Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1206: WWI: Haridwar 100 (2)

In the blink of an eye, a month and a half passed unnoticed, and it was already the end of December.

Given the special circumstances the Empire was facing, the motorcycle project, which had been deemed crucial for the upcoming battle, received expedited clearance from both the military logistics department and the government, far faster than what could have been normally possible.

The motorcycle, aptly named ’Haridwar 100’ due to it being assembled and brought to life in the sacred city of Haridwar under Vijay’s supervision, was swiftly approved for mass production by the end of the year. Soon after, the vast industrial complex of the Bharatiya Empire, the Empire’s most prized and strategic asset, roared to life with renewed intensity, its workshops and foundries working tirelessly to begin large-scale production.

The level of secrecy and security clearance required for the companies to get involved in the project, even if they were nationalised organisations, was extremely high. Yet, despite these strict restrictions, over two dozen organisations still took part in the manufacturing of the Haridwar 100, far more than what had been permitted when the Balwaan engine was opened to the private sector for production.

In fact, it was Vijay who made this decision. He knew that allowing thousands of people to come into contact with the technology right from the start was dangerous, and he also understood that no matter how tightly it was guarded, the Europeans would eventually find some way to obtain details about the new combustion engine and the motorcycle. Yet, despite knowing all this, Vijay was willing to accept the risk for one simple reason: to manufacture as many motorbikes as possible.

With most of their naval capabilities destroyed, the European Union was currently in a very precarious situation. But Vijay knew this state would not last long. The European Union, which had united most of Europe’s resources, well, except Russia, since Russia was not a part of it, was frantically constructing battleships and warships at the very moment.

The bombardment of the British Isles had slowed them down greatly, but other countries could still shoulder the burden. It was not as if the English were the only ones capable of building good ships. Although they had fallen out of the mainstream with the rise of the Age of Sail, the Danish and the Swedish still possessed a long history and heritage of shipbuilding. Even if they lacked recent practical experience, their shipbuilders retained the necessary theoretical foundation to construct capital ships. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Now, with the resources of much of Europe backing their shipbuilding efforts, they resolutely laid down dozens of keels at the same time, and the construction of over twenty capital ships began in unison.

If left unchecked, they would eventually rebuild the European Navy to the same strength as before, if not to an even greater capacity. Vijay also knew that the Europeans were making rapid progress in artillery technology, so he did not expect their future fleet to be any weaker than the previous one. On the contrary, it would likely be stronger.

To slow them down and extend their recovery period, he could create various kinds of trouble for them, such as causing accidents in their shipyards or stirring tensions between nations where friction already existed. In his opinion, how could it ever be truly easy to unite groups of people who had been fighting each other for centuries?

Was this not the same reason why, during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the hands of the Bharatiya Empire, the European nations reacted so slowly? Even though they knew it was not in their interest for the Ottomans to fall and be replaced by another hegemon like Bharat, their support was hesitant and forced. After all, they were trying to preserve an enemy they had fought for over half a millennium.

Because of this, Vijay believed, or rather was confident, that he could exploit this deeply rooted mentality and create internal frictions across Europe, thereby slowing the recovery of the European Union.

But... there’s always a but. Vijay was not delusional enough to believe that such a situation would last for long. With the ruling class of Europe now largely united, even if frictions arose among the elites of different nations, those tensions would be swiftly suppressed without hesitation.

Moreover, Vijay had never underestimated an entire civilisation. Even if many elites, especially the petty nobles, were easy to manipulate, there would always be sharper minds among them, individuals with greater influence and awareness. Sooner or later, they would begin to notice the pattern behind their internal conflicts and realise that a hidden hand was guiding the discord from the shadows, the Bharatiya Empire.

With that being said, Vijay conservatively estimated that Europe would remain crippled and largely unable to project its power for at least two years and at most four. Within this limited window of time, he had to act decisively. He had to strike the Europeans hard enough that they would not even dare to consider mounting any meaningful resistance, or else the war could very well spiral out of control and drag on indefinitely.

Defeating the Europeans with the level of technology currently possessed by the Bharatiya Empire was not, in itself, a particularly difficult task. However, accomplishing this within such a tight and unforgiving time frame was the real challenge.

To deal with this exact situation, the motorcycle, along with one more card he had carefully kept hidden up his sleeve, was the two instruments he intended to rely on for a decisive breakthrough. So one could see that it was only natural that he was pushing with such urgency for the rapid mass production of the motorcycles.

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The entire empire was thrown into a frenzy. The iron and steel industrial zone, the coal industrial zone, the rubber industrial zone, the various mineral industrial zones, and the SEZs all roared to life at once. Workers moved like seasoned soldiers marching to war, steam engines thundered into action, and thick smoke filled the skies like an ominous cloud.

The number of orders issued by the military was not a mere 1,000 or 2,000, but a staggering 100,000 Haridwar 100 motorcycles, all with a deadline of just half a year. Such a scale had never been attempted before. Yet, with the arrow already on the string, the managers of the factories had no choice but to comply. Biting their lips and gritting their teeth, they threw themselves into the gruelling workload without hesitation.

Overnight, the three-shift working system became the industry standard, with each shift comprising seven hours, with the machine tools and production lines working 21 hours a day, with only a single hour of rest in order to maintain the machines between the shifts.

Due to the three-shift system, lighting became extremely important, and thanks to that, hundreds of dynamos had to be manufactured and shipped every week, and the same went for the bulbs and wires.

Electrification and internal combustion technologies advanced hand in hand, as if one were the fuel and the other the catalyst, together pushing the Empire’s manufacturing industries into overdrive.

Due to the frantic manufacturing of motorcycles, the empire consumed more resources than what it could produce, so as a result thousands of tonnes of raw materials arrived on the shores of the Bharatiya Empire every day from various parts of the Eastern hemisphere, be it from the southeast Asian countries, from Suvarna Dwipha, from Africa, from the Middle East or even from East Asia.

The prices of raw materials like rubber, iron ore, copper, and crude oil shot through the roof, almost doubling the original price within a month. Even if the military economy of the Bharatiya Empire managed to keep the prices of raw materials at a manageable level, it was only within the empire; outside it, it was not so much. Being the insatiable beast the Bharatiya Empire had become, it occupied nearly all production capabilities of the neighbouring nations and vassal kingdoms. Money flowed out of the Bharatiya Empire like water being drained from a tank, while raw materials came in, turning into parts for motorcycles, locomotives, battleships, warships, steam trucks, ordnance, war tractors, and railway tracks.

The profits various countries were making were immense, so even neutral countries that had joined the so-called non-alignment alliance, like the Ming Empire, the Joseon Kingdom, the Nippon Kingdom, and the Russian Empire, could not hold back any longer and began frantically mining resources to trade with the Bharatiya Empire.

Witnessing the monstrous surge of productivity from the Empire’s industrial complex, Vijay almost felt as if he were no longer in the 18th century, but in the 21st. However, he quickly came back to his senses and shook his head with a hint of amusement. In the 21st century, a single TVS Motor Company produced over 4.95 million two-wheelers in a year. That translated to a daily production of around 13,500 units, a weekly output of nearly 94,500 units, and a monthly production of about 410,000 units. In other words, a single TVS company could fulfil his order of 100,000 Haridwar motorcycles in just over 10 days.

Not that he was complaining. If anything, he was already extremely satisfied, and even slightly taken aback, by the sheer speed of the Empire’s production.

"At this pace, I might really be able to take down the Europeans within the next four years," he muttered, his eyes brightening.