Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 929: Large scale Chinese immigration 6

The first day was filled with such teaching. It was information about the brief history of the Bharatiya Empire and how it came about. He listened to everything with great interest, as going to a school was a very novel experience for him; only the best could go to the various sects and gain tutelage under those Confucian masters.

Thinking about the history lesson, he never expected such a legendary figure to exist in this world. How amazing does a person have to be to not only use a small kingdom which he inherited to defeat one of the strongest nations in the world, unify a whole subcontinent, and expand to the scale of controlling nearly all of the southern part of Asia?

The class ended. It felt like it ended too soon, but still, he was excited to join the first day of work. Going back to work, he was given the task of shaving off the surface of the wheels.

He was given a tool that had a blade sticking out of it at a certain angle. After a few minutes, he understood how the tool worked. He had used something similar in his hometown as well, but it was not so easy to use.

The instructor saw him using the tool with scrutiny, and seeing Li Jian use it with such ease, he nodded his head with satisfaction. Li Jian completed his work and was about to put the wheel on top of the magical belt that moved on its own, but the instructor stopped him and waved his hand excitedly, as if he had done something horribly wrong.

"#$^%#$@"

He spoke some words in Bharati; unfortunately, he didn’t understand. The man looked flustered. In the end, he pulled Li Jian over to another section of the factory and placed his hand on the bottom of the wheel. He quickly felt the difference—the texture was rougher, almost coarse.

Li Jian was confused. Why would the bottom of the wheel need to be so coarse? He did not get it. But looking to the side, a few people were actually applying a liquid over the surface of the wheel and wrapping a layer of hard black substance over it. He touched the black substance. He was confused because it was hard and soft at the same time. He did not understand what it was used for, but still, he understood why it must be coarse—it should be to make the gum stick better.

He showed the supervisor his work after he had learnt how to use the sanding tool.

The supervisor finally approved his work and left him alone.

The day’s work was finally completed. He also took his son from the daycare. He looked like he had cried—thankfully, it didn’t look like the people there beat him. Smelling the crumbs of sweet on his mouth, it looked like he had been fed well. Li Jian did not know how to thank the person who took care of his son in Bharati, so he simply did a namaskar, gave a deep bow in respect, and went back to the dormitory.

Going back to the dormitory, he, as well as his other four colleagues, gathered together to discuss how their day was.

In such a way, the hundreds of thousands of Chinese were slowly becoming assimilated throughout the six frontiers of Suvarna Dvīpa.

In the end, the only thing the Chinese needed for assimilation was opportunity, the chance to rise. Once they had risen, even if they were later pushed aside, they had no desire to return to their hometowns. Inspired by the few successful Chinese who had made it to the top, the new immigrants settling in the frontiers worked even harder. After all, the frontiers offered them something the Qing Dynasty never did: a real path to rise.

Not to mention, their desire for money was no less than that of the Solankis, Jews, and Romanis.

In later years, historians regarded Vijay’s policy of allowing the Chinese to settle in the frontiers as one of the most successful among the long list of highly effective policies enacted by Supreme Emperor Vijay Devaraya Maharaj. The Chinese, in constant competition with the Solankis, Jews, and Romanis, infused their mercantile culture into the already diverse trading communities of the Bharatiya Empire, ultimately helping to create a more vibrant and dynamic economy.

---

25th February 1674

Simhasana Bhavana, Imperial Capital Bangalore, Akhand Bharatiya Empire

Learning about how the Chinese were being resettled, Vijay was very satisfied. The first wave of emigration—a total of 32,000 people—settled in the six frontiers of Suvarnath Dvīpa. Among them, the vast majority were farmers without any skills, while the people who actually possessed skills like management, carpentry, silk weaving, metal etching, and blacksmithing were all in the minority. But this did not surprise Vijay, because the Qing Dynasty, similar to the Bharatiya Empire, was an agrarian society where most people lived depending on the land. So he was already satisfied with the people he was importing.

In a few months, as the immigration policy deepens, more of the population is likely to emigrate from the Qing dynasty, which would enable the continuation of prosperity and economic growth in the overseas territories without being hindered by the reduction of population outflow from the mainland.

Normally, if any other country wanted to do what he was doing, finances would be very tight because he was paying with actual weaponry in exchange for the people. But considering the way the Bharatiya Empire operates, the loss is almost nonexistent. Even though there is some investment in the beginning to obtain the people, in the long term, it was actually a profit. The people coming from China are tied to a contract of several years, during which they will work for the company until they completely repay what the empire had invested in them, and then some.

This method was not disadvantageous for the immigrants either, since they would still be getting paid for their work. It’s just that they would not be getting paid the full amount, only half of it. The other half automatically goes to the immigration department, which, with the establishment of the Ministry of Special Affairs, came under its control.

Considering the situation of the northeastern neighbour, Vijay felt like it was the perfect time to expand the outreach of the Bharatiya Empire in the surroundings.

Both the western and eastern regions of the empire had already come firmly under its influence. The southern ocean was now completely under imperial control, a dominance that continued to deepen with the commissioning of the new BNV Rakshak into the navy. This vessel would be instrumental in forming a literal wall across key trade routes such as the Malacca Strait, the Mozambique Channel, and the Gulf of Aden.

The only region left was the north—Tibet.

There were a couple of reasons why Vijay did not show any interest in making any move to the north, be it diplomatic or otherwise. One was that there was no need, since he knew the Qing Dynasty would not make a move to annexe Tibet for a long time to come, especially not in this life where the Qing Dynasty was already embroiled in a civil war. Number two, the Himalayas were really too hard to traverse.

But now, with the invention of the steam engine, a lot of things could be solved—maybe not immediately, but roads could definitely be paved, cutting through the smaller mountains, maybe even a seasonal railway track, which never existed in his previous life, could be laid down.

According to the knowledge he possessed of Tibet from his previous life, the current Tibet should be ruled by the 5th Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, with the help of Güshi Khan, leader of the Khoshut Mongols.

Militarily, the Khoshut Mongols dominated the region, but politically, their role was minimal to none.

With all things considered, if the situation was like it was in the previous life, Vijay was confident that he could easily obtain control of Tibet militarily and build military bases in important strategic zones while continuing to allow the Dalai Lama to preach Buddhism and to control the spiritual aspects of society as he saw fit, as long as he was not opposed to the presence of the Bharatiya Empire in Tibet.

However, Vijay wasn’t too sure that things would be similar in this life because a lot of changes had taken place due to the existence of the Bharatiya Empire. One of the changes was that the remnants of the Bhutan royal family seemed to have escaped into Tibet. He didn’t know how this changed all the dynamics, not to mention that he could imagine the advanced ideologies brought to Tibet from Bharatiya merchants could have changed the situation as well.

In the end, Vijay summoned a civil servant from the Ministry of External Affairs and asked him to make contact with Tibet, establish a diplomatic connection, and learn about their situation.

New n𝙤vel chapters are published on f(r)e𝒆webn(o)vel.com