Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Royal Palace, Vijayanagara Empire.

It was a bright morning. The capital city was bustling with activities as the temple hymns started and the vendors opened their businesses.

Harsha was walking through the hallways of the palace towards the royal court; following him close behind was Viswa as usual.

"So, Viswa, did you inform the merchants to be at the meeting today?"

"Yes, three merchants agreed to join the meeting today."

Harsha had informed prior to inviting merchants of big stature to the first council meeting. He wanted to introduce something special for the first council meeting to enable smooth operations and trade in the Empire.

He needed the help of the merchants in this regard to get a widespread effect on the industries.

Merchants had connections with the industrial people like blacksmiths and weavers that use their own measure, creating complexities.

He was going to establish the metric system in the Empire and unify the measurement systems of all the industries in the Empire to improve the goods production.

Although the introduction of the metric system was in the late 18th century. He made his own measuring scale using the help of Viswa to establish a standard for weight.

Making the metric scale was relatively simple since Harsha had the knowledge about the intricacies of the invention planted in his memories as the result of the harsh training in the research facility.

A meter was determined by calculating one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole.

After calculating the meter, he just had to calculate the mass of a cube that holds 10 cm³ of water to get the kilogram.

He just had to make a scale that matches these measures. He made these scales using iron and wanted to present them to the council.

Harsha looked over at the lush gardens as he walked to the royal court.

"Is the scale ready to show, Viswa?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. I have sent a servant to fetch the scales to present to the council."

"Have them fetch the demonstration materials as well."

"Ones, you used to experiment with the system?."

"Yes." He responded.

Viswa quickly called a nearby maid and gave her orders to bring the demonstration materials from the Royal complex training complex.

Harsha had experimented with the system to maintain its accuracy.

"I see. Today is going to mark a huge change in the Empire's industrial sector."

The doors of the royal court opened with a loud scream of the guard.

"His Majesty, Harsha Deva Raya is entering."

A huge table sprawled over in the royal courtroom, with all the council members and the three nervous merchants already seated awaiting his arrival.

"So everyone is early." He said with a smirk, walking up to his seat.

Harsha cleared his throat.

"So this is the first meeting of the new council."

The others looked curiously at him to know about the new policies that he was going to implement.

The old man Nayaka didn't come today; his son Bhima Nayaka took his place as the proxy as he returned back to Thanjavur.

A merchant timid spoke up. He was an old man named Suraj. The man had built his wealth slowly over the years. He took the opportunity as many merchants had run away and multiplied his wealth.

"What have you called us lowly merchants here as well?, Your Majesty?" He asked with a nervous smile.

"Today, our agenda is the standardization of the weight system in the Empire."

"Your Majesty, do you mean to say to have a standard measuring standard for every craftsman in the Empire?" asked Mithun, rubbing his temples curiously.

"Precisely, the craftsman now have to work with suppliers that use their measurements to buy their resources."

"Yes, it is right. Your Majesty." Another merchant chimed in. "We do have a hard time keeping track of the measurements from different craftsmen during the purchases."

"See, this creates a very big problem in the output and drives up the cost for goods."

"Yes, it is an issue. I have also encountered, Your Majesty." Mithun said.

He had a hard time negotiating as a novice with different craftsmen for goods, and the measurements they used to be very different from one another.

"With standardization of the measurement system. We can drive down the cost of the materials by opening up various suppliers to the craftsmen and also make it easier for merchants to keep track and sell the goods easier." Harsha responded with a smirk.

"But still, the craftsmen do only take very little orders due to the lack of manpower, Your Majesty," says Raj Patwardhan.

"Yeah, there is also an added benefit that solves this issue."

"What is that?" Raj asks curiously.

"They can acquire more apprentices due to this, since they use standard measurements. They can also acquire people who have worked with other craftsmen without much prior training in their own system."

The council members fell silent at his confidence. They understood the benefits of the system and could see the vision Harsha was pointing towards, but a major question arose in their minds.

Bhima finally spoke up.

"Your Majesty, This vision is good, but the transitioning to a new system is not going to happen very quickly."

"That is indeed true, Your Majesty." A merchant nodded his head, agreeing with Bhima.

"That is why I have the merchants here." He replied with a giggle.

"Huh?" Bhima titled his head in confusion.

"The merchants shall adopt the standard measurement system and work along with the craftsman that uses the same system."

He took a deep breath and continued.

"The merchants here have many personal craftsmen under them, right?"

"Yes, we do have personal craftsmen and also work with other independent ones for trade."

"Your personal craftsmen shall adopt the standard measurements, and once you drive down the cost, the independent craftsmen would slowly lose the business as other merchants see the profits of this."

"So they will have no choice but to switch to the standard measurements." Mithun finished the sentence with a bright expression.

Harsha nodded, approving his answer.

"Don't worry. We have made a scale for the standard measurement."

Viswa calls in a servant who brought the scale designed with metal, very sleek and intricate, with markings and symbols indicating the measurements using the help of a craftsman in the palace.

"This will be key to our success."