NOVEL NEXT Chapter 983: Plans
In the following days, the situation in the city continued to improve. Khosrow was able to buy food every day, and his family no longer lived in fear of starvation. What's more, he occasionally saw a few people roaming the once-deserted streets, offering a small distraction from the boredom.
However, he still did not let down his guard and approch his family members directly. He's not that dumb, going out every day, who could tell how many people he had come into contact with inadvertently? An inconspicuous and unconscious touch of an infected person was all it took for him to be reduced to skin and bones in a matter of a week. In such a situation, how could he come into contact with his family? Fortunately, God was kind, and he had not encountered any symptoms... at least not yet.
He didn't know if it was because he consumed the concoction every few days or the outhouse was always filled with the smoke of the magical blend made by the Bharatiya, but either way, he attributed his survival to the Bharatiya Empire, and his idea to migrate to the eastern nation only grew stronger.
Apart from his own situation, his family's life had improved as well. With cans piling up in the outhouse and the plaza now selling regular food items like wheat, barley, rice, pulses, and other grains, his confidence grew even more. For the past few days, he had stopped restricting his family to just one meal a day. Seeing the situation improve, he allowed two meals a day for himself and his family. Although it was still far from how things were before the plague, it was already a huge improvement compared to the past year, a clear change for the better.
Thinking about all this, his heart couldn't help but bloom with gratitude towards the Sanathani Nation once again.
In fact, it was not only Khosrow who felt thankful for the Bharatiya Empire; thousands, if not tens of thousands of people across Persia had believed the whole reason they survived was because of the aid provided by the Bharatiya Empire.
After experiencing the plague, the mentality of a lot of people in the Middle East had drastically changed.
Although the people still considered themselves as Persians and people of the Kingdom of Persia, a self-reliant spirit rose up in most of their hearts, and this appeared in two different ways, one is like Khosrow, who put the lives of himself and his family above everything else and is even ready to emigrate to the Bharatiya Empire for a better future, and the other are the people who dreamed and determined in their hearts to work towards the goal of having all the living necessities in their own kingdom without having to rely on anyone else.
No one knows how difficult their dreams were, but they will fight for their dreams until they can no longer.
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With the trade between the Bharatiya Empire and the Middle East finally opening up, the endless black hole that was the Persian Kingdom and the Lalishsthan Kingdom was quickly being filled by the aid resources provided by the Empire.
The economy began to pick up at a rapid pace, and it showed signs of surpassing the state it was in before the plague.
Looking at the financial reports, Vijay couldn't help but sigh.
Agni was confused. Weren't all the financial reports looking extremely good, especially the financial reports of his Bhagat Canning Factory, why was his father acting as if the money was not enough?
Vijay looked at his son and shook his head, "Agni, tell me...where does all the money that is pouring into the empire come from?"
Agni frowned, "Why from the Kingdom of Persia and Kingdom of Lalishtan, of course." Isn't this obvious? Why did his father ask such a pointless question? He briefly contemplated, trying to figure out if there was any deeper meaning, but in the end, he was still lost.
Vijay nodded in agreement and once again asked, "Then these two Middle Eastern kingdoms have been hit by the plague the hardest. Where do you think these people got all the money from?"
This question immediately stumped Agni. 'Yes, where did the money come from?' He suddenly realised that there was a blind spot in his thinking. When his father asked him from where the money that funded the empire's recovery was coming from, he should have guessed, but being blinded by his previous worldview that the Middle Eastern kingdoms can simply purchase anything they want using the tax money or mortgaging the rich resources they have, he failed to consider that both of the above conditions were impossible to begin with right now.
Now that he realised his blind spot, he started to think more deeply.
Vijay, who could see that his son had touched upon the truth, nodded in satisfaction. Ganesh came to inform him that everyone was waiting for him in the conference room, but Vijay did not get up and just told him to move forward while he sat silently, waiting for Agni to recover.
'Gasp!'
Finally, with an uncharacteristic gasp, Agni looked at his father with astonishment.
"Father, did they get all the money from the people who had died?"
Vijay nodded with a grave expression and finally sighed, "That is correct, all the wealth of the people who had died due to the plague or due to the riots was completely inherited by the Atashban family and the Sarwan family."
"But Father, this is not good, is it?"
"Of course it is not, but what other choices do you think they have? If they don't monopolise all the wealth of the fallen citizens and enemies, someone else will obtain it, and local landlords and nobles will pop up like weeds after a rain."
"Not to mention, even if they don't have to consider the profits that can be made from monopolising the dead man's treasure, they at least have to consider rebuilding the nation."
"As you can see now, this is already bearing the fruits."
"By providing the surviving people with at least a bite to eat and slowly walking towards recovering the communications, the people are much calmer, and the discontent that arose from before is slowly beginning to be dissolved like salt in water."
Agni finally understood how realistic the world can be sometimes.
"Alright, let's go. Everyone is waiting for me at the conference."
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If anyone were to catch the wind of all the people that were in the conference room, a magnitude 9 earthquake could arise in their hearts.
In the room were the Prime Minister of the Empire Vinod, the Minister of Defence Kiran Poojar, Marshal Gangadhar, Commanders Lachit Borphukan, Sarvesh Ranavikrama, Yogendra Singh, Narasimha Naik, Ramayya Senapati, and even the fleet commanders of the three fleets, Akhil of the Pacific Fleet, Prasanna Nair of the Bharatiya Fleet, Goutham of the Atlantic Fleet, and as if that was not enough, both Roshan, the director of Bharatiya External Pragya, and Aditya, the director of Bharatiya Sainik Pragya, had gathered in the room.
As Vijay entered the room, everyone stood up in respect and did namaskaras according to etiquette. Vijay asked everyone to sit down and got to the point directly, without mincing any words.
"God has provided us with an excellent opportunity to defeat our enemy once and for all."
"Although beating the enemy when they are down and unable to fight back is not warrior-like, things like these should never be considered when it comes to the life and death of a nation."
"So here is the battle plan: the Ottoman Empire has been weakened to its weakest point due to the plague, and it is barely able to contend with the Russian Empire and the Roman Empire."
"Before it can recover, we'll hit it where it hurts, and we'll hit it hard."
"Effective immediately, six battle groups comprised of battleships, frigates, and clippers from the Bharatiya Fleet and Atlantic Fleet will attack the Red Sea and completely destroy the Ottomans' access to the African Continent."
"We will act through the Navy, and the Imamate of Qasimid and Sultanate of Mahara will act through its armed forces that it has been feeding for the last decade or so."
"Have the Italians take this opportunity to fully unleash their naval might onto the Ottoman Empire as well."
"This will be a combined and coordinated attack on all fronts. This will be the largest war we have ever fought, and the first war we are fighting at such a faraway distance."
"If we are successful, not only can we destroy our enemy for good, but we can also gain the much-needed battle experience overseas."
"Finally, it is time for the farce between the Italians and the Spanish to end. Roshan, you will travel to Madrid as quickly as possible and bring King Charles my letter."
"So this is it, gentlemen, the final standoff between the enemy."
"I do not accept failure, I do not want excuses, make things happen no matter the cost. Good luck and Jahind."
P.S. My app is in closed beta, finally. phew!!