Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Oil seeps being found in the Kingdom of Buganda, the nation that decided to follow the suggestions of the Bharatiya Empire and chose to align with it, was a huge coincidence, and a pleasant one at that. However, Buganda was not the only country that got lucky by possessing crude oil seeps.

The Kingdom of Duala, located on the western coast of Africa, right below the three Nigerian kingdoms, was also blessed by God with the natural resource of crude oil. Thankfully, due to Chief Mbedi a Mbongo being in frequent contact with the Europeans, as they sometimes chose ports of his kingdom as a free supplies station, he knew how powerful of a nation the Bharatiya Empire was. So when he was first approached by an agent from the Bharatiya Empire in order to cooperate with the Empire's anti-slavery initiative, he did not immediately disagree but instead, he remained neutral not completely agreeing or disagreeing, though in his heart he was unwilling to stop the slave trade.

As a coastal kingdom located right in the trade route of European merchants travelling east, his kingdom was basically a transit station for all slave-related activities for the European merchants, which, he might add, contributed a lot to the nation's economy as well as his personal wealth. If he suddenly closed down the slave trade or even halted it, it was an absolute loss not only for himself but also for his kingdom, but he knew what was important.

He should still be in power to enjoy the wealth. If he was not in power, what was the use of wealth? So without hesitation, he decisively paused the slave trade and put it on hiatus in order to see what the Bharatiya Empire was up to.

Over the last few weeks, several warships of the Bharatiya Empire had been docked in his port, making him realize how correct his decision was. In the following weeks, he heard the news from various kingdoms neighbouring him about rebellions and civil wars breaking out, and for some reason, the problem only occurred in countries that directly refused to accept the proposal of the Bharatiya Empire.

He wiped the imaginary sweat from his brows. He was happy that he chose the correct option, but the only thing was that he felt a little pity that his standard of living had come down a lot. He did not have the slave trade money anymore. Fortunately, like a blessing, the agent from the Bharatiya Empire came to him and asked whether he could mine the so-called crude oil found in his country.

He immediately agreed in exchange for getting 15% of all the proceeds made from selling the crude oil and its direct products, with the new source of money making all his dissatisfaction disappear, and he peacefully became an otaku king in his kingdom. Since, unlike the slave trade, in order to earn money from crude oil, he did not have to do anything. He simply had to maintain his power and status, and that was the easiest part since the Bharatiya Empire sold weapons and provided military training directly to him and not to the other chieftains who were his opponents.

With the newfound power, he easily suppressed his opponents, completely eliminating a scourge that he could not get rid of for many years.

Apart from the oil seeps found in the two kingdoms, the third one was found in an uninhabited area that was very close to the coast, in close proximity to the Kingdom of Duala.

So Mbemba Nzinga, who succeeded in convincing the Duala Chief Mbedi a Mbongo to listen to the suggestions of the Bharatiya Empire, also took over the responsibility of quickly building up some buildings, setting up the flag, and claiming the uninhabited area as territory occupied by the Bharatiya Empire so that mining could be done without having to pay anyone anything.

Putting Africa aside, when Ezidi Serwan, the King of Lalisthan, heard that oil resources were found in both Mosul and Kirkuk, he was overjoyed because his country did not have too many sources of income apart from the resources in his country and selling some of their unique products like handicrafts, sweets, and arts to the Bharatiya Empire in exchange for some foreign reserves. Even the money that was earned back was once again used to trade with the Bharatiya Empire for all the weapons and their training.

He wasn't complaining since the quality of weapons they were given was very high, and the cost was also very low. But still, he was disappointed since it did not leave him many resources that he could use to develop the kingdom. He always thought that he would only get the chance after the war with the Ottoman Empire had ended, but the Bharatiya Empire's need for crude oil was like sweet nectar when he was most thirsty.

Until now, he had done the best he could for the kingdom, and it was moving in the right direction. However, foreign exchange would have been a catalyst to quicken this growth, letting Ezdi achieve many ideas in his mind. It was not possible before, but now it was.

He negotiated with the diplomat from the Bharatiya Empire, and since he had learned the rules and regulations of the Bharatiya Empire thoroughly over the years, he soon understood the regulations put forward by the Bharatiya Ministry of External Affairs and understood the regulations for purchasing and selling the crude oil.

His people did not use the crude oil for anything before the diplomats from the Bharatiya Empire brought it up. The black liquid was not useful to him, but still, he got the Bharatiya Empire to sign the deal at 25% since the city of Kirkuk was a shared city between his kingdom and the Persian kingdom.

Hence, he was not the only one negotiating with the Bharatiya Empire. The people from the Persian kingdom also joined him in the negotiation, and when the two kingdoms joined hands, it was fairly easy to get the bottom-line price of the Bharatiya Empire without much effort. What's more, the deal at Kirkuk was instrumental because it was used to leverage the deals for Mosul and Ahvaz as well.

Negotiations with Narathihapate were a little tricky because the Toungoo dynasty was the only country where there was a large oil seep capable of producing over 300 barrels of oil per day, and it was also the only country in the world selected by Vijay where oil was readily used by the locals, already improving the economy.

When Bhaskar Acharya directly travelled to the Toungoo dynasty and put forward the offer of obtaining the oil seep as well as the surrounding region for 25% of all the proceeds made by direct products of the crude oil, Narathihapate thought about it only for a split second before he shook his head. "I am sorry, Your Excellency, but I cannot just agree to your condition. The 25% you speak of sounds very reasonable, but it is only on the condition that the products of crude oil are sold for profit, and that these products are very popular among the people. If that is not the case, I will be sustaining a huge loss"

Narathihapate did not want to be too stiff with the Bharatiya Empire, especially with the royal family of the Bharatiya Empire, so he quickly put forward his condition.

"With all due respect to His Majesty, the royal family, and the Bharatiya Empire, I need some security guarantee so that by giving you the rights to mine the crude oil in my country, I will not incur any losses if the products produced by the crude oil are not too popular."

Bhaskar Acharya immediately fell into deep thought. He was happy that King Narathihapate did not haggle with him for the price since he had already given out the maximum he could give, but giving a security guarantee was something he had not expected to do when he came to the Toungoo dynasty. However, he could also understand the king's troubles. Some wealth he could see was more valuable than a lot of wealth he could not see.

Within a few minutes, he thought about a solution.

" In that case, how about this, Your Highness? I'm aware that the oil seep brings you, on average, 20,000 Varaha per annum. This money, the royal family of the Bharatiya Empire could provide you, making you bear no losses."

Then he quickly added, " However, if you're taking the security guarantee, then I must remind you that you will not be entitled to the 25% of the proceedings."

Narathihapate frowned, " Why is that so? I am allowing you to mine the resources in my kingdom, am I not? "

Bhaskar Acharya noticed the dissatisfaction in the tone, but he did not budge and answered, " You are, Your Highness, but we are paying good money for it, are we not?"

" The 20,000 Varaha I mentioned are the figures you earn in good financial years, but from now on, you don't have to worry about it being a good year or a bad year. The risk of finding customers and a market to sell the crude oil has completely been lifted from you. You simply sit in the palace and collect 20,000 every year."

" So forgive me for being blunt, but we have already provided an equivalent amount of wealth in exchange for your resources."

Narathihapate knew this, but he was unwilling to let go of the percentage share in case the crude oil or whatever products that could be produced from it really sold a lot in the Bharatiya Empire. What if the money generated from that was more than what he was getting from selling the crude oil by himself?

Thinking of this, he finally relented, " All right. How about this? I will only take 5000 Varaha of security money, but instead, I'll keep 25% of the proceedings."

Bhaskar Acharya immediately shook his head and countered, " 5000 Varaha and 18%."

Narathihapate: " 8000 Varaha and 20%."

Bhaskar Acharya : " No! 5000 Varaha and, at most, 18.5%."

Narathihapate: " All right, let's meet in the middle. Let's do 7000 Varaha and 20%."

Bhaskar Acharya: " Absolutely not. 4000 Varaha and 20%."

Narathihapate : " 4500 Varaha and 20%."

Bhaskar Acharya squinted his eyebrows, but he finally nodded,

"Deal."

To be continued...