Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

The persecution of the Jews was not happening all over Europe at the same time, but it had definitely seen a rise to a new level.

The Jews who had settled in various territories were suddenly reminded of their ancestors' nomadic stories, moving from one region to another in order to avoid being robbed, persecuted, or enslaved. Being discriminated against was something common to most of them, but when the Bharatiya Empire supported the Jews and led to the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel, the backlash from the nobles and the church made the Jews in Europe realise that they were never safe and made them understand that the stories they had heard since childhood were not simple folklore.

The violence was not planned or unified; it was something that happened organically as a reaction to the move of the Bharatiya Empire. So, while some duchies or principalities experienced drastic massacres of Jews, other noble realms saw momentary peace. This spare time was enough for the Jewish community, who had mastered the art of looking after each other, to pass on the news about what was going on. This was enough for the Jewish community in certain regions to act quickly.

Ghettos were places designated for Jews, on the outskirts of cities or towns, out of sight for most people, and had extremely poor living conditions. These places were brought forward by the Venetians in the 16th century, and after the Venetians brought the concept forward, other regions in Europe eventually adapted it.

In the dawn of the 17th century, the persecution against the Jews seemed to have calmed down, especially with the trade between Europe and Asia blossoming. This led to a lot of Jewish people coming out of their ghettos and settling in cities where people were willing to associate with them, but unfortunately, with this new wave of persecution and genocide, they had no choice but to evacuate back to their ghettos.

However, sadly, this time the persecution seemed to be more intense, as even the ghettos were not spared. They were being completely ransacked, and any resistance meant death.

Pockets of Jewish communities that had even lost the ghettos became wanderers once again, moving from one place to another in search of a new home.

This is when a brave Shtadlan, a representative, a leader figure of a pocket Jewish community, decided enough was enough and set off with his community to directly go to Israel.

The news about them being given land to build their own home and being given jobs to earn a living somehow spread throughout Europe, and this led to more Jews migrating to Israel on a large scale. The nobles and the church were naturally very opposed to this movement, but unfortunately, the nobles were focused on eating up the wealth that the Jews had left behind, while the church, ahem, did not have as much power as it had during the peak of 1500 AD, when most countries had to follow the wishes of the pope.

So, even though the church was somewhat successful in intercepting the Jews who were running away, it could not change the overall situation, not to mention the churches were not all white and spotless as they claimed. The bishops running various dioceses were not all exemplary figures without any desire for power or wealth. They too wanted a piece of the meat left by the Jews.

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Surprisingly enough, everything that was happening in Europe was written in the report that Vijay had just put down. He had a victorious smile on his face, as if everything was under his control, which in truth actually was.

Vijay had already predicted that his decision to let the Jewish people establish the Kingdom of Israel would lead to a massive pushback from the European nations.

Religious reasons of all Jews being sinners and people responsible for the death of Yesu is one of the reasons, but that is only a small part of it, because if it were just that, no country would actually prepare an army to march into Israel.

Instead, they would simply not recognise its status, along with diplomatic relations being extremely constrained. Maybe the pope would declare a holy war, but unfortunately, it would be unable to do nothing, since he does not actually have a vast army like in the past to follow through with his declaration.

But now it is obviously not the case. From the report he had read, the Italians actually let the troops from the Vatican City go past their defence line, and some of the people in Italy even joined the small army of the Vatican City, which called themselves new crusaders.

The British, the French, and the Dutch, all three countries, have mobilised their fleets and troops. The allies, like the Russians, Italians, Portuguese, and Spanish, did not show any kind of move against the empire, but they did nothing to stop the advancing enemy either. In fact, he even received some intelligence that the nobles of the Holy Roman Empire were secretly supporting the enemy with logistics and troops.

All this happened because he had crossed the line, helping the Jews establish their own nation in the same place they were kicked away from, in the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea, a region that was historically a stronghold of Europe.

European countries had long been wary of the Bharatiya Empire, the eastern power that had not only risen from revival but had gone through several revolutions to become the unquestioned overlord of Asia. They had tolerated it so far, comforted by the fact that it was still half a world away.

But now, Bharath was at their doorstep, and Bharath had gone as far as to establish a puppet kingdom.

And this puppet kingdom was for the Jews, the very people they despised. To the Europeans, it felt like Bharath had marched into their neighborhood, seized the plot of land where the lowly servants once lived, built a grand house on it, and placed those same servants inside. The only difference now was that the servants were untouchable, because he stood guard with a loaded gun aimed straight at their faces.

Even Vijay would be furious if someone did something like that.

In fact, the reason why Vijay did such a thing was not only to keep his promise to Joseph, which was more like the icing on the cake than the cake itself, but to completely solidify the Bharatiya Empire's influence over the Middle East, Eastern Africa, and Eastern Europe.

In his last life, America did the same thing. They used Israel as a chess piece and supported its development as a balance against other Islamic powers and unstable factors in the Middle East. He did no different.

As for why it had to be a Jewish nation? Because, to be honest, he had never explicitly promised Joseph or any other Jew that he would restore their ancestral homeland. What he had said was that he would help them build a nation somewhere in the Middle East, but not necessarily in Israel.

Yet, he still chose to restore the Jewish nation and let the Jews inhabit it. The reason was simple: he wanted this new nation to remain a loyal ally of the Bharatiya Empire for generations to come. If, in the future, after his passing, this nation decided to abandon its ties and side with the Europeans against the empire, would that not be like raising a tiger only to have it one day turn and tear him apart?

So the Jews were perfect for this. Centuries of persecution have already made the Jews have a very bad impression of the Christians, and now, with the current situation, which was only slightly less intense than the Holocaust of his last life, the bad impression might shift to one of hatred. This is an important emotion to have, one for him to make sure that the Bharatiya Empire and the Jewish people can maintain friendly relations.

Besides, there was another point he had considered, which was that he could not promise any other group would defend Israel as desperately as these Jews. He could allow Bharatiya themselves to occupy the conquered region and declare it a Sanathana-dominant state, but down the line, he did not know if this country could last with its people not connected to the land by heritage. This is not a problem with the Jewish people, as this was the land where their ancestors lived and where their roots ran. It was clear from what he knew about them in his last life that the Jews would fight for every inch of their lives like it were their last inch.

With so many advantages, he had no reason to choose otherwise.

Vijay had his fingers crossed, hoping that his propaganda strategy to take the Jews out of Europe would work. It is these people from Europe who will be responsible for planting the seed of hatred against the Christians in the Jews who will be emigrating from the Bharatiya Empire to the new kingdom.

With this deep, long-lasting dislike, they could never free themselves from depending on the Bharatiya Empire. And when the Europeans looked at this, they would only see the Jews as being in the pocket of the Bharatiya, further fueling their resentment. The cycle would keep repeating until one day, wars would no longer be fought over religion but over resources. But by then, the blood feud between the two sides would have grown far too deep to ever reconcile.