Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

25th July 1670

Hamedam, Line of Actual Control, Middle East

Commander Lachit Borphukan stood in front of the 5th regiment of the Alliance Army. The 5th regiment was mostly composed of soldiers from the Karachi regiment, making up about 30% of the units, while the remaining was filled by the Persians and the Yezdies. It is one of the most elite regiments in the Alliance Army, directly commanded by Lieutenant General Kaveh Atashban.

The atmosphere was tense as the soldiers stood in their places without moving an inch. Even Kaveh Atashban, standing in front of Commander Lachit Borphukan, was unusually silent with a stern expression and resolute gaze.

Lachit Borphukan finally reacted when a senior intelligence officer from the Bharatiya Internal Pragya came to him and handed over a sealed letter.

Taking a deep breath, Lachit Borphukan opened the letter and carefully read it line by line. By the time he was done with the letter, he let out a deep breath and stashed the letter into his inner pocket.

As he looked up, his gaze became sharp and intense. It was as if it were a sword that could make anyone bow down. "The Ottomans will not be sending any reinforcement, and they will not be retreating from the Middle East either."

"They think that they can enjoy the current status quo without any resistance from our end, but they are sorely mistaken." He clenched his fist, causing his knuckles to crackle. "The Alliance Army has been preparing for this battle for almost a decade. How is it possible that we will simply let the Ottomans' wishes come true?" His eyes became bloodshot. "So, soldiers, now is the time—put the training to good use. Let's show those Ottoman bastards that if they are not fully focusing on the war and are distracted, maybe unknowingly, they will lose their backyard."

"Brave soldiers of the Alliance, move forward bravely and free your motherland from the grasp of the Turkish barbarians."

The soldiers could feel their blood boiling as they clenched their fists involuntarily, and even their expressions, which were supposed to be emotionless, betrayed them as each and every one took on the appearance of a ruthless military machine.

Noticing that he was very successful in mobilising the emotions, Lachit Borphukan roared loudly and punched the air with a scowl.

"Victory for the Alliance!!"

Immediately afterwards, as if it were the paper clip that tipped the weight, loud shouts from the soldiers came in like the waves of a tsunami:

"Victory for the Alliance!!"

"Victory for the Alliance!!"

"Victory for the Alliance!!"

The chants were deafening; the sound reverberated throughout the area, enough for even the people within the city of Hamedam to hear it.

Roxana Atashban stood on the balcony of the Atashban family manor. She wore a luxurious Persian dress with gold and silver jewellery adorned with diamonds, rubies, and other fine Bharatiya-cut rare gems. She was looking in a particular direction towards the outskirts of the city. When she heard the shouts of the 5th regiment, her nose twitched, and the worry in her brows increased, because even though she had taken over the throne of the Persian Kingdom after her father passed away four years ago and had become the first Queen of Persia—and gained respect by using ruthless methods like wiping out entire families who chose to oppose her—she was still worried about her brother. Not to mention, her brother was not an ordinary man; he was the god of war for the Persian Kingdom, admired by millions, with his murals and monuments found in several cities of Persia.

If anything were to happen to him in the campaign, she couldn't even imagine how chaotic the internal situation would be. Even though there are dozens of people as talented as her brother in the Bharatiya Empire, the Persian Kingdom only had her brother, and in a way, he could be seen as both Persia's strength and its weakness.

Being a queen of a member nation, Roxana already knew the several strategies the Alliance Army would take after figuring out the response plan of the Ottoman Empire. So, when intelligence reports started to come back stating that Mehmed IV did not choose to reinforce the Middle East, she already knew several weeks ago that the strategy of piercing the enemy line would be used, since Mehmed IV had chosen the option of maintaining the status quo.

This is the main reason why she came from Baghdad, the current capital of the Persian Kingdom, to her hometown, Hamedam. It was to send off her brother, who was going to war.

"Roxana, are you sure this is the right thing to do?" Fariba Atashban asked with an uncertain expression on her face.

Roxana Atashban looked at her cousin, who had become one of the senior-most intelligence personnel in the Alliance Army and undisputed Queen of the Dark in the Persian Kingdom, and shook her head.

"Sigh!"

"There is no other option. I could have taken the initiative and suggested to the Alliance Army commander to assign another regiment to take charge of the Piercer Operation, but you know I can't do that..."

Fariba looked at the resolute expression on her cousin's face and became silent. A few seconds later, she exhaled deeply and nodded uncomfortably. "Yes, if you had done that, the Persian Kingdom's influence in the Alliance Army would have diminished significantly. Especially since the Yazdies have sent nearly all their military-aged men to serve in the Alliance Army for every campaign. They've already earned substantial merit and are only trailing us by a few hundred thousand. If you had suggested someone else take command of the Piercer Operation, it would have put us in a very difficult position." Her cousin did have to take a lot of responsibility at a very young age as a queen. Sometimes she even wondered how she still possessed such strength.

Hearing the obvious reason from her cousin's mouth, Roxana Atashban once again felt the weight of the pressure on her shoulders. Unlike the Yazdies, whose entire existence revolved around military service in a nation forged by mercenaries, from birth, through education, to raising children, all leading to the Alliance Army, she had far more to consider. She couldn't afford to redirect all the resources of the Persian Kingdom toward the war. Even though Persia stood to gain considerably from the conflict, she knew that with a population in the millions, the kingdom couldn't afford the extreme militarisation the Yazdies had embraced. Their economy would crumble under such strain. While the Persian Kingdom was second only to the Bharatiya Empire in the Alliance, it wasn't in a dominant position compared to the other members. Despite Lalishthhan's smaller population than the Sultanate of Mahra, its soldiers in the Alliance Army numbered only 60,000 fewer than the Persians.

Even if the Qasimid state and the Sultanate of Mahra had their troops together, they would not be able to match the number of Yazdies in the Alliance Army.

It is no wonder Roxana Atashban did not even bring up the topic of assigning other regiments to the Piercer Operation instead of the 5th regiment. If, because of her decision, the Persian Empire's ranking in the merit list is reduced, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.

The merit list is something the Bharatiya Empire came up with when the Alliance Army was formed. It is a list of participating countries and the amount of merit each countries contribute.

The merit is calculated in many ways, but the main ones are by sending soldiers from their nations to the Alliance Army and providing material support for the Alliance Army.

It doesn't matter if the soldier from the Persian Empire joins a regiment populated by Yazdies and Bharatiyas, because there is no difference in which regiment the soldier joins, since the soldiers also have their individual merits. While they enjoy the benefits brought by their merits, like being able to redeem a large plot of land, serve in the management level of the government, and other things, the soldier's merit also reflects on the merit list of participating nations.

Even the Bharatiya Empire, the formulator of the merit system, has to follow the same rules to earn merit. This is one of the reasons why the strength of the Alliance Army continues to grow despite only fighting small-scale skirmishes. It is because even though outwardly the Alliance Army is very unified, internally it is wrought with competition—competition between each and every regiment to earn the most merits, competition among the soldiers to earn individual merits, and even competition among participating countries to earn as much merit as possible.

In such a way, the merit list is dominated by the Bharatiya Empire, followed by the Persian Kingdom, the Kingdom of Lalishthan, the Qasimid State, and finally the Sultanate of Mahra.

The main reason why the countries are so eager to earn merit points is not only because it shows arithmetically who should get the most benefits from the war, but also, more importantly, the merit can be used to exchange important resources from the Bharatiya Empire, be it industrial products, luxury goods, or even important manufacturing technologies. With so many things at stake, it would be a surprise if there were no competition.

This is one of the reasons why, even though the number of troops from the Bharatiya Empire only occupies around 30% of the Alliance Army, the merits of the Bharatiya Empire are impossibly high. Mainly because the whole Alliance Army is reliant on the Bharatiya Empire for its military logistics, it is completely dependent on the Bharatiya Empire for the weapons, ammunition, and support—not to mention most higher-ranking officers in the Alliance Army are from the Bharatiya Empire, and the training for soldiers from member countries is conducted by the people of the Bharatiya Empire.

Only if the merits of the Persian Kingdom and the Lalishthan Kingdom are added together can they barely match the merit of the Bharatiya Empire.

P.S. Sorry I was not free today, the edit is ruff