October 22nd, 1655
Surendra Nagar, Newly occupied territory in Gujarat.
Surendranagar has now beco the frontline base for the ongoing war in the Gujarat region, while the city of Ahdabad has evolved into a logistical and military hub for operations in Gujarat. With the fall of Surendranagar which was in control of the Mughals, the Bharatiya Empire’s control over Gujarat increased once more.
However, the westernmost part of Gujarat remains unconquered, primarily due to its unfriendly and rugged terrain, hindering troop movents and slowing down the progress of the war.
Despite these challenges, there are significant advantages. The Rann of Kutch, a seasonal salt marsh within the Thar Desert, which can be found in the northwestern part of Gujarat, poses formidable obstacles for both the Bharatiya and Mughal Empires in terms of sending reinforcents and supplies.
It would be more practical for the Mughals to concentrate their resources on launching another attack on the eastern front of Bharatiya Empire-occupied Gujarat, rather than pouring them into the endless expanse of the Thar Desert.
However, unfortunately for the Mughals, even if they attacked from the eastern front of Gujarat, the fortress-like city of Ahdabad stands as a formidable obstacle, akin to a towering Himalayan mountain, hindering the Mughal Empire’s ambitions.
The only other option aside from these two is to launch an attack from the coast, similar to what the Bharatiya Empire did. However, we can disregard this option since the Mughal Empire has already lost control of half of its Navy. The remaining half is currently engaged in conflict against the Bharatiya Naval Fleet stationed in the Bay of Bengal.
Ramayya Senapathi, Narasimha Nayak, Roshan, and Aditya all ca to the conclusion that if sothing worked once, it might work again. So, they decided to employ the sa strategy of bombarding the city of Bhuj with propaganda about the Bharatiya Empire and inciting riots in order to take advantage of the situation.
Roshan is already gearing up to establish a few pawns, and Aditya is not far behind, quickly recruiting people to map out every nook and cranny of the city of Bhuj. By the ti the operation concludes, Aditya will have a comprehensive understanding of the city.
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Vijayanagar state, capital city - Hampi
*Step Step Step*
A row of footsteps was heard in the halls of the royal palace. A man dressed in a black, ticulously tailored attire knocked on the door of His Majesty’s study room.
"co in"
A muffled sound was heard after a few seconds, with which the person who knocked on the door entered the room. He didn’t say a word to His Majesty, who was sitting on his chair, and Vijay, who was staring at the man dressed in black attire approaching him, did not comnt either.
The man wearing black attire bowed slightly in respect and greeting, consequently taking out a docunt from his inner garnt and passing it to Vijay. After giving this docunt, the man didn’t say anything and left, showing his respect to Vijay one more ti with a small bow.
Vijay didn’t pay attention to the man as he was concentrating on reading the docunt that he had procured.
*Creak*
After understanding the contents of the docunt, Vijay suddenly stood up, his expression a mix of shock, anger, and annoyance evident in his eyes, causing the chair he was sitting on to move a few feet backwards. Vijay was shocked that Muhammad would do such a thing. In the docunt, Vijay had just read about the increase of tax by 5% and the recruitnt of soldiers to join the war.
Although Vijay was still unaware of the planning done by Muhammad about the placent of the troops, knowing about the new war tax bill in the Mughal Empire was easy to discern.
Vijay is now worried. While he was confident that the bill would spark multiple riots in the Mughal Empire, causing significant trouble, he was also concerned about the simultaneous increase in soldiers within the Mughal Empire, bolstering their standing army. A decade ago, he wouldn’t have been as concerned, confident that untrained recruits couldn’t match a veteran army.
However, with the widespread adoption of artillery and gun technology in the subcontinent, the potential damage these recruits could inflict has grown exponentially. Their shorter training ti and increased destructive capacity present a dilemma for Vijay.
Although Vijay is unaware of how many troops the Mughal Empire is going to recruit, he could be sure that it won’t be less than 200 thousand. Adding along with the 150 or so remaining standing army of the Mughal Empire, it can be easily predicted that by the end of this expansion, the Mughal Empire would have an army of at least 300,000 to 400,000 soldiers. That’s almost double what the empire has.
"I guess we’re back to square one," Vijay thought to himself. Because during the first conquest against the Mughal Empire, the ratio of soldiers between the two nations was very similar to what they are now. But the only problem is the Mughal Empire will not underestimate the Bharatiya Empire’s strength anymore. So there won’t be any easy loopholes for the military to take advantage of from now on.
The Bharatiya Empire will have to fight for each and every advantage.
In order to counteract this move made by the Mughal Emperor Mohamd, Vijay thought for a while and suddenly got an idea. He imdiately took a carriage and went to have a talk with Kiran Poojari, who is currently at the Nagpur Military Defense Front headquarters.
Along with him, Vijay also summoned Arjun, the Minister of Internal Security of the empire, and General Sergeant Harish, the person responsible for training the new generation of army for the empire, to accompany him.
Arjun, who was diligently working in his office, was suddenly summoned by His Majesty, the Emperor. Although he didn’t know the reason for the summons, he didn’t question anything and quietly boarded the carriage arranged by His Majesty for the journey to Nagpur.
Harish, who was overseeing training tasks and implenting new activities for the new recruits, was also suddenly summoned by His Majesty’s personal guards. Delegating so tasks to the sergeants below him, Harish quickly boarded the carriage and departed the capital with His Majesty and Minister Arjun.
*Creak*
As Vijay arrived at the Nagpur Defence Front, the door opened for him the mont he set foot on the fortress grounds. Arjun’s and Harish’s carriages also arrived at the fortress simultaneously.
Vijay, accompanied by Arjun and Harish, proceeded to et with Kiran Poojari.
"So, have you heard the news?" Vijay asked, pointing at the docunt he had read a few hours ago.
Kiran, wearing a serious expression, nodded and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. This is not good news for us. With this move made by the Mughal Empire, their troop strength will increase manyfold in a short ti. Unfortunately, this is a policy we cannot implent. We cannot be as ruthless as the Mughal Emperor, after all.
His policies make believe that he doesn’t care about the people at all, using the new recruits as dispensable objects."
Vijay nodded his head and replied, "That is a given. What I’m asking you is, are there any counterstrategies that you have co up with?"
Kiran shook his head in disappointnt and replied, "Forgive , Your Majesty. The only thing I could think of is to request Sergeant Harish to quicken the pace of the training."
Harish, seated in the corner of the eting as a bystander, was already nervous since he hadn’t attended etings of such importance before. When his na was unexpectedly ntioned, his panic heightened. However, after hearing the comnt made by the marshal, his panic gave way to anger, and he couldn’t help but speak up.
"How is that possible, Your Excellency Marshal? Training cannot be rushed. I’ve undertaken the responsibility of moulding those lads into qualified soldiers within six months. How can you suddenly push ? Don’t you want well-trained soldiers?"
He asked, which made everyone in the room a little surprised as they did not expect this newly promoted rank 3 military official to directly confront a veteran rank 4 military official and the Marshall of the Empire, Kiran Poojari.
Arjun was uncomfortable with the tone of not budging in Harish’s voice, but on the other hand, completely opposite to his emotion, Vijay and Kiran Poojari were both very satisfied with the conviction shown by Harish. With this incident today, it could be seen that Harish had truly put his heart and soul into the job he was currently doing.
Vijay, coming back to his senses, started to explain his strategy,
"What Kiran Poojari said was indeed true. The training of these soldiers should be compressed further, but what Harish said also has rit. It cannot be compressed to the extent of what those Mughals are doing. We are not training our soldiers to be at shields or dispensable tools"
Everyone, including Harish, nodded their heads. Vijay continued, "So let’s take a compromised approach, Harish. Compress the courses on arithtic and literature and aim to complete the training within 4 months."
Harish, hearing the order from His Majesty, although reluctant, nodded in acceptance.
After dealing with Harish, Vijay diverted his attention to Arjun. "So, we will do one thing, Arjun,"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Arjun replied.
"Increase the weekly training of the police forces in the empire to the sa level as the military within two weeks. I need each and every policeman among the 90,000 police officers in the empire to be proficient with a musket, grenade, and artillery operations," Vijay commanded.
"Since we cannot imdiately increase the number of our army, begin retraining the existing professionals who are in a similar field and have experience in battle," he continued.
Arjun nodded, but he couldn’t help but ask, "Your Majesty, but how will this policy be used? Will they be sent to the defence line? Then what would happen to the internal security of the Empire?"
Vijay knew that this question would arise, so he explained, "It is true that this police will be dispatched collectively to the border defence zone when the ti arises, but for that, I would suspect there is at least three months or more to happen. So before that ti, I need the Ministry of Internal Security to recruit 100,000 policen from the society.
Due to troubled tis, make an exception and reduce the one-year course in the police academy to a 2-month course solely focused on the usage of weapons such as guns, batons, and swords, along with all the formation tactics required for use in civil combats."
"These recruits, along with their team leaders who will be veterans, will temporarily take over the defence of the empire," Vijay declared.
Arjun fell into deep thought, trying to imagine if such a thing could be done. The conclusion he ca to was that yes, it could be done, but there was still a problem he couldn’t help but address. "Your Majesty, although everything you said makes sense, there is still a problem."
"What is it?" inquired Vijay.
"Your Majesty, these recruits will have no deterrence against criminals in the empire. It could be disastrous for the scum of the empire to view the police as a force that could be bullied," explained Arjun.
Vijay nodded his head in understanding and replied, "That is why I have decided to grant each and every police station with 5 muskets. These guns could be used as a deterrence."
Arjun felt relieved, but suddenly he couldn’t help but ask again, "But Your Majesty, although the manufacturing capacity of the guns has increased manyfold, the demand of the military is also increasing. So, can the empire’s military industry produce these guns for the police?"
Vijay was taken aback because he did not consider this question. Thinking about it, he replied, "I will consider this matter. You make arrangents for this change. In the anti, start implenting the policies we discussed, and begin training the existing police from this week. Comnce recruitnt from the next week after proper publicity."
And thus, the eting ended and the preparations to counterattack the Mughals began.
Reviews
All reviews (0)