Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Weeks went by, and more deals were signed by various guilds on behalf of their members. Most of them managed to raise salaries by at least a few percent, which in turn drew even more attention to the guilds and encouraged more people to join.

By the end of the year, the guilds had become a social phenomenon on their own, creating various topics of discussion throughout the empire.

Noticing this societal phenomenon, the three largest newspaper companies in the empire, Bharatam Daily, Times of Bharat, and The Observer, once again came together to hold a joint conference while inviting several important political, historical, and economic figures onto the panel to be its speakers.

The last time such an event was held was right after the inclusion of the two new states was announced, and that event proved to be a huge success in the market, as all three newspapers shipped 30 to 40 times more newspapers in volume right after the conference. Although the numbers returned to normal a few days after the buzz died down, each of the newspaper companies still earned a lot of money during that short period of explosion. And even though most of the new readers did not stay, a small percentage did.

Preethi, who once again hosted the event, gave a very pleasant yet energetic greeting to all the officials who had arrived at the studio and went on to give a flawless, articulate, yet entertaining introduction to all the panellists present.

"Before we move on to the main topic of discussion, Dr. Chandra Reddy, you are a professor of history and sociology at the Bharatiya Institute of Technology, Warangal."

"Could you please explain what a guild and what a gurukul are to our readers who perhaps have not experienced them?"

Chandra Reddy, an elegant older man with glistening silver hair, smiled cordially and did a namaskara.

"Thank you for your introduction, Miss Preethi. I am very grateful."

"I don't think I have to explain these things deeply, because even though the new generation of the empire's youth have not grown up in the time of the old men like me, and many of the empire's parents and grandparents, the history and commerce about the entire past is clearly mentioned in almost all textbooks across the nation."

"But still, let me explain it briefly as a way to jog everyone's memory."

"Guilds of the past were completely different from the guilds that are being formed all over the empire. In the past, guilds were a union-like organisation formed by merchants or artisans. The guilds were responsible for ensuring fairness was delivered to the members, setting standards, and negotiating on behalf of members. At certain times, they even acted as bankers for their clients and were also responsible for trade relations between different political entities."

"All in all, they were the backbone of the nation's economy."

"It is a similar situation for gurukuls as well. They were the centres of learning in the past, very similar to schools, colleges, and universities of the present."

"However, both the guild system and the gurukul system had to be done away with because caste discrimination formed the core basis of their existence. For example, a lower-caste person was never allowed to study in a gurukul, or for that matter...to study at all. Similarly, guilds did not allow the entry of lower-caste members in any form."

" This, along with some other problematic practices like corruption, embezzlement, and oppressing the weak, both the organizations were ratified by His Majesty and made it completely illegal to open."

Talking about these things, the old man shook his head and let out a sigh.

Noticing her cue, Preethi quickly stepped in. "Thank you for your insightful words. As you said, the guilds and the gurukul were once a major part of our society and culture, but sadly, this aspect, like an organ of the body, became corrupted and turned into poison that harmed the whole body."

She turned her attention to a young politician who had just been elected to the parliament of Gangapuri.

"Mr. Jaiswal, since we had encountered so many troubles with the guilds and gurukul in the past, as a minister, could you please enlighten us on why the parliament passed the Guild and Gurukul Restoration Act that brought back these problematic organisations of the past to life?"

The young minister did a namaskar and said with an expressionless face, "The answer is simple, it was because His Majesty proposed it himself."

His words immediately caused the audience members and even the members on the panel and Preethi to chuckle. Almost everyone in the empire now knows that any initiative His Majesty puts forward will definitely be passed without any opposition, it's basically an unwritten rule at this point, so with the minister of parliament directly saying such words without a change in expression and in such a flat manner, it could not help but tickle a few humorous cells in the audience.

"I'm just joking, but on a serious note..."

The conference continued for two more hours with each panellist speaking their own mind. At last, the time to end the conference was approaching, and Preethi asked the last question of the day.

"Is there something we should be worried about with the revival of the guild system and the gurukul system?"

Parambhir, the leading economist and the main writer of The Observer, put out his thoughts.

"My worry about Gurukul is still the same reason it was abolished, caste discrimination. Even though caste discrimination had already been made a capital crime, I don't have to mention how big of a problem caste discrimination still is."

"I just hope that the supervisors sent by the government will be able to handle this problem properly."

"As for the guilds, my worry is no longer about caste discrimination, corruption, or anything else, but my worry is about balance being broken between the middle class and the elite class."

His words intrigued a lot of people, including a few panellists.

"Could you please elaborate?" Preethi asked curiously.

"Yes, in simple terms, I'm worried that if guilds act rampantly and demand too much from the business owners by refusing to work as a collective, the good business environment in the empire might be destroyed."

Feeling like his words might have a huge potential to be misunderstood, he hurriedly explained.

"Let me clarify, I'm not saying that due to the guilds, there is a chance for workers to be overpaid. No, the only thing I'm saying is that for anyone, there should be an incentive to start a business, and the biggest incentive is profits. So if the guilds demand too much from businesses, who would want to run the business?"

---

As if by coincidence, or maybe due to someone secretly pushing the buttons behind the scenes, several unreasonable negotiation terms were put forward in front of several smaller businessmen whose businesses would simply go bankrupt if work did not resume.

A lot of businessmen compromised, as despite them losing most of their profits, at least there was some profit, which was better than closing down the company, but there were some people who did not budge and would rather hurt oneself 800 and hurt the enemy 1000 instead of backing down.

"Screw you, bloody rakshasas! I have fought in the War of Unification, I have watched Mughals fall, and have taken the lives of so many invaders by my own hands, I'd be damned if I give in to you bastards today."

"Come, don't you want 1000 per month? Then, alright, I'll not pay a single varaha. Isn't it only bankruptcy? It's alright, I'll go bankrupt, but before I fall I'll make sure that not one of those sons of biches gets any employment anywhere else."

These words shocked the negotiators, "How can this be? No, Mr., this is against the law."

"Haha, aren't you guys so proficient in law? Then why do you forget that I don't have to pay a penny if the employee was not coming to work? This is one of my core rights as a business owner."

"At the same time, I have the work contracts of those sons of biches in my own hands, let me see what you will do. I will not release them."

"At least for a year, the company can survive without any work, but can those idiots with families survive for a year without any salary? Hahaha, let's see."

The colour of the negotiators' faces immediately changed. They unexpectedly kicked an iron plate

If most of the business owners resisted and fought back, maybe there would be a process of normalisation, because when the employees got to know what their boss had planned to do, they decisively withdrew from the guild and went to work only two days after the negotiations broke up.

Just when the situation was going out of control, the top businessmen in the empire, like the Shetty family, Kalyan family, Pillai family, Joshi family and other families, had gathered together for a discussion on how to combat the guilds.

"Maybe we should submit a petition to the government from our side. I think we have no other option," Ghana Prabhu Berunda suggested.

Many people agreed to the suggestion, while others spoke out about their own ideas as well. The discussions went on for a long time.

Pranav Dixit, the owner of Gaur Agricultural Tools, who was sitting silent, suddenly got an idea.

"Why don't we start our own guild?"

His words were at first drowned out by the voices of the others, but as he repeated again, everyone heard it more clearly. As soon as his words fell, it was like a window paper blocking the view had been pierced.

Once it was cleared, everyone's minds immediately opened up.

"Yes, why didn't we think of such an obvious thing? The reason why the guild looked so imposing and difficult to deal with is because we were thinking from the perspective of combating it alone."

"No matter how big and strong a lion is, it still has to fear the pack of hyenas."

"But what if it is a pride of lions?"

"Do the pesky hyenas dare to act so presumptuously?"

That very day, several guilds were formed: the business owners' guild, the merchants' guild, and several other guilds, all catering to the business owners.

And to the shock of the empire, all the business owners came together and announced the first-ever Bharat Bandh, where all the work of the empire would be stopped for a whole day, with a warning of continuing indefinitely until the various workers came to the negotiation table and discussed terms that were acceptable for both parties.

Vijay looked at the turn of events and nodded in satisfaction.

"You did very well." Vijay patted his son's shoulder in acknowledgement.

P.S. Sudhanva_SH, thank you for the 3 Ice Cola gifts.