Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

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Prasanna Nair was surprised by this action. ' What is this guy doing? Does he want to fight by ramming the ships? Who still does this? ' he muttered, not understanding the tactic of the Dutch.

"Keep firing! Do not waste this opportunity," he roared.

Although he did not understand what Henry Casimir was doing, he still decided to snatch the opportunity that was given to him.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The giant cannons of the Bharatiya Empire, manufactured by the Raya Armory, roared with all their might.

Incendiary shots and frag shots were shot, mixed within the normal cannonballs, making them harder to avoid.

The first ship, which acted as the spearhead of the charge, was absolutely disintegrated by the time it arrived a few hundred meters from the Bharatiya Navy.

Henry Casimir, looking at the scene, did not feel any pity. Instead, he had an indifferent expression on his face.

Measuring the distance from his fleet to the Bharatiya fleet, from his experience, he confirmed that the distance was enough.

"Quick, Hard Port," he ordered.

In the next moment, under the astonished gaze of Prasanna Nair, the Dutch fleet, which looked like a raging bull about to clash with the Bharatiya Navy, actually diverted their direction and zoomed past the Bharatiya fleet.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The cannons kept firing, but due to the close distance, when the Dutch fleet suddenly changed course, the cannons couldn't be recalibrated fast enough to be effective.

Prasanna Nair's eyes were wide open as he saw the Dutch fleet moving to his right a few hundred meters away.

"What the fu## is happening?" he yelled.

Before Prasanna Nayyar could turn the fleet around, the Dutch fleet had already put a lot of distance between them.

"Damn it. They are going to reinforce Mauritius, their aim was not the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to begin with, " he immediately figured out the situation.

Prasanna's immediate response was to chase the enemy since his fleet had a faster speed. But looking south and at the edge of Sumatra Island that could be vaguely seen, he was conflicted.

He did not know whether he should really give chase and hunt down the enemy or forget about them and directly enter the Malacca Strait to destroy all the naval infrastructure, which would effectively cripple the navy of the Dutch in Southeast Asia.

Unable to choose between one or the other, he thought of a compromise. 'What if I split the fleet?' he muttered. 'Not only will I be able to pursue the enemy and take advantage of the weaker defences at the back of the fleet to destroy a lot more battleships, but I will also be able to destroy the naval infrastructure of the Dutch in the Indonesian colony.' He nodded his head, finding the decision feasible.

"Sanjeev, let's form two battle groups from the existing fleet. One will pursue the enemy, and the other will destroy the naval infrastructure of the Dutch," he ordered.

Executive Officer Sanjeev was about to relay the orders to the captains and make preparations, but just then, the old tactician got up on the deck of the ship and waved his hand worriedly.

"Just a moment, Commander," he cried out.

Prasanna was startled as he had never seen the old man so worried. "What happened?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

The old man stopped moving forward as he got close enough to Prasanna, he bent forword, panting. "Commander, you should reconsider the order. I think the current situation is a trap laid down by the Dutch."

Prasanna was taken aback. "How could that be?"

The old man wiped the sweat off his forehead and said with a dignified expression. "Commander, wasn't our plan to split apart the enemy and take care of them one small group at a time? Now think about our own situation. Aren't we following the path which we wanted our enemy to follow?"

"Moreover, if the Dutch wanted to reinforce the forces in Mauritius, to begin with, why did they have to attack the Andaman and Nicobar Islands? Couldn't they directly sail to Mauritius? If I had not known better and had proof that the Chagos Islands had not been discovered by the Dutch, I would have suspected that the Dutch wanted to occupy the central location in the Indian Ocean, the Chagos Archipelago."

"With everything suspicious, don't you feel that we are falling into a trap?" he asked.

Prasanna Nair immediately felt a chill run down his spine. "Damn it!" he cursed, angry at himself for almost losing his rationality.

Fortunately, the reminder from the old man made him recover his calm. 'Following your line of thought, if this is a trap, then where is the trap? What do the Dutch want us to do?' he asked himself.

Then he looked to the south.

'Is it the backyard of the Dutch?'

'Do they want our fleet to go into their hinterland in their absence?'

'Is that where the trap is?'

His eyes lit up, and he felt like he was onto something. "Bahadur, what do you think we should do in such a situation?" he asked the old man.

The old man, Bahadur, pondered for a while, and responded, "In fact, we can actually take the bait." A sly grin crossed his face. "They have no idea that a battle group from our fleet has already entered the South China Sea through the Java Sea. So even if we know that the hinterland of the Dutch is the poisonous apple, it is still an apple too juicy to let go."

"We can enter the Strait of Malacca and wait until we get a response from the battle group in the South China Sea."

"This should reduce the danger level of the action."

Prasanna Nair nodded his head and fell into deep thought. He was simulating the plan in his mind to see if it could work. "It's a good idea. Let's do it then," he said as he ordered Sanjeev to relay his modified orders.

---

30 minutes after the Bharatiya fleet had left the coast of the Nicobar Islands, a fishing vessel that was docked in the port of Nicobar suddenly accelerated towards the south to the place where the Dutch fleet had left nearly an hour ago.

A few hours later, the fishing vessel came to a halt near the Dutch fleet, which had stopped at a certain location in the Indian Ocean.

"Sir, the Bharatiya Empire, after arranging some defences on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has entered the Malacca Strait."

Henry Casimir, who received the information he wanted, immediately smiled. He was originally worried that the Bharatiya Navy would not fall for his tricks and would use the full force of their fleet to hunt his fleet down. Fortunately, that did not happen.

"Let's go back," he ordered, filled with anticipation to see the results of his masterpiece.

---

The Bharatiya fleet entered cautiously into the Malacca Strait. Prasanna Nair was prepared for any surprises, but surprisingly, there were none. Aside from the coastal defences, which continuously fired their cannons in a futile attempt, he did not even spot a small sloop used for reconnaissance keeping an eye on them.

This situation confused him, but he continued moving forward.

Eventually, the Bharatiya fleet reached the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur, and as expected, the naval defences were strong. However, the Delhi-class battleship housed a giant cannon of the new 40-kilogram calibre. The cannon, designed by Sai from the Sai Design Bureau and manufactured by Raya Armory, had all the new advanced features and was the culmination of the Bharatiya Artillery technology for the last 9 years, such as rifling, range and altitude adjustment, and even a telescope for easier aiming.

The only issue with the cannon was the steel used to build it—it could not withstand too many rounds of fire. The cannon was rated for only 100 rounds, so it was not often used. But now, with the opportunity to destroy the port of Kuala Lumpur before him, Prasanna Nair did not hesitate to deploy it.

"BOOOM!" A deafening explosion echoed from the barrel of the Bharatiya 40-kilogram calibre cannon.

The mouth of the barrel spewed fire as the large cannonball flew into the air, heading straight for the port of Kuala Lumpur.

"Ahhhh!"

"Run!"

The military personnel, slaves and civilians at the port ran in panic as they realized they were under attack.

"BOOM!" The large 40-kilogram projectile struck a merchant ship weighing at least 700 tonnes, and one shot was enough to completely sink the vessel.

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

The four monstrous cannons on the four Delhi-class battleships unleashed devastation on the port of Kuala Lumpur. Each shot caused massive destruction and havoc. The infrastructure, built with sturdy stone and wood, could not withstand the might of the Bharatiya cannons.

As the coastal artillery began to weaken, the Pune-class battleships, frigates, and clippers moved forward, unleashing hellfire upon the defenceless port.

The sound of explosions did not cease until every single man-made structure in the port had been thoroughly ploughed to the ground like farmland ready to be sowed with seeds by artillery fire.

Prasanna Nair, looking at the port, knew that he had succeeded in demolishing one of the important ports of the Dutch in Indonesia.

"Portside, let's go forward," he ordered, excitement clearly visible on his face.

To be Continued...