Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

6th October 1659

Akhand Bharatiya Empire, Kaveri Riverbank Industrial Zone

Vijay travelled through his exclusive carriage with excitement and anticipation. He had just received good news from the Raya Ironworks, a company under the Raya Heavy Industries Group.

Ever since the blast furnace had been invented almost a decade ago, it had been continuously improving. In 1653, it was capable of producing 400 tons per annum, and the very next year, it was upgraded to 520 tons. The final iteration, which came in 1657, saw a huge leap as the production capacity reached 650 tons. However, three years had passed, and there had been no iterative or qualitative upgrades made to the blast furnace.

Instead, as the demand for iron and steel for the Bharatiya Empire increased, the number of blast furnaces constructed also increased. The version 3 blast furnace, capable of outputting 650 tons per annum, had 195 pieces of them put into use. The iron smelting and steel-making capacity of the Bharatiya Empire surpassed every country in the world and took the first place by a huge margin.

For instance, Portugal, which had been the first country to take advantage of the assembly line production method, steadily increased its iron smelting capabilities over the years and had already reached 56,000 tons from 25,000 tons in 1653. The Spanish Empire, although lagging behind at the beginning, still caught up with a production capability of 46,000 tons from 30,000 tons. England easily doubled its iron production capabilities from 25,000 tons in 1653 to 50,000 tons at present.

The French increased from 20,000 tons to 40,000 tons, doubling again. The Ottoman Empire went from 20,000 tons to a whopping 69,000 tons. When Vijay saw this data, he was shocked, but he felt it was natural since, due to his existence, the military capabilities of the Czarist Russian Empire and the Republic of Venice were much more threatening. If the Ottoman Empire did not ramp up military production, Vijay would have been surprised.

Moving on, Sweden went from 18,000 tons to 30,000 tons. The Holy Roman Empire went from 12,000 tons to 39,000 tons. The Czarist Russia went from a measly 10,000 tons to a whopping 49,000 tons. Seeing this data, Vijay, instead of being surprised, actually frowned because Russia was one of the countries eligible to buy the last-generation blast furnaces of the Bharatiya Empire. So, despite getting so much support, the production capabilities had not surpassed 50,000 tons, which was quite telling of the Russian bureaucracy.

As for the Polish-Lithuanian nation, it went from 8,000 tons to 17,000 tons, a bit more than double. Although Vijay could not get accurate data about the iron production capabilities of the Qing Empire, he still got basic data from various sources. It used to be 35,000 tons nearly six years ago, but currently, despite internal struggles, it had been raised to 53,000 tons. The Dutch went from 6,000 tons to 40,000 tons, seeing the biggest jump in production capabilities out of all the countries on the list.

It looks like enmity with the Bharatiya Empire made them quite aware of how important iron and steel were to a nation.

Nearly every country in the world has increased their iron production capabilities. Vijay clearly remembers that no such phenomenon occurred in his last life, but due to his influence and existence in this life, people became aware of advanced concepts much earlier. In this era, which is much more barbaric than the 18th or 19th century, all countries face a crisis of security. Vijay could only hope the World War in this timeline will not be more depressing than the one in the last timeline.

Especially since, after selling the blast furnaces to the Russian Empire, it only took a few months for their secrets to be leaked to other European countries. And he could only imagine what the Europeans, who were known to be peace-loving, would do with such production capabilities. Even thinking about it made Vijay shiver. Thankfully, the subcontinent was very far from the European mainland.

Although he was the main reason for countless deaths if the world war were to be more intense, unfortunately, there was nothing Vijay could do about it. He could not just enjoy himself as the king of the Vijayanagar Empire and not deal with the hateful Mughal Empire, could he?

Putting the worry of the future aside, Vijay was quite happy with the present development. The Ottoman Empire and the Portuguese, who took second and third place respectively, combined would only amount to 125,000 tons of iron production capabilities, but it is still lower than the Bharatiya Empire by a small margin, which has 126,752 tons.

"Bharat's iron-making capability should always be higher than the second and third combined,"

Vijay was confused as to whether he should make this statement true. The British followed a similar policy for their navy, where their naval power was higher than the second and third naval powers combined. However, he also knew that this policy caused the British to invest monstrous amounts of resources into their navy, which, to be honest, was quite alright since the British had such a large colonial empire. But once troubles started to occur in the colonies, the exorbitant amount of spending on the navy, instead of becoming a sword in the hand, became the rope that hanged the neck.

Vijay was not sure if he wanted to follow the same path. While iron is completely different from warships, he also knew that it was very hard to maintain the lead because, unlike warships, which require a very big legacy, iron smelting requires no such thing. A blast furnace of the second generation should be enough for an iron-rich country to simply spam the outdated furnaces until capacity has reached absurd numbers.

Not to mention, the iron production capabilities of all countries in the world would continue to ramp up once the Bharatiya Empire starts the industrial revolution. But for now, Vijay was not too worried since very soon a lot of iron would be required for the National Railway project. Moreover, he promised the Spanish and the Portuguese to supply industrial raw materials to their colonies in the Americas.

So he wasn't worried for at least the next five years. After that, he could only wait and see how the situation changes.

---

The travel from the imperial capital to the Kaveri Riverbank industrial zone was not too far, but it was not too short either. It took Vijay a few hours to reach his destination.

"Dum Da Da Dum" Read exclusive content at empire

"Dum Da Da Dum"

"Dum Da Da Dum"

As soon as Vijay got down from the carriage, a luxurious welcome was arranged for him. A red carpet was sprawled on the street, and a band played by experienced musicians was arranged.

"A hearty welcome, Your Majesty. I'm..."

"Our Majesty, hello."

"Your Majesty, would you like to visit our factory?"

"..."

Vijay put on his formal smile and greeted all the managers of various industrial enterprises in the industrial zone. In fact, even the owners and major shareholders wanted to come personally to meet with His Majesty, but since the report Vijay received came at an unexpected time, his trip was also a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Looking around at the crowd he could feel his energy levels drop. Vijay got used to the fame and the crowd wherever he went, but he still sometimes missed his past life, where he could casually stroll the streets. But he understood he was being hypocritical. Fame is simply the byproduct of his position, which was obtained due to his ambition and decisions taken. He had no right to complain about its disadvantages.

Vijay fully supressed the slight irritation in his heart, and he quickly made his way to the Raya Ironworks Factory.

In fact, the headquarters of Raya Ironworks is located in northern Vijayanagar, but the research facility is located in the Kaveri Riverbank Industrial Zone, as it is better for research due to so many supporting industries being close neighbours. Since research does not require too many materials, the insufficiency of iron problem did not arise in the first place.

Vijay entered the elaborately designed building and went straight to a person he recognized. "So, Reddy, tell me about it," Vijay looked at a short, middle-aged man and asked with a kind smile.

The short, middle-aged man was called Balachandra Reddy. He was the chief assistant under Hey Ram when Hey Ram used to work in the ironworks. After Hey Ram joined the Academy of Military Sciences, Balachandra completely took over the research department of Raya Ironworks.

"Ah! Yes," Balachandra was nervous in his heart, but having already met His Majesty a few times in the past, he quickly calmed down.

"Your Majesty, we have succeeded in achieving a breakthrough in the blast furnace process," he was a little proud. "Currently, the furnace developed could smelt at least 800 tons of iron, a jump of 150 tons from the previous version," he gestured toward the large tower-like object lying in the centre of the lab.

Vijay saw the blast furnace, and he didn't see any difference in it except that it was much bigger. "An increase of 150 tons is not too large," he was doubtful.

Balachandra suddenly smiled. "Your Majesty, you might not know this, but this model right here is only the prototype to test out the working, and this alone produced two tons of smelted iron in a day. The technical improvements made this time allow this 4th generation blast furnace to increase its volume and capacity. It should not be a big problem to cross the 1000 mark with this 4th generation product," he was a little smug.

Vijay's eyebrows were raised. "What problems did you discover, and how did you solve them?" he asked.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Oh!" Balachandra thought for a moment and answered, "The problems detected were only two, Your Majesty, and the solution was also only two."

"The first problem was that the inner wall of the blast furnace could not withstand the intense heat generated due to the blower. Even though the amount of iron smelted was a lot more, its lifespan was reduced drastically. We tried to use other materials to build the blast furnace, but everything was a failure. We used some military-grade materials, which showed some improvements, but in the end, it proved too costly for the improvement to be only 40 tons."

"The second problem was with the coal. A few years ago, we had no idea what the composition of the coal was, but now, with the advancement in chemistry, we do know. We found out that our coal source contains a lot of sulfur impurities, and the ratio of ash produced is also quite large. Most importantly, the strength of the coal varied quite a bit, which demanded a lot more skill from the operators, as they not only have to operate the blast furnace but also make sure that the coal has been burned well, since not all the coal pieces burn at the same time."

To be continued...

P.S. Thankyou Pramir_S_Kaushik for the Ice Cola

P.S. Thankyou Daoist35Xky4 for the Ice Cola