March 26th, 1656
The Mughal Empire, The region of Bengal, Kolkata
In the city on the banks of the beautiful Kati-Ganga River, the lifeblood of Western Bengal, a huge change is taking place, unbeknownst to the Mughals.
A middle-aged man with a plain and normal appearance came out of his house, locked the door, and went into the main street. Though he walked in a normal manner, he was carrying a suitcase about the size of a desktop computer, which was unusual considering that it was not even daybreak.
The man casually walked to the third street from his home and suspiciously left the suitcase under a cowshed in a specific place, then left without looking back.
Soon after, what appeared to be a street sweeper with a ragged and unkempt appearance entered the shed and went straight to the hidden suitcase, as if he already knew it would be there.
He immediately opened the suitcase and took out what looked like a bundle of pamphlets inside.
He rolled the pamphlets into a bundle and hid them under his garments. Then, he discarded the suitcase as he threw it away after fully destroying it.
Without waiting any longer, he quickly left the place as sunrise was approaching, which would make it more dangerous, and he could not complete the task he was assigned.
Such hidden transactions took place in several places within the city of Kolkata, as the exchange of pamphlets commenced in the dark without any deviation. To avoid being quickly caught by the city’s elites, all the recipients of these pamphlets were low-level workers in society, like street sweepers or toilet cleaners, who were considered untouchables and had relatively more places to hide things.
Although these people were among the lowest in society, almost equal to Western serfs, they had one thing in common that gave them an upper hand in spreading propaganda: excellent social networks among their own. Because of this, the pamphlets, originally bundled in thousands of papers, were now divided among the street sweepers and toilet cleaners.
Each dozen pamphlets was assigned to a person in a specific area of the city, and he would do his best to distribute the pamphlets he was given.
Normally, commoners would not be allowed to enter the noble region of the city, but shudras being even lower than commoners gave them an advantage. No matter how high-ranking a person was, at the end of the day, they would have to rely on these workers for dirty jobs. Hence, even though the nobles sat high and mighty, the Shudras could go everywhere.
It was daybreak, and the work started.
A street sweeper, while sweeping the street, saw that no one was paying attention to him, and he was inconspicuous enough. He immediately slipped a folded-up pamphlet, about the size of a mini Xerox copy, into the compound of a house. Then, as if nothing had happened, he minded his own business and continued to sweep the street.
A toilet cleaner, who went to clean up the stagnant toilets in an area, silently placed two to three pamphlets inside multiple homes he came into contact with.
A barber, who had smart eyes and dexterous hands, silently slipped the pamphlet into the customer’s garments while trimming their hair.
The cow herder, while taking care of the cow for his master, immediately threw some pamphlets into his master’s home, unknowingly through the kitchen.
Similar situations occurred all over the city, and people who were slow to notice these pamphlets began to take note.
A housewife who went to clean up her garden suspiciously found a crumpled piece of paper. If it had been anyone from the 21st century, they would have taken the paper and thrown it in the dustbin. But in this era, where paper was not so widespread, it was rare to see anyone throw paper away.
Curious, the housewife opened up the crumpled paper.
"The Atrocities of the Mughal Empire in Indore"
"The Story of a Girl Who Lost Everything Due to the Mughal Rulers"
"The Terrorist Attack Carried Out by the Mughals"
The more the housewife read, the more blood drained from her face. She was horrified by the atrocities described in the pamphlet. Looking at the young girl in the picture hanging on the wall, tears welled up in her eyes. She had a daughter too and couldn’t help but be heartbroken.
*Sob*
*Sob*
The husband, surprised to hear a sobbing sound from the garden, quickly went over to take a look and saw his wife looking at some pamphlets and crying uncontrollably.
"What happened, wife? Why are you crying?" he asked, his face showing a hint of concern.
The wife did not answer but swiftly handed over the pamphlet.
As the husband read everything that had been written and looked at the images, he immediately became furious.
"How dare these inhuman monsters!" His face turned livid, all that mattered and felt important was being trampled in the pamphlet he had read.
His eyes blazed with anger as he declared to his wife, "Don’t worry, wife. We will teach those Mughal dogs a lesson. It’s no wonder they don’t speak about the constant loss of territory; they are afraid such things will come out, and they are scared that we will not sit still."
"Now that these truths have come to light, and these invaders are trying to cover up an inferno with their hands, let’s see if they can still conceal it," the husband’s fist clenched as he left the home.
This was only one incident where the family, who had discovered the pamphlet, knew how to read due to their Brahmin status.
However, even those who couldn’t read quickly grasped the pamphlet’s message from its images alone. The lifeless face of the little girl, the devastated city of Indore, the sinister visage of the Mughal general, and the desecrated temples conveyed what had transpired.
Though they may not have initially understood the entire narrative, the information quickly spread throughout the city within the day, ensuring everyone eventually learned the full story depicted in the pamphlet.
"Nawab! Nawab! Riots have suddenly started, and people are on the streets carrying sickles and swords."
The Murshidabad Nawab, who was intensely going through the war reports, was immediately informed of the news. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped.
"W-What?" he exclaimed. The news was too hard to believe. Since when did these lowly mud legs dare to question him?
The bewilderment immediately turned into rage. "Let’s go, let’s go see these so-called rioters!"
Immediately, the city guard that had been ordered into action responded. With the help of gunfire and the military might of the guards, they quickly dispersed the gathered crowd. In this incident, 69 people were killed and many more injured.
"Pfff, Hahahha, are these the so-called rioters? A bunch of good-for-nothing cow worshippers dare to go against me, huh?" The Nawab’s mood was arrogant and confident as he returned to his palace after quelling the riots.
However, unbeknownst to him, his actions fueled the flames rather than suppressing them as he expected. The newly formed communication links among the lowest class of the city strengthened as news of the riots spread widely among the civilians, along with the suppression of Hindus by the Mughals, the death of 69 people, and the further distribution of pamphlets.
These previously uninformed individuals immediately reacted by disseminating the news even further.
Within two days, the suppressed emotions of the people erupted. One night, after two days of unrest, the entire noble area of Kolkata seemed to go up in flames.
The counterattack was swift and ruthless.
*sizzling*
*sizzling*
*sizzling*
*sizzling*
"Ahhhh, Deva!"
"Yaa, Allah!"
Nobles, both Hindu and Muslim, ran out of their affluent homes as flames engulfed them.
As for how it happened, they did not know.
What’s more, the burning of the nobles’ houses was like a fuse lit in the hearts of the people.
Riots broke out once again spontaneously throughout the city without any commands. The people marched straight to the Palace of the Nawab.
"Not good!"
The Nawab, sensing the danger, without any hesitation took a secret route within the Palace and evacuated from the city, heading towards the north.
In his absence, many nobles were killed and their wealth looted, leaving the city riddled with holes.
Meanwhile, the Nawab found the reserve forces he kept to guard against the Ahom-Bharatiya Coalition Forces and ordered a quarter of the reserve forces to forcefully suppress the riots.
Fortunately for the Nawab, the riots were indeed forcefully quelled as soon as the soldiers, trained for war, arrived; the undisciplined mob of people was immediately suppressed by gunfire and artillery fire.
The beautiful city of Kolkata had transformed into a battlefield, its streets stained red with blood and gore. As the Nawab Hoped, the recent serious riots were eventually quelled, but not without the tragic loss of 12,256 civilian lives. Well not that he cared anyway, but unfortunately for him, he was already on a path to doom.
The seeds of resentment among the people had already been sown, and they were biding their time for a more opportune moment to strike again. When that time came, not even the might of the army could suppress the wrath of the people of the subcontinent.
The Bharatiya External Pragya played a huge role in all the actions that had taken place. For instance, it was the External Pragya responsible for transferring pamphlets from Bharat to the Mughal Empire through secret channels left over from the Mughal Bridge Group.
It was also the Bharatiya External Pragya that was responsible for identifying and forming a tight communication network among the shudra caste of the city. In critical movements, it was the Bharatiya External Pragya that acted to further exacerbate the situation for the Mughal nobles. For example, it was the direct action of the External Pragya that lit the flames in the noble areas of the city.
The scariest thing about this plan was its irresistibility and difficulty to guard against. Hence, it was also one of Vijay’s trump cards and the rumoured pathogen plan, Which detailed how to spread the propaganda among the Mughal Empire like a virus, destroying one organ at a time until ultimately the body could not hold on and crumbling to pieces.
"Your Majesty, report: Riots have started in Kolkata."
"Your Majesty, report: Riots have started in Dhaka."
"Your Majesty, report: Riots have started in Lucknow."
"Your Majesty, report: Riots have started in Patna."
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"Your Majesty, report: Riots have started in Lahore."
"Your Majesty, report: Unidentified flying objects have flown down from the sky in thousands, carrying pamphlets that discredit the Mughal Empire in the city of Gwalior."
"Your Majesty, the nobles have requested to pull back some of the troops in order to quell the riots in their areas."
Hearing the various reports coming to Muhammad’s cabin, which only accounted for a small minority of the reports that day, Vijay’s plan could be said to be absolutely lethal to the Mughal Empire.
Muhammad’s eyes showed a panicked expression after a long time...