Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Arnav's mansion was a showcase of his own wealth. It was one of a kind, made in a large area. It sprawled wide and the surrounding areas were devoid of homes or other buildings. It was a large, lush field and forest.

The mansion was almost like a palace, tall and wide with a few dozen workers and maids to tend to every need of Arnav's family. This was the result of his own hard work.

His story was similar to Mithun's, but unlike Mithun, he didn't have any entity like Harsha backing him. He built his empire from the ground up. Arnav was naturally gifted in business. His prowess let him control one of the biggest merchant guilds in the Empire.

The recent deal with the Empire proved to be a good bargain for Arnav; the guild tax cut would ensure that he would be the leader for the next term as well. He got the leverage of speaking directly to the emperor. This meant that he was a more valuable asset for the guild than before.

Arnav funded the bonds almost within a week of the deal signing. The faster, the better, and Arnav knew how to keep his customers happy. There was no reason to cause a delay and it allowed him to show the Emperor that he was a good merchant and its valuable to deal with his guild in the future as well.

The bonds were initially taken from his own wealth. The guild later reimbursed a huge percent of this amount as Arnav broke the news. He ensured that the merchants that were funding would be the ones receiving the benefits. This made every merchant invest their wealth and Arnav got reimbursed a huge chunk of his wealth back almost instantly.

As the merchants guild was growing, so was the influence of Arnav. He felt that too much aggressive growth would cut his growth. The Empire would suppress him. So it was a natural thing to have close ties with the Empire's council rather than overconfidently flaunting his influence.

Arnav was in his study with his assistant discussing the deals and agreements of the merchant guild and their plans for expansion into different kingdoms in the coming years.

"What happened to the move in the Ayutthaya Kingdom?" Arnav asked his assistant.

The guild was trying to enter the inner workings of the Ayutthaya Kingdom and establish their influence as a long-standing partner. So far it had been a failed attempt.

"No results; it's like we are throwing the gold in an unending well." His assistant replied.

"Tch," Arnav clicked his tongue audibly. "Lower the funds to that side and focus more on the Majapahit."

The Majapahit that controlled part of Java and Bali lost Sumatra long ago and were a struggling, declining kingdom. Despite the decline, wealth was there. Arnav felt it was a lucrative destination to invest in while everyone was pulling out. His instincts were telling him that in the coming years.

The returns in that region would yield his investment by several hundred times.

The guild already warned him of not investing in the Majapahit kingdom. He stopped using the guild funds and began to bet his own wealth on the Majapahits.

"Ok, my lord." He replied and noted down the message. The merchant guild had established several influence positions in the Southeast Asian kingdoms.

"Also, about champa, Are we done with it?"

Champā was a Hindu kingdom in present-day Vietnam. It wasn't in decline but suffered from constant conflicts with Dai Viet. Arnav saw the opportunity and invested in their kingdom and the returns were quite lucrative due to the high-risk endeavor.

The guild managed to capture many of the influential nobles and positions in the Kingdom.

"That's already over; we have managed to sway a total of 5 nobles and control a pretty neat share of the market." He said. "With this, we don't have to worry much unless they lose against Dai Viet."

Arnav's claws were slowly spreading to the other places like Burma and Malay, although his bases were not as big as the other kingdoms there. He planned to establish a main base in both Burma and Malay. Discover hidden content at empire

Arnav smiled. "Invest more into Champa. This return has been a lot." He instructed.

"Send some more merchants to set up shop and try to drive away any European merchants trying to interfere."

"Europeans, eh?" The assistant looked at his papers. "There are only a couple dozen that actively try to trade."

"Hmm... What about the Arabs?"

"A few here and there. Our merchants trade with them the most and the Chinese ones."

"Drive the Europeans and Arabs out." Arnav instructed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Alright."

Arnav also started the production of soap in their controlled workshops. He already released a few into the market to test the waters. He wanted to know the result of the product. Although he knew that the Emperor was an exceptional person. He was one not to take any risks in the business.

He didn't start mass production till the test results came out. He distributed them in many cities across their area of influence.

Arnav turned to his assistant and asked.

"What happened to the product we sent to sell a few days ago? The soap or something."

"That…." His assistant flipped through his notes with a serious expression and sighed. "We have not yet received any information on that."

"I see."

A man knocked on the door and said urgently,. "My Lord, we have some urgent news."

"Come in," Arnav turned serious. "What happened?"

The man came in, huffing heavily, and said between breaths,. "The product we sent for testing."

"That…"

"What happened to it?" Arnav raised his brow.

The man took a deep breath.

"It sold out almost immediately. There is a large demand for it." He said. "The merchants are demanding more of the product to sell."

"Do we ramp up production right now?" He asked.

Arnav's eyes widened and a sinister smirk formed on his face. "Excellent, ramp up the production and inform the guild to set up the distribution to all major cities within the next month."

"Yes, my lord." The man rushed out.

Arnav looked satisfied, although he lost a year's worth of tax cut for this recipe and product. If it was a huge success, it could recoup more wealth than with the tax cut.

"Ah….It's going to be a long month."