Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology
Chapter 972: Canning!! (1/2)

Chapter 972: Canning!! (1/2)

5th April 1677

Akhand Bharatiya Empire, Imperial Capital-Bengaluru, Simhasana Bhavana

‘Sigh,’ a suppressed breath escaped Vijay’s mouth.

Sitting in the royal palace, surrounded by a wall of reports, he lightly massaged his temples with a pained expression on his face. Vijay had already lost count of how many times he had sighed today. The news he read gave him a splitting headache; its contents unpleasant, to say the least. Despite the intelligence covering only parts of the Middle East and not the whole region, it was already so depressing that he couldn’t even imagine what the situation further north would be like. Every time he thought about that fact, it felt like someone had poked a hole in his lungs, leaving him breathless.

“Is it really that bad of news, Father? “Agni, looking worried, something extremely rare considering his personality, enquired.

Vijay looked at his son, let out a defeated breath once again, and shook his head.

“Our intelligence network is riddled with holes, with a lot of the agents passing away in the plague, especially since most of our agents have been concentrated around densely populated areas, but still, the network is not insalvageable.”

“Most of our agents have at least a basic college education, and they have basic knowledge about what a microbe is, so even though no one knew how to fight against the plague, they still took adequate precautions and completely avoided contact with society altogether and initiated the preservation protocol to survive. As more of these people come out, and with some investment and efforts, it can be rebuilt to the level it was before the plague, but it’s the people of Persia I’m worried about.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“Estimated deaths in major cities have already reached 40 to 50,000. What do you think?”

‘Gasp!’

Agni’s eyes widened, he was shocked, how could he not, the total death of the entire empire, consisting of more than 250 million people, is only around 100,000 or so, and even that was the largest death the empire has ever seen since the Unification War, but now so many deaths have happened in a few of the largest cities of Persia alone?

Agni looked at his father, unable to speak. Now he could understand why he had been sighing since dawn.

“What do you intend to do, Father?” He had no suggestions; this was too difficult a decision for him to make. He could already sense the Persians would resent the Bharatiya Empire for not helping them in their time of need. And when he thought of the Kingdom of Lalishsthan, further west and bordering the Ottoman Empire, he couldn’t help but shudder.

Vijay shook his head and leaned back into his chair, “There is no other option but to help out these neighbours of ours.”

“We have mostly diverted our troubles, but they are still experiencing it.”

“The resentment will definitely be present, but if we act quickly and send some support, this relationship could be mended and brought to a level that was before, maybe even to a better level among the common people.”

Vijay rang the bell and called over Ganesh.

As soon as Ganesh came to the office, Vijay had the prime minister and the marshal summoned.

Soon Vinod and Gangadhar entered the office and sat down after some pleasantries.

Vinod and Gangadhar took a quick look at the Prince out of the corner of their eyes.

‘His Majesty is preparing to delegate his power already?’

Both of them had this thought.

There was a hint of melancholy in their faces, but this was soon covered up, ‘Well, I still have at least a decade to go. His Majesty is in good health; he should live for longer, so it is all right,’ Vinod thought.

Vijay obviously did not pay any attention to the thought of the prime minister and the marshal, and he had no intention of paying attention to it either.

He threw over the intelligence reports he had finished reading and spoke out, “It’s a good thing that I sent the formula of the fumigation powder and the method of camphor smoke inhalation to the intelligence agents. Looking at their situation, they dearly need it.”

Reading the reports, Vinod and Gangadhar soon understood the situation in the Middle East; their feet turned cold, and their faces went white.

“I have decided we will provide them with the concoctions at the lowest possible price, ” Vijay declared. ” As long as we are not incurring any losses, we can sell it to them.”

“The military will be responsible for this. Send the military to meet their kings and notify them of our intentions.”

“Gangadhar, you’ll handle the delivery of the herbs and concoctions to the neighbouring kingdoms. And we need to come up with a platform where the medical companies and the herb farmers can negotiate with our neighbouring kings. Vinod, you will be responsible for this.”

He paused for a split second and quickly added, “But tell them not to be too greedy, profits can be made, but it should not be above 5%.”

Gangadhar and Vinod both accepted the orders, but Vinod brought up a problem, “Your Majesty, in order for these herb farmers to expand their farms, they have spent a lot of money. We have footed part of the bill during the time of the military administration, but still, the 5% of profit can only cover their costs of expansion; it might not really bring them any profit, they will be dissatisfied with this order.”

Vijay stayed silent, as he had not considered this, but thinking about it, he still insisted, “It will still be 5% profit, but tell them that when they sell the herbs to Europe, then they can increase the margins as much as the Russians and whoever else is affected is willing to buy.”

Vinod thought about it for a while and felt like it could work, “I’ll get it done, Your Majesty, please leave it to me.”

“Good!”

After both the prime minister and the marshal left, it was only Vijay and Agni in the room. Apart from the birds chirping in the garden and the distant cries of the gardener uncle scolding someone again, there was no other sound.

Vijay broke the silence and finally spoke out, “Agni, do you think what we did was enough to mend the relationship?”

Agni did not immediately answer the question but asked a question of his own, “I can’t understand one thing, Father. Why should we actually try so hard to help our neighbours out?”

“I know they are pitiful, but aren’t we doing too much?”

Thinking about something, he continued, “I know the principle of poor people being dissatisfied with the rich, but still, what did we have anything to do with their disaster?”

Vijay was a little disappointed with Agni. “We have to mend the relationships because these are our subordinate forces, and I want it to stay that way.”

“To the outside world, these are their own kingdoms that are allied with the Bharatiya Empire, but you, I, and everyone in the upper echelons know that these are simply the subordinate forces, with their economy, strategic points, and military controlled by us and influenced by us.”

“Now tell me, if we don’t try to mend the relationship by helping out the Persians and maybe the Yezidis, can this influence last long?”

“Maybe they won’t say anything now, let’s be honest, they have no way to oppose us, but in their minds, will the Atashban and Serwan families start thinking they’re no longer subordinates? That since we didn’t help them, this is just a transactional relationship, nothing more than an alliance?”

“And alliances, after all, are just two separate entities united by a common interest. If that interest is harmed, or if a greater one appears elsewhere, the relationship can change in an instant.”

“This is exactly what I am trying to avoid. Our neighbours should be our subordinates, not our allies, and since they are subordinates, we should do our best to help the people of the subordinate. In this way, even if some other big power comes to bribe them, they will think twice before accepting that bribe. Who knows, their people might even resist this accepting of the bribe.”

“Now do you understand?”

Agni felt ashamed; he considered things too simply. “I have learnt, Father, thank you for your explanation.”

“And to answer your previous question, following the thought process you just mentioned, I feel like sending the medical help alone is not enough.”

“Then what else can we do?” Vijay had an intriguing smile on his face as he clasped his hands and leaned back.

“I think we should provide them food, Father, and not just grain, but all types of actual food.”

Vijay’s eyes widened as he nodded in appreciation.

He reached out to the last drawer in the table, pulled out a bundle of documents, and threw them onto the table.

Agni was curious, so he got up and came forward.

Canning! was the title written.

Agni removed the thread that was binding the documents and quickly flipped through everything.

His eyes widened; the documents consisted of detailed canning methods, nearly four to five canning methods, as well as a detailed list of more than 20 items that can be canned. And most amazing of all, by this canning method proposed in the documents, the food can last at a minimum of three months for the foods that are easy to spoil, and at least 9, 12, 18, or even 24 months for other food items that already have a natural shelf life of a few months.

Agni looked at his father with amazement.

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