Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 806: Alfonso IV de Briganza’s Thoughts (2/2)

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.

"Your Majesty, I have returned!!"

Olivera immediately knelt down on one knee. He clenched his fist and tapped his heart as he lowered his head.

Alfonso was looking at the researchers who were continuously testing out the newly researched fourth-generation machine tool, but hearing a familiar sound from behind, he turned around.

Confirming that it was his close aide, he smiled.

"So you have, Duke Olivera, I hope you have been well."

"I have, your Majesty"

Olivera slowly got up after seeing His Majesty gesturing him to do so.

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"I have completed the mission you have assigned me, my liege."

"Did Emperor Vijay agree?" Alphonso's eyes lit up,

"Yes, Sier, he has agreed to sell us 10 Delhi class battleships at a normal price and for the Spanish as well."

"Hmm..." Selling it at the normal price was a little surprising, but he didn't say anything. "Is there anything else?"

Olivera immediately told everything about Vijay's proposal to buy over 8000 kilometres of land near the El Tigre region.

As expected, Alfonso's eyebrows jumped in caution, but after learning that it would be owned by the Devaraya family personally and not by the empire, he relaxed a bit. Such things were very common in Europe—even though he was the King of Portugal, he owned properties in almost all major countries in Europe—and that goes for his enemies as well, professional conflicts and private interests are divided very well in European nobility. So he did not find it unacceptable, but he was curious why Vijay wanted to buy such a large piece of land for oil alone.

"Are you sure this black oil is not some sort of rare resource?"

Olivera thought about it and replied, "I cannot be too sure, Your Majesty. I only know that the Bharatiya Empire is using the black oil, which they call crude oil, in order to make something called Kerosene, which will be used to light lamps in houses."

"Apart from this, I'm not aware of any other uses."

Alfonso stroked his chin and replied, "In that case, the land can be sold to him. But instead of him giving 20% back to the colonial government, let me invest my own money and get a 30% stake in the oil extracted and kerosene generated from the crude oil. Let's make it my investment ."

"Oh, and I agree that the land should not be expanded anymore and there should not be a strong military presence, especially around Panama. This is a bottom line that cannot be crossed. Make sure that there is no loophole while signing the contract. If it can't be agreed upon, then I will not sell even an acre of land." Alfonso's decision was very firm—he would rather offend the Bharatiya Empire than to give the bharatiya empire even a step to project their power into the Americas.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Alfonso enquired, "Is there anything else?"

"Oh yes, Your Majesty, in fact, there is one thing," Olivera paused for a moment. He was hesitant—after he visited the Bharatiya Empire a few months ago for the Warriors Day Parade, he suddenly got an idea that could only be considered as traitorous for the previous him. But now, the more he suppressed the idea, the more it ate at his heart. He knew that this could not go on anymore, so he made up his mind and decided to ask the question once and for all. "Your Majesty, now that the Viceroy of New Granada is merged with the Viceroy of Brazil, it has become too hard for me to manage such a large stretch of land alone, so I wanted to enquire if I can appoint a few capable nobles to help manage it. I also have a few development ideas I want to implement. I don't know if Your Majesty can approve it."

"Oh? Explain in detail," Alphonso was intrigued.

"Yes, Your Majesty. My plan is to split Brazil into three different states, while New Granada will be a separate state. Overall, there will be four different states. I am looking to appoint capable nobles who have actual ability to help individually manage the states, and I want to see if I can use the encouraging childbirth policy to increase the population in the colony, while simultaneously trying to attract people from Europe to settle down in the colony."

Alphonso was surprised, "Where did you get this idea from?"

"Um, the Bharatiya Empire, Your Majesty."

"Didn't they discover a new continent? They have already started the migration of people from the Bharatiya Empire to the continent and their colonies, which they call overseas territories, on a large scale."

"Although they have not put forward any childbirth policies, I observed that several conveniences have been provided for having more children, which in a roundabout way is a childbirth policy without making it look like the Empire is forcing its people to have more children, thereby making more people willing to migrate to the colonies."

"With population moving there in the hopes of more development opportunities and more resources, the colonies of the Bharatiya Empire are developing very fast."

"Also, Your Majesty, I noticed another peculiar detail. The colonization effort is not done throughout the colony, but it only starts with a stronghold. A stronghold is first fully urbanized, after which towns and villages are built around it. This urbanized city slowly acts as a termite, which with time completely spreads throughout the landmass, thereby completely occupying the continent in the most efficient way. Currently, the continent of Golden Island, as the Bharatiyas call it, has more than 20 such strongholds, all developing at a fast pace."

"Furthermore, I have noticed something peculiar. Unlike how we manage the colonies, where we extract all the resources that are possible to be extracted, the Bharatiya Empire does something very different. It extracts minerals from its colonies, like we do, yes, but it only extracts the minerals that are in excess—meaning, while the minerals are being transported back to the mainland, there are still minerals to spare in the colonies so that it will not affect the development speed of the colony. It is almost like they are building up another homeland for their people."

"I want to see if we can do something similar to the American colonies as well. Instead of simply mining out all the resources extracting everything and sending it back to Europe, what if we further develop the colony and attract Europeans to the colony? Would we have better developmental opportunities?"

Thinking about it, he added, "Europe is very small after all, Your Majesty. Our colony is very large, it has a lot of resources, and there aren't any strong enemies nearby. Maybe we can transform it into the second home for the Portuguese."

Hesitating, he added, with his eyes darting around, not daring to look directly at Alfonso, "Also, Your Majesty, you can take this opportunity to develop your personal power elsewhere, so that when the time comes, you can wipe off the resistance for reforms with bloody means."

Alfonso was silent. There wasn't any expression on his face, but in his heart, emotions were raging like a tsunami. Olivera had just given him too many surprises; his ideas greatly inspired him, especially the last part. Thinking about those old immortals from various noble families entrenched in every part of Portuguese, he couldn't help but grit his teeth in hatred. No matter what reform plans he brought forward, it would only be partially completed, as the nobles always found a way to sabotage the operations. He had already known this, but there was nothing he could do. If he started to suppress them by force, he could definitely completely wipe them out, since the majority of the army was still under his control. But if he did something like that, it would definitely start a civil war. The Dutch, the English, the French, and even the recent ally Spain might not miss this chance to take advantage. At that time, he might actually lose more than he had won.

This was one of the reasons why he promoted Olivera to Duke. It was his idea of cultivating a noble class of his own. It is also the main reason why he gave Olivera such a main role of becoming the Governor General of Brazil.

But now, listening to Olivera's ideas, he felt like he was being too close-minded. Why must he fight for everything in Portugal like the old immortals? Couldn't he just jump out of the chessboard and headshot the chess pieces from outside?

Thinking about this, his eyes brightened.

"Excellent idea, but the plan is too conservative. I will directly be responsible for sending people to you back in the colony. Start schools, colleges, and police stations, establish towns, and develop them into cities. I'll also send you some intellectuals—have them build basic factories, enough to process raw materials."

"Furthermore, I will slowly spread the propaganda about migrating to Brazil. This should increase the number of people going to the colonies."

"As for the plan of managing the colonies as states, I can agree. I will appoint the people in a week. They will join the duty under you when you are about to leave."

"Finally," he gave a kind look at Olivera with a smile, "Do your best, my friend. Maybe one day, the title of colonies can be removed, and they could be changed to the overseas territory of Portugal."

Olivera was immediately excited. "Yes, Your Majesty! Leave it to me."

If Vijay had heard the conversation between Duke Olivera and Emperor Alfonso, he would have been shocked and worried, because the whole reason Europe quickly lost its prominence as the centre of the world was due to the arrogance and ignorance of its leaders, who thought that the world will revolve around them. But now, due to the existence of Vijay, which made the Bharatiya Empire shine too brightly, it made some smart European leaders think not too highly of themselves, not only consider matters of neighbouring European countries, not only think that they are the smartest people in the world, not think that they are the saviours of the world, and it also allowed for a lot of people to think outside the box. The United Kingdom of Portuguese Brazil and Algarve, which was supposed to be established in the 19th century, might actually be established in the 17th century. Following suit, how many kingdoms and empires will try to diversify their power—no one could tell. The future of this world is going in an unknown direction more and more.