IV - Strengthening an Empire
The weeks following the Imperial restauration were marked by the transfer of the capital of Mughalistan from Delhi to Agra. Wanting to make clear that a new era was begining in India, emperor Bahandur II Shah decided to create a new capital near the old city of Agra and the magnificient Taj Mahal, legacy of the great Shah Jahan. The new capital would be located on the site of the short-lived capital city of Fatehpur-Sikrî, and would only include a medium-sized palace and a quite modest mosque, as the government was short on money. The time was not right to spend fantastic sums of money over gigantic projects, but alot of room was reserved in Fatehpur for further projects wich included vast gardens and an huge expension to the palace.
On the exterior front, Bahandur Shah ordered the envoy of a large expedition of diplomats, scholars and selected members of the aristocracy. Travelling from the rowing port city of Karashi to the pirate-infested Red Sea, they would travel by land trough Egypt where they would sail from Alexandria to the lands of Europe. Diplomatic relations were being forged with the leaders of Egypt, wich allowed the use of some of their ships during the travel. Upon their arrival in France and Prussia, wich were the two main destinations of the Mughal expedition, they would learn about the Europeans and their ways of proceeding and would come back to India with vital informations later on.
But the Shah already knew parts of what would be included in their reports: the Europeans were technologically and economically superiors to India because of the 'industrial revolution' that was drastically changing the continent. Bahandur would not wait the return of the expedition before starting reforms: inspirated by the Europeans, and yet adabtated to Indian realities, he made plans for the establishment of several 'Imperial manufactories' everywhere trough the Empire. This system would benefit to everyone:
The state would build factories in the most populated cities, where alot of peoples are already without occupation, poor and unproductive. It would also purchase the cotton that was produced in too big quantities in some locations and would had otherwise been wasted. In the manufactories, the workers would turn the textile fibers into fabric, wich would be sold on the foreign market.
The
peasents benefit from having their cotton purchased by the state;
The unemployed
city inhabitants would benefit from having something constructive to do and from being paid for it;
The
state would benefit from profit made from selling the fabric.
Special measures would be took so that fabric produced in the Imperial manufactories would not be sold in the Mughal Empire proper but on the foreign markets only, so local economy doesn't suffer from competition. On a similar basis, lumber mills would be build to turn the raw wood into valuable lumber that could be used in construction projects.
Localisation of the 'Imperial manufactories', property of the Emperor and of the state.
Military expension was not to be left unconsiderated- using the Afghan claim on the city of Peshawar and the uninterrupted Afghan raids on the Panjabi borders, the Imperial army would be sended in the mountains of Afghanistan. Dost Mohammad, the leader of the country, was not in an position to oppose the Mughal takeover and finally recognised Bahandur Shah as his emperor after the fall of the city of Herat, making the Mughal monarch the undisputed leader of the whole country. The conquest of Afghanistan was important in the restauration of the Empire was Bâbur, the first Mughal, launched his conquest of Delhi from the city of Kabul. Afghanistan was a bit the place were it all started, and its conquest made Bahandur Shah even more legitimate in the eyes of his court.
Things were overall going fine for the Second Empire, as it was now sometime called. Money was entering into the coffers of the country at an interesting speed, thanks to an administration that was increasing in efficienty and to trade with Persia, the Arabian countries an even Russia. A balanced budget would allow new infrastructure projects and would allow the Empire to support an even larger army, to defend against Britain.