Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 805: Alfonso IV de Briganza’s Thoughts (1/2)

October 1663

Port Sines, Portuguese

Port Sines is a major port of the Portuguese, located only ninety kilometres south of Lisbon, the capital of the kingdom.

The port was very dusty; ash and soot were spread all over the ground. Even the water waves washing up the shore looked dark in the backdrop of the dark and medieval port that looked weirdly both depressing and prosperous. The merchants did not mind the dust and smoke as they rushed to the ships, ledgers in their hands, talking to their colleagues in rushed conversation while busy making money. Several ships docked at the port at a time, carrying iron ore, coal, and other goods. The slaves sitting at the corner of the dock with ash and soot covering their faces, immediately stood up and ran up the wooden plank, as they started unloading the iron ore and coal, carrying it on their bodies.

After everything was unloaded, a different group of slaves came to load up all the iron and steel beams, as well as the crates which were sealed shut, into the ship.

Time passed slowly. Ships came and went. The slaves tired their bones and flesh out and were on the brink of collapse.

Another large ship docked in the port. The slaves were famished and almost in a state of collapse, but they had to work even if they did not want to, so although unwilling, they forced their bodies to move, or else their food would be cut in half and they might even be whipped by the supervisor.

'Swoosh!'

Suddenly, a middle-aged man ran past the slaves and stood in front of the inclined wooden slab with an eager and respectful attitude.

Looking at him, the slaves were all stunned. What could have happened for this noble master, who is so high and mighty in normal days, to become so docile?

A black slave stopped moving forward after seeing the noble master, but he was hesitant since if the unloading of the minerals was not done quickly enough, they would be punished. He knew how unreasonable their masters were, so he became restless.

"Come on, let's go stand in front of the master, at least we will have a good excuse."

When Viscount Cristiano Diego saw the slaves coming closer to him, he immediately frowned. A hint of disgust appeared on his face, but just as he was about to reprimand these low lives, he heard the sound of footsteps stepping down.

"Oh Duke... careful," his expression immediately turned kind, flattering and jovial. "Please get down carefully."

Duke Olivera looked at the fat middle-aged man in front of him who was smiling with a flattering expression with confusion. Olivera tried to remember him in his mind and immediately realised the identity of the person.

"Oh, Viscount Cristiano, how kind of you to welcome me personally. I thank you."

Seeing as how the Duke did not take his hand, Cristiano felt a little awkward, but the emotion only lasted for a split second as he took back his hand and smiled brighter. "How could I not welcome you personally, Sir Duke? You are the hero of the empire. If I do not treat you kindly, not to mention my fellow nobles who will dislike me, even my own family might not leave me alone."

Olivera smiled and didn't say anything. After he became the Duke and took over the responsibility of managing Brazil as well as New Grenada, his power in the empire had grown substantially. His authority currently was only weaker than the emperor himself.

Olivera didn't take the flattery to mind. He stood on the harbour and looked around, looking at the messy streets, ash and mud all over the cement floor, as well as the disgusting smoky fumes that constantly bombarded his nasal cavity, which made him involuntarily frown.

Comparing the ports of the Bharatiya Empire and the ports of his own kingdom was the difference between heaven and earth. 'Why is it like this? The ports in the Bharatiya Empire use cement, we use cement as well. They have a special department to manage the port at an individual level, we have one as well. Bharatiya Empire has made a management system for the ports while we have as well, but still, our ports are not as good as some of the medium-scale ports in the Bharatiya Empire. Why?' With a little thought, he immediately had an answer and looked at the greasy fat middle-aged noble. Olivera immediately felt contempt in his heart. 'How much can these tools be useful if the one controlling these tools is a pig?' But he was disheartened as he could not do anything to the Viscount. Every noble family has a rich and deep background behind them. Not to mention him, a newly promoted Duke—even His Majesty the Emperor cannot act arbitrarily when it comes to the interests of the whole nobility class.

Olivera saw the slaves standing at the corner of his eyes. He saw that they had tied their hands and lowered their heads, looking as humble and careful as possible. He was momentarily taken aback about why the slaves were standing so close to him, but suddenly he realised that he came in a ship which also carried some supplies from the Bharatiya Empire.

"Oh, it looks like I am holding back the unloading of goods."

Olivera immediately walked towards the carriage with his family's crest standing only a few metres away.

Cristiano was a step late, but still, he reacted quickly. He caught up and hit Olivera with a shot of flattery. "How can it be considered that Your Excellency is holding back the unloading of goods? If anything, it is those slaves that are incompetent."

Hearing this, Olivera smiled and said nothing, but he was cursing the pigheaded Vycount wildly in his heart. 'You idiot, why do you think the time of unloading and loading the goods is so important? Are they just for the show? Don't you know that even delaying the process of one ship for 30 minutes, by the end of the day the amount of supplies that will be traded will be less than usual, causing losses of thousands of reais?' 'No wonder the development of Port Sines has slowed down.' 'If it was not for the fact that there were still a few competent managers working under you, maybe you would have destroyed this port city.'

"Thank you for your reception, Sir Cristiano. I will take my leave now." Olivera didn't want to stay in the port for a minute longer.

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Cristiano's smile faded. "It's no trouble, Your Excellency, but don't you want me to escort you to Aljustrel?"

"It's not needed, Sir Cristiano. Thank you for the offer. I have an important matter to discuss with His Majesty, and you look to be busy handling the port affairs. I wouldn't want to take you away from your duties," Olivera replied with a fake smile as he ordered his driver to drive the carriage away.

Cristiano looked at the carriage that set off with a blast of dust and frowned. He had a thoughtful look on his face.

---

A few hours later, Olivera saw the smoke clouds rising through the air on the horizon. He soon understood that he had reached the industrial capital of Portuguese Aljustrel.

The initial transformations done by Alexio Fernandez and Andre Sosa, the two merchants who were inspired by the manufacturing methods of the Bharatiya Empire, has made the city of Aljustrel into one of the largest industrial cities in Europe. The assembly line production method which they had set up after learning it from the Bharatiya Empire had laid the foundation for it to become what it is today. Step by step, the remote town in the interior of the kingdom, which only had a few iron and coal resources, gradually transformed into the largest industrial city in The Empire of Portugal and one of the largest in Europe.

After the mineral resources in Aljustrel had dried up, its future should have been doomed, but with the strategic vision of His Majesty Alfonso de Braganza, it did not. Instead, iron ore and coal were both purchased and shipped from its colonies directly to Port Sines, keeping the town alive. The support tilt by the royal family was worth it, as it soon transformed into one of the only few cities in the world that has full manufacturing capabilities with upstream and downstream combined. However, when Alfonso took the decision, he naturally did not know how successful it would be. Instead, he made the decision after considering that the small industrial town had the advantage of being easy to defend and hard to attack while being only 50 kilometres from the coast and 100 kilometres away from Lisbon. It was sort of in a triangulated position between two important locations.

After nearly a decade of hard work, one of the largest iron smelting bases in Europe is located in Aljustrel. As the iron ore and coal are shipped from Port Sines, they are smelted and turned into usable standard iron blocks. Around the smelting factory, there were various other factories that bought the standard iron blocks and turned them into usable products, like processing factories, metalworking factories, fabrication factories, and even a factory that manufactures machine tools up to 3rd generation.

Everything from processing raw materials to manufacturing the products was centralised to one city, thereby turning Aljustrel into a monster in manufacturing.

Olivera passed through the busy streets where people wouldn't even bother to look at him for more than a second and immediately entered a high-security building after showing his family crest.

Olivera immediately caught sight of a tall middle-aged man wearing a red coat with the crest of the Braganza family embroidered on it in gold and silver.

To Be Continued...