much data to Convey.