Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1111

Chapter 1111: Changing times…

While a massive geographic shift had taken place in the Suvarna Dwipa, the Bharatiya Empire was changing at a rapid rate.

It has been nearly six months since the technology of the steam engine was privatised, and until now, 4 to 5 top companies in the Empire have finally mastered the technology of the steam engine. Although they were still a little distance away from mass-producing the engines themselves, the aftereffect of what they achieved was immediately noticeable.

Pataliputra

Standing in front of his car, Ashok rubbed his forehead in annoyance. He had an important meeting today, and he was in a hurry, but while he was driving to work, a loud explosion suddenly rang out. A burst of steam erupted, and the car came to a halt.

Looking at his smoking and sizzling car, his heart dropped to his stomach. He knew something had gone wrong with the engine, and since the meeting was a negotiation with an important client, frustration surged through him. He kicked the tyre hard.

“Damn.”

“Damn… damnit.”

A few minutes later, after calming down and mentally accepting that he was not going to reach any sort of a deal today, with the help of a few horses, he had the car pulled to the nearest mechanic shop in the city.

Ashok looked at the mechanic inspecting the car with a faint flicker of hope. Since the deal couldn’t be reached today, he knew the company’s finances would take a hit, and his own salary would suffer as well. If possible, he didn’t want the repair cost to go over 5,000 Varaha.

The mechanic wiped the oil from his hands and came to him with a diagnostic, “The boiler has ruptured, sir. It looks like a rock or something had dented it before; we’ll have to replace it.”

As soon as he heard what could have caused it, Ashoka couldn’t help but curse his son a dozen times in his heart, but he did not let his emotions show.

“It will cost you 1500 Varaha. Would you like to proceed?”

Ashok’s eyebrows were slightly raised, only 1500? It’s quite surprising, the price is much lower than he expected, but he soon became relieved, ‘Well, at least it’s not going to cost me a fortune.’ He agreed, “Yes, please proceed. When can I expect to get it back?” he inquired as he prepared to pay a small deposit first.

But to his surprise, he froze when the mechanic shook his head and replied. “It will be done by afternoon, sir. There’s no need to wait until tomorrow.”

“What! How?”

“Is the engine not being sent to the power company for repairs?”

The mechanic shook his head, “That’s no longer needed sir,” he smiled and explained, “Several companies already manufacture the parts of the Balwaan engine, I’ll just buy the boiler and replace it for you myself. It just so happens that Parvati Power Company has a warehouse in the city, I’ll get the boiler from them directly.”

Ashok was not involved in the manufacturing industry, so he wasn’t sure if what the mechanic said was true or not. But when he heard that the part will be purchased from a company named ‘Parvati’, he hesitated. He knew it was a reputable brand, after all, he had bought the Chetak for his son, and that bike was made by the same company.

“There isn’t any loss in quality compared to the one made by His Majesty’s company, is there?” he asked, uncertainty flickering across his face.

“Don’t worry about it, sir. Parvati Iron and Steel, the parent company, acquired the parts manufacturing licence legitimately. They also got approval from the Bharatiya Standards Organisation. There’s no compromise in quality.”

Ashoka’s heartbeat began to rise. ‘Maybe I can still make it.’ His eyes lit up at the sudden hope, even if he would be threading the needle; some chance was better than none.

“Alright, do the repairs and… oh, here’s the deposit. Use it to purchase the boiler,” he instructed. Then he went straight to the nearby bookstore to understand what had happened in the manufacturing sector over the last few months.

It turned out the mechanic was right, the Emperor really had sold a lot of steam-engine technologies.

He became more confident in the decision he took and went back to the mechanic. Half an hour later, a brand new boiler was brought in a packed hard paper container, and it was used to replace the one that had ruptured.

Since Ashoka was in a good mood, he didn’t even ask for the old boiler back, which could fetch him at least 200 or 300 Varaha for the metal alone. He gave it to the mechanic as a gesture of gratitude.

Mauryan Nagari

Komal Sharma, a farm owner in the association, got up early in the morning, prayed to the gods, and sat in the driver’s seat of his tractor, but when he tried to start it, it wouldn’t start. He himself was a mechanical engineer from a second-tier university, so he took apart the engine and noticed where the problem was: the piston had become jammed due to the crank rod being bent.

‘Tch… I still had to plough Uncle Bhargav’s field.’ He was bummed, but there was nothing he could do. He began taking apart the engine so he could send it to the Raya Power Company’s maintenance shop. Just then, his younger brother, who was studying at a first-tier university and had come home for the holidays, saw what he was doing and told him that the part could be purchased separately.

“Hah! Are you sure?” he asked with confusion, “The steam engines are top secret; only the Emperor’s company has any of its parts.” He looked at his brother weirdly. Didn’t he even know this?

His brother rolled his eyes after noticing the look, “Ha Bro, that’s old news; now you can purchase parts from various companies.”

“Forget it, tell me…What went wrong?”

“The crank rod is bent.”

“Hmm!” The younger brother stroked his nonexistent beard and suddenly exclaimed, “Right, I remember the crank rods and piston assembly is made by Gaur Industries itself. Come, let’s go get the part.”

“But this is not a Gaur tractor.”

“It doesn’t matter; both have the same engine, hence the same parts.”

Kandahar Grand Prix

Pritam Paoli was watching the race come to an end, but he did not get up to cheer like everyone else; he was stroking his beard and lost in thought. Throughout the race, he noticed something weird: the car of Aakarsh Mobility was always just a little quicker around the turns. At first, he thought he was hallucinating, but after noticing it again and again, he knew something was wrong. And it could not be because of the aerodynamic design either, since compared to other cars, the Aakarsh A 7 was not that heavily modified; it’s basically a bare-bones model of the A 7 without the extra weight.

Unable to hide his curiosity, he went directly to the Aakarsh Mobility racing team and asked them what was happening.

A man with glasses came forward and answered with a little worry, “We modified the chamber and tuned the engine with more torque, so it is swifter in the corners, and it picks up the speed quicker as well.” He hesitated, with his eyes darting around, “Is this illegal, sir?” he asked.

Pradeep Mauli was actually a senior engineer in the group company, but when he studied the internal technology of the Balwaan engine, he figured out that he could make the engine more powerful, so he made his suggestion to the boss. Unfortunately, the boss was worried that changing the design of the Balwaan engine would offend the Royal Family, so he was transferred as the chief engineer of the racing team.

He was depressed, so in the end, he did the modification by himself without informing the group company. It could have been perfect if it had not been discovered, but now that the chairman of F1 is at his door, he knew that he was busted.

In his mind, he had already packed his clothes and belongings, ready to move, but the next thing Pritam Paoli said left him dumbfounded.

“Illegal? Haha, nonsense.” Pritam Paoli shook his head and looked at him excitedly, “In fact, I must be thanking you. Let me tell you, what you did was not only within the rules, but you also showed a new way for teams to compete.”

“The racers fight on the track like it is a battlefield, and you engineers fight in the laboratories, doing your absolute best to muster every inch of performance from the machine.”

“I hope you understand, you are a hero, a hero I say, you’ve shown me a way to make the sport better.”

“And I thank you for it.” Pritam Paoli did a namaskar, but before the chief engineer could respond, he left like the wind.

A few days later, the new rule book of F1 racing was published, catching the audience of F1 as well as the teams off guard.

“What does this mean?” H&B Racing team manager held the book in his hands and looked at his engineers with confusion, “What the hell does this mean?” he asked again, his face absolutely clueless. Why the hell is the Balwaan engine removed from the engine regulations section and replaced with dimensions of an engine along with weight?

The chief engineer of H&B Racing seemed to have figured out something: “I think the organisation wants us to modify the engine as we see fit.”

The manager’s eyes lit up, “Is this because the technology to modify the engine is available to all the racing teams?”

The chief engineer nodded, “That’s probably it. Also, I think the Aakarsh racing team is already doing this.”

‘Sneaky bastards,’ the manager cursed under his breath.

He got up in a hurry and left the room. “I need to contact the headquarters. We need more assistance if we are going to modify the freaking engine.”

The racing team’s chief engineer, who heard the passing words, did not feel offended since he knew that he was not at the same calibre as some of the senior engineers in the group company were.

In the end, the only thing he did was let out a breath of turbulent air, feeling a little empty knowing that he would be replaced.

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