Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

"This traveling is exhausting." muttered Harsha.

Traveling in this era was a pain despite having better roads. It would consume a lot of time to reach from destination to destination. Even for him, the carriage would take a week or two at full speed to reach the farthest parts of the Empire.

The time was halved to the roads, but it was still a pain to travel since the access to amenities was limited and the constant camping out in the wild along with the contingent wasn't all that nice.

He also felt for the pedestrians; Harsha used the carriage but what about the pedestrians? They couldn't afford a carriage. Most merchants wouldn't allow many people into the carriage at once. Their travel times were even longer than Harsha's.

'There should be a solution for this problem.' He looked out of the window. They were heading to the negotiation place in Surat. It was the first time that he would be venturing into unknown territory to negotiate.

He had a lot of guards, unlike the other times. This was a high-level visit.

Harsha quietly watched the landscape of the surroundings. They were surrounded by the lush green forests. They entered the annexed territory of the Qutb sultanate a few days ago. Their speed had dropped considerably due to the bad roads built by the Sultanate.

It was almost disgusting how bad the roads were; Harsha couldn't help but laugh at another pile of work he had to order once he got back to the Capital.

The cities they visited were all in the process of rebuilding. There was a considerable amount of collateral damage in the annexure and the fights between the garrison. The rebuilding efforts were in full swing as Harsha had already appointed supervisors and hired the local workers to do the work.

Almost all of the nobles in the Qutb Sultanate were killed or executed. The ones that survived escaped to different kingdoms and some were imprisoned for life. The cordial treatment of the citizens by their army definitely worked. There weren't any major problems.

Harsha turned back into his carriage. There was a book in his lap. It was a book that particularly caught his interest. It was the Mahabharata, the epic that details a great war between the Pandavas and Kauravas.

It was a quite interesting book to read and he was enjoying it. So he brought it with him during travels to pass the time. He picked the Sanskrit version of the text. He learned a bit of Sanskrit researching the religious text. Although his mastery of the language wasn't as much as an expert. He could interpret the texts with considerable ease.

His reason for picking the religious texts was that He never followed a religion in his previous life. He was just research material for the lab to conduct their experiments.

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Harsha was also adamant in one thing as well.

Meritocracy.

He wanted the caste-based system to perish. It was a stain on Indian society as a whole; his study of religious texts was to find a way to counter this practice that has been ingrained in the society for centuries.

He knew that the practice can't be just abolished by the Empire. He had to address the root cause of the issue. He had to break the foundation of the system so it would never rise in the society.

It would be the biggest reform in the world if he manages to pull it off.

His mind was nearing the solution for the problem that plagued the society for centuries. A system that was initially based on the occupation corrupted to form the caste system of today.

While thinking of the solution for the caste system, another idea popped into his mind.

A horse-drawn omnibus. It could carry up to 20 people at once at a small fee. It would need up to 6 horses to function and a man to control the horses. It would be a good commute between cities. Although in the villages, he needed to research its viability. The roads were well built, and there were horse rests also. So it wasn't out of the question to implement horse-drawn omnibuses for travel.

'It would have versatile uses as well.' Harsha thought. 'It was a great idea.'

He wanted to send it to Viswa right away but he held himself back. Viswa's hands would already be full from the reforms he did. He didn't want to pile more work on him.

The omnibuses were easy to implement, so he didn't have to worry since it would just take a month to implement it across all major cities.

'It can wait.'

The important thing now was to secure the alliance with the Marathas. Although he had a good deal waiting for them, he wasn't 100% sure of the deal since he had rejected them the assistance in war.

Meanwhile, in the capital of the Empire. The Royal Palace was filled with commotion due to the constitution and the justice system edict that was being passed by the Royal Council. There was a small vocal minority of local nobles and medium nobles that you could count on your fingers.

While the other nobles knew better than to oppose the edict that the Emperor personally issued. They knew how the nobles were executed after the first prince's loss. There were many purges in the ranks and almost more than 50% of the nobility were purged by the current emperor.

There was no big noble opposing the constitution despite the centralization of power to the Empire.

The ones that opposed formed a small group and reached the capital to complain to the emperor about the edict but by the time they reached the capital, Harsha had already left to discuss Surat to meet the Marathas.

In the desperate attempt not to look like fools in front of other nobles. They requested an audience with the former emperor or any of the royal family members. This group had the same nobles that disliked the proxy of the Emperor, a lower caste man.

They refused to talk to the proxy and vehemently requested an audience with the former emperor with an arrogant attitude.

Viswa stood on the balcony of the Northern Complex and looked down upon the nobles gathered at the entrances. They were stopped from venturing into the court by the guards.

"There will be no audience with any royals," Viswa declared from above.

"You are a nobody. You cannot order us nobles," yelled a local noble.

"We wish to meet with someone of actual intellect, unlike you lower-caste barbarians," said another.

"Yes, let us meet the former emperor."

The medium noble and the key figure in the protest was a man named Sachin.

"It's amusing how someone of your background can stand so straight in the presence of true nobility. I suppose even the lowliest roots cling to the grandest trees for some semblance of worth," remarked Sachin with a smug grin.

"We wish to talk to someone worthy of our audience, not some man of lowly birth."

"The emperor must have made a lapse in his judgment in his dumb youth years to take someone like him into his wing," another remarked.

Viswa looked down coldly at them. He didn't mind the insults on himself but he wouldn't let them insult the very person that gave him a glimmer of hope in the dark world. A chance to prove himself to the world.

"Barking dogs won't bite." Viswa said with a smug look. "You maggots can bark all you want in front of the complex."

"Maggots? How dare you!"

"What else would be an appropriate term for rabid barking mutts like you?" Viswa remarked. "Bitches Perhaps?"

"Do you understand the consequence of your words?" Sachin asked.

"Consequences? It was you mutts that started barking even though I proposed a solution." Viswa shrugged.

"We shall take this up to the Emperor directly." Sachin threatened.

"Sure…"

Viswa knew Harsha's personality more than all the snobby nobles. He was sure that he won't be held liable for his insults of the nobles.

"There are multiple witnesses of your attitude here." Viswa pointed at the walking palace staff and guards. "They shall testify for the truth, no matter what crap you pull out of your head."

The nobles looked around to see the guards and other palace staff looking at them with a disgusted expression. It was evident they didn't like their arrogant behavior and their insults towards Viswa.

"So you can either get the hell out of the palace or have the guards kick you at "My" command." Viswa chuckled. "So what will be your choice?"

Sachin's face went red as he was now being threatened by a lower caste man and he couldn't do anything against him due to his power in the palace.

"You will pay for this! I shall bring this up in the royal court once the Emperor returns." Sachin stormed out and the nobles followed suit.

He smiled smugly as they scrambled like insects to leave the palace.

Viswa gestured to the guard that was standing beside him to come closer.

"Call Karna to my study."