NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1027: 1686 (6)
The city of Ankara, one of the major cities of the Ottoman Empire, only a few hundred kilometres from Constantinople, was currently under heavy siege.
The pungent smell of gunpowder filled the air, while dust and debris caused heavy visual abstraction.
The city wall was barely holding together under the constant repairs of the Ottomans, but the cannons of the Bharatiya Empire were relentless. They brought down hellfire in wind or rain, sun or storm, summer or winter, as if the Bharatiya Army were made of unfeeling metallic machines built solely to kill.
Under both sides of the city wall was nothing but dead bodies, some fresh, some dried, some even rotting. The whole scenario looked like it was a war between gods and demons, as to who were the gods and who were the demons, no one could tell, especially not when both sides were equally merciless and ruthless.
Several hundred meters away from the battlefield, atop a small hill under the large saffron flag, a group of several men stood side by side, each holding their own telescope as they eyed the battlefield with calculations.
Who else can these people be other than the commanders of the Bharatiya military? Now that the conquest of the Ottoman Empire was coming to an end and most of the Ottoman Empire had fallen, they no longer had to divide the war into different theatres.
Narasimha Naik lowered the telescope and pressed the eyepiece. "Is the next target Constantinople?" He asked as he turned his head towards a figure wearing a thick black leather coat.
Aditya, the director of Bharatiya Sainik Pragya, shook his head. "No, this will be the last city we will have to conquer. Constantinople is already under siege by Dmitri's army."
His words surprised all the commanders.
"Huh? How is that possible? Isn't the Tsarist Russian Empire already under attack by Archduke Peter? Why does Dmitri have the opportunity to attack Constantinople at a time like this?" Ramayya Senapati asked, confused. Yogendra Singh, suddenly thinking of something, put down his telescope and asked with caution, "Did Peter fail in his conquest?"
All eyes were immediately taken off the eyepieces, and everyone focused on Aditya. Aditya felt a little heavy under the stares of so many people, especially since these people were the ones with the greatest military abilities of the Bharatiya Empire, and their combined pressure was enough to make even his heart, the director of Bharatiya Sainik Pragya, who spent his time every day in the military, slightly palpitate.
"Gulp!"
"No, Peter did not fail; in fact, he has already occupied most of the traditional territory of the Russian Empire. If my last news is accurate, then he has already reached Kazan, a city that is only about 700 kilometres away from the Russian Empire's capital, Moscow."
"As for why Dimitri Alexandrovitch Romanov decided to continue the war despite his entire empire being in jeopardy, I have no clue, and neither do the research and analysis wings of the empire."
His words left everyone in deep thought, each trying to grasp the reason. In the end, unable to figure it out, Commander Sarvesh decisively changed the subject.
"How is the situation in the Holy Roman Empire?"
Aditya quickly pulled out a list of documents. "The Holy Roman Empire is pretty much disintegrated, with only its name remaining to tell of its history."
"All the duchies of the Holy Roman Empire are declaring their withdrawal from various internal treaties and making everyone know about their independence."
"As for the Kingdom of Prussia-Brandenburg, it has steadily occupied all the western territories of the Holy Roman Empire, like the Duchy of Saxony, Duchy of Lower Lorraine, Oldenburg, and it has even made inroads into the central part of the empire, into the northern regions of the Duchy of Franconia."
"King Ferdinand William is refusing to cooperate with anyone and rejecting all alliances. As a result, several duchies that feel threatened, like Upper Lorraine, Swabia, and even the Kingdom of Burgundy, have formed a coalition to resist Prussia."
"What about Leopold I? Is he doing nothing to stop it?"
"Well, this is the interesting part. It seems Leopold isn't trying to prevent the empire's disintegration at all. Instead, he's consolidating power, rather, the Habsburg dynasty's power, in Bohemia, Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary. We still don't know his exact intentions, but it's quite clear he wants to distance himself from the Holy Roman Empire as well."
Lachit Borphukan, who had been silent until now, suddenly exclaimed, "That's a very smart strategy."
Everyone looked at him curiously because they could not understand.
Lachit Borphukan gestured with his hands and patiently explained, "Even if Leopold lost all power over the Holy Roman Empire, what he has is the legitimacy as the legal emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the title of Habsburg, which has ruled the land for several hundred years."
"These factors might not be enough to convince the large duchies to support him, but it was a piece of cake for the rightful heir to get support from some principalities in the region and also convince smaller principalities in the enemy's territory to betray in the name of the rightful ruler ordained by God."
"Due to this special situation, Leopold knows that Ferdinand will not attack his territory first, because he would need to expend much more resources for much less gain."
"So by Leopold staying away from Prussia and the alliance formed by Swabia, Burgundy, Lambert, and Upper Lorraine, he has bought himself some breathing time."
Sarvesh frowned, "But isn't he like a sitting duck? If Ferdinand defeats the Duchy of Swabia, the Duchy of Upper Lorraine, and the Kingdom of Burgundy, wouldn't he be vastly outnumbered?"
"Yes, and that is why I said Leopold played this very smart." A glint of wisdom passed by Lachit's eyes, "Remember what is southeast of the Holy Roman Empire?"
"The Balkans!" Yogendra Singh suddenly exclaimed, and Sarvesh's eyes were wide open.
"Yes, the Balkans, how could I forget?" Sarvesh clapped his hands in annoyance.
Lachit Bhorphukan nodded with a look of admiration, "So, while Ferdinand is fighting tooth and nail with the duchies in the southwestern part of the Holy Roman Empire, Leopold is picking up the low-hanging fruit, and that is the Balkans."
"Starting from Vienna to the border of Greece, the distance is over 700 to 800 kilometres. The whole western part of the Balkans is around 400,000 square kilometres. If he can play it right, he could potentially bring it under his control and build a new empire."
"So the question remains, who will confer this state the power first, Leopold or Ferdinand?"
If any European general were to be present on this very occasion, they would drop their mouths in disbelief. The actions of Leopold, Ferdinand, and other parties of interest, which did not make sense to them, had been disassembled in the matter of a few moments with a simple intelligence briefing.
There weren't more than three or four people in all of Europe who had military capabilities of such a level.
---
In the blink of an eye, a week passed, and the fort of Ankara finally fell, marking an end to the age-old legacy of the Ottoman Empire.
Mehmed IV, who could hear the Bharatiya cannons used by the Russians in the distance, had no expression on his face, but within his eyes was a deep and immeasurable regret. He constantly wondered why he had to mess with the Bharatiya Empire. Could he not have let them be? Why did he have to send assistance to the Mughal Empire and face off against this empire of madmen, who crossed half the world to come to his doorstep, only to destroy the legacy his ancestors had left behind for thousands of years?
Unfortunately, even if he regretted it now, nothing could change. So with the idea of going into the battle for one last time, he pulled out his talwar and stood ready as the city, which was hailed as the most fortified city in the world, a city that could never be breached, and a city that could be the capital of the world, was showing signs of breaking one inch at a time.
---
It was the dawn of 1686.
Charles, Louis and Williams sat in a conference room, almost silent, unable to figure out where to start. The events of the past months left them stunned, mortified, and most of all feeling helpless, as if their actions were insignificant.
They were ultimately not able to stop the Bharatiya Empire after it marched into the Ottoman Empire and destroyed the wolf of Europe. In order to stop the Bharatiya Empire from propping up the puppet Kingdom of Israel, they did everything, but in the end, still got defeated and maybe even gave Bharat a huge advantage by giving them the opportunity to prop up more kingdoms from the occupied territories or annexe them directly as their own land.
Putting that aside, the situation of the Tsarist Russian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire also completely stunned them.
Leopold I declared the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and officially established his own empire, the Austrian Empire, consisting of the Duchy of Bohemia, the Duchy of Bavaria, the Duchy of Austria, the Duchy of Hungary, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo.
As for Ferdinand, the Grand Electorate of Brandenburg-Prussia completely took over the Duchy of Upper Lorraine, the Duchy of Swabia, and the Kingdom of Burgundy, forming the Kingdom of Prussia and occupying the majority of the heartland of the Holy Roman Empire.
When this happened, Charles, Louis, and William all thought there would now be a war between Leopold I and Ferdinand, and there would be a good show to watch. But to their incomprehension, in front of their disbelieving eyes, the two newly formed nations actually signed a peace treaty for 10 years and even agreed to a trade agreement. Who the FU** does that? You are fighting like your life depended on it one moment, and the next moment, you act like you want to be each other's best friend. They hadn't seen a face change like this even in those dramatic operas.
Why this happened, they did not know, but the surprise did not end there. The conqueror Peter Alexandrovich Romanov, who was the first man after Genghis Khan to conquer more than 10 million square kilometres, actually halted his conquest after taking back Moscow and all the territories to its north and south.
As for Dmitri Alexandrovich Romanov, the former Russian Emperor, he escaped with a few loyal retainers and generals and managed to unify the scattered Russian troops throughout the eastern Balkans. He temporarily reestablished his power around Kiev and declared Constantinople the capital of his new kingdom. Not only that, he created a realm of his own, comprising the regions surrounding Kiev, Chișinău, Bucharest, and Sofia, which he named the Byzantine Slavic Kingdom.
Out of nowhere, the two great powers of the Holy Roman Empire and the Russian Empire somehow morphed into four different powers with strengths that could not be looked down upon. This just left them stunned and speechless. Europe used to be the world of their three powers, but now no matter where they looked there were rivals: the Italians, the Germans, the Russians, the Portuguese, the Spanish, and most threatening of them all, the one also responsible for making Europe such a mess of powers, the Bharatiya Empire.