April 30th, 1656
The Mughal Empire, Region of Bengal
A Mughal soldier with a panicked expression on his face ran at full speed through the palace in Dhaka,
*Dash!*
"Your Excellency, Nawab, not good! The city of Nabinagar has been attacked by the enemy and captured!"
Another soldier, equally in a hurry, did not even bother to knock on the door as he directly dashed inside.
"Your Excellency, Nawab, the city of Ghazipur has been captured!"
Fazil Azlan, who was paying utmost attention to the Shudras’ strike in the Tongi area of the city, worrying about a hidden plot by the enemy, was suddenly shocked when he heard about two neighbouring cities being occupied by the enemy.
He had always thought that the enemy was only good at playing tricks internally and would not dare to attack externally, but now his ego was hit very hard as the enemy acted decisively and immediately started to conquer cities in the region.
He felt cold all over his body as he now discovered that except for the south and west, the other two directions, north and east, were compromised.
"What is the strength of the enemy?" he asked, a hint of worry visible on his face.
"It is estimated to be around 180,000, Your Excellency."
Hearing this number, Fazil let out a sigh of relief. His body, which moments ago had been very tense, felt as if a mountain had been lifted off it. His heart rate, which had been racing, slowly calmed down. By these actions, it was obvious that Fazil did not view these 180,000 troops highly.
However, it was reasonable for him to be so arrogant, especially since Fazil commanded over 100,000 city defence forces in Dhaka. Adding the 100,000 troops allocated to him by his nephew and the 150,000 troops from soldiers who had originally been pulled back to suppress riots, Fazil now commanded nearly 350,000 troops.
This number could theoretically increase with further suppression of riots in the city. Adding to that he had a city wall, he felt like he was undefeatable.
---
3 Hours Later
Lachit Borphukan, commanding the northern battle group, finally reached the outskirts of Dhaka, more precisely, the outskirts of Tongi. Looking at the large city wall equipped with numerous artillery pieces of various sizes, Lachit could not help but have a complicated expression on his face.
Participating in this war and using the equipment of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Lachit realized how backwards the military technology of the Ahom Kingdom had become. Putting aside the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, whose technology could even shock the Europeans, the Mughal Empire’s technology alone was still a huge mountain in front of the Ahom Kingdom.
Lachit now realized that if not for the uneven terrain and harsh environmental conditions, a single corps of the Mughal Empire would be enough to capture their small kingdom.
What was even more saddening was that even if Lachit realized this and even if his majesty, the king, realized this, there was nothing they could do about it. They did not have enough population to run an industry like the Mughal Empire or even the Bharatiya Empire, and more importantly, they did not have the iron and coal reserves like the two nations.
Thinking about all this made the future very uncertain for Lachit Borphukan.
Putting the worry of the future aside and coming back to the worries of the present, Lachit was skeptical about whether it was possible to defeat the Mughal troops and breach the city of Dhaka by themselves. Of course, when he said by themselves, he also meant adding Yogendra Singh’s troops.
If Lachit had 180,000 troops back in the Ahom kingdom, he would even dare to fight and defend against 500,000 troops. But now, coming to the central region of Bengal, the heart of the Mughal Empire, no matter how much confidence he had in himself and his skills, he was not foolish or overconfident enough to say that he could breach the city wall of Dhaka with barely 200,000 troops.
"Lieutenant, I know that the weapon you showed me is really impressive, and I could have never imagined something like this would exist, but even with such a weapon, I highly doubt we will be able to breach the city wall," Lachit’s face was filled with doubt.
"Haha, Your Excellency, the general, your concerns are well-placed and your worries well-intended, but you don’t have to doubt the plans made by the war room. These plans are only made after considering various aspects of the battle."
"I guess the only reason we were not informed about the news is because of confidentiality and fear of leaking the news in case there are Mughal spies in our ranks."
Lachit naturally understood this, but he still failed to see how this siege could be successful.
Looking at the worry on Commander Lachit Borphukan’s face, the lieutenant knew that he would have to give some sort of assurance for the general to perform at full capacity.
Honestly, even he was a little uncomfortable due to the matter being hidden from even their own people, but he could understand because the specialist who had taken over the secret task was not a normal person, and their army, which had absorbed a lot of the local population, was indeed prone to security risks.
"Your Excellency, I do not know if this has anything to do with the strategist and intelligence analyst plan, but there is a rumour going around in the military circles that the Demon Sword of the empire is taking action personally."
As soon as Lachit heard the name Demon Sword, his eyes widened as he naturally knew who the lieutenant was talking about. Even though Lachit is an excellent general in his own right, the things accomplished by this Demon Sword were just too legendary.
Even in the eyes of Lachit Borphukan, if not for seeing the proof with his own eyes and the cities that were indeed conquered, Lachit would not even believe that such a person existed.
Then, thinking about the battle style of that person and correlating it with their current situation, his eyes widened as he could not believe the conclusion he came up with.
"You mean?"
The lieutenant did not utter a word but nodded his head and looked at the city wall in front of them.
Lachit, who had a complicated expression, looked at the city wall and didn’t know what to feel. He could not tell if such a person existing in the Bharatiya Empire was a good thing or a bad thing.
*SIGH!*
Finally, not willing to think any further he emptied his mind and put away the distracting thoughts as he ordered.
"Well, if that person is inside, then I guess we should not make him wait too long."
"Lieutenant, start the bombardment and prepare the secret weapon."
"Ah! Using the hole card so fast?"
"Haha, we have only so many troops, Lieutenant. No matter how many tricks we use, it will all crumble under absolute strength. Hence, we have to hit them with everything we’ve got in order to momentarily suppress the enemy, and with the deterrence the new secret weapon provides, we should be able to hold the enemy back for a while and provide an opportunity for the person inside to act.
By the way, send this plan to Yogendra to have him act simultaneously."
*Stomp!*
"Yes, Sir General."
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The Bharatiya cannons, which were fortified and placed on solid platforms due to the rain making it impossible to place the cannons on normal ground, immediately began to fire towards the city wall. The culverins, which did not face any counterattack, raged as they put cracks in the city wall with each round of firing.
However, Fazil Azlan, who was on top of the city wall, was not worried. Because, at this very moment, the army of Dhaka was being mobilized and would be ready at any moment. So he was not concerned about the initial strength of the enemy.
Moments Later...
Hundreds of thousands of Mughal troops, armed and ready, immediately poured out of the city walls, forming a raging tide of humans as they marched towards the enemy.
Fazil had a smug look on his face, confident in his victory.
However, what happened next completely shook him to the core. What was he seeing? Raining fire? And he did not even mean that metaphorically; it was literally raining fire.
---
30 minutes ago...
"Is the weapon ready?" Lachit asked with some anticipation.
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"It is, Your Excellency."
A weapon, built directly into a cart, held 200 long pipes stacked in a rectangular 10x20 matrix. Soldiers took out various rocket-shaped objects from waterproof cases and inserted them into the tubes. Next, a fuse came out of a hole at the back of each tube, only a few millimetres in width. All 200 fuses were tested to ensure they had the same length.
After completing this test, the soldiers who were arming the device stopped and looked at Lachit for his orders.
Lachit, excited, ordered, "Fire."
The soldiers immediately acted. At the back of the weapon, where the fuses were poking out, there was a lid that had been opened. This lid contained 200 candles, matching perfectly to the fuses. When the lid was closed, this mechanism ensured as much simultaneous firepower as possible.
The candles were lit, and the lid was immediately closed. The fuses, which burnt at high speed, set off the thrusters in the small rockets, made with gunpowder as fuel.
Over 200 rockets, all equipped with tail fins and aerodynamic designs by Vijay, immediately blasted off from the tubes and flew into the air.
*ZZZBOOOM!*
Lachit, standing next to the weapon, heard only a dull boom, as if a volcano had erupted.
Nearly 200 rockets flying into the air greatly shocked the soldiers who witnessed the scene.
Even though Lachit had been introduced and witnessed the firepower of the weapon earlier out of necessity, at that time the test had only involved ten rockets and nothing more. But now, seeing a total of 200 rockets lined up in the air like a sharp arrow of fire released by Arjuna in ancient history, his throat couldn’t help but dry up and his emotions overwhelmed him.
And this was their own camp. The Mughal soldiers who had to face this barrage of flaming rockets felt even more miserable.
When they had ventured out of the city walls, they had been confident, their expressions smug. They had been informed that the enemy numbered only 180,000 in total from both directions and considering their own strength, they had not doubted their victory in the least.
But now, as they raised their heads and looked at the flaming objects hurtling towards them at full speed, they couldn’t help but be greatly shocked.
Their bodies froze, unable to muster the courage to flee from this seemingly impossible-to-dodge strike. So, the soldiers stood motionless within a radius of a few meters, the reflection of the 200 rockets arriving mirrored in their eyes.
"Ahhhhhh!"
"BOOOM!"
The rockets crashed into the soldiers and immediately exploded upon impact, killing 400 to 600 soldiers by physical collision alone. However, the most deadly aspect was the flames created by the explosions, which continued to spread several feet around the blast zone, causing the death toll to immediately reach into the thousands.
But that was not the end. Before the soldiers could comprehend what was happening, another round of flaming arrows of death was launched by the Bharatiya Empire in succession.
There were four rocket launchers in Lachit Borphukan’s group, operating back to back, not allowing the Mughal Empire a chance to recover from their shock. Combined with constant firepower from the cannons Which had been firing since an hour prior, the Mughal army, despite outnumbering the Bharatiya army nearly twice, began to falter and spread out.
Yogendra Singh, not to be outdone, initiated his own bombardment upon receiving the strategy from Lachit Borphukan, instilling fear and dread in the hearts of the Mughal soldiers.
Fazil Aslam, atop the city wall, was simultaneously scared and angry. He did not know how to regain military control but realized the situation was dire, as he observed panic-stricken expressions on his soldiers’ faces.
"What to do..."
To be Continued...