Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1125

Chapter 1125: Migration cause and effect

The story of Bogdan Volkov and Ludmila Ivanova was not unusual, or… not even unique. Similar stories have been repeating again and again for the last two to three years, and the successful hosting of the Olympics has only made the migration of poor peasants from Eastern Europe to the Bharatiya Empire more frequent.

The root of this change? It was something that happened when the Greek lands gained independence from the Ottomans, and then from the nobles. Due to constant war and oppression, the population of the Greeks fell to an extremely low level, with the Greeks being only four or five million.

They were hungry for a lot of labour. Realistically, the surrounding nations who still had a lot of free population should have benefited from this, especially Slavic Byzantium and the Russian Empire, but unfortunately the Greeks noticed the advanced farming technology of the Bharatiya Empire, and given the already close relationship, they decisively invested heavily in procuring large scale farming equipment like the harvesters, and more recently even started importing tractors.

Leveraging the advanced equipment of the Bharatiya Empire, they industrialised most of the farms that were opened up before, all the while not requiring too much labour, and given that it was a socialist system where no one owns anything and everyone owns everything, the allocation of labour happened very quickly, with skilled machine operators being allocated their own plot of land along with a few people with agriculture knowledge to accompany them. This is one of the ways the Greek Socialist Central Governing Body managed to bring up the economy of the nation from what could only be considered an abysmal economy riddled with holes.

This situation of the Greeks was keenly noticed by Dmitri, the king of Slavic Byzantium. He was originally hoping to send a bunch of spies mixed in with labourers in an attempt to influence the new nation, but to his dismay, the borders of the Greek Socialist Republic remained closed, with the security being as strict as ever. Even if he tried to send a bunch of migrants, they were all kicked back.

He was confused; he did not understand why the Greeks did not want labourers. Although the agricultural land in Greece is not too large, considering that Greece now also occupies the previous heartland of the Ottoman Empire, he calculated that the Greeks definitely needed a lot of labour, but apparently, he was wrong.

In the end, admitting defeat for being unable to comprehend what was going on, he had to rely on the intelligence channels, and he finally understood that it was the agricultural machines of the Bharatiya Empire that replaced humans and helped the Greeks continue on their industrial aspirations while not leaving agriculture behind.

At first, Dmitry felt annoyed, but then he was enlightened. ‘Can’t I do this as well?’ he thought to himself. In the current Slavic Byzantium, which is composed of Constantinople, eastern Balkan countries, mostly of Slavs, and a small part of Ukraine for farming, they still use the old method of either slaves or serfs, but if they use the harvest machinery of the Bharatiya Empire, could most of the slaves be replaced and make them a lot of money?

With this, Slavic Byzantium set off on the path of large-scale farming. All the serfs and slaves on the farms were turned into tractor drivers and harvest operators. As time went on, Dmitry realised that he could control a larger amount of land with a smaller number of humans with the new tractor and harvester machines, so he began to acquire a large amount of land from the peasant farmers and develop large-scale agriculture. Unfortunately, what he did not realise was that due to his act, which was followed by other nobles as well, a lot of people in Slavic Byzantium lost their homes and lands. Although they had money in their hands, it was simply not enough to make a living. This would have been a perfect situation for Slavic Byzantium to industrialise on a large scale, but unfortunately, since the noble and feudal classes still owned a lot of things, the industrialisation was very slow.

This led to a lot of rural people flooding into the cities looking for jobs, and subsequently, the situation happened where people heard that there were a lot of jobs and opportunities in the east. Since the Bharatiya Empire had saved them from the clutches of the Ottomans, and their situation could not be any worse for them to be afraid, thousands of brave individuals, along with their families, set off on a journey to the Mysterious Bharatiya Empire with what little money they had left.

Bogdan Volkov and Ludmila Ivanova were among those who came to the Bharatiya Empire in a similar situation.

It was 25th August 1694.

“Pah!”

“Pah!”

Bogdan was panting heavily, and his body was drenched in water due to the kind of heat he was working with. As the sweat from his brows, which he flicked, evaporated by touching the sheet metal, he pulled the red-hot sheet metal for the nth time. He entirely forgot how many times he had taken the sheet metal from the sheet rolling machine, pulled it, attached it to the roller, and did it all over again. Thankfully, he got to rest for a few minutes between the time the sheet metal was rolled into a huge bundle using the roller and the next sheet metal to arrive.

Finishing the work for the day, he signed off at the factory and went back home to the dormitory he was given when he joined the work at a small steel mill in Balochistan.

The evening breeze and the laughing children on the road relieved his fatigue by a lot, and as the restlessness in his heart decreased, he walked at a much slower and leisurely pace, enjoying the beautiful weather.

After thirty minutes of walking, he was finally back home, and looking at his wife, who had already started preparing dinner, he smiled contentedly and went to freshen himself up.

“How was your work? Is everything alright?” his wife asked him, to which he simply shook his head and shrugged. “It’s the same as always, though I’ll say I’ve gotten much skilled in handling the sheet metal.”

A hint of worry briefly appeared in Ludmila’s eyes, but it was fleeting. Although she was not completely happy with her husband joining such a dangerous line of work where people could actually die, the money he earned was really good, and given that nothing happened to him despite going to work for the last two weeks, she was much calmer.

Bogdan didn’t know that his wife was worried about his safety again, so he asked, “So how was your work?”

Hearing the question, Ludmila immediately became cheerful. Originally, she just stayed at the dormitory and looked over the house while her husband went to work, but after she walked through the local, she came across a small tailor shop that got her interest. The proprietress of the shop seemed to take a keen interest and took her in.

The proprietress was facing a lack of talent, so Ludmila appeared at the right time. In such a way, both husband and wife found themselves their own jobs. Although what she did did not net her a lot, it was still enough to cover all the finances of the household for the whole month, and what her husband brought was simply saved for the future since their citizenship is still uncertain.

“It was very good,” Ludmila laughed. “The proprietress taught me a new kind of embroidery called the flower embroidery. It was hard, but I think I can do it. The proprietress said I was gifted and asked me if I wanted to work from home.”

“Eh! What do you mean?” Bogdan was confused.

“Well, the proprietress knew that I had to leave work early, due to which I cannot work for a long time, so she suggested that she would lend me a sewing machine, which I can bring home, and the only thing I have to do is sew the fabric as she wants and send it to her.”

Bogdan nodded in understanding. “That’s good.” He did not feel anything wrong with it and even felt a little happy, since his wife would not have to go out to earn a piece of bread, which, if it happened back home, he would be laughed at. Although there was no one here to laugh at him, it was still slightly shameful in his heart. Remembering something else, he asked, “How’s your speech? Are you still using the sign language to communicate?”

Ludmila brought forward the bread as well as the gravy, which she had recently learnt and placed it in front of her husband. “I am picking it up. I can speak a few words, but I still use sign language for complex things. Also, husband, the other girls in the shop seem to speak a language called Balochi. I’m much more fluent in this than Bharati since I talk with the girls more than the proprietress.”

Bogdan furrowed his brow. He knew this was going to be trouble. Mastering Bharati in both writing and reading was a nonnegotiable rule to become a citizen of the Bharatiya Empire. A regional language like Balochi does not work unless, from what he knew, you are already born here, which they were not. But thinking that they still had five years to prove themselves, he calmed down. He was earning quite well. Maybe in a few months, after the money accumulates to a certain extent, they could attend some night classes or something.

Life for him so far in the Bharatiya Empire was extremely fulfilling. It was hard work, but fulfilling nonetheless. He was sore all over the body due to the kind of work he did, but at the same time, he had enough money to purchase his land back in his hometown if he wanted, not that he was going back. Life was so odd sometimes.

The friends he met during his travel suggested that he get down at a port in the mainland for better opportunity, but who would have thought that at the recruitment fair arranged by the skill enhancement school of the immigration department, a company from Balochistan would pick him. That is how he reached Balochistan, one of the largest states in the empire and also one of the least developed states, as a steel mill worker.