Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

A carriage was heading towards the village of Krishnagiri, once a small village, was now a small town with ample new facilities. The village turned into a town as a result of the influx of settlers from different villages coming for work in Jeevan's workshop.

Jeevan's workshop, which only served small merchants from the cities, expanded its arms to the other towns and cities. New workshops were opened under the name of Jeevan due to the adoption of the standard weight system and measurement system. They were able to find apprentices and workers easily.

They also taught the people that came to their branches for jobs about the system popularized by the Empire. This ensured that if they had a lot of apprentices, they could send them easily to the other branches without any troubles. They didn't have to relearn any measurement systems for the other branches.

So they just trained many apprentices and relocated them to the different locations to work in their new workshop. Although the significant part of the expansion was just not the adoption of the standard system.

It was the risk Jeevan took with the merchant Rohan, who convinced him to switch to the standard measurement system. Rohan was his top customer and still was the top customer, as the man had expanded his business much wider than Jeevan. The man took the biggest risk and got the benefit. He managed to expand his little business stall to major branches in three cities and more than 10 towns.

He was constantly showering Jeevan with requests for the goods. They both were in this together. Without Rohan, Jeevan's rise wouldn't have been possible.

"There is no place like home." Jeevan muttered as he got out of the carriage. "The air is so fresh." He took a deep breath.

"AHAHA, this is where we started after all," Rohan nudged him. "That deal we made was in this very place."

"Right, I will never regret that deal."

Rohan's business included making connections with various new merchants. Through this, Rohan recommended Jeevan's business. This gave Jeevan's new branches a lot of the customers. He didn't have to rely on Rohan for his survival. Despite this, Jeevan put a priority on Rohan's request as a sign of mutual respect.

On the other side of the Empire, Mithun Reddy was expanding his business from the personal treasury of the Emperor. He was the one behind the overcharging of the inns for the Portuguese nobles. He got the intel about the deal before the general could even make it to the port.

He had bought out quite a lot of Inn in the port city of Goa. He just had to simultaneously change the price before the Portuguese ships would arrive in the city. He raked in a lot of the money doing this.

Mithun was also expanding his business endeavors to almost all sectors in the Empire. He had access to each and every market. He was advised not to end up as a monopoly, as it would be bad for the Empire in the long run. So he just slowed down his expansion.

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He was funding the spy networks and the secret service fighting force. There were multiple bases for spies in the Empire. Any rebellion or anything that was being planned would be easily uncovered by the extensive network laid down in the Empire.

The foundation was solid and the person managing the network was working with exceptional efficiency.

Mithun was also in charge of supplying the weight scales for the merchants. He already dealt with a few cases of malpractice. To his surprise, there were fewer malpractice cases than he expected. The cases were lower now as the strict punishments deterred others from trying to cheat their customers.

There were also cases about some merchants and workshops going bankrupt from losing their business because they refused to switch. It was the survival of the fittest in this cruel world. A merchant's biggest strength was to smell the wealth's path. They failed to do that. He didn't feel bad as it was natural.

No empire was eternal; nothing stood the test of time.

Mithun's biggest strength was the speed of adapting to something. It was unnaturally quick; he could easily switch to new things in a blink of an eye.

He also facilitated the circulation of the paper-making in the Empire. It became a large industry in the Empire with different merchants smelling the money and dipping their hands in it. Mithun sold the paper at a high cost to the Europeans and when the other merchants saw the high prices despite the lower costs of production,.

They began to sell their paper at the high cost also to the Europeans. It was higher quality than the European paper. The Europeans were fascinated by the quality and bought them a lot.

There were many merchants that tried to offer a large sum of money to buy the method and production techniques. It was thwarted by the secret service because they didn't want the method to spread so quickly.

They were ordered to extract as much wealth as possible before releasing the paper method to the world. Mithun also sold the highest quality paper made under their strict supervision to the high-ranking nobles. It was deliberately made in small amounts to artificially inflate the price to the sky. Despite the high price and low quantity, they bought it at almost 7 times the price of lower quality paper.

Some merchants bought it to try and recreate it but they couldn't since they didn't have the necessary tools to make it happen. The tools were never given to the other merchants so they couldn't find them anywhere on the market.

Mithun refused to sell any information on the method. In the end they were forced to pay an exorbitant amount of money to procure the high-quality paper.

Meanwhile, in the Yadava kingdom. The trade boomed and their revenue soared to the sky from their relation with the Empire. The standard weights made their way into the Yadava kingdom as well.

The Empire merchants introduced it to the Yadava workshops and merchants. It was extensively used in the Empire so the Yadavas had to adapt to the system to not lose the biggest chunk of their customers.

This switch not only increased the goods production as a whole but also increased the potential customers for the workshops in the kingdom. A steady stream of wealth was gushing from the Empire to the Kingdom.

Even the lower-quality paper made in the Empire became a commodity in the kingdom. It was supplied to the merchants, nobles, and the royal palace itself at a lower price than the Europeans.

Akhil Holkar and Naiki sat down at the Royal Palace to look at the financial reports. They were stunned to know that their revenue had skyrocketed from the previous years.

"This is magical." Exclaimed Akhil.

"Definitely." Naiki nodded. "The alliance with the Empire was the best thing that happened to the kingdom in the course of its history."

"Although, I don't want to say it. But that brat's work is immaculate." Naiki said with a pout.

"Brat? Is it that emperor's butler who you get along with?" Akhil asked. "You had a lot of fun with him." He said with a smug look.

"Huh? From what angle do we get along?" Naiki looked confused. "That brat is always disrespectful."

"I do think you both get along."

"You must be blind then."

"There is no way I and that brat are getting along." Naiki said with her fist clenched. "He called me a "Demonic hag" "

"So he said the truth." Akhil stifled his laughter.

Naiki looked at him with a stone-faced expression and cracked her knuckles.

"Say that again!" She threatened him.

"Nothing, I never said anything." He zipped his mouth shut.

'You have been constantly talking about him at every chance you get.' He thought. 'For someone who advises the Queen on her romance. She seems pretty oblivious.'

"Anyway, back to the more important news than the financial reports." Naiki cleared her throat. "We have some important news to share."

"What is it? I can move some people." Akhil assured.

"There are some local nobles in contact with the scum from the Kasim Sultanate." Naiki looked disgusted. "I need information on them."

"Didn't we clear all of them?" Akhil looked confused.

"I also thought the same."

"It seems like they funded a new scum this time."

Akhil sighed. "So it should be better for me to find the source of the funds."

"It's not the nobles that are the root cause. It's the person that is compelling to do this."

"You are right but they are very covert."

"I will do what I can." Akhil said. "If I cannot find the source, I will put a stop to the local nobles."

He got up to leave.

"But that said, it seems something bigger is happening in the background." He warned. "I think there is someone much more dangerous than the Kasim behind this."

"Why do you say that?" Naiki asked with a curious look.

Akhil shrugged.

"Just a hunch. Hopefully it doesn't turn out to be true."