April 6th, 1656
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Northern Frontier
*Clack * * tap* * clank*
The part of the frontier wall where the Death Man brigade attacked couldn’t hold on anymore and fully collapsed under the bombardment of the Mughal cannons.
"HAHAHAH YESSS!"
Shahzad Khan, who witnessed a breach being opened in the frontier wall, couldn’t help but be overjoyed. Finally, he had an opportunity for a breakthrough.
"Lieutenant, make a wedge formation and push through the breach."
His face was full of smiles when he said that. The lieutenant who heard the command, although uncomfortable with the way His Excellency achieved the breach, acknowledged that, at the end of the day, he did achieve it nonetheless. So, he had no grounds for complaint and proceeded to follow through with the orders.
Thirty minutes passed, and the Mughal Army was being reorganized to rush through the breach with a wedge formation. But something happened the next moment that made Shahzad Khan dumbfounded and scared at the same time.
---
1 hour ago
With the order of Ramayya, the Handgunners brigade, who originally thought that they would not get a chance to act in the battle, were now overjoyed to learn that they could take action.
What’s more, after learning about the shameless and inhuman way the Mughal general used to breach the frontier wall, all of them were very angry and motivated at the same time.
"God damn it, I’ve never heard of such an inhuman way to win a war."
"Is he still human? I doubt it; he should be a Rakshasa."
"Brothers, we are not going to fight a battle; we are going to behead a Rakshasa. Come on."
They were scolding and cursing the Mughal officials while getting ready at the same time. Fortunately, within a few minutes, everyone was armed and ready.
They assembled behind the breached frontier wall where troops of the Mughal Empire were about to rush in.
Then, unexpectedly, they saw His Excellency, the commander Ramayya Senapati, come forward.
His face was red with anger, and they could see veins bulging on his neck. This was the first time they saw their cheerful and easygoing commander so angry.
"The enemy relied on humans as explosives to breach this wall," he growled, his finger pointed toward the breach. "Now, what I want you to do is take those cannons of yours and blast right through the bodies, hearts, and minds of those Mughal scum. Make a bloody path. I am right behind you. Go straight to that bastard Shahzad Khan."
"So, can you do it?"
"Yes, sir."
"I SAID, CAN...YOU...DO...IT?" Ramayya’s eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Brigadier General Goutham Gambhir with his overbearing weight.
"YES, SIR!" Gambhir, feeling the gaze, roared at the top of his lungs.
"Good!" Ramayya nodded with a satisfied expression.
Immediately, the hand gunners brigade formed the formation as they were taught. The outer phalanx consisted of heavy infantry equipped with metal armour capable of resisting a shot from a Brown Bess rifle. They carried heavy, reinforced tower shields designed to withstand multiple and continuous gunshots while maintaining their defensive stance.
All this equipment alone would weigh as much as a small child of 10 to 12 years old. However, all the men of the hand gunners brigade were, on average, 6 feet 4 inches tall, and some were even more than seven feet tall. All had muscular and well-built physiques, and wearing thick metal armour made them look imposing.
Especially when they stood in formation, they looked like an immovable and unstoppable freight train. So although the armor they wore was heavy, it was not too restricting.
Looking at this scene, Ramayya Senapati couldn’t help but be overjoyed. At the top of his lungs, he roared, "Charge!" with every cell of his body bursting with eagerness to witness what this Human cavalry would do.
Hearing the orders, the hand gunners brigade immediately moved.
They started to move slowly, but as the synchronization among the soldiers and their familiarity with the formation increased, they began to move forward at a higher pace, very similar to a freight train.
"Zoom!"
As soon as they breached, their entry caught the attention of the Mughal soldiers, who immediately started to fire.
"Bang!" *Klink* "Bang!" *Klink* "Bang!" *Klink* "Bang!"
However, all the shots hit the tower shields on the outer layer, and the steel monster continued to move at the same speed.
"Ahh!"
"Crack!"
"AHHH!"
As the formation of iron moved forward, the Mughal soldiers that got in the way were absolutely blown apart, like a person being hit by a train.
This brings us back to the current situation where, Shahzad Khan, who saw this scene, was shocked and scared at the same time. He couldn’t help but bellow, "Lieutenant, use the cannons on them!"
The lieutenant who heard the command couldn’t help but be angry. ’Does this general know nothing about troop morale and army command?’ he thought. However, unfortunately, he could not voice these words out, since the man was not only in a higher position than him but also his leader and additionally a noble.
The lieutenant did not want to have a conflict with him, so he said in a low voice, his head lowered.
"Your Excellency, please reconsider. The enemy has formed a three-column formation and is rushing over at full speed. It’s very hard to aim at them because of the small space they take up inside the battlefield. However, if we do launch cannon fire at them, there is a high chance that it would not hit the enemy but our own soldiers who are trying their best to breach this formation."
Shahzad Khan, although he did not consider this aspect, remained unmoved as he asked, "Aren’t these guys just cannon fodder? What’s the big deal? Let them die."
The lieutenant was once again stunned; he did not expect the enemy’s propaganda to be so true. " But Your Excellency, if you do such a thing, the army’s morale would collapse, and the troops will no longer listen to orders."
Shahzad was surprised. Could such a thing happen? He did not know, but seeing the serious expression on his lieutenant’s face, he chose to believe it for now.
"Then what do you suggest, lieutenant?"
The lieutenant heaved a sigh of relief as he thought, ’Although this master is ruthless and hard to serve, he does listen to suggestions, thankfully’
With the current situation, I suggest pulling back the troops from where the enemy’s iron battalion is moving, and then using the cannons on them just as Your Excellency had planned.
Shahzad’s eyes lit up with joy. The plan the lieutenant suggested could be considered an alteration of his own plan in the final analysis, so the credit for this altered plan could also go to him without any doubt. Thus, he was happy, patted the lieutenant’s back, and ordered, "Soldiers in the middle, fall back."
The order passed through the lieutenant and from the lieutenant to other military leaders until eventually it reached those who needed to hear it.
---
Gautam Gambhir, the Brigadier General of the Handgunners Brigade, noticed the change of the surroundings immediately as the attacks made on them had drastically reduced and the soldiers near them evacuated the region as if there was some plague inside.
Gautam, with the help of a telescope, saw the cannons being pointed at them, and a chill ran down his body. He roared, "Full speed ahead!"
The soldiers, who were at a moderate pace, immediately started to sprint. Upon noticing the change in the enemy, the Bharatiya cannons on the frontier wall also concentrated on the cannons that were about to fire at their Handgunners brigade and fired continuously, providing cover.
The Handgunners brigade, who had narrowly escaped being hit a few times, felt relieved as they approached the artillery that was firing at them.
Gautam Gambhir, now with a furious expression, roared, "Blow this artillery apart! Blow them to pieces!"
As soon as he said that, the formation at the frontier, which looked like a spear piercing through the enemy, immediately widened and eventually split, revealing 50 to 60 cannons, each carried by three men, all aimed towards the Mughal artillery 30 to 40 meters away.
In front of the artillery, soldiers were keeping guard. When these soldiers saw the miniature cannons carried by the enemy, they panicked and did not know what to do. Even though they were unfamiliar with the type of weapon, their instincts and general understanding of Bharatiya weapons told them it was a deadly war machine.
Instead of resisting, they started to run, but unfortunately, it was too late.
"BOOM!"
They were blasted apart as a barrage was fired towards them from the first 10 Hand cannons. However, this barrage did not stop.
"BOOM!" "BOOM!" "BOOM!" "BOOM!"
It kept on coming like a torrential rain. The sheer force of the barrage sent dust and debris flying. Every time a barrage was fired, miniature shockwaves tore through the atmosphere. The Mughal soldiers who were on the edge of the blast radius couldn’t help but fall down due to the sheer momentum the weapon carried.
However, the Bharatiya soldiers holding the cannons on their shoulders did not move an inch. They stared forward like immovable mountains.
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One barrage after another, shots were fired, slowly forming a bloody path through the group of Mughal artillery. In this way, the brigade was advancing one meter at a time, moving forward slowly.
"Shields!" Gautam ordered.
Immediately, the soldiers in the outer layer came forward and formed a defensive cover for the Hastha Dwani operators on the inside.
Their formation morphed into something similar to a snake covered in hard scales, constantly spitting out fire from its mouth and making its way through an army of insects.
Ramayya, noticing the successful breach up to the artillery positions, did not hesitate any longer.
"Push forward!" he ordered, and immediately the Bharatiya soldiers rushed through the path made by the Handcannon Brigade. Heavy infantry carried shields, protecting the gunners and grenadiers in the middle, at the same time firing constantly at the enemy army on all three of their sides.
While these soldiers moved forward, continuous cover fire was provided by the Bharatiya Artillery against the Mughal Cannons’ advancements.
Although the Bharatiya Cannons took heavy damage due to concentrating its firepower in one area, the result of making a successful breach in the enemy defences was also very sweet.
The Bharatiya army numbering nearly 80,000 to 90,000, was successful in piercing through the breach, made by the hand gunners brigade commanded by Gautam Gambhir.
Shahzad Khan saw the Bharatiya Army pouring out through the frontier. Seeing that they were already at the end of the breach made in the artillery defence line, he knew that this couldn’t go on. If he waited any longer, he would have to lose all the artillery weaponry and soldiers he had spent so many resources on.
"Retreat, rush back to Jabalpur," he decisively ordered, as the battle could be said to be undoubtedly lost.
Ramayya Senapati, looking at the advantageous situation, quickly ordered the rest of the army inside the frontier to charge forward. Unfortunately, the Mughal army began to retreat. Although he wanted to chase after the Mughal army, being experienced, he knew that making decisions when emotions were heightened was not a good thing.
So he calmed down and decided against it since pursuing them would be a huge disaster for the Bharatiya Empire and could turn this victory into a defeat if the enemy had laid down some sort of an ambush.
However, unknown to both Ramayya Senapati and Shahzad Khan, this one victory and loss would cause a chain reaction leading to the collapse of all defences on the remaining three battlefields.