April 5th, 1656
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Gangapuri State, Northern Frontier
It had been a few weeks since the northern frontier of Gangapuri state was reclaimed from Mughal control, and all serving personnel had been replaced by fresh troops. The towers in enemy territory, previously used as lookouts, were renovated and outfitted with new communication devices. These towers were now manned by Bharatiya scouts, ensuring enhanced vigilance and coordination.
Currently, the atmosphere in the Northern Frontier is very tense as the military of both empires is heavily concentrated in the region.
On the southern side of the frontier wall, Bharatiya troops from the interior of the empire are arriving, thousands at a time. Artillery pieces are constantly being moved and installed on the frontier, and the logistics department is working overtime as it expands continuously.
War infrastructure, like barracks, sentry towers, lookout towers, dormitories, war rooms, etc., are being installed continuously. Every passing day, a new building shows up near the frontier, and it has become a common occurrence for the soldiers.
The troops on the northern side of the frontier were not to be left behind, as they looked like they were ready to march into enemy territory at any time, but unfortunately, they were held back by the wait for their supplies to be replenished and for their superiors to give orders.
This tense atmosphere is not only prevalent on the eastern side of the frontier, where the state of Gangapuri is located but can be felt throughout the northern border of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, as troops not too far from the Northern Frontier are gearing up for battle in all places.
In response, the number of troops stationed by the Bharatiya Empire was constantly increasing, not willing to fall behind the enemy.
In a lookout near the northern frontier located in Indore...
A scout carefully observing the surroundings for enemies was immediately taken aback when he saw a small number of fast-moving horses carrying people running towards the Northern Frontier at full speed as if to scout out the geographic area ahead. The Bharatiya scout, who was in a very well-hidden position, did not make a move but continued to observe.
Soon, 40 minutes passed, and he saw the shadow of an army numbering hundreds of thousands. In response, he did not hesitate and quickly sent back the signal about the approaching enemy using the newly invented cypher code.
In a lookout near the northern frontier located in Nagpur...
The frontier headquarters of the Bharatiya Empire, there were sound defensive facilities and excellent reconnaissance capabilities. A scout located on a lookout nearly 30 kilometres inland immediately noticed the movements of the enemy and sent back the information, while at the same time preparing to evacuate and starting to destroy the Arkha Dristhi communication device.
In a lookout near the northern frontier located in Balrampur...
In a hidden location 10 kilometres within the enemy zone, a scout who noticed the movements of the enemy in the dense jungle did not hesitate but immediately retreated to inform command.
Unfortunately, the Arkha Dristhi communication could not be utilized here due to much of the frontier in this area being a jungle. In a jungle, it is very inconvenient to utilize the Arkha Dristhi communication channels due to the tall trees affecting the communication.
In a lookout near the northern frontier located in Digha...
The watch tower that had been recently renovated had to be unfortunately destroyed again as the scout found the approaching Mughal Army.
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Muhammad Azlan, the heir of the Murshidabad Nawab family and the general leading the charge against the Bharatiya Empire through the region of Gangapuri, had a solemn expression as he moved forward with the army.
His complex mood was because the news about his majesty’s plan to use the European knife to kill the enemy had obviously failed, as the news about Vijay Deva Raya subduing the European mercenaries spread throughout the subcontinent.
Another reason for his foul mood was, that even though the first plan to kill Vijay failed, with the surprise mobilization of their army and an immediate attack, the enemy’s frontier should have crumbled. But who would have thought riots would break out in the empire on such a large scale, causing rulers and nobles such as themselves a huge headache?
There are even rumours spreading throughout the empire that due to these riots, some prominent nobles lost their lives, while most lost a large amount of wealth. Muhammad Azlan, although very reluctant, had no other choice but to accept the truth, as his situation was no different from what the rumours around the empire suggested.
His branch family in Kolkata was also robbed of a lot of its property, and things reached such a dire state that his uncle almost lost his life. Consequently, he had no choice but to divert some of the army that was marching south to put down these riots.
Muhammad Azlan was originally very reluctant to split his troops since he figured out that the propaganda was part of the enemy’s schemes, and even utilized the reserve army stationed against the Ahom kingdom to temporarily calm down the riots. But unfortunately, the fire did not seem to go down no matter how many people lost their lives, so his choice was also helpless.
Even after all this, the Mughal Empire still had the upper hand. As even though the army was split apart to suppress the riots, its numbers were still magnitudes ahead of what the Bharatiya Empire had stationed in the Northern Frontier. In this situation, if a swift attack was launched, there was a very high probability that the Northern Frontier would not last even a few days.
Unfortunately, that was also made impossible as some of the large granaries, which were the main backbone and logistic storage places of the four battle groups, were set ablaze by traitors within the Empire. That’s right, traitors.
This news, when spread, was like a huge explosion throughout the Mughal Empire, as some of the administrative nobles of the Mughal Empire had actually joined hands with the enemy and helped slow down the marching speed of the army.
This was such a huge setback that His Majesty, Emperor Mohammad, used a lot of resources to hunt down some of those who were left in the Empire, while the majority of these traitors had already evacuated to the Bharatiya Empire.
"Pffff, we already know this empire is going to fall even if the war is won, and since we already lost all power in the Empire and the people are increasingly restless, why don’t we do something to the Empire that promised us refuge?"
The captured administrative Nobles declared in a sarcastic tone, as they collectively took poison and left their lives behind. After some thorough investigation, it was found that their families had already moved to the Bharatiya Empire.
When this happened, it is rumoured that the emperor was so angry that he launched a raid on multiple prominent temples to calm down.
Muhammad Azlan who got to know this information,, who was not even directly involved, wanted to slaughter all the kafirs in his jurisdiction. However, reason told him that doing this would hasten his demise, so he reluctantly waited for his anger to subside.
For this reason, all four battle groups had to reluctantly wait until the grains and feed were replenished.
Currently, Azlan commanded a total strength of 381,000 troops who are battle-ready and marching with him, while the remaining soldiers will join the main army in batches after putting down the riots, 127,000 at a time.
He is currently bringing with him 5,000 artillery pieces and 125,000 firearms of various specifications.
His troop configuration was the same as for the other three battle groups, led by Feroze Jung in the Western Madhya Pradesh Battle Group, Shahzad Khan of the Dost dynasty in the Eastern Madhya Pradesh Battle Group, and Ammar Ul Pasha of the Jharkhand Battle Group.
Originally, all the troops trained by various noble families had been brought under a single centralized command of His Excellency, the Minister of War, Iqbal, and were then divided into four equal groups among the four generals, two of whom were from prominent noble families.
Mohammad Azlan knew that although the enemy’s troops would be much fewer than theirs, he also knew that they couldn’t be too different. All thanks to the time bought by the riots and the traitors; even thinking about it makes his blood boil.
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And this is what bothers him: in the history of the Mughal Empire, they had not won a single battle fighting head-on against the Bharatiya Empire, which puts Azlan in a tough situation since they do not have an overwhelming advantage against the Bharatiya Empire.
Azlan would have preferred not to attack in the current condition. But at a time when the whole of the Mughal Empire was embroiled in riots and killings, he also knew that if the Bharatiya Empire was not destroyed and its wealth was not absorbed, He could naturally feel that the Mughal Empire would not last anymore.
It is now that all the nobles in the empire understood the truth in His Excellency, the previous Prime Minister Muizzu’s warning.
But what can they do now? It is already too late. If the battle is not launched, they will disintegrate by themselves. If the battle is launched, there is a chance for victory or defeat. So, everyone chose the latter since there is at least a chance of victory and even a small chance of winning it all.
In such thoughts, the four military generals — Mohammad Aslan of the Murshidabad Nawabs, Feroze Jung responsible for the conquering of Nepal, Shahzad Khan from the Dost dynasty, and Ammar Ul Pasha, a prominent military commander in the central region — had reached near the frontier position, only 1000 meters away, preparing for the battle that would decide the fate of both empires.
P.S. Finally last part of the arc