Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 737: The Great Siberian expedition
4th April 1661
The Bharatiya Premier League, one of the most awaited sports tournaments of the Bharatiya Empire, just came to a successful conclusion with the win of the Mangaluru team. The tournament was truly a feast to the eye, generating revenues of upwards of 50 million, this sort of money for sports competitions was unheard of.
Even the Europeans, who were not expecting much from the sports league since it was completely different from their traditional way of sports, which, in their impression, should be like the Olympics started by the Greeks, holding gladiatorial contests and shows of strength—were surprised.
They never expected this sports league to be so entertaining and profitable. The actual game was one thing, but the entertainment value surrounding the event was a completely different factor—songs, games, performances, and various team rivalries were an absolute joy to watch.
Unconsciously, even they got involved in this rivalry, and unsurprisingly, most of the Europeans supported the team from Thiruvananthapuram, the city with the most European and Western population.
Taking advantage of the excitement of the people and the extremely positive word of mouth about the sports tournaments, the Unity Football Bharat League, managed by Bhagavan Peshwa, immediately started their Football League match with the biggest rivalry that had been created during the playoffs.
In the meantime, thousands of kilometres away,
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The city of Tobolsk was basked in the beautiful glow of the morning sun. The snow had started to melt, and the ice on the river began to break. The morning glow, like fresh golden honey, reflected brightly on the melting snow, making the city more radiant as if it were in an oil painting—beautiful and picturesque.
On the outskirts of the city, over 30,000 soldiers had gathered, standing at attention while looking at Peter with serious, stern expressions, unblinkingly waiting for his orders.
Peter was extremely satisfied with the soldiers. Over the last few weeks, while their main leaders had gone on to inquire and research about the various types of Siberian tribes, he had found a trusted person and asked him to train the tribal warriors under his command to the same standards and discipline as the Russian Royal Guard.
If it was before, Peter would have never made this move because he was told from a very young age that commoners are always lowly and nobles are always superior with higher blood. But witnessing the soldiers of the Bharatiya Empire and his own tribal warriors after the training, he could conclude that "tribals can never beat the nobles" was utter BS. He could already tell that the tribals were no weaker than his royal guard. Even in aspects of obedience and discipline, they were several levels higher than the nobles. The nobles could never be so disciplined and obedient.
Peter could see that what he had trained was not the new Russian Royal Guard or its replacement, but iron-willed soldiers completely under his command who would even march to death if ordered to do so. Just thinking about it, his blood boiled, and he raised his head high in pride. He walked around in front of the soldiers, looking awe-inspiring.
"Your journey will take several months to complete, as this is a groundbreaking journey that is yet to be attempted by anyone in the Russian Empire. You will traverse from Tobolsk through the Irtysh River and join the Ob River towards the stronghold of Surgut. You will rest in Yeniseisk for a week and resume your journey through the Yenisei River, then travel a certain distance on land and reach Lake Baikal. Using Krasnoyarsk Fort, reach a new stronghold called Irkutsk. Now, this stronghold is not yet fully completed; it is scheduled to be completed this year, but currently, it is plenty to be used as a resource point. From there, taking the Selenga River and travelling through the Shilka River basin, you should get to the farthest city of Russian Siberia and the Far East, Nerchinsk. From this location, the Pacific Coast is around a few thousand kilometres. This is where the main test will begin. Using all the information your leaders will have, you will have to find out a suitable path from Nerchinsk to the area now named Vladivostok."
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Peter declared with a loud voice. He took a deep breath, looked at the faces of soldiers who had no emotion on their faces, nodded in satisfaction, and continued.
"This journey is bound to take at least 5 months and at most half a year. The travel is over 6000 square kilometres, in which 3/4 of the way you are not travelling completely blind, as there are several cities built to be your guides. But the last 1/4 of the way is the hardest part and the most challenging one. But I believe that all of you will succeed, and I have faith that you will not fail."
"So come back victorious. Wealth and riches are waiting for you—this is my promise."
The soldiers finally saw smiles on their faces, "Hail His Highness Archduke Pyotr Alekseyevich Romanov!" "Hail His Highness Archduke Pyotr Alekseyevich Romanov!" "Hail His Highness Archduke Pyotr Alekseyevich Romanov!"
Shouts reverberated through the training ground, scaring away the crows and birds that had just come out to scavenge for food.
A few hours later, Peter personally saw off the tribals on the bank of the Irtysh River. ’I really wish this journey succeeds,’ Peter prayed in his heart because if there was anything that he did not like about these tribal soldiers, it was the fact that he had to invest a lot more resources in them when compared to a noble royal knight. A noble royal knight might have inherited armour or weaponry, saving him from buying these expensive things, but the tribal warriors were different. They came from poverty and the harsh living conditions of a tribal society. He could not expect them to have full metal armour and other weaponry. So, this time around for this journey, he had invested over 1,000 small high-quality boats for travel, several tons of grain, over 30,000 sets of armour and weaponry, along with a lot of favours.
But he did not regret it. Though his eyes showed a little pain, no hesitation could be seen in them—there was only determination. Peter knew that although this trip was risky, once it succeeded, it would give new life to his dukedom of Siberia and the Far East.
With the industrial materials brought to him from Bharat at a faster speed and with the mineral resources he would be sending to Bharat, not only could the development of the duchy be increased by the industrial tools, but also the economy would get a booster shot with thousands of jobs that would be produced in the mining industry and other related industries. In front of such a big opportunity, what is a little risk?
---
In the meantime, at the Moscow Kremlin,
Michael, the personal intelligence officer of the Russian Emperor, whispered something in Alexis I’s ear.
"Are you sure?" Alexis I asked, his brows furrowed.
"I am sure, Your Majesty. By this time, those tribal warriors should have set off," Michael responded without hesitation.
Rubbing his forehead, Alexis I slid back into his chair, falling into deep thought. He had noticed the unusual behaviour of his second son ever since he had taken a few trips to the Bharatiya Empire. He began to act a little differently, doing weird things, but he ignored most of those because Peter was responsible for not only the alliance with the Bharatiya Empire but also for securing various preferential policies.
However, now he was doing something as incomprehensible as training the tribal warriors as the main force while using the Royal Guards as the secondary. He could not understand what he was doing.
"Forget it. Let him do whatever he wants as long as he does not cause me trouble."
"Instead, tell me about the Ottoman Empire. Is there any news?"
Michael nodded in agreement and started to report.
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Jaisalmer, Thar Desert, Prathhara Puri (Rajasthan)
"Bang!"
A loud gunshot was heard on the outskirts of Jaisalmer, the city found in the heart of the Thar Desert.
The military officer who fired the gun had a smile on his face as he rubbed off the dirt surrounding the brown bess rifle, reloaded another round, and fired again.
"Bang!"
A crisp gunshot was heard, making all the onlookers smile with satisfaction.
Commander Ramayya Senapati and several regiment leaders all laughed heartily because the dirt-resistant version of the brown bess rifle worked better than anything they could have imagined.
Even the harshest climate like the Thar Desert was not able to stop the brown bess rifle of the Bharatiya Empire.
"Let’s test the cannons!" Ramayya Senapati ordered.
Soon, the operators dug out a small pit on the ground, out of which a vague silhouette of a cannon buried in the ground could be seen. The cannon was brought out, and its loading procedures were done.
Being a desert version of the normal cannon, it had additional steps to ensure it worked. Things like tearing out the protective layer within the barrel, oiling the internal mechanisms, and the like had to be done. Fortunately, the barrel cleanup, which would have taken a long time, no longer took too long because disposable covers were provided for the barrel. In case of transportation and usage in harsh conditions, these disposable covers could be used so that too much dust accumulation would not affect the working of the barrel.
"Fire in the hole!"
"BOOM!"
The projectile flew out of the barrel at lightning speed and completely obliterated the target several hundred meters away. Looking at this scene, Commander Ramayya Senapati nodded his head in satisfaction. It had been a long time since he had been in one of these new cannon tests.
He patted the two men who were standing on both sides of him.
"Congratulations, you both have outdone yourselves," he praised.
"This version of the cannon will be the most in demand as the security needs of the empire on our western border are the heaviest, and our western border is an arid and desert-like climate. Not to mention, our allies, the Kingdom of Persia and Lalishthan, would primarily choose this version of the cannon."
The two men were respectively from the Himalayan Group—the military conglomerate which manufactured the cannons—and from Astra Dynamics Firm and Garuda Defense Labs, the two design firms that came up with designs for the new version of the classic Bharatiya weaponry.
---
Heinz Muller, the representative from Prussia-Brandenburg, had just arrived a few days ago along with a few thousand soldiers—the crème of the crop from Prussia-Brandenburg.
Today, he was informed that the Himalayan version of the cannon had been completed and could be inspected. Heinz Muller had two objectives this time around: number one was to negotiate the deal for armaments from the Bharatiya Empire, and number two was to handle logistics for the German soldiers who would be studying in the Bharatiya Empire.
He was surprised that the first objective was about to be completed so soon, but still, he was happy.
He went over to inspect the new cannon while the German soldiers were taken to the barracks of the Ahom regiment.
