Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Thunderous booms echoed through the field as the huge rocks split into two and fell to the ground. Hundreds of laborers began to split the huge rock into even smaller pieces with their tools.

Laborers lined up to carry the split rocks for the construction. Some other laborer\'s were pushing a huge log on the rocks that were previously laid. They flattened it with a huge log.

A supervisor named Kushan dressed in a tunic and pajamas stood in the distance, observing and inspecting the work of the laborer\'s. He was commanding them to fill certain areas lacking with rocks.

He walked around the site to check the composition of the rocks and if any workers were slacking off in the work hours.

It was the construction of the major road between Vellore and Tirupati.

The afternoon sun was rising up in the sky. The heat was intense, and the workers became intensely fatigued.

Kushan, observing the work quality dropping due to the intense heat of the sun, looked around.

He yelled.

"Take a break. Work will resume after the heat subsidizes."

Supervisors were trained to ensure maximum work quality from the workers, so the Emperor had ordered them to stop work if the heat was unbearable. This was precisely relayed using Prashant, who oversaw the road construction, to the other supervisor.

The local noble and merchant supervisors happily obliged to the commands, as they didn\'t want to get on the bad side of the Emperor.

The workers breathed a sigh of relief to the order as they began to stop and take rest under the shade of the trees and cool themselves off with water.

Kushan began to take the report he was writing during the construction and go to the tent, where he takes his rest during the break time.

Today was different The tent was occupied by the head of the road construction project, as he had come to inspect the work of this major road. Prashant was highly passionate about the project.

Due to this reason, none of the supervisors could slack off due to his constant visits in the different areas of the construction, and the Nayakas were also constantly keeping track to ensure the work was done properly.

"Here is the report." Kushan handed over the report to Prashant with a light smile.

Prashant began to skim through the report.

"Good work." He exclaimed. "Did you finish the lower layer just yet?"

"Lower layer? No. We just started a few days ago. So the place was dug a bit to keep the elevation with the field, and the lower layer stone splitting is going on along with it\'s filling in the flattened ground." Kushan responded.

"I see, I have made some improvements to the road construction methods that would help us make the road much more durable. I was testing this in multiple areas during my visits."

"Hoo… But should we tamper with the method that the Emperor has given us?" He inquired nervously.

"I also thought of it first, so I decided to go and ask the Emperor myself to see what he would order me to do with this improvement."

"And?"

Prashant smiled.

"He agreed after seeing the effects."

"So we are going to implement it here?" Kushan asked with a hint of curiosity.

He had known Prashant was a bright man after working with him on different projects. He was a hardworking man as well, always making sure the work was of high quality with his own eyes.

"Yes, we are going to try it for the first time here."

"What is this new improvement, and does it make the road better?"

"So in total, I have made two improvements. These are small improvements that would just help better the experience."

Kushan nodded slightly, eager to listen to the improvements.

"The first improvement is adding coal ash to the bottom layer of the road."

"Coal ash? Why?"

Prashant began to explain the benefits of adding the coal ash.

Coal ash was a good way to improve the overall durability of the roads with fewer resources, as it improved the load-bearing capacity of the road and gave it more resistance to weathering by stabilizing the soil.

"Hooo. So with just some ash, we can improve the roads by this much?"

"Yes. Not only that, it lets more gases and water pass through the pores, allowing better drain ability to the ground."

"We can\'t start it today as we don\'t have coal ash. I can procure it by tomorrow from the nearby metal workshops and villages."

"That\'s fine. Since I have sprung it on you without much notice."

Prashant looked satisfied with Kushan\'s ability to adapt quickly to orders.

Kushan still looked eager. He actually enjoyed supervising and learning more about the roads and improving them. He even improved the efficiency of the projects he undertook due to his proper management of laborers.

"So what is the second improvement?"

Prashant smiled warmly at the enthusiasm of Kushan.

"The second improvement is simple. It is making of grooves between the lanes." He began. "So there is a problem on major roads with people not knowing the proper route to follow during their travels. So they are all over the place."

"Yes, it is true. Even with the lanes of the walking, sometimes the carriages take that lane due to a lack of proper marking." Kushan admitted, rubbing his temples.

"So we will make grooves to mark the lanes. The patrol guards will ensure the merchant follows the markers."

"Grooves eh? We have to make a groove in a way so the middle lane groove\'s water is drained to the parallel drains right, or else the water will stay in the center and create problems for the carriages and caravans." Kushan remarked.

"Yes, we have to design it so that there is another small groove that ensures that the water in the center grooves flows out into the drain."

"That seems easy to implement. We will test it first before moving ahead." Kushan declared with confidence.

Prashant nodded satisfied with Kushan\'s understanding of the concepts.

"Alright then. This will give the road an extra year or two of life."