Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Chapter 165: Artillery Workshop

The city of Bidar was undergoing an intense transformation under Harsha's rule as the roads expanded and the cities opened up for the merchants. The commercial value of the city and revenue rose exponentially.

This was further increased with the arrival of Yadava merchants to sell their goods.

Meanwhile, on the northern side of the city of Bidar was a medium-sized inn for travelers. The morning sun filtered through the blinds. It flashed onto the face of Alfonso, sleeping soundly in the bed.

The warmth of the sun woke him up. He sat up groggy on the bed naked from the waist up and beside him was Lekha, his secretary and his lover. They recently became lovers. It was well known in the palace that they were lovebirds.

Alfonso didn't know about it yet. He thought he was hiding their relationship very well.

"Ah fuck! My back hurts." He winced, grasping his lower waist.

Lekha giggled. "You dumbo, I told you to take it easy last night. You went too hard."

Alfonso looked embarrassed but quickly composed himself. "No, I am strong like Harsha." He claimed flexing his muscles to show Lekha.

"Huh? You are like the Emperor. No way."

"Hey, I am also strong!! Don't you like my body?" He pouted. "You like Harsha's body better?"

Lekha pinched his ear softly. "You dimwit, of course I like yours. His majesty is not my type anyway."

"Really?" He asked with a bright expression.

"Yes and now go get ready. We have to set up the final task for the workshop and leave to meet your mother."

Alfonso sighed deeply as he quickly remembered about the work he was given to do.

"I don't want to go and work." He complained.

"No, you have to do it. The Emperor is scary when he is angry."

Alfonso sighed again and got up to freshen up.

He left for the workshop along with Lekha by his side. Harsha had ordered him to establish the artillery workshop by using the existing framework of the Bahmani sultanate.

Alfonso thought that the mission was easy but to his dismay, it proved to be very difficult.

He thought that the artillery framework just needed a couple of people to function but it turned out to be the opposite. Alfonso needed a large group of people to get a huge artillery workshop going in the city.

He had bought a huge plot of land using the money given to him by Harsha to establish the workshop.

Then he had to go and find the blacksmiths and forgers who used to work for the Bahmani sultanate. They were pretty easy to find as they were well known in their field and stayed in the city of Bidar after the collapse of the Sultanate.

The difficult part of the process was to find the boring specialists and foundrymen. They were left with no jobs when the Bahmani collapsed. The workshop was not used by the Empire and it forced the foundrymen and boring specialists to leave the city looking for work elsewhere.

It took a while for Alfonso to track them down using the spy network made by the internal affairs council member Karna.

Getting everything pieced together in a small amount of time was difficult.

After everything was in place, another problem arose.

Alfonso noticed that there was a huge lack of unskilled labourers and apprentices to learn the craft of cannon making.

Thanks to the expertise of Lekha, he understood the people needed to run the workshop.

Blacksmiths and forgers were needed to forge small parts and components of the cannons.

Carpenters were needed to make wooden wheels and mounts for the cannon. Foundry men cast the barrels for the cannon by pouring the metal into the molds created for the cannons.

Lastly, they need boring specialists to hollow the casted cannon barrels to ensure that the cannon length was smooth for accurate firing.

Additionally On learning how inefficient the process of the Bahmani was, he decided to employ supervisors to look after the workshop. Some more workers to inspect the quality of a new cannon. Finally another supervisor to keep the gunpowder from catching fire.

The workshop would be guarded heavily by the internal affairs teams to ensure maximum safety.

After a lot of grueling work, he managed to ensure everything was in place. He just had to deliver the first prototype to begin the work.

He walked towards the workshop at the end of the city and behind him was a carriage carrying two culverin cannons that were seized during the civil war.

Alfonso tried digging some information for the cannons from the Portuguese but to no avail.

His only choice was the Castro family but they had cut all contact due to his failure to win the Civil War.

He walked into the workshop to find the workers already preparing.

"Hey!! How are you?" He said with a bright grin on his face.

All the workers smiled at the sudden entrance of Alfonso. The workers bonded well with the energetic and carefree nature of Alfonso.

"Your Highness, what can we do for you today?" asked the main supervisor of the workshop and a master bombardier, Prathyush.

"It seems that the work has been completed and we can begin production."

Prathyush smiled. Experience tales with m v|l -NovelBin.net

"Yes, your Highness. We can start the work right now. We are sorting out the old designs of the sultanate to begin the work of the cannons."

Alfonso tilted his head in surprise. "Old cannons? When did I ask you to make that thing?"

"Weren't we supposed to remake the old artillery of the Bahmani sultanate for the Empire?" He asked with a confused tone.

"No! No!!. You are making some other cannons." He said as he gestured to the guard beside him to bring the cannon.

The cannon was pushed inside by the group of soldiers.

"This is the cannon you will be making."

Prathyush looked astonished by the cannon. He inspected it and found that the craftsmanship required to reach this level was truly surprising. It was of much higher quality than the crude cannons he made for the Sultanate.

"How will we make this? We haven't worked with such a cannon."

"Just take it apart. Then analyze and measure each part of the cannons to recreate the structure with as much precision as you can."

"We will do our best, Your Highness."