Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

In the beautiful port city of Goa, the Portuguese ships from Malacca were docked to transfer them to the fortified city of Malacca, from where they would head back to the country of Portugal. The first ship, along with quite a protective fleet, was dispatched to Goa.

The ship was disguised as a merchant ship with a protective fleet to avoid the rumors reaching the ears of the Dutch. The last thing they needed was the Dutch intervention in the issue of Daman.

Barnabas sighed and looked up at the huge ship docked in the port. The port workers were loading up the supplies into the ship. The general had faced the most egregious stay in his life. The prices of staying in Port City shot to the sky at the sight of refugees. Every inn owner raised their prices. The big snotty nobles refused to stay in the tents provided by the Empire and paid those high rates to stay in the luxury inns.

The money was being spent out of the pocket of the line of credit issued by the Emperor at a relatively high interest rate. They had to pay back the exorbitant lifestyle that the big nobles decided to live in the time of the crises.

'Those fucking nobles!. I will give the report to the Palace.'

It was best to give the report of expenses by each noble to the palace. So they would be able to collect the money from them.

Barnabas and David watched the big nobles getting ready with their luggage to board the first ship; the merchants and small nobles watched from afar. Barnabas wanted to get rid of the entitled pricks first to reduce the use of the line of credit.

He also planned to sail to Malacca with the big nobles while David Costa managed the situation in the port. He was more than capable of handling the situation without his help. Meanwhile, Barnabas had to plan to takeover Daman.

It was already a blemish in his reputation as he failed to take Goa. Now it was even more shocking that he lost Daman. It was one of the bases that they had invested similar amounts in, like the fortified city of Malacca.

"I will take care of this place, General." David Costa said confidently. He was also secretly interested in visiting a festival in the nearby temple. If Barnabas wasn't here, he could easily sneak out and visit the temple.

The captain of the first ship came to Barnabas and saluted. "We are ready to sail, General."

"Right! I shall join you." He said it with a smile.

He glanced back at the city of Goa. It had transformed quite a lot after the new emperor took reign. The commerce was booming, and also Barnabas couldn't get away from the fact that he was made to sign two unjust agreements by a kid less than half his age. It was humiliating and, at the same time, frightening.

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Barnabas had to acknowledge the genius of the young emperor. He assessed Harsha to be a threat greater than Krishna Deva Raya. While the former Emperor held no ambition for mindless conquest. The new Emperor annexed a huge chunk of land within 3 months into his reign.

He also had the ability and charisma to back himself up. This was why General Barnabas assessed him as a greater threat than the Krishna Deva Raya, whose sole purpose was protection of his kingdom. The expansion was the consequence of his desire to protect his citizens and family.

'I will have to inform the Palace about this one too.' He sighed and walked into the ship as they were getting ready to sail.

'He will become a much bigger problem if we let him loose.'

After a few days, in the region near the Kandy kingdom. Multiple Dutch patrol ships were dispatched to confirm the rumors about the Portuguese loss in Daman. The General Mark Hendriks got reports of multiple protective Portuguese cargo ships headed to the Empire.

He ordered to patrol the area to see if there was any mass transfer of Portuguese nationals in disguise of the cargo.

Every captain was on high alert due to the strict orders from the higher command. It was a high-priority mission to locate any Portuguese ships heading to the fortified city of Malacca.

The Dutch didn't interfere with the Portuguese cargo ships. It was mutual since they traded extensively with the Empire. It was also because the Portuguese were fairly strong. It would be a mutual loss if they fought for the route.

Due to the mission being important, they stopped every ship heading to the islands. They wanted to confirm the rumors.

A captain named Henry was doing his routine patrol in the sphere of control. He saw a ship sailing in the distance. It had a protective fleet surrounding it. It looked like a merchant ship. He couldn't make out the symbol on the flag of the ship, but it looked like a European cargo ship.

So he ordered his subordinates to steer towards the ship.

"Go towards that ship." He ordered loudly.

As they neared the ship. He finally saw the flag and a wry smile formed on his face. It was a Portuguese cargo ship.

"HALT!" Yelled the Dutch soldiers and sounded the horn to stop the ship for checking. The Dutch had a huge fleet of patrol ships and military ships compared to the smaller fleet of the cargo ship. It would be a suicide to fight the Dutch in this state.

Henry knew this and issued a warning to the Portuguese to make a stop.

"Those salt-eaters! Are they really hiding something?" He grinned.

The Portuguese captain looked at Barnabas with a nervous expression. Barnabas sighed and ordered them to comply.

The Dutch ship was stationed beside the cargo ship and a bridge was quickly set up for the Dutch soldiers to enter the cargo ship. Read new chapters at empire

Henry walked in to the ship to witness the "great" general Barnabas in the ship standing with a nonchalant expression despite armed Dutch soldiers entering the ship.

"Hey General Barnie." Henry waved at him with a smug look. He knew a bit of Portuguese due to his travels and interactions with them.

Barnabas looked at him with a serious expression. "Should I consider this a breach of the mutual agreement?"

"Breach?" Henry laughed. "We are merely conducting a routine check."

"General Barnie, there have been some reports of pirates in the area." He smiled.

"Catching a bunch of pirates with a huge naval fleet?" Barnabas asked with a disgusted look.

"That is none of your business."

"Right." Barnabas said and looked away from him. "Complete your checks and get it over with."

He knew it was suicidal to fight the Dutch and he also had the responsibility to protect the big nobles in the ship. So he stayed put for them to complete the check. Although, despite his calm demeanour, his mind was racing with thoughts.

'Why were the dutch here at this time.'

'Was this also a coincidence.'

Last time with the Emperor also and this time with the Dutch. It seemed as if someone was reading him and predicting his every move like a pawn on a chess board.

Only one person came to his mind who would pull this off. He hated to admit it but his instincts were screaming it was the young Emperor, Harsha Deva Raya.

He was the only one that could pull this off with this great efficiency.

'This is not good.' He thought. 'At this rate. He would become a huge danger.'

Henry smiled as the Dutch soldiers went through all the cargo of the Portuguese vessel. It was the trade goods, like spices and some supplies. The soldiers also found an unnatural amount of well-dressed passengers, who were most likely nobles of the kingdom.

Henry had orders not to harm the Portuguese or fight them. They just had to harass them; it was a strict order since the Dutch didn't want to start a war without a cause.

The soldiers finally finished the checks of the vessel.

"General, Thank you for cooperating with the checks." He smiled and said it in a mocking tone. "We hope you inform us if you spot any pirates on your way back."

"Sure…" Barnabas sighed.

'So the Dutch will eventually find out. No use in fighting for Daman then,' he sighed again, resigning to his third indirect defeat with the Young Emperor.

"You may leave," Henry waved as they left the vessel.

The Portuguese vessel left the area with their protective fleet.

"The General will like this news." He laughed.

The Portuguese were transferring a lot of nobles on their ships and their main general was also on board to Malacca. So the rumor about their defeat was likely to be true.

He called his assistant with a smug grin plastered on his face.

"Make a report of this checking and quickly send it to the general."