November 12th, 1688

Shaurya Royal Palace, Imperial Capital, Bengaluru, Akhand Bharatiya Empire

"Vijay, it's time to eat."

The voice of Kavya reverberated through the hallway, but Vijay was nowhere to be seen. Kavya looked around, and finally, not hearing a response, shrugged and left for her studio. Her new novel was in the finishing stages, so she was quite excited to write the climax she had been building up for two years in real life and 456 years in the novel.

Vijay was, in fact, within the garage where Vedanth had tested his first steam engine and propeller implementation. After Vedanth moved out, he felt doing everything in his study room was too constricting, so he used the garage as his private laboratory as well.

Currently, in front of Vijay were multiple parts lying all over the table. His hands were messy, but thankfully, he wore medical gloves and an apron, so he did not get grease on his clothes. Next to him was a chalkboard where he had written the names of various components and their importance.

Vijay was in the process of organising all the parts into categories so that he could find third-party manufacturers to produce the parts for him.

His brain operated at a rapid speed, and his pupils moved around as if they were arranging the parts on a virtual table right in front of his eyes and a few minutes later, it was done.

Vijay finally picked up the chalk and wrote down the finalised component distribution he had in his mind.

He distributed the components into four different categories and eighteen major component groups.

The first category was the core components. This was the component that would still be firmly held in his own hands, as only the Raya Power Company would manufacture these parts, and that included the cylinder assembly, including the valve system, crankshaft, and governor assembly.

After which came the second category with five major parts, like the piston and ring set, connection rod and bushings, main bearings, flywheel, engine frame, and base plate. The manufacturing of these parts will be given to the companies that already have military clearance in the private sector.

Moving on to the third category, manufacturing and development patent rights will be granted to the general manufacturers who would be responsible for manufacturing the four major systems, like the complete boiler assembly, safety valve system, steam piping and connections, and pressure monitoring equipment.

As for the fourth category, he could find multiple suppliers, as this division mainly included lubrication system components, fasteners of various sizes, power transmission parts like belts and chains, gaskets and sealing material, manual oilers and fittings, and miscellaneous piping fittings.

With planning out of the way, Vijay could finally focus on getting the thing to the market, and that was exactly what he did.

---

"Your orders, Your Majesty?" Bhaskaracharya came as soon as Vijay called and respectfully asked.

Vijay was too lazy to write everything down in a book, so he directly took Bhaskaracharya to his Garage/laboratory, and showed him the chalkboard.

" The patent rights for the five major parts could be given to the trusted partners, and select these trusted partners from among the enterprises that have military production certification."

" For the manufacturing of the four major systems, it can be given to the larger civilian enterprises. Security clearance can be lowered a little, as long as quality and quantity can be maintained, and for these six categories, there are no large requirements; sell to whoever pays well."

Bhaskaracharya kept looking at the board and was a little taken aback. "Are you sure, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, just do as I said."

Bhaskaracharya didn't say anything anymore and quickly took out his notebook to note down everything on the board, although he was a little shocked as to why His Majesty was suddenly allowing the technology of the steam engine to be sold to the civilian market. He would not ask any more questions since His Majesty had already made a decision.

After writing everything down, Bhaskaracharya raised his pen and asked curiously, "Your Majesty, what about the assembly rights? Can these companies purchase the parts from each other and assemble their own steam engine?"

"Hmm!" Vijay hadn't thought of this, so he stroked his chin in contemplation. If he did not allow the assembly to take place in any other company, then he could still maintain security at a very high level, but his original goal of utilising the innovation of the public to develop steam technologies would only be partially successful. If there is something Vijay hates, then that is doing something partial, because in his last life, his motherland was stuck in this partial situation. When India was established, its governance systems were stuck between socialism and capitalism, not gaining the benefits of either, but inheriting the disadvantages of both.

So he made a decision in his heart. He even decided to change his mind about keeping the core technologies in his own company. He had brought the Bharatiya Empire to such heights; was he still afraid of the Europeans? Big deal, if it comes to it, things can be settled on the battlefield. Bharath is no longer afraid. "The trusted partners can assemble their own steam engine. Also, if they want to manufacture other parts as well, allow them, as long as they're doing their own research and not completely copying the technology that has already been developed. And this privilege can even be extended to the core components."

Bhaskaracharya tried his best to keep a calm face, but the shock was so great that it was inevitable that he let out a little gasp. He couldn't help it. A steam engine, the crown jewel of the Empire's technology, was now flowing into the private sector and not in a controlled way, either. His Majesty is actually allowing private companies to completely manufacture the engine themselves, although it is easier said than done, since which company would think of researching new technology by themselves, while patents are readily available. It is still unbelievable that His Majesty is doing such a thing.

"I will get it done, Your Majesty."

After recovering a little, he finally let out these words and left in a hurry.

'Whew!'

Vijay felt like a burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He was like a dam holding back a river of countless technologies that could be developed using steam power, but now the floodgates were open.

---

18th November, 1688

Nagpur Patent Office

The Special Patent Office in Nagpur, one of the empire's four, was as busy as ever. Clients came both to buy and sell patent rights, while patent agents negotiated on their behalf to secure the best possible deals. The Nagpur Patent Office is a large, four-story building, with each of the first three floors containing patent boards advertising patents in different industries.

Sullochana Peshwa got down from her luxurious Surya S12 and casually walked into the patent office. Sullochana was one of the executive directors of Swastik Enterprises Pvt Ltd, one of the largest tool manufacturers of the empire, and also one of the military third-party manufacturers responsible for manufacturing major components for one of the three military conglomerates.

The human resource department was her main responsibility, being a recruiter for talent, but she shared that job with another executive who took on the majority of the task by recruiting the vast majority of the people in the company himself. Her work was to recruit the top engineers and the top technical talents needed for the company, but since her job scope was too narrow, she also held another special position: the director of the intellectual property department, a smaller but extremely important department in the company.

Today, she routinely visited the Nagpur Patent Office to check for any new military technology patents that have been released into the public domain and could be manufactured by her company.

Completely ignoring the crowd on the first, second, and third floors, she went directly to the fourth floor, but at the door of the fourth-floor entrance, she was not let in, as there were a few armed soldiers blocking her way. But she was not flustered; she skillfully took out her identity credentials and a special card issued by the company and handed them over to the soldiers.

A bulky middle-aged man matched all the credentials with the records he had with him, nodded as he gave back the credentials, and the door was opened.

The military patent office was different from the civilian patent office, as there was no board where all the patents were shown. Here, instead, there were private rooms, sort of like private cubicles in high-end hotels, where a person could only occupy one at a time, and within these cubicles was a thick book which contained all the details about the military patents that were for sale.

'Bam!'

Sullochana was caught off guard because, right as she entered the office, one of the cubicles burst open and a middle-aged man ran out with panic and excitement on his face.

Sulochana startled, moved to the side to give way, and the man dashed past her without even a greeting.

Sulochana was confused. 'Was that a person from the Tata Group?' She did not personally know him, but she could identify the tag used by top-level executives of the Tata Group.

'Why is he in such a hurry? Wait, did the government make a new technology public?' Her brain quickly turned, and her eyes shimmered with an excited gleam. 'A new technology, enough to make an executive of a company like the Tata Group so excited, it must be a groundbreaking technology.'

Not wasting a second more, she quickly logged in at the counter, entered the cubicle, and turned the first page of the patent book excitedly, but what she saw under the column of new entries shocked her completely.

As she guessed, it was a groundbreaking technology, alright, but not this freaking groundbreaking. It's actually the technology to manufacture the important components of a new kind of steam engine. And what did she see? There was actually no restriction on how many kinds of patents could be bought, and there wasn't even a restriction on whether they could manufacture their own steam engine.

Turning the page, she gasped heavily as she covered her mouth in disbelief, because on the second page was the patent of the schematic of a whole steam engine, the Pragati Mark One. Although from its specifications it looked like a smaller steam engine with only one or two horsepower, it was still a FUCKING steam engine. Companies in the private sector could only use it but never make one before, but now that restriction has been lifted.

"Ohh my god!"

She finally came back to her senses and exclaimed.

Her next actions were exactly the same as those of the executive from the Tata Group. She wanted to immediately contact the chairman and tell him what she had just found out.

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