Aariv was busy with planning his war with the, he had decided to introduce trebuchet, a type of catapult and longbows. There were a lot of war elephants in the Mauryan army so it was not a problem to pull big catapults, they also had an effective range of 500 meters.
[Catapult and longbow picture in discord]
Longbows were also a very good weapon for killing from a distance. Compared to normal bows that had an effective range of 55 meters, Longbows had an effective range of 180 meters.
He decided to not make crossbows as they were not good for long-distance shots and they also jammed in rain. According to the history in the 14th century, English also replaced their crossbows with longbows and that gave them a very big advantage in wars.
He could have easily introduced hot weapons such as cannons and guns but he stopped himself. He felt that people weren't ready for those things yet. He needed to solve the social problems first. For that he was going to write a constitution and enforce it, it will clearly state that every human is equal and discrimination on the basis of religion, sex, race, caste, nationality or color are punishable by law. The constitution will lay the foundation of the world federation.
He stopped resting and worked 24 hours a day, every day. He was enjoying being busy. He had made a trip and collected all the raw materials that he would need to make satellites and other technological things.
He was just going to make the first catapult and longbow, after that he would hand the design to Kautilya. The permanent craftsmen working for the royal family and the army would make the rest of them. He wanted at least 50 catapults and 20,000 longbows built before he marched towards Kalinga. Kalinga had a huge standing army and well-trained men, to make them surrender Aariv needed to overwhelm them with strength.
He had finished making the satellites and now it was time to launch them. Managing a GPS connection was not possible without a computer so he had to make a workstation too. Juno was constantly complaining because of the workload.
He was now going to make communication devices. He was going to make 2 types of communication devices. One was reserved for usage by the intelligence agencies because it was small and unnoticeable. It would be implanted in the wrist of the user. It could be controlled with the help of a holographic display or gestures. it also came with a contact lens which had a screen inbuilt, which would help them see and send messages without moving. It still needed another small device to be injected into the spinal cord.
The other device was like a wrist band, it also had a holographic screen, it didn't come with contact lenses. It had entertainment features, such as recording and playback, and it could also be used for e-transactions. For privacy, the holographic screen could be projected on the user's palm or any other surface.
For now he was making it strictly for the usage of military. He named the device Holocom Mini X(the military version), The bigger Holocom was the one he had given for his parents, it was used for full-body holographic communication.
He completed 100 units and stopped. It was time to set things up. He needed to wait for night to throw his satellites into space.
"It was a nice, productive day," he said to himself.
"I did all the main work," Juno said, indirectly asking for praise.
"Yes yes Juno, if it wasn't for you then this would have taken a lot more time. Thank you," he said truthfully. Her matter manipulation was by far the most useful power.
"Alright, let's go to Baldy, I need to make the catapult and the bows," he said.
He picked up Aslan who was playing with a yarn ball and headed out.
...
In the Office. There were 2 more tables now. Kautilya had hired 2 more assistants because of the increase in workload.
He walked straight to Kautilya's room and closed the door. Kautilya was busy writing something on a piece of paper. He looked and remembered that he needed to make a printing press and paper factory. His paper factory would not just rely on trees but also agricultural residues – for example, sugar cane bagasse, husks and straw. fiber crops and wild plants – such as bamboo, kenaf, hemp, jute, and flax. This would decrease deforestation and he was going to make everything digital in the near future.
Kautilya looked at Aariv and asked, "What can I do for you Aariv?"
Aariv sat down on a chair near his table.
"I am going to build some new weapons, for that I need some carpenters." He said calmly.
Kautilya's interest was piqued, "What kind of weapons?"
Aariv noticed the excitement in Baldy's eyes.
"Nothing much: A weapon that could throw an 80-kilo burning rock 500 meters away and a new type of bow that could shoot a target 180 meters away." He said.
Kautilya suddenly stood up from his chair in shock.
"This... this could change everything... it'll make sieging cities easier and decrease our casualties," He excitingly said.
Aariv nodded with the deduction of Kautilya.
"Yes, I am going to need at least 100 carpenters and 50 helpers to make these. I am just going to make the first one and making the rest of them is your responsibility."
"Yes, yes... I will take care of everything... give me an hour to get the men gathered in the warehouse, we have a lot of wood there," Kautilya informed.
"Okay then, I'll head to the warehouse, you bring the men," Aariv said and started walking.
"Wait, Aariv" Kautilya stopped him.
He looked back and saw the baldy taking out a parchment from his desk.
"This is the information we've gathered on Kalinga," he said and handed the paper to Aariv.
Aariv looked at it for a second and decided to read it while walking. He said bye and headed out.
while walking he started reading it.
~Oh, so the King of Kalinga is a young boy named ANANTHA PADMANABHAN, no wonder he's not surrendering. He just became a king after all. He's 16 years old and has no kids or wife., though he's preparing to get married soon. He has a younger brother. His father is dead, however, the queen is still alive. They have a standing army of 200,000. 1000 War elephants and 50,000 horsemen. They have a higher ground which makes it harder to fight them and easier for them to defend~ He talked to himself.
"Hah, I guess my catapults will see action soon... Oh no... no... Aslan, don't eat paper... Bad boy" He noticed Aslan biting the corner of the parchment. Aslan was in the baby carrier on Aariv's chest.
"Grrr gr," Aslan said something in his language.
"You hungry?" Aariv asked, looking at his fluffy face. Aslan had understood by now that the word hungry means food, so when he heard the word hungry he nodded his head and started making noises.
"how much do you eat? You'll turn into a fat cat if you don't control yourself," Aariv said teasingly.
When he saw Aslan's clueless face he remembered that he couldn't speak.
"Alright, let's get something for you to eat"
...
Aariv held a baby feeding bottle in his hand that he made for Aslan a while back. He was waiting for carpenters in the warehouse.
He had made a table and a chair in the corner and set up the well-labeled blueprints. It was obvious that making catapults would need picking heavy logs of wood and not everyone had strength like him, so he made catapults workstations.
He made large frames of metal and set up pullies with brakes on them, to lift things up. Pullies weren't invented yet so he'd have to teach them how to use it. He set up 5 workstations, meaning that 5 catapults could be made simultaneously.
Soon he heard noise coming from outside and understood that people were coming. he went back to the table.
Kautilya entered the warehouse and saw weird metal frames and pully, he knew that it was something that Aariv came up with. He went to the table and brought 10 master carpenters with him.
The carpenters didn't recognize Aariv so they didn't say anything and just blankly stared at him. Kautilya noticed that and introduced Aariv.
"Everyone, this is his royal highness, prince Aariv Maurya"
All the carpenters gasped hearing that. Then they suddenly realized that they were being disrespectful and deeply bowed.
"Get up, I asked you all to be here because I want you to make something. This is a very big task and can earn you a lot of money, but I also want discipline and honesty. If any suspicious activity is noticed..." He didn't complete his sentence.
"Okay, so I am going to divide you, men, into 10 groups, each group will be led by a master carpenter. 5 groups will make catapults and 5 groups will make bows," he said.
The 10 master carpenter nodded.
"Come here, I'll tell you what to make and how to make it. This is the catapult you need ..." He explained how the catapult is made.
"Now to the next group, you need to make bows like these and..." He pointed to the blueprint of longbows and explained.
"Your highness, we will need elephants to pick up such heavy logs of wood," one of the carpenters said, who was responsible for catapult.
"No, you won't be needing that. You see that... I made that just for building catapults" Aariv said and walked to the pully and taught them how to use it.
The oldest carpenter saw the pully working and his eyes started sparkling,
"Your highness, this is genius. This will make building big structures so easy," he said in awe.
Aariv nodded.
"Now I will help you make the first catapult and the bow, after that you will make them on your own. For every 2 catapults and every 100 bows made you will get 50 silver pana, each," Aariv told them about their salary.
They were all happy with the work and the payment. Then Aariv made them even happier by telling them how many he wanted.
"I want 50 catapults and 20,000 bows made in 1 month. You will get as many helpers as you need but you must complete this task" He ordered.
After that Aariv and everyone got to work and he showed them how to make it. He quickly started ordering and telling them about the making process. By evening they had made 2 catapults and 50 bows. He just showed them how to do it and observed them the rest of the time.
"It's getting dark. I should take the satellites now," he said as he looked at the night sky.
He went to Kautilya,
"Increase the security around the warehouse," He said, he didn't want the news about new weapons to be known.
"You can rest easy, I've already done it. I have also sent some of my men disguised as helpers in there," Kautilya said, assuring Aariv.
Aariv felt satisfied and left the warehouse.