December 15th, 1655
The Mughal Empire, region of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow
While Vijay was happy and excited about the construction of new battleships back in Kochi, the Mughal Empire started to move. With the ousting of the prime minister, Muhammad Muizzu, the empire began to see the aftereffects.
Corruption increased suddenly as it became blatant and rampant. This was previously controlled by Muhammad Muizzu and the previous prime minister.
But now that this position is vacant, and His Majesty Muhammad V, the emperor, has no ability to keep tabs on all the thousands of middle to lower-level administrators, this horse of corruption that was kept at bay was suddenly released, becoming a mad horse destroying everything in its path.
Without the presence of the prime minister, even other ministers responsible for social sectors of the economy or governance felt like they had lost a backbone since their work had begun to be hindered by multiple parties who, without a doubt, were the nobles affected by their work. The empire’s auxiliary operations have almost come to a standstill.
However, in this environment, there is something that is blossoming against the trend, and that is the military industry. Due to the rising power of the military industries, the army’s strength is increasing continuously. For this reason, the empire is still in one piece, as no one with major influence has let out a sound of rebellion.
With the full support of His Majesty the Emperor, the military industries grew rapidly. Various industrial bases, utilizing labor as consumables, widely produced weapons and ammunition.
Unfortunately, what no one noticed was that all these weapons had different standardizations, depending on which noble produced them. Currently, all the nobles have understood the importance of standardization and the necessity of the country adopting a certain standard.
Hence, they all wanted their own version to be the standard production of the empire’s military. If Muhammad Muizzu had been present, he would have ensured the standardization of these weapons beforehand. However, as he is not present, and neither Muhammad nor any of his attendants know about this, they only care about quantity and do not understand the importance of standardization.
For this reason, major weapon production companies owned by nobles took this as a chance to madly produce their own weapons with their own standards. Since the military is like a hungry beast that consumes everything and leaves nothing behind, the nobles were confident in making more profits, as the bullets for the guns they made could only be produced by them.
This resulted in double the profits or even more for a single sale of a product from their company.
However, their greed might have dug a bigger grave for the Mughal Empire. Muhammad did notice the increase in expenditure on weapon production. However, since the tax collected reached quite a high level and the speed of production of these weapons was quite fast, he chose to bear with it.
Of course, he did not know that most of the cost went into the procurement of different calibres of bullets from different industries with different standards.
Despite everything that is happening, the Mughal Empire is still in one piece due to the absolute military control of the empire and the increasing power of the nobles. Due to this, the management pressure on Muhammad decreased, and since these Mughal nobles also considered the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire their lifelong enemy, they have not shown any ambition to defy Muhammad’s commands.
They are keeping their own regions under control as any good vassal should, and at the same time, they are helping with the collection of taxes and the recruitment of soldiers for the war.
However, unfortunately, the methods they choose to make this happen are not always good.
In the city of Lucknow, which comes under the direct control of His Majesty the Emperor and his Timurid Dynasty, people are walking on the streets with panicked expressions, downtrodden faces, and dead eyes, as if they have given up on life.
This is because a new tax bill was passed that increased their taxes from the already heavy burden to feed the war. The tax is conveniently called the "war tax," and it alone takes up nearly 20% of their income. Combined with the rest of the taxes, they can barely survive. And if this is the situation in Lucknow, a metropolis, then what could the situation be in the surrounding towns and villages?
Hoards and hordes of people did indeed fight and resist this oppressive taxation by the Mughal Empire, but unfortunately, the military of the Mughal Empire was not lenient. With the orders of Muhammad, they did not negotiate with these rebels but directly killed them all, which spread fear of the Mughal Empire in the local region.
However, this news is still localized, as the Mughal Empire tightly controlled information from one region to another to prevent widespread unrest.
On the outskirts of Lucknow, in a small town called Itaunja,
"Please, sir, leave us alone; we are a poor family."
"Sir, please have mercy; this is my only son. What will I do after he dies?"
*Sob*
*Sob*
"Sir, please give us a few weeks of time; I will be sure to get you the tax money, please."
There were cries and begging of the people in front of the tax collector who had arrived at their town. The people, who were already desperate due to the low harvest this season, were even more desperate with the arrival of these tax collectors.
The tax collectors directly demanded the tax to be paid immediately, but where could they get the money from?
However, the hateful tax collector, despite seeing their misery, did not show any kindness and suggested sending their sons to the empire’s military, promising forgiveness of their taxation for the year.
This immediately sparked anger and rage among the people, some even launching an attack on the tax collector. However, with a bang, the man who approached was shot dead, and the town centre fell silent.
It was then that the people realized their situation was hopeless, especially after seeing multiple Mughal soldiers reveal their guns.
This brings us to the current situation of crying and begging.
The tax collector, a distant member of the Timurid Dynasty, was proud of his lineage, though, in normal times, he was not taken seriously due to his thin bloodline and perceived lack of ability. However, now that he was utilized by the family, he was eager to prove himself and gain their respect.
Seeing the pleading and crying before him, he knew that his moment had come.
"Pull these people aside. Those who brought money can pay and leave, while those who did not must send their sons to the military immediately."
There was a louder commotion in the town hall, but he did not care. The soldiers, listening to his commands, pulled aside the women who were kneeling on the ground, dragging them by the hair as their cries grew louder and a sense of desperation spread, palpable throughout the surroundings.
Still, the tax collector was unmoved, his mind consumed by thoughts of gold, silver, and power. Immediately, males above the age of 10 and below 40 were forcefully taken away from their homes as compensation for the war tax.
Similar events are occurring all over the Mughal Empire. With the orders given by Muhammad, it is impossible for things not to turn out like this. Unfortunately, Muhammad is already obsessed with accumulating enough strength to confront the Bharatiya Empire. His sole goal now is the destruction of this empire that has been his nemesis ever since its creation.
The Asaf Khan dynasty in the region of Lahore, modern-day Pakistan, is also sweeping the streets for money, personally acting as employed thugs for the Mughal Emperor, and immediately sending this loot to the capital to be converted into the empire’s strength.
The Kachwaha and Rathore rulers of Jaipur and Jodhpur, under the control of the Mughal Emperor, are also following suit, though not as brutally as the Islamic lords. Nevertheless, it is not too different, as the only addition they make is giving out some money as compensation for their sons or husbands taken away for war.
This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
Bengal is the region most affected, particularly Bihar and Bengal, the two regions where Prime Minister Muhammad Muizzu had the most influence. It was because of him that they were so economically developed, so the nobles here respected him quite a bit. However, since his disappearance and the sudden emergence of the traditional ruling family of Murshidabad Nawabs, they did not know what to do.
The Murshidabad Nawabs, having finally gained regional power, started a bloodbath, slaughtering nobles and commoners alike, with the sole goal of recruiting enough soldiers and robbing enough money for the empire’s war efforts. Perhaps then their family would reach a higher level akin to the rumoured kingmakers only seen in their history books.
The region of Nepal and Bhutan was controlled by the Awadhas. In the past timeline, they had controlled a lot of northeastern regions like Assam, Nagpur, and other city-states. However, now that the Ahom kingdom was still surviving and remained strong, they took control of Nepal and Bhutan after winning the war against these two independent kingdoms.
In order to prove their worth, the descendants of the Awadh Dynasty, though far less cruel than the Murshidabad Nawabs, brought cries of pain and desolation to Kathmandu and Punakha, the capitals of Nepal and Bhutan respectively.
However, unknown to these descendants, their actions were witnessed by someone with cold eyes. Though their eyes looked beautiful, they harboured murderous intent.
"Maha, now is not the time. Let’s go."
When the person, radiating strong killing intent, was about to move, drawing a unique dagger, their hand was held tightly by an old man who pleaded with them.
With the pleading of the old man, the person called Maha, though unwilling and grinding their teeth, chose to retreat. Their next destination: is Bengal.