Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

12th October 1673

"Goodbye, darling!!"

Vijay bid farewell to Kavya as well as the kids and set off directly to Gangapuri.

When Bhaskaracharya asked him if he wanted to take over the project abandoned by the Aakarsh carriages, Vijay was only mildly interested, as he no longer took care of the day-to-day matters of his group of institutions, which has become too big, but still, given that the factory was in a very good location right in the area where the SEZ will be expanding, he simply agreed to the proposal and directed Bhaskaracharya to change the design of the factory to one that is suitable for iron and steel refining.

Thankfully, due to Akarsh being extremely ambitious and choosing a gigantic factory to build, only the soil had been dug and the mortar had begun to be poured; the pillars as well as the walls had not been built yet, and there was still a lot of room for alteration.

Vijay eventually put the newly acquired factory project at the back of his mind, paying attention to the fluctuations in the economy instead. However, that all changed a week ago when he received a piece of news from Balachandra Reddy, the chief researcher of the furnace projects. Apparently, the blast furnace and Kabina Converter that have been under research for the last two years have completed the research, and the product is ready.

This news was very important for Vijay due to multiple reasons, one is that the blast furnace and Kabina Converter had reached a bottleneck, unable to iterate any further, and number two, the demand for iron and steel is currently increasing tremendously. Not only does the Bharatiya Empire have to supply iron and steel for its own market, it also has to export it to the Middle East in order to lay down bridges, roads, and in the future, railway tracks, not to mention exporting to Southeast Asia and the overseas territories.

Compared with other products like spices, shampoos, and ordnance, exports of iron and steel were not very profitable a decade ago since only the Europeans were the customers, and the European iron and steel was relatively cheap, so it did not make sense to import it from the Bharatiya Empire, but the situation changed when the Bharatiya Empire started to export iron and steel to the colonies in America, and economies around the Bharatiya Empire started to develop, especially Southeast Asia.

Without any wars, and having the Bharatiya Empire as an example, they started to develop their economies by building their niche industries, and the development of any nation requires its lifeblood, and that is nothing but iron and steel. The Southeast Asian countries are now developing as fast as the Vijayanagar Empire developed when Vijay just took over.

For a few years, the iron and steel production has always been Vijay's heartache. He was not worried about the raw materials because there were plenty of mines in the empire to sustain the growth, not to mention the limitless resources in Far East Siberia, Suvarna Dhvipa, Middle East, and more recently, western Russia, which has sold 40 million varaha worth of iron ore for the stake in Bharat Russia Economic Corridor Project.

The problem has always been with how to utilise so many raw materials. Until now, the empire is able to keep up with the demand by manufacturing and using thousands of low-volume blast furnaces and Kabina Converters, but it was only a means to an end, it could not go on forever, so in a way the breakthrough came at an excellent time, and Vijay taking over the project from Aakarsh Carriages was a beautiful icing on the cake.

The travel lasted three whole days, but despite the long travel, Vijay looked energetic when he got down from the carriage.

"Welcome, your majesty, it is my honour to personally receive you." Balachandra Reddy did a Namaskara and showered him with flattery and praise.

Vijay could tell that this group of researchers had prepared a welcoming ceremony as well, but he quickly stopped them and directly asked to be taken to the machines.

"Right this way, your majesty."

Balachandra Reddy was a little disappointed, but he still obliged.

Vijay, coming into the laboratory floor, saw two massive machines sitting next to each other. The one in the middle looked like a monster with its black and dark exterior, along with its chamber which looked like a mouth into the abyss, while the machine next to it looked like a ball of egg suspended on a device which looked to be used in the concrete mixers, but the only thing different is it was much more massive.

Vijay immediately looked at Balachandra Reddy, and Balachandra Reddy, without missing a beat, started to explain about the machines.

"The new blast furnace has been codenamed the Ujjwal Furnace, Your Majesty, and it can be considered as a new generation furnace, completely different from the older models, which only got better due to iteration."

"Dum dum"

"This giant right here is a qualitative leap over its predecessors."

Vijay nodded his head as he circled around the gigantic chunk of metal sitting in the middle of the laboratory. He could immediately tell that a lot of improvements had been made.

The metal used seemed to be an unfamiliar alloy—something not seen in earlier versions. From its appearance, Vijay guessed it was likely more heat-resistant and durable.

Several pipes ran into the furnace, with large metal contraptions between them connected to the bellows. These seemed designed to push blazing hot air into the furnace instead of cold air—an innovation that, by his estimation, could improve efficiency by at least 30%, possibly more.

The refractory materials had been upgraded, too. Instead of regular bricks, he saw silicon bricks—the kind previously used in the Kabina Converters. But even this silicon mix looked slightly different, likely custom-made for this specific blast furnace.

Finally, his eyes fell on the elevators and the skips. In his judgment, they would reduce downtime and speed up operations by at least 20%.

By the time Vijay figured out everything, Balachandra Reddy finished explaining about the technical aspects of the furnace as well.

"What is its capacity?" Vijay asked straightforwardly.

"Uh!" Balachandra Reddy collected his thoughts and replied, "Each furnace can produce 3000 tonnes of iron per year, Your Majesty."

Vijay's eyes lit up. This was an excellent development. 3000 tonnes, what is the concept? When he first took over the Vijayanagar Empire two and a half decades ago, the iron production of the empire was barely 10,000 tonnes, but now the furnace sitting in front of him by itself produces 3000 tonnes per year. This couldn't help but remind Vijay about how far he had come and how far the Bharatiya Empire had come.

Coming back to his senses, he inspected the Kabina Converter as well. The improvements were made in its volume, in materials, and slight changes in the design, but to his surprise, he also noticed an addition to the design where, apart from coke, coal gas could be used as a fuel, not only improving the efficiency of the converter but increasing its maximum temperature as well, potentially allowing for higher quality and stronger metals to be smelted.

"Maybe in the next iteration, compressed air injection systems will be installed," he thought, and his ideas were not unrealistic, since Kesari's steam engine is already capable of powering some sort of a generator, which would output compressed air.

"What is its capacity?"

"It's 2000 tonnes per year if using coal gas, Your Majesty, but if using the coke, then the capacity is only 1200 tonnes."

Vijay was very satisfied with the number. Even though the performance of coke was not as good as coal gas, it was still a 100% increase in capabilities compared to the older model.

Sitting in the office of the research institute, Vijay picked up his pen and started to write.

"Agni, I have decided to further expand the factory bought from Aakarsh Carriages. I want its size to be doubled, to have its own water reservoir and air waste management unit."

"I want the work to be completed as quickly as possible, so I don't mind if it costs a little more for the construction."

Folding the letter, he started to write one more.

"Kattappa, a new type of furnace and a converter has been invented. I want you to visit Sriranga Industrial Tools personally and have them quickly adopt it into mass production."

"I will be expecting 100 units of the furnace and 50 units of the converter by the end of Q1 1674."

After writing down and sending both letters, Vijay finally let out a sigh of relief.

He got up from his chair, stretched his back, and went back to the carriage. He would be sleeping in the manor he owns nearby.

Vijay was not looking to put all 100 blast furnaces and 50 converters under his company, since that would simply be ludicrous. Even if he expanded the factory three more times, the space wouldn't be enough. Instead, he planned to install 30 blast furnaces and 12 Kabina Converters, bringing the total production of iron and steel in the company to 90,000 tonnes and 24,000 tonnes, respectively.

Once built, the factory will undoubtedly become the largest iron and steel refinery in the world, producing more than 100,000 tonnes of iron and steel in a year.

This number did not sound so impressive when compared to the millions of tonnes refined every month in the 20th and 21st centuries, but the 100,000 tonnes of iron in a year is the annual iron production capability of Prussia-Brandenburg, and it is considered a medium ranking in the list.