Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Palembang

Diederik van Lynden was feeling a little uneasy as he paced around his room with a troubled expression on his face.

Ever since the time he got the intel about the Bharatiya Navy attacking Sangiang Island, he had been unable to rest peacefully. Many times, he woke up to nightmares, thinking of assassins from the Bharatiya Empire ending his life and taking over everything he had built.

Two months ago, when he met up with Reinout and Otto for the first meeting of cooperation between the three kingdoms, apart from the exchange of trade and diplomacy, the major concern was security. There was a lot of discussion about whether the Bharatiya Empire would attack their kingdoms. But in the end, the common conclusion reached by all three parties was that the Bharatiya Empire would not attack them at full force since they could no longer be considered colonizers.

Reinout and Otto were adamant that the Bharatiya Empire only attacked countries that had been colonized, not native Southeast Asian kingdoms. Since most of their government officers were from local forces and they were neither receiving support from European countries nor sending materials, minerals, or resources back to Europe, they believed they fit into this scenario as well. Otto even suggested directly contacting the Bharatiya Empire to establish a diplomatic relationship and ease tensions between the two nations.

However, Diederik was not too sure. He had a feeling that freeing the colonies in Southeast Asia from Europe's grasp was not the only objective of the Bharatiya Empire—he vaguely perceived that Emperor Vijay had bigger plans.

Furthermore, the exposure of the Bharatiya External Pragya a few weeks after the meeting, who tried their best to mess up their policies, only further proved his point. Even Reinout and Otto figured out at this point that the Bharatiya Empire could never be their friend. However, unfortunately, given that the Bharatiya Empire had already started to utilize their immense naval might, things might have already left their grasp.

'tsk',

He absolutely hated the way he was feeling. Helpless, like a hostage with his hands and feet tied up, eyes blinded, and ears stuffed, he felt like he was a prisoner in his own kingdom. What was around him was not the opulent and luxurious walls of the Lynden Kingdom Mansion, which he had just completed building, but a suffocating and rotting prison cell built by the Bharatiya Empire just for him.

He quickly summoned the military officer and enquired, his expression stern and his eyes bloodshot, "The northern coast—is there any disturbance? Did the Bharatiya Navy arrive at the coast?", He was worried if the Bharatiya Navy stationed in Kuala Lumpur would make a move.

The military officer immediately knelt down and shook his head, "No, Your Highness, the coast is surprisingly clear, but I did receive the message that the Sangiang Island is unable to withstand the constant bombardment of the Bharatiya Navy anymore."

Diederik nodded 'That's natural', he did not look surprised.

He never expected the small Sangiang Island, which had only been developed in the last few months, to be able to resist the might of the Bharatiya Navy, with a history of nearly a decade.

"Practically speaking, they should be arriving at the northern coast within a day," the officer finally reminded.

Diederik paused in thought. A few seconds later, he looked at the kneeling officer. "Palembang is quite far away from the coast, so we do not have to worry about the bombardment from the Bharatiya warships. Evacuate all the important resources and soldiers at the coast and form a perimeter two kilometres inland."

He quickly gave more orders.

"We cannot compete with the Bharatiya Empire in the navy, but in land warfare, it is a completely different matter."

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"Completely spread out our forces and have them take advantage of the terrain."

"During the battles and skirmishes, try your best to procure the weaponry of the Bharatiya Empire and see if there is a chance to rob their barracks."

"Aim at the critical logistical links and grain storages."

"Water storage facilities, medical storage facilities, or any other important facility of the Bharatiya Empire is our main goal."

"Even if we are not able to take it for ourselves, at the very least, burn it all down."

"Simultaneously mobilize the people of the city. Conscript all males above 14 years of age—do it forcefully if you have to."

"No matter what, we should let the Bharatiya Empire know that we are not too easy to mess with."

His eyes, which were already bloodshot, now looked like a demon's eyes. Even the blue in his pupils was barely visible.

"Yes, s- sir!"

---

Unfortunately for Diederik, he made a severe miscalculation. He still thought that the Bharatiya Empire would attack from the front, which is the most traditional choice. Unfortunately for him, none of the battles of the Bharatiya Empire were traditional battles, but battles focused on maximizing their efficiency and minimizing the amount of loss.

Unknown to anyone, over a few hundred Bharatiya Marines had already penetrated the central region of Palembang.

Palembang is a city built on both the western and eastern banks of the Musi River. Most of its important facilities and military bases are on the western bank, while residential areas and agricultural lands can be seen on the eastern bank.

After thorough investigation and frequent intelligence support from the remaining intelligence agents of the Bharatiya External Pragya, as well as the Sainik Pragya, Sarvesh chose to penetrate the city using one of the tributaries of the River Musi.

Given the overwhelming number of soldiers Sarvesh controlled, he could have directly raided the enemy city. But due to the city being divided by the river, the defensive measures taken to reach from one part of the city to another were extremely high. The two parts of the city were connected through only a single bridge, and on the other side of the bridge were hundreds of Dutch cannons aiming at them.

If he tried to brute force it, Sarvesh knew that there was a high chance nearly half of his army would be wiped out. What's more, due to them needing to travel over rough jungle terrain, they could not bring with them the heavy-calibre artillery. The only thing they had with large-scale firepower was a few hundred five-kilogram calibre cannons, a few thousand Hastha Dwani cannons, and a few thousand grenade launchers.

However, unfortunately, none of the artillery had enough range to reach the cannons on the opposite bank.

The best strategy he could think of was to use his patented underwater snicking-in method—to sneak onto the other side of the bank as covertly as possible and create a diversion for his army to advance.

In the meantime...

Brigadier Generals Seetharam and Vignani Chandrashekhar started their conquest of Palembang City through the eastern bank from the rear.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Gunfire started to be heard on the streets. The people who were expecting a normal day were shocked when an army of thousands of soldiers marched down the muddy streets of Palembang.

Blood spilt all over the street, and the civilians screamed and fled. In fact, Seetharam and Vignani were relieved because the soldiers of the Kingdom of Lynden wore their own military uniforms, making it easier for them to identify who the enemy was so that civilian casualties could be reduced as much as possible. Having too many civilian casualties was never a good thing, especially since, according to them, His Majesty wanted to rule this place himself.

A similar situation could be seen in Jakarta and Surabaya, where Commanders Dinesh Reddy and Lingesh had directly marched in with their troops to the rear of both cities and started attacking.

Both Jakarta and Surabaya were located by the sea, making them very easy targets for the Bharatiya Navy, and given that they had no large geographical obstructions like the Musi River in their rear, there was nothing to stop the Bharatiya Army and the special forces.

"Your Highness, it's not good! We are being attacked by the Bharatiya Army from the rear!" A military officer wearing the emblem of the Lynden Kingdom came into the room with a panicked expression on his face.

"What! How is it possible? Isn't it only dense forests and tall hills in our rear? How was the Bharatiya Empire able to send its army there?"

"No, this is impossible! Impossible!" Given the numerous days of insomnia and constant stress, Diederik van Lynden's mentality was already a little delicate, but now, upon receiving such news, he snapped.

"You must be lying! I must see it for myself!" His face looked livid as he walked toward the door in large steps.

Unfortunately, when he was about to go out, a beautiful Southeast Asian woman with a collar around her neck came in front of him.

"Master, I haven't seen my mother for a long time. Can I please meet her?" She begged as she fell to her knees and cried bitterly.

To be continued...