8th April 1690

23km from Indraprastha

The sound of more than a dozen tractors working on the large tracts of land right next to each other in parallel could be heard in a massive agricultural plot, not too far from the agricultural capital of the empire, Indraprastha. Ever since the tractors came out, the productivity of large farms continued to increase, their superiority over smaller family-owned farms continued to increase, and the whole farming industry of the empire became much more standardised and regulated.

Right next to the farm that was being tilled and getting ready to sow the seeds was a flower plantation, within which hundreds of people were carrying buckets of diluted neem oil in their hands and were sprinkling it all over the budding plants so as to deter any diseases, fungus, or insects.

Within this group of farmers was Chikkanna, a 23-year-old farmer who had come to Indraprastha a few years ago from Baluchistan looking for a job. Chikkanna wiped the sweat from his brow and continued to sprinkle the oil on the plants using the manual pump. He winced every time he pressed the pump because operating the pump for several hours every day, 6 days a week, made his hands hurt a lot. Theoretically, he could take a break and do some other work that was less demanding, but he needed the money. He wanted to bring his mother and father over to Indraprastha and wanted to build a home, so the more money he could accumulate, the better.

He continued to do his work for a few more hours until it was time for his lunch break. He sat down under the water reservoir with a satisfied look on his face. Although he had a lot of grievances with the boss, at least the food was first class. He could eat until his stomach was full every day, and it was always tasty.

Just then, a sound came from behind him. Looking back, he saw a technical worker wearing a grey dress drop something into the water canal, and the next moment, a loud voice erupted from a machine.

Chikkanna and the other farmers gathered around the steam engine and looked at it curiously.

" What is this, big brother? " the older farmer, who was usually responsible for negotiating the salary on everyone's behalf, asked.

The technical worker, maybe he was in a good mood, smiled and explained, " It is called a Power pump, it will take the water in the canal and put it into the reservoir."

Hearing the answer, exclamations immediately rang out.

" Really? "

" You're not lying, big brother? "

The technical worker laughed, " Why would I lie to you, mud legs, go and see for yourself."

Unconvinced, the elderly man climbed up the reservoir, and to his surprise, water was really gushing out of the metal pipe.

" Oh, Shiva, it is real."

Everyone's faces immediately showed an expression of shock and disbelief. Chikkanna was no different, but unlike everyone, like a bolt from the blue, he was enlightened with an idea.

Without hesitation, he got up and ran towards the bungalow of the farm manager. He usually didn't go near the bungalow unless he had to collect the weekly payment, but now that he had an idea, how could he still hesitate?

Ghandharwa, who was talking with a few agents involved in the real estate industry, was taken aback when the temporary farmer ran towards him as if he were being chased by a lion. His brows furrowed, and he was immediately dissatisfied.

But before he could scold the guy, Chikkanna blurted out something excitedly, which made him stop his words, " Manager, I think I have an idea which will make it possible to complete the spraying of neem oil much faster."

Ghandharwa did not completely believe those words, but he did not shrug it off either. " What is it? " he asked with some curiosity.

Chikkanna immediately explained what he thought of.

" Manager, I just came across the machine that was being used to pump water from the canal into the reservoir. I think if this pump is directly attached to the sprayer attachment we use, and its pipe is put in neem oil instead of water, it can actually spray out the neem oil solution at a fast speed without having to manually operate the pump."

" If this is successful, then the entire field can be sprayed in the time it takes to walk around the field, or in a little more time."

The manager's eyes widened. The guy really came up with something. Even without testing it, he knew that it would work. He moved forward, all of his dissatisfaction forgotten, and patted Chikkanna on the back repeatedly as he had a wide smile on his face, " Hahaa, you did very well. I will inform the board of directors about your contribution. I'm sure they will be very pleased."

In this way, whether used as the factory intended or in entirely new and inventive ways, the Pragathi steam engine was steadily permeating every layer of Bharatiya society. With each passing moment, more people like Chikkanna discovered unconventional uses for it, and these people, finding opportunities since no one else was doing what they were doing, directly ordered engines from Parvati Iron and Steel to power their custom machines built for things like mixing cement, preparing large batches of food, driving mine carts, or even running merry-go-rounds in amusement parks.

The Pragathi steel engines acted as rain in the barren land, which led to bamboo shoots springing up all over the empire. All sorts of unorthodox companies and users began to develop industrialisation on a much deeper level.

Watching all this from the side were the European merchants, who could not legally import any machine with a steam engine attached. Although a few spies were successful in stealing the individual parts of the Pragathi engine, they could never take the whole thing.

But Vijay, who was constantly monitoring the intelligence situation of the empire through Bharatiya Internal Pragya, had no beautiful dreams about such a situation being maintained forever.

He knew that, whether in a few weeks or in a few months, the complete technology of the Pragathi engine would finally be leaked to the Europeans. But the lead of several decades he had over the Europeans was enough. Besides, once the Europeans figured out the technology, they would also have to figure out how to make the sixth generation of the machine tool, because without it, mass-producing the Pragathi engine was practically impossible, since the tolerances it required were actually more stringent than the larger Bhairavi, Balwan, or Kesari.

The Europeans were mostly stuck in the third generation, or maybe the 3.5 generation. They were not even close to the fifth generation, the pseudo-industrial revolution-ready machine tools.

To jump from the fourth and fifth generations to the sixth generation, it had taken the Bharatiya Empire more than two decades. Even if the Europeans had it easier to recreate the technology since they already knew what they wanted, it would still take at least ten years for that as well.

Who knows what would happen in this time? Maybe the Bharatiya Empire would have pulled much farther ahead, or maybe the war would have already started, and the industrial foundation of Europe destroyed. It could be the other way around as well, but Vijay was confident that he would come out as the victor.

So, all in all, even if he gave out the blueprint of the Pragathi engine now to the Europeans, they would only be able to handcraft it. Industrially manufacturing it was practically impossible.

Putting aside the matter of how the Pragathi engine was affecting society, he was more attracted to the invitation given by Ganapatra Pillai.

Apart from iterative improvements to his classic products like the thermometer, microscope, telescope, and different kinds of lenses, Ganapatra Pillai and his Pillai Optics had not come out with a new product for a long, long time, almost a decade if he was correct. But looking at the invitation in front of him, he couldn't help but be excited.

Others did not know what Ganapatra Pillai was doing, but he knew because Pillai told him himself that he was researching how to capture an image using optics. Basically, he was figuring out how to make a camera without a current.

Vijay knew it was practically impossible to do such a thing in the current age with only optics involved, but he did not outright say that his idea would not work. Instead, thinking about the earliest camera that could produce photos that were closest to what modern people would think a camera was capable of, Vijay suggested a camera to take daguerreotype photos, a camera that worked on the principle of chemistry to burn the image of what was seen onto a slide.

In his last life, this camera was invented by a French artist and chemist, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, in 1837. In order to provide as much support to Pillai as possible, he even opened up the research that was going on in the Bharatiya Academy of Military Sciences, which was working on futuristic bombs and explosives, conducting research on mercury, ammonia, and all that sort of stuff, to see if it would help.

He hadn't heard from him ever since. Who would have thought that after so many years, the guy would finally contact him and say that he had a prototype?

Without hesitation, Vijay set off.

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