July 15th, 1656
After the war in Ayodhya ended, Vijay did not stay behind and immediately returned to the Agra Battlefront to continue overseeing the battle’s progress.
He had to say that after losing Patna, which equated to losing the majority of Bihar and failing to destroy the temple of Ayodhya, which was meant to be a huge blow to the spiritual strength of the Bharatiya Empire, Mohammad V and Feroze Jung felt very angry and helpless.
Especially now that Vijay had completely shifted from the offensive tactics he used at the beginning of the war to the defensive strategies he was currently employed, the initiative of the Mughal Empire had completely disappeared. This made Mughal Emperor Mohammad V very uneasy.
In recent days, the Mughal Army stationed in Agra repeatedly launched raids on Malpur, the town used by the Bharatiya Empire due to its close proximity to Agra, in an effort to provoke the Bharatiya Empire.
Sometimes, the Mughal Empire would send out a team of five to ten thousand people to cut off the logistics channels to Malpur from the south. Unfortunately, they very rarely succeeded, as there were assets within the Mughal Army who could inform the Bharatiya empire of their movements.
Hence, most of the time when this team set off to disrupt the logistics chain of the Bharatiya Empire, Narasimha Nayak had already laid a trap for them to fall into. In this way, without taking much direct action, they were able to dwindle the numbers of the Mughal Empire by ten to twenty thousand.
However, there was one time when the disruption in the logistics chain was successful, and the main army of Bharat stationed in Malpur did indeed run out of logistics supplies for a whole week. Additionally, they had to defend against the Mughal army which suddenly attacked after feeling that it was an opportune moment.
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Fortunately, due to the restocking mechanisms of the Bharatiya Empire, where the logistics supplied once would be adequate enough for the war effort for at least a few weeks, the army was able to hold out until the logistics chain was rebuilt in the coming week.
Hence, the Mughal Army stationed in Agra and Delhi, upon witnessing the reconnected logistics supply of the Bharatiya Army, did not hesitate and swiftly retreated, fearing they might be ambushed. After that, the annoying skirmishes ceased, and the Mughal army became silent, perhaps brooding about their next plan of attack.
As for Vijay, reading the reports that had recently been received, he got up in delight and laughed loudly.
Because the 200,000-strong army that the Mughal Empire sent to the door of Lahore had been completely eliminated and the operation to punish the tractor had failed. Also, the Mughal Empire lost more than just this 200,000 army.
They also lost the region of Punjab, as Abdullah Rahman declared his independence from the Mughal Empire and established the Malerkotla Kingdom, crowning himself the king of Malerkotla.
Vijay couldn’t help but become even happier just thinking about Muhammad’s reaction. ’He should be fuming right now,’ he thought, laughing happily.
In fact, Vijay was right. Muhammad was indeed not too happy to hear the news, to say the least. Now that three of the noble families he had placed his trust in had betrayed him, everyone began to look like a traitor to him. He even started to doubt his own relatives. However, there were some people whom he suspected more, who would most likely confirm his suspicions.
This included the Rathore and Kachwaha families, who did not actively attack the Bharatiya Empire. He had already considered them traitors.
In his anger, he sent out an order to the Rathore and Kachwaha families to attack the Bharatiya Empire army or be considered a separatist and rebellious group that had to be eliminated.
Sadly enough, just as he sent out this order hoping for a good outcome, more bad news reached his ears.
"Javed Khan is defeated, and we have lost the foothold in Prayagraj and Varanasi."
"Boom!!"
"So fast..." Mohammad was taken aback, his eyes wide open, and his heart beating fast. He had already become very nervous and almost insane after being hit blow after blow by the Bharatiya Empire.
His empire, which had nearly been 3 million square kilometres in size, had now been reduced to a small kingdom holding its influence in the region of Uttar Pradesh. How could he not be scared? No matter how strong his mental fortitude and experience in dealing with failure, it was undoubtedly extremely hard knowing very well that the chance of a counter-attack was bound to be nonexistent.
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In the context of the victory of the Bharatiya Army commanded by Yogendra Singh, There was a similar reaction from Vijay too, as he was equally shocked at how Yogendra Singh managed to quickly take over the cities of Prayagraj and Varanasi.
However, after reading the battle reports, it made sense. Apparently, Sarvesh, who was allowed to recuperate for a few days in Ayodhya before going on to his next mission, did not actually recuperate. He swiftly led the 5,000 marines along with him to breach the city of Varanasi using the Ganga River and created an opportunity for the Bharatiya Army stationed outside the city to conquer it.
He repeated the same trick again, but this time the operation was not as successful, as it looked like Javed Khan had already anticipated the arrival of the marines. Fortunately, Sarvesh, who had keen senses and instincts, asked the intelligence channels within Prayagraj to collect all the unusual information in the city and send it to him.
It was only then that Sarvesh found out that Javed Khan was laying an ambush for the Marines.
Hence, he did not fall for the tricks. On the contrary, it was Javed Khan, whose attention was diverted to leading an ambush on the marines, who failed to notice the approaching 100,000-strong army from Ayodhya.
By the time he had realised his mistake, it was already too late.
When he saw that he was outnumbered and surrounded from all directions, he did not hesitate and immediately surrendered to the Bharatiya Empire. Yogendra Singh, after receiving the message of surrender, fell into deep thought. Honestly, Javed Khan did not cause massacres within the city, and his behaviour toward the Hindus could be considered acceptable by today’s standards.
Hence, he was not executed but taken in as a political prisoner, and a lot of bloodshed was avoided.
Vijay, who received the report, was very satisfied with the progress of the war, which had now reached its final leg.
He also received confirmation that Sarvesh would continue to act and breach the city of Kanpur with the help of the Ganga River.
Vijay had no doubt, as Sarvesh had proven time and time again that there was no city defence Sarvesh could not breach, especially if the city was on the banks of a waterbody.
Hence, with Sarvesh coming forward to lead the 100,000-strong army, which had been maintained by taking in new recruits when the numbers dropped, the combat effectiveness remained intact even though thousands of soldiers who had initially left Patna had already lost their lives.
With this constant combat effectiveness, the army swiftly marched to the next location, Kanpur, to help the battle group of Ramayya Senapati achieve victory and finally reach their destination, the battlefront of Agra.
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While the war was going on in full swing in the Northern part of the subcontinent, the industrial and military development of the empire back home had not stopped; on the contrary, it had increased its productivity greatly.
With the revolutionary ox-powered harvesters released to the market, it caused huge waves within various state governments that controlled large tracts of farmland previously owned by nobles.
Traditionally, these tracts of land were used to redeem military merits, and until these lands were redeemed, it was up to the government to manage them. So usually, the government employed farmers to work in those fields. But sadly, due to the war, the workforce focusing on manual farming work had decreased a lot, putting the government in a dilemma.
Now, with the harvesters coming out that could hugely reduce the work needed to harvest the crops, various agricultural ministries were delighted.
Vinod, noticing these positive changes, used his power as the Prime Minister of the empire and, with Vijay’s approval, placed an immediate order for the manufacture and construction of thousands of harvesters to be used throughout the empire. As proof of the advanced industrial capacity of the Bharatiya Empire, the orders for the harvesters began to be fulfilled only a week after placement.
Vinod, further witnessing the effectiveness of the harvesters, immediately started to promote them to the new middle class of the empire by providing the harvesters with rent or buy through no-interest loans to start agricultural service companies.
This led to many people who had made money through the war immediately invest in this relatively stable industry of helping farmers harvest their crops for a fee. Since there were no regulations on how many such companies could be formed, nearly 400 such companies were founded only a week after the policy was released.
Unsurprisingly, most of these companies were opened by business owners who already had experience in running state-owned enterprises, using their own considerable wartime earnings as capital.
With the participation of so much capital, the agricultural sector of the empire, which was struggling due to a shortage of labour, immediately sprang back to life. The harvest that is about to be harvested in the coming month is looking to be very bountiful.
The only fear of Prime Minister Vinod is what to do with the large number of unemployed people once the war ends. Although he does not know precisely how a large number of unemployed people could affect a nation, he knows from his experience that the majority of men in the empire having no jobs is not a good thing. So he decided to bring up this matter with His Majesty.
Putting aside the improvements in the agricultural industry, there were also advancements in the military sector, as a new weapon had been developed by the Bharatiya Academy of Military Sciences, with the project headed by the head of the Sai design bureau, Sai, himself. (Inventor of the 20 kg Calibre Cannon & Giant Cannon)
The new weapon Sai had developed came after he had received an outline of the weapon from Vijay.
As for the weapon Vijay chose, it was the Coehorn mortar, which was developed in the late 17th century.
Sai had participated in the major development of a weapon after a very long time, so he gave his utmost attention to developing the mortar and was even more serious during testing. After testing the mortar, he was very satisfied, so he immediately wrote down its specifications in a classified document and sent it to His Majesty for approval and production.
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Name: Ulka Mortar
Action: Single-shot muzzleloading
Calibre: (Three options)
- 4.25 inches: Primarily used for harassing enemy positions and providing close-range explosive support to infantry.
- 5.5 inches: Offers a balance between portability and explosive power, making it suitable for various tasks.
- 12.75 inches: Designed for siege warfare and inflicting maximum damage on enemy fortifications and structures.
Barrel:
- Length: Approximately 13 to 15 inches, depending on the calibre.
- Material: Cast iron, steel, or brass.
Bomb:
- Diameter: Slightly smaller than the mortar’s bore size for easy loading.
- Material: Hollow shell filled with gunpowder and fitted with a fuse.
- Weight: Depends on the calibre; can range from 3 kilograms to 14 kilograms.
Mounting:
- Simple wooden base or mortar bed for stability.
- Larger models have carriages or fixed emplacements.
Performance:
- Effective range: Up to 914 metres.
- Effective rate of fire: One shot per minute.
- Estimated time for construction: 20 units in 7 days.
P.S. Thank you for the Pizza dono, its_a_joke