SWNOVELXO Chapter 919: BNV Rakshak Class
November 1673
Cholapuri, Akhand Bharatiya Empire
Vijay sat alongside Jalandhar Keshav, the deputy director of the Bharatiya External Pragya, who brought him the news about the death of Fulin personally.
Vijay was giving him instructions.
" Continue to monitor the situation in both the Southern Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty. Also, see if you can infiltrate the Wu warlords' forces. It'll be best if we have vital information about them as well."
"Additionally, increase the intelligence agents in Siberia and the Far East. I want you to establish a logistics company that transports goods from Far East Siberia to Western Russia as a front for the operations."
"If possible, I want to have an arms channel to the Wu warlord."
Since it is not possible to completely cut off the arms supply to the Southern Ming dynasty, Vijay would simply support the opponent. As for the possibility of being discovered, that's even simpler; he would simply emulate the weapons of the Russians to give Zhu Yu Lang a feeling that the Russians are supporting the Wu warlord.
Come to think of it, he had used this strategy once during the earlier days of his reign, and it worked gloriously. There is no reason why it shouldn't work this time as well.
Jalandhar Keshav noted down everything with the utmost seriousness. He knew that he had his work cut out for him, but he was not intimidated; if anything, he was filled with excitement.
For the next hour or so, Vijay listened to the intelligence reports about the ASEAN nations and the overseas territories.
Normally, Keshav was supposed to give him the report a few months from now, but since he was already here, why bother, so Vijay allowed him to complete his task earlier and take a month of vacation before jumping into the challenge he had given him.
Sending off Jalandhar Keshav, Vijay quickly wrote down his orders for External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, stating how he wanted to handle the Southern Ming dynasty diplomatically.
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After handling the unexpected event, Vijay finally stepped out of the hotel room and set off to Bhagat Shipyard.
The journey did not take long, as the distance was only around 10 km.
Getting down from the carriage, Vijay was welcomed by, surprisingly, Gangadhar, the Marshall of the Empire. Next to him were commanders of the Navy, Akhil of the Pacific Fleet, Gautam of the Atlantic Fleet, and Prasanna Nayar of the Bharatiya Fleet.
Vijay's surprise came from the fact that he wasn't supposed to see the commanders in the Empire, as they should be stationed in their respective fleets, but it only lasted for a moment because he remembered that there was an annual meeting in a few days.
'Maybe they felt like, since they are already in the empire, why not take a look at the young prince's achievement?' This thought made Vijay chuckle. In the end, he shook his head and moved forward. He came across Rajendra, and he met his son as well. Well, he didn't talk much with his son since he was busy talking with the commanders and the Marshall beside him, but he did get to speak with little Rajendra, as he asked about what he wanted to do next since he had already completed his college. The answer surprised him, and he looked at his nephew with scrutiny.
"Join the army? That's not easy." His tone was filled with apprehension as he stared at his nephew. he wanted to see if he really had the goal of joining the military or simply stating it, affected by the service culture of the Bharatiya Empire.
However, to his dismay, he did look serious, which made him a little worried.
"Have you informed Aditya?"
Hearing the question, Rajendra's face wrinkled up like a dried-up orange.
Looking at that face, Vijay immediately understood the answer was no. His face immediately revealed an expression of 'I knew it.'
"You better inform him immediately, or else I will do it for you." His expression was serious. As much as he liked to be the favourite uncle figure for Rajendra, decisions like joining the military definitely had to be made after consulting with the family, so even though he didn't like being extra high and mighty with his nephew, he was left with no choice.
Rajendra was immediately panicked. Looking at that gaze, he lowered his head with a defeated look, "I know, uncle, I will take care of it."
Reaching the private harbour of Bhagat Shipyard, everyone's attention was firmly attracted by the gigantic island made up of metal floating on the sea.
"Damn, even if I was mentally prepared, this is really a sight to behold," Gangadhar commented.
"That's true, Sir Admiral, I wonder what it would be like to sail this ship?"
"It's Marshall now."
"..."
"Well, it doesn't matter. I'm used to calling the Admiral 'Admiral' regardless. Since we're not in a formal setting, just let me be, Gautam."
"Still, I don't think we can call that thing a ship—it doesn't even look like a ship. Does it move at all? It doesn't have sails. Is it powered by rowing?"
Such comments came from the mouths of the Marshall and the commanders, but they were not allowed to speak for too long when Agni came forward and took the centre stage, commanding the attention of everyone.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, Your Excellency, Marshall, and the esteemed commanders for coming to witness the defence demonstration of the BNV Rakshak."
Hearing the name, Vijay nodded, It's a very good name, especially considering its purpose.
"BNV Rakshak, as its name suggests, is a naval vessel focused on the protection of the coast or guarding important waterways."
"It's plated with our proprietary Mahavira steel, Loha MV-1, capable of resisting bullets from firearms like the Shakthi and the Shikari, while it can also shrug off any collision with smaller and similarly sized wooden vessels."
"It has a displacement of 400 tonnes, three times more than the Dwani class catamaran, which is the closest ship in the category of BNV Rakshak, but unlike the catamaran, Rakshak packs a solid punch with its two 30 Kg Sai smoothbore cannons, 2 Bajaj MK-V Puckle Guns mounted on a 180-degree turntable platform, and to top it all off, we have a 20kg rifled culverin as a centerpiece, capable of putting a hole in anything 500 meters around it that moves."
Agni paused, taking a deep breath and waited for some sort of reaction from the naval commanders and the Marshall.
Vijay, looking from the side, smiled and did not comment. He looked towards the naval officers as well. The whole thing, for Vijay, felt like a déjà vu, because it reminded him of his first time commissioning the BNV Hampi Class Sloop into the Bharatiya Navy. At that time, in a way, it was the BNV Hampi that started the whole navy of the Bharatiya Empire. It was something small and insignificant back then, which could only be used for coastal defences a few kilometres from the shore. But that small, insignificant vessel led to the construction of the biggest navy in the world. Now, maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe fate.
His son Agni had also embarked on a similar path by coming up with a design for the first metal-plated ship that, although now looked insignificant—because its usage, although crucial, is in a very niche situation—Vijay believes that this small sea turret has the ability to influence the whole navy in the future, leading them in the direction of full-metal warships, just like how BNV Hampi gave birth to the whole navy.
Gangadhar, who was silent until now without speaking, finally spoke out, "The prospects you have mentioned are very enticing, Your Highness, but we would like to see it in action rather than you telling about it."
Agni nodded without much expression as he remained stoic, but in his heart, he was feeling embarrassed. He was imagining the military leaders would be awe-struck by the metal behemoth on the ocean, but he guessed not.
"Commence fire."
He gave the order, after which the person standing at the harbour raised the red flag up in the air, which was visible to the personnel manning the BNV Rakshak.
Agni turned around and motioned everyone to plug their ears, which he didn't have to do, since everyone was experienced and they plugged their ears even before he motioned them to do so.
There was absolute silence; it was like the calm before the storm. The waves hit the shore without any change, the water mist hit the faces of the people waiting with anticipation, the birds flew in the air without any care in the world, and the salty sea breeze went into the lungs of the people, sending a cool sensation.
Soon, everything changed.
"Boom"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Dense firepower began to be outputted by the metal monster, and the firepower came in three different forms, superimposing on each other and causing the impact to be greater. From the shore, the ship looked like it had become an impenetrable bastion, denying any enemy entry.
Feeling the shockwaves hitting their faces, the military commanders and the Marshall brightened their eyes. Adrenaline started to pump into their bloodstream, making their faces red and filled with energy.
The twin Bajaj MK-V Guns, an improved Puckle Gun designed by a designer called Balachandra Bajaj, spewed continuous fire onto the horizon, ripping countless holes into the ship of an invisible enemy. The twin 30 kg smoothbore cannons, designed by the leading armament designer of the Empire, Sai, blasted apart the hull of the 2000-tonne ship that dared to venture into the line set by the Bharatiya Empire, and the culverin fired like a sharpshooter. It did not miss, and its speed and precision meant that the opponent was left defenceless.
"Now imagine you have 3 or 4 of such ships forming a wall of firepower," Agni from the side shouted.
The commanders and the Marshall vividly imagined a few more Rakshak ships forming a line and outputting firepower like there is no tomorrow.
What they saw greatly stimulated their minds,
They saw an image of a group of naval vessels, although small, although puny had set the ocean ablaze. There was debris all over the water of fallen foes and fallen enemies. Nothing stood in its path. This was a wall, a wall of steel no one would cross.
It was like the Lakshman Rekha that provided protection and deterrence at the same time.
"It looks like coastal defence will be out of work," Akhil commented with a hint of humour in his tone. But Gangadhar couldn't help but shudder—the thought might very well become reality. With these vessels—barely even qualifying as ships—now standing guard at the waterways leading into the Bharatiya Mahasamudra, he couldn't imagine what kind of threat could even approach the Empire.
Still, as the testing continued, Gangadhar's worry didn't last long. The next phase focused on the ship's defences. Various rounds were fired from the Shikari C70 rifle and the Shakti rifle. To everyone's relief, the ship suffered only a gouge and a chipped section on its surface—otherwise, it remained undamaged.
To their surprise, it could even withstand the power of grenades and barely held its ground against the brute force of a Hastha Dwani (hand cannon). Overall, it met expectations. With that, the tests moved on to assess the ship's mobility.
The mobility, no matter how redundant it was, was still tested, and it turned out that, with good wind conditions, the ship could still move at 4 knots by itself. But the problem was not huge, because it could be towed away by a ship 700 tonnes or more in case of repairs or service.
After the tests ended, Gangadhar came directly to him.
"Your Majesty, the ship His Highness has designed and built is extremely suitable for deployment in critical waterways. I suggest we form a physical wall of defence at the Mozambique Channel, Gulf of Aden, and the Malacca Strait."
Vijay thought the same; the ship his son had built was already quite mature.
"I think so too. Submit a proposal, and I will approve it."
Agni, who was looking at the commanders who were excitedly discussing about the ship at the side, the Marshall going to his father to talk about something, the workers, engineers, and sailors of the shipyard who were dancing with joy at the distance, and Rajendra who stood beside his father clenching his fists, shaking with excitement, he felt a sense of fulfilment.
"I did it."