29th January 1657
Akhand Bharatiya Empire, Imperial Capital - Bengaluru
With the King of the Ahom kingdom announcing the integration of the kingdom with the Bharatiya Empire, shockwaves were sent throughout the empire.
Within an hour of the negotiation between the two monarchs being concluded, the official documents about the deal were made public by the government.
"Oh my God, can territories also be gained like this?" a citizen of the Empire said.
"What a clever way to unify the subcontinent. Thankfully, His Majesty did not wage a war, after all, we were on quite good terms with the Ahom kingdom," a wood worker commented.
"That’s right. Maybe if it were the Mughal Empire, they would put their ambitions first, even if it was their own allies who were hindering these ambitions. Fortunately, His Majesty is wise and took the route of peaceful integration," the woodworker’s colleague agreed while being thankful for the way things had gone.
Due to the short time since the news had proliferated, not a lot of common people knew about the integration, but nearly all the elites of society located in major cities in the empire immediately learned about the news through the Arkha Dristhi Communication channels.
These businessmen spontaneously celebrated the event, as trade with the Ahom kingdom was a major part of their profits. The majority of oak resources used in shipbuilding are imported from Ahom, and a sizable timber industry has developed within the kingdom.
With the integration, the businessmen are pleased that they can now purchase raw materials at a lower cost, leading to exponential increases in their profits.
Surprisingly, this joy was present in the business circles of the Ahom kingdom as well. This is because, Before the integration, if they sold a timber product for 100 Varaha, then 20 Varaha was considered as tax to the kingdom, and what they received at the end was only 80 Varaha.
Now, with the integration, due to the friendly taxation rates for private enterprises, which are barely at 12%, they would actually make 8% profit. Not only that, with the benefits provided to new industries, this rate of taxation may even reduce further, and that is not even the full range of the benefits they would be getting.
Having accumulated a wealth of expertise in the timber industry, the Ahom businessmen are well-positioned to take advantage of new opportunities as their small kingdom joins the larger empire.
With access to the empire’s vast resources, they can now expand their businesses and procure raw materials from regions like Nepal, Bhutan, and Kashmir, where the timber industry was previously absent and infrastructure and human resources were lacking. This opens up significant opportunities for growth.
Thanks to their rich expertise, they can rapidly build infrastructure and bring products to market, thereby increasing their income and establishing a closer connection with the Bharatiya Empire.
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"I wonder what will be waiting for us in this new nation," a common Ahom citizen commented.
"I heard from my uncle, who is a businessman, that the living conditions for the Bharatiyas are very good. I wonder when we will live the same life," a teenager said, his eyes full of longing and anticipation for a bright future.
"I heard that the opportunities for women in the Bharatiya Empire are greater. I wonder if the same would be implemented here too," an ambitious teenage girl muttered to herself, her eyes full of hope.
In this way, the normal and common citizens of the Ahom kingdom, due to the long-term propaganda that had been propagated, not only did not have any negative reactions but also were happy and looking forward to a better future, like the legends about the Bharatiya empire they had heard.
"What a king! How can he abandon the nation, which his ancestors built?"
"What a shame!"
"Coward! He might have been afraid of the threat from the Bharatiya Empire."
"Maybe our general, Lachit Borphukan, should be the new king of our kingdom. Let’s oust the trator Jayadhwaj Singha."
It is undeniable that there was some small resistance against this move, and there were even some small demonstrations and demands to select Lachit Borphukan as the new king. However, unfortunately, more than the civilians, the military was almost too happy to join the Bharatiya Empire.
This is natural because the military of the Ahom kingdom clearly knew how rich the benefits for the soldiers of the Bharatiya Empire were. By integrating, not only would ordinary Ahom soldiers get higher salaries, but they would also have a vital channel for promotion due to there being no traditional nobility blocking their way.
Initially, there were some members of the Ahom kingdom’s military who rejected His Highness’s decision, but Borphukan, who had promised to cooperate with His Highness, resolutely took action and weeded out these pesky nobles.
He had been hesitant in clearing these worms out before since they had a lot of influence in the military, but ever since their army cooperated with the Bharatiya Army, a lot of ideological changes have taken place in the minds of not only the normal soldiers but also the supporters of the nobles.
The supporters immediately understood that even if they worked all their lives under the nobles, they had nowhere else to go but to be servants of the noble family. But if they followed the Bharatiya system, then not only would they get a chance to rise, but they would also have a chance to become nobles themselves.
Although they could see that the benefits of being a noble in the Bharatiya Empire were limited, for them, who previously had no such channel to climb up, were already very satisfied.
After Lachit Borphukan took action and expressed his opinion that he would firmly support His Highness Jayadhwaj Singha, the opposition of the small group of people who were in favor of him taking the throne was disappointed and heartbroken, and their movement died down.
Due to this, some of them resolutely left the kingdom and migrated to the neighboring Burmese kingdom.
It should be noted that the Ahom soldiers who had cooperated with the Bharatiya military during the war against the Mughal Empire had already witnessed the combat ability of the Bharatiya Empire. Even if their superiors wanted to resist the integration, these soldiers were really unwilling, as they did not want to die in a war that was destined to be lost.
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This news not only caused an earthquake within the subcontinent but also among the Europeans, which caused a huge shock. They could never have imagined that the kingdom could be conquered in such a way.
The closest they had come into contact with was a foreign king directly surrendering his domain in defeat, but never like the current situation where the two monarchs jointly discussed and negotiated the terms of integration. It was more like an exchange of interests or, to put it more vulgarly, more like a business deal.
"Another novel way of settling disputes," the Roman ambassador Maximilian V said, his face showing a complicated expression. He was already impressed by various things he had seen until now, but what was taking place between the Bharatiya Empire and the Ahom kingdom left him dumbfounded.
"What a good way to deal with territorial issues. Unfortunately, this method cannot be used back home. Wait! Or maybe it can be used for the colonies."
"Yes, it seems feasible. I must inform His Majesty immediately," Spanish Ambassador Petro Santiago said with an excited expression. The current deal he witnessed opened up a new avenue of diplomacy between Spain, Portugal, the Dutch, and the English.
"This is getting troublesome," the French ambassador Henry Lefebure said. A united and strong India is not very good for the French, who are vying for interest in the subcontinent.
"Maybe we can use this method to settle our disputes, although the probability is very low. We can give it a try," the ambassadors of Polish Lithuania, and Prussia thought to themselves.
The Portuguese ambassador Pedro Santos had the same thoughts as the Spanish ambassador. He also realized that this diplomatic tool could be a great way to solve territorial disputes between the major naval countries in the world.
"With this one move, the Bharatiya Empire expanded by almost another 220,000 square kilometres," Peter exclaimed with a shocked expression on his face. You must know that this area is almost the total area of some medium-sized European countries, and there are only a few countries that could be counted on both hands in Europe that are larger than this size.
Peter immediately sought out the Bharatiya government and requested all the processes both before and after the deal in order to see if this deal could be replicated back home.
The English, The Dutch and The Ottoman spies were gritting their teeth in hatred and annoyance as they sent this news back home.
Overall, by the end of the day, the decision to integrate the Bharatiya Empire with the Ahom Kingdom had come to fruition, but the process would still take a few months.
No matter how economically connected both nations are, they are separate nations at the end of the day. For this reason, Vijay made numerous decisions immediately.
"Vinod, immediately assign a governor to the new Ahom state for more centralized management of affairs."
"In order to make a better impression, immediately demarcate the previously lost region of Ahom back to its pre-Mughal War state. If possible, allocate more land, as the state of Bengal is too large in both size and economy to be left to a single governing body. This should also increase acceptance among the people who are reluctant to accept the change."
"Immediately deploy the Ahom soldiers to their new postings across the nation. To prevent them from feeling isolated, assign postings in the units of a squad to a single barracks and exclude them from the national disarmament plan. This approach will minimize issues related to the dispersal of the original Ahom military.
Implement this change gradually, ensuring that at least 40% of the Defense Forces in Ahom state remain of Ahom origin."
"Immediately promote Lachit Borphukan to one of the commanders of the Empire and publicly announce it to show that no talent from Ahom is being suppressed and is instead receiving a wider opportunity."
"Immediately pass the order that legitimizes the kingship of Jayadhwaj Singha under my authority, giving him no time to have any second thoughts."
"Immediately exempt taxes for a year, promote our national taxation policies, improve social security by immediately recruiting police officers, and also start the construction of post offices, police stations, primary and senior schools, colleges, universities, and courts immediately."
"Also, give priority to connecting the Arkha Dristhi Communication Channel from the Empire to Ahom as soon as possible."
After confirming that he hadn’t forgotten anything, Vijay asked, "You got all that?"
Vinod, whose hands were numb from the quick writing, let out a sigh of relief and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."
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Saying that, he immediately left. His tasks were numerous.
He understood why His Majesty gave so much importance to this new region of the Empire. It was because this new region had not experienced war, and it had not been conquered by force; it had been conquered through the soft power and deterrence of the nation. He could imagine the reason for His Majesty’s hurry to integrate this new region.
Right now, the people of the Ahom kingdom are eagerly awaiting changes in their lives. If the change takes too long to occur, the soft power of the Empire may fade away little by little, and doubts may arise, which could lead to problems with integration in the future.
Hence, Vinod fully understood why His Majesty was in such a hurry to give priority to developing this region, even though most of the orders are very resource-intensive, especially the Arkha Dristhi Communication Channel, which requires the laying of signal towers every few kilometres and cuts through the region of Bengal, which is not small.
P.S. Thank you DaoSlayer, for the Ice cola
P.S. Thank you kiritonaruto, for the Ice cola
P.S. Tomorrow by the time I write I would have finished my 1st exam, wish me luck.