Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1171: WWI: Peter’s Plan

After the historic meeting to form the European Union, the continent of Europa was never the same again. Peter watched all of the things unfold with expressionless eyes, as if he were an outsider, from the comfort of Moscow.

Immediately after the meeting, and as early as the following week, negotiations to establish a preliminary framework for the European Union began in earnest. Within a month, a basic skeleton had taken shape, and over the next few weeks, major European powers started investing heavily in its formation. A tender for a union headquarters building was approved, construction firms were invited to bid, and five countries partially dissolved their armies and navies, transferring those forces directly under the authority of the European Union.

Soon after, various institutions such as the European Reserve Bank, the European Academy of Sciences, and several other bodies were established. Nations poured in resources with full commitment, each seeking to secure as much influence as possible, while the bureaucratic machinery was rapidly set into motion.

After the five major countries, namely the Kingdom of Britain, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Spain, and the Italian Federation, joined forces to bring the European Union into reality, something that had been little more than an idea a month earlier, tariffs between the five nations were unified, and trade was greatly simplified.

Although the results of these measures had yet to fully materialise, the enthusiasm among merchants was unmistakable. With many bureaucratic hurdles removed and tariff codes simplified, the mood of the merchants and the traders was so exuberant that it felt as though the day itself was being celebrated like a festival.

Peter even heard of several major merchants within his own empire expressing envy, remarking that it might be good to join the union as well. He dismissed those comments outwardly, yet the implication lingered in his mind.

Only a week after the unified tariff code was implemented and set into motion through the European Union’s parliamentary session, British steam engines, coal-mining machinery, advanced metals, and textile looms began to flow into the member states. French gunpowder production and artillery were soon being heavily procured by the Union Army as well. Spanish iron, copper, and silver were not left out either, pouring into the war reserves of other member nations and into the Union’s own strategic stockpiles.

The precision instruments and iron produced by the Italian Federation filled many of the gaps left by other countries, adding much-needed stability to the Union. Finally, Dutch optical instruments, previously embargoed, were opened to Union members as well. Of course, when Peter said flooded in, it was only figurative in manner and not literal, since it still takes time for transportation to occur, but the fact of the matter is the trade contracts have already been signed, and the decisions have already been made.

Drawing on his experience of observing how the entire landscape of Southeast Asia had changed after the formation of ASEAN, Peter predicted that this first step would have a significant impact on the five countries currently in the European Union, and he suspected, in a very positive way, that it would surprise many.

And he was not wrong. With the free flow of goods and services among the five major countries, their economies began to recover. The stock market, which had been in steady decline since the Bharatiya Empire’s attack on the African colonies, showed clear signs of stabilisation and even hinted at a modest upward trend.

Things that surprised Peter continued to unfold. According to the intelligence he received, with the advanced technologies of all five nations brought together, research into a new generation of weaponry began in full force. British metallurgy, French artillery design, Spanish iron and steel production, Dutch gunpowder and chemical industries, and the precision instruments of the Italian Federation were all combined.

The result was the R&D of the most powerful guns Europe had ever seen in every major category, weapons specifically designed to contend with the formidable armaments of the Bharatiya Empire.

This made Peter extremely cautious. What if the guns designed to fight the Bharatiya Empire were one day turned against him? Because of that fear, he poured even more resources into intelligence gathering in this area.

As time passed, he witnessed something striking with his own eyes. The European Academy of Sciences rapidly became the place every ambitious and renowned intellectual in Europe wanted to enter. Scholars and scientists practically waited for an invitation, and many were even willing to abandon prestigious fellowships at universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne, Bologna, Leiden, Padua, or Salamanca if it meant securing a place within the European Academy of Sciences.

Around February of the New Year 1699, the day Peter had anticipated finally arrived. The European Union started to expand, absorbing more member nations, including the Portuguese, the Austrian, and the Slavic Byzantium.

While this was happening, a currency was also brought forward, a unified currency to take on the role of varaha played in the eastern hemisphere, called the crown.

The very next month, in March, the nations that still refused or showed hesitation in joining the union were sanctioned by all the member countries in the union, imposing heavy tariffs for any goods that were imported from the uncooperating nations, and this was accompanied by diplomatic pressure on all sides, including but not limited to pressure from the familiar nobles, pressure from the merchant guilds, pressure by the artisan guilds, and most importantly, pressure from the people, whose price of living had suddenly shot up due to the imports costing more than before.

Peter experienced all these schemes and tactics as well, but Russia has always been isolated in Europe when it came to the economy, and due to being mineral-rich, it does not have to depend on anyone else, so the tactics did not work on him, but he couldn’t say the same for others.

Unable to resist any longer, the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Danish Norway, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth consecutively joined the union. Peter let out a distraught sigh.

With nations such as the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Prussian, Austrian, Italian, Polish-Lithuanian, Danish-Norwegian, Swedish, and Slavic Byzantium all gathered under a single organisation, the EU grew into a colossal goliath. Twelve kingdoms combined into one bloc, with a total GDP edging dangerously close to 98 billion varaha, or 106.1 billion crowns.

The figure shocked Peter, to say the least. It was several times larger than that of his own empire.

One crown was roughly equal to 0.9235 varaha. Like the Bharatiya Empire, it was backed by precious metals, but unlike the Bharatiya Empire’s policy, the European Union recognised that relying on gold alone was unsustainable and instead adopted a mixed precious-metal backing.

Peter found this approach intriguing and even consulted his finance minister to see whether such a system could be implemented in the Russian Empire. To his surprise, the answer was yes. Without hesitation, Peter ordered that a plan be drafted to introduce a similar system in Russia.

In the following weeks, when the GDP numbers were made public, it caused a huge stir. No one expected the result of integrating so many economies would be so earth-shaking. Not to mention the people, even the nobles and the bankers themselves were shocked speechless.

You have to know, after the Bharatiya Empire surpassed them economically within just the first five years of its establishment, they could barely even glimpse its back. But now, things were different. The Bharatiya Empire’s economy, once dozens of times larger than theirs, had shrunk to only three times their size.

Even though a threefold difference was still the gap between Heaven and Earth, it was already astonishing when compared to the past, when their individual strength had looked laughable next to a 326 billion varaha economy, no more than an egg striking a rock.

And this is the part that made Peter grow suspicious and doubt his own decision, but in the end, only looking at the intelligence reports coming from the east, his resolve quickly strengthened, and all the idiotic thoughts in his mind were thrown aside.

Truth be told, most European kingdoms and nations still use their own currency. After all, the printing and spreading of a whole new currency so quickly was an impossible task, even with all the resources of Europe being brought together, so the currency is so far only on the books and has not been realised in reality, but he also knew that such a reality was not too far off. Thanks to the precision machinery capabilities of the Italian Federation, high-accuracy 5th-generation Aurelio printers to print currency have been procured by the European Reserve Bank, and He received the intelligence about the printing already commenced, with the aim to produce enough money to utilise for internal trade between member kingdoms and states.

Over the coming weeks, Peter observed a phenomenon. Although the actual strength of many nations has not increased, or even in principle reduced, due to their military being assigned to the European Union, he noticed most nations already see a rise in their strength. With this boosted morale and confidence, the attack on the Greek mainland intensified, and defences in various major cities were almost broken. This pressure even led to more troops pouring in from the Middle East into Anatolia and Syria to resist the European Union’s advances.

As the only European country that refused to join the Union, the Russian Empire, and its emperor, Peter, faced a lot of pressure politically, diplomatically, economically, and even militarily, with the troops on the western border belonging to the enemy constantly increasing. This enraged Peter; how dare the stupid brother of his provoke him? But he held back from taking any drastic actions.

Ultimately, his restraint proved to be wise because simply applying pressure was as far as the European Union went. They did not push Russia any further. Peter had an idea as to why they chose not escalate things. If he is not wrong, they should have received intelligence about the Bharatiya Empire in the Pacific Ocean at the eastern coast, being ready to assist Russia if the matter escalated into a military conflict.

He understood the EU did not want his empire to go into the camp of the Bharatiya Empire, and Vijay did not want his empire to go into the camp of the European Union either, so, in between the two powerful camps, Peter, who always was an overlord, let out a sigh of relief.

But Peter, being a ruler who prided himself on making his empire strong and who rose through conquest, found the current situation unacceptable. Being at the mercy of others is absolutely unacceptable. Although he thinks he knows Vijay quite well and suspects that even if the Bharatiya Empire completely defeats the European Union, it would not go on to occupy the lands entirely, but who can actually tell? Could a person who conquered most of the world leave a certain part of the land unconquered? On the other hand, he is very confident that if somehow the European Union defeats the Bharatiya Empire, after absorbing the spoils of war, Russia will definitely be their next target.

Such a future made him shudder, so he came to a decision. He would strengthen the Empire no matter the cost.

In the month of July, a massive news broke out. The Tsarist Russian Empire, the Ming Empire, the Kingdom of Nippon, and the Kingdom of Joseon came into a treaty that had never been heard before, called the non alignment treaty, where it stipulates that the member countries of the treaty would form a close union based on resisting the pressure of the two axes that are quickly mobilizing their strength in both the West and the East.

According to the non alignment treaty formed by the four countries, neither of the four countries would join the war militarily or otherwise. The four countries would support each other in case either of the axes attacks a country in the non alignment treaty. The four countries would maintain military and diplomatic independence. The economic ties alone would be strengthened to subsequently strengthen the defensive capabilities of all four countries. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Once this happened, the probing from the two sides was greatly reduced. Peter finally let out a sigh of relief.

He finally bought a stable development period for the Empire, which will most likely last until the conflict between the two axes is over, but now another plan has begun to sprout in his mind. Can I use this conflict to my advantage, he thought. A scheming glint appeared in his mind, and he immediately formulated a plan according to the inspiration he just got.

Two cats fight, and the monkey eats the bread.

Will he be the monkey?