Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1235: A silent revolution

While Commander Vaibhav Krishnamoorthi and his army had set off on the road to conquer Thessaloniki, the Empire’s logistics channels were running at full capacity. All the locomotives throughout the empire ran for only one purpose, which was to supply the gluttonous beast, the monster that devoured enormous amounts of resources, the military industrial complex of the Bharatiya Empire.

Every day, thousands of tonnes, if not tens of thousands of tonnes, of materials flowed from one state to another, from one special economic zone to another. A processed raw material rarely stays in its state for more than a week before being transported somewhere else for the next stage of production.

As a result, the gigantic army of the empire was quickly being equipped with weapon systems and much-needed military supplies. And since Vijay had decided not to keep the army idle, divisions composed of around 12,000 soldiers were transported one after another through both water and land routes.

Because of this, the Baghdad railway and the railway lines connected to it, which allowed the empire to have a direct connection with Israel and Lalishtan and an indirect connection with Anatolia and Syria, were completely monopolised by the empire. Gigantic steel locomotives, nearly two storeys tall, thundered across the tracks, their exhaust forming clouds that drifted across the skies of the Middle East.

In the towns and cities of Persia, it had become common for locomotives to pass through several times a day. As a result, the people living very close to the railway tracks often had nothing good to say about the railway. Sleepless nights and the constant vibrations they felt every time the metal monster galloped only a few meters away from their homes became the source of their complaints. However, that did not mean everyone was unhappy. In fact, the vast majority of people were extremely satisfied with the current situation.

Due to the advantage of being closer to the battlefield and being relatively rich in mineral resources, combined with the fact that a railway network already existed, Persia and Lalishtan had become the second most important suppliers of raw materials for the Bharatiya Empire in its war against Europe.

Naturally, the majority of the goods still came from the empire itself. No other entity could even come close to the level of productivity the empire could achieve. However, the problem of distance was not easy to overcome during emergency situations, such as when there was an urgent need for fuel, food, or clothing. It was precisely during such moments that the secondary suppliers like the Persian Kingdom and the Kingdom of Lalishtan stepped up to fulfil the role.

The amount of materials purchased from these secondary suppliers might not have been large from the perspective of the Bharatiya Empire, but given the size of the Persian and Lalishtani economies, the business they received was something they could previously only dream of.

For this reason, the locomotives that transported the coalition troops of the empire also carried much-needed materials to the frontline, contributing greatly to the economies of the host kingdoms.

The effects on the macro scale aside, even on the micro scale the Persians and the Yezidis benefited a lot from the nonstop transportation of troops and materials. For example, wherever the trains stopped to resupply or cool down their engines, the troops would disembark to rest. And when they did, they spent a considerable amount of money, whether in restaurants, entertainment places, or shops selling various souvenirs. Since the troops were usually charged a small premium, the profits made by vendors were extremely high, often enough to recover their initial investment in only two or three rounds of business, with pure profit afterwards.

To put things into perspective, a small town that had originally been built simply because a railway track passed through it was now on the verge of becoming a large commercial city, the biggest within a 500-kilometre radius. This transformation happened mainly because the locomotives stopped there for over an hour and the troops regularly patronized many of the businesses in that town.

The business brought by the troops became so important that the mayor eventually set up a dedicated marketplace right next to the railway station. It was filled with shops and businesses that were most frequented by Bharatiya soldiers. As a result, it became a must-visit place for the troops before entering the battlefield, a place where they could enjoy various forms of pleasure, whether moral or immoral. Only a month after the establishment of the market, it had officially become the economic engine of the town, pushing it closer to becoming a full-fledged city.

At the same time, just because the empire’s industrial heart was beating rapidly due to the military and the war did not mean that civilian technologies and the manufacturing of civilian products had stagnated.

In fact, the opposite was true. Civilian industries might not have been leading the charge in the empire’s economic expansion, but they were certainly not falling behind. Their growth remained impressive, even more impressive than before the war.

And this was all thanks to the second industrial revolution that had quietly begun throughout the empire.

Research and development in electrical technologies were in full swing. The dynamo had already reached its third generation, becoming larger and more efficient, capable of harnessing more power than ever before.

Anand Binoy, the greatest electrical mind the empire had ever produced, had even begun researching a new form of current, alternating current. This technology could make it much easier to transport electricity over long distances without needing to install dynamos repeatedly along the way just to prevent the current from losing power.

At the same time, internal combustion technologies were also developing rapidly. The chief engineers of various automobile industries had already done their part by participating in the competition to design a lightweight mobility truck for the military. Some had succeeded, while many others had failed. However, their work did not end there. If anything, it was only just beginning.

Now that it was clear that internal combustion engines were much more efficient in powering small personal vehicles than steam engines, and there was already a practical example being used in the military, a race began to research the Internal combustion versions of cars, tractors, and even trucks like the ones used by the military, but for civilian purposes.

The Aakarsh Group of Companies, Beharunda and Hima Industries, Surya Corporation, Mengal and Bros Industries, Tata Group, RDA Corporation, Brown Industries, Gaur Industries, Vikram Tractors, Keshava Engineering and Agro Works, the Engineers Guild of Indraprastha, and many other organisations were already deeply involved in designing and prototyping new products powered by internal combustion engines.

Speaking of the engine, a second iteration was already underway. This time, the goal was to create a 4-cylinder inline engine capable of producing at least 30 horsepower, making it the most powerful small engine the empire had ever produced. According to the reports Vijay had seen, in the presence of his second son and Mr Sangapati, the project had progressed very smoothly, and the results were expected by the end of the year.

In fact, a few research teams had already begun working on a larger internal combustion engine capable of powering a locomotive or even a small frigate. However, Vijay was not too optimistic about this research finishing anytime soon because the research direction and the theoretical groundwork did not give him much confidence. Still, hoping for the best, he approved the projects and provided a generous amount of funding.

By the way, just because internal combustion engines and electricity had entered the mainstream did not mean that steam technologies were being ignored. In fact, the Raya Power Company, the officially designated naval power unit manufacturer for the Bharatiya Navy, had recently developed the fourth-generation turbine engine. It was much more efficient than the previous generation used on the Maharaja Rama Chandra Class Battleship, while also being more durable. At the same time, it maintained roughly the same size while producing a massive 6000 horsepower per turbine, an increase of over 25% compared to the last generation.

To put things into perspective, the first-generation Ramachandra class battleship, which was equipped with dual Bhairavi Jalapatra Gen-2 marine engines, produced only a combined output of around 560 horsepower.

Yes, it was bananas.

Vijay was also shocked when he went through the design proposal submitted by the Navy after holding a design competition, just like they always did.

Putting the ship design aside, the recommended power system alone was impressive. The proposal suggested using 18 coal-fired high-pressure steam boilers and four sets of direct-drive steam turbines, each capable of producing over 6000 shaft horsepower, driving four screw propellers.

When Vijay looked at the schematics for this configuration, ’’Isn’t this the Fuc**ng Dreadnought?’’ he screamed in his heart. As he looked deeper into the design, he became even more certain, because there was a massive jump in displacement. The ship was no longer limited to 5000 tonnes. Instead, it was designed for an extremely ambitious displacement of 18,000 tonnes, which would officially make it the largest vessel the empire had ever attempted to build.

Given that it was theoretically capable of reaching speeds of 21 knots, once built, the ship would become a true monster, completely surpassing the known limits of the era.

Vijay did not know when the design could actually become reality. He was fairly certain that for the shipyards to even attempt building such a vessel, they would first need experience constructing merchant ships of a similar scale. Even so, he was excited for the day to arrive. After all, the main components needed to build such a behemoth already existed. The only things still lacking were experience and the courage to attempt it.

So yes, the empire was becoming more formidable with every passing month. And Vijay, who had recently begun to feel emotional about everything he had achieved, finally decided to do something for himself.

He officially added a project to the itinerary of the Bharatiya Space Research Organisation (BSRO), launching a rocket beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.

He knew that he would not be able to focus on this personal passion project for quite some time. Still, he hoped that the war would end quickly so that one day he could spend the rest of his life pursuing what he truly loved.

P.S. A little rough today