Frontier towns like Śaṅkhapattana, where the tribals have been integrated into the stronghold and are voluntarily living together, are very rare because the number of towns selected as footholds for immigration in the continent is more than 30 locations. Given that the island continent is nearly 10 million kilotres in size, with a population of barely a million, it's really not uncommon for there to be no humans for thousands of kilotres at a ti. So, apart from maybe four or five other places where the integration was going on, the rest of the places were without any natives.
Mid-May 1663
The immigration offices throughout the empire are filled with people. Chandrashekhar Gupta, a middle-aged lean man, stood in the long queue of the integration office with so expectation on his face.
He had heard a lot of good things about living in the frontier from his neighbour, who had immigrated with his family to Timor-Leste. A few weeks ago, his neighbour had co to the town, and at that ti, he had visited him. His neighbour, who used to be not as well off as him, suddenly beca extrely wealthy—wealthy enough to buy a carriage of their own and export it to the frontier.
When his neighbour was talking to him, he couldn't take his eyes off the carriage. He did not look at the neighbour, but he could feel the smug glances.
Looking at the carriage that was ant to be shipped, made him very uncomfortable. It was as if the person who was previously your best friend, both on the sa last bench, suddenly beca a topper in the university.
Chandrashekhar asked around and inquired how his neighbour made so much money, and to his surprise, the frontier lacked a lot of things. For the first immigrants, there was a very big opportunity to occupy various service-related industries in the frontier, like hotels, general stores, supermarkets, small-scale companies focused on cent production, iron slting, woodworking shops, etc., because all these businesses were currently absent in the frontier. The first immigrants could open these facilities with little to no risk of loss.
But he was not fooled because he imdiately realized that, as ti went by, even though the shops and industries that are opened very early by immigrants will have no competition, they will face challenges and competition with the rise of population and developnt. However, with a little thought, he realized it was still not a loss since the first wave had already brought the shop owners a lot of profits, and even if the competition is fierce in the future, the advantage of already established businesses is not small. It only takes a little common sense and a little business smarts to survive.
Chandrashekhar is not an ambitious man, or else he wouldn't have exchanged the plot of land for a one-ti paynt of money instead of a certain stake in the agricultural company. But seeing his neighbour, whom he always talked down to, suddenly beco so successful and rich, the jealousy made him unable to live with the truth.
After talking with his wife, he imdiately ca to the immigration offices set up throughout the empire in order to see if he could immigrate to the frontier.
The wait was very long. It took him half a day to even get into the immigration office. Fortunately, it was a cloudy day, so the weather was not too harsh.
Suddenly, an emotionless monotone voice was heard from the side.
"Please look at the map to your right. These are all the frontiers available for immigration."
It was from an old civil servant who was slumped in the chair without much emotion on his face. It could be seen that the man had already said the sentence too many tis today—so much so that he could care less if the people actually heard his words or not. Fortunately, Chandra Shekhar was standing right next to the old man, so he turned his head and lazily stared at the map. It was nothing he had not seen before because, even though he was immigrating due to envy of his neighbour, he was not a reckless man. He had already asked around and gotten to know about all the frontiers.
But to his surprise, towards the extre right of the map, at a corner, a huge landmass was marked. This land was massive—it completely dwarfed all the frontiers in Southeast Asia combined. What was more surprising was that while there were only two or three strongholds, at most five or six, in various Southeast Asian frontiers, this massive island actually had more than 30 strongholds.
His eyes widened. He looked around to see if there was anyone he could ask about the island, but unfortunately, the queue moved forward, and he was now in front of the front desk. He regretted not reading the newspaper, but now that he was here, he couldn't really go back—that would an the half a day he spent waiting in the queue would be wasted. He looked at the kind-looking civil servant in front of him and smiled. He hesitantly pointed at the map and asked, "Um kind miss, That large island—what is it?"
The civil servant at the desk did not look surprised. The news written in the newspaper had not spread widely. More importantly, the people coming to the immigration office had been standing in line since the morning—where was the ti to read the newspaper? So, a lot of people had already asked this question. She was hoping that from tomorrow, she wouldn't have to explain.
"It's a new island continent that has been discovered. It is mostly uninhabited, but it has very good conditions, so the island has been divided into six frontiers, and emigration for the island was opened a few days ago."
Chandrashekhar's eyes imdiately lit up. Then, didn't this an that he would have the chance to pioneer sothing in these places?
"What are the benefits of immigrating to this new frontier?"
The civil servant Lady tapped the desk a few tis and answered , "There aren't many, but depending on the stronghold you choose to immigrate to, a plot of fertile land can be granted from 200 acres to over 1,000 acres. If you want to start a business, taxes could be exempted for one year, five years, or even up to ten years."
"Why is there such a big difference?" he asked in surprise.
"Well, it's because of the developnt in these strongholds. So strongholds develop quicker due to the integration of the natives, while others develop slower due to their absence. The natives are responsible for constructing the basic infrastructure, thereby making the strongholds develop faster. Not to ntion, with natives around, the strongholds are safer, as they regularly ward off wild animals, thereby attracting more developnt."
"As for the other strongholds, they are not exactly dangerous per se, but due to the limited resources allocated by the Bharatiya Empire, the size of these strongholds is very small in order to maintain the security periter. Without the natives helping out, everything has to be done by our people alone, and as you know, only so many people can be sent at a ti. We cannot emigrate thousands of workers in one vessel, not to ntion the amount of resources that would require, so developnt in these strongholds without natives is very slow." "But if you are willing to face the drawbacks, you can claim up to 1,000 acres of farmland with a tax exemption of over 10 years."
Chandrashekhar imdiately understood what was going on. "Miss, I would like to emigrate to this frontier. Which stronghold do you suggest?"
The civil servant lady's eyes lit up because a lot of people had asked about the island, but only a few agreed to immigrate there.
"I suggest you emigrate to the frontier town of Śaṅkhapattana, located in the western part of Suvarnadvīpa, sir. It has the largest population of natives integrated within the system, and it is said that business is already flourishing in this stronghold. What's more, this town is founded by three different towns."
" With the full support of the Bharatiya Empire, it shouldn't take long for it to beco a small city "
Thinking about the news that the immigration departnt, a new departnt within the governnt, had received from that specific town, the civil servant lady inford in a low voice, "We received information yesterday saying that two of the native towns used to be rivals, so in order to outdo each other, they seem to be competing over who can earn more money from us. In their competition, the developnt of the frontier town in Suvarnadvīpa is unprecedented."
Chandrashekhar understood a place like this was perfect for him, This was what he was looking for a region where he could make a new beginning. "All right, miss, I will listen to your suggestion. Book a slot."
"Sure, sir, I'll enter everything down."
He quickly handed over his Aadhar card and voter ID.
"I'm almost done, sir. Immigrating to Suvarnadvīpa—what work are you looking to do?"
"Is it farming or sothing else?"
"This is an optional question. You could ignore it if you don't know what you're going to do."
Chandrashekhar thought about it and decided to tell the truth. "I'm going to start a business—an equipnt rental business, more specifically—so it would be great if you could arrange for the equipnt that I have bought to be transported with and my family."
"Oh!" The woman was surprised and looked at the man in front of her with a new expression. *This guy is very brave and resourceful. Also, the idea is very interesting—why didn't I think of that?* She cursed at herself.
In fact, it was not only her—even the people waiting in the queue behind Chandrashekhar fell into deep thought. So even left the queue in order to consider it more.
"Miss!" Not receiving a reply for a long ti, Chandra Shekhar called out.
"Ah!" The lady imdiately ca back to her senses and replied, "Congratulations, sir. According to the policy of the Governor-General of Suvarnadvīpa, people who want to integrate into his town and start a business could get 200 acres of extra land while not having to pay business tax for an extra five years."
"aning you'll be receiving 400 acres of land and a total of six years of tax exemption."
Chandra Shekhar's eyes widened. It was foreseeable that the frontier town in Suvarnadvīpa was going to get populated very soon. In that case, would he make a huge profit even if he only held on to the 400 acres for a few years?
The civil servant lady continued, "As for transporting your equipnt, I'm extrely sorry, sir. The governnt does not offer these services. In fact, you will actually be traveling on a private shipping vessel owned by a shipping company that the governnt has contracted, so what you can bring will be limited to your belongings."
"However, don't worry, sir. For people like you who want to transport a lot of equipnt to the frontiers, there are many options. For example, please look at this."
She imdiately put forward over a dozen cards.
"These are all the logistics companies that are willing to transport your equipnt. The agents from these companies are all present in this building. You just need to go to the first floor and negotiate the prices with them."
"Oh, and sir, if you hand it over, they will give a slight discount on my recomndation," 'And I will get a hefty commission as well ' she added in her heart.
Chandra Shekhar understood. He quickly picked up the cards and went to the first floor.
People like Chandra Shekhar are rare but not unusual when you consider that the population of the empire is over 190,000,000 people, and the immigration offices are located in every state, in every first, second, and third-tier city, and even in so large towns.
With the push for immigration being so intense, there are always people who are willing to emigrate—either for a better future, for greed over the large tracts of land being granted, or for developnt prospects.
In the year 1662, only a few million people emigrated to the frontiers, but starting from 1663, the number kept increasing wildly. A lot of people from the aspirational class began to emigrate on a large scale. In the last five months alone, over four million people had immigrated out of the empire, increasing the developnt speed of the frontiers by a lot.
And the newly discovered Golden Island only further increased the excitent.
This drastic drop in population should have produced an adverse reaction in the empire, but it was totally the opposite. With the automation of agriculture and large-scale farming on the rise, the need for people in farming was becoming less and less. No matter how many jobs the governnt was producing with infrastructure projects, they fell short of the population. But now, with millions of people emigrating out of the country, the burden on the empire was also reducing.
The current Bharatiya Empire could actually run very efficiently without any hitches with only a population of 90 to 100 million, even with the need for cheap labour in mind.
What's more, resources could be extracted overseas and sent to the Bharatiya Empire, thereby increasing the developnt speed of the empire.
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