Forest Bloodbath Part :5

Looking at the scene in front of him of the defeated Dutch soldiers, Vijay had a smile on the corner of his mouth. If anyone saw him now, they would be shocked to see that he looked like the scheming villain from a children's cartoon show.

Vijay had already expected that the enemy would try to scatter in the forest even before the battle was decided upon. He called the brigadier general and ordered him, "Let the rangers take action."

Immediately after the message was passed to the various battalions of the Ranger division.

Vijay had, even before the war, trained these rangers specifically to fight in forest terrain. He had recruited experienced hunters and had them train the rangers to fight effectively in forest environments. This was necessary because, in the forested terrain, a conventional army was less effective due to the trees obstructing their movement. Therefore, Vijay organized the rangers in a way that each battalion was divided into 10 squads, and each squad acted independently in a loose formation, each having its own objectives to fulfil.

Vijay designed this formation because he wanted the Ranger unit to serve as the exploration team when Bharat would send expedition fleets to Africa, South America, and other places. In the 21st century, rangers do not play a significant role in most major countries, except for countries like those in the central part of Africa and South American countries, which have extensive forested areas. However, in the 17th century, much of the world remained uncharted and unsuitable for human habitation, except for the European continent, Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Therefore, Vijay's plan was to establish the groundwork and train the Ranger unit specifically for situations like the current one they were facing and for the future missions in foreign lands they would undertake.

Somewhere deep in the forest, General Carel had run in a random direction, hoping to escape. Behind him, a group of Dutch soldiers could be seen following the general. They had already dropped their weapons, armour, and food supplies, trying to reduce their weight to run faster. Just like this, many soldiers began to scatter in different directions, hoping to retreat from this ambush and regroup for a counterattack.

A certain Dutch soldier with a missing ear was one of these soldiers hoping to escape. But all his expectations were brought to nought as he could see in front of him a group of people dressed in green clothes, running at them with swords and knives. He was caught off guard and didn't have any chance to react as they closed in on him. Before he could react to what was happening and attempt to resist the enemies, bolts from somewhere in the area pierced his arm. Blood spurted as his arm gradually lost its feeling. The ranger took this opportunity and swiftly swung his talwar, piercing the Dutch soldier's neck in a single blow, ending his life.

Similar scenes occurred in various places within the forest. It was a bloodbath. General Carel, who was unaware of all this, continued to run for his life. Just when he thought he had escaped the main pursuers behind him, he heard the sound of someone being pierced by a deadly arrow.

Hearing the sound coming from behind him, he froze in place and slowly turned his head back, only to see the lifeless body of his subordinate. He realized he was surrounded again. His unease grew when he saw men wearing green clothes and green-painted faces emerge from the woods, carrying swords and knives. He knew that his life was ending here.

Among the enemy soldiers in green uniforms who had completely surrounded him, a man who appeared to be their leader, noticing his badges, shouted in a commanding tone, "Edu ko avana," in a language General Carel did not understand. But soon he comprehended when a man took out a rope from his bag, attempting to capture him. The general grew cold as he knew that he would likely face cruel torture. If he were captured by any other European country, he might have surrendered without resistance, as he believed his homeland would intervene. However, in this indigenous and backward country, he knew that the rules he was accustomed to did not apply.

Fearing that he would not be able to withstand the pain and torment if captured, he swiftly retrieved a vial from his pocket and drank the liquid inside it. It was too late for the Vijayanagara Rangers to stop him. Within a few moments of being captured, General Carel was found dead.

Vijay, who was overlooking the battle from a distance, swiftly received news of the victory in the battle and the death of the enemy commander. He was finally happy that he had won the Battle, but he couldn't help feeling a tinge of regret that he couldn't capture the enemy commander, as it could have been a valuable source of military knowledge and expertise.

However, his regret didn't last long because, with his constant promotion of modern ideas, the Vijayanagara army was on its way to becoming the most powerful army in the world in this era.

"What are the casualties?" Vijay asked Yogendra, the commanding general of this operation. Yogendra Singh, drenched in blood and breathing heavily, was the man Vijay was addressing.

Vijay, still unaccustomed to the gruesome scenes of war, found his face contorting in response to the sight of Yogendra's appearance. However, he quickly regained his composure. He needed to adapt and become a monarch of an empire, not a politician.

Yogendra quickly replied to the king's question, "Your Highness, in this battle, we utilized 20 brigades consisting of around 100,000 men. The infantry comprised 16 brigades with two brigades of forest rangers and a single brigade of artillery personnel, along with a brigade for emergency support."

Unfortunately, due to our inadequate defence measures, there were more casualties in the infantry brigades than we expected. We lost 2,000 soldiers, and there are up to 15,000 seriously injured and 25,000 lightly injured soldiers. As for the artillery battalion, since they did not participate directly in the battle, there were no casualties, but there were a few light injuries due to the misuse of the cannons. In the forest Ranger brigade, there were only a hundred casualties with more people injured."

Yogendra relayed this data with a normal expression on his face as if this information were routine. However, everyone who listened to the data was shocked, not because the casualties were high, but on the contrary, they were surprisingly low. In a battle of this scale, depending on the conditions, it could have resulted in more than 10,000 casualties. Controlling the casualties to less than 3,000 was a miracle, but Vijay did not see it that way. His heart ached for all those good men who were fathers, sons, and husbands dying for their country. He felt a slight twinge of guilt because he couldn't advance the weapons of Vijayanagara quickly enough. If he could have, this situation might not have occurred.

But as the emperor of an Empire for a while, he quickly gained control of his emotions and commanded their next move, "Very good. Let's move on to the next part of the plan. Send the injured back for treatment, let the rest of them rest for a while, and then, we march to retake Kochi. We will show the Dutch that we are not so easy to mess with."

"Yeah!" All the important military personnel in the camp cheered with high morale as they prepared for another hearty battle.