February 24th, 1656
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Gangapuri State, The northern Frontier City of Digha
*Caw* *Caw*
It was early in the morning, barely 10:00 o’clock. The sun was bright in the sky, and the temperature was warm. It was a perfect day for an outing, but unfortunately, such a lovely day was about to be destroyed because of a war. What a waste.
However, on the bright side, today is a day that will also be celebrated by many people in the future, as it is set to be remembered as the start of the end of the Mughal Empire.
At the Digha fortress, the suspected place of the Mughal invasion, the soldiers on the city wall were on high alert, armed with artillery and ready to take on the enemy at a moment’s notice.
Currently, the Gujarat frontier has 50,000 troops, The Northern Frontier of the empire, which has the most ground to cover, has 112,349 troops after including the addition of veteran police officers who joined in recently.
As for the northeastern defence front, there wasn’t much change, and the strength remained around an average of 83,000 troops, which included both the empire troops and the troops of the Ahom kingdom.
Hence, even though Vijay and the military leaders of the empire knew where the Mughal Empire would attack and when they would attack, they did not place all their bets on a certain defensive point because, number one, the prediction they made was only that, a prediction and not a concrete certainty—and number two, if the Mughal Empire noticed this easily recognizable change, the Mughals might deviate from their original attack plan halfway through, causing more damage to the empire than if they attacked when the empire was unprepared.
Hence, the troop allocation in Digha Fortress has not changed. But in order to avoid unnecessary losses and to further make the strategy to defeat the Mughals more convincing, the major general stationed there was given permission to retreat after holding back the Mughal Empire as much as possible.
10 km away from the northern defence frontier
An army without an end in sight marched slowly towards the Northern Frontier. This army, like an army from Hell, destroyed everything in its path. Be it trees, plantations, or shrubs, everything was trampled beneath the might of 400,000 battle-ready troops.
A few kilometres away, on top of a watchtower, the scout who saw the scene immediately acted. He quickly memorized the organisational structure of the enemy as well as the artillery capacity and a rough estimate of firearms.
*Glug*
He was nervous, since, with only a rough estimation, there were thousands of artillery pieces and nearly 90,000 firearms in the enemy ranks.
Witnessing this, The scout was feeling scared. He did not know what the plan or idea of the general was, but he was sure that their defensive fortress would not be able to withstand this magnitude of force. Even if the enemy did not have any firearms, only ancient siege weapons, this number of people could easily trample their fortress within a few weeks.
But the scout did not linger anymore, as all the thoughts that passed through his mind only took a split second. He quickly sent the data through the Arka Dristhi communication device, which was sitting right next to him. He then quickly packed up all the important drawings and his belongings, got on a horse, and swiftly left the vicinity.
Oh by the way before leaving the watchtower, he also destroyed the mirror in the communication device and bent some metal pieces out of shape to prevent the Mughals from replicating the device.
The scout at the second tower, five kilometres away, received the signal sent from the furthest point of the lookout. He quickly deciphered the message. However, when he comprehended the message, he was taken aback and scared. His hands were literally shaking, but it is understandable, since, who wouldn’t be after learning about a tsunami of soldiers coming to devour them alive?
But since he did not witness it with his own eyes, he quickly recovered and relayed the message back to the frontier.
At the same time, he evacuated the watchtower after destroying the communication device. Meanwhile, in the vicinity of the first watchtower that was evacuated, Mughal scouts immediately took notice of the enemy position. They inspected the tower thoroughly and found out that the place was empty, with destroyed glass and scraped maps. The soldiers couldn’t help but be furious.
"Damn it!"
"We are too late "
"Che"
*Bang*
Back at the northern frontier in Digha,
Major General Lokesh Kutra Pani had a grave expression on his face after he received the intelligence from the watchtowers established 10 km inside the Mughal lands.
Honestly, he was very nervous about the upcoming battle. Even though he put on a brave front in front of his soldiers, he was hesitant and scared to face an army of 400,000 soldiers. Although this data had been predicted, now facing it in reality was still nerve-wracking.
But fortunately, he had some solace knowing that he could retreat. In the corner of his eyes, he witnessed the expressions of his soldiers who couldn’t stand still and were shaking all over. Of course, except for him, no one knew the orders of the higher-ups.
Standing on top of the city wall and looking at the hesitant and doubtful faces of the soldiers, he knew that he had to do something.
"I am scared too," he stated in a raised voice, catching everyone’s attention as they could not imagine even their general would be scared. "But being scared is not a reason to quiver in front of the enemy." His eyes took on a disdainful tone as he questioned, "Have you all forgotten?
This is the same enemy that butchered hundreds of thousands of people in Indore," he roared, his voice rising in decibels as his question reminded the soldiers about the anger they felt when they heard about the Indore Massacre.
"No, General."
"Definitely not, General."
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"Damn it, now is the time to prove the bravery of Shiva bhakts!"
Shouts reverberated throughout the fortress as the emotions of the soldiers were successfully aroused.
"So why do you tremble like cowards instead of standing tall like brave warriors, like undying Yodhas? Face the enemy with fierce resolve. We will never allow our hard-built motherland, where every soul has a chance to rise, where even a commoner can become a minister, to be breached under our watch.
If such a thing were to happen, it would only be over our dead bodies," he roared, clenching his fist. The soldiers, who had now put their nervousness behind them, had red eyes burning with resolve, gaining the determination to die standing in front of the Mughal dogs.
"So tell me, who is with me?"
A loud roar erupted from the major, and the crowd soon followed.
"Me!"
The sound deafening.
The response from the crowd was so wild and filled with murderous intent that anyone who heard it would feel palpitations in their soul.
The same went for the Mughal army that had vaguely heard this scream a few hundred meters away, but most of the soldiers who were affected quickly recovered after realizing their numerical superiority.
Major General Lokesh Kutra pani, who now had a visual on the enemy, had bright eyes, his determination to obliterate a piece of the Mughal empire’s flesh burning brightly.
"In your battle stations, men!" he ordered, to which the soldiers acted immediately. They quickly wore their helmets and got into position without a hint of doubt on their faces, ready to stand atop these walls against a sea of enemies with a resolve to die and drag with them a few dozen Mughal soldiers.
Minutes passed...
The enemy was within range of the Bharatiya cannons. However, unfortunately, Lokesh Kuttrapani discovered that although the vanguard of the Mughal army was within range, the Artillery of the Mughal Empire was positioned further back in the formation.
"Not yet," he ordered, noticing a few brigadiers ready to give the fire command.
In the meantime, the vanguard of the Mughal army approached within nearly 100 meters of the wall. This time, Lokesh Kutrapani did not hesitate.
"Brigade one and Brigade two, commence fire!"
The 8,000 men equipped with Brown Bess rifles started acting immediately, their actions synchronized as if guided by a metronome in their minds.
*Load*
*Click, click.*
*Aim.*
They raised their guns simultaneously, positioned optimally without delay, and pulled the trigger.
*BANG!*
4,000 bullets tore through the air, ripping through the skin, bones, flesh, and internal organs of those opposing their path. Though the vanguard wore iron armour, even the armour made by the Mughal Empire couldn’t stop the special armour-piercing bullets manufactured by the Bharatiya Empire.
*Ah!*
Momentarily frozen, soldiers at the rear beheld the horrific sight of their comrades collapsing with fatal wounds, dying within moments.
They observed the Bharatiya soldiers, smoke rising from their barrels, withdrawing their guns with proud and resolute expressions, helmets reflecting pride, and chins held high. However, despite the Mughal army faltering, the rhythm of the metronome for the Bharatiya’s did not cease.
The second batch of Bharatiya soldiers took aim and fired.
*BANG!*
Another group of Mughals fell lifeless to the ground. In just two volleys, thousands of Mughal soldiers lost their lives without a single casualty from the Bharatiya soldier. The kill-to-death ratio of each and every soldier on the city wall would be above 10 at this moment.
The Mughal soldiers realized that they were marching to their deaths, but unfortunately, it was too late. They quickly realized that they had no other option but to rush desperately towards the fortress, not giving the Bharatiya soldiers any time to react.
"Ah!"
They led a desperate charge. However, due to this, casualties also increased, as the need for precise aim among the Bharatiya soldiers became non-existent.
*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*
One volley after another fired in quick succession, with the Mughals falling like flies. Unfortunately, everything had a limit, the Mughals closed the distance where their guns could effectively work, and they started using their muskets.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Fortunately, the armour worn by the Bharatiya soldiers was top-notch and could stop these small pellets.
At this time, Lokesh Khudrapani realized that the enemy’s artillery was within range. He smiled as he ordered, "Fire the artillery!"
With this order, the Bharatiya Empire artillery roared to life.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Hundreds of giant cannons and dozens of Culverins started to fire.
Explosions tore through the ranks of Mughal artillery, hitting them squarely and scrapping many immediately. Unfortunately, in this bombardment, a few elephants used to pull the cannons were also killed; it seemed the Mughal Empire used elephants as makeshift shields to absorb some of the bombardment. Even so, there was no other way.
The bombardment continued relentlessly, leaving the Mughals no opportunity to fight back, as their range was not as large as the Bharatiya Empire’s artillery. It was a massacre near the wall and throughout their formation.
Lokesh Kutra Pani Looking at the vanguard of the enemy, realized the Mughals had advanced further, so he ordered, "Let the machine guns rip!"
The artillerymen, eager to use the machine gun, had a smile On their faces as they unleashed the Puckel gun.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The repeated fire caught the Mughals off guard, but unfortunately, they were too deep into the battle to retreat.
Nearly twenty Puckel guns on the city wall unleashed a barrage of iron and steel, coupled with the Brown Bess muskets, 30 meters in front of the city wall turned into a meat grinder where not a single enemy could cross the deadly crossfire.
No matter how many came, all were equal before these weapons of war manufactured by Bharat.
To be continued...