Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1247: WW1: Fall of Vienna

To take over six different cities, two on the coast and four inland, the Bharatiya Empire spent nearly 10 months. It was a ridiculously long time, especially considering the average distance from the Greek to the aforementioned cities was less than 200 kilometres.

The Europeans were overjoyed with such a development. They knew arming every fortress, palace, citadel, and bastion across the Balkans would slow the Bharatiya Empire down, but they did not expect it to slow them by so much. They were happily celebrating that the Bharatiya Empire would not be able to reach them for the next four to five years, and the Kingdom of Polish Lithuania was one of the happiest. The original prediction was that the Bharatiya Empire would reach its border in a year, by January of 1608, but now, looking at how things were moving, it seemed like they had at least a year more. They probably wouldn’t have to worry about an invasion, at least until 1709.

Unfortunately for the Europeans, and most importantly the Polish Lithuanians, what happened next continued to shock the masses and break their beautiful fantasies.

By December of 1706, in the eastern Balkan region, Bucharest succumbed to the force of the Bharatiya Empire, and in the western region, the port of Budva fell, as well as the city of Nis.

Around April of 1707, Sarajevo fell, and around September, it was Cluj-Napoca.

The Europeans were startled by this speed of advancement. What happened so abruptly that their tactic was suddenly ineffective? When various countries launched investigations through their own channels, they all discovered a shocking change in the battle.

The Bharatiyas had spread their exploits throughout the Balkan region. They openly admitted to butchering each and every European soldier they came across and not leaving anyone behind, and they also spread the news that if people surrendered without a fight, their lives would not be harmed and their rights as free men would be protected, with all their personal assets retained. What’s more, they also revealed that most of the troops that tried to run away from the fortress when they were close to defeat were not successful in their retreat and were eventually caught and beheaded.

It would have been all right if the soldiers had not known, but now that they knew that every soldier who went against the Bharatiya Army died gruesome deaths, especially the news that most soldiers were unable to escape, which was the very reason they agreed to stand against an army hundreds of times their own size, the voice of surrender began to be heard in every village and town with a fortress.

At first, the Bharatiya army still had to face off against one or two fortresses in a day, but as time went on, the number became fewer, and eventually, encountering a fortress that was willing to fight became so rare that most of the time was spent on travelling and allocating troops to take over the defences from the surrendered troops.

With such a development, the European strategy that worked so well at the beginning, and which should have slowed down the Bharatiya Empire, suddenly became a breeze, a phenomenon that even caught Vijay off guard.

’Why didn’t I think of that?’ Vijay thought. Then he considered whether to put off his plan to begin war on another front, and he simply shook his head. ’The plan should still be implemented.’ Although the tsunami of surrender that swept throughout the Balkan region was quite surprising and unexpected to say the least, it was not an option to drop the plan, especially considering all the resources that had already been poured into it. Besides, opening up the western front could only be advantageous to the empire.

As time went on, Europe watched with horror as the Bharatiya Army finally approached the mainland of Austria. First, it was Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, then by June of 1707 it was Graz, and finally, by November, the army was in the vicinity of Vienna, only a few kilometres away.

After nearly two years in the Balkan region, the size of the army had been reduced considerably. When the army originally set off in four different commands, each command had around 600,000 troops, along with a reserve of 300,000 troops trailing behind. But now, after assigning so many soldiers to the fortresses, palaces, and citadels they had come across, only two million troops were left moving forward.

However, the confidence of the Bharatiya troops was at an all-time high. So what if their numbers were reduced? They were now more compact than ever before. For the first year, they moved in four different commands, but now there were only two commands, each command employing 700,000 troops and 300,000 reserve forces. Not to mention, in the last two years, the Empire had been busy, and they were now equipped with not one but five third-generation giant siege cannons, enough to obliterate any defences in a single salvo.

With such strength, would they still need to be afraid of Vienna?

At the current moment, the citizens of Vienna were in despair. They had no confidence in winning at all, and their morale was at an all-time low, not only because the Bharatiya Army, which knew no defeat, was near their city with an army a million troops strong, but also because their monarch, Leopold I, was nowhere to be seen. Rumours began to spread that the king had retreated to Paris and had abandoned Vienna.

This sour mood affected the troops as well. Even though the capital of the kingdom, one of the most important cities on the European continent, managed to summon men from all over to fight the war and field over 700,000 troops, morale was almost nonexistent. Confidence in victory, as well as the determination to face the enemy, was severely lacking, to say the least.

Lavanga Sinha, who was now an actual commander with his own command, did not hesitate and directly ordered the siege cannons to be set up.

"Commander, the enemy seems to have sent a beheading team, most likely to disrupt the assembly of the siege cannons."

Lavanga Sinha did not even flinch. "Major Veera Venkat, take a brigade of your commandos and handle the trouble."

"Yes, sir."

"Brigadier Veera Badra Shastri, assemble your battalion and provide cover fire to the commandos."

"Yes, sir!"

Everything happened like clockwork. The engineering corps moved as fast as they could, setting up the siege cannons, but in the distance, the sounds of gunfire were already being heard. The sound got closer and closer, which made Lavanga Sinha furrow his brows a little, but he eventually relaxed when it abruptly stopped.

The next moment, he received confirmation messages from the commandos and the rangers. "The beheading team of 15,000 elites has been neutralised, sir."

Lavanga Sinha had neither joy nor sorrow on his face. Instead, he simply nodded and leaned back, as if what happened was nothing surprising at all.

"Commander, the cannons have been installed."

An emotion finally appeared on his face. It was an emotion of excitement.

"Take aim and fire a salvo."

He stood up in anticipation. This was the first time so many third-generation siege weapons would be fired, so he was looking forward to the action as well.

With his command, the artillerymen put it in motion. They brought over a projectile that weighed over 500 kilogrammes, its size bigger than a human being, and loaded it onto the platform with difficulty. Once the giant ammunition was on the platform, the operators rapidly turned the lever wheel, which worked on the hydraulic mechanism, whose entire purpose was to move the ammunition from the platform into the barrel.

Once the giant ammunition was in the barrel and locked, the cannon let out the loud roar of an engine; it was a steam engine. The cannon was so heavy that its elevation and angle could not be changed by mechanical force alone. It needed some serious strength, so a high-torque, steam-powered system had been implemented for the sole reason of operating the hydraulics.

With the steam engine reaching its maximum output, the hydraulics began to operate, and under the operation of the artillerymen, the muzzle slowly rose.

All the soldiers, looking at the scenery, were mesmerised. There was something about gigantic machinery, as big as a house, being moved as if it were no one’s business that fascinated them.

Once the muzzle pointed at the right elevation and the aim was confirmed, they all still waited for his confirmation. Lavanga Sinha did not hesitate and nodded.

The next moment, the earth shook violently, and dust rose everywhere. Even the ground, unable to withstand the recoil of the giant behemoth, began to crack. The rumbling of the cannons was so intense that it could be felt deep in everyone’s bones, echoing through their very core, and this thunderous vibration came five times in succession. By the time the dust finally settled, the muzzles were still smoking, and the barrels were slightly hot to the touch.

Lavanga Sinha finally came back to his senses and yelled at his communications officer, "Status?"

A few minutes later,

"It’s a direct hit, sir. The wall has been breached, I repeat, the wall has been breached."

Lavanga Sinha smiled. "Very good."

Without hesitation, he mobilised his troops and moved forward.

He first let the war tractors take the lead, while the artillery pieces focused on the enemy artillery. The firepower of the enemy was not to be underestimated, so in the early stages of the war, the war tractors encountered heavy resistance, and many were even destroyed. However, it soon became clear that the enemy could only exert such force in bursts, as they were unable to maintain it for prolonged periods.

This was naturally beneficial to him. Not giving the enemy any opportunity to fight back in desperation, he directly used the new Bhagat B5 missile, of which he only had one, and launched it towards the city wall, far from the current breach, thereby opening up another breach and creating a new front of war.

He could tell that the enemy had lost all morale, as most of the soldiers had no will to fight at all, so he took the opportunity to spread propaganda, asking the enemy to surrender. In exchange, their lives would be spared, and no harm would come to the citizens.

The military leaders were resistant to the offer, but they could not refuse, as the decision was no longer in their hands. Venetian soldiers began to appear before the Bharatiya soldiers, throwing their weapons to the ground and raising their hands.

And once it was confirmed that the Bharatiya troops did indeed fulfil their promises, the voice of surrender once again echoed across the European continent, and this time, it was in Vienna, the city known as one of the most beautiful and important on the continent.

P.S. IDK if I can upload tomorrow, but I promise to try my best