Chapter 94: Gains of the war
Vijay carefully examined documents in the former Kandy Kingdom's courtroom, reviewing the results of the war and studying the gains and losses.
A total of 12 brigades of infantry, with the addition of a brigade of artillery, constituted the army size, totaling 65,000 men. Vijay excluded the Ranger unit as there was no use for them in the Lanka's terrain. As for the casualties, given Lanka's unpreparedness, Vijay conquered Lanka in the shortest time with the fewest casualties possible.
In this battle, around 1,080 deaths occurred, with more than 5,000 people seriously injured and many more with light injuries. Observing this data, Vijay remained composed, not like the flustered self he was when the battles started. This battle further honed his temperament, befitting of a monarch.
"Knock, knock."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Vijay ordered. Roshan entered and quickly greeted Vijay, starting to give his report while Vijay stared at him with his arms crossed.
"Your Highness, we were able to obtain upward of five tons of gold and 10 tons of silver, including jewelry, and coins combined from both the Dutch and the different kingdoms that we conquered.
As for the land area, we have primarily estimated that there is a land area of around 65,000 square kilometers, roughly calculated. There are 12 main rivers with no natural lakes, but various water reservoirs have been built over the ages for the purpose of agriculture.
Due to the abundant water resources, the land here is very fertile, with cultivated land reaching upward of 17,000 square kilometers, which is around 1 million 700,000 hectares of arable land.
With the records found in various kingdoms and correlating them with the Dutch records, we have concluded that there are upward of up to 800,000 native residents in Lanka.
The religious population of this island mainly consists of Buddhists, accounting for 70% of its population. Sanatan Dharma holds 20% of its population. Due to pressure from the Dutch, they were successful in converting 6% of this population to Christianity. For the same reason, the Muslim population was reduced to 3%, with some other tribal cultures present as well."
Hearing the report, Vijay was obviously shocked by the details he had just heard. Coming from the 21st century, he had not much impression of Sri Lanka except for what was mentioned in the Ramayana and that it is in the southernmost part of Bharat.
He had never expected that Lanka would be so rich in water resources, and he was even more taken aback by the amount of arable land available. The current arable land is almost one-third of the whole land area of Lanka, and he couldn't imagine what it could turn into in the future.
Roshan continued, "In the case of mineral resources, we have not found any valuable materials like gold or silver, but we were able to find an abundant supply of granite, gems of various kinds, and soil suitable for glass making."
Vijay nodded his head. A smile appeared on his face. In this age, glass is still more expensive than silver of the same weight. Vijay planned to invest in the glass industry in Sri Lanka for the purpose of exports in the future.
As for agriculture, he would consider turning Sri Lanka into the main producer of cash crops for the Vijayanagar Empire. The Vijayanagara Empire itself is not lacking in arable land for the purpose of food crops. If managed properly, there will be a huge surplus of grain. Hence, he is contemplating on turning Sri Lanka into the cash crop producer of Vijayanagara.
As he was thinking about all this, Vijay suddenly remembered the main issue. He knocked his own head with his hand, berating himself inwardly, "How could you forget this?"
"Roshan, how about the shipbuilders I asked you to inquire about?" Vijay asked, anticipation seeping out of his voice. Vijay didn't even try to hide it, as everyone knew that he attached a great deal of importance to naval affairs in Vijayanagara.
Roshan quickly replied, "Your Highness, unfortunately, we were not able to find any shipbuilders in Lanka."
"We have thoroughly interrogated the Dutch individuals, including the maintenance personnel. It appears that the entire shipbuilding industry of the Dutch is tightly controlled by various noble families, with crucial designers and shipbuilders kept under strict control. Only maintenance personnel are dispatched to colonies to upkeep and repair the ships if needed. The decision to avoid sending shipbuilders to colonies is rooted in the fear of unintentionally arming foreign nations with Dutch warship technology."
"Tsk," Vijay clicked his tongue in annoyance, visibly disappointed. His hope to quickly develop the ability to build domestic naval vessels hit a snag, and it appeared that he would need to work hard for a few more years.
Roshan, as if remembering something, jerked his body in realization and suddenly stated, "Your Highness, there is one person who says that he is experienced in shipbuilding."
Vijay, who was deflated just moments ago, came back to life as he grew excited again. He ordered Roshan to quickly bring him in.
Moments later, Vijay was taken aback by the man Roshan brought. This man appeared to be in his early 30s. The surprising aspect was that he had a light brown complexion similar to Vijay, yet he had blonde hair and blue eyes, resembling a Westerner, with facial features akin to an Indian.
Vijay immediately guessed his identity – the Roma people. The Roma people, called Romani or Gypsies, are a diverse ethnic group with a rich cultural heritage. Present across the globe, the Roma originated in Northern India and migrated to various regions of Europe, falling under the Indo-Aryan category.
As soon as the man approached, he bowed down and greeted Vijay, "Long live Your Highness, Danior Boswell is at your service," introducing himself. Vijay was taken aback when the man spoke in a dialect of Sanskrit unfamiliar to him, but considering the Roma people's migration to Europe, he found it reasonable. Moving straight to the point, Vijay asked, "Roshan here said that you know shipbuilding, is that true?"
Danior appeared slightly embarrassed as he confirmed, "He may be right, Your Highness. While it is true I come from a shipbuilders' family, we only used to build merchant ships or fishing ships with a payload capacity of only 150 tons, nowhere close to the ships you see the Dutch makers build."
Vijay didn't mind the limitation, having already kept his expectations low. He was more interested in Boswell's shipbuilding knowledge, knowing he could upgrade the technology with his own expertise.
"I am curious, how were you able to leave the Dutch mainland? I heard that no shipbuilders are allowed to exit," Vijay inquired.
Danior was visibly frustrated as he heard the question and answered, "We, the Boswell family, are a prominent shipbuilding family started by my grandfather, Kranth Boswell. He was originally from the southern part of Liverpool but, seeing the opportunity in the blooming Dutch naval industry, decided to settle in the Netherlands. Later, he also married a local pastry chef and gave birth to my father. The Boswell family was quite famous for sturdy ships at a low cost among smaller merchants. Unfortunately, due to an accident, both my parents passed away.
Our competitors, taking the opportunity, sabotaged the ship which I was delivering, causing our reputation to plummet to rock bottom. Later, the shipyard and my employees were bought by those competitors for a very low cost.
I knew that this was a scheme to destroy my livelihood, but considering my skin color and my only backing collapsing, I had no choice. Moreover, being more prominently brown than my father, I knew that I would get no justice even if I go through the judicial route. Hence, I reluctantly sold the business for a very low cost.
Later, with the help of a friend, I learned of the expedition to India. Thinking about the distant motherland my grandfather used to tell me about when I was a child, I managed to smuggle myself to India."
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