The fall of Cairo was like an apocalypse that had descended out of nowhere on the Ottoman Empire, an apocalypse that directly reduced the empire, once one of the overlords of Europe, from being the second-largest on the continent after Russia to a country about the sa size as the Holy Roman Empire.
"Crack!"
hd IV couldn’t have experienced a bigger humiliation. From being the strongest and most powerful ruler in Europe to becoming the weakest and standing on the edge of elimination, the fall shook him to his core. His emotions were chaotic, swirling like a storm inside him, filled with unbridled rage, great desperation, and even a creeping fear that he dared not admit to himself.
The sharp pain from his bleeding fist, which had just shattered the mirror in front of him, forced his mind to focus for a brief mont and gave him a semblance of self-control. But the control was fragile, like a thin thread stretched to its limit. Even as his breathing steadied, his vision remained clouded, his judgnt warped, and his thoughts extre, pulled deeper and deeper into the abyss of despair and fury.
"Send the 5th Army to Cairo," he ordered, his expression livid.
Grand Vizier Fazıl Ahd Pasha was imdiately shocked. "But, Your Majesty, this army was assembled to reinforce the eastern front."
"I don’t care. Tell the n at the front line to resist a while longer," hd glared back.
"No matter what, the connection to Africa cannot be cut off."
"But..."
"I will not repeat myself, Grand Vizier. If I hear ’but’ once more coming out of that throat, I will have it crushed."
Fazıl Ahd, looking at those bloodshot eyes that were like those of a wounded beast, ready with a desperate strike, took a big gulp and quickly left.
Although he felt like the consequences of this decision could be disastrous, he was not a saint who would want to lose his life to prove a point. So, despite the reluctance, he still passed the orders to have the soldiers march towards Cairo instead of the eastern front.
’I really hope those guys can hold on,’ he prayed in his heart.
---
The situation of the Ottoman Empire went from bad to worse. With the Bharatiya Empire and its allies officially cutting off the arm of the Ottoman Empire, all of its territory in Africa was cut off from the body.
As promised, a ssage was sent to the Spanish Empire to take over Morocco as quickly as possible, and the Spanish, as if they were waiting for the very mont, imdiately mobilised their navy and army and quickly ran the colonisation operation in tandem with the empire’s invasion of Egypt.
With the Spanish finally getting what was promised, they imdiately pulled back all their navy from the diterranean as well as the last batch of soldiers from their colonies in Italy.
With the Spanish pulling back, Italy beca a truly united country, with only the Papal States still stubbornly holding on.
A new superpower was born in Europe. The Italians, after nearly several centuries of silence, rose up once again.
With their hands freed up, the Italians did what they promised. They directed their naval fleets from confrontation against the Spanish to confront the Ottomans and bombard their shipping lines, choking them of any life.
The Russians and the Holy Roman Empire were sitting on the sidelines watching all the events unfold with eyes filled with greed.
The Balkans were right in front of them for the taking; no one was fighting for it, and there was no resistance from anyone either, but they did not dare to act rashly, as they didn’t want to mistakenly ignite the plague that had co down after several million deaths.
It was at this ti that the trade lines between the Bharatiya Empire and the Russian Empire were reconnected, the Bharat–Russia economic corridor recomnced, and when Dimitri Alexandrovitch Romanov went on to enquire about the situation on the other side of the globe, he got crucial information that the Bharatiyas had developed a concoction capable of suppressing the disease, as well as a new kind of food that could stay fresh and edible for months at a ti.
Dimitri’s eyes imdiately turned bloodshot. "Quickly contact the Bharatiyas and ask them to sell that disease-preventing concoction and the new food."
"Ah... ?.. My liege?"
"Then who else is in this hall?"
"Ah.."
Dimitri got annoyed.
"What are you standing still for? Go now!"
The noble gentleman who had simply co to relay the ssage was shocked. He had only been hoping that by showing his face and delivering such good news, he would get so good posting in the governnt, but he did not expect that he would be tasked with such a dangerous thing.
His heart was beating out of his chest, but looking at those eyes that looked like a hungry wolf that was about to pounce, he did not utter a word and simply left the castle dejected.
Fortunately, though, there was still a silver lining. When he was tasked with such a dangerous mission, he was compensated very well, so he did not hesitate to recruit several strong military officers who had proven themselves immune to Balkan death, took all the protective asures possible, and set off to the Middle East.
---
At the sa ti,
In the eastern front of the Ottoman Empire,
Zalibuddin Pasha was extrely irritable. He was supposed to get reinforcents nearly a month ago, but now, not to ntion reinforcents, even the ammunition supplies were not reaching him properly.
"Damn it! Damn it all!"
Looking at the border, which had beco a at grinder and the graveyard of nearly 400,000 Ottomans, he could not help but wince.
"Oh Lord, when will this hell end?"
Unknown to him, the answer was "soon."
But unfortunately, it was completely opposite to the situation he was hoping for.
---
A few kilotres away
"Are you sure this will work?" Lachit Borphukan asked with uncertainty written all over his face.
Surrounding him were the other two commanders commanding this battle, Yogendra Singh and Narasimha Nayak. They had the sa uncertain expressions on their faces as well.
The elderly yet energetic researcher, who was fiddling with several rockets, patted his chest with confidence.
"Do not worry, sir. This is the latest version that has not even been put into mass production."
"It’s currently being directly manufactured at the Gagana Aerospace Laboratory. Its payload, range and effectiveness have increased by over 300% compared to the last generation Bhagat B2 missile and over 800% more than the first generation Bhagat B1 missile."
Lachit was noncommittal. "I am not worried about its range and destructive potential. Everyone has already witnessed what the missiles can do; there is no doubt about that. What I am worried about is the precision. Is it really as you claim?"
The old man imdiately patted his chest a nodded without hesitation, "Yes, sir, without a doubt. Compared to the last generation models, the B3 missile is more configurable. You see all these screws and extra elents, sir?"
"All these exist so that the trajectory of the missile could be controlled."
"Since we know the exact position of the target, and since we can now asure the paraters like wind speed, it is not too difficult to configure the missiles to hit the required target."
Even though none of the commanders, be it Lachit, Yogendra or Narasimha, were fully willing to trust the words of the researcher, since the claims were really too big, hitting a target accurately nearly three kilotres away is no joke. But still, they were willing to give it a try. There was not much to lose anyway, apart from the missile, which was the most expensive piece of equipnt itself.
"Officer, give him the coordinates," Lachit Burpukan motioned at his subordinate.
A lieutenant ca forward and imdiately handed over the exact coordinates of the main command centre of the Ottoman Empire, from where all the commands ca and where the granary was.
Getting the location, the elderly man imdiately went to work along with his fellow engineers and researchers.
He swiftly pulled out papers and pencils, his hands moving in a blur as he scrambled through several dozen trigonotric equations, aerodynamic coefficient calculations, and a bunch of other physics-related formulas. The surroundings fell silent except for the furious scratching of lead and the rustle of sheets being filled.
One by one, the assistants began reporting their answers, cross-checking each other’s work with almost chanical precision. When the last number matched and the calculations were verified, a wave of urgency swept through the group. Without hesitation, they moved to the missile itself, imdiately adjusting its finer paraters, every screw, angle, and alignnt treated as if it were the key to life and death.
"We need an elevation of 10 feet. Could you please have a platform built exactly in this location?"
Lachit Borphukan nodded and had the people from the engineering division quickly start the construction.
The whole construction should have been completed within an hour, but since the requirents for stability and being a complete plane where it sits flat at zero degrees were too harsh, it took a little longer, but still, it was done within two hours.
The launcher platform was finally brought on top of the small 10-foot tower, and last-mont calibrations were done.
"We are ready, sir."
Lachit Borphukan took a deep breath and nodded.
"Fire!"
As soon as the order fell, the Bhagat B3 missile, currently the most powerful missile in the world, let out a deafening sound and tore through the air at sub-Mach speeds.
As it cut through the atmosphere like a hot knife through butter, it left behind a smoky white trail, and bursts of sonic explosions were brought from the fuel exploding within the chamber faster than the speed of sound.
"BOOOM!"
The missile landed several feet away from the target, but it carried so much destructive power that it did not matter, since the command centre was still in the blast radius.
"Grrr!"
It was like a nuclear fallout, with the cent and concrete being torn away like a piece of paneer.
By the ti the soldiers at different lines could co back to their senses, the command centre, along with the granary nearby, was up in flas.
Getting the signal of confirmation from the spy within the enemy camp, the commanders’ eyes widened in disbelief.
’Amazing!!’
Such an opportunity could not be missed, so the Bharatiya Empire made a direct charge at the frontline of the Ottoman Empire that was already riddled with a million holes.
With the command along with logistics completely cut off, even if there were 200,000 to 400,000 troops on the frontline, they could not resist the onslaught of the Bharatiya Army.
The frontline fell, and the Levant was breached.
P.S.Thank you, Sudhanva_SHfor the Ice cola x3
P.S. Thank you, its_a_joke, for the Luxury car. And yes, I have planned the next novel.
P.S. I really want to write two Chapters a day, I really do, but my schedule is completely packed nowadays. Today I woke up at 4:00 o’clock to go to the market, and after that I wrote this Chapter, but the whole day I was involved in making the website. I have been doing this for the last week or so. I hope readers can understand. I will guarantee a single Chapter, and I will try my utmost best for two Chapters.
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