Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

A carriage trodded its way through the main road to the port city of Visakhapatnam. The roads were being maintained thoroughly, and the network was expanding rapidly as Harsha began extensively funding its development once he took reign.

Roads were a necessity for quick military movements and transport of goods. So he did focus on it a lot more than other sectors.

He was now on the way to the Port of Visakhapatnam because he wanted to check the progress of reverse engineering of the third-rate ships bought from the Dutch a long time ago.

Harsha wanted to check the port city, as he was dressed pretty covertly as well. He didn't have many guards since bases were established in all cities; he didn't have to worry about his protection in cities.

Viswa was dressed in servant attire and wore a hood on his head. He carried a sword as usual.

"Your Majesty.. You might want to take a look at this report."

He hands over a report to Harsha.

Harsha reads the report with a nonchalant expression. He threw the report back to Viswa.

"Tch!! Roaches. I will take care of this." He muttered.

"Understood. We have informed the base to ensure security for our visit."

Harsha got out of the carriage to feel the salty breeze of the sea. He could hear the faint splashes of water against the port docks in the distance. The city was bustling with activity as the merchants were buying and selling goods.

He could see the merchants negotiating prices for goods as he toured the city. The goods were being unloaded from the ship by a line of laborers. Wealthy European merchants seemed to be walking around with their escorts through the city.

'This is quite nice,' he thought.

He could sense the guards assigned to him by the base. They blended into the surroundings and followed him around while scanning for dangers.

"Viswa. Where is the facility?" Harsha asked.

"It is on the other end of the city."

"Take me there. I want to check for myself."

Viswa walked ahead of Harsha as he guided him to the shipyard. It was quite a large facility for making ships made by the former Emperor. Although he didn't invest too much in the navy. He did make some ships for coastal patrolling and cargo shipment.

He could see the shipyard in the distance. A shed structure close to a natural harbor to launch the ship after construction. It had sheds for the carpenters and blacksmiths, and timber worker sheds for making the ships.

The timber could be sourced from the nearby forest, as the shipyard was made at the edge of the city to get easy, unrestricted access.

The shipyard had weed growing close to its walls, and he noticed no workers nearby carrying materials. It did look like it was unmaintained for a while.

But he could hear some noises coming from inside the shed, so he decided to check the shipyard.

"What the hell is this?" He mumbled.

Viswa looked a bit disappointed and mumbled back. "We just got that information about the state of this place from the base."

The shipyard was desolate, and there were only a couple of workers working on a half-disassembled ship. It didn't seem like half the work was even done properly.

"What about the other shipyards? Same condition?" Harsha asked in a low voice.

"Unfortunately, Yes."

"Damn—"

"Hey, who are you guys??" A young man noticed them peeking into the shipyard.

They turned to him.

"Ohh!! We are new to this city and were exploring this place. We stumbled across this shipyard." Harsha said.

"Oh… You want to look inside??" The young man said it in a bright voice. "Are you curious?"

Harsha, taken aback by the enthusiastic response of the young man, exchanged glances with Viswa.

"Sure…"

The young man began to show him around the shipyard, explaining everything he knew about the ship. He was enthusiastic about the craft and determined to complete the task.

"What is your name?" Harsha asked with a smirk.

"Ashwin, I work here with my father."

"Your Father??"

Ashwin pointed to a man working on the woodwork of the ship seriously.

"That's my father, Shankar."

Shankar looked like a man in his fifties with a rugged body.

"Father." He waved at Shankar.

Turning to Ashwin, Shankar saw them.

"Who are these people?" He spoke in a deep voice, wiping his sweat with a cloth.

Ashwin explained the situation.

"Oh.. You are curious about the ship. We were tasked with recreating this ship. This is a good ship and made very well despite having some damages initially in its hull. We fixed them."

"Oh.. Nice Why are there so few men working here?" asked Harsha

Shankar sighed deeply.

"What to say? It's our bad luck. The Emperor seemed to stop funding this project, so the noble supervisor cut down the labor and told us to make some changes and report it to him."

"Hooo… Is that so? Where is this supervisor of yours?" Harsha asked with a smirk.

"He comes by today for the report, or else he stays at home."

"So who is responsible for the staff?"

"It's me, and my son sometimes helps me out with work."

Harsha rubbed his chin. This was a huge corruption case. Not only was the ship not recreated, they were understaffed and were doing barely anything due to a lack of funds."

"How much time would it take to recreate this if you had the funds?"

Ashwin enthusiastically interrupted Harsha with a bright smile as he began showing him the designs he had created after observing the ship for a long time.

"This design I made myself after helping my father. This one is the improvement for this ship; I can't test it though." Ashwin was explaining, pointing at the designs.

It was clear he was passionate about the craft of shipbuilding and wanted to learn more.

A potbellied man dressed luxuriously suddenly emerged in the shipyard with some soldiers. His outfits were filled with expensive items, such as jewelry.

"Hey you bastards!! Have you finished the reports?" He yelled.

Shankar quickly grabbed something and ran to the man.

"You call this a report!" He threw the report at Shankar's face. "I am paying you out of my own pocket! Get that?"

"I am docking all your pay for this month." He screamed at Shankar and slapped him.

Harsha glanced at Ashwin, who was clenching his fist in anger but didn't say anything as if this was a daily ordeal for him.

"Viswa, cut that man's arm off." Harsha ordered.

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Without hesitation, Viswa charged at the potbellied man.

"Who are yo–"

"ARGHHH!!." A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the shipyard.

Viswa severed the arm of the man in a single precise swing at his joint, splattering blood all over the floor.

The man fell in excruciating pain, squirming like a worm. Viswa stomped his foot on his face, holding him in place.

The soldiers that came along were frozen in place.

"Help.." The man croaked beneath Viswa's foot.

The soldiers composed themselves and brandished their weapons to strike Viswa down.

"Stand down if you don't want to die." A voice cut through the chaos.

"This is an order from the Emperor." Harsha said as he took his hood off.

"Guards! Arrest those soldiers."

Countless people dressed in black emerged as the workers stood there in awe, arresting the soldiers that came with the noble.

Harsha walked up to the bleeding noble and hit him in the gut multiple times.

"You weasel! When did I stop funding this?"

Harsha sighed deeply.

"Find his house and seize all his property to recuperate the funds. Throw that scum in the jail after publicly whipping him." He ordered the guards.

He finally turned to Shankar, who stood there frozen.

"We will get this situation sorted quickly. You will be leading the shipyard till further notice. This is a direct order from me, The Emperor."

Harsha turned to leave and added, "Ashwin's designs seem promising. You have my permission to research and test them out."

He had come in silently and left like a storm.