Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1127

Chapter 1127: The Namma Metro is here

8th October 1694

As time went on, things transpired just as Vijay guessed. The 20 million bonds had been sold out within a single month, and the government was able to procure 15 billion varaha, five billion in the form of Treasury bonds, and 10 billion in the form of sovereign funds without a problem.

Vijay controlled the entire 15 billion funds, so he first instructed the 5 billion to be used to invest in industrial expansion, as this was the fastest way to recover the money, and the remaining 10 billion he decided to invest in his own ideas and his own company, after all, the fund was named the Sovereign Fund, and he, as the sovereign, had the full right to dispose of it as he saw fit. As long as he pays back the money five years later, along with interest, no one would raise any objections to his use of the funds.

With that being said, at a simple interest of 15% per year, Vijay has to pay back 1750 varaha per bond and 17.5 billion varaha in total after the bond reaches its maturity five years later, but Vijay was not too worried; he already had an idea of what to do with the money.

Part of it, he’ll invest in the construction of the Metro across the major first-tier cities in the empire. The return on investment may be slow, but this is a long-term return, and with its valuation, he can easily take a loan from his own bank to repay the funds. The Bengaluru Namma Metro, after he increased the investment three times, cost nearly 900 million for the construction, and along with the initial capital he had spent for the Metro train and other things, the number is very close to a billion.

So, constructing metros of similar calibre in four to five major cities would absorb a lot of funds, and the remaining money he could allocate to the expansion of his own companies. After all, all the major companies in the empire are expanding at a crazy speed; why should he be left behind? Since he can use the sovereign wealth fund, why should he use his own money? Vijay is definitely not against spending other people’s money to make more money.

And for all of this to work out, the Bengaluru Metro should first become a success, and coincidentally, he was currently on his way to the Kempe Gowda Central Terminal, the place where metro lines intersect.

Vijay’s arrival was received with a warm welcome from the crowd, and looking at them, he felt a sense of deja vu. Only a few months ago, he was in a similar situation where he opened the sale of the treasury bonds and sovereign bonds, but now he was at it again to kick off the Namma Metro.

Vijay casually handled the reporters and the crowd as he stepped on the stairs of the tall Kempe Gowda Metro building and entered the platform.

He was immediately greeted by a 50-year-old man.

“Welcome, Your Majesty, it is my honour to greet you personally.”

Who else can this man be other than Pranav Dikshit, the chairman of Gaur Industries? Vijay smiled and casually accepted the welcome, but he looked around searching for someone, but unfortunately, he did not find them. “Did Purohit not come?”

Pranav immediately became a little embarrassed, “Unfortunately, no, Your Majesty, he has buried himself in research of our new product and refused to attend the ceremony.”

“Oh!” Hearing this, Vijay became curious, “Can I know about this new product?”

Pranav found it unexpected that His Majesty showed interest in the new product of his company, but he was immediately excited. If he could get the emperor’s endorsement or even a comment, his product would immediately become popular all over the empire, and he would not even have to advertise. “Of course, Your Majesty,” he nodded and showed a look of mystery. “Are you aware of the Balwann P100?”

Vijay answered matter-of-factly, “Yes, how could I not? Isn’t this the engine custom-made by your Gaur Industries as a power system to bridge the gap between the compact series and locomotive series?” Thinking about this, Vijay shot a look of appreciation, “You are the only company that dared to independently research the engine. I had meant to congratulate you, but did not get the chance.” Vijay patted Pranav on the back, “You did an excellent job, an excellent job, especially with the engine being used to power the crane. Thanks to your company, the construction was completed way ahead of schedule.”

Pranav was extremely flattered and showed a look of gratitude, “Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty. I am simply lucky to have a first-grade engineering team.”

Vijay smiled and shook his head, “It’s not luck, it’s your insight and bravery to invest in the research of new things.”

“So don’t cut yourself short. Anyway, you were saying about the new product?”

Pranav came back to his senses and chided himself for getting over his head, “Ah yes, Your Majesty, since the Balwaan P100 was a torque based engine with only 40 to 50 rpm, we knew that it could not be used in cars, and for the use of tractors it was too large, but after looking at the large carriages we used to use, which were pulled by the elephants in the past, our team realized that we can make a vehicle custom made entirely for hauling goods around and I’m talking about heavy goods weighing hundreds of tons.”

Hearing this, Vijay’s eyes lit up. ‘So they are developing a large industrial truck?’ ‘How come this company always surprises me in unexpected ways,’ he thought as he looked at Pranav with encouragement. “That’s an ambitious project. If you are successful, the vehicle you make will be capable of cutting down the transportation time of large industrial goods by a lot. It can be used to haul minerals from the mining site to the railway tracks, it can also be used to bring rocks from the quarry to various places, and it can also be used to directly ship large machines from one place to another.”

Pranav immediately felt deep admiration for the emperor. He only mentioned what kind of vehicle they were working on, and the emperor already realised all the things the vehicle could be used for.

“Yes, Your Majesty, and thank you for your guidance.”

Vijay smiled and moved forward, and as he did, he met up with the head of the Bengaluru Panchayat, Venkatapathy. Once again, he cordially greeted him and asked about the current progress of the reconstruction of the capital.

“We’re seeing great progress, Your Majesty. The people are very supportive of the cause. Although some people complained due to re-routing, which made them travel longer distances, overall, the emotions are positive.”

After Venkatapathy, he met up with the people of the Frontier Construction Firm, the construction company that took over the responsibility of constructing the Metro infrastructure. Vijay had never met Manas face-to-face, but when he did, he was left impressed, as he had an air of sophistication rarely seen in civil engineers. His aura was more like that of a German mechanical engineer he met in his last life.

“The construction has been done very well, keep it up.”

Manas was immediately flattered and did a Namaskara. Vijay turned his attention towards Peshwa Reddy, the old man who was the chairman of the company.

“You may receive a few more invitations in a few months, and I hope the quality of construction can still be maintained even then,” he hinted.

Peshwa Reddy was overjoyed and thanked the Emperor repeatedly.

Taking the opportunity, Nirmal came forward to greet him, and he casually talked with him about the infrastructure projects in Tibet, Balochistan, and Pashtun Pradesh.

In such a way, time quickly moved fast and entered the auspicious time of the day where the priests started to chant mantras and began the inauguration ceremony.

Stepping on the platform, Vijay’s complete focus was on the metro train, casually sitting on the rails. It had a tube-like structure with small chimneys popping up at its head, which gave Vijay a weird feeling since he never expected that Metro trains would be powered by steam engines. But after looking past the weirdness, he was very satisfied with the train.

Looking from the outside, it was spacious enough, and it also had three cars attached to the engine car, and the seating arrangements also looked reasonable.

“What’s the capacity?” Vijay asked in a low voice to Pranav, who was standing right next to him.

Pranav covered his mouth and whispered, “The train is designed to handle multiple compositions of passengers, Your Majesty.”

“The current one is 1 engine + 3 type A cars, and it is capable of hosting anywhere from 500 to 660 passengers. This configuration is designed for normal service.”

“In extreme cases, we can even extend the configuration to 1 engine + 6 type A cars capable of carrying over 1000 people.”

Vijay was in thought, “Is there a type B or a type C car then?”

Pranav shook his head, “There is no type C, Your Majesty, but there is type B, which we have designed as a premium car. It will be the same as the type A, but the number of passengers it can carry is drastically lower since the seating is much more luxurious.”

Vijay understood, and he was impressed. Even in his last life, the average passenger capacity of Namma Metro of Bengaluru was around 2000 passengers, but now, nearly five centuries ago, the capacity is already over 1000.

The ritual came to an end, and Vijay boarded the train along with the other important guests. He got on the first car and looked at the layout within. Vijay felt like the layout was not too luxurious, but it was pragmatic and simple. Three doors per side and around 25 seats on one side between the doors.

The seats were surprisingly lined with a hard cushion, which, although not comfortable when compared to the seats of the Imperial R2, was not too different from some of the seats on the budget-friendly cars.

It even had hand supporters and metal rods laced in the centre in order to make it easy for the people to hold. There was also a women-only section for women to travel.

Vijay was very satisfied; it was well thought out.

Soon, he was asked whether the journey should begin, for which he promptly nodded.

The Metro train slowly began to move, and in no time, he was seeing the city landscape of Bengaluru move past him at a quick pace.

He could feel the rumble of the steam engine from the front, but it was not too overwhelming. In fact, he even felt the ride was a little smoother than travelling through the locomotives. After a few minutes, he felt like the speed had picked up and stabilised.

“How fast does it go?” He looked at Pranav with a questioning gaze.

Pranav immediately straightened his back and answered, “In the current configuration, the top speed is 52 kilometres per hour, Your Majesty.”

Vijay nodded, it was the same as the top speed of the cars as well, but the cars cannot go top speed since they run on roads where there are other cars. But the metro train can easily reach this speed since there is no traffic. So although the speed might not sound too much, it saves a lot of time, especially since it can go from one part of the city to another within a few hours.

Two hours of a comfortable journey from Kempe Gowda to Oymbaranagari later, Vijay walked around the countryside, where he hadn’t been for a long time, then got back on the Metro once again and travelled back to Kempe Gowda.

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