Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology
Chapter 897 - 897: Ottoman Looses Azerbaijan & Diyarbakir (3/3)

The third theatre of war, Tabriz, the Ottoman Empire

Top authorities of the Ottoman Empire, the Pashas who were responsible for the rear, only now found out that the allied army had already infiltrated their cities without them knowing.

"What did you say!"

Kalim Al Abdullah Rahman exclaimed, not believing what he was hearing.

"It is true, my Pasha. When we went to fulfil the orders of His Majesty the Emperor, they were attacked by a hailstorm of bullets coming from all over the place. This happened not only in one part of the city or even in one city—it happened in all the cities in Your Excellency's jurisdiction. We conservatively estimate that 20 to 30,000 enemy troops have already infiltrated our lands, and they are currently helping the infidels escape."

Kalim had a shadow in his heart whenever he came across the alliance army. Ever since his father was killed, he knew that the alliance was not as useless as his father claimed.

He was worried.

"There's no point in stopping the infidels. Cleaning them up like His Majesty ordered would have been challenging anyway. Now that they are escaping from the land of the Ottoman Empire, it could be said that the mission is partially completed."

"Salim, pick up all the resources they have left behind. Take out all the resources we can from Qazvin, Tabriz, and Ardabil, and we will retreat, bringing the much-needed supplies to the empire. In this way, we will at least not be blamed."

It was not that he was a coward—well, he was—but he was not a coward to the point of running away without putting up a fight. The reason why he was so adamant that he would lose was because of the cannon that was raining fire on the fortress right at this moment.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

The impact force of the cannonballs hitting the fortress sent shivers down his spine. He had over 120 Ismail cannons under his command, but unfortunately, the artillery used by the enemy was something else entirely. They had farther range and higher power—it was leagues above whatever he had. From yesterday evening, when the bombardment started, to today, he was restless without any sleep. The enemy attacked him continuously, but he did not have the ability to attack back.

He had sent units to flank the enemy from the back, but his plans failed miserably. The enemy somehow got to know of his actions and butchered the people he had sent. Not only did the artillery fire stop for a few minutes to mock them, but they even put the bloody helmets of their soldiers on spears and showed them off.

The news about enemy soldiers already infiltrating his cities was the last straw that broke the camel's back. In a way, he was thankful because the soldiers who had infiltrated seemed to have only rescued the infidels and had not gone on a killing spree of top officials or breach the fortress from within.

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The second theatre of war,

A similar situation happened in the region of Karabakh and Shirvan.

With the veteran troops of the Ottoman Empire being pulled back to fight the war in the Balkans, the rear was hollowed out. People like Kalim Abdullah Rahman and Jehangir Dowla were already aware that the only reason they were still stationed in the Middle East was to squeeze out whatever resources could be squeezed out before the alliance army took over.

Jehangir Dowla Pasha, the person responsible for Karabakh and Shirvan, immediately retreated into Turkey with thousands of tons of grain in tow.

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The first theatre of war, somewhere in the wilderness,

Unfortunately, Nazim Khan was not so lucky. The hatred the Yazidis had for him was not small. Even if the alliance army could not monitor his every move, the Yazidis, who were practically taking their next breath just so they could kill more Ottomans, had already started to infiltrate the enemy in a targeted manner for a decade. So, when Nazim was about to escape after the city wall of Diyarbakır was breached, his close aide actually sold his position to the enemy.

Nazim Khan looked at Asim with disbelief. "Why?"

Asim felt a little uncomfortable, but he shook his head. "I am sorry, my lord, but they gave too many benefits."

Ezidi Serwan came forward, unable to hide the bloodlust in his heart.

"It doesn't feel good, right? Being backstabbed?"

"Now you know how my father felt."

Nazim Khan looked at the man before him, unable to remember if he had seen him somewhere. "Who are you?"

Ezidi Serwan laughed out in anger. "Haha, of course you don't remember me. I mean, how could you? I am, after all, only the son of a pawn who used to be under the sole of your feet. Who...you.....mercilessly....BACKSTABBED!!"

"Hehe, but it's all right. I don't care if you remember me. The feeling of you dying without knowing who killed you is making me somewhat happy."

"You are—"

Slash!

Before Nazim could exclaim in horror after remembering a face that suddenly appeared in his mind, everything went dark.

"I did it, Father. I finally did it. I, your heir, have finally avenged you and our people. Please pass on to the cycle of reincarnation with relief."

Ezidi Serwan felt like a boulder he was always carrying had suddenly been lifted, making him light-headed, but when he was about to fall down, he used the tip of his sword as a cane to stand up, prouder and more confident than ever before.

Tawafan came forward, his body drenched with blood and pieces of flesh. Looking at the dead body of Nazim Khan in front of him, he collapsed to the ground, tears flowing out of his eyes. When the whole settlement of his people was exterminated, his family was among them as well. Revenge, which was so far away for him, was finally achieved.

The Yazidis in the Legion all expressed their joy of avenging their brothers and sisters by screaming at the top of their lungs, collapsing onto the ground, and crying like children. Some were even more enraged that those who had left could not come back and batter the Ottomans who were captured, to their last breath.

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Nearly 45 days since the war began

The immediate influence of the Ottoman Empire had completely disappeared from the Middle East. The war was won by the alliance army—the victors were the people who should have disappeared in the long river of history: the Yazidis and the Parsis.

Celebration broke out in all the alliance nations—not only in the Kingdom of Lalishtan and the Kingdom of Persia, but also in the Imamate and Sultanate in southern Arabia.

The Kurds and Yazidis were on their way to Lalishtan, while the Armenians and Assyrians were on their way to the Kingdom of Persia.

Some ministers who felt sorry for these people who had to flee, abandoning their homes, proposed that they be settled in the autonomous state that was meant for minorities in the Middle East. But Vijay sternly denied it, because the vast majority of the Assyrians and Armenians were Christian. Although they did not have the inclination to initiate conversions like other Christians from Western Europe, who have dedicated institutions and do conversion institutionally, he did not want to see a Christian state right at the border of the empire in the future.

However, in order not to appear hypocritical, Vijay allowed a small number of Armenians to settle down and develop, since, similar to the Jews, the Armenians have their own form of belief where you can only be born into it, not converted into it.

In such a way, along with the 50 to 60,000 odd Sikh people who had settled in the autonomous state, and the four to five thousand Sikhs that had been attracted by the prospects in the autonomous state from all over the Middle East, the Armenians were the first minorities to settle on a large scale—sending a message to all the forgotten tribal cultures hidden from society to move towards the autonomous state like it was a beacon of hope amidst a turbulent storm. But this is all in the future, since the Armenians are still on their way and the minorities still hidden are hesitant to show up.

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Istanbul, the Ottoman Empire

Mehmed, hearing the news about Azerbaijan and the other two territories being lost, did not react much because he had expected something similar to happen. The moment he pulled back the veteran soldiers from the Middle East, he already suspected that the allied army would not miss this chance to take back the territory of the Safavid Empire. Thankfully, he had already gotten a lot of resources from the Middle East while he still held control over it.

"Allocate the grain and coin that has been received from the nobles retreating from the Middle East, and train more troops. I remember we haven't conscripted the soldiers from the south bank of the Mediterranean."

"Have our people in Egypt take care of it. If anyone is being disobedient, you know what to do."

Fazil Ahmed Pasha's heart was palpitating, but he readily agreed and left.

Over the last few weeks, thousands of minorities in the Ottoman Empire have died every day, with their property confiscated and their wealth stolen. Essentially, hundreds of kilograms of gold are being added to the treasury every week, and all of it is being used to fund a bigger army, all sent to the Balkans, which had already become a meat grinder.

Was the investment made by Mehmed worth it? Unfortunately, it was, because he was indeed able to stop the Russians and the Romans in their tracks without allowing them to step even a single foot forward. But, unknown to anyone, in the heart of Mehmed, a slight worry was growing—because although it could be his imagination, he still felt uneasy, as he felt that the Russians had more weapons than before.