November 30th, 1655
The Forest of Bhairavanga, near the city of Indore, Mughal Empire
04:00 AM
Early in the morning, a few hours before daybreak, a large army numbering at least 50,000 troops carried torches burning with blazing heat, marching at a steady and rapid pace as they moved through the forest with efficient steps.
"Lieutenant Bhati, have you received any signal from the city of Indore recently?"
The commanding general of these 50,000 soldiers, Nazaruddin Zakir Khan, asked.
A middle-aged man marching next to him, who was the lieutenant, immediately replied.
"Yes, Your Excellency, we did receive a signal from the city of Indore. Apparently, His Excellency Islam Zaheer has taken care of most of the enemy troops, and there are only 10,000 remaining," he said with a smile on his face.
The source of this cđ¨ntent is freeweÉnovÄl.coÉą.
Hearing this, Nazaruddin was very happy, but suddenly he became doubtful. Hence, he couldnât help but ask, "If only so many enemies are left, why did he still request reinforcements? Wouldnât his troops be enough?"
Bhavesh Bhati, who is the lieutenant and second-in-command of the army, swiftly responded, "Your Excellency, it is said that they took a lot of damage during the initial stages of the battle. It is said that even the south side of the city of Indore was breached, and the enemy attacked the civilians in the slums and burned down all their living quarters."
His face was indignant as he continued, "And in this fire, a lot of people died, and according to General Islam, many of his troops died too, trying to put out the fire."
Nazaruddin Zakir Khan, who heard this reason, immediately did not believe this nonsense. He put on a contemplative expression, trying to understand the real reason. He knew Islam Zahir very well as he was a family friend, and Islam was a person who would not even consider Hindus as human but as farm animals born to serve him.
This is one of the reasons why the city of Indore has one of the biggest slums in the region and is also the reason for the large number of riots in the area.
He also knew that until now, Islam had only maintained his dominance in the area by employing a majority of Muslim soldiers and ruling the area like a tyrant, doing whatever he wanted and crushing anyone who opposed him. Now that Islam was trying to find some stupid and idiotic reasons like this, Nazaruddin couldnât help but be suspicious of the circumstances.
Seeing the general not speaking anymore, Bhavesh Bhati also fell silent. He was still in an unpleasant mood due to the news he received about the slums. Although he is from one of the Rajput dynasties that submitted to the rule of the Mughal Empire, he still feels that Hindus are living a good life in the Mughal Empire despite the slight discrimination he had seen in the city of his family.
Now, a Hindu empire persecuting their own people for selfish goals left a bad taste in his mouth. He felt that the Mughal Empire had been much better for the Hindus than the tyrannical South Indian Empire.
His father is the current patriarch of the Bhati Dynasty of Jaisalmer, belonging to the Yadava clan of Rajputs in the western Rajasthan region. Hence, as a prince, he had to come on this mission to fulfil the obligation to the Mughal Empire. Additionally, his sister is married to a high-ranking Mughal noble as a political alliance, so he had no other choice but to serve in the Mughal military.
Amidst the myriad thoughts of both the general and the lieutenant, the army pressed forward, crossing the wooden bridge over the Shipra River. Within 30 minutes, they reached the forest clearing leading to Indore. The advanced guard of their troops promptly organized into an eight-column formation.
Though two more columns could be formed, the soldiers strategically left gaps between themselves to enhance their fighting ability.
The march continued until they reached a canyon-like opening, through which a path would lead them to their destination in the shortest time possible.
200 meters ahead, on top of the canyon wall...
With the help of the Ghillie suits, the troops of Dakshin Bhartiya Empire had managed to blend in with the surroundings quite well. Applying dried leaves and forest scraps on top of them as they lay down on the canyon wall, they almost disappeared from sight.
If anyone isnât closely looking at them from a few feet away, it is almost impossible to find them, especially in this environment just before sunrise.
Vijay saw the army marching in front of him but did not initiate the attack; instead, he waited. He wanted to cause as much disruption as possible, and for that, he needed to take out the leaders of this reinforcement army.
As for how he would find out where the enemy leaders are located, especially amidst thousands of soldiers in the darkness, and take action before it is too late, as there is only one opportunity, Vijay actually used his ability to sense danger. Traditionally, the leaders of any military unit are located in the most secure and well-guarded location.
Hence, this location would also be the most dangerous place to launch a frontal attack if the power is not overwhelming.
Hence, Vijay started convincing himself that he would rush into these troops right away. As expected, his intuition kicked in as he sensed the absolute death from all of his imagination. But there was one instance where he felt death more than any other place. The threat of this death was at the same level as the cannon bombardment he felt back in the city of Indore.
There was a glint in his eyes as he finally found his target,
"Got you," Vijay said to himself, his mind now radiating an intent to kill.
Back in the formation of the Mughal troops, Bhavesh sensed that something was amiss about their current location. The surroundings felt eerily silent, and he couldnât shake the feeling that someone was watching him. With a sense of unease creeping over him, Bhavesh scanned his surroundings, searching for anything suspicious.
However, unfortunately, it looked like he was too late in his realization.
A man clad in iron armour with a unique helmet, who had plants and dried grass attached all over his armour, suddenly threw something that looked like a vial of medicine. He did not understand what this vial was, but before he could process what was happening, thousands of what now could be considered enemy soldiers threw the same kind of vial at them.
The smell of oil suddenly permeated the surroundings as Bhavesh quickly realized what the vial containedâit was castor oil.
"Nooo!" Bhavesh screamed at the top of his lungs as he tried to pull out his sword at the fastest speed.
But before he could react, Vijay, who was on top of the canyon wall, quickly pulled out a grenade and threw it into the crowd of people in front of him. The rest of the soldiers did the same.
After that, Vijay quickly fell back and rolled on the ground.
"BOOM" "BOOM" "BOOM" "BOOM"
With multiple loud and deafening explosions, the grenades exploded one by one, causing death and chaos among the enemy ranks. With the explosion of the grenades, the oil that was poured on the enemies also ignited, lighting up an inferno of fire.
*FLARE*
Due to the enclosed area where the enemy was marching, the fire had nowhere else to escape but to spread sideways and upward.
Hence, a tower of fire blasted up from the top of the canyon, rushing towards the sky like a mushroom cloud. Fortunately, the Bharatiya soldiers were prepared, sprawled on the ground like Vijay, allowing them to escape the heatwave from the inferno. However, the Mughal soldiers were not so lucky.
The fire spread along the path they were moving on, extending several meters from the explosionâs centre, incinerating a few rows of soldiers to a crisp.
"Ahhhh, the general and the lieutenant were killed!"
"Ahhhh, no!"
"Run!"
"Ambush!"
"..."
Multiple panicked sounds emanated from the soldiers who were trying to save their lives.
Hearing these shouts, Vijay knew that his plan was successful. He quickly got up from his position, loaded his gun, and started firing into the canyon. The soldiers under him, around 2,000 or so, started doing the same.
*TZzzzzz*
Vijay could see the remains of broken bodies burning in the flames, flesh literally searing away with a sizzling sound inside the canyon. It was a familiar sensation for every Bharatiya presentâburning bodies and vaporized blood assaulting the five senses of everyone around the area. But this time, the soldiers were not sad or angry but relieved that a part of the promise was fulfilled.
The Mughal soldiers who were at the back of the formation and the soldiers at the front of the formation did not know what had happened, but hearing gunshots coming from every direction and learning that their leaders were dead, they did not know what to do. So, they did what any normal human would do in this situation: run.
This could have been avoided if there had been efficient leadership after the death of the main leader, but unfortunately, that system was not yet introduced in the subcontinent.
"No, donât!"
Although some of the squad leaders tried to control the situation, obviously they were not strong enough to convince the soldiers otherwise.
This is exactly what Vijay wanted. He had only brought 2000 troops with him for the ambush, but all of them were equipped with multiple rifles in order to shoot in succession so that the enemy would feel that there were tens of thousands of enemies participating in the ambush.
The rest of the soldiers were waiting in the forest as individual platoon units, ready to hunt down the Mughals or act according to Vijayâs orders at any time.
And with these enemy soldiers running in different directions, the hidden Bharatiya platoons knew that their chance had arrived.
The well-trained army of the Dakshin Bharathiya Empire started to hunt down the Mughal troops.
Vijay, having his plan succeeded, also joined in the battle as he unsheathed his Talwar.
This hunt continued for a few hours, individual units of platoons hunting down the Mughal soldiers like a wolf pack hunting its prey. Vijay, with his ability to sense danger, was like a human detection device, infinitely simulating his actions in his mind and rushing towards danger, slicing down one enemy after another.
The battle went smoothly, but there were still some inadequacies as the amount of casualties on the Bharatiya side was more than expected. Since the Dakshin Bharathiya Empire was outnumbered, to begin with, a few thousand soldiers had managed to escape And more casualties had occurred on the side of the Bharatiya Empire. But overall, the rest of the Mughal Empireâs troops were wiped out.
Vijay could have arrested these enemy soldiers and used them as slave labour, but no, he had promised himself that he would avenge the people who died in the southern slums of Indore.
Hence, it was a slaughter.
Vijay stood on top of a cliff, the sun shining brightly in the sky, its dazzling rays on his face as he stood there, his hands drenched in blood.
"Itâs completed, Your Majesty," a lieutenant general replied, using Vijayâs original title, seeing that they were alone.
Vijay nodded his head and replied with a neutral tone, "Well then, let us go and pay our visits to our most beloved enemy, shall we?"