February 5th, 1656
The Mughal Empire, Region of Balochistan, Zohab
Over the last 15 days, a lot has happened, among which one of the major achievements was the victory in the city of Zohab. Surprisingly, this small city on the foothills of the Suleiman Range proved to be much more challenging than imagined.
Unlike the rest of the places the Empire has conquered, Zohab is almost entirely controlled by the Zarakzai tribe, a notable Pashtun tribe originating from the larger Durrani tribal confederation.
Due to their connections with other Pashtun groups across the border, when attacked by the empire, reinforcements for the Zarakzai people immediately showed up. This made capturing the city much harder and more troublesome, because, Zohab also happens to be the gatekeeper of Gomal Pass, one of the major economic lifelines of the region of Balochistan.
Due to the resistance that was encountered, Commanders Narasimha Nayak and Ramayya Senapathi were both contemplating whether to use the new weapon His Majesty had sent. According to the information they had received, this weapon was supposed to be a secret weapon against the Mughal Empire and was only recently produced, still classified in status.
Therefore, both commanders felt that if it were possible to capture Zohab without resorting to this weapon, it would be beneficial since the weapon would remain hidden and act as a decisive hidden card of the empire.
Hence, even though His Majesty had not forbidden them from using it in the war, as commanders of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, they understood the importance of preserving such a hidden advantage.
Just as both commanders reached the limits of their patience and were on the brink of deploying the new artillery they had vowed not to use, an intelligent asset well-versed in the northernmost part of Balochistan proposed a plan: sow discord within the Zarakzai tribe.
Narasimha Nayak and Ramayya Senapati did not initially understand what this proposal meant, since as far as they could see, the enemy was pretty united. However, it was only after further inquiry, that they learned that the Zarakzai tribe, similar to some other tribes they had encountered, operated on an elder’s council system.
Hence, it could be concluded that the tribe was not actually centralized, and the only reason for their unity was their common strong enemy.
Therefore, although what the commanders Narasimha Nayak and Ramayya Senapathi did next was tactless, it did not matter since no blood was unnecessarily spilt.
The commanders, working together, both formed their own armies and acted as if their armies were not united. At the same time, they sent different proposals to different elders, deliberately specifying that some elders and their sub-tribes could receive more benefits than others. This strategy eventually created a seed of doubt and chaos of choices within the enemy ranks.
The enemy they feared turned out to be less formidable, and their own people seemed to be like blood-sucking leeches.
Moreover, when reinforcements arrived, the main Zarakzai army was inadvertently spared, while the reinforcements suffered the most casualties. Both commanders had focused on defeating the reinforcements first, then repelling the native Zarakzai army, thus sparing their lives.
This strategic move expanded the rift between the Zarakzai tribe and the broader Durrani tribal confederation from across the mountains, who had come to assist. Additionally, the Zarakzai tribe’s extensive farmland, which made them appear wealthy to their relatives on the other side, further fueled the divide.
With such an operation, despite requiring significant strategizing and resulting in slightly higher casualties than anticipated, the whole of Balochistan is now under the control of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire. With this victory, the Empire has added another 347,190 square kilometres of land.
Although most of this land is uninhabitable, it is valuable for the Empire nonetheless due to the region’s rich mineral resources. Even into the 21st century, these resources remained undeveloped, so having the region within the Empire serves as a backup resource bank.
Surprisingly, the region of Balochistan also holds nearly 27 billion barrels of oil reserves by 21st-century standards, with six billion barrels being traceable and recoverable, making the region even more valuable.
Setting resources aside, with the capture of the city of Zohab, the integration of Balochistan has taken another step forward. The Empire, now fully confident about its control of Balochistan, began sending police instructors, law professionals, scholars, and cultural experts to the region.
Their goal is to quickly train a new generation of local talent who will serve as the main link between the Bharatiya Empire and traditional Balochi societies, initiating cultural integration and offering opportunities for progress to many Balochi people.
Of course, the local individuals selected for this task were all from humble origins, as the Empire aims to avoid potential infiltration of the old elite within the new elite of Balochistan. For this reason, only orphaned teenagers who do not have close connections with tribal affiliations were chosen.
In every town and city the Empire has conquered, one person from each profession is sent to train a class of these orphans, facilitating the swift integration of society with the Bharatiya Empire.
Additionally, after ensuring that the region of Baluchistan was under their control, the female medical professionals, who had been undergoing training with the military logistics department on the organizational structure of the military, were soon sent to be stationed in Baluchistan, one field hospital at a time.
This was done so that there would be a relatively safe place for these female nurses who had decided to go to the front lines.
Unsurprisingly, Vijay did not intend to immediately implement the Women’s Employment Bill, and these women weren’t actually going to be assigned to real dangerous jobs, at least not yet. However, Vijay’s stance wasn’t due to opposition to women’s employment; quite the contrary.
The first batch of these nurses served as a publicity statement to the people of the empire, demonstrating that women could also fight their own battles and stand on their own two feet. Hence, Vijay, who felt that the region of Balochistan was perfect for them, immediately decided to station the ladies there.
Furthermore, Technically the war in Balochisthan was still ongoing, with loose tribes in uninhabitable areas posing some danger, the situation in the region of Balochistan was under control, and the captured cities were relatively safe, which is where the women would be stationed.
Simultaneously, the harsh weather presented challenges to the women, So as not to be seen through by the people of the empire too easily. Considering all these, At the end of the day, the region was ideal for female medical professionals to showcase their talents and create stories that would inspire more young women to stand up.
Of course, the deployment of more medical professionals from the empire also served as a diplomatic move, improving the impression of various Balochi groups toward the Bharatiya Empire.
Setting aside Balochistan for a moment and returning to the empire,
A lot has happened in the last week.
With Vijay’s order, where farmers from state-owned farms were considered as labourers, there was a huge stir within the Empire. All the government-owned land, which had previously been part of the noble property, was converted into state-owned farms operated like individual companies, and farmers were employed as labourers, receiving the same benefits as infrastructure workers.
Surprisingly, when this policy was implemented, it was found that there was actually no serious labour shortage throughout the empire. Although a slight shortage was discovered, it was minimal.
Upon discovering this, Vijay did not immediately question the Minister of Agriculture Narasimha. Because, He could understand what the old man felt in a nation like theirs, where the population already exceeded 40 million people, not counting the newly occupied lands. The issue should have been too many unemployed people rather than a lack of people to employ.
Vijay empathized with Narasimha, as he could imagine how Narasimha felt after realizing that the agricultural industry was experiencing a downturn upon noting the slight labour shortages in his reports.
Vijay did not want to punish Narasimha, as he acknowledged Narasimha’s significant contributions to the empire and his dedication to the agricultural needs over the years. Even though Narasimha’s reports had been exaggerated, it couldn’t be denied that his actions inadvertently drew Vijay’s attention to the agricultural sector before it was too late.
Therefore, instead of reprimanding the old man and causing discord, Vijay decided to ask him to retire.
Additionally, the reason Vijay implemented the policy even after knowing Narasimha had exaggerated the report was because he anticipated the war could escalate further. He sensed the possibility that Narasimha’s current report could prove true in the future. In a way, Narasimha was right, prompting Vijay to take precautions.
Turning to the industrial sector for a moment, industries were currently booming at unimaginable rates with the proliferation of smaller workshops built throughout the empire, facilitated by the invention of shallow-stream waterwheels.
These small enterprises had taken on the task of producing small and easily manufactured parts away from the large enterprises in the major riverbank industrial zones. While each individual workshop could not match the production quantity of a single riverbank industrial zone, hundreds of these smaller workshops combined almost quadrupled the output of the same parts produced by larger factories.
This situation caused the major processing factories at various riverbank industrial zones to operate at full capacity to keep up with these smaller factories.
As for the military,
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Adding to the nearly 85,000 veteran police officers who joined the Northern Defense Front, an additional 100,000 new recruits trained over the last four months under General Sergeant Harish soon took their posts.
Instead of being stationed on the Northern Frontier like their counterparts, these newly trained soldiers were stationed in a place called Siri Konda, located at the northwesternmost point of Kakatiya Puri State (Andhra Pradesh). This decision was because Vijay predicted that if the Mughal Empire were to attack a single point on the defensive line, there would be no way to resist the attack.
Therefore, he believed it prudent to have an army ready in case the Mughals attempted such a manoeuvre.
Currently, the empire is in a state of war readiness, as confirmed by reports from as far back as a week ago that 300,000 Mughal troops had been recently mobilized, with more following closely behind.