Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1104

Chapter 1104: Agni’s Purge

As Vijay got closer to the empire, he received more information about what had happened in his absence from the merchants and fishermen who travelled the route. Nothing of high secrecy could be ascertained of course, but he was able to find out several pieces of common information that all the citizens knew.

One of the biggest things that satisfied Vijay a lot was that even without his presence, Agni was able to initiate the corruption runs throughout the government and various organisations in the executive department under the Emperor’s office.

Basically, it was a random purge that should take place once every 6 to 7 years.

Vijay had been teaching the ropes of leadership by keeping Agni in the Emperor’s office and running in behind Ganesh for the longest time so that he can learn how to micromanage everything from Ganesh, and also know all the workings of the Emperor’s office. But micromanagement was not everything. Vijay naturally knew this, so when he left for the Olympics, he finally had the chance to give Agni his first true trial in the role of Emperor, letting him learn the art of letting go and managing from a broader view. An Emperor must know both micromanagement, the handling of small and precise details, and macro management, the ability to leave those details to trusted subordinates while taking firm control of the captain’s seat and deciding how the ship should move.

Agni had to learn when to involve himself deeply and when to step back.

So the purge had become Vijay’s way of testing Agni, an exam he had to pass before he could truly “graduate,” a task that demanded absolute focus from an Emperor skilled in both micromanagement and macro management. It required handling the tiny details while keeping control of the broader direction. And from everything Vijay had heard so far, it seemed Agni had done an exceptional job.

Still, Vijay had to get to the shore of the empire to understand what truly happened, after all, what the common people knew was not the complete truth.

The atmosphear in the Port of Mangaluru was like water poured into boiling oil. It was hectic, people were running around everywhere, and the poor authorities were working with sweat on their brows. They were just informed that His Majesty the Emperor, along with the fleet that is escorting him, would be docking at the Mangaluru Port, so the port authorities were in a hurry to empty out the harbour and prepare a welcome ceremony.

Soon the largest ship of the Bharatiya Empire, a 4500 tonne behemoth, the Kathmandu Class Clipper designed entirely for speed, appeared on the horizon, escorted by the battleships, frigates, and clippers of the Bharatiya Navy, with the flag of Hanuman cutting through the ocean, appearing like a radiant talisman showing the grandeur and royalty of the Bharatiya naval warships on the horizon.

As the ship’s docked in the port, the naval officers first got down from their ships in their stylish dark blue uniforms, military issue mechanical pocket watches, and dark tinted glasses, all looking dashing, giving off a commanding and an imposing presence.

Vijay stood on the deck straight like a spear, his tall stature and lean, muscular build radiating a sense of strength. With dark glasses, a neatly trimmed silver beard and hair, and a black sherwani with a red cloth draped behind him, he looked royal, noble, regal, and like a man who commanded millions through his presence alone.

As Vijay got down, he heard the constant shouts of the people, he took off his glasses, smiled, and waved his hands towards the people.

“His Majesty looked at me, His Majesty looked at me.”

“ahhhh.”

The people went mad.

Vijay did not stay in Mangaluru for a long time, he got on the train and immediately set off for Bengaluru.

Thanks to the locomotive, he reached Bengaluru within the same day and met Agni with a hug.

Agni did submit a report to Vijay, but he did not open it and look through it, instead, he summoned Selvan and asked him for the report about what happened in his absence, he also asked Kattapa to collect the intelligence from the Royal Intelligence Bureau and other secret intelligence assets entrenched in various intelligence departments, integrate the data, and submit a report.

After receiving all the reports, he went through them one by one. The first was Selvan’s, and it startled him to say the least. The scale of the haul was staggering, thousands of police officers, civil servants, politicians, hundreds of ministers, intelligence agents, business elites, even sitting members of parliament. There were agents embedded in the highest ranks of not just one but multiple intelligence departments, and operatives scattered across various ministries as well.

Reading the report, Vijay simply curved his lips with distain, “Heh,” he sneered, ” How much did they underestimate Agni in order to act so blatantly?” From what he read, he got to know that the people who used to be cautious when he was in the empire suddenly became like birds out of the cage and did a lot of things with less caution.

So when the purge came, they were all caught off guard. As Vijay read on, he was even more surprised, because even Cabinet ministers of various states were caught, along with the Chief Minister of Kalachuri Nagar who was aiding in the illegal sale of mining rights to a major mining company, causing a loss to the public property.

He was extremely satisfied with Agnis work so far, he did everything extremely well, of course, he could see some discrepancies, but they were minor.

When he read the intelligence gathered by the Royal Intelligence Bureau and the other royal assets, he was left dumbfounded. Vijay had never handed control of these networks to Agni. Even if Agni was his son, an Emperor had a duty to remain prepared for every kind of eventuality, no matter how minuscule the probability. And this time, that caution proved invaluable.

Because he had kept those assets under his own control, he had been able to scrutinise the bureau independently. He had quietly instructed a handful of senior agents, orphans raised by the royal family since childhood, whose loyalty was beyond question, to watch for any suspicious activity ‘ inside’ the bureau itself while the purge was underway.

According to them, they did notice a few people within the bureau trying to divert the attention from some senior members in the ENEC.

This was a huge thing. The ENEC is a department whose sole purpose is to catch corrupt officers and civil servants in the government, and it had actually caught the people of ENEC themselves, and that too at a high level, and that too helped by the Royal Intelligence Bureau, the top most overseer in the intelligence echelon of the empire.

He had Kattappa immediately go through the network of people and see what he could find.

But the people who were caught left him shocked.

“Are you sure?”

Over three companies from the top hundred biggest companies in the Bharatiya Empire were actually involved in this network, and the people from ENEC were actually the direct deputies of Kishore Bhalabadra, the Observer.

Vijay was furious when he read it and acted immediately.

He directly summoned the Deputy General of Police from each state where the culprits were located and had them arrested using any means necessary.

When the situation in the empire had begun to calm down, undercurrents surged.

—

Devi Prasad came to office as always, bringing a cup of tulsi coffee just like how the director liked.

“Thank you, Devi.” Kishore Balabadra thanked his deputy with a smile and slowly turned the pages over, reviewing the latest reports. He was getting old, so he had to do it again and again for it to remain in his mind. He had been thinking about resigning, but being in power for so many years, he was a little reluctant to let go, not to mention the people of the empire still trusted him very much, and that was why he was getting re-elected again and again.

Devi Prasad did not say anything, simply nodded and left. He returned to his desk and continued his work.

But suddenly the police broke into the ENEC headquarters, came directly knocking at his door.

Kishore Balabadra was startled and came out to see what was happening, and to his surprise a large group of police officers armed to the teeth with weapons and body armour were standing right outside his deputy’s office.

His heart sank, fear appeared in his mind.

The next moment the door was opened and the police officer shouted,

“Devi Prasad, you are under arrest for colluding with intelligence agents and businessmen. You have the right to remain silent.”

The thing he feared the most appeared. Kishore looked at Devi Prasad with disbelief, hoping that he would reject the claims, but as he looked in his eyes he was left disappointed. He could see guilt and fear in them, and he had been experienced enough to know what that ment.

After the police left with Devi Prasad, he immediately wrote a resignation on his own accord, and despite the resistance of his subordinates, he posted it to His Majesty the Emperor in a formal post.

“I’ll fill in the position until a new observer is elected. I’m old, it’s time for me to retire.”

Such arrests happened in a few places across the empire, and the one that created the most buzz was the arrest of three of the richest people in the empire who were in the top 100 wealth ranking. When they were arrested and it was known that they tried to bribe higher level officials in the empire using millions, the public was in an uproar.

In the end the people were taken into custody, the loss caused by them to the state over the span of the last 10 years was estimated, and the company was auctioned off to the highest bidder, with the government recovering the amount of losses caused with interest, while the remaining was placed in a bank account made into a trust that would pay the living expenses of the family.

Such a brutal way of completely stripping the person out of his company he had built from day one sent a message to the elites of the empire.

“Even if the stock falls and you have to delist the company, never will you try to bribe an official, got it?” An older man warned his son with a stern expression.

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The Effin Chinese are stealing Indian clothing styles and propagating as if they are Western and Arabic clothing without giving any credit to India, while abusing anyone who tries to call them out.