Vijay nodded. "Yes, we only have one Sarvesh Ranavikrama, and we are unlikely to get such advantageous conditions for war every time. So tell me, how many battleships would we require if a naval fleet of the Spanish Empire,posed of frigates, clippers, and sloops, is equipped with a galleon?"


    Although unwilling, Gangadhar immediately replied with the number he had in his mind, "At least 4 to 5, Your Majesty. Even this is only because we have artillery that is longer in range than the Spanish artillery. If the Spanish artillery could reach the same range as ours, then I would need to increase the number of battleships to defeat them."


    Vijay spread out his hands. "Now you see the problem. Even though on paper we have thergest navy in the world, in terms of strength, we can only reach the top ten. Unless we have the most advanced battleships capable of sailing and waging war on the ocean, we will not only fail to expand our influence in the world but will even find it harder to keep our current interests."


    "I have received news from the Portuguese, Vians and the Russians that the Spaniards are conservatively estimated to have 25 galleons."


    "The only reason the Spanish did not directlyunch an attack on us for invading their Philippine colony is that the contradictions between the Spanish, the Dutch, and the British have been continuously intensifying due to their colonies in the American continent."


    "So the only reason we still have any way out is that the Spanish feel they would have to pay too much to get back the Philippines—not because they are afraid of us. Innd warfare, maybe they are, but in naval battles, definitely not."


    Everyone present in the room understood the situation, as all of them were seasoned politicians, but they still had no clue what His Majesty’s n was. "What can we do about this, Your Majesty?" Gangadhar inquired, feeling that his role in His Majesty’s next n would be significant.


    Vijay did not keep them in suspense any longer and directly responded, "You are all familiar with the meeting I held with the designers, aren’t you? I asked all the designers to design 5 new warships for the Empire’s Navy. These five new warships are being built to rece our current outdated sloops, frigates, and clippers."


    "You can take a look at the documents regarding the general directions for these designs."


    "Gangadhar, you can directly contact the designers and help them make the designs more practical ording to your experience."


    "The deadlines for the designs to be realized are two months."


    "After that, a prototype will be built for all five ships. Testing will be done after that, and both the prototype and testing will take another four months."


    "After the testing, mass production will start by the end of july this year, and our upgrade of the Navy will bepleted by January next year."


    All the ministers and the admiral listened calmly to the directions and information given by His Majesty without making a sound, seriously writing down important points in their note books. However, the next statement by His Majestypletely stunned them.


    "In March 1659, I’ve decided to start a military campaign to fully upy all the inds in the Indian Ocean."


    Immediatly, the big shots of the Empires eyes were all wide open, without exception.


    "What! All, Your Majesty?" Gangadhar eximed. As there were hundreds of inds in the Indian Ocean, how could they fully upy all of them?


    Vijay understood the admiral’s worry. "Don’t worry; when I say ’all,’ I don’t mean every single small ind in the Indian Ocean, but all the main inds that are of strategic importance to us."


    "When the Navy was first built, we captured most major inds along our coast to protect our internal security. But now that our Navy has expanded, we should have firm control over the Indian Ocean."


    "For this to happen, primarily, we will upy Mauritius and Réunion near Madagascar. Since we have already upied Seychelles, we will use it as a springboard. In a triangr position to Mauritius and Seychelles, there is a group of inds to the east, which I temporarily call Bharatiya Ocean Territory (British Indian Ocean Territory). We will be upying them as well.


    We can buy the ind of Diego Garcia from the Portuguese, and then we can upy Socotra, which is right on the gateway to the Gulf of Aden—a main economic route for our Empire. We will then upy the Kerguelen Inds from the French and finally upy the eight uninhabited inds throughout the Indian Ocean that have strategic significance."


    Vijay proceeded to mark the inds on the map and finally chained them together, simr to a tightly knit.


    "With full control over these inds, we can fully control the Indian Ocean."


    n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Vijay’s eyes were burning with excitement. "Does anyone know what this means?"


    Everyone fell into deep thought, but it was Vinod who first realized something. His mouth was wide open, and Vinod, normally calm andposed, was now shivering with excitement.


    "That means we canpletely cut off European influence in Southeast Asian countries. We can deny their entry and fully develop the vast Southeast for ourselves."


    Vijay was pleased. "That’s right. Currently, all the European countries travel to Southeast Asia using one of the aforementioned inds as a springboard. So, if we can fully upy these inds, the Europeans will no longer have this springboard."


    "By doing this, we can essentially choke off the resource supply of the Europeans to their colonies in Southeast Asia."


    "If everything goes well, we will be able to make the Dutch Indonesian archipgo independent within a few years."


    "And given that we have a good rtionship with the Spanish, the probability of the Spanish using their Pacific Ocean trade route to help out the Dutch could bepletely taken off the list."


    "So, what do you guys think?"


    The ministers all agreed, as it seemed like a feasible n, but Gangadhar had some doubts. "In theory, everything you mentioned will work, Your Majesty, but the only problem is we need to have arge enough navy topletely overwhelm the Europeans and upy the inds in the shortest time.


    Otherwise, no matter how careless they are, the Europeans will immediately act to stop our every move to capture the Indian Ocean."


    "They are not stupid enough to ignore the importance of the Indian Ocean."


    Vijay agreed, "The analysis is correct, hence in our new naval construction n, I am ready to invest 161,764,705.88 Varaha in order to build the new warships; that is 5.5 tonnes of gold."


    Gangadhar was immediately overjoyed, but Jagannath Mohan was startled. He wanted to advise His Majesty to reconsider the amount, as it was too much, but thinking about the significance of the n, he quieted down. ’Anyway, our finances have been very goodtely; it doesn’t matter if His Majesty wants to go to war. If the result of the war is sessful, 15 tonnes is not too much anyway.’


    Vijay then continued, "Also, Gangadhar, fully delegate your control over the naval defensive frontier to the Coast Guard. The defensive frontier will, from now on, be the responsibility of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Additionally, fully hand over control of the inds closest to the coast and the naval bases built on them to the Coast Guard."


    Gangadhar felt a little sad, but he finally agreed to hand over the power. Arjun was immediately overjoyed, as he suddenly received a lot more influence. The only thing that bothered him was the unkind gaze of the admiral.


    Vijay did not consider the feelings of the minister and the admiral as he continued . "From now on, the Bhartiya Navy will have nothing to do with defending national security. Your only task from now on is to safeguard the empire’s interests in the ocean."


    "So, I need you to think carefully, consider all the inds I mentioned before, ande up with a tier system depending on the strategic importance of these overseas naval bases of our empire.


    Also,e up with a structured organization within the fleets, which will now be the Pacific Ocean Fleet of the Bhartiya Empire, the Antic Ocean Fleet of the Bhartiya Empire, and the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Bhartiya Empire. The eastern, western, and southern fleets will be dissolved after the new fleet structure is implemented."


    "After our operation to fully dominate the Indian Ocean ispleted, all the inds within the Indian Ocean that are too far from the maind will have naval bases directly under the control of the Indian Ocean naval fleet, which will act as the strongest line of defense against any naval threat from anywhere in the world."


    Gangadhar’s eyes immediately lit up; he was shivering with excitement and mesmerized by such a grand n. Not to mention him, a person involved in the Navy, even the Cab Ministers and the Prime Minister were greatly surprised by the grand blueprint, which expanded the operational range of the Bharatiya Navy to all ces in the world.


    "When w-should this c-change t-take p-ce, Y-your M-majesty?" Gangadhar asked, his words a little incoherent due to the adrenaline rushing through his veins.


    Noticing the over excitement of Gangadhar, Vijay quickly calmed him down and patiently suggested, "It’s not in a hurry; all these changes can only be made after the naval construction. So by the time the naval construction finishes, you can work on the theoretical nning and also help out with the naval construction."


    "In the meantime, Vinod, try to negotiate with the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Vians in order to either send our sailors to learn from them or recruit experienced sailors to teach in our Empire."


    Vinod readily agreed. "I will get it done, Your Majesty; please rest assured."


    At the end of the meeting, all four big shots left the Simhasana Bhavana with a gift that contained 100 grams of tea powder in a jar, with happy smiles on their faces.


    P.S. Thank you @Frost946 for the help with the research


    P.S. Changed 15 tonnes to 5.5 Tonnes of gold