Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Chapter 285: Mohammad’s Change Part (1/2)

October 21st, 1655

Surendra Nagar, a Mughal-occupied territory in Gujarat.

"Alright, next,"

A soldier in a military uniform resembling that of the Dakshin Barathiya Empire called out as a long line of hundreds of people waited for their promised food quota.

Food distribution is underway in Surendranagar, now under the control of the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire, a development that transpired within the last 48 hours. A few days ago, Seizing the opportunity amidst the riots, Commanders Narasimha Nayak and Ramayya Senapati dispatched two divisions to capture the city.

Despite over half of the city’s defence forces being alert, and prepared to confront the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire’s army, the latter’s advanced logistical channels and artillery employment gave them a high probability of success in taking the city by force. However, upon Commander Narasimha Nayak’s proposal to Marshall Kiran Poojari, both Vijay and Kiran Poojari rejected the approach.

Instead, they instructed Narasimha Nayak, Ramayya Senapati, Roshan, and Aditya to devise an alternate plan.

It was then that the pawns placed by Roshan and Aditya came into play. After various manoeuvres and tricks from the Bharatiya Internal Pragya and Bharatiya Sainik Pragya, an opening was created in the city for the army to march inside. As soon as the army marched into the city, the Mughal officials knew they had lost.

The resistance was only put up by the middle-level officers who were already ordered to defend the city no matter what happened. Although there were casualties, they were negligible, and after taking the Mughal officials into custody, the city was finally under the control of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire.

Hundreds of carriages Filled with cement and artillery had been dispatched by the Empire to fortify the new city, along with provisions for the people. Taking advantage of the abundance of labour due to the war, thousands of individuals were tasked with mixing several tons of cement. Once mixed, the cement was promptly transported to construction sites and poured as directed by military engineers.

Capitalizing on this surplus workforce and its affordability, Minister of Transportation Nirmal proposed a solution: employing these individuals for labour instead of providing them with sustenance at no gain. After deliberation among various military leaders, the proposal was presented to His Majesty the Emperor.

Quickly scanning through the proposal, Vijay wasted no time and readily agreed to it. Due to his agreement, the current situation came about: all the refugees displaced by the war were collectively employed by the empire to do some labour in exchange for food and resettlement.

Unbeknownst to them, their labour points were counted, and the land allocation would be according to these points, similar to how labour was used to distribute land during the liberation of the Mughal-occupied region during the one-year war.

The jobs they are currently doing involve widening the road from Ahmedabad to Surendra Nagar City, as well as roads from Ahmedabad to Vadodara, Bharuch and Surat, in preparation for the construction of the Empire’s standard highway road. This road network will also serve as the backbone for border defence operations.

With the construction of these roads, the troops needed to be maintained on the border region will be reduced, further increasing the empire’s combat effectiveness.

The current task of the people is to clear out all the trees and shrubs beside the existing mud road to make way for the national highway road. Additionally, this was not the only road planned for construction; two more channels were also planned, From Ahmedabad to Rajkot and Ahmedabad To Bhavnagar, but those had to wait until the region of Gujarat was completely captured.

Back in the city of Ahmedabad, a new barracks has been constructed on the outskirts of the city. This barracks serves as the current operations headquarters for the war in the Gujarat region. In one of the army tents, Roshan, Aditya, Ramayya Senapati, and Narasimha Nayak were sitting around a table with serious expressions on their faces.

Without speaking, they looked at each other with anticipation, wondering who would break the silence. Finally, Roshan took the lead and asked the question, giving Narasimha Naik the opportunity to respond.

"Your Excellency Narasimha Nayak, what is our next target?" Roshan inquired, breaking the silence.

Narasimha Nayak, inwardly pleased to have the opportunity to deliver this news, reached into a metal case which was sitting in front of everyone, opened its seal, and retrieved a letter stamped with the emblem of the Empire’s Marshal, Kiran Poojari.

After opening and thoroughly reading the letter, he addressed Roshan, Aditya, and Ramayya Senapati with a calm and collected expression, stating, "Our next target is the city of Bhuj."

Immediately, discussions ensued as they contemplated various strategies for capturing the city. Having already studied the map, they understood the intentions of His Excellency the Marshal and His Majesty. With the occupation of Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Surendranagar, they had established a formidable defensive line along the eastern entrance of the Mughal Empire.

Now, by conquering Bhuj, it could be definitively stated that the region of Gujarat had finally been completely liberated by the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire.

Roshan and Aditya began to lay their groundwork, while Ramayya Senapati and Narasimha Nayak prepared for another mission. Logistics were being sorted out, and supplies for the new operations were being stockpiled.

Mughal Empire, the Royal Palace in Agra.

Muhammad, accompanied by a group of his immediate subordinates, surveyed the room with sombre expressions adorning his face. Despite the rage and fury burning in his eyes, Muhammad maintained a stoic and distant demeanour, a departure from his usual tendency to express emotions through physical actions.

The subordinates were all shivering in their seats. This was the first time they had seen their emperor like this. If a similar incident had occurred in the past, His Majesty would have lost control and resorted to destroying everything around him. However, recently, due to the back-to-back setbacks, he has become more controlled in displaying his emotions.

It could be seen that he has become more focused and able to overlook some mistakes for the cause of a bigger goal.

Muhammad, observing the panicked expressions on his subordinate’s faces, had a chilling gaze as he began to speak, "Another city has fallen, hmm? What do you all have to say for yourselves? I have granted you access to the intelligence collected by the empire, so what were the results I was expecting and what were the results that occurred?... And, Who is responsible?"

Muhammad glared at each and every one present in the room, as these were the subordinates he had assigned the task of coming up with practical assumptions after going through a large amount of raw data, In order to predict where the next attack or the target of the Dakshin Bharathiya Empire would be.

The subordinates were panicking even more because of the way His Majesty was staring at them, and even more so about how His Majesty was enunciating each word at a time while speaking; it could be said that he was in a very foul mood.

Muhammad continued, "You all concluded that Bengal would be the target of the enemy’s attack. So, we mobilized the limited resources we had, relocated troops, and even managed to break through their fortress and advance a few dozen kilometres inland. But what happened?"

He asked, his voice chilling.

"I asked, WHAT HAPPENED?"

He repeated the question, but this time his voice grew louder, sending an electrifying shock throughout everyone present as they jerked in tension.

After a few moments of silence in the room, a fat man, though reluctant, was on the verge of speaking to avoid any perceived disrespect to His Majesty. However, before he could utter a word, Muhammad answered the question himself, this time in a subdued tone.

"We were fooled, is what happened." Unfortunately, although his voice seemed to have lowered in volume, the killing intent in his eyes had increased severalfold. It could be heard very viscerally in the voice that his majesty does not want to accept this reality, and he feels disgusted by even having to accept it, which makes his subdued tone even more eerie.

Everyone in the room could feel it and couldn’t help but take a big gulp of saliva in fear.

"At least now, do you all understand the tactics played by this cunning enemy?"

Everyone in the room reluctantly nodded their heads because if they couldn’t understand the strategy even now, they might as well resign their positions and end their lives.

"Yes, the attacks launched on the majority of borders were a distraction to cover up the main target. At this time, the main target ended up being Gujarat. What’s the use of knowing now? With them occupying four fortresses and strongholds, already blocking off the passages through river channels, it is now nearly impossible to regain the region unless we invest a hundred thousand or more troops.

Unfortunately, I can imagine that if we do such a thing, the bastard enemy will take this as an opportunity and attack Bengal for real this time."

" So we are really in a very tough situation, especially with our Arabian Sea Navy completely compromised"

To BE Continued...