May 18th, 1656
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, The state of Vijayanagara, Capital city Hampi
Vijay is currently in a very good mood because many pleasant things have been happening in the past few weeks. For one, the city of Dhaka has been successfully captured, and the situation of the war in Kolkata is being solidified, with results expected in only a week.
Originally, it would have been a tricky situation to take down Kolkata within a few weeks, but thanks to Muhammad Fazil’s desperate behaviour of squeezing the people dry and pushing them to the corner, the Bharatiya External Pragya Intelligence Department took advantage of the situation, unleashing a rebellion among the civilian and military forces of Kolkata on a large scale.
Using these rebellious forces, a plan was made by Roshan. It involves having these separatist forces, who have been brought together, open the city gates from the inside, thereby allowing Birbal Singh and his army to enter the city.
Although Vijay is very confident that this strategy will work out, he still has to wait until a week later to determine the situation.
When the war in Bengal was leading to an unprecedented victory and almost conquered the region, the conditions in the battle zones of East Madhya Pradesh, West Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand were also showing satisfactory results.
Although the troops invested from both sides are increasing week by week, the upper hand is firmly in the hands of the Bharatiya Empire due to the quality of troops possessed by it.
Additionally, the artillery of the Bharatiya Empire is constantly increasing in quantity, whereas the arsenal of the Mughal Empire, though large in number, is not growing as quickly. The Mughal Empire lacks the industrial chain of the Bharatiya Empire. Moreover, the Mughal Empire faces significant logistical problems due to a lack of standardization, which disrupts their supply chains.
Knowingly or unknowingly, within the Mughal Empire, various factions representing different noble families have formed. Each faction has its own standards, so when a battle group comprising all these factions goes to war, the ammunition and parts required for the weapons are not readily found and need to be imported from separate suppliers.
One faction’s guns cannot be used by another faction due to incompatible ammunition.
During the war that has been ongoing for a few months, intelligence personnel have already noticed that many guns in the Mughal Army are not used regularly due to irregular ammunition supplies. Only a few weapons, for which the ammunition channels are nearby, are used regularly, while the rest of the guns have to wait until the manufacturer sends their own ammunition at a hefty price.
The point is that, with the Mughal Empire’s corruption and bureaucratic problems out of control, Commanders Ramayya Senapati, Narasimha Nayak, and Marshal Kiran Poojari have all taken advantage of the weakness and led successful attacks on the main enemy fortresses, chipping away at the enemy’s vitality one step at a time.
This is also one of the reasons why no army came to reinforce the Mughals in Bengal: they were heavily suppressed by the Bharatiya Army, whose combat effectiveness is continuously improving as the war progresses.
Vijay also felt very satisfied and happy that the development of the multiple rocket launcher and the handheld rocket launcher he led was a huge success, receiving constant praise from various military leaders across the Empire.
Honestly, both these weapons were developed after Vijay got inspired by the Japanese gun the Swiss had brought with them.
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For example, although not entirely Japanese, the first thing Vijay thought to design after looking at the Japanese gun was its counterpart, the Hwacha. The bharatiya Indra Danasu multiple rocket launcher is a weapon inspired by Hwacha, the Korean weapon that defeated the Japanese.
This legendary weapon is primarily based in fortresses, citadels, or any defensive structures and proved its prominence in the Battle of Haengju, where 3,400 Koreans equipped with 40 Hwachas were able to repel 30,000 Japanese troops.
Hence, Vijay, who felt the military could use some weapons primarily for deterring the enemy, developed the Indra Danasu multiple rocket launcher.
It is also to be noted that the rockets used in this rocket launcher are standardized, with each rocket having the same specifications and features. Additionally, the same rocket is used in the single-tube rocket launcher too.
Vijay felt very happy developing this rocket as he was able to enjoy the feeling of returning to what he is best at aircraft design. Due to this, he ended up developing advanced aerodynamic designs and propulsion calculations for this small rocket powered by gunpowder, which caused the range to increase by another 80%.
The smaller rocket launcher, which can be operated by a single person, is called the Krodha rocket launcher and uses the same rocket as the Indra Danasu multiple rocket launcher. The only additional feature of this rocket launcher is that it is rifled at the base and the ignition mechanism is no longer the manual fuse ignition but the standardized flintlock ignition.
Vijay has also planned to upgrade the multiple rocket launchers with flintlock ignition, rifling, and better materials for more power, but he decided to delegate this task to the scientists so that they could gain experience working with aerial weapons.
Apart from the weapons, Vijay also oversaw the upgrading of machine tools to version 2. Currently, these machine tools have started to be mass-produced while the older versions are being put out of service and sold to smaller industrial sectors in the empire at a lower cost.
For now, the foot-powered turning lathe has improved to the point where it can now work with diameters ranging from three inches to five inches and lengths from 1.5 to two feet.
The hydraulic drill press now has an accuracy of 0.5 to one inch.
The hydraulic milling machine now has an accuracy of four inches to six inches.
The hydraulic-powered grinding machine now has a diameter accuracy of eight inches to ten inches.
The hydraulic-powered screw press has not seen much change in power output, as the machine is highly dependent on the power source rather than its mechanisms. However, there has been an improvement in ease of use nonetheless.
As for the hydraulic rifling machines, after continuous upgrades, the barrel processing accuracy has reached 0.2 inches to 0.5 inches, fully capable of rifling any rifle, be it flintlock or matchlock.
In fact, production of the rifled version of the Brown Bess rifle is already underway, as frontline weapons are already undergoing this change.
Special units such as the Bharatiya Commandos and Bharatiya Marines have completed these upgrades, and these special soldiers are already utilizing version 2 of the Brown Bess muskets.
Overall, from version 1 to version 2, the accuracy of the machine tools has increased by 50% on average, opening more possibilities for the empire’s industries.
Returning to the production of weapons, Vijay has ordered the Bharatiya Academy of Military Sciences to study long-range weapons, such as sniper rifles, to enhance battle capabilities. Additionally, Vijay has considered further upgrades to the firing mechanism by researching percussion cap technology, which could pave the way for genuine rapid-fire weapons.
Aside from these, the prototyping of animal-powered harvesters is in the final stage. With the production of these machines, the labour gap in the agricultural sector could be immediately filled, and the output of the land could also be increased exponentially.
Vijay is looking forward to this, as he can foresee that with the mechanization of agriculture, the number of jobs needed in the empire would explode to several million immediately after the war ends and the army would begin to cut down on its costs and streamline its military structure.
This is both an opportunity and a great disaster for the empire, as with so many people suddenly becoming jobless, the social inequalities that Vijay has struggled to suppress could break out again.
Fortunately, He felt that this was also the perfect time for the empire to enter the age of steam, which could quickly create a snowball effect and push the empire into the electrification age within the next three to four decades. Hopefully, he will be around until then.
Another improvement that occurred in the empire during the war was the production of the Bhima Class Armed Merchant Ship, which proved to be very efficient and time-saving. Therefore, the military logistics department and various logistics sub-branches of the empire have continued to order 10 to 15 of these naval vessels, each capable of carrying 700 tonnes of cargo at a time.
Due to this, in areas like Balochistan where items from the central subcontinent originally cost a high price, costs continued to decrease due to large amounts of goods from the mainland flooding into Balochistan, especially due to the rapidly developing road network, which has facilitated even more rapid spread of the goods.
Inadvertently, due to these cheap and high-quality goods, the integration of Balochistan has progressed rapidly.
Overall, after observing the progress in various areas, Vijay had a satisfied expression on his face. He then continued to immerse himself in research, aiming to expedite the conclusion of the war and secure a few more advantages for the empire.