December 30th, 1655
The Mughal Empire, the region of Baluchistan, city of Kalāt
On the foothills of the central Brahui range in Balochistan, an army composed of thousands of people traversed the terrain in two columns. Everyone looked tired and fed up after a week of continuous travel in this harsh environment. However, they still persisted because their goal was right in their sight.
Narasimha Naik, positioned in the middle of the army formation, squinted ahead at the city of Kalāt, his eyes narrowing against the unforgiving sunlight.
After inspecting the city for a while, he noticed that the city wall was not too different from the one in Khuzdar. The only difference was that this city looked a little smaller than Khuzdar.
Ultimately, this was an advantage for him since it confirmed that there would not be too much resistance. The city only needed to serve as a transit station or a resource and logistics supply point for their eventual attack on the most crucial location in the region, the capital city of Quetta. For this purpose, the place was perfect.
Sensing that they were within a sufficient distance from the enemy battlements, Narsimha immediately gave the order to halt and set up tents, as they were preparing for a prolonged siege to breach the city.
"Halt!"
The modular Bharathiya Scorpio grenade launcher was quickly assembled by the artillerymen and immediately set up in their respective positions. Sandbags were well placed in front of these machines to protect them from enemy arrows or, in rare cases, gunshots. One of the advantages of this launcher is that it does not need to have a direct line of sight.
Measuring the altitude and trajectory correctly could do the job just as well.
Seeing that everything was set up and the artillerymen were ready to initiate the artillery, Narsimha did not immediately start the bombardment. Instead, he initiated the routine diplomatic procedure. Although he did not have much hope for its success, he sent someone to convince the opponent to concede defeat nonetheless.
500 meters away...
Rows and rows of tribal soldiers stood on the city wall, ready to take on the enemy at any time. Among these warriors, there were four figures who looked different, their attire more colourful and their heads adorned with various ornaments. It could be concluded that these four were the leaders of this tribe and the city.
In the tense atmosphere between both armies, a man with a group of four to five shield-wielding warriors approached the city wall with a white flag.
The tribal soldiers, seeing these attackers approaching within range, were about to pull their bowstrings and fire their arrows.
However, before they could do so,
"Wait,"
A loud shout rang out from one of the four tribal leaders, which stopped the barrage of arrows that was about to be unleashed.
With his shout, the archers finally refrained from acting. However, unknown to them, had they indeed killed the messenger, the wrath of Narasimha Naik would have fallen upon them, causing more casualties than necessary. Perhaps the leader who shouted to stop the attack saved the lives of the soldiers of the tribe.
As for the reaction of the messenger...
*Phew*
"Thank god," he muttered in an inaudible voice.
As he witnessed the soldiers putting down their bows, a wave of relief washed over him. Despite his bravery and readiness to die, having chosen the job as a messenger, he still, at the end of the day, preferred to remain alive.
Facing the curious eyes of the four chieftains, the messenger of the Bharatiya Empire no longer hesitated and spoke out the message he was meant to deliver.
"Greetings to the city of Kalāt and its residents. His Majesty, the Emperor of Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Vijay Devaraya, has decided to conquer the Mughal Empire. Since the region of Balochistan is under the reign of the Mughal Empire, His Majesty has waged a just war on the region for the independence of the people from the brutal reign of the Mughal Samraj."
The messenger stopped to take a breather, while the four chieftains were taken aback, as they had no clue that this enemy wanted to conquer the whole of the Mughal Empire, which, according to them, was the strongest nation in the world.
They looked at each other with confusion, doubt, and even nervousness, as having the qualification to compete and wrestle with such a behemoth like the Mughal Empire scared them quite a lot and made them skeptical. However, they continued to listen.
The messenger continued, "We have already captured the city of Makran, the city of Guwahati, the city of Ormara, the city of Panjgur, and the city of Khuzdar. So, please, at the behest of His Majesty Vijay Devaraya and His Excellency Commander Narasimha Naik, commanding this army you see. Please accept defeat and concede control of the city.
In exchange, no one in the city will be harmed, and all of the citizens of the city will be converted into citizens of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire." The messenger’s face was expectant. "Like one of us," he added.
With that, the messenger waited for the tribal chiefs’ reply.
The four leaders, each a chieftain of their own subtribe under the Marri tribe, withdrew from the city wall and began to deliberate on their next course of action.
The Sardar (chieftain) of the Bijarani subtribe said, "What do you all think? Do you think that man is telling the truth?"
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The Sardar of Gazini subtribe replied, "It might be. Have you noticed how, for the last few weeks, travellers from the far south have stopped coming to our city? We initially thought this might be due to some weather changes in the South, but it looks like what the man in front of our city wall is saying could be true."
The Sardar of Loharani subtribe asked with a hint of worry on his face, "Then what do you think we should do? They have more soldiers than us. Just from a single glance, it can be seen that they have more than 10,000 soldiers; we barely have 5000. The only advantage we have against them is the city wall. Considering this, can we resist their siege?"
This was the worry of all the chieftains as they fell into thought. The consequences of admitting defeat were not too bad; they would only change their title from people of the Mughal Empire to people of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, which, for them, did not matter much.
But it would become a problem if this new empire became more nosy than the Mughal Empire, interfering in their business and their way of life, which they had no way of guaranteeing.
Finally, the Sardar of Zehri subtribe came up with a solution. "Then we will not admit defeat. Let’s see if we can find any help from other tribes. At the same time, they will have to break through our city wall. Maybe by the time the wall is breached, reinforcements will arrive."
Hearing the solution given by the chieftain of the Zehri tribe, everyone nodded their heads in acceptance and promptly got back on top of the wall. With serious and stern faces, they revealed the decision they had made after deliberation to the Bharatiya messenger.
"We refuse your offer to admit defeat," they declared.
The messenger, who had already been expecting this reply, still felt a little disappointed.
As usual, he wished them good luck and returned to the army camp.
Back in the army camp...
"They rejected it, Your Excellency," the messenger reported the result to Narasimha Naik.
Upon hearing the expected reply, Narasimha Naik’s face showed little to no fluctuation. He promptly ordered, "Commence fire."
With his orders passing through the ranks, the artillerymen immediately acted. With grenades already armed and ready, they pulled the triggers.
*Zoop* *Zoop* *Zoop* *Zoop* *Zoop* *Zoop*
Six consecutive hollow sounds, similar to rockets being launched, echoed as the grenades whizzed through the air in a parabolic trajectory and cleanly landed near the city wall.
*Boom* *Boom* *Boom*
With loud explosions superimposed on one another, the city was engulfed by this explosive onslaught. However, this did not stop, as the explosions continued every minute.
The chieftains were startled by the sound of the explosions, as they had never seen or heard of such a weapon. The same went for the soldiers, who were now literally kneeling on the ground, praying, as they felt like this was a weapon of the gods made to punish them.
However, the chieftains were the first to recover. Even though the damage done by the weapon was great, it could not be something divine, since they were not disintegrated immediately, which in their opinion could only be possible for a weapon divine in nature.
However, even after confirming that the weapon was mortal in nature due to them not disintegrating, they couldn’t help but regret their choices after witnessing the constant firepower of the enemy. Unfortunately, they realized the truth too late, and now could only pin their hopes on reinforcements.
January 3rd, 1656
"What is it? Did they agree to reinforce us?" The Sardar of the Zehri Tribe asked with anticipation. It had been four days since they had gone to request reinforcements from the neighbouring tribes. In the meantime, the bombardment had been ongoing, and he could tell that the city wall would not last much longer.
As for fighting back, their arrows had no effect on these weapons, heavily guarded by sandbags, and the enemy army was too far back to cause any true damage. When they tried to lay an ambush or flank the enemy, they were hit with a new weapon that made them tremble: the firestick, similar to the firesticks used by the Mughals in Quetta city but more deadly.
So, the hope of getting near to the enemy was dashed.
The tribesman who returned after visiting the nearest Kakar Tribe to request reinforcements had cold sweat on his face, his complexion pale and lifeless. Seeing this, the Chieftain of the Zehri tribe felt a sense of foreboding, but still, he continued to ask, holding onto a glimmer of hope.
The tribesman, after regaining his breath and composure, explained with horror, "Your Excellency, as I was about to enter the city of the Kakar Tribe, what I saw greatly shocked me." He shuddered at the memory, causing him to break out in a cold sweat once more.
"An army no less than the enemy army outside the city wall was waiting to attack the city of Dhadar. The flags, although slightly different from ours, had the same circular symbol, so I think they both are from the same empire. I didn’t go forward anymore and ran back immediately to inform you," the tribesman reported.
All four chiefs who heard this information were greatly shocked. It was only now that they realized, what the true might of a power capable of going against the Mughal Empire was like.
"Zehri, do you think there are more such armies attacking different cities all over Baluchistan?" Bijarani Sardar asked, his voice tinged with palpitations as he considered something more horrifying.
Zehri, upon hearing this possibility, was greatly taken aback. He was already unable to cope with the fact that even their neighbour was under attack. Now, with Bijarani Chieftain introducing another idea that was very much a possibility, he knew that they had no chance of winning.
After a brief discussion among the tribal chieftains, they agreed to consider defeat. It was just that they were hesitant because they could see that in defeat, they would lose a lot of power to the enemy. They were also not so sure that the initial offer made by the Bharatiya messenger at the beginning of the battle would still stand.
However, they were out of options; it was either this or fighting the enemy until their last breath. Even if they somehow managed to repel the enemy at their doorsteps, more would follow like an endless tide of zombies, so their choice is actually in the interest of the majority.
Narasimha, who was routinely inspecting the battlefield, suddenly had a smile on his face as he saw multiple white flags rising up on top of the city wall, signifying the acceptance of defeat by the Marri Tribe.
The gates were opened, and the Bharatiya army entered the city with caution.
The operation was successful, and as the tribal chiefs expected, they were arrested and put into custody while the security and resources of the city were taken into the Bharatiya Empire’s control. Fortunately, there wasn’t anything beyond this like raping or pillaging, so their hearts were let down.