May 2nd, 1656
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, the region of Bengal, City of Dhaka
Asif Ali, the general commanding the 150,000 troops that were part of the forces Mohammad Aslan commanded, entered the vicinity of the city of Dhaka with excitement. He was informed by His Excellency that around 100,000 Bharatiya troops had entered the vicinity of Dhaka and were currently being suppressed by His Excellency Fazil Azlan.
Asif’s task was to completely suppress this enemy, regroup with the army in the city of Dhaka, and return to Kolkata. He was looking forward to this mission as he was promised the permanent post of general in the region of Bengal if the mission he commanded succeeded.
Then maybe, if he could do better in the future, he could even become a higher-ranking noble and possibly control a region in the empire, Asif’s dream was big.
Currently, Asif Ali and his army of 150,000 troops have just crossed the town of Chandrapur, which is located at the intersection of the Padma River and Meghna River. Within a few hours, they should be able to reach their destination.
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Meanwhile, back in the city of Dhaka:
Multiple things happened. For one, Sarvesh searched all over the city for his prospective wife, and Generals Yogendra Singh and Lachit Borphukan gathered with the logistics chief to discuss the use cases of the new weapon.
As for the war, since they had an absolute strategic advantage and the element of surprise over the enemy, two commanders taking action seemed a bit overkill. Hence, after discussing among themselves, three lieutenant generals—namely Ranga Bhatia, Ganapati Hosamani, and Bhavesh Reddy—were chosen.
These three lieutenant generals, one on the outside and two on the inside worked together to take out the upcoming army of 150,000 troops.
---
Asif Ali, who had entered the vicinity of Dhaka, felt something was wrong because the scene he saw in front of him was not something he had expected.
In front of him, he couldn’t even find any signs of a battle, much less an army struggling to attack the city. What was happening, Asif could not understand.
However, what was certain was that things were not as simple as they seemed. Looking at the unfamiliar soldiers on top of the city wall and the weird looks they were giving him, Asif had a very bad feeling in his heart. He felt like he had unknowingly stepped into a trap, although he could not explain where this feeling came from. This feeling in his heart was very strong.
"Y-Your E-Excellency..."
Suddenly, a shout from his scout broke his concentration. Looking at the scout, who had a panicked expression on his face along with a hint of dread in his eyes, Asif had a foreboding that his fears had come true.
"What happened?" he asked, his face grim.
"Your Excellency, the door on the southern side of the city has been blasted open," the scout said, his face filled with desperation as now even the scout could feel that they had stepped into a trap laid by the enemy.
Asif felt like he had lost his soul for a moment. He was stunned beyond belief, but as an experienced military general, he did not take long to recover from his shock. He then hesitantly moved towards the southern wall to take a look. As expected, there was a huge door lying motionless on the ground.
Although he could see that there was no damage done to the door, the mechanism that controlled the door had been blasted apart through violent means.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Before Asif had a chance to process what was happening and what actions to take, the firing of the cannons from the top of the city wall commenced.
The soldiers, who were in a relaxed mood, suddenly felt confused and scared. A Mughal soldier, who was blasted into pieces, still had a perplexed expression on his face, even until his last breath as a flaming cannonball hurtled towards him at high speed, as if his expression was saying, "Aren’t we on the same team? Why the friendly fire?"
Asif was caught off guard, but he acted immediately and roared, "Retreat immediately! We need to inform His Excellency Muhammad Azlan."
The troops, receiving orders, quickly retreated away from the firing range of the cannons.
Asif, seeing that the enemy was not actually chasing or stopping their retreat, once again did not have a good feeling about the situation.
Hence, he ordered the army to slow down and fully scout the area.
However, unfortunately, the moment he entered the vicinity of Dhaka, he had already fallen into a trap that could no longer be escaped.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Cannon fire and frag grenades from unknown directions quickly enveloped his army, and shrapnel from the grenades pierced his soldiers from various places. Even more surprisingly, the ground was exploding for some reason.
It was as if the entire army of 150,000 troops was being butchered without knowing what was butchering them.
Asif Ali was desperate, but then he remembered the non-functional door in the city wall. ’Maybe if the battle is moved inside the city and Mughal forces are still present, I can take advantage and not only survive but maybe even win the battle,’ he thought as he quickly made the decision and led his army back to the city wall on the southern side.
Of course, during the move, more casualties occurred due to their desperate attempt to make a breakthrough.
However, unknown to them, Lieutenant General Bhavesh Reddy, who was standing a kilometre away with a telescope, had a smile on his face seeing these people retreat.
---
Even though a battle of this scale was happening outside the city walls, commanders Yogendra Singh and Lachit Borphukan did not have any worries as they carefully listened to the explanation of the logistics chief of this operation, Gopal Verma.
"Your Excellencies, the weapon you just used is named the Indra Dhanasu multiple rocket launcher. This is a weapon designed by His Majesty the Emperor himself," Gopal said with pride and reverence.
Lachit Borphukan nodded, as he was indeed impressed. He had heard about the exploits of His Majesty in the field of inventions and military innovations.
This was the same with Yogendra Singh, who had been stationed on the northeastern battlefield since the war started and had moved since then. Hence, he regularly got updates but was not as informed about the nation’s affairs as he liked.
"Respected commanders, you have used the weapon yourselves, so you already know about its power and uses. But still, I will briefly explain its theoretical features.
"This weapon can be considered a multi-barrel rocket launcher consisting of 200 launch tubes placed in a 10x20 matrix array made up of spruce pine.
"There is a subtle pump at the launch end of the tube for better airflow.
"As you have seen, there are feathers on the rocket for stability during flight.
"There are also tail fins, four in number, for accuracy and stability.
"There are also new prototypes being developed to upgrade this weapon, but that is still in a confidential stage."
Lachit, hearing this, had a doubt. "Then is it okay for me to know this information?"
Gopal let out a chuckle as he replied, "His Majesty himself said, ’Since General Lachit Borphukan has decided to trust the Empire and work for us, he should naturally know about the weapons he uses.’ Hence, Your Excellency, you could have known this information even before using the rocket launcher; it’s just that there wasn’t much time before."
Lachit, hearing these words, was really moved and very thankful for the trust placed in him by the Bharatiya Emperor.
"Then can this weapon be sold to our kingdom?" Lachit asked.
Hearing the question, not to mention the embarrassed Gopal, even Yogendra looked at him with a meaningful expression. Lachit, who felt the gaze, chose to ignore it, while Gopal, who recovered from his embarrassment, put on a wry smile and explained, "I’m sorry, Your Excellency. This weapon falls into the category of advanced strategic weapons. Such weapons are not sold."
"Oh, it’s a pity then," Lachit commented. he now somewhat understood the hidden reasons why this weapon was shown to him.
Vijay naturally did not allow Lachit to know about the information about the rocket launcher just because of trust. His real purpose is deterrence. Yes, showing the information is also a form of deterrence. Vijay wanted to deter the Ahom Kingdom from making any moves in this sensitive time by showcasing this weapon, which can rain fire on enemies and has unlimited potential.
What Vijay did is essentially no different from Russia flaunting its nuclear submarines whenever America makes a move in the future.
Additionally, showing the weapon to Lachit Borphukan, also demonstrated that the Bharatiya Empire did not need the help of the Ahom Kingdom in destroying the Mughal Empire.
Lachit Borphukan, although not a politician, is very smart in his own right, and he understood some of the intentions behind allowing him to witness the weapon of such scale.
*Knock* *Knock*
When everyone was lost in their own thoughts, a knock on the door was heard. "Come in."
It was Ranga Bhatia who had arrived. He had a confident expression on his face as he declared to the three top leaders in front of him, "It is done, sirs."
Yogendra Singh had a smile on his face. "What is the result?"
With pride, Ranga Bhatia explained, "The enemy fell into the trap we set up at the southern entrance. Seeing no chance of victory, they decisively surrendered. Now, nearly eighty thousand troops are under our custody."
Lachit couldn’t help but think about how 80,000 troops represented the active military strength of the Ahom Kingdom in normal times. Now, he had participated in a battle where 80,000 enemy troops were taken as prisoners. He couldn’t help but lament the disparity in strength.
"It’s good then, Time for me to return," Yogendra Singh, after confirming the victory, was getting up and preparing to go back to the empire after nearly a year away from it.
He had missed the conveniences of life in the empire and was looking forward to witnessing what new changes had taken place. Additionally, he had a new mission at hand. Hence, without further ado, he bid farewell to Lachit Borpukan, his colleague for nearly a year, and decisively left for the empire.
----
With the strength of 150,000 troops completely depleted, Mohammad Azlan had become desperate when Birbal Singh, commanding nearly 200,000 troops, entered near the city wall of Kolkata.
Although the numerical strength of both parties is similar, their skill levels are worlds apart. Most of the Mughal Empire’s troops are forcefully recruited by threatening their families, resulting in low morale, poor combat effectiveness, and inadequate training.
On the side of the Bharatiya Empire, although the troops are not as proficient or good as the main army, they are countless times better than the civilian soldiers of the Mughal Empire. This is due to the majority of Bharatiya soldiers being militia units from various villages, who have a basic foundation of an army due to weekly training done in the past year.
For this reason, the value of a single Bhartiya soldier could be compared to at least one and a half Mughal soldiers.
Coming back to the battle situation, Mohammad Azlan eventually figured out something was wrong. This suspicion only grew after he did not receive any letters from his uncle for the past two days and did not get any replies from the troops he sent out. Adding all these situations together, Mohammad Azlan knew he was done for.
He was desperate and looking for any way out, he was on his last straws and cornered. Hence, like a person drinking poison to quench thirst, he tried to recruit more soldiers from the civilians of the city by any means possible. Unfortunately for him, Roshan took this as an opportunity and unified the rebellious forces within the city.
Due to this, even without the presence of Sarvesh, the city wall was opened from the inside.
Birbal Singh and his army quickly rushed through the city, eliminated the Mughal forces, and beheaded Mohammad Azlan in front of the civilians. Finally, the dynasty of Murshidabad Nawabs came to an end, and the region of Bengal had fallen into the hands of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire.
Of course, all these events would transpire in the coming few weeks while Vijay simultaneously progressed in his new research.