Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 876: Rāja Tantram : Engineering A New Nation
January 1672
Baghdad
The morning in Baghdad was filled with a joyous light, rich colours, and pleasant musical sounds. The air was ripe with the smell of unique and exotic Arabian sweets, and the whole city was filled with a festive atmosphere.
The citizens of Persia did not have so many considerations as the higher-ups in the kingdom, who were so worried about the profits and losses of the negotiation that is going on between the Persian Kingdom and the Bharatiya Empire about how the territory abandoned by the Ottomans would be divided. Instead, as soon as the people got to know about their kingdom doubling in size, they took to the streets in celebration.
Elderly men came out wearing ornamental Arabic clothes they had saved up for ages. Elderly women came out draped in beautiful and colourful Arabic dresses, while the younger men and women came out of their homes with smiles on their faces, adorned in exquisite New Age Arabic clothes bought from the Bharatiya Empire. As for the kids, with no one to control them and no school for the day, they ran out of their houses as they headed straight to the playgrounds, burning their youthful vitality, making the city much brighter with the sounds of their laughter echoing like wind chimes.
Such vitality and excitement are found not only in Baghdad but in every major city in the Kingdom of Persia, be it Hamadan, Basra, Fars, Kerman, or even the shared region of Kirkuk.
However, such an atmosphere was not found within the royal halls of Baghdad, which had been the centre of power in the Kingdom of Persia for the last decade.
Roxana Atashban rubbed her temples in annoyance as she constantly flipped over the records, which contained the information about the grains they had in stock. She flipped it over and over again as if the number would suddenly increase, but unfortunately, it did not.
'Tsk!'
"Aunt Golnar, it really looks like we don't have much of a choice but to purchase grain from the Bharatiya Empire. We cannot use up our last remaining stock of grains we have in the reserve to feed the people in the new territory."
The grain that is still in the reserve is only a few thousand tons. It might sound like a lot, but it is only enough to feed the people in her territory for a week. And that was before the territory expanded—now, it might not even be enough for a day. She cannot really burn all the coffers and invest every available resource down to the last drop into quickening the pace of integration. Even if it means that delaying grain support leads to the deaths of thousands of people every day from hunger and sickness, Roxana decided to look after the security of her own people before tending to the new territory and its inhabitants. Making up her mind, she looked up with a determined face.
"For now, use the military merits to buy the grain. Hopefully, if the last remaining territory occupied by the Ottomans is liberated in the next 5 years, we will not have to purchase so many military supplies from the Bharatiya Empire, which takes up most of our spending." Thinking about it some more, she added, "We cannot leave the new territory without help for too long, as it will destabilise the region. So, in order to stabilise the new territory, we have no other choice but to postpone some of the road and canal infrastructure development projects and use the funding in integration and propaganda efforts." This decision made her annoyed, but she was left with no other choice. freёnovelkiss.com
Golnar Atashban, the Minister of Trade and also the aunt of Roxana, nodded her head with some reluctance.
Just then, an elderly man walked into the palace with the support of a walking stick.
Looking at this man, Roxana's eyes lit up. "Uncle, has the negotiation been completed? Have the borders been settled?"
The man was none other than Parvez Atashban, the chief diplomat of the Kingdom of Persia. Parvez, hearing the question, paused for a moment and nodded in acknowledgement.
"It is tentatively decided that both our nations will divide the territory which has been abandoned by the Ottomans equally. The Bharatiya Empire would control the territory containing the regions of Khorasan, Golestan, and Dasht-e Kavir, which are traditionally territories controlled by the Shamulu family, while we, we would take over the territory containing regions of Zabulistan, Sistan, and the previous capital, Isfahan."
"As for the borders, it is according to the defining geographical features, like rivers, hills, mountain ranges, etc. In places where there are none, rock pillars will be buried as an indicator."
"Hmm!"
Roxana tapped the armrest. "It is fairly equal, I guess this will do," she commented.
She was no longer troubled by the Bharatiya Empire's annexation of half the territory. After all, she was still struggling to integrate the lands she already possessed. Besides, there was little reason for discontent—despite the reduction in benefits, however tainted they may have been, her dominion had expanded to 1.3 million square kilometres. It now stood as one of the largest kingdoms in the world, and the largest in the Middle East.
---
Vijay held a meeting with all the ministers of the Cabinet after he finally reached home after being away from it for several months.
Vijay did not beat around the bush and directly declared that the territory that has been recently occupied by the Western command will not be integrated into the Bharatiya Empire but will form its own nation with the support of the Bharatiya Empire.
The declaration caused sharp gasps and light exclamations among the Cabinet ministers; even Vinod, the prime minister, raised his eyebrow, not expecting the decision, but as soon as Vijay said his reasons, no one refuted, and everyone calmed down.
"This new nation will have to stand as our frontier, withstanding all the invasions coming from Central Asia, both cultural and military. With the amount of differences our civilization and the Islamic civilization have between us, I am extremely sure that old testament Islamic powers in the future will definitely try to launch attacks on us, and in order to resist these attacks and to have overeaching strategic advantage over our enemies, this new nation standing together with us for a long time is the key."
"With that being said, I can't imagine anyone else but the Sikhs having this ability. They have a warring culture no less than the Yezidis. Their belief system is essentially a belief system that branched off from our own, belonging to the same root. They are very resilient, capable of thriving anywhere, shown by their continued existence in the Middle East in small pockets despite the whole region being radicalised by the invaders ,most of all. They have protected the subcontinent for over millennia against the Islamists and everyone else before, and they did it without any support from any power in the subcontinent. But this time it will be different. All the military resources will be poured into this nation; if the need arises, this nation can be turned into the sword and shield of the Bharatiya Empire, acting as our liaison in the Middle East, keeping all the powers in check."
"Now, in order for everything I mentioned to happen, we need to be able to control this new nation remotely for a long time. My opinion is that we make it a republic. Is there any other opinions?"
The room was silent until Prime Minister Vinod asked, "Your Majesty, wouldn't it be better for the nation to be a monarchy as it would be much easier to control the monarch?"
Vijay did not deny it. "Yes, you are right, but the problem with a monarchy is that the power is too centralised, giving rise to several dangerous factors."
"If a person in a high position, like a monarch of a nation, is suppressed for too long, it will make them irrational and do something stupid like siding with the Islamists, causing us great harm. Not to mention, centralised powers generally lead to ambition. An ambitious Sikh nation is never good for us."
"Secondly, if we establish a monarchy, power will become too stagnant. Over time, public discontent will inevitably be directed at the monarch. When that happens, the people will demand the monarchy's abolition and the creation of a republic, forcing our hand and introducing unpredictable variables. That would be undesirable. Conversely, if we establish a republic from the outset, with power distributed among multiple ministers, it becomes easier to manage. We can control these factions behind the scenes while the people direct their frustrations inward, blaming each other rather than us."
He said nonchalantly, which made a few ministers tremble, 'Doesn't that mean he could do the same thing with us?' they thought. Vijay noticed all the weird and constipated expressions of the ministers in the room, but the look on his face did not change. It remained sombre. However, if one looked deeply into his eyes, one could see a hint of bitterness—bitterness brought by living in precisely such a nation which he had described to the ministers.
"Is there anything else you want to add?" Vijay asked as he looked at Vinod.
"Um, yes." Vinod broke out of his stupor.
"Your Majesty, since you have such considerations, then I have no opinion. But would it be too rash to let the newly occupied territory be an independent nation?"
Vijay got intrigued. "Go on!" he motioned.
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, we can directly control this new nation for a period of time until it becomes capable of what we want it to be."
"For example, to have better control over the territory, we can export all our systems to it, making our ideology deeply ingrained in the being of this new state."
"We can teach them knowledge in our educational syllabus, have them participate in games that we hold, install judicial systems similar to ours, police systems similar to ours, and a military system temporarily completely controlled by us."
"In this way, once the population of the nation reaches a tipping point, where over 70% of its inhabitants are Sikh, we can begin spreading propaganda, claiming that the people themselves are demanding freedom. We can then frame the situation as a matter of moral duty, presenting the granting of independence as an act of righteousness. However, this independence will exist in name only, as the military, foreign policy, and economy will remain firmly under the control of the Bharatiya Empire."
Vijay's eyes lit up, and he looked at Vinod with admiration. " This guy learns fast enough, " he said to himself.
"Excellent, Vinod. It's a very good proposal. I think we can go ahead with it."
With a complete idea forming in his mind, Vijay came to a decision.
"The new territory will temporarily be managed by the Bharatiya Empire like Prime Minister Vinod suggested, but it will not be integrated into the empire as a state; it will be managed directly by the Cabinet government as a completely different entity."
"Prominent Sikh leaders in society, be it high-ranking civil servants, military officers, intellectuals, athletes, politicians, or anyone else, will form a temporary council."
"A contract will be signed between the temporary council of the Sikh body and the Bharatiya Empire, where the Bharatiya Empire gets to take control of the new territory for 99 years."
"In this span of time, we can morph and engineer this new nation however we want. And if this new nation is up to our standard before the time of the lease ends, like the prime minister suggested, we can engineer a freedom movement and grant the freedom, thereby showing goodwill to the people of this new nation, making them forever feel indebted."
Vijay looked around at the faces in their room,
"All ministers should submit plans and frameworks to integrate our systems into this new territory as if it were simply another state within the empire. However, ensure these systems contain subtle, imperceptible elements designed to foster strong loyalty among the local population toward the Bharatiya Empire. This could include teaching history from our perspective, embedding soft propaganda that gradually comes to light, or—ideally—strategising ways for our own citizens to develop a positive impression of the Sikhs."
Just when he was putting forward his orders, Vijay suddenly had an idea—an idea for a movement that could achieve everything he mentioned at once.
Thinking of it, he was overjoyed but quickly suppressed his emotions and looked at the Cabinet ministers with a stern gaze.
"Everything spoken in this room is a state secret of the highest order, so please keep your mouths in check."
The ministers promised to keep their mouths shut and left in a hurry. They will have a lot of things to do, as developing this new territory is not like developing another state—a lot more groundwork has to be done.
