By early 1913, Adav, now a precocious fourteen-year-old, felt a growing unease. His corporate empire, built on the bedrock of "Adav Steel," was thriving. Profits swelled, fueling further investments, but the [Economic Simulator] in his Codex was flashing increasingly ominous warnings. It wasn't about local markets or British policies; it was about global tremors.
His 21st-century memories, cross-referenced with the real-time data he fed the Codex, screamed one thing: global war was coming. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a year away, but the geopolitical fault lines were already fracturing. Austria-Hungary and Serbia, Germany's naval expansion, the intricate web of European alliances – it was a powder keg. The [Historical Database] module offered grim projections of the sheer scale of the coming conflict, the unprecedented demand for resources, and the devastating impact on global trade.
Adav realized his current industrial base, while strong for peacetime, was not sufficiently diversified for total war. Reliance on a single product, even steel, was a weakness. Logistics would become paramount, and British control over shipping lanes would be a chokehold. India would be drained, its resources plundered for the British war machine, just as his history books foretold. He couldn't let that happen. Not if he wanted India to emerge from the war stronger, not weaker.
He called an urgent, private meeting with his father. "Father," he began, his tone grave, "the world is on the cusp of a great upheaval. There will be war, unlike anything seen before. We must prepare. We must diversify, and we must do so aggressively, immediately."
Ramnath, his face etched with concern, listened as Adav laid out his plan. Fertilizers, for increased food production. Explosives precursors, vital for any modern army. And, crucially, shipping – to control their own supply lines. Ramnath, though bewildered by the scale of his son's foresight, had long since ceased to question. He simply nodded, his trust absolute. The Codex hummed in Adav's mind, showing him a cascade of opportunities. He was about to turn a global catastrophe into an engine for Indian power.