Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Pune-class battleships and Frigates immediately took the opportunity to get closer and deal heavy damage. The clippers, utilizing their nimble bodies and speed, went around delivering killing blow after killing blow.

Only rubble and the destroyed remains of the frigates were left on the sea. Looking at the scene, Prasanna Nair calmed down, but then he became confused. He did not understand what the danger mentioned by battle group captain Prabhakar was. But he knew that this was not the time to find out; so instead, he thought about his next move, especially since he knew that the main naval fleet of the Dutch should arrive at any moment now.

'What was the aim of the Dutch?' he asked himself the fundamental question. 'From the current situation, it is clearly to push us into the depths of the Malacca Strait and choke us,' he said to himself. Although he did not know what was on the other side of Rupat Island, since Prabhakar had used the emergency alert to inform him of the danger, it should be something that posed a life-ending threat to his navy.

Thinking up to this moment, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. If he had indeed gone forward like his original plan, he would have been caught in the trap. Even if he noticed the trap early on and defeated the frigates waiting in ambush, there would not be enough time for him to retreat, as the Dutch Batavia fleet would be waiting on the other end of the Malacca Strait.

If he wanted to escape by going deep into the Malacca Strait and into the South China Sea, then he would have to go through the narrow path containing the danger Prabhakar had mentioned.

"What an insidious plan," he thought to himself, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists in annoyance. If it were not for sending a battle group to play the guerrilla war strategy, he would have already fallen into the trap.

"Fortunately, fortunately, God is kind," he thought to himself.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Prasanna Nair, with everything he knew, suddenly thought of an idea to fool the Dutch and hit back with a counter-attack of his own.

"Remove all the flags of the Masts and the deck and throw them into the rubble floating over there. Also, abandon a Chennai-class clipper and make it look like it is sinking," he ordered.

Executive Officer Sanjeev didn't question his decision but instead followed the orders to a T.

Looking at the crime scene, Prasanna Nair nodded his head with satisfaction. "Retreat behind the Pulau Tengah island," he ordered.

Pulau Tengah Island is an island off the coast of Kuala Lumpur. It is a hilly island large enough to cover all the warships and battleships of the Bharatiya Empire. Moreover, due to the bombardment that had taken place a few hours ago, no merchant ships were found functional to disclose their whereabouts to the Dutch.

Getting into the spot, Prasanna Nair waited with bated breath.

20 minutes later

Henry Casimir II finally arrived at the Malacca Strait with excitement and expectation evident on his face.

"Your Highness, look," a subordinate pointed towards the destruction that had taken place over the port of Kuala Lumpur.

Henry, even though he could only glimpse a little of the destruction due to the obstruction of a few islands, could still see that the whole port was burning with flames. However, he did not feel surprised because, originally, he used the port of Kuala Lumpur as a bid to lure in the Bharatiya fleet.

Henry was a very decisive person. He knew that with the failure of the Dutch to stop the Bharatiya Empire in their naval net operation, the colony of Indonesia was as good as lost. In this case, what is the use of a functioning port if, in the end, it would have to be given up to the Bharatiya Empire? So, in Henry's opinion, if the destruction of a port could destroy the Bharatiya Empire's fleet, then the destruction of the port was worth it. It could be rebuilt with the help of slaves anyway.

More importantly, Henry paid attention to the interior of the Malacca Strait. He had his fleet move forward as he saw a hint of saffron reflecting off a flag floating on the sea over the horizon.

Moving forward, it was a Bharatiya ship that was half-sunk. Near the Bharatiya ship, there was debris and destruction everywhere.

"We succeeded!"

"Hahahah!"

"Death to Bharat!"

"HAHA! Die, insolent fools!"

The Dutch sailors immediately celebrated their victory.

Everyone started to dance on the deck of the ship. Some even went over to their rooms and fetched a bottle of rum to enjoy their victory.

A few minutes later, the ambushers hidden further within the Malacca Strait slowly emerged, carefully avoiding the mines that were still in the sea.

"Oh, the Bharatiya fleet is destroyed?" most of them thought and started to celebrate. Since all they heard were the sounds of cannon fire and screams, they assumed the Bharatiya fleet had been sunk to the bottom of the sea. What's more, they couldn't really reveal that they had skipped their duty since a few mines suddenly exploded near them.

"Haha, awesome!"

"This is what they get for being too arrogant!"

"Haha, these subhumans should know their place!"

However, unfortunately, Henry Casimir II wasn't smiling. He looked at the field of debris with a doubtful expression.

'According to my calculations, the Bharatiya fleet should be fighting with the ambushers right about now. How can they be destroyed so quickly? It doesn't make sense!' He was confused.

"BOOM!"

Everyone's celebrations were cut short, and Henry's worry became reality when a deafening sound of cannon fire was heard from behind. In the astonished gazes of everyone, the fleet of the Bharatiya Empire, whom they thought had been destroyed, emerged from behind the Pulau Tengah Island.

Henry's eyes widened in disbelief. "What! How could this happen? I had planned everything precisely. What could have gone wrong?" he cried out with a hint of fear.

"BOOM!"

The ship at the back of the Dutch battle fleet immediately experienced the bombardment of four 40kg monstrous cannons hitting right at its deck, mast, and hull. One round of bombardment, and the galleon began to take in water, soon starting to tilt.

'No, this cannot go on,' Henry quickly realized. If he did not act quickly, his navy would be wiped out. "Full speed ahead to Port Dickson!" he roared.

The Dutch fleet immediately turned portside and went full speed to the port of Dickson, which had been recently established.

The Bharatiya fleet did not let up the pressure and kept pursuing the enemy.

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

One after another, the Dutch warships fell to the might of the Delhi-class battleships.

In this one confrontation alone, nearly 30% of the Dutch fleet had been wiped out, and adding to the previous destruction, nearly 45% of the Dutch fleet in Southeast Asia had been annihilated. The Dutch Navy was crippled for good. Under normal circumstances, with enough resources and time—roughly a few years and a few million Ducats—the Dutch fleet in Southeast Asia could recover slowly. However, the Dutch were currently engaged in a battle they could not afford to lose. If they won the battle, they would retain control of the Indonesian archipelago until the Bharatiya Empire recovered and struck back. But if they lost, they would permanently have to say goodbye to their Southeast Asian interests.

Prasanna Nair immediately frowned when the navy docked in a small port not far from the port of Malacca. In fact, his next destination was originally the port of Malacca, as crippling this port would permanently rid Malaysia of the Dutch Navy's access to Malaysian ports, enabling the Bharatiya Empire to increase its influence and significantly improve the chances of rebellion succeeding compared to the initial attempt. However, that idea was unfortunately halted due to the trap that had been set in the interior of the Malacca Strait.

Now, with the Malacca port still existing, he still didn't dare to pursue the enemy to the death. Moreover, he had done enough to keep the Dutch in Indonesia from reinforcing the war in Mauritius.

"Halt!"

He ordered, stopping his fleet from moving forward.

"Inform Raja Aditya Bhonsle. Have him send materials to build a forward base in Kuala Lumpur."

"We can build a multi-specialty military barracks here covering both the navy and the army."

Sanjeev quickly saluted and sent the message through a clipper to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

--- Continue reading at empire

Within a few hours, Port Swaraj (Port Blair) in the Andaman Islands became extremely busy. The military logistics department immediately arranged for private companies to transport military supplies at higher prices. The private logistics companies owning naval channels made substantial profits, especially John Brown, who had focused his entire business on trade between the Bharatiya mainland and Southeast Asia. He seized a significant opportunity to transport military rations and even gunpowder using his modified Khaki-class grain transporter.

In fact, if Vijay had declared a national emergency and shifted the nation into a military economy mode, all private companies would have been nationalized to support the war. However, since this war was external and had minimal physical impact on the mainland, Vijay decided against it. Moreover, he believed that declaring a national emergency every time there was a conflict would stifle the growth of the military industry and dampen the enthusiasm of military technology innovators within the empire. Additionally, Vijay wanted to use this war to stimulate the economy, pushing the Bharatiya Empire to the brink of an industrial revolution.

---

28th July 1659

Reading the full battle report, Admiral Gangadhar was at first very annoyed by the risk taken by Prasanna Nair. But when he read about the result of capturing Kuala Lumpur and permanently crippling the Dutch Navy, the annoyance quickly disappeared, and he was relieved. From the report, he could see how dangerous the situation had been. 'Although this kid lacks some experience, he does think quickly enough on his feet, listens to good suggestions, and, more importantly, he is brave enough,' he thought to himself. 'It's just a pity for the agents of the Bharatiya External Pragya who had to pay the price for this victory. Sigh!' He knew that His Majesty wouldn't be too happy about this, but he also knew that Prasanna wouldn't be reprimanded too much for his actions. After all, at the end of the day, he had managed to clinch a big victory for the empire.

So, knowing his Majesty, he shouldn't blame Prasanna too much in this issue. Moreover, it was written in the report that a secret weapon of the Dutch had been captured and sent to the Bharatiya Academy of Military Sciences for research. With all these contributions, at most, the credits, which are mostly useful for nobility promotion, would be reduced to the level of what Prasanna would have received if he had only managed to keep the Dutch at bay. He pondered the matter for a few more minutes until he received more good news from the battlefield in the Socotra Islands.

P.S. The Debt is paid