Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Danior Boswell immediately looked to the side. Vijay saw that he was looking at Gana Prabhu Berunda, so his stare was redirected to him.

Gana Prabhu Berunda immediately realized what he had to do, so he stepped forward and cautiously explained,

"Your Majesty, if we had used traditional shipbuilding methods, it would have been very difficult to construct such a ship unless we found the strongest timber with a height of more than 100 metres. But such gigantic trees are very rare, and we know that you wouldn't want to cut them down either. When we were in a dilemma, we saw the theoretical ideas you had provided—there was an idea to use composite construction methods in order to withstand high loads."

"And that is exactly what we did. We used composite construction methods, with the main components being high-grade teak and oak wood with steel bracing. As for the keel, it is an iron-reinforced wooden keel. We have also added diagonal iron bracing for further reinforcement of the ship's structure, and finally, we have added a copper-sheathed bottom to prevent biofouling and rotting of the wood."

Vijay was happy with the method they used, but he felt it was a pity that he couldn't split apart the model to see how the inner workings were done. So he did not hold back and gave out his idea. "Here's an idea—next time you guys design a ship, make the model split in the middle so that even the mechanisms and parts used within the ship can be seen."

Hearing the suggestion, all the designers silently listening to the conversation were stunned, and their eyes lit up. This was an amazing idea. They couldn't help but look at His Majesty with a hint of admiration in their eyes, especially his cousin, who looked at him like he was some sort of god reincarnated. Maybe if Vijay did not change the topic the next moment, he would directly do a saastanga namaskara.

"Forget about it. Explain the rest of the details."

"Ah, yes, Your Majesty," Danior Boswell once again took over the conversation. "As you can see, it is a ship with four masts, Your Majesty, all built using the composite construction method, where it has a hollow wood outer layer while being reinforced with steel. Its sail area is over 5,000 square meters, and the rigging type is a fully rigged clipper with a mix between square and fore-and-aft sails."

"The sail plan includes fully square-rigged sails on all masts, fore-and-aft staysails, and reinforced jib sails."

"As for the speed," Danior Boswell immediately became nervous.

Looking at his expression Vijay's brows furrowed. 'Is the speed too slow?' He was confused. Looking back at the model, it didn't look like a slow ship—it was the exact opposite of it. Turning his head around, he was suddenly surprised because not only Danior Boswell but the other designers had nervous and panicked expressions on their faces as well. 'Really? Is the speed really so low?' His heart suddenly dropped because if the ship, despite carrying over 3,000 tonnes of cargo, had a speed of less than 10 knots, then it was not the revolutionary ship he was looking for—one capable of reducing the distance between the subcontinent and Australia by 20% or even more.

Was he hoping too much? Vijay became hesitant. He couldn't tell. In the end, he finally decided to voice out his doubts.

"Is the speed less than 10 knots?"

Hearing the question, all four designers in the room immediately became embarrassed.

Fortunately, Vijay was not kept in suspense for long. Danior Boswell slowly gave the answer he was waiting for. "Your Majesty, this—um—the speed is, uh, anywhere from 16 knots to 21 knots."

" What!!!" Vijay was immediately shocked.

He knew that the *Great Republic* (1853), the legendary ship on which the current ship is based on, had a speed of over 17 knots. But he did not expect this sort of speed could be achieved in this era. He did remember saying that he wanted a ship that could carry 3,000 tonnes and be faster than the *Delhi-class* battleship, but he did not expect it to cross 20 knots.

You have to know that 20 knots is 37 kilometres per hour—that's almost 40 kilometres per hour. This is a speed that, even in the 21st century, is not too slow, and can even be considered as the most economical speed. Achieving this sort of speed in the 17th century could be called a miracle.

Now he understood why the designers were so hesitant to mention the speed—because it was simply too unbelievable. During the trials, if in case the ship is really built and the speed doesn't reach the standards, where will their reputation and faces go? They might as well retire from ship designing and join some university to become professors.

"Hahaahaa."

Thinking about it, Vijay laughed out loud. He knew that the projected speed was most likely true.

"Alright, I understand. It looks like the speed this ship is projected to reach is truly terrifying. But there's no need to be too worried about it—we will get to know its actual speed during practical trials. And even if it is one or two knots below the projected speed, I wouldn't blame you all too much."

Vijay's words made them immediately heave a sigh of relief because if His Majesty wanted to hold them accountable, they really didn't have anything they could legally refute.

With a smile on his face, Danior continued to introduce cheerfully, "Your Majesty, for the steering, we have used the traditional wooden steering, but we have attached it to reinforced iron gears to make it easier for the navigator to turn the ship."

"As for the navigation equipment, the ship is equipped with chronometers, the new high-power telescope custom-built by Pillai Optics, as well as the newest navigational equipment on the market."

"Oh, Your Majesty, below the ship, we have also prepared a mounting for a mechanism called a propeller, which was invented by a second-tier university student in Gupta Nagar called Manish Kumar. We found out that propellers are the most efficient way to output power in case there is no wind."

"In the past, in such situations, the boat had to be manually rowed by the people on board. But now, although the option still exists, the propeller could be considered the first alternative. The propeller is connected to several gears on the bottom of the ship, with which if 50 to 60 men join their strength, the ship could still sail at 5 knots."

Vijay was surprised—he didn't know that the propeller had been invented, but it was natural. With the number of inventions being made in the Bharatiya Empire, he had already lost count. Now, he would only pay attention to either inventions he was consciously looking forward to or inventions that showed up in the newspaper or his intelligence reports after they had made a name for themselves.

"It's a very good idea. What else?"

Danior Boswell stroked his beard and thought about it. Then he suddenly remembered something he had missed.

"Your Majesty, the bulkheads have been designed to be fireproof so that fire safety in the cargo hold can be increased. We have also added ample space for the lifeboats on the ship, and the ship is designed to meet all the requirements of the Bharatiya Standards Organisation."

Vijay was very satisfied with what he saw—he couldn't wait for its construction to begin.

"Right, very good, Danior. You can quickly pick up all the necessary things and come to the Raya Shipyard. We can immediately start discussing the actual construction of the ship." Vijay looked at Gana Prabu Berunda. "If your Berunda Shipyard also wants to start the construction of the ship, you can do so. But I suggest you wait till the first prototype is completed and its sea trials are done so that losses on your side can be reduced. But at the end of the day, it is your choice."

Gana Prabu Berunda didn't want to build this ship immediately in the first place since he was not confident that his shipyard could handle such a monstrous project. But he was still very touched that His Majesty had reminded him.

"No, Your Majesty, I'm not looking to construct the ship immediately. Instead, if you would allow us, we from the Berunda Design Firm would like to assist Raya Shipyard in constructing the ship."

Vijay looked at him and nodded. In the Bharatiya Empire, the top shipyards didn't have to worry about not being able to manufacture a certain ship because all the design firms in the naval industry, mirroring that of the military industry, operated completely separately from the shipyards. So anything the design bureau produced had its own patents and copyrights to it, and the shipyard had no authority to manufacture the ship without obtaining the manufacturing patent from the design bureau. And since design bureaus could not manufacture their own ships, their main source of income was through royalties from their designs as well as doing custom designs for private companies. Hence, top designs are circulated in the market more freely instead of becoming a tool for one company to make a lot of money since the income of the design bureau is completely dependent on how popular and useful their designs are.

The Raya Shipyard will definitely get an edge over the other shipyards in the Empire since it is the 1st shipyard manufacturing the ship, while Berunda Shipyard sits in a very close second place. But the rest of the top shipyards wouldn't fall behind for too long either, because after a few ships have been built, they will purchase the manufacturing patent and start their own construction as well.

Although the ships they build will have a lot more problems than the ships built by Raya Shipyard or Berunda Shipyard, it's not a big loss in the sense that they will still be able to sell the same ship at a much lesser cost, gaining considerable profits as well as experience in order to build the next ship a little better.

In this way, a positive cycle has been formed in the naval industry of the Bharatiya Empire. All the design bureaus are looking to produce cutting-edge, popular ship designs, wanting to take advantage of a niche, while the shipyards are quite supportive of it since they would have more customers in their hands.

Given that they do not have the pressure of innovating completely new designs but only have to innovate in the method of manufacturing the ships, they have quite a bit of spare money, which all shipyards—at least the major ones—have reserved to fund the design bureaus.

Even if most designs are failures, the money could always be made back if even two successful designs emerge out of ten. By this, the design bureaus would not only make a lot of money through royalties, but the shipyards, which own the majority stake in the design bureaus, would gain lucrative dividends as well as a massive edge over competitors, securing the biggest slice of the market.

And this time, Vijay has once again taken the lead in pioneering a groundbreaking ship, which could be called the pinnacle of all wind-powered ships—one that has culminated aeons of human intelligence and experience for the use of the Bharatiya Empire. A ship that has never even been attempted in the world, one that would push the shipbuilding of the Bharatiya Empire decades into the future, leaving competitors far behind.

P.S. I will attach the image of the ship in the comments, check it out...

P.S. I wrote this whole chap (1+2) yesterday, I have been lazy today, just wanted u humans to know.