Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Chapter 708 Fall of the 3 Dutch Kingdoms: 6 (End)

Diederik's face was already livid. Now, looking at the soft piece of meat, he felt like he had a place to vent.

He took out his belt and smiled ferociously.

"Snap!"

A few minutes later, Diederik wore back his belt, which had turned bloody, and had a relaxed expression on his face. Vaguely, in the background, a few guards could be seen pulling a bloodied corpse out of the mansion.

Diederik's mind was much clearer now. He fell into deep thought, thinking of countermeasures.

He already realized that he did not have a chance to retain his kingdom. This realization brought him great sadness, but he was rational. 'A kingdom could be built again, but life is more important.' He was no longer the Dutch army officer with low self-esteem and little ability. His few months of running a kingdom had taught him a lot, and he was no longer satisfied with being a nobody in the Dutch army.

In fact, he had done quite well for himself as a king. As soon as he took power, he immediately distributed the benefits to his subordinates, making them more loyal to his cause, and trained a new army from the indigenous people to increase the military strength of his kingdom. If he had been given some more time, maybe he could have resisted the Bharatiya Empire better, but now it was just too soon.

Diederik looked at his subordinate, who was waiting for his order, and replied, "Inform Femke Johanna de Vries and the others. We are going to evacuate the kingdom and leave for the Kingdom of Mindanao right away."

"Yes, Your Highness." The subordinate quickly left the mansion.

The reason he chose the Kingdom of Mindanao was because its political situation was very stable with the support of the Bharatiya Empire, making it safer for him. It also had a lot of dark forces that did not agree with their current ruler being a lowly woman, so with their help, it was no problem for him to become invisible.

After that, he could either find an opportunity to travel back to New Mexico in the future when the Bharatiya Empire increased the number of merchant ships travelling between the two continents, or he could change his identity, disguise himself as a travelling merchant, and look for opportunities in Southern Asia.

Either way, he was going to survive and become a king once again.

"This is not my wish, but a promise," he clenched his fist with great determination, his eyes turning sharp.

Jakarta

Reinout van Reede stood speechless as he looked into the sky. Countless flaming balloons entered the airspace right above the barracks and soon began to descend.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The balloons suddenly began to explode, and screams of agony echoed through the air.

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The power of the explosions was not too great, but the problem was that there were too many of these balloons.

A few hundred meters away, Dinesh Reddy looked at the scene and smiled. "This thing really worked," he muttered.

Using hot air balloons as weapons had been a tactic the Bharatiya military hadn't used for a long time. The last time it was used was during the Unification War. It was mostly because the conditions required to use such a weapon were unusual, but fortunately, the conditions had been met perfectly for the attack on Jakarta.

It was almost August, and the land had heated up quicker than the sea, creating a high-pressure area over the land and a low-pressure area over the sea. Given that air flows from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas, the winds blow from inland to the sea. Conveniently, Jakarta was located right on the coast, which gave the hot air balloons more range of operation. Even more conveniently, the barracks of Jakarta were located in the rear, most probably because Reinout van Reede did not expect any enemies to come from that direction.

In the last moments of his life, Reinout van Reede could only die in regret. Just when he thought he was at the peak of his life, with a dozen beauties serving him constantly and countless riches at his disposal, he had to die.

The same scene was mirrored in the Verschuer Kingdom more specifically Surabaya, as it had similar geographical conditions. Not to mention, Gusti Praji Sakti still had a lot of influence over the locals of Surabaya, making the city's defences collapse faster. Soon, the Bharatiya Navy joined in the fun too, bombarding the coastal defences and infrastructure until only rubble was left.

Ironically enough, even though the Bharatiya Navy did most of the structural damage by literally ploughing the fields with artillery, the death toll they imposed was not as great as the army coming in from the rear. This was especially because the army was more precise and tactical in their actions, making it more difficult for the enemy to resist.

August 5th, 1660—The three kingdoms of Lyndon, Reede, and Verschuer finally came to an end, with Kings Reinout van Reede and Otto van Verschuer killed by surprise, while the location of Diederik van Lyndon remained unknown.

It was only in post-war efforts that the Bharatiya Army discovered several tunnels made by Reinout and Otto, leading out of the city in case of emergencies. Fortunately, the attack of the Bharatiya Army was fierce and quick enough, catching them by surprise.

Diederik Van Lyndon, who had escaped, did not leave Sumatra for a whole month. He and his team, composed of several gun makers, cannon crafters, and physicians, stayed on the outskirts, living in the forests until the ships began to traverse from one region to another. Eventually, one by one, his whole team smuggled themselves to the Kingdom of Mindanao. Upon reaching there, they took refuge under a resistance leader who called himself Sultan Abdullah Mohammed.

Overall, the Bharatiya Empire was successful in clearing out all European presence in the southern part of Asia, becoming the undisputed overlord that no one could question.

---

Kuala Lumpur

The battles that were happening in Java and Sumatra were not known to Vijay, especially since both events were happening around the same time. However, Vijay had no doubt about the outcome of the battle; he was confident in his military. The amount of force he had sent would have been more than enough to deter a country like Portugal, let alone the three pseudo-kingdoms built upon the dead body of colonial Dutch Indonesia.

"I am very pleased that all of you have accepted my invitation and arrived in Kuala Lumpur in due time. For this, you all have my gratitude," Vijay smiled and performed a namaskara.

All the kings and rulers felt a little flattered and returned the namaskara with great sincerity and respect. Vijay might have been one of the youngest rulers in the world, but he was certainly one of the strongest.

Vijay could see the eagerness and a little bit of impatience in the eyes and facial expressions of most monarchs. He did not blame them, as he knew that leaving the affairs of their kingdoms aside and travelling across dangerous seas to a distant land was a serious matter. If not for the fact that all the kings of Southeast Asia were attending, ensuring that no one could wage war in their absence, they would have been very hesitant to accept the invitation.

So he did not keep everyone waiting. "The main reason I invited you all here was to form an organization, which I call the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for short ASEAN." He got up from his seat and pulled open a presentation paper that was tucked onto a wooden beam behind him.

The paper displayed the word "ASEAN" written in the Bharati language, along with its full form.

The kings of various Southeast Asian countries looked at each other in enlightenment.

Vijay flipped the first page and continued to explain, "Until now, the relationships between all of your nations have been strained due to wars for resources, ethnic differences, and historical claims."

"And I, for one, would love for this to change."

He looked at all the rulers seated in front of him with a melancholic expression and pointed at several regions on the map

"The Toungoo dynasty has a very bad relationship with the Ayutthaya Kingdom as well as the Lan Xang Kingdom."

King Narathi Hapate nodded in agreement, looking at a young man with a hint of hatred in his eyes.

"The Ayutthaya Kingdom has conflicts with almost all neighbouring kingdoms."

King Narai nodded as if to say it was to be expected.

"The Chenla Kingdom has conflicts with the Ayutthaya Kingdom and the Lan Xang Kingdom, and as for the Lan Xang Kingdom, it has conflicts with the Toungoo Dynasty."

Soriya Reachea II and Sourigna Vongsa looked at each other with a hint of resentment in their eyes.

"As for the two kingdoms of Dai Viet and Dang Trong, it doesn't even need to be mentioned—the conflict between you two is well known. Both of you see yourselves as the rightful heir to the throne of Vietnam."

King Nguy?n Phúc T?n stared hatefully at Minister Tr?nh Th?nh, while King Lê Hy Tông of the Dai Viet Kingdom sat there without any expression on his face. No matter what he thought, it had no effect on the governance of his kingdom—he was just there as a figurehead.

"As for the nations of Mindanao and the United States of the Philippines, both of you do not have conflict, but neither do you have a good relationship."

Vijay looked at everyone with a serious expression on his face.

"If this does not change, the temporary relief will not last long."