Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

2nd October 1655

Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Mumbai Naval Base, Satavahana state (Maharastra)

Under the seal of His Majesty, orders were quickly conveyed to various units of the empire’s military. The first unit to receive the instructions and act upon them was the special forces unit working undercover in the Daman and Diu Islands of Gujarat.

After the empire received confirmation of the Commencement of operations started by Dinesh and Lingesh, the naval base scrambled into action. Thousands of seamen boarded the vessels simultaneously, while hundreds of warships of the Empire were dispatched at the same time.

To conquer Gujarat swiftly, multiple directions of attack were employed. 20,000 troops were dispatched by amphibious means, while 60,000 troops advanced through direct invasion.

Out of the three legions of the empire, two were assigned multiple tasks. Eighty thousand troops would launch an attack on the state of Gujarat using both amphibious and direct invasion methods, while the remainder would defend the southern border up to the western edge of Kalachuri Nagar (Chhattisgarh).

In the third legion, thirty-two thousand troops were tasked with defending the border from East Kalachuri Nagar (Chhattisgarh) to the edge of Gangapuri (Odisha), while the remaining forty thousand troops were dispatched to the Ahom kingdom to provide defensive support.

So, a total of two active offensive battlefronts are being developed in this war. The Gujarat battlefield will see the largest deployment, with 80,000 troops commanded by both Ramayya Senapati and Narasimha Nayak.

Additionally, 96,000 troops, directly under the command of Marshal Kiran Poojari, are tasked with defending the empire’s northern border from the edge of Gangapuri (Odisha) to the border of Madhya Pradesh, which stretches over a wide area of 1797 square kilometres. Currently stationed in Nagpur, Kiran Poojari oversees the various fortresses along the northern border of the empire.

These fortresses were constructed using the strongest materials available, such as Roman cement and granite, following the one-year war between the Mughal Empire and the Dakshin Bharathiya Empire. There are currently seven fortresses that act as strongholds for the empire to defend its lands. From the West, they are Bhasawal, Amaravathi, Nagpur, Kerawada, Ambikapur, Raipur, and Baripata.

So, overall, eighty thousand troops were commanded by Ramayya Senapati and Narasimha Nayak, while 96,000 troops were directly commanded by Marshal Kiran Poojari. The remaining 40,000 troops were dispatched with Yogendra Singh to the Northeast. His task is also straightforward: to defend the border of the Ahom kingdom and await further instructions.

At the same time, he will deploy a few feints to make the Mughals believe that the Bharatiya Empire had decided to attack Bengal. Kiran Poojari was also tasked with the same strategy, occasionally launching fake attacks to confuse the Mughals and prevent them from understanding the true location of the battlefront.

With all honesty, the direct offensive battlefield with the Mughal Empire spans only 370 kilometres, where the intersection of Satavahana (Maharashtra) state and Gujarat meets. Additionally, there is a partial battlefield of 830 kilometres where the Ahom Kingdom and the Mughal Empire meet.

Although the second battlefront, which is wider, would require a lot more soldiers to defend, consideration has to be taken of the Ahom Kingdom’s involvement.

The Ahom Kingdom itself is primarily responsible for defending its own lands; hence, the Ahom Kingdom, which has an army of 50,000 troops, will also be on high alert, looking to not give the Mughals a chance to attack the kingdom.

Along with the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire sending in another 40,000 troops with Yogendra Singh in command, who is already familiar with the Ahom kingdom and its leadership, it should not be hard for them, with a total of 90,000 troops, and with the existence of generals like Yogendra Singh and Lachit Borfikan, to defend the whole perimeter.

So, the battlefront for the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire consists of only one in the West, with the rest of the areas being active defence areas single-handedly commanded by Marshal Kiran Poojari, as that is what he is best at. Then, when considering naval attacks, there is only one active offensive battlefield in the Arabian Sea.

Most of the battleships were employed in this battle, and the rest were tasked with securing the eastern coastline of the empire. There was no offensive task for the eastern naval base.

Whereas for the Mughal Empire, it is different. With frequent skirmishes happening all over the southern border and eastern border, they wouldn’t know which is the actual battlefront. Also, with the Navy of the Arabian Sea being absolutely dismantled, the control over Gujarat will be reduced again.

After the commencement of operations, Raw materials and supplies from all over the empire passed through the backbone road infrastructure of the empire. Nagpur served as the main frontier for the defensive war against the Mughal Empire. Ammunition, artillery, muskets, guns, swords, shields, and other war needs were being sent through the Baghnagar (Hydrabad)-Nagpur Highway.

Satish, the small police officer of the Wardha Village, has now become a deputy director of police in the district of Nagpur. Nagappa, who was the village head of Wardha Village, has now retired and is the biggest owner of hotels and restaurants in the New Wardha City. With the supply of raw materials, Wardha’s traffic has become busy, and it has now begun to grow at unparalleled speeds.

Military carriages pass through day and night as Wardha is right in the smack-dab middle of the Nagpur-Baghnagar (Hydrabad) Highway.

Kiran Poojari continuously assigns tasks for the seven defensive fortresses of the empire. Thousands of cannons are armed and ready, poised to start firing at the Mughal Empire’s offensive positions day and night across all fronts of the fortresses.

The Navy dispatched from Mumbai swiftly reached the Gulf of Khambhat. Upon arrival, they encountered the Mughal Navy, which had been dispatched earlier and was patrolling the perimeter before the attack launched by the special forces, thus remaining operational.

Unfortunately, as this was not the full force of the Mughal Navy, it could not resist the fully equipped Bharatiya Empire’s western fleet, comprising 1 battleship, 20 Vinayak-class frigates, and 120 Hampi-class sloops.

"Fleet one, full left rudder!"

"Fleet two, full right rudder!"

"Scatter and use the wolf pack tactics "

"Hunt down one by one "

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Within 3 - 4 hours, the 40 or 50 Mughal frigates were turned into rubble on the sea. Despite the desperate distress signals sent repeatedly by the Mughal warships, no reinforcements arrived.

It is very unfortunate for the Seeman of the Mughal Empire, as even in their last breath, they were not aware of the fact that even though their warships, along with the crew, were ready for battle, there were no captains for these ships, as Dinesh and Lingesh did quite a number on them.

After clearing out the active Mughal navy, Gangadhar, who was commanding the fleet, divided its forces. Forty sloops, accompanied by five frigates, set sail toward the port of Sindh to secure the rear of the main fleet and provide reinforcement for the special forces crew. This small fleet was commanded by a new naval commander of considerable talent named Prasanna Nair.

He hails from the state of Cheranadu (Kerala) and was recruited from the Naval Academy due to his excellent performance.

While the small fleet was sent to secure the port of Sindh, another battlegroup was sent to rescue Dinesh Reddy and his men, the remaining fleet, consisting of 80 sloops, 15 frigates, and one battleship, went on a rampage against the scattered and docked warships along the coast.

4 hours or so ago witnessing a lot of distress signals from their navy on the sea, the Mughal Empire scrambled to find any suitable captains from the existing seamen and also scrambled to recall the surviving officers to immediately board the ship and commence its operations, Due to the heavy bureaucratic burden of the Mughal Empire this task took longer than it was supposed to, Still with difficulty 40 warships were able to dispatch from the port as the rest of the ships were being boarded by the newly selected captains, Unfortunately, they were outnumbered again, and they were outnumbered against superior warship in both speed and firepower.

"Battlegroup 2, full right rudder!"

"Battlegroup one, full left rudder!"

"Scatter and use the Pair bonding tactics!" n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Isolate one ship at a time; firepower should be deployed from one ship in the front and one ship in the back, both working in tandem and changing locations erratically. Don’t give the warship a chance to guess."

"Hunt down one by one!"

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Within a few hours and after multiple commands from Gangadhar, these ships were successfully sunk. Although the Dakshin Bhartiya Navy also suffered casualties, it paled in comparison to the losses suffered by the Mughal Empire Navy.

One Night Passed By

With the coast of southern Gujarat secured, the 20,000 troops, who had been stationed on various merchant ships 3 kilometres away from the main battlefield, were put into action.

When these ships approached the Gulf of Khambhat, Servesh was tasked with commanding a smaller fleet by Gangadhar to enable and oversee the landing operations of the army.

While giving this command, Gangadhar had a curious expression on his face because this was not the order he wanted to give; it was a suggestion given by His Majesty to allow Sarvesh to participate in such a landing operation. Gangadhar was curious as to why his Majesty wanted to do this, but since he had secured the coast for the most part, he decided to heed the suggestion.

Sarvesh, who received this unusual order, was initially confused but ultimately accepted it. He commanded the fleet, feeling an intuition that he was well-suited for this kind of operation, with inspirations forming in his mind with each passing moment.

"Let’s go, plot a route to Bharuch City on the coast of the Narmada River," he ordered.

30 minutes later...

The fleet soon reached the Narmada estuary. Fortunately, due to most of the ships of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire having a low draught, they could sail in shallow water conditions.

Sailing forty-five kilometres inland, they reached the important trade city of Bharuch. But as soon as they reached the vicinity of the city, the artillery of the city’s fortress started firing immediately. This was one of the major problems in attacking an inland city by the Navy: the city is usually well fortified. Return fire was ordered by Sarvesh, but the damage was not too considerable.

At most, a few structures in the fortress fell down due to the dense artillery shelling by the Bharatiya Empire. On the other hand, the Mughal Empire’s artillerymen had a better vantage point and were able to accurately target the battleships on the river.

Four sloops were already damaged and taking in water, and one more frigate was heavily damaged. Sarvesh knew that this situation could not continue for long. He got an idea and ordered, "Crash the weapons supply ship into the bank over there."

"Sir?" His executive officer asked in doubt, unsure if he had heard correctly. Who would intentionally crash the ship?

But his hesitation was noticed by Sarvesh. Servish frowned and ordered again, This time in a more stern tone, "Do as I say, and make sure that the impact is sideways."

The executive officer was scared by the gaze of Sarvesh. Now he remembered: this was the man who had slaughtered hundreds of people during the Ottoman naval war. Although uncertain of what was running through the commander’s mind, he quickly complied with his orders.

A ship responsible for carrying supplies in the fleet quickly moved away from the formation and executed a hard left rudder movement.

"Grrrrrrr"

*BANG*

The hull made contact with the left bank of the river, and as expected, it was completely scrapped, leaving the ship permanently stranded on the river bank with a bang.

Sarvesh quickly ordered for one battalion of the army to follow him.

Carrying his two swords and a flintlock, Sarvesh waded into the shallow part of the river and quickly stood behind the crashed frigate for cover.

A battalion of soldiers following his example did the same.

*Bang Bang Bang Bang*

Cannon Shots were continuously being heard, and Sarvesh even heard a few explosions that felt very familiar, like grenades. he had to think of something, or else this operation would end up costing more than he liked.

He looked around, searching for anything he could use to make the operation successful. Well, he did end up finding ’something’, but he wasn’t sure if this ’ something’ was something he liked: the drainage channel of the city, which was only about 10 or so odd feet on the left side of the ship’s bow. Fortunately, the ship crashed into a dense group of shrubs, which gave him enough cover to operate.

"Let’s go, follow my lead," Sarvesh commanded.

Taking a deep breath and enduring the foul odour, Sarvesh proceeded to push through the gutter water, which reached up to his chest. Most of the soldiers hesitated; they did not want to move through the gutter. However, some among them, who were from the very low end of society, pushed down their disgust and followed the general.

They knew that if they could complete this operation, the treatment they would receive would be exemplary.

Moving through the gutter for a few hundred meters, they were able to see the sunlight on the flank of the enemies. The enemies were still firing at the bank where the ship had crashed.

They did not suspect anything because one more battalion landed behind the crashed ship.

The ship was almost destroyed due to the continual cannon fire and grenades being thrown. The only reason it was still holding up was because the ship was carrying weapons made of steel and iron, which acted as a defensive barrier.

Looking at these guys, Sarvesh’s eyes turned cold. He slowly unsheathed his two talwars, which were drenched in filth and snuck behind a Mughal soldier.

"Slice, slice,"

With one swift crosscut, the head of the soldier was cleanly chopped off.

The soldiers beside him did not have sufficient time to react. taking this opportunity, Sarvesh quickly lunged forward and made a diagonal cut on a soldier, slicing his shoulder along with his chest right off.

The 200 or so soldiers who joined Sarvesh, seeing the scene, quickly threw away their flintlocks as they were now useless and wielded their own talwars. The massacre began.

"Die!"

"Ahhhh!!!!"

"NO!"

"Spare me!"

"Bang!"

"NOooo!"

Within a few moments, various shouts of fear, anger, dread, and unwillingness were heard, and hundreds of Mughal soldiers were successively killed. Guns were still at a disadvantage against skilled swordsmen in close combat, after all.

Sarvesh and his followers, by themselves, were able to take out 400 or so Mughal troops. With the distraction Sarvesh provided, three more battalions quickly spammed the shore.

It was lights out for the Mughal soldiers then.

With the defeat of these 1500 or so Mughal defence units on the fortress, the city of Bharuch was fully occupied, and the Mughal Empire’s communication and network on the Narmada River were completely cut off.

A brigade and an artillery battalion were stationed in the conquered place The fortress was completely occupied and further reinforcements were being made with this operation completed trade and information that passes through the Narmada river is completely cut off With his first goal complete, Sarvesh took a clean and refreshing bath and left for his next operation.

P.S. How the fuk did 1700 words become 2600 words after editing, no wonder It took hours.