131 Vijayanagar's First Ever Economic Crisis
In a private workshop of Vijayanagar, the workers were still using the loom to weave the cloth with diligence.
This workshop belonged to the Bakshi family. The Bakshi family is a small noble family that moved in from the Punjab area due to persecution from the Mughals. Due to the family patriarch's contribution to the war that took place when his father Sri Ranga Deva Raya was the king, he was granted a small noble title.
Fortunately, even during the nobles' rebellion, the Bakshi family did not rebel, as there was not much of their interests destroyed by the new reforms. Because of that, they caught up with the good times of Vijayanagara's economic boom, which happened due to the release of serfs who were tied to the land. A normal person could afford a lot more things as he could keep more of his proceeds. Taking advantage of this wind, they soon became one of the leading cloth workshops in the capital with an abundant labour force, and with the abundent profits generated, they even started to open workshops in various cities around the empire.
At the main workshop in the capital, a young man dashed into the room located a hundred meters away from the workshop in a hurry. This room functioned as the working/rest quarters for the workshop's owner.
Arjhan Bakshi, the son of the Bakshi patriarch, took over the family businesses when the old owner found himself too old to oversee them all. As Arjhan reviewed the profits for the month, he was very content with the outcome. At the beginning of the war, the profits weren't substantial due to the implementation of the military economy. However, thanks to improved manufacturing efficiency, he managed to sell more products, resulting in a considerable increase in profits. The profits were not substantial at the start of the war, but to the delight of all workshop owners in the empire, a savvy merchant named Bhupathi, who used to run a medical concoction business, introduced a new method of manufacturing that blew up in the merchant circle, increasing the efficiency of manufacturing a few times over what they were normally capable of.
Upon discovering this innovative manufacturing process, Arjhan experienced an immediate surge of inspiration. He swiftly organized a dedicated group of individuals, assigning them specific responsibilities for different parts of the overall dress production. In times of short supply of raw materials, he even procured ready-made cloth from a newly established workshop solely dedicated to the unprocessed cloth production, a recent addition gaining prominence throughout the capital. This workshop supplied cloth to various manufacturers, allowing them to keep prices remarkably low. The cost was so affordable that it became more economical to purchase the cloth for production needs from them rather than manufacturing it in-house. This unintentional development significantly increased manufacturing efficiency manyfold. The current looms in the workshop operate autonomously, Because Arjhan's father was cautious about relying entirely on other workshops for cloth.
Arjhan, who was reading the documents, was disturbed by the person who came inside his room in a hurry. He looked at the person who entered with unhappiness, but it was the accountant who entered. He waited in silence for the accountant to explain himself, as he knew he wouldn't just barge into the office if there was no important matter to inform him. Seeing how the expression of his accountant was not good, he could only guess that it was bad news.
"Your Highness, the president, it is not good. The orders from the army stopped coming, but we have a boatload of stocks in our warehouse. If we are not able to find a buyer for this stock, we will be in huge financial trouble," the man said with a worried expression.
Bakshi, upon hearing the news, got up from his seat, shocked when he heard that the army stopped procuring the materials. Although he wanted the military economy to end soon, now that it ended suddenly, what would he do with the large amount of clothes that were produced?
"This is trouble," he thought to himself as he left the workshop, wanting to discuss this matter with his father.
It was not only the Bakshi family that encountered this problem. As the efficiency of making products increased a lot, many products were in excess of production. With the military economy ending, this excess production had nowhere to be sold, as the local market was already saturated.
Rajesh, the minister of trade and commerce, soon received notice of this situation as numerous petitions from workshop owners reached the government department he was responsible for.
Rajesh was dumbfounded by the reason. He had heard and experienced the crisis of having no food or clothes, but he had never experienced the problem of having so many products that there was no place to sell. This was the first time ever Vijayanagara had experienced this kind of thing. Feeling that the matter was bigger than he expected, he quickly took a carriage and set off to Odisha where Vijay was residing.
Back in Odisha, Vijay was looking over the new report that was brought in, which was about the establishment of new schools, police stations, post offices, and courts. He was quite happy with the progress. Soon, he was surprised when his guard informed him of Rajesh's arrival. Why would the minister of trade and commerce come to him at this time? He was confused, but seeing how Rajesh arrived in a hurry, Vijay decided to meet him.
Rajesh quickly greeted Vijay as he told him the reason for his arrival, "Your Majesty, all the workshops in the capital have the problem of overstocking. They have produced a lot of products which are now in low demand but have a lot of stock. Now the nobles and merchants are clamoring every day in my office asking for the government to find the solution to this problem."
Vijay, who heard this news, was momentarily shocked, as he could have never guessed that this war would lead to the first-ever financial crisis of the Vijayanagar Empire. It looked like the production efficiency of various workshops in the Empire had increased more than he had previously thought.
Thinking about the countermeasures, he soon came up with a solution. Isn't it just to find someone to buy the excess materials? Isn't the newly occupied territory just for that? So he summoned Arya, the deputy minister of transportation, who was present in Odisha.
Arya, who was looking over the progress of the highway road construction, got a call from his majesty, so he quickly left his office to meet his majesty. Looking at Rajesh in the room, he was surprised, but he still greeted both Rajesh and Vijay, "Minister, your Majesty," with his head bowed.
Accepting the greeting, Vijay wasted no time and got straight to the point. "Arya, I need you to plan for four more highway constructions. I want a highway connecting Mumbai Pune to our capital, another linking Cuttack to Visakhapatnam, and one more connecting Raipur to the Nagpur-Indrapuri highway." Arya was momentarily taken aback by the magnitude of the new projects the king was proposing. While he should have been thrilled with the expansion of projects under his department and management, considering that it is a substantial political capital, he couldn't help but voice his doubts.
"But your highness, what about the money?"
Vijay smiled and replied, "Don't worry about the money. You pay the workers with coupons, and with these coupons, they should be able to buy whatever necessity they want."
Arya did not understand, but Vijay soon explained, "A coupon would be a special and thicker paper which would have a unique code. A single coupon should be worth about 1 kilogram of grain. The workers working on these road construction projects would be able to exchange these coupons for whatever they need with the military logistics department."
Thinking about this, he called for Anand, who is in charge of the logistics in the army. Anand soon arrived to be met with the gazes of his majesty, a minister, and a deputy minister. Seeing them all in the same room, he quickly greeted them and asked his majesty for any advice.
"Anand, I need you to continue procuring all the materials that are currently in oversupply within the empire. Utilize our extensive logistics channels spanning across the three states and establish temporary warehouses in various towns to sell these surplus products."
"Yes, Your Highness," he said, but he was still confused about all the details. Soon realizing his dilemma, Rajesh quickly explained the full story.
Rajesh, who was explaining to Anand, quickly came to his senses as he remembered something, "But, your highness, the demand for military products among the citizens is very low. The products which we have in oversupply are medical concoctions, clothes, shoes, helmets, leather armour, and other military products. And the most demand in the civilian market right now is grain."
"Oh, that's right," Vijay soon came to his senses as he noticed his own blunder. Although Vijayanagara was not short on food, it would be nowhere near enough to solve the food problems of all three states.
11:41
"Oh, that's right," Vijay soon came to his senses as he noticed his own blunder. Although Vijayanagara was not short on food, it would be nowhere near enough to solve the food problems of all three states.
Thinking about the food problem, he soon got another idea and called for Logananda Senapati to come.
Logananda, deeply immersed in preparing a report detailing the gains and losses of the war for His Highness, received an unexpected call from the Majesty. Swiftly setting aside his work, he made his way to the Majesty's office. Upon entering, everyone, except Vijay, greeted him. Vijay reciprocated the greeting, and Logananda nodded to the others, acknowledging their greetings. After all the formalities were concluded, Vijay got straight to the point, saying, "Marshal, I need you to transfer the cattle and grain confiscated from the Mughal nobles to the logistics department."
"And Arya, even the cattle could be exchanged with the coupons. As for the price of the cattle, you will have to discuss this with the Minister of Trade here," Vijay ordered as he thought in his head, "This should help the three states to be self-sufficient again soon." Logananda, Arya, and Rajesh acknowledged the order, And all three nodded in acceptance. However, Logananda was still confused about all the details. Hence, Rajesh explained the ordeal once again.
Logananda nodded and asked the question again, "But, your Highness, if you are going to construct four more highways at the same time, this amount of grain would not be enough."
"I know," Vijay said as he looked over to Rajesh and ordered him, "We have a lot of military supplies with us but no demand. So, I need you to negotiate a trade deal with the Portuguese ambassador in the capital. Offer military supplies to them in exchange for grain. Their Brazil colony is a big food-producing asset, and in case they want to buy our muskets, sell those to them too. Don't worry about technology leakage; they are more advanced than us anyway. By the time the grain from Brazil arrives, the grain we have should be sufficient to pay for the workers, and after the road construction is completed, we should be self-sufficient again."
Rajesh, who got the solution he wanted, soon left the room happily, as did the logistics director.
"So, how is the report coming along?" Vijay asked about the battle report. "It's halfway done, your highness. Within a few days, the subordinates should be able to compile all the details."
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