Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 891

Chapter 891: The goal of the Holy Roman Empire (2/2)
Leopold, who was watching all this, admired the young man for his timing. He had chosen the moment when everyone was drunk, when they were relaxed enough not to consider etiquette and their honour too much, at the same time, he had not waited until all the nobles had enjoyed enough and gone into their rooms to go about their business. He was impressed.

Leopold looked forward to the plan. ‘Was I thinking wrong the whole time?’ he began to ask himself. Because if he considered things from the boy’s point of view, the Holy Roman Empire really had very little to gain. Although he still felt it was very dangerous to allow the Russians to expand to the Mediterranean through the Balkans, he also knew that stopping the Bear, who was at its strongest, in their current situation, where they had still not fully recovered, was difficult.

“Go on,” Leopold said.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Thank you.”

Ruprecht continued to explain with excitement, using his gestures to draw an imaginary map in the air.

“With the support of the Bharatiya Empire, the Russians are too formidable, and their military power continues to rise. Taking them head-on is not a good solution. On the other hand, we cannot directly cooperate with them either, since it would cause a lot of backlash in our own Empire. But what we can do is take advantage of the situation the Ottomans are in and start snatching land in the western region of the Balkans.”

“It is very clear that the Russians are beelining for Constantinople, taking over all the eastern parts of the Balkans. Their attention on the western part might not be as intense as it is on the eastern part, especially since they also have to pay attention to their south. We can take advantage of this. We can launch an attack directly on one of the major fortresses of the Ottomans in the West. In my opinion, Budapest should be the first choice, as it is only 200 kilometres from Vienna.”

“This is what I mean by alliance. Even though we are not ‘alling’ in a traditional sense, our situation has forced us to align—where the Russians have to pinch their noses and recognise that we will be taking over the eastern part of the Balkans if they do not want to be overwhelmed by war on three fronts.”

“This way, not only will we occupy more territory, but the nation will also achieve a unity like never before. After all, who else is more perfect than the Ottomans to draw the hatred of all ethnicities and cultures in our land, apart from the crescented bastards?”

“We will not have to invest too many resources into the war, since I suspect we already have substantial intelligence on the nearby Ottoman fortresses. Not to mention, since we are going to completely get rid of them, all their wealth will now belong to us. You can see this war as both an investment and a battle to gain resources.”

Silence was observed for a long time. The voice of the young man was reverberating in their ears. They were still processing all that had been said. Alcohol had made their brains slow, but not unusable.

Finally, Heinrich opened his mouth.

“It is a good strategy. I am all right with it as long as we are not forming an alliance with the Russians. But in this way, the Western Europeans will be completely offended—they might cut off artillery supplies, leaving us without proper weapons.”

Heinrich voiced his concerns. This made several other nobles realise the problem with the plan, and they agreed with his point of view.

If it had been a few decades ago, this problem wouldn’t have arisen, since nothing could be properly blockaded in Europe—not even weapons—because there were just too many people willing to sell them. But after the Bharatiya Empire kept improving and modernising weapons, only the top manufacturers in various countries—those who received some sort of support from royal families or governments—managed to keep up. The rest, the small and medium-scale arms manufacturers, couldn’t compete and went bankrupt. This created a situation where nations now have control over what weaponry is sold, and to whom.

Just when everyone was in a dilemma, Leopold spoke out—his words surprising everyone, even Ruprecht.

“Artillery is not a problem. Although we are a few years late in developing new-generation artillery, we can’t be falling behind by too much. I have already arranged for the new Wilhelm Cannons, which have similar range and power to those made by the English, Dutch, and French, to be manufactured by the end of the year. We should be self-sufficient.”

Ruprecht was overjoyed. “This is very good news, Your Majesty. In fact, I thought we could trade with the Bharatiya Empire for the cannons, but it looks like we do not have to.”

“Trade with the Bharatiya Empire? Ruprecht, you know that those Bharatiya bastards refused to sell us any weaponry, don’t you? Why do you think they’ll suddenly sell it to us?”

“It’s because we’ve aligned with their goals, Your Majesty. I have read about the Bharatiya Empire—they are a very unified, pragmatic, and goal-oriented nation. Currently, it looks like their entire objective is to make the Ottomans and the Western Europeans suffer.”

“Originally, our nation had nothing to do with their conflict. But unfortunately, due to an idiotic move by the naval general we had sent in the past, relations broke down and couldn’t be repaired—until now.”

“If we really go through with the plan of attacking the eastern fortresses of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, it should show that we are aligning with their goals. And given their pragmatism, there is a high chance that not only will they resume diplomatic ties, but we can also revive the trade deal we had abandoned. However, since we can now produce our own cannons thanks to His Majesty, we can completely avoid taking support from the Bharatiyas.”

Leopold understood and spoke out.”No, your suggestion is good. Definitely contact the Bharatiya and take their support while we produce our own. Their weapons, although not cheaper than the ones we produce, can be manufactured at scales that are impossible for us. And their cannons are easier to maintain, since the ones we bought a decade ago are still being used.”

“What actually troubles me is the influence the Bharatiya Empire is gaining over major European countries. This cannot be a good thing.”

This sentiment was present not only in the nobles of the Holy Roman Empire but also in nobles of all the major nations. But the problem is, they do not know how to handle the Bharatiya Empire, which did not exist in Europe, thereby not having any weaknesses to exploit.

Ruprecht attracted everyone’s attention once again with his words.

“Your Majesty, it is clear that the rise of the Bharatiya Empire cannot be stopped. All we can do is not go completely against them and look for opportunities to create rifts from within, since the diplomacy of the Bharatiya Empire seems to be directed towards making friends with everyone who is not an enemy.”

“We can take advantage of this, as there are enemies within their friends. For example, the Italians and Spanish—they are allies of the Bharatiya Empire, but both these people are now in conflict. What we should do is not stop the conflict but watch from the sidelines to see how it develops.”

“We will lose some interest in the Italian peninsula in the short term, yes, but in the long term, it will be advantageous to us.”

“Let us allow passage for the Spanish to go through our lands, and let’s see how they deal with the Italian Federation. Let these two powers fight it out while we handle our battles in the eastern Balkans.”

“No matter how the battle ends between the Spaniards and the Italians, at least one of them will have broken their relationship with the Bharatiya Empire—or, if we are lucky, both.”

“We can use this knowledge in the future as well. If the Italians are showing the tendency to expand their navy and get a piece of the pie in the Americas, then we can actually fully support them and see which side the Bharatiya Empire will support. Will they continue to support the Spanish and Portuguese, or will they also support the Italians—the newcomers and one of their oldest allies? If support is provided to the Italians, then where do they occupy the land, since most of the Americas has already been occupied by major naval powers of Europe?”

“Once a conflict between Russia, Prussia-Brandenburg, or Polish-Lithuania arises, which side will the Bharatiyas support? Will they support all sides equally? Will the allies be happy with this? We can engineer our diplomacy to make situations like this happen and for us to stay out of the situation completely—and see if we can benefit from it.”

That day was what the German historians of the future called the day when the Iron Diplomat showed his finesse for the first time, changing the whole perspective of the Holy Roman Empire.