Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1170: WW1: Creation of the European Union (3)

Doge Leandro Contarini of Italy was the first to stand, his face flushed, carrying the look of a man who had suffered a grave injustice. "Thank you, Your Highness Louis, for opening my eyes," he said. "Your words have enlightened me and revealed the truth. If not for you, I, along with millions of Italians, would still be trapped in darkness." As he spoke, he offered a slight bow, relief clearly visible on his face.

"As Your Highness Louis has said, it was because the people of the Cross were being oppressed and massacred en masse that the former Doge of the Italian Federation and the Venetian Republic, His Excellency Giovanni Morosini, made the decision to support the Bharatiya Empire."

He straightened, his expression hardening. "But now that the truth has come to light, what the Bharatiya Empire did is indeed condemnable. We should not entertain such vicious powers operating on our continent." His fist clenched, the determination in his eyes unmistakable. "Representing the millions of people of the Italian Federation, I wholeheartedly support the formation of a closer union, and I am willing to discuss its details at the negotiation table."

As soon as Leandro took the lead, others quickly followed: the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Austrians, the Slavic Byzantiums, and many more. Interestingly, those who spoke against Bharat with the greatest intensity and fervour were, in fact, the former close allies of the Bharatiya Empire. People continued to rise one after another to voice their views, and within minutes, only a handful remained who had yet to speak.

In the end, unable to withstand the mounting pressure, Friedrich I Hohenzollern, the current heir of the Hohenzollern family and Crown Prince of Prussia, under the ugly expression of Friedrich William, was forced to stand and concede that the responsibility for the massacres carried out by the Ottoman Empire ultimately lay with the Bharatiya Empire.

Charles of England and Williams of the Netherlands smiled, their plan having finally succeeded. Louis was pleased as well, even though being used left a faint bitterness in his mouth. Still, the objective had been achieved, well, at least most of it.

Remembering that there was still one nation at the conference yet to speak, everyone’s attention shifted toward a pair seated together, an elderly man and a middle-aged one, both carrying an air of majesty and authority.

As the gazes of nobles and royalty settled on him, Peter felt a surge of irritation. At the same time, he could not help but sneer inwardly at their behaviour, finding their words and grand promises utterly ridiculous. The moment Louis put forward his narrative, Peter already understood his purpose: to legitimise and whitewash the betrayal of the Bharatiya Empire by various European states and rewrite their jump to the enemy camp as something noble and justified.

He could also tell that most of the kings who had just risen to voice their agreement did not truly believe the story being spun. They were simply using it to suit their own interests. After all, it gave them a convenient answer to present to the public, allowing them to move from a position of blame to one of moral high ground.

Their flickering eyes and their sneaky glances, eying each other, were enough to show him what he wanted to know, but sadly, he could not immediately refute the narrative, as he did not want it to attract the enmity of almost all the European countries that were now directed towards the Bharatiya Empire.

At the same time, he had no desire to join their camp either. As the ruler of a multi-continental empire, he was constantly fed intelligence on the Bharatiya Empire’s movements through Vladivostok, and the conclusion he had reached was unsettling; the strength of the Bharatiya Empire was terrifying. This judgment came even after witnessing the combined power of the European states. Because of that, he had no intention of choosing a side unless there was a hundred percent certainty of victory.

In fact, he was relatively confident in the Bharatiya Empire, but unfortunately, if he picked the side of the Bharatiya Empire, he would incur the joint attack of all the European countries. Although he prided himself on ruling an empire that could take on the entirety of Europe, which he believed with all his heart, the resultant aftereffects would be that his empire would be pushed back to the east, to the uninhabitable zones, and the core of the Empire would be heavily damaged before the Bharatiya Empire could reinforce. He didn’t want such a thing to happen either, so when he attended the conference, he simply wanted to know what they were up to so that the preparations could be made accordingly.

He thought about many things, but in the end, all of it was only a split second in reality.

He glanced at his son at the corner of his eye and gave a slight nod.

Mikhail Federick Petrovich Romanov immediately understood his father’s mind. His father simply did not want to stand up and make a declaration against the Bharatiya Empire, but at the same time, he didn’t want to support the Westerners either, so he was letting him speak so that there was a chance to manoeuvre according to the changes in the situation. With this clarity, he stood up. Saying a few passionate statements about the evils of the Bharatiya Empire, Mikhail received nods of approval, but when he came to the topic of joining whatever union the French toad was planning, he simply said that the proposal would be reviewed carefully before making a decision.

The Europeans, hearing the response that sounded extremely exciting but in reality very perfunctory, did not say anything. Charles squinted his eyes, staring at Peter, but looking at Peter stare back at him without any fluctuation in his eyes, Charles could only remain quiet.

’ I guess it is good enough.’ He thought to himself and let it go, since it was already a much better answer than what he had anticipated. After all, the Russian Empire is the only empire in Europe that could actually sit on the sidelines and watch everything unfold. He did not think that it would be possible to pressure the Russians into joining their alliance.

The silence persisted for quite a while until Crown Prince Juan Jose of Spain asked a question. " Your Highness Louis, now that almost everyone has agreed to join the union if the conditions are right, would you please explain the system of the union you have envisioned?"

Louis XIV nodded with a smile and stood up. " The structure I envisioned, in fact, is actually inspired by the ASEAN model used by the Southeast Asian nations."

He asked his right-hand man to share the documents he had prepared and explained. " These are the economic figures that my people have ascertained ever since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has been formed, and as you can see on the very first page, the so called gross domestic product, which is the unit used by the Bharatiya Empire in measuring a nation and an economy, the average gdp of countries in ASEAN is not less than 8 percent, and the highest one even reaches 12 percent."

"In comparison, while some of our kingdoms have managed to keep up with these numbers, calculating our growth according to the GDP calculations with an average of 10 to 13 percent, some other countries are inching along with under 6 percent growth rates."

"So the first method I put forward to unite more closely is to unify the tariff system completely, just like ASEAN, so that trade can be boosted and the supply of raw materials in the event of war would be much more guaranteed."

"For example, now we have a slight grain shortage in some areas due to our dependence on the colonies in Africa, but if every country within the upcoming Union is able to purchase the grain from Slavic Byzantium, which has the most fertile black soil, everyone can procure the grain at a reasonable cost with better reliability in transportation. "

"Taking another example, nations in the east are less developed compared with our western kingdoms, so the weapons and logistics for war are lagging behind by a lot. I have read some reports that informed me that there are entire regions where there isn’t even a single steam engine, and they are completely devoid of modern machinery. This news greatly shocked me and made me very sad. It broke my heart thinking that there were kingdoms stuck in the Middle Ages while we in the West were trying our best to develop industry. One reason for such backwardness is that tariffs increase the price of goods as they cross various borders to reach the East."

"By implementing a unified tariff system, this will be greatly alleviated, and industrial products from Western Europe will be easily accessible to the nations in Eastern Europe, and for the nations in Western Europe, the raw materials in Eastern Europe will be easily accessible."

" The second method is that everyone contributes a certain percentage of their taxes, and their money will be used to procure a unified navy and army, and this military force will be only answering to the united body formed by all our nations."

"As for who has the most say, it will be entirely dependent on who contributes what to the union. Some may contribute financially, while others, although they cannot contribute as much as richer countries financially, can contribute through their importance in the union. For example," Louis directed his hand towards Peter, "as the easternmost country of Europe and a country spanning two continents, Russia is simply too important geographically."

"Once Russia joins the union, its eastern coast could be used as another theatre of war, giving us more opportunities and leverage to take on the Bharatiya Empire, and in such a situation, even if Russia does not contribute monetarily, Russia’s say in the union cannot be underestimated, and it is bound to be one of the top five nations."

All the kings nodded in understanding, but Peter remained silent. Although the words sounded good, reality is deceiving. Once such a thing happened, not only would the countries of Europe have one more theatre to fight their war, the Bharatiya Empire, which had been developing the east for several decades, would have another theatre of war as well. Although he was confident that he could stop the Bharatiya Empire in Siberia, he also knew that the entire coast would be lost, and if the eastern coast of Russia was lost, then the central and eastern regions of Russia would become unsustainable. He would never let such a thing happen.

Louis had no idea what Peter was thinking and continued explaining.

" The internal affairs of each kingdom could be left to its sovereign as always, but when dealing with an external enemy like the Bharatiya Empire, diplomacy and the power of the military should be concentrated in the hands of capable military leaders."

" To end my proposal, I would suggest that the name of this organisation that will unite us all against the Great Enemy in the east be simply called as The European Union."