Chapter 65: Recruitment And The Start Of Construction
The next day, the notice of Recruitment And Road Construction was sent by the central government to various parts of the Empire.
Krishnagiri is a small village in the Tamilnadu region.
A young man was working in the fields with his father and brothers. His name is Murugan, he is the youngest son of his family and he has five older siblings.
"Sigh, if only we had a little more land, we could have found you, someone to marry," his father sighed, thinking about their poverty. When land was allocated to various peasant families, their family was among those who benefited from this new policy. His father had worked for a landlord for most of his life, along with his brothers since childhood. When the government allocated land, their family received 20 acres. In recent months, thanks to new farming methods and the new fertilizer introduced by the king, the grain harvest has been very good. Before their family could barely manage one meal a day, but now, after harvesting the crop, they could afford three meals a day, with some surplus left after paying taxes to the government and selling part of it to the market for coin.
Murugan's family had no problem with food now. However, being the youngest child and with only 20 acres of land divided between his brothers, he couldn't obtain much land from his family. Moreover, he felt like he couldn't do farming day in and day out. He had always wanted to find another job that would allow him to earn better and stand on his own two feet.
*Sigh*
He sighed thinking about his future. But then he heard someone calling his name.
"Murugan! Murugan!"
It was his childhood friend Bunty calling him. Murugan and Bunty had been friends since they were very young, practically they ended up growing up together. Murugan had a closer relationship with Bunty than with his own siblings.
"What is it, Bunty? Slow down and tell me," Murugan said.
The chubby Bunty, who looked like the protagonist's sidekick, panted, his breath ragged. You could see the meat on his body shaking from his panting. He calmed down and explained, "I got the news that the military is recruiting again, and this time the salary and benefits for joining the army have been increased significantly. Apparently, for every permanent soldier, a piece of land will be given, and it will only increase with a rise in rank in the army. It is said that the minimum salary is 30 Varaha. I am going to apply. Are you coming?"
He said excitedly, with a smile on his chubby face.
Hearing the news, Murugan was also excited, as he knew that this was the opportunity he had been waiting for all his life. He immediately bid farewell to his family and went to the recruitment camp in the town.
Similar to Murugan and Bunty, several thousand young men showed up for the recruitment camp upon hearing the king's call. It was not surprising, considering what the king had done for them. With the fire-breathing nobles absent from their lands and with sufficient food and clothing, they wanted to protect their peaceful lives with all their might. What better way was there to achieve this than by joining the army?
So, the youngest sons of many families joined the army. Even their parents sent them off personally, as having a soldier in the home was a source of pride in Vijayanagara now.
Quickly, the number of applications reached about 300,000. With so many potential recruits, Yogananda increased the entry requirements for the army, carefully selecting the most intelligent, determined, loyal, and capable candidates among them.
That was not all; As mysteriously, all the stone masons in the Empire received the same job from the royal capital: to crush a certain type of rock that is found in many places into different sizes. Most of them were confused about what this could be used for, but considering it was just an easy job, they quickly recruited workers in their local area and started crushing away the boulders. Vijay utilized the workforce of the entire masonry class to extract as much raw material for road construction as humanly possible.
The recruitment of workers for road construction also started in various villages and towns. When they heard that the salary would only be 5 varaha's, there were only a few desperate bunch who were interested in taking on the job, and a few people who were die-hard royalists.
But when they heard that a gunny bag of Grain would be provided for each worker per month, they were excited. You must know that a gunny bag could weigh around 40 to 50 kilograms, which is enough to feed a family of four for the entire month. Hearing the news, the job applicants were quickly filled in.
In just a day, both the military recruitment and workers for road construction were met.
In the Next few Days:
The skeleton of Vijayanagara started to be constructed; you could see workers flattening the land, laying the foundation, and spreading the rocks evenly in various parts of the Empire.
The women were bringing in all the packed lunches and water for their husbands, sons, and fathers. The hardworking people of Vijayanagara made a lot of progress on the construction of the road.
Among these groups, even soldiers were included. Multiple squads were sent to different locations to do all the heavy lifting. After completing the task, they promptly followed their training schedule and set up a camp near the construction site."
"Hmmmm..."
In the outskirts of the construction site, a man who looked like a noble, dressed in luxurious clothes, stood observing the construction site with keen interest. He stroked his chin in contemplation. This man's name was Pawan Kalyan, a small nobleman within the Empire. His family hailed from the Telangana region of the Vijayanagara Empire. Fortunately, due to differences in opinion, his family had wisely refrained from joining the rebel groups. Thanks to Pawan Kalyan's foresight, his family had managed to evade the impending disaster. They had also earned a reputation for being relatively benevolent towards the common people under their influence. Moreover, their lack of illicit wealth had spared them from the massacre. Instead, when their family's land was redistributed to the farmers, they received fair compensation for their cooperation.
Now, the Kalyan family from the Telangana region was one of the richest in the entire empire. Kalyan, the head of the family, looked at the ongoing road construction thoughtfully. As he watched, he became more and more convinced that he could handle the road construction faster and better. He was thrilled by the idea that his family might get the Responsibility for the construction work, thinking about the extra money it would bring and the opportunities it could open up. Without wasting any time, he made his way to the capital to request a meeting with Emperor Vijay Deva Raya.
In Hampi City:
Vijay received a report from Vinod, and he wasn't happy with what he read. It had only been a week since they started building the road, and they were going pretty fast. Each construction site was making about 5 kilometres of road every day, and there were eight construction sites working at the same time. So, they were making 40 kilometres of road in a day on average. That sounds like a lot, right?
But here's the thing – it was using up a ton of resources. Almost a million people were working on this road project. With the way things were going, they'd only finish 6,000 kilometres of the road by the deadline. That might be enough for the big highways and important town roads, but it wouldn't cover all the roads needed for the villages. They needed around 8,000 kilometres of road for that. Vijay was trying to figure out how to solve this problem as quickly as he could.
*Knock, knock*
"Come in."
It was Vinod who entered as he informed Vijay about a nobleman from the Telangana region seeking an audience.
"A nobleman, eh?" Vijay was intrigued as he prepared to meet this nobleman.
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