12th September 1657


    Deputy Director of Bharatiya External Pragya, Jndhar Keshav, who hadpleted the task assigned by His Majesty, immediately set off for the capital as he boarded a clipper from the Andaman Inds, travelling to Vishakhapatnam at the fastest speed.


    The journeysted a few hours at a speed of 10 knots.


    "Boom bam boom"


    The Military band was ying at the port, attracting onlookers.


    "Sir!"


    Jndhar was surprised to see a squad of soldiers weing him at the port, However, considering the type of intel he had on him, he felt like it was normal.


    With the escort provided by the army, he was able to ignore all the traffic regtions in the cities and reached Bengaluru by 3:00 in the afternoon.


    Vijay looked at the arrival of Jndhar Keshav through the window. He had a satisfied expression on his face, knowing that the operation had been sessful just by Jndhar’s presence.


    "Wee, Mr. Jndhar. His Majesty has been expecting your arrival."


    Jndhar was taken aback because, as soon as he entered the Simhasana Bhavana, he was greeted by Ganesh from the emperor’s office. Jndhar felt a little ttered. "Thank you, Mr. Ganesh." Suddenly remembering the important files with him, he requested without much thought, "If it isn’t too much trouble, could you please have someone pick up my suitcases from the carriage?"


    Jndhar realized his request might sound wrong and cause a misunderstanding, so he hurriedly exined, with panic on his face, "Those suitcases contain all the intelligence I have collected in thest few months. They are very important, and given that they are too heavy, I could not carry them."


    Ganesh did not know why the man was exining so much, as he was not prideful enough to treat himself too highly, but he did not say anything. He simply ordered that the suitcases be brought inside.


    ---


    "Long live Your Majesty, long live."


    Jndhar immediately bowed and nervously greeted Vijay as soon as he entered the office room.


    Vijay simply nodded and Gestured for Jndhar to sit down. Vijay was a little impatient to know how the operation went.


    Before the operation started, there were a few possibilities. Number one: the Spanish Navy was taken by surprise, and the Spanish power in the Philippines was heavily damaged. Number two: the Spanish brought in more reinforcements from New Spain and sessfully defended the Philippines, allowing the Bharatiya Empire to achieve the goal only partially.


    Number three: the Spanish made some mistakes, and the Bharatiya Empire fully took advantage of the situation and upied the Philippines. There were many other possibilities, but these three were the most probable ones, with results ranging from good to eptable and ideal.


    "So, Jndhar, how did the battle go?" The curiosity on Vijay’s face could not be hidden, and Jndhar noticed this too, so he did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point.


    "It’s the third scenario that yed out, Your Majesty. We achieved the ideal results."


    n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Vijay was taken aback; this news greatly shocked him. "Really?"


    Jndhar understood His Majesty’s disbelief, as he himself, who was behind the scenes running the operation, was constantly surprised at how things progressed. "Yes, Your Majesty, we have now stationed our navy in Man Bay."


    Vijay was overjoyed. "Exin the whole process to me."


    Jndhar whose nervousness had reduced, became more natural in his speech. He exined how the Dutch reacted at the beginning of the operation, how Commander Akhil travelled around the Indonesian archipgo, and how the battle took ce in the Sulu Sea.


    He also exined how the Spanish were defeated and how Man Bay was captured.


    Vijay’s emotions wereplex as he came to realize many underlying aspects of Jndhar’s description.


    "The ipetence of a colonial governorpletely destroyed the Philippine colony, didn’t it?" The question was directed at Jndhar, but Jndhar, looking at the expression on His Majesty’s face, felt that the question His Majesty asked was for himself, so he stayed silent.


    "Sigh!"


    Vijay soon recovered from his daze. "Now put the matter aside for now. What’s done is done"


    "Tell me, what is the reaction of the local rebels to our actions?"


    Jndhar immediately realized that His Majesty’s actual question was about the reactions of the rebels following Bharat’s upation of Man Bay.


    He did not take long to think, as he readily knew this information at the back of his head.


    "Simr to our expectation, the reaction was not too happy, Your Majesty, but fortunately, since the onlymunication channel between all these rebels is the intelligencework we have set up, these rebels cannot cause any trouble for us."


    "Also, from the time His Excellency Director Roshan started to bribe and control important rebellion leaders, we have not stopped, and arge portion of these leaders are already under our control."


    Vijay, who was silently listening to the recounting, found something wrong. "Aren’t these guys freedom fighters? Why were they so easily bribed? Is there something wrong with it?"


    "You are right, Your Majesty, but even if these people are freedom fighters, they have a life and a family. They only became freedom fighters due to the harsh conditions imposed on them and their families by the Spanish.


    If these harsh conditions had not been imposed on them to begin with, even if it were the Spanish colonizers ruling the Philippines, they would not have fought for freedom, putting themselves and their families at risk."


    "Most of the rebels are these kinds of Normal people who are pragmatic and realistic in their thinking; hence, when their livelihood was guaranteed, they immediately agreed to our conditions."


    "As for the purer freedom fighters who were in the second or third echelon of the leadership pyramid, they were initially unwilling, but as we promised them some positions in the new government, they started to sumb."


    "Also, Your Majesty, most of the actual freedom fighterse from the background of indigenous religions. They were the group most harshly persecuted due to their unwillingness to convert to Catholic Christianity under the Spanish."


    "Hence, when we promised them religious freedom and promised to pass aw against forced conversion, they happily agreed to our request."


    Vijay nodded along as he began to deeply understand the situation in the Philippines. ording to Vijay’s past life, the Philippines had turned into a majority Catholic Christian country by the end of the 17th century due to Spanish upation.


    The upation was brutal, as the Philippines, which mainly practised animistic and ancestral worship, was almostpletely erased within this span of 100 years. Although it exins the weak nature of the indigenous paganistic and shamanistic religions, it also highlights the brutality of the Spanish.


    Then the question arises: if it was the same case in this life. "What is the percentage of the poption ording to the religion?"


    Jndhar was taken aback by this question. "I do not know the exact numbers, Your Majesty, but I can probably guess that Catholicism upies around 25% of the poption due to the Spanish. This poption is mainly concentrated in major cities, and nearly 60% practice their ancestral animistic traditions.


    There was a huge push by the Spanish a few decades ago for the total adoption of Catholicism, but due to the presence of Tamblot, who stood as a spiritual leader, the conversions were not too sessful. Three to four percent practice Taoism due to influence from China, and a smaller percentage are Buddhists. There are other religions here and there."


    Vijay was happy that the majority of people were still practising their indigenous systems. Then, like a bolt from the blue, Vijay immediately realized that the clear divide between the affluent and the poor created by the Spanish could have been one of the reasons for the sess of the rebellion.


    Vijay Then became curious about the spiritual leader. "Tamblot is a resistance leader in Visayas and Luzon, isn’t he? What is his reaction?"


    Jndhar was not surprised that His Majesty would pay attention to this Spiritual and freedom movement leader, as he was indeed very impressive. "Your Majesty, Tamblot seems to have realized our actions and is showing a tendency to act against us, but I think we don’t have to worry."


    "Why do you say so?"


    "Tamblot is a smart man, and he should have realized by now that many of his generals and soldiers have been controlled by us. Additionally, we actually don’t have a conflict of interest. I reckon he is the type of man who cares more about the existence and survival of his culture and the well-being of his people than about being an emperor or a king."


    Vijay fell into deep thought. "It would be very good if this man epts reality; he could be the pir of Philippine culture if he makes the right decisions."


    Then he remembered someone else. "What is the reaction of the heir to the Sulu dynasty? What was his name again?"


    "It’s Sultan Harun al-Rashid, Your Majesty," Jndhar said, a hint of disdain on his face as he remembered the arrogant figure. "Harun seems unwilling to follow our instructions, Your Majesty, and he regards that everything that has happened in Mindanao has happened because of himself."


    Vijay was not surprised, as there would always be people who would forget their own capabilities and think they were invincible when they suddenly came to fame and fortune.


    "Are there contingencies?" There was a chill in Vijay’s eyes.


    "There are, Your Majesty. I am just waiting for your order."


    Vijay stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Don’t act yet. Let’s see how many people support this Sulu king. We’ll take them all out when the timees."


    Jndhar immediately nodded his head. "As you order, Your Majesty."


    Afterpleting his report, Jndhar handed over all the intelligence documents and files to His Majesty for his inspection.


    It was time for Jndhar to return to the Andaman and Nicobar Inds, but in his mind, there was a question that kept him uneasy. "Your Majesty, if you don’t mind me asking, won’t the Spanish retaliate?"


    Vijay looked at Jndhar with some disapproval, but then again, he was in a good mood, and the matter was not something of high secrecy.


    "There is a very high chance that they will, but I for one think that the current Spanish emperor, Bausch or Charles, will not aggravate the decline of the Spanish Empire by going to war with us."


    "If my guess is correct, the Spanish ambassador muste knocking on the door for an exnation in the next few days."


    "What if he does not, Your Majesty?"


    "Well, Jndhar, if Pedro Santiago does note asking for an exnation and immediately leaves the empire, it means that the Spanish havepletely given up on diplomacy with us, and we could already conclude that there will be an outright attack from the Spanish."


    "However, Jndhar, I believe that Charles is not as reckless as his father, so let’s see how things will y out in theing days."


    Jndhar had a look of gratitude on his face. He knew that His Majesty did not have to indulge him in his curiosity, but he did nheless. With his doubt settled, Jndhar happily went back to his job as the Director of the Southeast Asian Intelligence Branch of Bharatiya External Pragya.