Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Vijay nodded. "Yes, we only have one Sarvesh Ranavikrama, and we are unlikely to get such advantageous conditions for war every time. So tell me, how many battleships would we require if a naval fleet of the Spanish Empire, composed of frigates, clippers, and sloops, is equipped with a galleon?"

Although unwilling, Gangadhar immediately replied with the number he had in his mind, "At least 4 to 5, Your Majesty. Even this is only because we have artillery that is longer in range than the Spanish artillery. If the Spanish artillery could reach the same range as ours, then I would need to increase the number of battleships to defeat them."

Vijay spread out his hands. "Now you see the problem. Even though on paper we have the largest navy in the world, in terms of strength, we can only reach the top ten. Unless we have the most advanced battleships capable of sailing and waging war on the ocean, we will not only fail to expand our influence in the world but will even find it harder to keep our current interests."

"I have received news from the Portuguese, Venetians and the Russians that the Spaniards are conservatively estimated to have 25 galleons."

"The only reason the Spanish did not directly launch an attack on us for invading their Philippine colony is that the contradictions between the Spanish, the Dutch, and the British have been continuously intensifying due to their colonies in the American continent."

"So the only reason we still have any way out is that the Spanish feel they would have to pay too much to get back the Philippines—not because they are afraid of us. In land warfare, maybe they are, but in naval battles, definitely not."

Everyone present in the room understood the situation, as all of them were seasoned politicians, but they still had no clue what His Majesty’s plan was. "What can we do about this, Your Majesty?" Gangadhar inquired, feeling that his role in His Majesty’s next plan would be significant.

Vijay did not keep them in suspense any longer and directly responded, "You are all familiar with the meeting I held with the designers, aren’t you? I asked all the designers to design 5 new warships for the Empire’s Navy. These five new warships are being built to replace our current outdated sloops, frigates, and clippers."

"You can take a look at the documents regarding the general directions for these designs."

"Gangadhar, you can directly contact the designers and help them make the designs more practical according to your experience."

"The deadlines for the designs to be realized are two months."

"After that, a prototype will be built for all five ships. Testing will be done after that, and both the prototype and testing will take another four months."

"After the testing, mass production will start by the end of july this year, and our upgrade of the Navy will be completed by January next year."

All the ministers and the admiral listened calmly to the directions and information given by His Majesty without making a sound, seriously writing down important points in their note books. However, the next statement by His Majesty completely stunned them.

"In March 1659, I’ve decided to start a military campaign to fully occupy all the islands in the Indian Ocean."

Immediatly, the big shots of the Empires eyes were all wide open, without exception.

"What! All, Your Majesty?" Gangadhar exclaimed. As there were hundreds of islands in the Indian Ocean, how could they fully occupy all of them?

Vijay understood the admiral’s worry. "Don’t worry; when I say ’all,’ I don’t mean every single small island in the Indian Ocean, but all the main islands that are of strategic importance to us."

"When the Navy was first built, we captured most major islands along our coast to protect our internal security. But now that our Navy has expanded, we should have firm control over the Indian Ocean."

"For this to happen, primarily, we will occupy Mauritius and Réunion near Madagascar. Since we have already occupied Seychelles, we will use it as a springboard. In a triangular position to Mauritius and Seychelles, there is a group of islands to the east, which I temporarily call Bharatiya Ocean Territory (British Indian Ocean Territory). We will be occupying them as well.

We can buy the island of Diego Garcia from the Portuguese, and then we can occupy Socotra, which is right on the gateway to the Gulf of Aden—a main economic route for our Empire. We will then occupy the Kerguelen Islands from the French and finally occupy the eight uninhabited islands throughout the Indian Ocean that have strategic significance."

Vijay proceeded to mark the islands on the map and finally chained them together, similar to a tightly knit net.

"With full control over these islands, we can fully control the Indian Ocean."

Vijay’s eyes were burning with excitement. "Does anyone know what this means?"

Everyone fell into deep thought, but it was Vinod who first realized something. His mouth was wide open, and Vinod, normally calm and composed, was now shivering with excitement.

"That means we can completely cut off European influence in Southeast Asian countries. We can deny their entry and fully develop the vast Southeast for ourselves."

Vijay was pleased. "That’s right. Currently, all the European countries travel to Southeast Asia using one of the aforementioned islands as a springboard. So, if we can fully occupy these islands, the Europeans will no longer have this springboard."

"By doing this, we can essentially choke off the resource supply of the Europeans to their colonies in Southeast Asia." Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"If everything goes well, we will be able to make the Dutch Indonesian archipelago independent within a few years."

"And given that we have a good relationship with the Spanish, the probability of the Spanish using their Pacific Ocean trade route to help out the Dutch could be completely taken off the list."

"So, what do you guys think?"

The ministers all agreed, as it seemed like a feasible plan, but Gangadhar had some doubts. "In theory, everything you mentioned will work, Your Majesty, but the only problem is we need to have a large enough navy to completely overwhelm the Europeans and occupy the islands in the shortest time.

Otherwise, no matter how careless they are, the Europeans will immediately act to stop our every move to capture the Indian Ocean."

"They are not stupid enough to ignore the importance of the Indian Ocean."

Vijay agreed, "The analysis is correct, hence in our new naval construction plan, I am ready to invest 161,764,705.88 Varaha in order to build the new warships; that is 5.5 tonnes of gold."

Gangadhar was immediately overjoyed, but Jagannath Mohan was startled. He wanted to advise His Majesty to reconsider the amount, as it was too much, but thinking about the significance of the plan, he quieted down. ’Anyway, our finances have been very good lately; it doesn’t matter if His Majesty wants to go to war. If the result of the war is successful, 15 tonnes is not too much anyway.’

Vijay then continued, "Also, Gangadhar, fully delegate your control over the naval defensive frontier to the Coast Guard. The defensive frontier will, from now on, be the responsibility of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Additionally, fully hand over control of the islands closest to the coast and the naval bases built on them to the Coast Guard."

Gangadhar felt a little sad, but he finally agreed to hand over the power. Arjun was immediately overjoyed, as he suddenly received a lot more influence. The only thing that bothered him was the unkind gaze of the admiral.

Vijay did not consider the feelings of the minister and the admiral as he continued . "From now on, the Bhartiya Navy will have nothing to do with defending national security. Your only task from now on is to safeguard the empire’s interests in the ocean."

"So, I need you to think carefully, consider all the islands I mentioned before, and come up with a tier system depending on the strategic importance of these overseas naval bases of our empire.

Also, come up with a structured organization within the fleets, which will now be the Pacific Ocean Fleet of the Bhartiya Empire, the Atlantic Ocean Fleet of the Bhartiya Empire, and the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Bhartiya Empire. The eastern, western, and southern fleets will be dissolved after the new fleet structure is implemented."

"After our operation to fully dominate the Indian Ocean is completed, all the islands within the Indian Ocean that are too far from the mainland will have naval bases directly under the control of the Indian Ocean naval fleet, which will act as the strongest line of defense against any naval threat from anywhere in the world."

Gangadhar’s eyes immediately lit up; he was shivering with excitement and mesmerized by such a grand plan. Not to mention him, a person involved in the Navy, even the Cabinet Ministers and the Prime Minister were greatly surprised by the grand blueprint, which expanded the operational range of the Bharatiya Navy to all places in the world.

"When w-should this c-change t-take p-place, Y-your M-majesty?" Gangadhar asked, his words a little incoherent due to the adrenaline rushing through his veins.

Noticing the over excitement of Gangadhar, Vijay quickly calmed him down and patiently suggested, "It’s not in a hurry; all these changes can only be made after the naval construction. So by the time the naval construction finishes, you can work on the theoretical planning and also help out with the naval construction."

"In the meantime, Vinod, try to negotiate with the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Venetians in order to either send our sailors to learn from them or recruit experienced sailors to teach in our Empire."

Vinod readily agreed. "I will get it done, Your Majesty; please rest assured."

At the end of the meeting, all four big shots left the Simhasana Bhavana with a gift that contained 100 grams of tea powder in a jar, with happy smiles on their faces.

P.S. Thank you @Frost946 for the help with the research

P.S. Changed 15 tonnes to 5.5 Tonnes of gold