Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1221: Building Naya Samrat (1)

1704 ended in a blink of an eye, and it was already January of 1705.

All the engineers were rushing to complete their prototypes, and the tense atmosphere in the warehouse of the Bharatiya Academy of Military Sciences was so thick that it could practically be cut with a knife.

Engineers and the mechanics alike were rushing around from their booth to the store room, and from the store room to their booth. The tasks they had to do were endless, whether it is machining a part that did not quite turn according to the design, or redesigning an entire system.

Among the many teams scattered throughout the vast warehouse, each group was focused on its own project, racing against time to present a workable solution. Some were bent over drafting tables covered in blueprints, others stood beside half-assembled machines, arguing over measurements and adjustments. The entire place resembled a battlefield of ideas, where success would belong only to those who could turn their designs into functioning machines.

Among them was Venkatesh Yadav, the chief engineer of Aakarsh Industries. Venkatesh chose to design the truck by himself. Although he had no experience in designing an armoured vehicle, he had plenty of experience working with cars. After all, he was the chief designer of the wildly popular Aakarsh S series. In his opinion, the truck the military was looking for was not very different from a large, extended car, but with the capability of removing its seats so that cargo could be loaded when necessary.

With this thought in mind, and with his experience designing the interior seating arrangement of the war tractor, he was quite confident that he could come up with a proper truck that the military was looking for and started working on his own. Several months later, his hard work was finally bearing fruit. The construction of the prototype had begun.

"Loosen the suspension a little more, I do not want it to be this tight," he sternly ordered. Only after he observed that the chassis sat much more flexibly on the ground was he satisfied.

Venkatesh Yadav was not aware of this since he was completely absorbed in his work, but the mechanics and the engineers who were running around the warehouse would, once in a while, stop and look at his booth with complicated expressions. Some would show a look of disbelief, some a look of admiration, and some jealousy.

His booth even attracted the attention of the Brigadier, who was in charge of the internal security of the warehouse.

The Brigadier stood behind a large glass wall on the top floor of the warehouse, at a vantage point from where one could overlook all the activities below, and his gaze was entirely focused on the booth of Venkatesh Yadav. "It’s so smooth, without any wasted movements. How amazing," he commented.

Just then, a man appeared next to him. His height was not as tall as the Brigadier General’s, but his disposition was just as imposing. "Well, he is the chief engineer of the Aakarsh Industries after all. If he doesn’t even have this much skill, wouldn’t it be embarrassing?"

The young Brigadier General put on a thoughtful look on his face.

"Just think about it. Even within the military, experienced veterans who get their hands on a new gun become proficient with it far more quickly than new recruits who have never touched one."

"So it should not be surprising that an experienced engineer can account for many inconsistencies during the design phase. They are able to remove design elements that may look reasonable on paper but prove impractical in practice, which ultimately saves a great deal of time and resources."

"Hmm, that makes sense."

Looking around the whole booth, he found a few more engineers who showcased a similar skill level. The parts they designed rarely failed, and there was much less inconsistency than with the other engineers, who were only now finding out that their fender was 2 millimetres too wide, that the cooling solution they had designed did not fit in the truck at all, and other such issues.

The difference in preparation was obvious even at a glance. While some engineers scrambled to correct basic measurement errors and redesign components on the spot, a smaller group worked with calm confidence, adjusting only minor details and refining what was already close to a finished concept. Their tables looked less chaotic, their notes more organised, and their discussions far more focused.

At this moment, the brigadier’s gaze suddenly shifted toward the corner of the warehouse.

"I wonder when they will start." He looked at a booth that had yet to begin its assembly, a curious expression appearing on his face.

"Technically, that team has the largest number of senior engineers from the top tractor and car manufacturing companies. They should have been at the forefront of the build, right? I wonder why they haven’t started yet."

The shorter middle-aged man, looking in the direction the Brigadier was looking, stroked his stubble and shrugged. "Who knows, maybe they’ve run into a problem or something."

"Huh, how is that possible? There are so many senior engineers; how could they be any worse than Venkatesh Yadav?"

"Hmm." The middle-aged man’s eyes lit up. "Probably that’s the reason why, with so many chief engineers from various top manufacturing companies put together, I’m sure there would be a lot of disagreements."

The Brigadier General’s brows furrowed, and then he looked at the man next to him. "If I understand what you’re saying, it’s like putting several generals of the same rank and skill in command of the same mission?"

"No!" The man shook his head, "That’s not the correct analogy, since each general can specialise in their own aspect of the battle, but ya, the reason I feel the team is lagging behind is that the seven generals are arguing with each other, hampering each other’s progress."

The Brigadier General nodded. But then a hint of disappointment could not help but appear on his face. He was hoping to see what those seven engineers would come up with. After all, the philosophy they had put up on the wall resonated with him greatly, and he felt like any vehicle that was built with those principles would be perfect for the military. But it looks like too much creativity and skill in one place is not a good thing either. He shook his head and was about to turn his attention elsewhere, but suddenly, there was movement from that booth.

"Huh!"

Sapta Abhiyantharaha Booth

Noise was all around the warehouse, but in the Sapta Abhiyantharaha booth, there was absolute silence. No one was even near the chassis that was raised off the ground right at the middle of the booth, with nothing but the twin cylinder Dvidhara engine installed in it.

Despite the surrounding commotion, the atmosphere inside the booth felt almost ceremonial. A few engineers stood quietly at the edges, their eyes fixed on the bare chassis as if waiting for a signal that had yet to be given. The exposed metal frame, with the engine already mounted, looked incomplete yet full of potential, like the skeleton of a machine waiting to come alive. Tools had been carefully arranged nearby, and the next major component sat ready to be installed.

Just then, Arjun Vaidya, the chief engineer from the RDA Mobility Corporation, made his move. He, along with his team, pulled over the 3-speed countershaft gearbox and lifted it onto the same level as the engine, and started aligning it in a linear line with the output shaft of the engine.

While he was doing that, his mechanical assistants, all of whom had been part of his own research team at the RDA Mobility Corporation before the war, and were also from his alma mater, Bharatiya Institute of Technology, Warangal, handled the clutch assembly that had to be fitted between the gear shaft and the engine output shaft. This step would be carried out only after Vaidya had completed his initial alignment.

While Vaidya and his team were working on the gearbox, Draupadi Nayar, the only female engineer in the team and also the only person within the team who graduated from Raya University, simultaneously worked on the axles.

She wore messy factory worker clothes, safety goggles and a hard hat, and she got right under the chassis with all the other people as she gave instructions to her assistants in a concise manner with a confident tone.

With her supervision, the front beam axle and rear axle were being bolted in real time to their respective cross members. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

While the gearbox and the axles were simultaneously coming together, Balbir Mengal, a graduate of Dakshin Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, a first-tier university in Pune, and also the chief engineer of Mengal and Brothers Industries, started to work on the undercarriage brackets fitting.

With the help of his assistants, who had been assigned to him by the military from his own family business, he carefully handled the mounting of the fuel tank, traction board slots, recovery hooks, and the positions for the body steel, all of which were bolted securely onto the chassis rails.

All three teams moved in swift precision without a single wasted movement. It was as if they were a choir group, each playing their own note, blending together with the rest to form a melody where one note couldn’t be distinguished from another.

Once Vaidya had fitted the clutch assembly, and the axles were fully installed along with the undercarriage brackets, a test was carried out to confirm that the gearbox had been seated properly.

By the end of the test, all three engineers were covered in grease, with black smudges from head to toe, but it did not bother them. After confirming that everything was alright, the alignment was perfect, and the parts were installed as designed, Arjun Vaidya, doing the honours, connected the differential and chain drive.

With his skilful and nimble hands, he fitted the differential housing inside the rear axle, a simple 6 bolt design, and installed the roller chain running from gearbox output to differential input. He then quickly checked the chain tension to make sure it was right and packed the housing with ample amounts of grease.

While Arjun Vaidya was occupied with all that work, the other two engineers, who had already gotten their hands messy, were not simply standing on the sidelines watching him. Instead, they began working on the parts they had each taken responsibility for designing.

Nayar led her team in assembling one spring assembly per corner, each one bolted to its own chassis bracket that she herself had designed. The suspension was arranged in a way that followed the overall design philosophy; it had to be easily replaceable with little to no training while maintaining reliability.

At this time, Akshay Purohit, the chief engineer of Gaur Industries, who had been preparing on the sidelines, finally stepped into the scene, allowing Mengal to take a break and prepare for the next assembly.