December 2nd, 1655
On the Coast of the Arabian Sea, Region of Baluchistan, Dakshin Bharatiya Empire
It was a bright sunny day. Thousands of ships traversed back and forth between Baluchistan and the western coast of the empire, bringing with them countless hopes, dreams, and rare opportunities. These vessels, numerous in number, were the main transportation platform for the empire to project its influence onto the land of Baluchistan.
Additionally, the shipping route was the only way the empire could send supplies; hence, the ships, aside from bringing essential war supplies, continuously transported materials essential for the construction of infrastructure in the region, including materials such as cement and bricks.
This construction of infrastructure is one of the crucial requirements for integrating Baluchistan with the empire; thereby, the importance given to the construction of roads in the region is not small.
Additionally, due to the recruitment of nearly 200,000 workers from the region of Gujarat, an expected problem arose where it became difficult to keep all these people well-fed and clothed. Hence, a lot of food was imported from the empire, enough to last a few weeks at a time, through the platform of naval vessels.
The docks of the Makran Port, the Ormara Port, and the Gwadar Port have continuously been expanded to accommodate such a huge quantity and tonnage of ships. However, this sudden influx of resources, even though it made everyone in the empire happy and excited about the future prospects, caused some hiccups with the original residents of the region.
For example, the people of the Mengal tribe were immediately shocked after nearly 50,000 people landed in their city, most of them being men and looking to be in good health with intact limbs.
This made most of the tribals startled and panicked, thinking that another invasion had happened, leaving them desperate. The de facto chief of the tribe, Sardar Khan, also ran over to the Bharatiya Administrative Department in the city to inquire about this matter, with a panicked expression on his face.
Finally, with a patient explanation from the regional officer, Sardar Khan learned that these people were not soldiers but were civilians, employed for the construction of a road from the city of Makran to the city of Gwadar.
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Sardar Khan, upon further witnessing the work that was going on, let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, he couldnât help but be thankful for his choice. He realized that if so many people showed up with the call of the Empire as a workforce at a momentâs notice, he couldnât imagine what would happen if they were given weapons instead of tools.
Even though they might not be skilled in battle, their sheer numbers would be enough to overwhelm his city.
Currently, 50,000 workers are sent to the Port of Makran, and 2 different groups of 75,000 workers are sent equally to both Ormara Port and Gwadar Port.
All this is for the purpose of laying down the transportation infrastructure in the region of Baluchistan. This huge undertaking would have cost a fortune for the Bharatiya Empire a few years ago.
But currently, with the military economy system still running at full swing, the cost is not too high because most of the raw materials used for the infrastructure are now directly controlled by the Empire, keeping the prices steady. On the contrary, prices sometimes fall due to the overproduction of certain products.
Fortunately, guidelines have been set up stating that in such circumstances, the production of that specific product will be stopped until the market stabilizes.
As for the payment for human resources, it is currently made in grain, animals, and land.
Additionally, the Empireâs paper currency is used as an intermediary for payment, and all the mentioned resources can only be redeemed with the paper currency of the empire. Despite the slow circulation of paper currency within the empire due to its high denomination, it has become the most used currency in larger transactions between companies and the state.
All the workers who have been employed are from the Gujarat region, organized in groups where 50 to 60 workers form a group, usually people from the same village. These workers are paid according to the work done by their entire group in paper currency, and this currency is redeemed at nearby logistics supply stations, making it very convenient.
Another important factor is that these redeemed resources can be claimed either in the region of Balochistan or in the region of Gujarat. Hence, with the further popularization of paper currency at the village unit level from the company unit level, which reaches a wider audience, the popularization of currency has taken another step forward.
As for the Resources, Grain is abundant in the empire, with warehouses constructed, and grain continuously stored every harvest season. Hence, Feeding a few million people for a few months should not be a problem for the empireâs agriculture.
On the other hand, seeing the possibility of earning land through labour is the biggest attraction for many workers coming to the region of Gwadar. Although the same policy applies in the region of Gujarat, the land granted in Balochistan is more than 10 times the land granted in Gujarat.
There was a book written in the future about this phenomenon called âWho is the Dumb Oneâ. According to the book, the reason why so many workers participated in the construction of Baluchistan was because of the land, where each worker was granted fifty to sixty acres of land on average.
For this reason, many people actually called them stupid and dumb because the land in Baluchistan was considered initially worthless, and the reason for their eagerness to earn this land was nothing more than these workers not understanding the concept of land value and location value.
Therefore, for a considerable period, the workers who acquired land in the region of Gujarat were regarded as smart individuals. This perception continued until the independence of Balochistan. However, a remarkable transformation occurred following the formation of Akhand Bharat.
As Balochistan became the westernmost frontier territory, substantial resources were allocated to fortify and transform it into an impregnable stronghold. Additionally, with the abundant resources being developed by the empire, the vast swathes of land granted to those who laid the groundwork for basic infrastructure soared in value, instantly elevating them to millionaire status.
Hence, this leads to the title of the book "Who is the Dumb One" by a future writer named Kargae.
To Be continued...