Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 836

Chapter 836: Caught off Guard 2
No words were spoken between Fariba Atashban and Roxana Atashban for a long time.

In a way, the Persian Empire is both blessed to have the support of the Bharatiya Empire as well as cursed, as Roxana cannot imagine when the Persian Kingdom could be free from the grasp of the Bharatiya Empire—at least until the Emperor of the Bharatiya Empire, His Majesty Rajyapathi Vijay Devaraya Maharaj, is alive.

Roxana’s view of Vijay is very contradictory. She is both thankful towards the Emperor of Bharat for not only providing support for the Zoroastrian and Parsi groups in the Middle East and supporting them to rebuild the Persian Kingdom once again, but also a little resentful, since almost every aspect of the Persian Kingdom is now under the influence of the Bharatiya Empire. As long as Vijay needs something to happen in Persia, even if it is something which she, as a queen, disagrees with, it still has to happen. On the contrary, she will have to change her opinion and follow the ideas of the Bharatiya Empire.

Being put in such a perilous situation, which was extremely taxing mentally, sometimes Roxana got dangerous ideas, like plotting an assassination or creating contradictions in the Bharatiya Empire to gain some development time for her kingdom so that it could stand on its own and at least have the ability to say no to the Bharatiya Empire. But fortunately, the logical and reasoning part of her brain worked very well, as she was still able to control her intrusive thoughts. Not to mention, it was highly doubtful she would succeed even if she were determined to go through with her plan. With the amount of intelligence the Bharatiya Empire had on the Persian Kingdom and her Atashban family, sometimes she wondered if Emperor Vijay even knew what colour of undergarments she was wearing.

Furthermore, putting aside all the practical considerations, even if she somehow succeeded in taking out Vijay, she would not have a peaceful time either. She knew how ingenious the method of inheriting the position of Emperor in the Bharatiya Empire was. It was not the method of princes inheriting the throne from the bloodline and the dynasty of the Emperor, but rather capable leaders of the nation who had garnered the most approval that inherited the position of Supreme Glory. And such a figure would only be a capable ruler and not the rice bugs like the previous nobles of the Safavid Empire. At least to uphold the dignity of Vijay Devaraya and to get revenge for assassinating the most beloved emperor, they would bloodbathe the whole of the Persian Kingdom the moment they rose to the throne.

Finally, if anyone, even in her own family, got wind of her ideas, they wouldn’t hesitate to strangle her powers, and even would dare to completely lock her away because her thoughts were so dangerous that even her beloved father, if he were alive, could not protect her. Everyone knows that for some reason, His Majesty the Emperor Vijay Devaraya is very averse to expanding his territory into the Middle East. When the Bharatiya Empire suddenly expanded its western territory six years ago, everyone thought that the Bharatiya Empire would completely occupy the Safavid territory controlled by the Ottoman Empire, but that did not happen. Instead, the alliance army was formed, and help was provided for the Kingdom of Persia and the Kingdom of Lalishthan to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

This could mean only one thing: that the Bharatiya Empire did not want to expand its territory into the Middle East and hence did not want its own troops to participate too much in the battles. This is undoubtedly good news for both the Persian Kingdom as well as the Lalishthan Kingdom. But people are just like this; even though Roxana knew that she had to be extremely thankful and count her lucky stars for the current situation of her family and the Persian Kingdom, the pressure and might of the Bharatiya Empire still filled her with feelings of fear and dread, which gave rise to a feeling of aversion. Simply thank God that she is a person with high intelligence; if it were someone else, maybe they wouldn’t be able to bear the pressure and act upon their impulses.

Roxana, who was lost in thought, suddenly heard the musical melody of the trumpets as well as the loud shout of the 5th regiment. Her attention was immediately focused, and she looked at the outskirts of the city.

“Sigh!”

“Looks like they have set off,” Fariba Atashban commented with a serious expression. The next moment, she closed her eyes and piously prayed, “May the Almighty Fire guide Kaveh to victory.”

Roxana Atashban didn’t say anything and did the same, but she closed her eyes unusually long. In fact, what Roxana Atashban did not tell anyone is that when the Piercer operation was planned and the question of which regiment would take on the responsibility came up, it was actually she who suggested that the regiment with the majority of Persian soldiers take the responsibility. To her surprise, her suggestion was accepted by the commander, but due to the importance of the operation, regrettably, the 5th regiment, which her brother was leading, was selected. When this happened, Ezidi Serwan, the King of Lalishtan and a Lieutenant General in the Alliance Army, just like her brother, suggested that he would take over the task, but it was she who actually rejected his proposal. She was worried that Lalishtan would catch up if she agreed.

Although she did make the right choice for the kingdom, she ended up putting her brother in danger, and she felt very guilty. This was another main reason why she personally came to Hamidam.

—

Several kilometres away,

Kaveh Atashban’s 5th regiment moved swiftly on horses and camels.

In the mainland of the Bharatiya Empire, war horses are not used too often because warhorses are not easily bred, and there are alternatives like war elephants and the like. But in the Middle East, there are several breeds of horses that can be used as war horses, not to mention there is a rich culture of warfare surrounding the horses in the Middle East and Central Asia.

So for the past 8 years, even the Bharatiya Army, which was not too proficient in horse cavalry, became very adept, to the point of being able to use it in warfare.

Kaveh Atashban doesn’t know the complicated circumstances under which his regiment was selected for the Piercer operation, but even if he knew, he wouldn’t care much because the merits of the Piercer operation were really too much. In fact, if he is able to complete the operation with as few casualties as possible, there is a high probability that the Persian Kingdom can finally purchase the manufacturing technology of a medium-scale blast furnace from the Bharatiya Empire.

Even though Kaveh does not understand industry, he at least knows that if the Kingdom of Persia is finally able to produce high-quality iron on a large scale, then their dependence on weapons from the Bharatiya Empire can be greatly alleviated. At least the muskets wouldn’t have to be purchased from the Bharatiya Empire, and a lot of merit points could be saved to purchase other technologies.

So, he is very cautious and alert during this operation. He cannot accept failure.

The journey was 200 kilometres. If it were on foot, it would have taken at least a week, but due to the whole regiment travelling on horseback and camelback, the travel time was cut down to only three days.

After three days of continuous travel, the excitement and eagerness in the eyes of most soldiers in the regiment had died down. Their emotions were much more stable, and they had become much more relaxed. However, Kaveh Atashban had a frown on his face because on his way, there were actually no enemies blocking his path. This was extremely unusual. You have to know, their target this time was the city of Qazvin.

By its name, it doesn’t sound very important, but it was anything but normal because, at one point, Qazvin was actually the capital of the Safavid Empire from 1548 to 1598. It was actually an ancient city that dated back to the Sassanian Empire of the 3rd century, founded by Shapur I as a military base.

Putting its historical heritage aside, the current Qazvin is as important to the Ottoman Empire as the Samudra Nagari State is to the Bharatiya Empire.

Just like the state of Samudra Nagari acts as a gateway and a defensive wall between the Bharatiya Mahasamudra and Southeast Asia, which helps in not only projecting the influence of the Bharatiya Empire but also controls trade, the city of Qazvin is currently the bridge of the Ottoman Empire to reach the interior parts of the Middle East.

The city of Qazvin is the only city found 100 kilometres north and 100 kilometres south. To the south is the line of actual control from the Bharatiya Empire, while to the north is the Caspian Sea, leading it to become the main transportation hub of the Ottoman Empire to reach the inland areas of the Ustajlu and Shamlu families.

Once Qazvin is occupied, it will be equivalent to cutting off the route for the Ottoman Empire to reach the inland. This alone can show the importance of Qazvin. This also shows how unusual the current situation is. Kaveh may be a little bit lacking in strategy compared to his colleagues in the Alliance Army, but he still had a keen intuition, and he had fought enough battles to understand that something was definitely wrong. But despite knowing this, he continued to move forward because the temptation of occupying Qazvin was not something he could resist.

Finally, a few hours later, the walls of the Qazvin fortress were visible to his eyes. But before he could order his regiment to halt, a loud cannon shot was heard.

“Bang!!!”

The cannon flew over at a fast speed, but since they were still several hundred meters from the fortress, the cannonball slammed onto the ground, causing a loud bang. The cannonball rolled over and managed to trip a horse, breaking its legs and throwing off the rider, who broke a few bones.

Seeing this tragic scene, Kaveh’s eyes grew bright. Instead of seriousness, he was actually smiling. “Finally, something normal is happening.” Until now, he had been on edge, unable to understand why there was no resistance from the enemy. He had even panicked, thinking that he might have fallen into a trap. At every moment, he was tense, thinking the enemy would flank him from behind. For this fear, he had also sent scouts to survey the area behind him for a dozen kilometres, despite the standard procedure being only four to five kilometres. He constantly received good news from the scouts that there were no enemies approaching, but still, as if his body could not accept things going so smoothly, he was very alert and restless. Now, finally getting attacked, he was somewhat relieved, and his tight nerves relaxed a little.

“Artillery divisions, take action!” he resolutely ordered. He did not provide any detailed orders, but he did not have to either, since the major generals of the artillery divisions immediately knew what to do. The soldiers, who had become relaxed, changed. As if they had flipped a switch in their minds, they had entered battle-ready mode, becoming sharper and more resolute in their movements. Within moments, the artillery was unloaded from the carriage and installed in a firing location, all within 20 minutes. Within an hour, the light artillery, mortars, and even several field cannons were installed.

Getting the okay signals from the major generals, Kaveh did not hesitate and resolutely ordered, “Fire!!!”

“BOOM!”

“BOOM!”

“BOOM!”

The deafening roars of the cannons, like angry metal beasts, reverberated through the battlefield, sending tremors through the ground and stirring up dust after every shot. Kaveh smiled with his mouth wide open.

But he was not carried away. He immediately called over the Brigadier General of the Hunter Company and ordered, “Mobilise your company, have them take positions around the battlefield and wait for my order.”

The Brigadier General immediately responded with a salute and left.

The Hunter Company is a special unit in the 5th regiment, filled with 160 of the most elite sharpshooters in the whole regiment. They are all equipped with improved Shikari C70 rifles as well as advanced camouflage gear, such as ghillie suits, anti-reflective panels on their guns, and other specialised equipment.

There are similar special units in other regiments of the alliance army as well. They were modelled after the special forces of the Bharatiya Empire, but the Hunter Company of the 5th regiment can be considered one of the top three sharpshooter units in the whole alliance army. The Hunter Company was Kaveh’s pride, and this is the exact reason why an officer at the Brigadier General level, who should be commanding a brigade, commands a company with only 160 people.

Soon, unbeknownst to anyone, many men, without alerting anyone, retreated behind the battlefield and dispersed.

To be continued…