Tyranny of Steel

Emperor Asha gazed upon a group of prisoners with a pitiful glint in his eye. He could hardly believe matters had come to this, but without punishing these men, he would never be able to retain his Japanese Backers. 

Months had passed since the Bengal Emperor first began his campaign to unify the Indian Subcontinent beneath his banner, and during this time, his troops, under fear of death, behaved themselves quite well.

However, as the war continued, and these men were forced to march endless miles in pursuit of a goal they themselves did not fully believe in, it was inevitable that some men would break the rules of war which were imposed upon them by a foreign empress. One which their own monarch desperately sought to win the favor of. 

Nearly two hundred and fifty soldiers of the Bengal Army were bound and gagged as they kneeled on the ground in front of a ransacked village. These men had committed mass rape and murder of the territory they now knelt upon. Killing every man and boy, while forcing themselves upon every woman and girl, regardless of their age. 

In the past, these actions would be overlooked as a natural consequence of war. However, the Empress Itami had already punished the Bengal Army by withdrawing support in a certain critical aspect. As an act of reprisal for their previous abhorrent behavior, Itami Riyo had halted the sale of Gatling Guns to their Bengal Proxies.

In reality, this was done as a measure to avoid invoking the ire of the Reich who claimed to have patented the device years prior to her own invention. However, Itami did not explain this to Emperor Asha, and instead said her actions were punishment for his previous crimes. 

Such a thing had prompted Asha to take immediate action upon realizing that his soldiers were not following the rules of war that the Japanese had insisted they followed. In fear that the Empress Itami might cut military support in other aspects. As a result, Asha did not look the least bit fierce as he sighed heavily before condemning two hundred and fifty of his own soldiers to death. In fact, one might say he was overwhelmed with fatigue. 

"You were all made aware some time ago about the rules and regulations which you were to abide during this conflict. Yet, here we stand. A devastated village, brought to ruin by your own lust and greed. Such crimes can not be tolerated, and thus I can only sentence you all with the harshest of punishments: death! Soldiers of Bengal, let this be a lesson to you all about the consequences of your actions... Do it!"

After saying this, the man looked the other way. Ironically, he was not able to face the consequences of his own actions. Despite the hesitancy on the part of their Emperor, the most loyal soldiers of the Bengal Army chambered a round into their lever action rifles before pulling the trigger. A loud crackle of gunfire filled the air as the two hundred and fifty war criminals were sent to the afterlife. 

Though Asha wanted this to be an example toward his army, he would be remiss to find out that it would ultimately have the opposite effect. Upon seeing their own brothers in arms gunned down for committing acts which they had all previously engaged in, the bengal soldiers would soon find themselves embittered towards their Emperor and his Japanese masters. 

Despite these treacherous thoughts, the war continued, and soon enough the Kakatiya Dynasty would fall to the Bengal tide. Allowing Asha to advance on the most powerful of the Indian States outside of the Anangpur Empire: The Pandya Dynasty. 

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While the Bengal Army waged war in India, Itami had dispatched her own forces to the islands that were once known as the Philippines during her past life. Unlike in Itami's past life. The religion of Islam had never spread to Asia, and as a result, the Philippines was split in between Hindu states in the south, and Chinese states in the North.

Under the command of the recently appointed General Saito Korenari, the Imperial Japanese Island landed on the island chain with little resistance. In fact, the entire invasion was something the local petty kingdoms were entirely unaware of until it was too late. 

For months, Japan had been flexing its increase in Naval power by protecting cargo ships which traversed to the Philippines. As a result, the local realms did not suspect a full scale invasion of their homelands as a possibility. Even when a large amount of Japanese ships gathered off of their coasts.

The Japanese Empire was facing a crisis as they came to understand more about the capabilities of their rival, which was located in the western world. Empress Itami Riyo knew that if her armies were to stand a chance against that of the Reich, then she needed to mechanize, and quickly. However, in order to do this, she needed oil, and that was something the land that her Empire currently occupied was utterly lacking in. 

Luckily for her, the island of Mindanao was home to the Liguasan Marsh, which housed a rather large reserve of oil and natural gas. It was the second largest island in the entire archipelago. Mindanao was home to several petty kingdoms who, in the past, Itami had attempted to bribe into accepting annexation. However, after word got out of her soldiers' war crimes in other occupied regions, this option was no longer available, and thus the Japanese had resorted to a full scale invasion.

Under the cover of night, the Imperial Japanese Army embarked from the vessels that carried them, and landed on the shores of Mindanao. Nobody was any the wiser that an entire brigade of Japanese soldiers had landed on the shores of the island. 

After securing the beachhead, the Japanese Army ferried their cavalry and logistic caravans. Much like the Ming Army, Itami had equipped her forces with Tachanka like vehicles, in the hopes of providing mobile firepower to her infantry, who were completely lacking in armored vehicles. 

Within an hour, 5,000 Japanese soldiers had landed on the shores of Mindanao, where they swiftly conquered the village that was nearest to their landing spot. To those families who rested in their homes on this silent night, it came as a sudden surprise when the Japanese soldiers kicked down their doors and mercilessly gunned down those who resisted their sudden occupation. 

It took less than thirty minutes for the soldiers to seize control of the village. After the area was secure, General Saito stepped foot into the captured town and planted the Japanese flag on its soil. The man spoke in his native tongue as he called out to the locals with an intimidating shout.

"As of this moment, the Rajanate of Maguindanao is hereby annexed into the Japanese Empire! All heil your new Empress! All heil the rising sun!"

Naturally, the native inhabitants of the island did not understand a word he said, but the moment the general pulled out his sidearm and fired it into the air, the village folk knelt on the floor in fear for their lives. Unfortunately for the local population, they did not have a say in the matter of their annexation.

Though news would rapidly spread throughout the island of the Japanese occupation, there was simply nothing that the primitive Filipino states could do to prevent the Japanese takeover of their homeland. Any resistance against the advanced Japanese Army was met with swift retaliation. In the face of overwhelming firepower, it would only take a matter of weeks before the Japanese Army had occupied the entire Rajanate of Maguindanao. 

Thus, while Berengar was sailing to Singapore for a diplomatic visit to the Majapahit Empire. Itami had made the first move towards taking the Philippines for herself. An action which would ultimately gain the ire of the Ming Dynasty. 

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