Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1231: WW1: Taking back Thessaloniki (5)

A town located one kilometre away from the frontline.

A regal middle-aged man, his expression indicating exhaustion while dressed in a military uniform decorated with five golden stars, slowly got off his horse as he twisted his waist to crack his stiff back.

’Phew!’

The man, who was none other than Veera Venkat, the Brigadier General of the army and the commander of the commandos, let out a deep breath and entered the town with measured steps.

Micromanaging so many individual scout squadrons in order to funnel the Europeans into a single point for so long had made his mind feel a little blurry. The constant flow of reports, orders, and adjustments had drained much of his focus and energy.

Fortunately, everything had finally come to an end. The threat had been neutralised, and the situation was beginning to look much clearer. Also, given that the enemy had sent so many troops, highly trained ones at that, the Europeans did not seem to have any more cards left to play. If his assumption was correct, it could very well mean that the battle would be won very soon.

This realisation finally filled him with some enthusiasm, enough to keep him going.

Entering the town, he was immediately greeted by his second lieutenant, the officer who commanded the commando units and dealt with the second European regiment. "Have they been dealt with?" He asked, his expression devoid of curiosity or eagerness.

Second Lieutenant Veerabadra Shastri smiled and noted, "Most of them have been dealt with, sir, and the majority have been neutralised."

"Wait! Most of them?" The Brigadier General’s expression turned ugly. "You mean there are prisoners?"

The reason he was so surprised was that he had clearly ordered that no one be left alive. These were the same people who had ruthlessly butchered so many comrades in the army. How could he allow them to live?

Veerabadra Shastri had anticipated such a reaction, so he remained calm. The next moment, he leaned forward, an action that raised quite a few eyebrows from the commandos, and whispered the plan he had come up with into the ear of the Brigadier.

Veera Venkat was initially startled when Veerabadra Shastri came so close to his ear, but after listening to his idea, his eyes widened, and his expression brightened.

"It’s a very good plan," he nodded, no longer showing the anger that had been on his face only a moment ago. "However, I cannot make the decision on whether to go through with your plan. I will relay your idea to the commander, and we will proceed with the decision he makes."

Stroking his chin, he added, "Until then, it is indeed better to let the enemy live. But....about your plan." He paused, furrowed his brow, and added, "There is a loophole."

"What if their belongings are mislabeled in order to fool their enemies? Wouldn’t that mean we would be shooting at our own feet?"

Veerabadra Shastri’s eyes widened. He had not thought of that possibility at all. However, he immediately came up with a solution: "We have one of their senior officers in custody. Should I have someone pry that information out of him?"

Brigadier General Veera Venkat nodded, but then shook his head.

"We should, but that alone is not foolproof enough. Isolate the senior officer and the captains in separate rooms.... Ah, wait, there are captains among the prisoners, right?"

"There are, sir, five of them."

"Phew, good. Then isolate them all and pry out the information one at a time, and then match their answers, see if they fit."

Bharatiya Frontline, HQ

Commander Vaibhav Krishnamurthy held two pieces of paper in his hand, both carrying a seal with an imprinted SS on it. They had been delivered a few minutes ago by a communications officer.

’One of these must be the report sent by that First Lieutenant of the Rangers, but what is the other one?’

Without further delay, he picked one of them and read through the report in a few minutes.

A smile slowly occupied his face, and he could not help but clench his fist in excitement.

It was indeed the report submitted by the First Lieutenant of the Rangers, and even though he had already anticipated the reply, he still could not contain his joy. The use of poison gas had successfully killed the Europeans who were about to collapse the tunnel from the inside, allowing the army to gain control of this path that led directly into the enemy fortress.

In his excitement, he immediately wanted to mobilise the troops and infiltrate the fortress, but he stopped himself at the last moment and opened the second report.

Perusing over the details in a few minutes, his face bloomed like a lotus flower.

"Hahah, good, very good!"

"Veerabadra Shastri, is it? Very good, I will remember this name."

The idea he read was marvellous, not only because it showed a path to breach the enemy fortress a few hours faster, but also because he had thought of a better way to use the idea to make it a strategy that is capable of collapsing the enemy in one swift move.

Without hesitation, he wrote down all his orders and sent them through the communication officers to all the units that would be participating in his plan. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

A town located one kilometre away from the frontline.

Hugo Schmidt had a lifeless look on his face as he sat on the ground, his hands and feet chained together. He felt humiliated, yet at the same time relieved to still be alive.

Honestly, he had not expected the Bharatiyas to stop when he surrendered. He knew very well how many people had died at his hands, and if the roles were reversed, there was no way he would have let the enemy go, even if they pleaded and begged for mercy.

"Hey, get up." A Bharatiya officer stepped forward and kicked one of his subordinates.

Hugo Schmidt felt a surge of anger, but there was nothing he could do. The next moment, right before his eyes, all his surviving subordinates were taken away. He thought they were going to be shot in front of the Bharatiya troops, and a sharp pang of pain struck his heart. But in the end, his eyes only grew more numb.

He realised he would be next. In his mind, he imagined being dragged before the enemy army and guillotined as a show of victory. So he simply sat there, lifelessly waiting for someone to come and take him away.

Eventually, someone did come and pulled him up, but contrary to what he had expected, he was not taken to a grand stage for execution. Instead, he was brought into a dim room lit only by candlelight, where two officers were quietly fiddling with several tools laid out on a table. He squinted his eyes, trying to adjust to the light, but even then he could not see their faces.

At first, Hugo did not understand what was happening.

But in the very next moment, he understood.

"What is the signal used to specify that your operation succeeded? You’d better tell us the truth, or else my buddy right here is eager to try out the new techniques he has come up with."

"Also, don’t even think about lying. Your captains in the other rooms are already spilling the beans."

Hugo’s mouth hung open, a sense of bitterness spontaneously rising up in his heart. Surrendering was already shameful, and now he was even being used as a pawn to hurt his own people.

Ultimately, he hung his head low and answered, his expression defeated.

"It’s a unique red flare in our bags, but its outer cover is blue with the words ’reinforcements’ written on it." If it had been information only he knew, he would have persisted and hoped to die as quickly as possible. But sadly, the flare signal was not classified information. Even some clever soldiers knew about it, so there was no point hiding it.

"Tch!"

The next moment, he wasn’t completely sure, but he heard someone clicking their tongue, as if they were dissatisfied with how readily he had cooperated.

"No wonder the Prussians betrayed us. When their men are so cowardly, what can we expect?"

Hearing this statement, his shame intensified, and he began to loathe himself.

"Bastards!" he cursed. "You’ll all go to hell!"

The two officers standing in the dim light looked at each other, and the next moment—

"Pfff!"

Second Lieutenant Veerabadra Shastri quickly compiled the answers they had collected and ran to the Brigadier General.

Brigadier General Veera Venkat looked over at the answers and smiled. "As expected, a few of them really did try to act smart. Alright, forget it, send up the flare. The commander has approved your plan, and he has thought of a brilliant strategy with your plan as the core."

Veerabadra Shastri immediately grew curious, but the Brigadier General stopped him. "Don’t ask me, I won’t be able to answer you. Instead, after sending up the flare, mobilise all the commandos, we have been given a new mission."

Second Lieutenant Veerabadra Shastri felt like there were a bunch of ants gnawing at his skin, but in the end, he did not push the matter any further and left to get the job done.

Çorlu

A bright red firework mixed with a tinge of yellow shot up into the sky, appearing like a dazzling sun rising above the horizon. Lucca Petrovich, who had been waiting with bated breath for some sort of response, jumped up in excitement.

"Your Excellency, the long-range attacks of the enemy have disappeared."

Hearing such good news, Lucca Petrovich’s face brightened. They really succeeded. The two regiments he had sent had truly managed to destroy the enemy artillery.

"HAHAHA!" His plan had worked. With this merit, it should not be difficult for him to retire and raise his title to a Duke.

"Order the artillerymen to remain focused on the enemy’s frontal artillery pieces, and have the logistics staff quicken the pace of repairing the damaged parts of the wall."

The officers on the frontline, who had been doubtful about whether there was even a secret operation being handled by the commander, finally let out a sigh of relief. Soon after, waves of ecstasy ran through their bodies. Not only could they survive, but they could also defeat the enemy and bask in the glory that followed.

"Come on, fire once again!"

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

P.S. Thankyou Sudhanva_SH, for the IceCola