February 10th, 1656
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, The region of Gujarat, Karnavati
"One two three one"
"One two three one"
"One two three one"
"One two three one"
It was early in the morning, barely 9:00 o’clock.
Amidst the loud marching noises and rhythmic drum sounds made by the soldiers, Vijay, who had come to inspect the barracks, was standing there very satisfied after witnessing the scene.
He could feel that the war was getting closer and closer since the frequent skirmishes the Mughal Empire would launch had been reduced to single digits in the past few days. Even the border of Indore, which was the most difficult to build fortifications for, had been left unattacked for the last 48 hours.
All these events combined made Vijay feel that the Mughal Empire was getting ready to launch an attack.
Unfortunately, the Mughal Empire seemed to have noticed that many civil servants in their empire had turned into informants for the enemy. Hence, the Mughal Emperor Mohammad V seemed to be making decisions within a very tight group of people. Unfortunately for Vijay, although he wanted to monitor the Mughal Empire’s military actions as he had during the one-year war, he found himself cut off.
He had no means of accessing the decisions made by these groups, which held their meetings in secrecy.
The only movement Vijay or even the Empire’s various Intelligence Departments would get to know from the enemy was when the enemy was already on the move, which could unfortunately be too late. Although there is another method that could be used, unfortunately, it is not as reliable as direct information from military personnel.
This method involves noticing unusual changes in grain and logistic supplies within the Mughal Empire.
The problem with this method is that since the war between the two nations began, the grain and logistic supplies for the war have been procured by the Mughal Empire in large quantities for a long time. Hence, it is not possible to predict the movement of the Mughal Empire from this data alone, as there is too much data to sift through.
The data of logistics channels collected from the Mughal Empire is like a raw mixture of ingredients, and whether these ingredients could be made into a delicious dish is highly dependent on sheer luck. Either that or if there is an excellent chef who could use his instincts and intuition with the data to come up with the right conclusion from all the streams of data.
Due to this reason, Vijay had put the various defensive frontiers of the empire in high defence mode and even took time to implement various protocols, strategies, and practice drills in case of an attack from the Mughal Empire. These strategies covered a wide range of scenarios and could be used to immediately react to any move made by the Mughal Empire, avoiding as much damage as possible.
Depending on the situation, the strategy could also be used to counterattack the enemy. In order to be flexible, the plans were only outlined after discussion with various military leaders, and the rest of the delicate details would have to be decided by the commanding officer in the midst of the battle himself.
Although this would not guarantee absolute certainty in victory, it was enough for Vijay since it provided ample contingencies against the Mughal Empire.
During the time Vijay was lost in thought, The march session soon ended, and as a finishing drill,
*Bang*
A gunshot was fired.
The sound woke up Vijay, who was in a trance.
Noticing a familiar face coming towards him, Vijay smiled and praised,
"Lieutenant Birbal Singh, I am very satisfied with the preparations. Please keep up the good work."
Vijay firmly patted the shoulder of Birbal Singh, the commanding officer of the Eastern Gujarat Frontier.
Birbal had a look of gratitude on his face and a little awe, as he had been present and helped his majesty achieve the glorious victory in the battle for Indore. Although no one except a select few knew it was his majesty who participated in the battle, he was already satisfied with the privilege he was now receiving.
After congratulating and encouraging some more important military leaders, Vijay soon left the Karnavati military barracks, as he had already spent a whole four hours there since morning.
In the afternoon, Vijay went to inspect the newly constructed defence wall from the fortress of Dahod to Indore.
He got on a horse and trotted along the defensive wall, inspecting all the artillery pieces that were installed. Seeing the long and expansive wall, which did not seem to end even at the horizon, Vijay couldn’t help but be impressed with the logistic capabilities of the empire since this wall did not exist only a few months ago.
Now it stood as tall as a two-story building, equipped with heavy cannons, long-range culverins, and short-range puckle guns, making it a formidable defence to cross.
Vijay even got down from the horse and inspected a few of the guns. He was very satisfied that the guns he inspected were well-oiled and maintained. Additionally, the personnel were stationed only a few meters away with the ammunition ready to fire at any time.
Standing atop the wall, Vijay could also see multiple lookout towers a few kilometres into the Mughal territory acting as early warning signals. He also saw that these towers were equipped with heliograph systems, and he was very relieved knowing that they would be able to know the arrival of the enemy and their exact formation nearly 10 kilometres in advance.
After inspecting the defensive wall, Vijay moved on to the city of Indore. Despite the continuous support from the empire, even though the houses were only beginning to be rebuilt, the walls had been upgraded and fortifications improved.
The city of Indore had turned into a fortress once again, albeit without any self-sustaining capabilities as most of its auxiliary functions had been destroyed in the previous war.
Nonetheless, Vijay, when inspecting its battered yet ready fortifications, was very happy to witness the field Hospital that had been set up.
Curious, he even went into the medical warehouse and inquired with the pharmacist, "How many batches of first aid supplies are present currently?"
The pharmacist was immediately flustered, as he had only joined the job a few months ago. Now, directly seeing His Majesty the Emperor only a few meters away, he couldn’t help it, he froze, not being able to utter even a single word. However, fortunately, seeing His Majesty’s kind and encouraging look, he replied, albeit with a stutter,
"Your Ma- Maj- Majesty, it’s... like this,"
Fortunately, his speech improved once he started to speak.
"Currently, w-we have enough herbs and concoctions to treat ten thousand injured soldiers. However, these herbs will not last long, s-so they are replenished once a week."
Vijay frowned, as this was such a waste. Even if these herbs were sold to the citizens of the Empire at a lower price, they would be sold out.
But he did not voice his doubts, as he understood the reason for it: national security comes before anything else, and the consequences of not having ample medical supplies for the army are more disastrous than the consequences of having no medical supplies for the common people. Yes, even though this was a waste, there was nothing that could be done in the current situation.
The pharmacist did not seem to notice Vijay’s frown and continued, "As for the penicillin and morphine, we have a stock of 8,000 vials of penicillin and 12,000 vials of morphine."
Telling this, the man took out one of each vial and showed them to Vijay.
Seeing this, Vijay was surprised because the vials were actually kept in what looked like a cold storage made of ice blocks laid on top of one another.
"Who came up with this idea?" Vijay asked, curious.
"Your Majesty, although I do not know the specific person, I did hear that it was from a biologist who discovered that medicines and concoctions can extend their shelf life if kept in a very cold environment," the pharmacist explained, taking out a bag of white chemicals from the storage room. "Also, we were trained to make ice blocks by ourselves with the help of these chemicals."
The man said this as he opened the bag and showed it to His Majesty.
Vijay had another surprise; the chemical was none other than Saltpeter. He was already surprised by the first innovation that took place without his knowledge, and now there was another. But he was not angry; instead, he was very gratified and had a smile on his face.
This was one of the reasons he did not involve himself too much in the scientific development of the empire, after all, it was important for the empire to cultivate its own scientific minds.
However, remembering the strategic importance of Saltpeter in gunpowder making, he asked,
"Do you know what this chemical is?"
The pharmacist looked clueless as he honestly answered with a smile, "I’m sorry, Your Majesty, this was mentioned as top secret to us, so we don’t know. The only thing we know is if we put this amount of white chemical into this amount of water, a block of ice could be made." He used his hands to gesture the amount.
Vijay’s heart was finally at ease, knowing that the actual name of the chemical was not published. However, he fell into thought, considering where the excess Saltpeter for the empire came from.
Then it suddenly hit him, He realized that it must have been from the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, especially since he had recently received a report about the discovery of Niter ore, which is used to make potassium nitrate, also known as Saltpeter.
Finally completing his inspections and anticipating good news from the frontline of Baluchistan, Vijay travelled non-stop back to the city of Karnavati.
By the time he got back, it was already evening. Hence, he had his dinner and immediately opened the battle report he received from Baluchistan and read it.
The battle for Balochistan started with two battlefronts, each commanding 27,500 troops, including 500 medical personnel.
The Western Front, commanded by Narasimha Nayak, travelled 270 kilometres north to the city of Panjgur. Out of the 27,500 soldiers, 980 died in combat and due to accidents caused by the terrain of Baluchistan. There were 1,480 injured, of which 420 recovered, resulting in a total loss of 2,040 soldiers and leaving 25,460 remaining.
In the Eastern Front, commanded by Ramayya Senapati, the army travelled 150 kilometres north to the city of Awaran. The total casualties in this expedition were 220, including deaths in combat and accidents. There were also 1,320 injured, of which 1,010 recovered, resulting in a total loss of 530 soldiers and leaving 26,970 troops remaining.
In the subsequent expedition, both the Western and Eastern fronts combined forces to attack the city of Khuzdar, which is 270 kilometres and 200 kilometres from Panjgur and Awaran respectively.
In this battle, due to the larger scale, 3,010 soldiers died due to accidents and combat-related causes, with 4,521 injured, of which 2,121 recovered, resulting in a total loss of 5,610 soldiers and leaving the army with 46,820 troops.
The Western and Eastern battle groups then split up again and attacked the cities of Kalāt and Dhadar, which are 136 kilometres and 213 kilometres away, respectively. In the battle for Kalāt, a total of 2,809 soldiers were lost due to accidental deaths and combat-related deaths, leaving 20,601 troops including the 1521 troops that recovered after injury.
As for the Battle of Dhadar, initially, 1,423 soldiers died due to battle and accidents, with 3,621 injured and 1,622 recovered, resulting in a total death toll of 3,422 soldiers and leaving the total army with 19,988 troops.
For the next battle, which was for the capital city of Quetta, located respectively 130 and 101 kilometres from Kalāt and Dhadar, the forces combined again, forming a total army of 43,398. Due to the all-out war, despite the high casualties, the city was successfully captured and the enemy was fully defeated.
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The death toll was 5,123, and the injury toll was 9,210, with 4,211 recovering, resulting in a total loss of 10,122 personnel and leaving the army with 33,276 troops.
In the final battle of Zohub, which is at the farthest distance of 273 kilometres, a total of 4,128 soldiers died due to unexpected circumstances of reinforcements’ arrival and the long skirmishes that had taken place. Additionally, 8,120 people were injured, with 4,220 recovering, resulting in a total death toll of 8,028.
At the end of the battle, an army of 25,248 remained, which is a total reduction of 54.1% of the initial army.
Vijay frowned as the death toll was quite high as the army marched further inland. However, upon reading the reasons, he understood that even though special forces were sent to map out and gather intelligence on the area, there was only so much they could do within the limited time they were given.
Additionally, he noticed that the farther the army moved into the cities, the more isolated the people became. Vijay could not really blame anyone and could only lament the harshness of conquering Baluchistan. But finally, everything was over.
After a battle that took place over 1,770 kilometres and two months to capture the main cities, Vijay let out a sigh of relief. He quickly ordered the commanders to return home and issued appointment orders for multiple major generals to be stationed in the region of Balochistan to fully control it.
Vijay anticipated that it would take another three months, which should be enough to slowly reduce the remaining resistance in Baluchistan, now that the main arteries and veins of the region were under their control.
Overall the Battle of Balochistan was long and painful
On a brighter note, due to the use of proper medicine, on average 48.043% of injured troops recovered and quickly rejoined the battle, while the remaining 20% could not regain combat effectiveness and had to retire. The rest were highly injured people who could not be saved.
P.S. Idk who needs this data, but hear