February 26th, 1656
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Gangapuri State, Bhadrak
Back in the city of Balasor, Salim Khan was sitting in the military camp, annoyed. Even though they were only 66 kilometres inland, their logistic supplies had taken a whole six hours to reach them. He couldn’t help but think that if it were not for the neat roads, it would have taken a few days longer for all these logistic supplies to arrive.
He now realized how useful the roads he had overlooked were. Before, he did not even consider the military uses of roads. Now, after travelling a whole 60 kilometres within a few hours, he couldn’t help but be jealous of the Bharatiya Empire’s developed infrastructure.
"Once this empire falls, I will request His Majesty to set up my family here," he thought, greed clearly radiating from his eyes.
*Creak*
"Your Excellency the general, all the supplies have been replenished and the troops have rested, we can now start the expedition again," the lieutenant of the army informed, his face serious, posture absolutely professional.
Salim nodded his head. It was time to act again.
The army of the Mughal Empire stationed in the city of Balasore moved again.
One hundred and fifty kilometres away...
Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.
In the city of Cuttack, Commander Ramayya Senapati took up his post as the commander of the operations after he had rested enough.
"So they are on the move again, huh," Ramayya said to himself with a chuckle.
He had just received the news about the Mughal army’s movements through the Arkha Drishti communication channel. Speaking of communication, he was really surprised that within the three months he had been away, the Empire had developed a new communication system that was so fast and convenient.
The first time he got a hold of the technology, he couldn’t help but feel aggrieved, remembering the trouble he had when he had to set up manual communication channels through scouts in various towns during his battle in Balochistan.
"Oh well."
"Are the preparations in Bhadrak city completed?"
"Yes, sir, they are."
"Good."
One thousand four hundred kilometres away...
Vijay, who had received the news after a few hours’ delay, did not comment on the battle situation since everything was going according to plan.
However, what worried him was the possibility of the Mughals decoding the Kumar code. Vijay knew that although this language could pose some challenges to the Mughal scholars, as they could not understand the language without knowing how it worked, this advantage could not last forever. After all, it had already been a few months since it was put into action near the frontline.
Vijay was sure that the Mughal side had already collected enough information about most of the combinations used in the Arkha Drishti communication.
Now the only thing left to do was to assign words to these combinations. Although it was tiring, Vijay was sure that with the human resources available in the Mughal Empire, it wouldn’t take too long to master the language.
Hence, he immediately sent a message to the Ministry of Sciences to come up with a cipher text to further encrypt the communication messages.
Six hours later...
Salim Khan, along with his army, finally saw the city wall in front of them. It was not as tall as the fortress at the frontier; however, he still frowned as he could see that with the higher firepower capabilities of the Bharatiya artillery, they would have to stay here for a little while before they could breach the city.
Advancing further, it was just as he thought.
"BOOM" "BOOM" "BOOM" "BOOM"
The cannons started firing at them, and their artillery, which had been reduced by a few hundred in number, started taking hits again without even having the ability to fight back.
*Sigh* Every time he saw this, Salim couldn’t help but feel depressed. It was as if a short dwarf was fighting against a giant; no matter how much the dwarf swung his hands, he could not even reach the giant.
Fortunately, there were only a few cannons this time. Salim was relieved.
"Ahhh!"
The meat grinder started once again as the vanguard began to be slaughtered.
"Ugh."
Salim flinched a little, a disgusted expression on his face. Even though this was his second time watching it, he still felt his stomach churning, looking at so many people being absolutely devoured by the gunfire.
*Whew*
Fortunately, all the vanguard were composed of Kafirs. Hence, Salim did not have much burden on his soul since, for the sin of not choosing the Almighty God Allah, these foreign animals deserved to die.
To his pleasure, when the cannons were in range, the firepower was returned immediately.
The enemy’s artillery began to take hits, damage mounted up, and as expected, all of a sudden, the pressure on them dropped as the opposite side ran away like a dog with tail between its legs.
A few hours later, the city wall was also breached. Then it was like déjà vu; everything was so similar. There were no usable artillery or even military supplies. The whole city looked like it was swept clean.
*Sigh*
Salim felt disappointment once more. Despite knowing what to expect from the city, he couldn’t help but hope for a different outcome. Yet, as always, it was the same: disappointment, and nothing more.
This time, even when entering the city, everyone was cautious due to their previous experience of being ambushed, which had put them greatly on edge. Hence, everyone was on high alert, not daring to let down their guard.
The army marched in formation as they travelled through the city as a single unit.
In the vanguard, the soldiers had sweat on their faces, nervous and trembling, worried about a surprise attack from the enemy. They all held the large tower shields in front of them, their eyes darting around the area like a high-intelligence security camera trying to detect even the smallest movements.
Unfortunately, amidst this tension in their minds, they failed to notice strangely covered circular paths on the road. These paths looked like someone had dug up the road, buried something, and covered it with normal gravel. This should have been easily visible, but the soldiers, who were on high alert, did not expect any threat to come from below them.
A soldier in the vanguard stepped on something metallic. As soon as he lifted his foot, the flintlock action pin triggered, and the gunpowder packed inside exploded.
*Bang*
50 to 60 people exploded at once, blood mist flying in the air.
"Enemy attack!"
There was a shout among the crowd.
*Bang*
"Oh Lord, these are grenades! Quickly disperse!"
Soldiers who saw shrapnel on the dead men’s bodies couldn’t help but yell out. By now, the workings and principles of grenades were already understood by the Mughal Empire, and the replication process had already begun.
Unfortunately, the soldiers did not know what a landmine was. Of course, such a weapon was not invented yet, so they, who only saw the explosion, quickly came to the conclusion that it was an enemy throwing grenades from somewhere or with the help of some sort of device.
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
Unfortunately, due to the soldiers not staying in formation and running around like headless chickens, more casualties occurred. Additionally, as the first explosion occurred, it scattered dust and debris, covering the visible spots on the road.
Salim, who had also come to the same conclusion as the soldier at the beginning, quickly changed his mind. He could clearly see that there were no projectiles falling from the air; instead, the land under their feet started to explode spontaneously.
"What is happening?" he said to himself, his voice carrying a hint of vigilance.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man’s leg sink into the road. As the man lifted his leg, an explosion occurred, obliterating him into a million pieces.
Salim’s eyes widened in disbelief at what he was seeing.
"Everyone, stop! Do not move!" he roared. The people next to him immediately stopped, but the soldiers all around, running in panic, could not hear him and continued setting off explosions.
*Slap!*
"What are you looking at? Go inform everyone to stand where they are," he said sharply, The Lieutenant, aggrieved, moved while at the same time wiping his face, his message passing through people until everyone finally calmed down.
Now that there was peace and quiet, Salim inspected the surroundings. Just by the looks, he could not tell any difference from one spot to another. Then, he came up with an idea.
"See if there is any blacksmith shop in the town. Get me a bellows."
The soldiers immediately backtracked to where they had come from and searched all over the city.
A few moments later, they returned with weird expressions on their faces.
"What’s wrong?" Salim asked, with a doubtful expression.
"Ah," the soldiers looked at each other, deciding who would speak. Finally, the older one, twitching his mouth, explained, "Your Excellency, all the blacksmith shops in the city have been evacuated. There is not even a single gram of iron left. All the equipment was destroyed, and only a message, ’Mughal Empire can suck these nuts,’ was written on the wall."
Salim’s mouth twitched. Though he couldn’t fully understand what the message meant, he knew it was something derogatory. Fortunately, he didn’t understand it fully, so he didn’t get too angry.
If Vijay, the person who had ordered the evacuation and left such messages in the city, knew that his meme had no impact, he would likely be disappointed. The ancient people couldn’t grasp his 21st-century humour.
Salim, with no other option, had to resort to the tower shields. As he took them and swept away the dust on the road for a few meters around him with pendulum-like motions, Salim’s eyes lit up. He found a depression on the road and, clearing out the sand, he saw what was buried in the ground. It was some sort of contraption that would trigger when pushed with enough weight.
Salim didn’t dare to experiment any longer, fearing another explosion might occur suddenly.
Hence, upon discovering the cause of the explosion, Salim mobilized all his men to locate and mark the landmines scattered on the ground. Carefully, they evacuated the region, successfully retracing their steps.
However, a problem arose: they had no other way but to leave the city through the booby-trapped path ahead of them. The only other option was to break the wall on another side, but Salim was skeptical about using the ammunition unnecessarily since he knew that their logistics were ’soooo fast.’
Suddenly struck by an idea, Salim ordered the soldiers to empty their water barrels, fill them with sand, and roll them toward the landmines.
"Boom!"
"It worked!" Salim smiled broadly.
The soldiers cheered.
More water barrels followed though it was a pity to destroy so many. However, it wasn’t something rare, and they could be replaced easily with some wood, which was available everywhere.
Temporarily concluding their expedition, the next target for the Mughal Army would be the administrative capital of Gangapuri State, Cuttak.
The remaining strength of the Mughal Army stood at 340,925 soldiers, with 3,000 stationed in previously conquered locations. The death toll had already climbed to nearly 50,000, with casualties in the Bharatiya Empire being minimal in comparison.