October 16, 1657
Akhand Bharatiya Empire, Makran, Chabahar Bay
Chabahar port city has changed a lot since it was conquered by the Bharatiya Empire. The port city, located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Oman, has not only recovered from the damage caused by the war but also managed to beco more prosperous than it ever was.
Ever since the main port cities of Chabahar, Gwadar, and Ormara were connected through a backbone road network, the port city of Chabahar has beco one of the three gateways into the lands of Baluchistan and Pakhtun Pradesh.
Especially since Baluchistan and Pakhtun Pradesh have very poor geographical conditions for large-scale road construction from the interior of the Empire, the connection to the interior of these states from the coastal region has beco even more important.
Due to this importance, the port cities of Chabahar, Gwadar and Ormara have continued to prosper, their prosperity rivalling even so of the large cities in the southern part of the empire.
Additionally, aside from the strategic nature of the coastal cities, the harsh living conditions in the interior of Balochistan and Pakhtun Pradesh caused the people in the interior to continuously move to the coastal region.
People, as always, moved in search of prosperity, which accelerated the developnt of the coast, resulting in the formation of many towns and villages centred around the three main coastal ports.
When this phenonon was observed, Vijay was imdiately inford. Instead of being worried, he was actually pleased, as this trend could not only solve so of the problems for the Bharatiya Empire but also increase the speed of developnt.
When China was opening up and started to accept foreign investnts in its last life, it did not do so all at once but began by opening up special economic zones along the coast. This led to the coastal areas being developed first and attracted a large population to these regions.
Once the opening-up policy slowly reached the rest of the nation, China had a high enough population near their industrial sectors and a low enough population near their raw material bases, which were mainly in the interior of the country, where the population had decreased.
Vijay is now applying the sa principles to develop Makran, Baluchistan, and Pashtun Pradesh.
Because of this strategic initiative, Chabahar port city, being one of the three main port cities on the Gulf of Oman, continues to receive resource support from the empire, making it bigger than it ever was.
Consequently, the ngal tribe, which used to control the city, has gained many benefits from the empire’s initiative. Although the ngal tribe currently has no power in the city and has been reduced to nominal citizens of the empire, the land and resources they previously owned have already brought them countless profits.
The top 17 families of the ngal tribe, along with their direct family mbers, have beco one of the richest groups of people in the northwestern part of the empire.
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Millions of tonnes of cargo are constantly being transported through the Chabahar port. The people in the port co in all colours and ethnicities; there are Indigenous people, like the Balochi and Pashtuns, and there are also people from the mainland of the empire, all gathered in this port that represents prosperity and a place where dreams co true.
Sardar Malik Khan ngal, the patriarch of the ngal family, was travelling in a carriage sweating profusely due to the heat. One of his servants started to swing the fan to cool his master down.
"Move a little faster; this eting is very important," Malik Khan was anxious as he had just been inford that a very high official from the mainland had co to Chabahar port, and he was tasked with receiving this person.
Malik Khan attached great importance to this task, as he knew the reason for his family’s affluence was the Bharatiya Empire. If the empire had not taken over Makran and, consequently, Chabahar, knowing what he knew now, he was sure that his family would already have been finished due to the intensifying conflicts in the Safavid Empire.
His current life was sothing he could not even dream of. In the last few years, he felt that ti had moved forward too quickly, with so many innovations taking place in the city. He never wanted to go back to living like his barbaric self, even if it ant that people would no longer be as united as before.
Malik had already made up his mind not to care about this and to remain loyal to the Bharatiya Empire.
And his choice turned out to be correct. When the expansion of the city took place, due to there not being enough managers, he was appointed by the Chief city administrator sent by the empire to be in charge of one part of the city. He worked very hard and eventually won the favour of the Chief city administrator, which led to him gaining more power.
Sardar Malik Khan was imdiately srized by the power he had gained. He read law books he bought from the empire, studied all the rules and regulations, and made it his goal to beco the Chief Minister of whatever state his city, Chabahar, would beco. If possible, he even set a goal to beco a king one day.
Although these ambitions are still far from his current position as a city administrative assistant, his eyes were now bright with passion, as the burden of overseeing the life and death of his tribe no longer existed. For this very reason, he also enrolled his eldest son in the Military Academy in the southern part of the empire.
His two younger sons were also sent to study in junior and senior schools in Mangaluru. Not willing to waste any resources, he made his daughters work as accounting civil servants in the Chief city administrator’s Office of Makran.
Except for his wife, Sardar Malik Khan ngal could be said to have almost completely integrated into the public system of the Bharatiya Empire. After receiving the task assigned by the governor, he knew that welcoming these distinguished guests was a test for him, and Malik ngal was determined to pass it.
Roshan, along with the agents he had trained, arrived at the Chabahar port. They were received by a middle-aged man who introduced himself as Malik Khan ngal.
"Welco, Your Excellency. Please, I have already arranged carriages for all of you," Malik Khan said with a kind smile on his face as he gestured for Roshan and his large team to proceed towards the interior of the city.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Malik," Roshan replied with a smile and perford a namaskara. Seeing that all his agents had disembarked from the ship and noticed the surroundings were becoming crowded, he quickly followed Malik to avoid causing a blockage.
Roshan and his deputy sat in the carriage with the Deputy City Administrator, Malik Khan ngal. Suddenly, Roshan rembered sothing. "Mr. Malik, the city of Chabahar used to be occupied by a tribe called the ngal tribe.
Seeing your surna, are you sohow related to this tribe?" Roshan asked as he knew the reason for the empire’s easy control of the city was the ngal tribe’s cooperation during the war launched against Mughal-controlled Baluchistan.
Sardar Malik imdiately felt happy in his heart, as he finally got a chance to make a good impression. "Yes, Sir Roshan, I am related to the ngal tribe; as a matter of fact, I am its patriarch."
Roshan’s eyebrows were raised in surprise, as he did not expect the Deputy City Administrator to actually be the patriarch of the ngal tribe.
He then had doubts about how this had happened, as administrators for the empire were not usually chosen from among local people to prevent the empire from losing control of these distant territories. But now, this man, who was actually the patriarch of a ruling family, had been selected as the Deputy City Administrator.
Roshan was both curious, and a dangerous glint flashed in his eyes, as he would not hesitate to root out anyone with any treasonous ideas.
Roshan suppressed his thoughts. "How is your tribe doing now? Has life in the Bharatiya Empire treated your people well?"
Roshan decided to acquire the information in a roundabout way to avoid startling the man.
Malik Khan did not realize Roshan’s intention, so he did not hide anything and replied with a happy expression on his face.
"With the constant developnt of Chabahar city, our ngal tribe is very rich now. Even the tribals who, in the past, could not find food to eat three tis a day are now considered landlords."
"With the outskirts of the city being constantly expanded, the value of our property is constantly increasing. The people of our tribe now have more opportunities for growth."
"However, unfortunately, with this increase in prosperity, the tribe could no longer be called a tribe."
There was a bit of sadness on Malik Khan’s face.
Roshan was curious, as he felt this upcoming point might be the reason why Sardar Malik Khan ngal was allowed to serve as a Deputy City Administrator of such an important city, whose power is no less than that of any cabinet minister in any state.
"When our ngal tribe beca rich, everyone was really happy for the first two months, but after that, we started to have internal troubles. Our tribesn began quarrelling among themselves over the issue of land and property ownership."
"So of the higher-ranked tribal families, like my own and 16 other families, which usually produced the Patriarch, being literate and smart, imdiately registered our property at the Land Audit and Managent Bureau when it was established."
"But sadly, the majority of our tribesn were illiterate, so they were not able to register their properties as they had no idea. Initially, there was no problem, but when people started to realize they had to register their land to legalize it, so greedy tribesn began claiming their neighbours’ land as their own.
People started screaming at one another, and the top tribal families, who had already tasted the benefits of land and property after the city beca prosperous, began either forcefully annexing the property of weaker tribesn or buying it at a cheaper cost."
"So, after all this, although the combined wealth of our 17 families could be considered among the richest in the northwestern part of the continent, our tribe can be said to be lost, as our original tribesn are no longer staying here; most of them took the money they managed to get from selling their land and migrated to the mainland."
Roshan remained silent, observing the sad face of Malik Khan. Multiple thoughts were running through his mind as he noticed many irregularities in the story. Generally, sothing like this happening is highly unlikely, as the officials from the Land Audit and Managent Bureau usually publicize the rights of property owners. In the case of the ngal tribe, this obviously did not happen.
Additionally, even if it had, which it did, the police are supposed to be imdiately inford and take action, but in the case of the ngal tribe, that did not seem to happen either.
’Did soone opposing the ngal family infiltrate the police and the local administrator’s office?’ However, this thought lasted only for a mont, as he quickly dismissed it. The police officers and main civil servants in Chabahar port were not selected from the locals but sent from the mainland, so forming local connections so quickly would be impossible.
When his deputy went to comfort Malik Khan, Roshan tapped his foot in a rhythm, deep in thought.
’Wait, soone opposing the ngal family? Isn’t it the empire? Could it be...’ The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. It is primarily the empire that does not like a single territory being completely controlled by a unified group of people, and seeing how the police and civil administrator’s office were involved in this action against the ngal tribe, it made more and more sense.
’Wait!! it’s not right ’, The rhythm of his tapping increased, ’ If it is indeed the actions taken by the city administrator on the orders of the empire, although the incident could be hidden for a while, wouldn’t it be exposed sooner or later?
Wouldn’t it leave a hidden danger if the people of the ngal tribe, who are all over the empire, found out the truth?’ Roshan knew that His Majesty paid a lot of attention to such matters, so he was sure that no obvious loophole like what he had guessed would be left out. In that case, Roshan could only reach the conclusion: ’Selvan must have acted.’ He was very confident in his guess.
He finally stopped tapping his foot and leaned back in his chair as he decided to et soone to verify his conjecture.
Sardar Malik Khan, who had recovered from his bad mood, asked with a cheerful expression, "I forgot to ask, but Sir Roshan, where would you like to stay?"
Roshan replied with a smile, "We have nearly 420 people, so it would be best if it were a large residence that could accommodate this many people. It would also be preferable if it were not in a crowded area."
Malik Khan imdiately thought of various places that t the request and nodded his head in agreent once he found the ideal location.
"Driver, move towards the Tis Town."
P.S. Nt gonna Lie, I slept, so only 1
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