Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1167

Capítulo 1167: WW1: European Setback

12th October 1698.

Nearly a month after the battle of Cape Town started.

“King William Stead Lynden has been eliminated, Your Majesty. His Highness Vinod’s army successfully flanked the enemy during their retreat and wiped them out in a single decisive strike,” Lieutenant General Mugund Padmanabam reported, pride evident in his voice.

“General Kirtan, who commanded the operation, is on his way to give a full report on the post battle situation, sire.”

Vijay nodded in response, his lips pursed as his foot tapped lightly against the ground, feeling a sense of relief for the first time in a long while.

That’s right. This was the strategy he chose to deal with the Kingdom of Lynden. The plan was to both put on a show and actually follow through with the decision to attack the kingdom in a frontal offensive, thereby giving the impression to the enemy that they only had one area to defend, while he secretly ordered the vassel kingdom ruled by Vinod to use his army to infiltrate into the North City of the Kingdom of Lynden and end it once and for all, clearing the tree and the weeds. Safe to say it worked marvellously.

The main factor why it worked so well was because, unlike the South City, where the Kingdom of Lynden actually had more control over, the North City was not that organised since it was a city to trade between the Kingdom of Lynden and the indigenous tribals who brought slaves as merchandise from their wars. The security was not too strict, any tribal leader bringing in people to sell as merchandise would be let in.

Vinod’s army took advantage of this loophole. The indigenous soldiers were dressed up as slaves and were let in to infiltrate the city. In order to bring in the weapons and equipment, they even bribed the guards with large amounts of money.

Logically speaking, as soon as the war started, the trade in the North City should have been stopped, but unfortunately, William was simply too arrogant. He thought that there was no way that the Bharatiya Empire could breach the South City within a day, with him forming more than 100,000 troops.

Unfortunately, his prediction ended up backfiring, and he had to run to the North City, and it was only then that he sent the message to freeze all trade and lock down the city, but sadly, he was too late. The army of Vinod was already within the city. Maybe if he stopped on the road and inquired about the city carefully, he would sense something amiss with the large number of so-called elephant ivory that had been shipped in large wooden boxes, but as he was already panicked by the loss in the South City, he neither had the ability nor the patience to slow down and think.

What happened next was no surprise. The army started a massacre as soon as William entered the city, and by the end of the day, everything had come to an end.

“Strong when everything goes according to plan, fragile the moment something goes wrong.” That was Vijay’s assessment of William.

Hearing the report earlier, Vijay understood how much influence the order to eliminate the enemy army filled with indigenous soldiers had on his own army, who had never experienced slavery or fought for someone else’s cause without them personally having any say. But on the other hand, Vinod’s army, which was practically filled with indigenous natives, met all those conditions, and their rage could only be vaguely imagined. He was sure they fought far more fiercely than his own army, and that alone explained how the battle was finished in a single day, even without the advanced weaponry the main force had used.

“What about the naval operations? Were they successful?”

Vijay looked at the middle-aged man who radiated an air of authority and asked.

“I’m happy to report that I have fulfilled my responsibility, Your Majesty,” the man responded as he saluted, his back straight like a spear.

The man was none other than Yashwanth Keshav Pandapani, the vice admiral of the temporary fleet that was left to deal with the European colonies on the West Coast of Africa.

Hearing the reply, Vijay nodded in satisfaction.

In this era, the situation in Africa is quite complicated. In certain parts, it is colonized and its resources are extracted far more than in his previous life, and in other parts, it is thriving and developing at a faster speed than was unimaginable in the 17th century.

The region that is thriving is naturally the Central African region, where the Bharatiya Empire has the most influence and presence. With the Bharatiya Empire’s three vassal kingdoms and several allied nations, the ecology of Central Africa has completely changed.

Several smaller kingdoms that resisted the empire have been merged into a bigger unit, and the person in power is a staunch supporter of the Bharatiya Empire.

The region that is oppressed and colonised to a much higher degree is naturally the regions colonised and managed by the European countries. After all, even though due to the influence of the Bharatiya Empire, the Europeans are seeing the colonies as more than mines and potentially their new home, Africa, a place devoid of advanced civilisation with dense jungles and countless numbers of indigenous people, is a pill that the Europeans still find too hard to swallow. They could not bring themselves to treat the Africans as humans and the land of Africa as their new home.

Over the years, a fragile equilibrium has been formed on the continent of Africa. The northeast of Africa, as well as the central region of Africa, is the stronghold and the orthodox regions of the Bharatiya Empire, while the northwest, as well as the southern tip of Africa, is the orthodox territory of the Europeans.

But thanks to the war, the equilibrium has been completely broken.

“The colonies of Senegambia, Gold Coast, Slave Coast, Pepper Coast, Grain Coast, Ivory Coast, and Guinea Coast have all been liberated. Only the stronghold of Niger that is inland is left, but we predict that it will not take long for the Europeans to surrender themselves, especially considering their logistic lines have been cut off.”

Vijay smiled, hearing the news.

These colonies had always been a thorn in his eyes, not only because of humanitarian and moral reasons, but also because these were the raw material hubs for the Europeans. Northern Africa is barren, extremely barren due to the Sahara Desert, but northwest at the coast is a fertile land of greenery and rich resources, especially in the regions of Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon.

Thankfully, in this life, due to the existence of the Oyo Empire, the Europeans could not establish colonies on the coast of Nigeria and Cameroon, but everything to its west has been completely colonised, and the extraction of resources has been brutal and merciless. With Vijay’s pressure, the Europeans no longer even maintained the thin mask of civilised people they usually put on themselves in order to justify their actions in the colonies. Everything was determined by how much someone could benefit their respective empires.

Senegambia was the largest exporter of gum and a large exporter of slaves to the Americas. The Slave Coast was the largest exporter of slaves to the Americas, ranking first in the world overall, and also a large exporter of pepper and ivory. The Pepper Coast, present-day Liberia, exported Malaguetta pepper, a substitute for black pepper, and even certain quantities of slaves to the Americas. The Grain Coast supplied a large amount of grains to the European countries, and its importance was so much so that major European countries joined together and operated the colony in partnership.

The colony of Sierra Leone exported large amounts of timber and oil. It was also one of the offshore shipbuilding bases for several European countries. The Ivory Coast was a large hub for ivory, and more recently, it gained more prominence for its ability to grow rubber, and due to this prominence, it once again became a multi-country operated colony. The Guinea Coast gave the Europeans gold and several metals. As for the inland region of Niger, it exported certain quantities of coal, gold, iron ore, tin, and phosphates.

In fact, when the Europeans, completely different from their usual way of colonising the coastal regions, colonised Niger, Vijay was startled and was in a cold sweat, but in the end, he calmed down, thinking that it was only his reflex reaction due to Niger having a particularly abundant quantity of uranium. In fact, it was a country in his last life that was one of the world’s largest producers, but after figuring out that the Europeans simply wanted to try diversifying the assets, he calmed down.

But now everything is lost. The hard work of the Europeans, the colonies they had built up after taking countless lives, had been lost. It has all been destroyed.

‘It’s got to sting, doesn’t it?’ He thought, his smile only widening.

‘I wonder what their expressions are like now?’ He muttered.