Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

It took a while for everyone in the conference room to recover from their shock. They hadn’t expected the ambition of His Majesty to be so great. If it had been anyone else making these claims, which seemed clearly ridiculous, they would have immediately tried their best to dissuade them, even if this person making the arrogant claims was the emperor himself.

But thinking about the accomplishments of His Majesty and the miracles he had created, none of the ministers had any objection to His Majesty’s decision.

The cabinet ministers present in the meeting were stunned and left speechless. The military marshal, Kiran Poojari, soon started feeling excited. He was a man of violence, born and raised in a world of conflict, so when there was suddenly no violence, he felt uncomfortable and restless.

If it weren’t for the position he held, perhaps he would have wanted to start a martial arts gym or something similar. But now, hearing the ambition of His Majesty and seeing the unsurprised expressions on some of the ministers, his face turned red with excitement. His fists clenched, adrenaline coursing through his body.

Gangadhar, who noticed the expression on Kiran Poojari, couldn’t help but smirk inwardly as he saw the martial’s thoughts plainly displayed on his face. However, he did not despise him for losing his composure, as he had reacted even more intensely than Kiran. At least Kiran had not uttered a single word and had remained silent, while Gangadhar had exclaimed at the top of his lungs, causing a scene.

Even thinking about it now made him feel embarrassed.

Vijay, observing the different expressions and emotions conveyed by his subjects, felt relieved and reassured that revealing his plans wouldn’t backfire on him. Vijay knew he lived in an era where the strong ruled and the weak suffered, so he inherently understood that violent and brutal conquerors surrounded him. Being born into a royal family, he was naturally part of this ruling class.

Yet, up to this moment, he had not crossed the bottom line he had set for himself when he was reborn. He had not relentlessly or ambitiously launched conquests on nations, civilizations, or peoples that had nothing to do with the Bharatiya Empire.

Up until this very moment, he had only acted in the best interests of his people, his nation, and his civilization, unifying the Motherland. However, experiencing the allure of power for nearly a decade had left him fascinated, craving more. Initially, all he had wanted was to unite his Motherland, fragmented for centuries, and break apart any hidden or direct resistance to that cause.

But now, with his prophecy nearly fulfilled, he began to imagine the might of the Spanish Empire in the 16th century, the glory of the British Empire in the 18th century, and the absolute hegemony of the United States in the 21st century. Vijay became more and more fascinated by its allure.

Maybe humans inherently are never satisfied, and this is what Vijay is currently experiencing. The concept of greed has never been so crystal clear to Vijay as it appeared the very moment he made the decision to become one of the greatest world powers that ever existed.

Vijay now wants to gain a dominant position in the world. If the world is a chess game, then the Bharatiya Empire should be one of the controllers of the game.

Ever since he had come to this conclusion, his heart has been less heavy and more at ease. He had come to terms with himself, ’So I’m not a saint or a god. I’m just a human who finally succumbed to his humanly greed,’ Vijay thought to himself with a complicated expression on his face.

"Your Majesty!"

---

It wasn’t until someone called for him that Vijay woke up from his stupor, and it was Ganesh calling about serving lunch to him and all the guests.

Vijay immediately recovered the smile on his face. "Oh, look at me, I haven’t noticed the time going by so quickly."

"Come on, everyone, let’s have a meal, and we’ll get back to the meeting afterwards."

Kiran Poojari, Jagannath Mohan, Dharmendra, and others all looked at each other with mutual understanding as they willed in their hearts to support His Majesty wholeheartedly.

The lunch was delicious and scrumptious, as it was prepared by a chef who used to own a shop on the infamous Bukha Youdha Street in Hampi City. The chef had consecutively defended his right to keep running the shop for a whopping 13 times before he reluctantly accepted to work occasionally for the royal family and cook food for the elite of the empire.

When everyone returned, there was nothing but praise for the chef, but the jolly atmosphere did not last long as all their faces became serious when His Majesty entered the meeting room once again and started the discussion.

"So, Gangadhar, we all agree and approve the production of the new generation of Bharatiya Naval military vessels. But tell me, how are you going to use the 161,764,705.88 Varaha that has been allocated to you?"

The question immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the room, as this was the most critical question that could be asked.

Gangadhar had been waiting.

"Your Majesty, after detailed observation and analysis by the research and analysis wing of the Bharatiya Navy (RAW), we have concluded that the Bharatiya Empire is in a geographically advantageous position if we need to defend our motherland against any naval attack or large-scale invasion."

"We wouldn’t need to expend many resources if we focused solely on defense, but since we are also trying to expand our naval influence outward, it becomes a little tricky. The geography that was very advantageous to us for defense would suddenly become a disadvantage.

Since we are so well protected by natural barriers, it also means that it will be harder for us to project our strength beyond these barriers."

"Hence, after detailed analysis by RAW, we have concluded that a balanced combination of warships, which are more focused on offense would be better suited to the Navy of our empire."

Everyone nodded in approval, including Vijay, who knew this was one of the reasons why China, even with its status as the second most powerful navy in the world, wouldn’t dare to try anything in the Indian Ocean. India was in such a geographically advantageous position that it could easily teach China a lesson by strangling the Strait of Malacca, which was practically China’s economic lifeline.

However, outside the Indian Ocean, the Indian Navy had little influence.

Suddenly a voice was heard

"Um, Admiral, could you please explain the specifics more?" Jagannath Mohan requested as all he had heard was that it was going to cost a lot of money to build the Navy, and he didn’t fully understand the talk about the geography.

Gangadhar obliged, "Definitely."

"We are building the Navy after considering that the empire would have three fleets in total for the foreseeable future: the Indian Ocean Fleet, the Atlantic Fleet, and the Pacific Fleet."

"Since we currently do not have any influence in the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, we will start by fully capturing and controlling the Indian Ocean. When we do have some influence, we can use this naval foundation we are building to quickly control our interests in the Atlantic and the Pacific."

"After a lot of research, we have decided to build 45 Delhi-class battleships, 27 Guwahati-class armed merchant ships, 90 Pune-class battleships, 405 Colombo-class frigates, 105 Chennai-class clippers, 657 Amravati-class frigates, and 249 Kolkata-class clippers.

"All these ships together would bring the displacement amount for the Bharatiya Empire to a staggering statistic of 832,065 tonnes, making us undoubtedly the strongest naval power in the world."

There was confidence and pride radiating from Gangadhar’s face, but when he came to the part where he would reveal the total cost to build these warships, he suddenly became cautious and careful.

"As for the cost of all these battleships, it has been overrun by a little bit... um, just a little," his last words were barely audible, like a mosquito’s buzz.

Jagannath Mohan immediately sensed something was wrong. His face turned serious as his brow furrowed, "By how much did it overrun?"

Gangadhar looked at His Majesty with a hopeful expression, wishing that His Majesty would not cut a few warships in order to meet the budget.

"It has been overrun by 8.94%, sir Jagannath."

Jagannath Mohan quickly did a calculation in his head, and as soon as he realized the number, he stood up with a livid expression on his face.

"This is too much, Admiral! You have overrun the budget by almost 600 kilograms of gold! Do you know how many schools, colleges, police stations, and hospitals could be built with such a large amount? How could you be so greedy?"

Vinod, Ramesh, and Kiran Poojari all furrowed their brows, as they too felt that the extra cost proposed by the Admiral was inappropriate.

Gangadhar, noticing the accusatory gazes cast towards him, panicked. Before His Majesty could make a decision, he blurted out all the reasons he had prepared.

"Please don’t cut the warships from the plan, Your Majesty! The numbers I’ve proposed are exactly in line with our current conditions. With the numbers I’ve put forward, each fleet will have 15 Delhi-class battleships, 9 Guwahati-class armed merchant ships, 30 Pune-class battleships, 135 Colombo-class frigates, 35 Chennai-class clippers, 219 Amaravathi-class frigates, and 83 Kolkata-class clippers.

and each of the fleet can be further divided into five battle groups in each fleet, with each battle group consisting of three Delhi-class ships, one Guwahati-class ship, six Pune-class ships, 27 Colombo-class ships, seven Chennai-class ships, 42 Amaravathi-class ships, and 16 Kolkata-class ships."

" Additionally, we have reserve ships to act in emergency situations. If these ships are cut from the plan, the battle groups and fleets will immediately be thrown off balance."

Gangadhar went on to explain with a sincere expression