Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

152  Food Wars

The construction projects in the new territories of Maharashtra, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh are now 70% completed. The speed of road construction, assisted by three million people, has been remarkable. The use of labour in exchange for cattle and grain, without significant financial expenditure from Vijay, has been a significant factor in the project's progress. While the grain imported from Portugal is nearly depleted, the empire has managed to initiate large-scale planting due to tax cuts and other policy benefits.

Fortunately, By God's grace, there was an abundance of rainfall this year, So rice has been planted as the main crop, accompanied by fast-growing vegetables and fruits. The rice harvest is expected in a few weeks. After the harvest, the Vijayanagar Empire will come out of the red zone of food insufficiency. Thinking about the land distribution benefits he has to fulfil, he ordered the land audit bureau to measure the new territory for its farmlands and do the groundwork two months ahead of distribution, to avoid future disputes. The land audit bureau soon got to work, marking the land acres at a time by planting a foundation stone and painting numbers on it to identify the boundary of one plot of land from another.

Vijay also ordered the logistics department, which calculated the merit of each worker working on the road construction project and the newly initiated cultural revival project, to anticipate the merit points the workers could theoretically achieve considering their previous work ethic.

Vijay did this to ease the logistics pressure after the announcement that land would be distributed. A total of 3 million people participated in the road construction project, and the arable land to be distributed is at least 20 million acres, making it roughly 81,000 sq km. This number may look like a lot, but 81,000 square kilometres is only 42% of modern-day Karnataka, and roughly 60% of Karnataka's land is arable. So the land Vijay is planning to distribute is nothing in comparison to the vast fertile soils in Bharat.

As the road construction project, cultural revival project, and Bharti language project were going forward with excellent efficiency, Vijay found himself relatively free.

Taking this time, he spent these few days with his wife. However, there is a problem. No matter how many times Vijay and his wife exercised, there was no result in Kavya's belly. Noticing this, everyone around him got nervous, including his wife. She started to feel panicked and became more energetic than him while doing the deed. He was so tired last night that his hip stopped working as it got numb. But his wife did not leave him be, and the same thing happened this morning. So, he finally decided to confront his wife. When he put on a tough front, his wife started crying as she poured her heart out and hugged him, making his chest wet.

When Vijay inquired about her worries, he discovered that Kavya feared he might abandon her. Vijay, realizing the depth of her concerns, felt a sense of guilt. He assured her that the issue of infertility was due to his own condition and that it would be resolved within a year. Though initially skeptical, Kavya held onto this glimmer of hope, allowing a sense of reassurance to ease her concerns.

Vijay heaved a sigh of relief as he quickly escaped the palace. Also, the reason he came up with was not random at all; he genuinely felt he was the reason for their infertility. That was because he felt like his body was still undergoing some slight changes along with his brain, hence the problem of fertility. He could feel that his brain is nearing maturity in the biological sense, and he would be able to have a child after that. Now he is 24, and by 25, he should be fully matured, and there will be no more changes after that as the brain functions will stabilize. He does not know how he knows all these things, but he could intuitively tell that this will happen.

Vijay conducted an inspection of the royal capital, and as he surveyed the surroundings, he couldn't help but notice the significant changes that had taken place since his coronation. The streets were now meticulously paved with cement roads, and orderly drainage pipes adorned both sides. The roads were thoughtfully divided by barriers, with teak trees planted at a five-meter interval from each other. Each shop at the roadside was assigned the responsibility of caring for the single tree in front of their establishment, with the number of trees varying based on the size of the shop.

Shop owners bore the responsibility of watering, weeding, and maintaining the cleanliness of the trees and the pavement in front of the establishment. In the event of a tree's demise due to water shortage, the shop owner was held accountable and subjected to fines. The bill enforcing these regulations was directly passed, making it applicable to all major cities in the empire. However, only a handful of major cities met the criteria to adhere to these rules.

This system significantly improved the cleanliness of the capital. Each shop had a dedicated worker responsible for cleaning in front of the shop and taking care of the teak tree planted by the city administration. All the collected waste and dust were divided into wet and dry waste, which was stored in large containers placed at the end of the street. Each day, a dedicated cart would come and replace the containers with trash with empty containers.

This system worked well because all the shop fronts and properties beside the road were occupied, and they were held responsible. But in the case of other cities, this would not be possible, as a lot of property and assets beside the road could be empty or nonfunctional.

Soon, as he felt hungry, he went to the food street to have his lunch. The street is one of the famous streets in the capital known for its cuisine, where chefs from all over Bharat found their way here. You can find all 10 of the Indian cuisines here: North Indian Cuisine, South Indian Cuisine, East Indian Cuisine, West Indian Cuisine, Central Indian Cuisine, Northeast Indian Cuisine, Mughlai Cuisine, Rajasthani Cuisine, Gujarati Cuisine, and Kashmiri Cuisine.

There are a total of a hundred shops on this street, and 10 shops are reserved for each style of cuisine. There is a speciality of this street, as the shops here are actually free and subsidized by the government. It was actually Vijay's idea, inspired by an anime he watched in his college years called "Food Wars." He brought the system of "Food Wars" into the streets of Vijayanagara.

The system operates as follows: any Indian skilled in a particular cuisine can come and challenge the MasterChef who already owns the shops on the food street. However, there is a catch – to prevent mediocrity, challengers need to pass through the temple head chef. They are required to assist in the temple kitchen for free, cooking for a crowd of thousands of people. Once the temple chef gives the green light, it is determined that the challenger has sufficient skill to compete. Despite sounding easy, this is a challenging task as cooking on such a large scale demands a deep understanding of ingredients and considerable effort due to the quantity needed.

At this stage, Ninety per cent of challengers drop out, leaving the remaining contenders to compete with the shop owners for their spots. If a challenger successfully defeats a shop owner, they gain control of the shop the following day. For the shop owner who loses, there is still hope. They have two opportunities to challenge and regain their shop without going through the temple trial. However, if they are defeated both times, they are barred from competing for a year.

If the shop owner successfully defends their title against the challenger, they gain immunity against challengers for a whole week.

The judging system relies on a voting system. Twelve random people of different age groups, making up 60% of the votes with 12 votes, are selected from the crowd. The remaining eight spots are given to successfully defending shop owners from different cuisines. This ensures a fair judgment, considering the diverse tastes of both regular people and gourmet lovers.

After the implementation of these rules, the entire street transformed into a carnival atmosphere. Challenges occurred every day, with different shops participating throughout the week. People crowded around specific shops to watch the challenges unfold. With the increase in challenges and competition, the street quickly became one of the most visited places in the royal capital. In an era lacking in entertainment options, this street achieved tremendous success by combining excitement with the allure of the most delicious food in the world.

As the news of the food street continued to spread, it garnered attention not only throughout the empire but also across the subcontinent. Despite the Mughals' attempts to suppress the news, it reached the ears of numerous skilled chefs through word of mouth. With an influx of talented chefs, the overall food quality in the capital rose significantly. The regular food in Hampi became so exceptional that it could be compared to gourmet dishes found outside the capital, leading to an expanded food palette for ordinary citizens.

As the street became increasingly challenging to manage, Vijay directed the city administration to create a dedicated administrative division exclusively for the street. This street was given the distinct name "Bhuka Yoddha Street" (Hungry Warrior Street), and a specialized administrative unit was established. The street was designated as a special economic zone within the royal capital. Due to the growing chaos caused by the influx of people, the Bhuka Yoddha Street administration took measures to restrict entry for outsiders. An entry fee was introduced, although it was nominal. This strategy dissuaded individuals who were not genuinely interested in purchasing expensive food from the establishments.

Although the inflow of people reduced drastically, the quality of the people entering became high. The street administration also started issuing different tiers of entry passes, which differentiated how long the pass holder could spend their time in the street. The normal daily pass was only permitted to spend 5 hours in the street. The tiers ranged from common, iron, copper, steel, bronze, silver, gold, diamond, emperor.

Each tier of entry passes granted a duration that was double that of the preceding tier. These passes were available for purchase at the street administration unit. Initially, there were concerns from the city administration about the potential financial loss, as the shops were granted for free, when the cost of shops in the royal capital was so high. However, the decision was still implemented as it was a direct order from His Highness, the emperor.

But after all the systems his Majesty ordered were implemented, the city administration personnel couldn't stop themselves from laughing. Although the shops were given free at cost, the consumption of the street increased hundreds of times, which drove the consumption of the people, which also inadvertently increased the tax revenue. Moreover, when the tier system was implemented, the passes produced more money than what the shops would be paying if they were rented altogether. As Bhuka Yoddha Street became more and more famous, it even contributed 20% of the capital's local finances.

Vijay, holding the one and only emperor pass, which had no time limit and would evacuate the whole street after using the pass, decided to use it. The entire street was evacuated. Vijay did not want to cause such a commotion, but it had barely been 4 months since the war had been completed, so he had to be careful. Walking in the now empty street, which was previously busy all the time, he noticed a new shop and decided to try the Kashmiri cuisine that he had never experienced before.

Taking a seat, he ordered a Kashmiri Baingan. The chef was overjoyed as Vijay chose his shop and quickly served the Emperor, his best Kashmiri Baingan. Vijay was very satisfied with the food and left in satisfaction.

The chef who served the food was very excited, thinking that his shop could become more famous since His Majesty ate from it. However, he became puzzled by the look of pity his colleagues showed him. Doubtfully, he wondered if it wasn't a good thing. Soon, he got to know the reality. When the news of His Highness's visit to the Kashmiri shop spread, all the firepower of the new Kashmiri chefs was directed at him, as he became the primary target. Within a week, he lost the right to run the shop.

Now he finally understood; the emperor visiting the street was actually not a good thing. It is actually a curse, and all the chefs actually heaved a sigh of relief as soon as His Majesty did not choose their shop.

Even though they are excellent cooks and they love to compete, they cannot hold on to the firepower of so many challengers solely focused on them. The chef who lost the shop felt like he had been enlightened. He waited for a few weeks and challenged the same shop again, and fortunately, he won. The first thing he did after taking back his shop was remove the board where it said 'The Emperor dined here.' Removing the plaque, he heaved a sigh of relief as he got back to his work.

P.S. Please let me know if this sort of chapter on slice of Life esk theme is good. Thanks.

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Mithun_ReddyGaru

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