Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1243: WW1: Balkan Attack (3)

Paulo Mancini gazed into the distance, where a long line of smoke rose into the sky like a serpent, as the Bharatiya Navy bombarded and destroyed the ports and naval bases of Barletta, Bari, Brindisi, Croton, and Catanzaro over the last four days. He gazed helplessly, with boundless rage filling his heart, but in the end, he could only vent his anger by screaming at his subordinates, whilst hoping to catch a Bharatiya scouting vessel.

During this time, he also received a distress signal from the Austrian port of Vlore about an enemy attack, and naturally, being occupied with tailing the Bharatiya fleet that was on a path of destruction, he did not have any spare ships to support the Austrians. Besides, even if he did, with the current situation, he would not want to send anyone either.

In this way, over the course of a week, the southeastern coast of the Italian peninsula, especially the region parallel to the Austrian coast, saw all its naval bases and ports completely reduced to cinders.

Without the support of the Italian reinforcement, not only was Vlore Destroyed, but the surrounding ports like Durrës and Corfu were destroyed as well.

The situation of Varna on the coast of the Black Sea was no different. The Black Sea, being an inland lake with no entry or exit except through the Bosphorus Strait, holds such significance that controlling it is effectively the same as controlling the entire sea. And now that the Bharatiya Empire controls it, there is no one left to provide reinforcements to the Kingdom of Slavic Byzantium, especially not Russia, the only country that could even consider helping, given the bitter past between the two monarchs of the Romanov dynasty.

Unfortunately, the mission on land was not as successful as on the water. Winter slowed the army down considerably, forcing it to remain in one place for long periods of time. Not to mention, the army had to bring down every fortress along its way, even rundown strongholds built centuries ago, because the damn things were filled with people and armed to the brim.

Due to this, even though the naval missions were completed within a week or two, the land missions dragged on, becoming slower and slower throughout January, slightly picking up pace during February, and finally getting back on track as the temperature warmed up in March.

Vijay, in the meantime, temporarily retreated to Greece, as he had just been informed that an important piece of intelligence had been obtained from a union conference a few months ago.

Looking at the information, Vijay was surprised, because this was not a simple hint or clue; it was a full transcript.

Reading through the entire transcript in the shortest span of time, Vijay was filled with amazement, surprise, and even a little excitement.

However, he quickly regained his calm, as he was in the presence of Agni, senior diplomats, professors of economics, several senior agents of the external Pragya and the Sainik Pragya, all part of the research and analysis wing.

With Vijay now understanding the situation, discussions promptly began.

"It is quite surprising that Polish Lithuania openly stood up against the central and western countries. If it were in normal times, they wouldn’t dare do such a thing," a professor of economics, who was not too adept at diplomacy, said, unable to figure out why Casimir Vasa was suddenly so fearless.

A diplomat shook his head at the question. "It’s not surprising at all. In the current situation, would the Europeans dare to sanction Polish-Lithuania just because of a threat? Obviously not. They will use any means to stay united, and Casimir Vasa knows this as well, so he is not afraid of the consequences at all. Most importantly, his threat worked, didn’t it? The central and western Europeans did agree to support him monetarily, industrially, and through other means, didn’t they?"

The professor of economics nodded in understanding. He felt enlightened, but then another diplomat raised a question that had been bothering him since reading the transcript. "I’m unable to understand why Sweden and Denmark-Norway are siding with the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom. They are far north, too inhospitable, and they are not our direct target either. They could technically stay out of the war completely, so why are they suddenly jumping in and forming a clique with the Poles?"

This doubt seemed to exist in the minds of many because as soon as the question was asked, some diplomats nodded in approval, while some of the senior agents and economists put on thoughtful expressions. Suddenly, the professor of economics who asked the first question spoke again.

"Could it be to develop their countries?"

Everyone’s attention turned towards him, including that of the emperor and the prince. The professor took a deep breath and continued, "I’m unaware of diplomatic connections between various countries, but according to what I have heard so far, Sweden, Denmark Norway have the ability to stay out of the war since they are not our main target. Doesn’t that mean, if the European Union is a publicly traded company, Sweden, Denmark Norway are the neglected branches of the company? In that cas—"

He was suddenly cut off.

"That’s not entirely true. Sweden and Denmark-Norway are important raw material suppliers for the European Union," a senior agent commented.

The professor of economics hesitated, then rephrased his wording. "Alright, in that case, Denmark-Norway and Sweden are equivalent to large warehouse units of the company I spoke about, but this does not change the fact that the company could always find an alternative to the warehouse."

He looked around to see if anyone would object to his analogy, and thankfully, no one did.

"So, coming back to the main question of why Denmark-Norway and Sweden, which are like large warehouses in the company, are suddenly siding with Polish Lithuania, which is like a watchman of the company, it has to be to pull the resources of the company towards themselves by leveraging the watchman."

Several people showed looks of enlightenment.

"So you are saying Polish Lithuania has the actual necessity to demand a tilt of resources towards itself in order to develop the railway network for military purposes, but Sweden, Denmark Norway are latching on to Polish Lithuania in order to get the same tilt to develop their own countries with the union’s resources, which in normal situations would not be possible?"

"Ah... yes, you put it better." He looked a little depressed, and he thought explaining it through an analogy would be easier to understand.

The dynamics became clear to everyone through such discussions, and in the end, the meeting reached the point where discussions had to be made about how they would react and what actions they would take to cope with the European strategy in the future. It was foreseeable that breaching the Polish Lithuanian Kingdom would be harder, and by the time it was conquered, the western and central European kingdoms would have been turned into iron barrels, with the entire border covered with railway tracks and roads, and millions of people mobilised.

Everyone’s attention turned towards the emperor, waiting for his decision. Agni did the same. He did not try to give a suggestion as he usually did; instead, he waited, wanting to hear the answer from his father. But to everyone’s surprise, the emperor did not look worried at all. Instead, he showed an uncharacteristic smile and said, "Don’t worry about the actions of the Europeans. They have, in fact, unknowingly fallen into a trap, so let them mobilise their resources and support Polish Lithuania and the northern European countries."

Everyone’s faces brightened, and they showed looks of admiration at the same time. As expected of His Majesty, he is always several steps ahead of the enemy, they thought.

Agni’s brows were furrowed because even he did not know what his father was planning, but in the end, he did not question anything and simply waited, knowing very well that he would be informed sooner or later.

To his surprise, his father called for him right after the meeting.

"I need you to go back to the empire."

Agni was shocked by such a sudden order. "What happened, father?"

Vijay did not answer, but looked straight at Agni. Agni seemed to figure something out. "Is this about that trap you were talking about?"

Vijay stared at his son for a while longer before eventually letting out a deep breath and nodding. "Well, there is no longer any use in keeping it from you, so yes, it is related to the trap I mentioned. But to be fair, it was not originally strategised as a trap; it was simply a countermeasure against the European defensive strategy."

"Several months ago, just when the war started, after I understood that the Europeans were using attrition tactics to slow us down, I came up with a plan to throw them off guard and defeat them in one fell swoop, and that plan was to wage war on another front."

Agni’s mind quickly turned, and he felt a sudden jolt of enlightenment. "The western front?"

"Yes, the western front, to launch a series of rapid attack missions on Western European countries, especially those on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, like the British, French, Russian, and the Dutch. And in order to do this, I sent a message to your brother to secretly mobilise troops in Cape Town from within the empire, Southeast Asia, Suvarnath Dwipha, and the Middle East. I gave him a year to gather over a million troops and construct carrier vessels to transport them all."

"The training of the recruits has already started in Cape Town."

"Originally, the goal was to conquer the isolated Kingdom of Britain and destroy the naval infrastructure along the coasts of Prussia, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and possibly even Portugal, but now..."

Agni took over,

"But now, with the Western Europeans sharing their resources with Polish Lithuania, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, the development of their own coastal and border defences, as well as railway track installation, will be slowed down. This means that by the time our army and navy are ready, they will not be as prepared as you originally thought."

Vijay smiled. "That’s it. This way, the damage we can deal will be several times more severe, and the chances of them surrendering will increase manyfold."

Vijay patted Agni on the back. "So you have to go back and help your brother. It would not be too difficult for him to maintain stability in the empire with the help I provided, but he would be overwhelmed if he had to handle the logistics of mobilisation himself. Once you go back, take charge of the mobilisation, and also command the war on the new front."

Agni grew excited, his enthusiasm ignited, but suddenly, he remembered his duty in Greece.

"But father, who is going to replace me, and wouldn’t my return alert the Europeans that we are up to something?"

"Don’t worry about it, I will take over the logistics. I thought I would get to see some action in this war, but the Europeans playing a war of attrition ruined my enthusiasm. Not to mention, nothing interesting is bound to happen for at least a year. And there is no need to inform anyone that you have gone back, you can simply disguise yourself as me and leave."

"’The Emperor was feeling unwell and returned to the empire.’ An old man like me going back due to health concerns is perfectly normal, isn’t it? And given that most of your work happens behind closed doors, no one will doubt your absence as long as the efficiency of logistics does not drop."

"What about the reserve command, father? It has one point three million troops, not just anyone can command it, right?"

"I plan to split it into four units. I will have them tail the four different commands at a distance of thirty kilometres. The targets are getting close, and this is the time when reserve forces are most likely to be required, so I will assign commanders to these four units, and it should not be a problem."

All the worries Agni had were cleared. "I will set off immediately, Father." He bent down, took his father’s blessing, and resolutely left.