Aboard the man-of-war Battleship of the Royal Dutch Navy, There stood a middle-aged man dressed in white overalls, sporting a red beard and an unusually muscular build for this era. This man was none other than the captain of this expedition, Sander Boexenberg.
"Ahhhhhh...,"
Beneath his body lay a delicate-looking woman, seemingly violated and bleeding from multiple places. Her eyes appeared lifeless as her soul moved on to a higher place, joining the circle of reincarnation. Just a few moments ago, she had been struggling to resist, but looking at the choke marks on her throat, it seemed all her efforts were in vain. Tears dripped from her eyes as she could no longer close them.
"Tsk"
"This one is also broken, huh?" Captain Sander said with a sad expression. If anyone saw his face at that moment, they might think he had lost someone very important to him. However, in reality, this sadistic individual was simply distressed because his 'toys' were broken.
Suddenly, a noise was heard.
"Bang..."
A loud noise of the door opening startled him, prompting him to swiftly go into hiding.
A day ago,
"Captain, with all due respect, we are to maintain our current position until we receive explicit orders from the higher command. It is imperative that we adhere strictly to protocol and await the directives issued by the army before taking any further action.," the deputy captain and other high-level leaders in the Navy tried to persuade him. But Sanders couldn't listen to their nonsense. He is a son of a noble earl back home. Because he offended some noble women, he was sent to this God-forsaken place to lead this expedition. He had already a lot of pent-up anger about his parents forcing him to go to this godless land. Now that there was no one to control him, he wanted to let loose and do whatever he wanted, but the annoying military leaders kept getting in his way.
"Hehe," he chuckled, an evil smirk curling his lips as a twisted plan formed in his mind, and he began to explain.
"Don't worry, aren't we just fighting some indigenous country bumpkins who do not even have a single cannon? How hard could it be? Within a day, the army would have already conquered this land. Haven't we sailed here for so long? We are already very tired and need something to relieve our pressure."
His words provoked thoughtful expressions on the faces of the sailors listening to the conversation.
The gang of navy officers wore unsightly expressions as they disapproved of where this was heading.
"I heard from the scouts that there is a village of decent size nearby. Why don't we raid this village with our remaining firepower? It would be hard to take down a fortified city with our current strength but, it is still very easy to take down a village. We could seize all the grain and gold in that village, and by the way, let's take the women for us to enjoy," he said with a lecherous expression on his face.
Upon hearing those words, the sailors' faces lit up with excitement as the prospect of women greatly piqued their interest in the matter.
Under the mounting pressure from all the sailors on board, the navy officers eventually compromised and relinquished the power in their hands.
Back in the present time
In the dense woods to the left of Kochi port, there lies a hill surrounded by water on three sides and connected to the land by a thin reef.
Vijay led his men, guiding them to cross the reef and ascend the hill. Crossing the reef wasn't difficult as the water was quite shallow, reaching only chest height. Vijay had ordered a division to stay on the outskirts of Kochi port, awaiting his signal. From atop the hill, Vijay had a view of the Dutch warships in the distance. He was momentarily amazed by the large vessels he was witnessing, despite coming from the future. It was his first time observing such marvels of naval architecture, solely reliant on the power of nature to move.
Vijay was certain that it was a man-of-war Battleship, a powerful warship commonly used from the 16th to the 19th century, prevalent in Dutch and other European fleets. From what Vijay could discern, it resembled a galleon type with three masts, each carrying three to four sails. The ship was approximately 50 meters in length and boasted up to 104 guns: four at the bow, eight at the stern, and the rest distributed on each broadside. If his memory served him right, it could achieve a maximum sailing speed of eight or nine knots, weighing around a thousand tons.
Vijay was eager to have such a navy for himself, but soon he came back to his senses and began issuing orders.
"Cut down the trees and construct temporary rafts that can each carry a group of 5 men as quickly as possible. Ensure there are no fires lit," Vijay ordered as he gazed at the brightly illuminated Dutch warship.
Vijay's strategic approach involved prioritizing a direct assault on the battleship before engaging in the reclamation of Kochi. Understanding the battleship as the most immediate threat, his primary concern lay in the potential scenario where reclaiming Kochi first would inadvertently alert the battleship. The alert received by the battleship could lead them to anticipate the failure of the expedition, triggering a rapid retreat to Lanka to evade capture. Such a preemptive move by the battleship would significantly exacerbate the challenges faced by the army, intricately complicating their mission and worsening the predicaments encountered.
Hence, his strategy involved initiating an assault on the warship before targeting the Kochi port. Furthermore, Vijay held strong confidence in the element of surprise, believing that the Dutch forces hadn't foreseen the possibility of the army's defeat or an attack on their battleship. This lack of anticipation, he believed, would likely lead to vulnerabilities in their security measures, offering a strategic advantage for the subsequent actions.
To be Continued...