Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

5th May 1687

Athens

The once glorious city, the cradle of Western civilisation, and the place where one of the best philosophers, scientists, and intellectuals like Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Theories, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Democratus, Archimedes, Euclid, and Hippocrates lived and worked, had been turned into ruins under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Traces of dried-up blood could still be seen on the destroyed statues and murals all over the city. From one glance, it is clear that the destruction of the city was not without any resistance.

Unfortunately, even after the Ottoman Empire had been destroyed, the situation had not improved at all, because the economic collapse of Greece was not a simple economic crisis brought by the stock market, but a complete destruction of productivity throughout the major regions of Greece.

With the Ottomans forcefully occupying all the land that could cultivate grains for the war, most of the landowners were either slaughtered or fled. Now, with the Ottomans no longer in power, all the lands were coveted by the so-called nobles, who desperately used whatever remaining power they had in their hands to fight tooth and nail for it.

In this fight, naturally, it is the common people who suffered. Some were forced into fighting for the nobles, some were turned into scapegoats, meat shields, and worse, slaves.

The people who heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that they had escaped from the clutches of the Ottomans, suddenly woke up, remembering that even if the Ottomans were gone, there were still many wolves who wanted to take advantage of them.

All hope was lost.

Soon, conflicts broke out in various places, and the people began to get displaced all over the region. Even most people who are currently in Athens are not originally from Athens at all. Some were from Thessaloniki, some from Ioannina, or even from Patras, all following their biological instincts to stay alive.

But sadly, what is the point of being alive?

Without a place to call their home, losing someone loved, and looking at the proof of their demise right in front of their eyes, the people of Greece had lost all the lustre in their eyes. They lived like zombies without any hope for the future, living only for the sake of living.

When most of Greece was in such a situation, stuck in a position where one could neither die nor live, protected by neither the landlords nor the nobles, neither having a king nor a prime minister, a humble little pamphlet, only the size of a palm leaf, slowly circulated throughout the battle and conflict-torn areas of Greece.

" The unbroken spirit, the people live forever "

" We survived the Ottomans, are we going to let these landlords and nobles ride on our heads? "

Leander, only 14 years old, who had lost both his parents and siblings, who was used as a slave by a local noble, reading the first few sentences of the pamphlet, couldn't help but clench his fist.

For some reason, those words ignited an unstoppable fury within him.

" Hey, what are you doing? Quit messing around and get back to work "

Just when he was about to continue reading, scolded by one of the goons of the noble, he was so scared that he crumpled the pamphlet, decisively placed it in his mouth, and started to unload the goods. Bringing down the heavy load from his shoulder, his expression had already returned to his normal listless appearance, but deep in his eyes a blazing flame was vaguely visible.

What happened with Leander was simply a microcosm of several hundreds, if not thousands, of similar situations all over Greek and Turkish lands.

" What we want is not a religion, but food "

" What we want is not a master, but freedom "

" We survived the Ottomans, who are the nobles to rule us? "

Such slogans slowly began to intensify throughout Greece and Turkey.

At first, the nobles who had snatched the wealth had not noticed anything, but as time went on, they began to realise that the lowlifes and slaves began to look at them with a condescending, hateful, accusatory gaze. It was almost as if they were looking into the eyes of a wounded beast ready to pounce and bite their throats.

Unable to stay still, a few nobles immediately contacted each other in a way of huddling together for warmth.

" What the hell is happening? Who is spreading all these pamphlets?" a noble cried out with frustration as he banged on the table, sending the pamphlets on it flying all over the room, " What do these lowlifes **** want? "

All the nobles in the room fell silent. They were facing the same dilemma. Suddenly, a noble spoke out, " Whatever it is, it is not good for us. I vaguely heard some of them talk about how their life would be after establishing a People's Republic. "

" It's most likely that these lowlives are demanding a republic to be established, so we have to be careful "

His words immediately caused huge waves among the group.

" What, are you sure? You're not mistaken, have you? "

" How can those lowlifes have equal status before us?"

" How dare they! "

The nobles were fuming. It was their birthright to rule the peasants. How dare the peasants question them? Wouldn't it be alright if they simply acted according to command and died when they were asked to? What more do they want?

"Humph! I'll see how these ungrateful bunch go through with their plan "

Anger makes people do irrational things, so although a noble from Volos came to the discussion originally in order to take some support among his fellow nobles against the increasingly uncomfortable situation in his estate, when he heard that the peasants he loathed actually wanted a democracy, the anger in his heart rose from nowhere. And in this anger, he went back to his estate and ended up whipping several young workers to death.

Unfortunately, although he was extremely satisfied after venting out all his emotions, the news about his actions spread throughout Volos, and it ended up becoming the fuse that started the proletarian revolution, a revolution started by a class of people who don't own the means of production and rely on selling their labour for wages.

" Kill those ****, kill them!! "

" Kill them all "

Gut-wrenching roars echoed throughout Volos. The eyes of the people were red with rage. They carried sickles, axes, and hoes. At the beginning, the people didn't have much advantage against the lackeys of the nobles, who held, although not firearms, at least swords. But as time went on, more and more people began to get on the streets, and they were out for blood.

Finally, a lackey made a mistake, and out of panic, he tripped and fell to the ground.

Taking this opportunity, the angry and resentful mob immediately trampled him to the ground.

"Ahh, please leave me, leave me," he desperately begged for mercy, but in the end his words couldn't go on anymore, as someone broke his neck with a heavy stomp.

The other lackeys, startled, tried to run away, but unfortunately, they could not escape far. With the barrage of sickles, axes, and stones thrown at them, they immediately fell down and soon succumbed to the same fate as their companion.

With the single act of defiance, a sense of strength filled the hearts of the people in Volos, so without stopping, the entire city went on a manhunt for the nobles and their lackeys.

As the news spread, the nobles became extremely panicked, and the people became extremely inspired.

The whole of Greece and Turkey was on the brink of experiencing a civil war.

Watching all of this from the sidelines was the Bharatiya military.

Suresh Pandya, a lieutenant colonel, couldn't help but question his superior, " General, should we not try to stop this? "

" A lot of lives will be lost! "

The brigadier general, unfortunately, shook his head, " No, we have direct orders not to interfere with the internal matters of the Greeks "

" We just have to make sure that there is no external influence and wait till the dust settles "

Suresh Pandya was disappointed, but what could he do? He had to follow the orders, or else he would be court-martialed, so he went back to the barracks, trying his best to ignore the smoke from the burning houses in the distance.

As soon as he entered the barracks, his colleague immediately looked at him with anger, " Didn't I say not to ask the general anything? Why don't you listen to me? "

" But..."

" No buts," the colleague wanted to lecture further, but looking at the uncomfortable expression on Suresh's face, his heart softened a little.

" Listen," he looked around cautiously, closed the tarpaulin of the barracks, and pulled Suresh inside as he whispered, " There is definitely something going on behind the backs of the Greeks. Someone is definitely pulling the strings, and I think it is our own empire."

Suresh was in disbelief, his eyebrows furrowed, " How can that be? Are you mistaken? "

" No!" the colleague shook his head, " Although I don't have any proof, the pamphlets that are mysteriously circulating throughout the city were actually found in the logistics department."

" After I questioned the general about those pamphlets, I was suspended from my job for a whole week and was told not to talk with anyone about it."

" Today, when I went to take a look, those pamphlets were nowhere to be seen."

" So I think our intelligence department is definitely doing something behind the scenes, pulling the strings and orchestrating something big."

" Maybe this is connected to the larger plan of the empire, so don't contradict the general and don't inquire any sensitive information, lest you get into trouble."

" Besides, the people that are being killed are those scummy nobles anyway. Why bother? I had disliked them from the moment they started to snatch the land we fought to free."

" If not for the fact that the general denied us from interfering, I would have led my unit and wiped them all out the moment they tried their shit."

P.S. It would be a fun idea if someone did a fictional story set in the current Greece.