NOVEL WEB Chapter 907: Arms Upgrade
Simhasana Bhavana, Imperial Capital, Akhand Bharatiya Empire
Ganesh respectfully stood in front of Vijay, reading a letter. "Grand Duke Peter, along with the Duchess and the prince, have set off from Puducherry Port, your majesty, and the princess has been admitted to the Thanjavur Pre University College," he said, folding the letter and looking up for further instructions.
"Eh?" Vijay was taken aback. He gestured for Ganesh to go on with his business,
His eyebrows were raised, ' Thanjavur, not Bengaluru? ' he fell deep in thought. 'It looks like I have misunderstood you, Peter, your visit this time was neither for the steam engine nor to propose a marriage, but for both. ' Slowly, his lips curved into a crescent, 'It's a good plan,' he muttered. Peter should be aware of Agni's business in Puducherry, so he deliberately admitted his daughter to a college that is very close. 'Is it his way of telling me that I should take the initiative? haha You wish'
'Since you have shown me your intention, you have already given up the initiative, so don't blame me for taking advantage,' he thought, his gaze a little mischievous as he leaned onto the chair.
"Ask Kavya to start looking for suitable princesses." Vijay wrote a letter to his brother-in-law. Until now, she had not gotten involved as he deliberately did not make his thoughts of finding a girl for Agni clear, but since the Russian Grand Duke did not want to be honest, he would put some pressure on him to see if he would buckle.
He wouldn't be the one asking for the girl anyway; there was no reason to be in a hurry. He shrugged and played rogue.
---
In the blink of an eye, half a year has passed...
May 1673
The war in Europe, which had calmed down because of the winter, once again reached a red hot stage with the Russian gray animals steamrolling yet another fortress.
Vijay got the intelligence a few days ago about the fall of the fortress of Transylvania. Not only that, he got to know about the perilous condition of the Azov fortress in Crimea. From what Vijay read in the letter, he knew that Russia had gained a strategic advantage, and it was only a matter of time before it completely fell down; in fact, it might have already collapsed by the time the letter reached him.
Looking at the intelligence, Vijay sighed. His heart was heavy, the victory for the Russians didn't come easily, though, since not only did they have to sacrifice nearly 60,000 troops, but there were more deaths yet to come.
As for the Romans, they had not made any advancements, which Vijay could understand, because when they first joined the battle by taking advantage of the Ottomans and quickly occupying Budapest, the situation on the battlefield was something they could handle; for what it is worth they are still a superpower who can still afford to play with the big guys for a while, but six months later, that is no longer the case. The Ottomans and Russians have officially gone crazy. Each of the superpowers has mobilised more than a million troops for the largest war between two individual superpowers in history. The Holy Roman Empire, which is no longer in its heyday, can no longer afford a war on this scale.
With both the giants of Europe, the Bears and the Crescent Wolves, continuing to increase the number of troops and pouring them into the Balkans, the whole region of the Balkans has turned into a meat grinder. There is a saying that the Balkans are the gunpowder kegs of Europe; now it is no longer a gunpowder keg, it has directly transformed into a high-yield explosive. If there is something good coming out of this slaughter and bloodshed, it's that carbon emissions in the atmosphere would be reduced, and the plants will grow extremely lushly in the places of battle the next harvest season.
In such a situation, Emperor Leopold I decided to wait and see, not actively participating in any war, slowly recovering their strength by continuously integrating the obtained territory of Budapest.
Vijay felt like it was a very smart move, because the Ottomans, who were originally very wary of the Germans, worried about being taken advantage of and losing another fortress in the western region of the Balkans, have now reduced their wariness and once again placed their complete attention on the Russians, especially after losing Transylvania.
In this scenario, an opportunity must show itself, allowing for the Holy Roman Empire's further expansion.
On another note, after reading the intelligence throughout the months, Vijay is very happy that the Ottoman Empire has completely stood against the whole Western world when they started slaughtering the minorities on a large scale throughout the empire. Vijay knew that he should not be glad for thousands of innocents being slaughtered, but the benefits from it were really not small.
Due to the large-scale propaganda spread by the Bharatiya Empire, with the propaganda engines of the Holy Roman Empire and the Russian Empire acting as a catalyst, the entire European continent was embroiled in rage for the hundreds of thousands of fellow brothers and sisters being slaughtered en masse in the Ottoman Empire. Stories of when the Christians and Muslims slaughtered each other began to emerge, and the righteous men all over Europe began to march towards the Holy Roman Empire to provide their support.
With the general public being completely disgusted with the Ottoman Empire, the supposed allies, the Kingdom of France, Republic of Netherlands, and the Kingdom of Britain, were put in a dilemma where even if they wanted to help, as they did not want the Balkans to be completely occupied by the Russians and the Holy Roman Empire, they could not bring themselves to make the decision to send the troops.
Louis, Charles, and William, all three leaders of their respective nations, they tested the reaction of the people and their subordinate nobles by having a small noble talk about supporting the Ottoman Empire, but in the end the people were so enraged that they did not even care if the man was a baron and continuously harassed him by throwing stones at his manor every day. Not only that, the knights and soldiers under his command, a few of them went missing every day, and the wandering knights who heard about the news would come to the territory of the minor noble every day and throw challenges to the noble. In the end, Charles had to remove the minor noble from his position and send him to a remote location where no one knew him.
Everything seemed to be going according to the plan, the Ottomans are losing at a steady pace and no ally is willing to help them, but Vijay was feeling uneasy about the Russians.
Alexis I, the Russian emperor who had started the war, had passed away two months ago, passing on the throne to his crown prince Dmitri Alexandrovitch Romanov, a staunch traditionalist. Alexis I was not a reformist, but he at least took a neutral stance between the traditionalists and the reformists, which allowed for only important people to be placed in the army rather than some stuck-up nobles who could only talk on paper, but he does not know if it will be the same with Dimitri at the helm.
Although the Russians managed to win Transylvania, Vijay felt like the victory was due to the momentum the Russian Empire had previously built up, not because of anything Dimitri had done. In fact, Dimitri has already made some noble appointments to the army, but fortunately, they were all to non-essential positions. Dimitri does not dare to replace the generals, especially since they have brought the Russian Empire continuous victories, but Vijay does not know if this situation will persist into the future.
"I hope the worst situation will not happen," Vijay thought to himself. If the Russian Empire goes from a polar bear with its fangs sharpened and claws thirsty for blood to a small black bear, he wouldn't know where to cry.
---
Fortunately, in the grand scheme of things, the war in Europe has no effect on the Bharatiya Empire. If there is anything, it is that due to the war in Europe, the military industrial sector continued to develop, reaching a point it has never reached before. The stock market has gone completely haywire, seeing an increase in valuations of the three conglomerates by an average of five to eight percent every few days, and with the orders not stopping from the Russian Empire and, more recently the Holy Roman Empire, the stock market is not showing signs of stopping anytime soon.
In such a situation, Vijay called for a cabinet meeting and made some announcements.
"The war in Europe is the best opportunity for the Bharatiya Empire to carry out the weapons upgrade in an all-around way."
His words were direct, and his voice reverberated throughout the conference room.
"Arjun, collect all the publicly issued muskets in circulation from the police stations all over the nation. We are going to completely dump these outdated models into the Russian Empire. They are currently a bottomless pit that dares to accept anything."
"Although there will not be much profit, the money is still enough to cover nearly 60% of the police department's expenses to replace the weapons."
"All the police stations will be equipped with the military-issue Shakti rifles (Brown Bess) and the newly manufactured Vajra pistol (Colt 1861). You can place the orders with the three military conglomerates; they will expand the capabilities accordingly."
Arjun nodded happily. The weapons used by the police have been used since the days of the War of Unification. They have not changed much, but now they are directly upgraded to the arms used by the military. How can he not be happy?
Vijay turned his gaze towards the Minister of Defence, who had a look of expectation on his face.
"Kiran, make an inventory of all the small arms the army is currently using, package everything and sell it all to the Russians and the Romans in batches. The Shakti rifle will be replaced with Dhanush 61 rifle (Springfield Model 1861), Teeragni breech-loading carbine (Sharps Carbine), and Simha Astra breech-loading rifle (Martini-Henry); all three can now be considered as standard issue military rifles."
"The older versions of Shikari C50 and C60 could be sold as well; the newer versions are faster, have higher range, and are more accurate."
"Finally, dump all the muzzle-loading cannons, 30 kilograms calibre and below, to the Russians and the Holy Roman Empire."
"The army will now be equipped with Gaja Natha Smoothbore Cannons (Napoleon-style smoothbore cannons, 12 pounds to 68 pounds), Indra Krodha Rifled Artillery (Armstrong gun), Vadra Kundala Mortar (improved Coehorn mortar), Giri Vajra Howitzer (12-pounder mountain howitzer), Shakti Dhanu Rifled Artillery (Parrott rifle, 30 to 80 pounds), and Varuna Teer Volley Gun (Nordenfelt multi-barrel gun)."
Kiran happily agreed; he had been waiting for this day for a long time.
"Vinod, come up with the estimates of how much the whole replacement and upgrading plan will cost. I will approve the spending."