Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 857: Breakthrough in Moldova

25th September 1671

The climate in Chișinău, the capital of Moldova, was delightfully mild—neither too warm nor too cold. In the early morning, a gentle drizzle descended like a holy blessing of freya upon the grape plantations. The vines, soaked in the soft rain, released a rich, sweet aroma that drifted through the town, a fragrant signal that the harvest season had arrived.

Usually, this time of year in Moldova is a time of happiness. However, unfortunately, with over 50,000 Ottoman soldiers stationed at the fortress due to the Russo-Ottoman War, a tense atmosphere spread all over the city, making everyone's nerves tight and having no mood to begin the harvest.

Hussein Pasha did not have a very good look on his face as he read the intelligence report. "Damn it," he cursed as he threw the milk he was holding in his left hand at the wall.

He crumpled the letter and got up with a grunt.

"Have the troops brace for an all-out attack," he shouted at his subordinates.

His subordinates looked at each other as all the colour left their faces. Hussein, noticing this change, immediately became angry. "Why are you lowlifes getting scared even before seeing the enemy?" "If I find out any division not performing at the optimum, I will hang its commander right in front of that division," he growled. He was already feeling irritable since they were losing ground to the Russians every month, but now the Russians have come so far into the interland that they are here to challenge the fortress of Chișinău. If this fortress falls, then the Ottoman Empire might as well forget taking it back without paying a price.

The subordinates looked at the bloodshot expression on the Pasha's face and dreaded, as they understood that he was not joking. With fear in their hearts, they ran to the soldiers under their command and gave them extremely stern warnings and strict orders. Maybe they were too stimulated by the threat of the Pasha. They threatened their subordinates similarly to get the best performance out of them.

"If I see anyone making a mistake, I swear to Allah I will rip his stomach right then and there."

The atmosphere of fear seeped into the Ottoman army stationed in the Chișinău Fortress, but instead of having a negative effect on morale, it began to make the soldiers sharper and more ruthless. If they took a step back, they would be killed by their own leaders, but if they moved forward, they at least had a chance to live. They wanted to live, even if they had to butt heads with the Grim Reaper himself.

Vasily Sheremetev, commanding an army of 86,000 soldiers, slowly appeared on the horizon. His eyes were squinted as he eyed the fortress like a hawk eyeing its prey. "Hakthu," he spat out the saliva in his mouth without averting his gaze and roared:

"Set off the artillery, and the heavy infantry, get ready."

As soon as the order was passed, several places in the army split apart like the Red Sea, opening up a wide path for the artillery to come forward.

Feeling the lingering scent of iron when the artillery passed by them, an air of killing intent slowly began to radiate throughout the army. A switch had been flicked in their minds, immediately putting them in battle-ready mode.

"Boom!!"

As the gunpowder burned within the barrel with high intensity, an explosion occurred, sending the cannonball hurtling in the air at subsonic speeds.

"Bang!!!"

A loud explosion was heard, causing several cracks on the rock wall reinforced with cement.

Vasily Sheremetev didn't change his expression as he continued to wait patiently. The fortress wall of Moldova might be strong, but the artillery of the Bharatiya Empire is not weak either.

Hussein Pasha, seeing how their conventional defence cannons could not reach the enemy army, became furious. "Use the killafid cannons, have them all aimed at the artillery positions of the enemy."

"Aren't there still a few killafid cannons at the rear of the fortress? Drag them to the front, arm them, and put them to use immediately."

His subordinate immediately felt panicked. "But pasha, each killafid cannon weighs around three tons, three tons! How would we be able to do that?" He was already feeling dread in his heart, afraid the pasha would behead him right here and now for talking back.

Hussein pasha almost pulled out his talwar from the rage he was feeling, but in the end, he suppressed his urge and roared, "I do not care! If I said I want it there, then I want it there!"

"Can you get my cannons, or do you want to die?"

The subordinate closed his eyes as the foul breath and spittle of saliva hit his face, but he was not angry; instead, he felt very happy—he did not have to die. "I will get the cannons, pasha! I will go now!"

He quickly ran back. He heaved a sigh of relief, but remembering how close to death he was just a moment ago, his eyes turned blood red.

"Pull out all the infidels under arrest, have them pull the killafid cannons."

"But, sir, they are very stubborn."

"In that case, aren't their families still in the town? Burn one of their families down in front of their eyes, or let the soldiers have their way with their wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters in front of them. The rest of them should cooperate," his expression was distorted as he completely disregarded the humanity in his heart. He did not want to die. Even if his current actions set off riots in Chișinău, he no longer cared, since his life was now decided by whether he could reposition the killafid cannons. Nothing else mattered.

"Erm... Sir, plea-! Slash!!!"

"Ahh!!"

"Any more problems?"

The people who received the orders took a big gulp in fear, but they no longer had the thought of resisting since the beheaded corpse of their comrade who talked and laughed just a few hours ago lay next to them, the smell of blood and the putrid stench of feces impacting their senses, pulling them into the depths of insanity.

Very soon, the screams of people were heard, who were dragged out of their cells and tied to the gigantic cannons. They had to pull the 3-tonne monster up the fortress wall and take it to the front of the wall.

The unlucky bunch chosen to be human donkeys all felt fear in their hearts, but remembering the horrifying scenes of families being violated and burnt, they had just witnessed moments ago, they were filled with resentment and hatred.

As Hussein wanted, the cannons were soon brought into the forward position, and they started firing at the artillery positions of the Russian army.

"Ahh!!"

"Oh Lord!"

Vasily Sheremetev frowned. However, his expression soon relaxed.

"Recalibrate all the cannons and have them aim at the large artillery of the Ottomans."

"Keep them busy."

"Heavy infantry, form a squadron of 30 soldiers and move forward with ample distance in between."

The actions that took a very long time for the previous Russian army to execute now only took a few instants, as within moments, the 15- and 18-kilogram cannons were all aimed at the firing points of the Ottoman Empire, while on the other hand, well-balanced squadrons were made out of heavy infantry.

The cannons of both sides got embroiled in a hit-for-hit all-out bloody brawl, while the heavy infantry, under the cover of cannon fire, moved forward slowly, holding shield towers.

As they moved forward, they encountered a hail of bullets from the enemy, but the several-hundred-kilogram shield towers, which took two men to wield, were not so easy to penetrate.

"Ahh!"

However, the casualties were unavoidable. Every second, two or three heavy artillery pieces fell down screaming as they tried to crawl back to safety.

Over 60% of all the heavy artillery made it to the wall. The tower shields were placed on their heads like umbrellas, trying to protect against the rain of bullets falling from the top of the fortress wall.

This time, the casualties began to increase at an even faster rate. Several squads got completely wiped out, but a few squads still persisted. The man in the centre of the squad, whom everyone was protecting, took out the heavy leather bag he was wearing. He quickly ground the flint, causing sparks to fall into the bag, lighting up the fuse, after which, with a shout, he threw the bag to the side while he, along with his remaining comrades of the squadron, dashed along the wall as quickly as possible.

"BOOM!!"

"BOOM!!"

Two deafening sounds were heard as two holes on the bottom of the fortress were blasted open by the explosives.

Hussein Pasha lost all colour in his face. "It's over," he muttered.

Vasily Sheremetev did not mind that he had lost so many heavy infantry. Instead, he smiled as the fortress was finally breached in one way or another.

"Artillery, keep up the suppression. Do not allow the enemy artillery to target our charge."

"Heavy cavalry, blast open the fortress and open up a path for us."

"Light infantry, charge right behind the heavy cavalry. As soon as you have entered the fortress, kill all the enemies."

"Sharpshooters and Archers, you follow behind at last. Find optimal positions from inside the fortress and eliminate all the Ottoman soldiers trying to escape."

"Finally, the scouts penetrate into the civilian areas and spread the word about the breached fortress, the loss of the Ottomans. Also, if any new news appears that is detrimental to the Ottomans, spread it as well. Most of the civilians in Chișinău, although Islamic, due to the terror of the Ottoman Empire, there is still a large population of Christians. Having their support will make it easier to completely weed out the Ottoman scum."

The next moment, looking at the Russian army that moved forward like a torrential wave to devour them alive, the Ottomans finally understood what the phrase ' The army that represents the god of death' meant.