NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1022: 1686 (1)
With the dawn of the September sun over the eastern Mediterranean, the British, French, and Dutch officially joined what was meant to be a battle between the Bharatiya Empire and the Ottoman Empire, and with their entry, the war became much bloodier.
The Bharatiyas were outnumbered, but the Western Europeans were outgunned. The culverins, howitzers, mortars, field artillery, naval cannons, and missiles were not for show. For a few weeks, the battlefield turned into a grim game of plants versus zombies, with slaughter everywhere.
The English French and the Dutch, three West European giants, descended on the coast of Israel to launch constant skirmishes against the Bharatiya Army and the Israeli Army. The Italians, who were supposed to provide some coverage against these forces, acted as if they did not exist and continued their duty of attacking the Ottoman Empire, which, regrettably, was not considered betraying the Bharatiya Empire, since contractually they did nothing wrong. As for the Russians and the Germans, although they had not openly gone against the Bharatiya Empire, nobles in their countries began supporting the cause of the West Europeans, by allowing them to use their lands, supporting them monetarily, or even at times militarily.
It was as if, with the Bharatiya Empire settling the backyard of Europe by setting up a subordinate state like the Kingdom of Israel, they not only poked the hornets' nest, but straight up fisted it rapidly.
All this news, along with the news that the Europeans had developed a copycat version of the Kesari engine, eventually reached the ears of Vijay.
He looked calm, but his heart was in great turmoil. The fact of the matter is, he was expecting strong rejection from the Europeans, but he was not expecting rejection to such an extent that even the allies were slowly turning against him, although not completely. In essence, they definitely are; it's only a matter of time before they completely turn.
"Sigh!"
Vijay let out a deep and turbulent breath as he reached for a couple of edicts he had prepared a long time back. It was a little dusty, so he blew air to blow off the dust and opened it with a sombre expression on his face.
"I had hoped not to use this card, but all of you have left me with no choice."
His face looked hesitant for the split second before a look of determination took over.
"Ganesh"
"Your majesty"
Vijay simply passed the edict without saying anything. Ganesh, after looking at the sss+ written turn on the edict, the colour on his face changed, his whole demeanour became much more cautious and careful.
After Ganesh left, Vijay immediately summoned Baskaracharya.
"Bhaskar, start selling the Kesari engine manufacturing technology to the local high-ranking manufacturers immediately."
"Also, start taking orders for the Kesari engines from Southeast Asia and the frontiers. I will pass an edict for the export ban to be lifted to the select countries."
Baskaracharya was immediately stunned. Why so suddenly?
"Can I ask why, your majesty?"
Vijay shrugged without any emotion, "The Europeans have managed to crack this technology, so there is no point in keeping it under tight wraps anymore. It is better to open it up so that it is more widely used, therefore putting out more productivity in our part of the world."
Baskaracharya had a look of disbelief, "How can this be! Your majesty, is this true? Sir Heyram took a whole decade to research the Kesari engine, but how can these Europeans develop it within a few years?"
Vijay had a slight smile at the corner of his lips, but this smile appeared quite self-deprecating. "What can be done, pioneering something is difficult, but stealing the results is not."
"When Heyram developed the steam engine, there was nothing like it. He had to invent everything himself and push the technology forward by himself, but don't the Europeans already know what they want? Even if they did not get any technical drawings of the Kesari engine, they should be clear about its working and its appearance. After all, Kesari engines have become widespread in most of the industrial zones across the empire. In a way, it is inevitable, actually."
"Then, Your Majesty, isn't being a pioneer a loss-making business?"
"Why should we invest so much in researching new things? Can't we just steal from Europe as well?"
"Haha, NO," Vijay shook his head, "You are confused, Baskaracharya, pioneering is not a loss-making business. It is, in fact, the most profitable business. It is because the Bharatiya Empire has pioneered all these technologies over the years that we have the complete industrial chain that rivals any country in the world. I dare say, if we can't produce something in our country, then no one else can."
"Not even the Europeans."
"Also, the Europeans can copy one technology or two, but can they copy the whole technology landscape of the Bharatiya Empire? Even now, they were able to copy the Kesari engine, but could they copy the machine tools? And even if they can, for how long? As we develop better and better technologies by ourselves, there will come a time when copying alone will not be enough."
"So our pioneering will never stop. The day we stop is the day the empire comes to an end."
Baskaracharya had his mouth agape and had a look of understanding on his face.
---
After months of travel, the secret edict written by Vijay reached two different people in two different parts of Europe.
These were the hounds Vijay had prepared if something went wrong, and the reason why he was hesitating to use these was that even he was not certain whether he could control these hounds if their fangs and teeth were fully grown.
Peter, who had just read the edict, had the light of ambition burning in his eyes.
Looking at his achievements, people might praise him as one of the greatest in history because he had managed to turn the barren region of the Far East and Siberia into one of the most powerful middle-power kingdoms in Europe, and that too within a span of a few decades, but he knew that all this only happened because of the support of the Bharatiya Empire. If the Bharatiya Empire no longer supported him, the development of his kingdom would come to a halt, and life would become much tougher without the industrial goods of the Bharatiya Empire.
If he is able to take over the whole empire, the dependence will become much less, and he can stand on the pedestal of one of the most powerful people in the world.
This has always been his dream, his deepest obsession, but he had never revealed it to anyone. Who knew if one of his servants was a spy from the Bharatiya Empire, and the emperor of the Bharatiya Empire caught wind of his ambitions? People in the West did not know the horror of the Bharatiya External Pragya; they didn't know about how meticulous his son-in-law's father, the emperor of Bharat, was, but he knew. But now it was a great surprise because even before he revealed his intention, Vijay had brought it up himself.
"Haha, I really have to thank those West Europeans."
Far away, in the northern part of Central Europe, Frederick William, who had received the edict, crushed it and threw it into the burning embers.
He was 60 years old, but his eyes had blazing fighting intent.
His sons, Frederick III and Philip William, were startled by their father's actions, but the next words he said stunned them.
"Prepare the army, we will March into the Holy Roman Empire, it is time for the Germans to unite."
The Western Europeans were completely oblivious to what was going on in the shadows, but they kept sending troops into the front lines, which had turned into a meat grinder thanks to the weaponry of the Bharatiya Empire, which had no rivals.
Back in the eastern hemisphere, the news also spread throughout the Middle East, Asia, and ASEAN countries about the sale of the Kesari engines.
The news was like an earthquake that caused every country's top leadership to tremble. They immediately sent delegates to the Bharatiya Empire with the order to purchase as many Kesari engines as possible, even at a steep premium.
Manufacturing giants like the Bakshi's, the Pillay's, the Aakarsh's, and others gladly accepted the manufacturing technology of the Kesari engine, especially since they were one of the ten private enterprises that were eligible to manufacture it.
Jobs began to increase, consumption of minerals began to increase, and demand for skilled labour began to increase. The supporting industries became bigger and stronger, the stock exchanges saw a sharp rise in stock prices, especially the stock prices of those companies that were eligible to manufacture the Kesari engines, and driven by these companies, the stock prices of the supporting industries, the mining industry, logistics industry, and a whole plethora of industries began to rise.
The economy of individual states also saw a gradual upward trend. All of this led to northern people who were still skeptical about the southerner-run schools to attach more importance to education and send more children to school. More school children began to consider going to college as a better option rather than simply working as a labourer on a construction site.
Overall, the Eastern Hemisphere quietly became extremely busy.
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