Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Unfortunately, Mehmed IV was neither from the future nor did he have a supernatural power like foresight and super instinct, if he did, he would say something like, 'I'm feeling disturbance in the force' right about now.

Thankfully, he did not, and due to his intelligence, communication and transportation channels still being in shambles due to the plague, and even the rebuilding efforts being targeted towards the Balkan region, he was woefully unaware of what was happening in his southeastern and southwestern borders.

While the operation Wolf Slayer had silently begun, Vijay received extremely pleasant news while he was about to leave for Dwarka to inaugurate the newly built 100-metre black stone Krishna statue.

He did not hesitate to change his schedule and set off for the mobility labs in person after informing Agni, who had been about to depart for the north to oversee the inauguration of the newly widened Kora La Pass, to adjust his plans and attend the inauguration of the Krishna statue instead.

As Vijay travelled by carriage, he felt lighthearted for the first time in a long while. The last time he had felt this way was during the testing of the Kesari K1 engine. Now, two iterations later, a new generation of steam engine, drastically different from its predecessors, had finally been developed.

With this new engine, the Bharatiya Empire has speed run the process of Industrial Revolution that took the British and Europe over 200 years, from the basic application of steam to just pull out water from the wells and mines to the complicated application of using it to power machine tools, and now, quite possibly, reaching perhaps the hardest application of them all, applying the steam power to transport objects.

The journey to the mobility labs was long, but it was quite eventful as he got to taste various new foods along the way and saw the increasingly prosperous countryside, which made him quite proud.

---

Mobility labs, Iron economic zone, Gangapuri

As soon as Vijay set foot into the special economic zone, Vijay smelled the odour of soot and ash in the air.

Looking around at the sky that had started to grey and the ground that had started to blacken, he let out a sigh of helplessness. The Industrial Revolution and industrial development are very good for the nation, but sadly, they are completely opposite to the environment.

Unfortunately, Vijay is not a god to defy the laws of physics, so until the technology improves and maybe pushes for greener alternatives earlier, the pollution brought by industrialization could not be stopped. All he could do for now is control it to the highest possible level by implementing a strict greening policy near the industrial zones and coming up with a strict policy of chemical disposal.

Getting into the mobility labs, the director of the mobility labs immediately came to greet him. Vijay greeted him with a cordial smile and went inside.

But after going inside, he did not go to the office, but went to a completely different location in the building. Of course, seeing this, the director was not surprised, because as soon as he was informed that His Majesty would be coming to visit, he knew that something must have happened in the institute below.

Recovering his expression, he quickly went out and informed the researchers that His Majesty had gone to the secret bicycle research laboratory and sent them all to work.

In fact, none of the researchers in the mobility labs knew that there was a top-secret research institute right under their feet, and most of the researchers they saw coming in and going out of the so-called secret bicycle research institute were not there to research bicycles, but were there to research something more glorious: steam engines.

This is one of the reasons why, despite the research institute being in, arguably a very sensitive area for its importance, no spy from any nation even doubted what was happening below the mobility labs. There were a few agents who had sneaked into the mobility labs, but stealing the secrets about the bicycle was the most they could do. Of course, they were not apprehended; they were let go scot-free.

This was not because Selvan, Director of Bharatiya Internal Pragya, was feeling unusually generous, but because if he apprehended and eliminated them outright, it would alert the rest of their network that something was amiss at the research institute, serious enough for top agents of Bharatiya External Pragya to be embedded there.

Of course, their freedom did not last long. Those spies were quietly eliminated elsewhere while engaged in unrelated missions. This way, suspicion was diverted, and attention was drawn toward the industries they were attempting to infiltrate, a diversion and a feint, two birds with one stone.

The whole thing was very similar to the British knowing all along where the Germans would attack after cracking the Enigma, an encryption device of the Germans, and letting the Germans destroy a few non-critical targets to put the Germans at ease that their machine was still working well. They operated behind the scenes, spread propaganda, let the Germans know what the British and allies wanted to know, and finally hit them back at critical times. Although what is happening now is not as complicated as what happened during World War II, it is still an older, albeit simplified, version of it.

All this had played out over the past few years. But now, returning to the present…

Vijay, entering the research institute, immediately saw Hey Ram, who came to welcome him.

Vijay smiled and cheerfully patted his shoulder.

"Let's go see this new engine you have built," Vijay said, not lifting his hand from Hey Ram's shoulder, while he had his son, who had been working in the research institute, escort him.

Of course, when he saw his son come to welcome him, he was surprised, but more than that, amused. To keep his work at the research institute a secret, he had to disguise himself every day before arriving.

In fact, most people didn't even know what Vedant looked like. The same went for him and Agni, if not for their frequent appearances in newspapers. But spies and foreign observers interested in him would easily recognise his son from even the slightest resemblance. That's why he made his son disguise himself every day before entering the lab.

The funny part wasn't the disguise itself; it was that his son simply wore tinted spectacles to hide his striking amber eyes. In other words, the boy was basically imitating Superman.

Funnily enough, it actually worked; no one really suspected him. That's the facial recognition research by Mark Burton for you.

Entering the laboratory, Vijay immediately got the specification sheets and the report. In fact, he hadn't looked at any of this for fear of being intercepted midway.

Not that he is not confident in the security measures of the empire, no, instead he has just become more aware that the enemy is not standing still and people's hearts are complicated, for this thought of his was reinforced in the last purge, where even a chief minister had been found corrupt.

For a chief minister, although intercepting the highest secrets was extremely difficult, it is not impossible if he somehow manages to put over a few dozen loyal officers into his good books.

So Vijay has currently opted for manual delivery if the news is about top-secret intelligence, on the condition that it is not an urgent intelligence report. Of course, otherwise, the Firework Communication and Arkha Dristi Communication are still the best modes of communication he has.

The report was about the new engine that is miniaturised and capable of delivering drastically higher horsepower and torque than the larger Kesari K3 engine, despite being lighter.

Vijay wasn't surprised that Heyram managed to develop a smaller engine before tackling the larger one. He understood well how difficult it was to build a steam engine powerful enough for ship use. Unlike train engines, which only need to turn wheels against the air, ship engines have to work with water, a much thicker and heavier medium. This makes everything more challenging.

In his past life, Vijay had seen many people underestimate this. They assumed improving ship engines was just about making a bigger, more powerful motor. But the truth was far more complicated. A train engine's job is straightforward: it turns wheels to push the train along tracks. But a ship's engine has to move huge blades underwater, and water resists movement much more than air. Because of this, the engine must produce enormous torque, strong twisting power, to keep those blades turning steadily, even if that means the engine runs slower than a typical train engine.

There's a saying in the world of vehicles: "If it's powerful but not fast, then it's strong."

This kind of engine, built for strength and endurance rather than speed, is exactly what a next-generation steam-powered ship needs. It's not just about making the engine bigger; it's about designing it to handle the unique challenges of working underwater and driving a ship forward reliably.

P.S. Finally hear...