23rd January 1657
Dakshin Bhartiya Empire, the state of Cheranadu, Thiruvananthapuram Special Economic Zone.
As the only trading port with export trading in mind and as the special economic zone established exclusively for trade with the Europeans, Thiruvananthapuram played a crucial role in facilitating international commerce. For this reason, the port city has expanded to such a size that, in terms of market scale, it is second only to the capital city, Hampi.
Fortunately, due to the city’s infrastructure constantly being updated, congestion was not caused, logistics delays were avoided, and there were no bottlenecks in the city that could have led to an overall decrease in trade with the Europeans.
Unfortunately, over the last two weeks or so, the situation drastically changed as delegations from various countries arrived at the port one by one. This influx made the city a little crowded, slightly affecting its normal trade operations, but what happened next was very unexpected.
Theoretically, things should not have been too bad since the number of people coming for official purposes was not too large. However, what caused trouble within the already congested city, which was showing signs of chaos, was the decision taken by various European kings to send delegations to the subcontinent.
When the news spread throughout Europe, Some of the rich and elite of European society, whether out of curiosity or in search of business opportunities, accompanied the delegations of their respective countries.
Due to this, the city of Thiruvananthapuram was overwhelmed with too many people, and the public security of the city was drastically reduced. Even the city’s own internal guard, mainly composed of former black slaves freed from the Dutch, had to be mobilized from their guarding duties to help out the police in maintaining internal security.
Not only that, but an armed company from the military had to be mobilized in order to provide external support and maintain the isolation barrier between the special economic zone of Thiruvananthapuram and the rest of the empire.
The situation had been a daily occurrence for the past two to three weeks, but today was a little more special than usual in the city of Thiruvananthapuram due to the appearance of 25 large naval vessels of mysterious origin neatly docked in the harbour.
These ships occupied a quarter of the port’s capacity by themselves, which was unusual since the port did not have much space for such large ships to anchor, especially under recent circumstances. For this reason, they attracted a lot of attention.
"What are these Bharatiyas up to?" John Brown, a British merchant said, looking at the majestic ships in front of him.
"The ships carry the flags of both the Bharatiya Empire and the Venetian Republic. I wonder what that means," a French merchant named Charlemagne Oliver muttered, unable to figure out what was going on.
"From the looks of it, these ships appear to be brand new. Did the Venetians sell the ships to the Bharatiya Empire?" a Spanish merchant guessed.
"I agree that these ships could be new, but I highly doubt that the Venetians manufactured these ships. They currently have their hands full with the Ottomans. Why would they sell so many ships to the Bharatiyas while they could use these ships themselves? It doesn’t make any sense," a Slavic merchant from the Balkans added.
The ships not only got the attention of the European merchants staying in the special economic zone but also the various delegations sent from Europe to the Bharatiya Empire for the nation-building ceremony.
A young man around the age of 25 with black hair, black eyes, and a moustache that had just begun to grow on his lips, with a tall stature and lean build, was heading the delegation sent by the Tsardom of Russia.
"Your Royal Highness Peter, it looks like the rumours are true. The Venetians are indeed buying warships from the Bharatiya Empire, and if this is true, the rumour that the cost is nearly half the price of that of Europe might also be true," an old man dressed in aristocratic attire commented as he respectfully stated his opinion to the young man.
Peter did not turn his head to look at the old man but kept looking at the warships docked at the port, his eyes thinking about various things as if considering something.
Vijay, if he had seen this young man, would be greatly taken aback because this man looked very similar to the portrait of Peter the Great. Considering that the man had the same name, who knows how he would react?
Peter, having seen the warships enough, turned his head and finally commented, "Your Excellency Simeon Brazhnev, seeing how these warships perform, we can consider ordering a few ourselves. I just don’t know if these ships can withstand the harsh environment of the Baltic Sea."
Simeon fell into deep thought and nodded his head. "Your Highness, I think they might be willing to modify these warships to our requirements."
"If that is the case, it is for the best, but for now, let us concentrate on finding out what this corporation His Majesty Vijay mentioned is about." Saying that, the Russian delegation quickly entered the city, disappearing into the crowd.
The reactions from other delegations were different. For example, the French delegation looked displeased, the Holy Roman Empire delegation looked thoughtful, and the British spies entrenched in the special economic zone were constantly reporting what they considered bad news back to their base in Mauritius.
The Ottoman spies had the most extreme reaction, as they started cursing on the spot, which unfortunately made some of them reveal their identity, while others were lucky enough to escape.
Other delegations from countries like Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Brandenburg-Prussia did not have much reaction, except for the countries that had a coastline, and these countries had thoughtful expressions on their faces as they began to consider if procuring warships from this nation would be possible.
Overall, Vijay’s plan of directly showing off the warships he was about to sell to the Venetians could be considered a great success, and even the rumours he had the Bharatiya Internal Pragya covertly released had some effect in pulling some potential customers. The only thing standing between the Bharatiya Empire becoming a major arms manufacturer is the untested nature of the warships.
If these warships prove useful in the hands of the Venetians, then the rest might consider placing orders themselves.
---
Marco Molin, who had arrived in the Bharatiya Empire a week ago, was completely convinced that he had struck gold by investing a large amount of money in a shipyard in this nation. Throughout the week, he saw how prosperous this nation was and also learned how fast these changes happened, which was enough to make him feel excited to his core.
When he visited the Shivaji Shipyard, where his son Francis Molin is the director, he was greatly shocked by the scale at which the shipyard was built. It was not an exaggeration to say that the size of the shipyard was comparable to the Armstrong Shipyard of the British, and that is saying a lot since the British are a major naval power in the world.
After having seen and heard enough, he finally came to the Thiruvananthapuram Port as the representative of the Venetian Republic, along with Ambassador Leonardo, in order to accept the shipment of the warships and the armed merchant ships.
Marco did not really want the Venetians buying the ships to be made a big deal, but unfortunately, the military of the Bharatiya Empire did not agree and forcefully held a Handover ceremony and an event.
Although Marco could understand that this was done only to ensure the publicity of the Bharatiya Empire, he was still a little uncomfortable, but all of this disappeared when he laid his eyes on the beautiful San Marco Class Warship and La Serenissima Class armed merchant ships neatly lined up before him.
Looking at the tall stature of the battleships decked with artillery, each shining with a grey metallic lustre, mesmerized him to his core.
"Nobles and gentlemen, I wholeheartedly thank you all for attending the handover event that we are holding today."
Admiral Gangadhar set off the event by himself, as this could show how much importance the Bharatiya Empire gave to the trade with the Venetians.
Hearing the loud shout of an Indian man, the Europeans gathered around near the harbour, quieting down to hear the words more clearly.
"First of all, I would like to thank our dearest ally the Venetian Republic, who gave us a chance and bought not one, nor two, but a whole 25 naval vessels from us."
"Ohh!"
"Incredible!"
"What are the Venetians thinking?"
"So the rumour is true then. What a humiliation!"
There was an uproar in the crowd as soon as the words came out of Gangadhar’s mouth. Some reactions were just exclamations of surprise, while others were truly discriminatory and racist. However, these kinds of people had no say in the matter, so they kept quiet as their words meant nothing.
Gangadhar, paying no heed to the rowdy crowd, continued with a steady tone, "For the trust placed in us by the Venetians, I am proud to say that we have not let our friends down and have delivered on our promise."
Gangadhar said this with an excited expression on his face. His speech went on for another 30 minutes until eventually, the old man Marco got to speak. Since he is old and his voice cannot reach the audience, a few people who understand Italian paraphrased his words to the audience.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.
The language it was translated to was naturally French, the most spoken language among the elites of the Europeans today, and since most people present at the event were elites, the language barrier was eliminated.
"I thank Admiral Gangadhar for the hospitality we have received, and I also thank His Majesty, Emperor Vijay Devaraya, for his continued support in a timely manner for our war against the Ottomans.
The ships not only represent the increased naval strength of the Venetian Navy against the Ottomans but also represent the furthering of cooperation between the Bharatiya Empire and the Venetian Republic."
"As for the quality of the ships, many of the friends present at this event might not know, but we Italians know that these were the same vessels that were used to defeat the mighty Ottoman fleet and also the same vessels that completely obliterated the Mughal navy, so we knew the reliability of these vessels. It was a no-brainer for us."
"Finally, I thank you for delivering the ships at the stated time, and I look forward to further cooperation."
Marco said and got down from the stage to the sound of applause reigning all over the dockyard.
The representatives of the various nations who were still around were surprised by the high evaluation of the Bharatiya shipbuilding capabilities by the Venetians. Thoughts began to grow in their minds about whether they should order a warship for their own navy.
As the event continued, to the frowning faces of the Europeans, rituals were performed on the warships for a safe journey and travel, and at the end of the ritual, a coconut was smashed for each and every ship while at the same time, turmeric and vermilion were applied.
Seeing these Indigenous rituals that were very alien, Marco Molin didn’t have a good expression on his face, but he had no choice but to accept these Indigenous practices of the Bharatiya Empire since they could not expect these non-believers to follow the practices of the Europeans, after all.
Maybe if it were a few hundred years ago, the Teutonic Order might have been idiotic enough to protest just because the way the ships were put into service was different. But in the current era, where scientific thinking is on the rise, the extremely conservative group is quickly becoming a minority.
Dong!
A large bronze bell weighing a ton rang out, signalling the time for these warships and armed merchant ships to go on their journey across the world.
Marco, who was on his way to returning home, had his men clean off the turmeric and vermilion and install holy objects and a few murals with lines from the holy book In order to ward off the evil spirits and in order to put the sailors at ease.
P.S. Thank You, DaoSlayer for the ice Cola.