Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

14th August 1659

Akhand Bharatiya Empire, Imperial capital Bengaluru, Simhasana Bhavana

Within the office in the Royal Palace, an old white man wearing a yamaka stood in front of Vijay.

"Your Majesty, as of now, a total of 28 companies have been approved for listing, and thirty-nine more are in audit pending status," Joseph Oppenheimer handed over the work report as he continued, "By November, it should be no problem to have at least 200 companies. People in the empire seem to have a very good impression of the MSE, so it should be no problem for these companies who are listed first to make a lot of money, further expanding the influence and reputation of the Mangaluru Stock Exchange," Joseph smiled.

Explore more at empire

Maybe at first, he only agreed to join the MSE as its director because of His Majesty's promise to the Jewish people, but after working in the MSE for a few weeks, he had already fallen in love with it. He got to witness all sorts of interesting businesses, all their commercial information and innovations. What's more, there wasn't anyone pointing fingers at him, saying which company to accept and which not to. As a matter of fact, even he did not have the right to deny any company from listing. According to the commercial practices of the Bharatiya Empire, everything is done according to a protocol. So, once a company meets all the requirements in the said protocol, the company is automatically listed on the stock exchange.

Vijay nodded his head with satisfaction. "You did a good job, Joseph. Keep up the good work." Vijay got up, nodded his head with a smile, and left his office.

Joseph soon returned to Mangaluru to continue his work.

In fact, the financial overhaul Vijay had planned is not yet fully completed. Only the first objective of establishing the stock market is completed, while other things, like clearly forming a division between commercial banks, investment banks, and insurance firms, have not yet been made. A bowl of rice cannot be eaten in a single bite, so Vijay took it one step at a time. When the stock market is officially opened, then he would introduce other financial reforms and financial tools.

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After dealing with Joseph, Vijay came straight to the conference room.

Surprisingly, a lot of important people were already present in the conference room, including Prime Minister Vinod.

As soon as Vijay entered the room, everyone stood up and paid their respects. Vijay calmly gestured for them to sit down and took his seat. He looked at everyone's faces and nodded.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"The time has come to finally implement the naval net operation and completely bring the Indian Ocean under our control."

Vijay stared at Gangadhar.

"Admiral, are you ready with the battle plan?"

Gangadhar nodded his head with confidence. He stood up and spread out an oceanic map of the Indian Ocean in front of everyone.

"The islands of Maldives and Seychelles, both designated as a tier 2 important naval base, are currently under our control, and a naval base is already built on these islands. The only thing we have to do is to expand these bases to make them suitable for their strategic advantage, especially the island of Seychelles, which allows the empire to exert influence throughout the eastern coast of Africa."

He took out a chess piece coloured saffron and placed it on the map one by one. Then he took out green pawns as he continued.

"The Cocos Islands, the Christmas Islands, the Chagos Archipelago, and the Reunion Island—all of these islands are currently barren of humans. There are no Indigenous people, travelling merchants, or any form of civilization on these islands, so these islands are not a problem to occupy. In fact, I have already arranged a few missions for the Navy in order to establish a small outpost on these islands and to build up the basic infrastructure needed for prolonged stay, But..." Gangadhar looked at the commanders of the Navy with a serious expression on his face. "Make no mistake, these targets are easy to capture, but they are not irrelevant."

Gangadhar took out a brush dipped in saffron ink and circled around a few pawns.

"The Cocos Islands and the Christmas Islands, both tier two important bases, are critical for the empire to project its power onto any South Asian country, especially in the current situation. Capturing these islands would put us right in the front yard of the Dutch controlling the Indonesian archipelago."

He took out a blue brush. "Reunion is designated as an important tier three supporting base, which helps us maintain our control over our interests around the island of Madagascar and acts as a gateway to the interior of the Indian Ocean."

Finally, he took out a red-coloured ink brush.

"The island of Chagos is the most critical island we have to conquer in the initial stages of the mission, no matter the cost," he stared at everyone with a serious expression. "Chagos, along with Andaman, Nicobar and Socotra, forms a triangular offensive and defensive formation and the first line of attack for the Navy of the Bharatiya Empire within the Indian Ocean, making the interior of the Bharatiya Empire almost impenetrable. Not to mention, Chagos is designated as the headquarters for the Indian Ocean Fleet."

Looking at everyone who was seriously studying the map, Gangadhar was very satisfied. He took out a red pawn. "Currently, the tier one critical base Socotra is under the control of the Soqotri people. The islands of Comoros and Mayotte, which are tier three important supporting bases, are under the control of Swahili Arab traders. The island of Madagascar, another tier three supporting base, is under the rule of three different leaders named Merina, Sakalava, and Betsimisaraka. Finally, the island of Mauritius is currently controlled by the British Empire. This island is the springboard for the Europeans to enter the Indian Ocean. It is the most tricky target and the most dangerous in our whole operation. At any cost, we have to capture Mauritius, which is a tier two military base."

Everyone fell into contemplation. 'Except for a few islands which are a little tricky, there isn't much problem with this operation.' 'Did His Majesty overestimate the difficulty?' 'Why did we have to expend so many resources to expand the Navy? Wouldn't the old warships be enough?' Jagannath Mohan, the Minister of Finance, thought so in his mind.

Vijay naturally noticed a few ministers with light-hearted and dismissive expressions on their faces, but instead of getting angry, he smiled, because he knew the reason why these people did not take the mission seriously was because they did not fully understand. Strength on paper doesn't always mean strength in reality. The Bharatiya Empire's existence alone proves that point, but people seem to have forgotten it.

"Roshan, from your channel, what is the naval power of all the European nations combined located on Mauritius island?"

Roshan stared at the ministers with a serious face. "Almost at any moment, the British have around 20 to 30 battleships with a displacement of 800 tons at the minimum and 1500 tons at the maximum stationed in Mauritius. The French have around a dozen 1,000-ton battleships built by the Portuguese, and the Dutch, having the most interests in the Southeast, have around 100 battleships of varying displacements stationed in Mauritius."

"Putting aside these three European countries that have a very high chance of resisting our move, the naval strength of other neutral countries alone reaches upwards of 120 ships."

This data immediately shocked the ministers attending the meeting. Most of them were not familiar with military knowledge, so when they understood that the enemy potentially had more than 1,000-ton battleships than their own, they began to get worried. "Can't we find an ally? Maybe the Venetians or the Russians would help?" Jagannath Mohan voiced his question.

"Sigh!" Jaishankar immediately shook his head, catching the attention of the Minister of Finance. "Our possible allies for this battle are very few if not none. Even the countries that have signed treaties with us, like the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Venetians, or the Russians, cannot be counted upon. We should know that these countries are not stupid enough to help us. They very well know that by helping us, they will be isolated within the European continent and friction with their neighbours would increase.

Most European countries are hypocritical, after all, and they don't even know it. Maybe they may even think that helping us is a form of betrayal to their white race. Maybe, if we insist, the Russians may help, considering the advantages we provide, but it will also increase the chances of problems arising with our cooperation when it comes to resisting the Ottoman Empire."

Vijay looked at the shocked expressions on the faces of the ministers who were previously complacent. He secretly nodded his head in approval.

"Gangadhar, if in the unlikely case the French, the Dutch, and the English form an alliance to persuade other neutral countries to join their alliance against our naval net operation, will our current Bharatiya Navy be capable of completing the mission?"

To be Continued...

P.S. Thankyou Harinder_Singh_5773 Paaji for the Ice cola

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