Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

In the heart of the city of Thanjavur, there was a huge gathering of young able-bodied men waiting patiently in a line. There were several parallel lines and it was being kept in check by the garrison soldiers stationed in the city.

Under the strict supervision of the Nayakas, there was a rather big recruitment happening. They were recruiting people for the police forces that would be merging with the garrison troops to create a task force to prevent and combat criminal activities in the city and all the neighboring regions.

The edict was passed a month ago and the preparations were in full swing. Everything was going on in parallel: constructions of courts, police stations, arbitration courts, and jails.

Recruitment of lawyers, judges, auditors, police, and secret police.

All these must be done simultaneously and to open the judicial system soon, the problems with the local nobles were yet to start since they moved too quickly; the nobles were yet to move in response to this.

Why didn't the nobles move in response? One, they were reluctant to oppose the Emperor without active support from the other big nobles in the region. They were all fence-sitters waiting for one man to rally support for their cause. The ones that went to the royal palace were only a vocal minority that was shunned quickly.

This led to the waning of the support to oppose this edict. Although these people would be the same that would join the cause once considerable support has been gathered.

Cowards, they were cowards.

Right now, in Thanjuvar. It was the recruitment drive for the police officers. Although on paper it was for the regular task force, some of them would be sent to the secret police after screening. Only the cream of the crop would be able to make it to the secret police.

Bhima Nayaka was in charge of the recruitment drive. He was given the criteria to fulfill from Viswa to hire the candidate and one of the secret force leaders was also present due to the directive from Viswa to ensure fair recruitment without any bias.

This was also a position open to all castes. The change was happening slowly as the lower castes were given opportunities to rise up in the social hierarchy. The self-obsessed upper castes were yet to catch a sniff of the subtle changes.

Since there were no caste requirements and the supervisors in charge were strictly forbidden from asking any questions about castes, it was nearly impossible for others to know about the castes of the other candidates.

This put a stranglehold on leaks of information. Most upper-caste hated the lower-caste and didn't want anything to do with them. This made them a lot more disinterested in the matters pertaining to their jobs, etc. Your journey continues with empire

This made it easier to implement discrete policies and not have people outraged or rebel against it. Although once the change in the constitution and the judicial revolution takes place. There would be backlash after knowing that the lower castes also had the same rights as the upper caste pertaining to all legal issues.

The Empire already had plans to face the backlash, most of which would come from the nobility and the Brahmin community that were the root cause of this.

Bhima and his father, Rudra Simha Nayaka, were present to overlook the recruitment process.

They sat in a small enclosure.

"Father, what do you think?" Bhima asked.

"I think it's for the best." He replied, straightening his back.

"Why is that? The Emperor has centralized the power structure." Bhima said. "It's a direct attack on the nobles authority."

"Noble's authority, eh?" Rudra sighed and watched the recruitment go on. "I personally think this will bring more justice to the common folk."

"Regardless, we would be reduced to nobles without any power."

"Then why didn't you oppose this in the Council?" He asked. "Were you scared of the Emperor?"

"Umm…" Bhima fell silent. He was certainly scared of the Emperor due to "that" incident where he was beaten black and blue.

Rudra Simha laughed and patted his son's shoulder. "I don't blame you but I think a good legal system is necessary for the Empire."

"A noble can't handle legal cases or have multiple representatives to manage them." He explained. "They would be bribed in some way or the other in the end."

"Then what is the use of nobles?" Bhima asked.

"We still have influence, Bhima. There must be some provision for long-standing noble families. There are many vacant positions in the annexed land."

"That's what I don't understand, father." He said. "They said they would lease the land to us and all land is owned by the Empire."

"Hmm." Rudra scratched his chin. "Leases for 99 years."

"That's a new thing. I get the idea of the Emperor by the provision." Rudra said. "Well, I will have to talk with the Emperor first."

"That said, overall the legal system is excellent in my view." He declared.

"That's true; it's very well thought out." Bhima said. "That new woman—Asokan brought works very efficiently."

His father chuckled.

Bhima tilted his head in confusion.

"I just remembered the past."

"What about it?"

"A woman in the Council would have been unheard of in the past."

"Hmm..." Bhima grunted. "I don't mind unless they are doing the work."

"I guess you have been influenced a lot by the Emperor." Rudra chuckled. "The Emperor believes in a meritocratic society."

"Is that wrong?" Bhima asked.

"It isn't," he replied. "He thinks of himself as the top of the ladder."

"And he is not wrong; there will be no one that would be matching his capabilities even with the same resources."

"Then what's the problem?"

"His heirs!"

"It would be worse than the former emperor. If he has multiple wives. We would have to witness a bloodbath far greater than the previous civil war."

"It would have the potential to crack the Empire into pieces."

Bhima sighed. "I don't think we need to worry much about it."

"The emperor seems very uninterested in marriages and love." He said. "I have rarely seen him with a lady, even after receiving multiple proposals from the nobles."

"I heard that the butler is instructed to burn all the proposals."

"He will come by in time." Rudra smiled and watched the young men huddle into a group.

They were getting ready for the police recruitment test. Multiple candidates were already shortlisted after the physical. Although not as harsh as the military test. They were screening out a lot of people. The second round was an intellectual test, taking into consideration that many of them didn't know how to write or read.

The test was verbal, with multiple instructors doing one-on-one sessions with candidates at the same time. Each candidate was given 10 minutes. The remaining candidates at the end of the day shall be noted down by their name and number to take the test for the next day.

"Isn't the number a bit too much? Considering they are also hiring the retired military officers." Rudra asked his son.

"No! I heard the military officers will be hired for positions like lawyers, arbitrators, judges, and auditors as well. "Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"So, the task force of the regular and secret police would need manpower."

"I see. Is that lady in charge of the recruitment of the lawyers and judges?"

"Yes, they are recruiting learned individuals." Bhima scratched his head. "Wouldn't that exclude a lot of lower castes due to their lack of reading and writing skills?"

"I also did think the same, apparently. There are many lower castes that know how to read and write."

Rudra smiled. "I think the Emperor pulled some strings."

"He sowed some seeds earlier on, and now it's giving him the fruits."

"You mean his own force?" Bhima asked.

His father nodded at his question.

"Yeah, now that I think of it. It was almost all lower-caste people."

The recruitment drive was concluding; there were a fair share of candidates that were selected from all castes.

They both just came to oversee the drive, as they were prohibited from interfering with the process based on strict criteria. They had no authority for the recruitment. Everything fell under the jurisdiction of Asokan Nair and Aradhana. Their subordinates were responsible for all the recruitments.

Nayakas were merely there to ensure there was no blatant corruption going on in the process.

Since they were overseeing most of the recruiters, they were quite scared. They did every process according to the plan.

Evening was right around the corner and the diyas in the temple were being lit in the distance and the sun painted an orange hue on the city.

The failed candidates already left and the candidates that were left for the verbal left, their tests were postponed to the next day.

They were given a new location and instructions to follow during the second test. There were many leftover candidates, as there were numerous candidates and limited recruiters.

It was a fruitful day for the recruiters as they found quite a lot of talent for the police task force. The training of each passing candidate began as soon as everyone's verbal test would be finished.