November 22nd, 1655.
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, The region of Gujarat, The City of Karnavati
After working overnight without a hint of rest, both Roshan and Aditya had been successful in preparing the report as promised. Currently, they were present in the meeting with dull eyes and drowsy expressions. Joining the meeting were the regular attendees, including Commander Narasimha Nayak, Commander Ramayya Senapati, Commander Sarvesh, along with Marshall Kiran Poojari.
And finally, the most important attendee, His Majesty, Emperor Vijay Devaraya.
Among the attendees, an unexpected presence stood out: Sarvesh. Unexpected because he could have skipped this meeting as there wasn’t much task for him to do in this battle. He could have opted to train his soldiers instead, but still, he attended the meeting and wore a grumpy expression. As to why, it was because he was unhappy that Dinesh Reddy and Lingesh could get a task and he could not.
Vijay, who heard the complaint from Sarvesh yesterday, did not know if he wanted to laugh or cry for having such a battle-hungry maniac, but he did promise to arrange tasks for him soon enough.
As for Kiran Poojari, who should have been in the Nagpur Defence Frontier, he was actually invited by Vijay for the discussions on this important matter. Similar to Vijay, Kiran Poojari arrived here in absolute secrecy, where only a few members of even the military knew.
Back in Nagpur, a squad of soldiers is guarding the room where Kiran Poojari usually resides and denying entry for any visitors in the name of the martial resting.
Vijay, seeing that everyone had arrived, stated, "Okay, we can start. Let us hear about the intelligence our commandos have risked their lives to get."
Roshan and Aditya soon came back to their senses as they understood it was their time to act. Although they were not 100 per cent in their minds and were still tired from burning the midnight fuel, they had to perform their responsibilities nonetheless, as they could not give excuses when soldiers on the front lines had literally lost their lives in order to get this data.
Before the meeting started, the report they prepared from the intelligence was placed in front of each chair, along with a map of the region for easy visualization of the data. This report was divided into different sections pertaining to various types of intelligence collected, such as intelligence on geography, the people, the religion, the militarily important locations, and main resource areas.
Aditya stood up and began to explain the first section of the report.
GEOGRAPHY
"Your Majesty, if we talk about the foreign powers around the region, the region of Baluchistan is located in the westernmost frontier of the Mughal Empire, neighbouring the Empire of the Safavids to the west and the region of Pashtun tribes to the north.
As for the local regions controlled by the Mughal Empire that borders the region of Baluchistan, it is the region of Sindh to the east and the region of Punjab to the northeast. Baluchistan is a vast and sparsely populated region characterized by arid desert landscapes, rugged mountains, and coastal areas along the Arabian Sea."
Although most of this data was already known to everyone present, it was a good start nonetheless, as it is not a bad thing to be too careful.
Aditya sat down, and after Vijay nodded his head in affirmation, Roshan stood up and explained the next section of the report.
People, Power Structure & Religion
"Your Majesty, unlike what we speculated, the region of Baluchistan is not fully occupied by the Mughal Empire," Roshan stated, causing a lot of eyebrows in the room to be raised as this was quite unexpected news to be heard.
Narasimha Nayak, who’s quite incredulous after hearing the news, came forward and asked about the legitimacy of the data himself, "How is this possible? Doesn’t the Mughal Empire already control all the trade routes of Baluchistan? What do you mean that they do not fully control it?"
The rest of the attendees, including Kiran, nodded their heads as they also wished to know the answer.
Roshan could understand the doubts of everyone attending the meeting, so without further ado, he explained, "Although it might sound quite surprising, it is actually true. Although the Mughal Empire has fully taken control of all the trade routes of the region of Baluchistan, its interior areas are still ruled by tribes and feudal dynasties."
"Tribes?" Ramayya Senapati questioned immediately with a surprised expression.
"Yes, tribes, not too dissimilar to what we had seen in the islands of Lakshadweep," Roshan elaborated. "These tribes and feudal dynasties pay a certain amount of money to the Mughal Empire for them to be left alone. The Mughal Empire is not willing to invest a lot of resources in fully consolidating the region by sending their troops inland. Hence, they accept the money paid in the form of a tax.
Since they see no value in this arid desert terrain where a living thing cannot be seen for tens of kilometres at a time, the Mughal Empire also did not value this region too much, and development has been stuck for the last few centuries."
Everyone understood the reasoning as they nodded their heads. Vijay’s expression was normal because he had already expected something like this since the region of Baluchistan was still very undeveloped even in the 21st century despite being nearly half of the land area of Pakistan and despite containing a lot of unrealized resources like gold, coal, iron ore, and oil.
Roshan elaborated further, "Among the tribes, the prominent ones trace their lineage back to a man named Mir Jalal Khan. He had four sons, each of whom founded their own tribes. These tribes continue to exist today as significant entities in the region." The revelation sparked heightened interest among the attendees, intrigued by the origins of the local culture.
Sensing the subtle shifts in the expressions of the military leaders, Roshan delved into greater detail to satisfy their curiosity.
"Based on our gathered information from various settlements," Roshan continued, "Mir Jalal Khan united 22 tribes from the surrounding regions to establish the inaugural Balochi Confederacy of tribes. Regrettably, upon his demise, the Confederacy disbanded, with its constituent tribes assuming control over distinct territories.
Nevertheless, Mir Jalal Khan is revered as the father of Baluchistan, according to the majority of the settlements surveyed."
"The main tribes currently existing in the region of Baluchistan are the Mengal tribe, predominantly situated in the southern and central parts of the region, and the Mazaris, among the oldest and largest tribes spanning across the province, traditionally engaged in agriculture, herding, and trade.
The Rind Tribe, founded by one of Mir Jalal Khan’s four sons, is prominent in the eastern parts, with a presence extending into Sindh. Known for their martial traditions, they have a history of conflicts with other tribes.
Additionally, the Lashari tribe, also established by one of Mir Jalal Khan’s sons, shares similarities with the Rind tribe, both in the region they exist and in their martial culture, which led them to engage in a 30-year war among themselves, with heroic ballads commemorating the conflict spread throughout Baluchistan."
Roshan paused his speech and took a sip of water as his mouth was beginning to get dry, while the rest of the people listened on, intrigued to learn about the history of such a remote place with such colourful and diverse cultures.
"The next is the tribe of Hoth. These people are no longer based in the region of Baluchistan but are now based in Sindh, as part of the Talpur Dynasty, who are currently the nobles under the Mughal Empire, commanding over a fief in the region of Sindh. This tribe is also founded by one of the four sons of Mir Jalal Khan.
Apart from the major tribes that I mentioned, there are more tribes like the Jamali tribe, located in eastern Baluchistan near the areas of Khuzdar, and the Marri Tribe, which is located in the central parts of Balochistan. Additionally, there are other smaller tribes with only a population of a few thousand people."
Roshan waited for the information to be absorbed by everyone before continuing.
"As for the religion, unfortunately, as far back as 1219 CE, the whole region has been Islamized under the Sufi missionaries. As for the type of Islam they follow, it is the Shia Islam common throughout the Mughal Empire and the Safavid Empire.
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However, there is also a small part of the population composed of individual tribes that follow Sunni Islam, similar to the Ottoman Empire, which further adds to the conflicts among these tribes," Roshan explained.
Having said this, Roshan sat down, concluding his part of the presentation.
There was a hint of disappointment on the faces of the military leaders, as they had hoped to find remnants of their own dharmic followers in the region, given its proximity to the origin of their civilization. However, Vijay remained unfazed by this data as he had already known about it. He had a few ideas to counter this difference in faith systems when the region is hopefully conquered.
The most advantageous attribute of the region, which could be helpful, was its sparse population, with few educated individuals. Vijay saw room for integration, believing that many of the illiterate people, struggling under constant tribal conflicts, would consider migrating to the empire if given the chance for a better life.
He planned to ensure that these migrants were strategically separated from the tribes of Balochistan after migration, possibly even establishing settlements of Dharmic followers in the region to assert local control and facilitate integration after conquering the area.
As for dealing with the residents who do not want to move with the newly integrated Dharmic people of the Balochistan region, Vijay would then slowly try to convert these followers of the holy Book of Islam to the Holy Book of Dharmic Islam, in order to bring them under the same umbrella of Sanatan Dharma.
Coming back to his senses, Vijay took a deep breath and said, "Well, we have a general understanding of the power structure of the region. So, what about the crucial locations to take over in order to fully control the region of Baluchistan?" Vijay asked. This question held significant importance to him because most of the data he had heard until now was already familiar to him.
The only major change from the data he remembered from the previous timeline was the reduction in the number of tribes. As he recalled, there were more than 20 tribes in the region of Balochistan, but now, even though there are still many, they are drastically reduced.
Aditya knew that this question was directed towards him, as it was part of his duty as the director of the Bharatiya Sainik Pragya. He quickly got up and nodded, as he had intensively prepared for this question ever since the report was prepared. But before that, he went to the corner of the room and brought in multiple models of what looked to be small forts in miniature size and mountain ranges.
Everyone quickly understood what this was for, so they patiently waited.