Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

23rd April 1660

Sri Ranga Industrial Tools, Nagpur, Akhand Bharatiya Empire

After nearly three weeks of relentless struggle, the first Devaraya atmospheric steam engine got out of the production line. The engineers working on the production line immediately started to do the inspection and testing for any manufacturing defects.

One reason it took nearly three weeks for the steam engine to be produced was mainly because, before Vijay invented the steam engine, Sri Ranga Industrial Tools had no factory in Nagpur. The factory had to be set up first before the production could start. Thankfully, the artisan complex was owned by Vijay, so the complex was turned into a small manufacturing plant, which was used as a reserve.

The production plant only had the capacity to build a single machine even after working on it for three whole weeks, mainly because it did not have all the necessary tools that the research facility had. It only had the basic tools required to produce some non-essential supporting parts. Fortunately, the situation is about to change, and the mining companies won't have to wait for too long. The main factory of Sri Ranga Industrial Tools is being constructed in another location with loads of area for expansion, as the whole of the factory spans over 2,000 acres—enough to build a world-class airport in the future or even a few gigafactories. It should be completed in a few days, after which the production capability of the factory should expand significantly.

In fact, just a few days ago, the military arrived and stationed themselves within the new location with a whole two-storey building for themselves and a small field with a width of 100 metres and a breadth of 50 metres for their training. According to what Vijay had decided, Sri Ranga Industrial Tools would be paying the soldiers out of its own finances and not the government.

The first atmospheric steam engine was being shipped to Kombay Minerals. Vijay could have sent it to his own Agni Mining Company that had just been established, but he wanted the machine to be used by someone who could make the most out of it, and the top seven mining companies of the empire were just the right people.

It will not be too late for Vijay to supply his own company after the full-scale manufacturing starts.

The parts that had been manufactured were being placed one by one on the carriage.

The only way the atmospheric steam engine could be shipped is when it is disassembled. The whole machine, putting aside the counterweight and the foundation, weighs a whopping 12 tonnes. How is it possible for any logistics company to move such a weight?

Even if it is the nationwide famous VRL Vijayanand Road Lines Limited, it is still an impossible task.

Not to mention the VRL company, even the military would have difficulty moving such a behemoth. Maybe a couple of elephants would be required, so the factory manager went with what was the most sane and rational decision.

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The invention of the atmospheric steam engine was not published in the newspaper, mainly to keep the news as private as possible so that when the outsiders realize that the Bharatiya Empire has such a technology, it could already be too late since Vijay is confident enough to bring out another iteration of the steam engine, staying one or two steps ahead of the rest of the kingdoms and empires in the world.

However, a few interested people have already noticed the abnormality in the mining sector. Find more to read at empire

Jyothi Minerals is a small mining company set up five years ago and run by, surprisingly enough, a woman called Kirtana Jyothi. Kirtana was not originally the director of Jyothi Minerals, her husband was, but after her husband unfortunately passed away a few years ago, she inherited the position as her son was still only six years old.

At first, her brother-in-law, who worked as one of the executives of the company, wanted to claim the right to the company and had insulted her for being a woman and not knowing how to run the company properly. But she knew that her brother-in-law was an alcoholic and a good-for-nothing man who was only employed because her husband took a little pity on his younger brother and nothing else, so she took the case to court.

Due to the company being founded by her husband from the money he had obtained by spending nearly half a decade of his life as a foreman for miners under a landlord, and not because he had obtained any inheritance from his grandparents or his parents, the case was quickly closed with the win of Kirtana. However, just because she had won the case didn't mean everything was going to be smooth sailing for Kirtana.

Even if she legally won the right to run the company, her jealous brother-in-law was not so easy to get rid of. He constantly tried to manipulate the people in the company and made them leave and join her competitor for a commission. She tried many times to stop this, but her brother-in-law simply knew too many people in the company.

What's more, she couldn't even complain about it to anyone since he was not doing anything illegal. Unless the employees have signed a non-competition clause, they can go to whichever company after they resign. She, as the owner, has no right to control them.

Kirtana became ruthless. She immediately fired almost 200 people from the company, catching her brother-in-law off guard. The only people who were left were the ones she personally appointed and her husband's main confidants.

"You stupid, silly, braindead BITCH! You whore! You'll pay for what you did today!"

Those were the last words Kirtana heard from her brother-in-law as he left the company after he got fired. Though firing him made her completely lose her connection with her husband's family, in the end, she felt like everything was worth it. After all, the only thing that mattered was the legacy of her husband and her son.

In order to be careful, she also made them sign the no-competition clause, which means that after resigning, they cannot go to a company in the same industry.

This made her gain full control of Jyoti Minerals, but her company, which was already a small-medium scale company, to begin with, with only around 300 full-time employees and 500 to 2,000 part-time miners depending on the work, had gone to a much smaller business with only a 100 full-time workers and 300 to 1,000 part-time miners.

Surprisingly enough, Kirtana Jyothi turned out to be a very keen businesswoman. Since she took over, the company has never been at a loss. It always turned in profits. Although the profits were not much, it was still enough to grow the company steadily at a rate of at least five percent per annum.

Her strategy was straightforward: she would target the mining areas abandoned by the big mining companies. These companies had no interest in the small amounts of minerals left behind because, for them, the cost of extracting the remaining resources eventually outweighed the profits.

That's where her company came in. She obtained the mining rights to the area and used traditional mining techniques to mine the leftover minerals. Traditional mining techniques were inefficient but very cost-effective. Her only spending went to pay the miners for their tools, safety equipment, catering, and an annual bonus. Starting next year, she decided to include insurance for her miners as well.

It was like any other day for Kirtana, she had just sent her son to school and arrived at the company at the usual time. She got to her office, like every day, and opened the reports about which mining sites were open for her to bid on.

However, after seeing the list of locations where everything was marked as booked, she frowned. "What's happening? Why are these seven giants not letting go of the locations? Do they want to continue mining the leftover minerals?" she was bewildered.

"This is not good," she thought to herself. Her company's whole business model was to pick up the leftovers of the seven giants. Now, if these seven giants did not let go of even the leftovers, what would she do?

There were still three locations she had already contracted, and the mining was in progress, but the minerals in those locations would not last long. Within six months, they would dry out, and if she was not able to find another location within that time, she would have to let go of the miners. If that happened, it would take a lot of effort for her to employ them again. Although human resources were not rare in the Bharatiya Empire, qualified human resources were, and miners with over one year of experience were rare.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, the door was opened by a thin young man.

It was her assistant, Loka Yagni. She was about to scold him for being so rude, but seeing his excited expression, as if he had won the lottery for a million Varaha, she immediately quieted down.

"Director, we just received an offer from Chittyar Mining and Patnaik and Bros," Loka Yagni squealed as she handed over the decrypted Arkha Dristhi mail with her hands trembling.

"They just offered to buy out the locations under our control f-for a sum of 12 m-million V-Varaha," The last few words almost did not come out of her mouth.

"What!"