June 28th, 1656
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, the region of Madhya Pradesh
It was daybreak, and the four battle groups of the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire set off to their destinations.
Commander Birbal Singh left Ranchi and marched towards his target, Patna. Along with him were 200,000 Bharatiya soldiers who were battle-tested from the prior battles. The enemy of Birbal Singh was none other than the patriarch of the Dost dynasty, Shahzad Khan, equipped with 200,000 Mughal soldiers and fortified by the fortress of Patna.
Commander Ramayya Senapati, after confirming the evacuation of Shahzad Khan from Chitrakoot, took over the city with the help of Yogendra Singh and made it his foothold. Currently, Ramayya Senapati, along with his army of 200,000 soldiers, set off to besiege the cities of Kanpur and Lucknow in order to complete his mission.
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The enemy general he was facing was one of the personal military generals trained by the Timurid Dynasty, Syed Ahmed, whose force consisted of 200,000 soldiers along with the fortresses of Kanpur and Lucknow.
Yogendra Singh, similar to Ramayya Senapati, took the city of Chitrakoot as his foothold. However, different from Ramayya Senapati who marched northwest, he moved towards the east. He was equipped with 200,000 soldiers and was marching towards his target, Prayagraj, and later the holy city of Varanasi.
The enemy he had to defeat was another one of the Timurid dynasty’s personal generals, Javed Khan, equipped with the fortresses of Prayagraj and Varanasi along with 200,000 Mughal soldiers.
As for the main battle, it was led by Vijay and Narasimha Naik together as they commanded 400,000 troops and marched from the city of Gwalior to the fortresses of Agra and Delhi.
The enemy they were facing was the seasoned military general Feroze Young and the emperor of the Mughal Empire, the leader of the Timurid dynasty, His Majesty Muhammad V himself, who was equipped with not only 450,000 soldiers but also the fortresses of Agra and Delhi.
As for the Marshal of the empire, he does not have any responsibility for capturing an enemy city or besieging a fortress. But that doesn’t mean he has nothing to do. On the contrary, he has other responsibilities, responsibilities too heavy for anyone else to bear, and that includes Vijay.
Marshal Kiran Poojari has the task of not only defending the Northern Frontier from any enemy forces looking to take advantage of the main army’s absence, but also monitoring all the borders of the empire, including both the East Coast and the West Coast, and ensuring that no third-party interference takes place.
For this reason, Kiran Poojari alone controls an army of 600,000 people, most of whom are new recruits temporarily assembled to fill the gap on the frontline.
Overall, looking at the data on paper alone, the battle appears to be very balanced and likely to drag on for a long time due to the relatively equal number of troops on both sides. However, this might not be the case in reality since one must keep in mind that inherently, besieging a city requires more manpower than defending a city. Realistically, the Bharatiya Empire is still at a disadvantage.
As for why Vijay decided to wage war despite knowing this data, it is because of the advantage of firepower the Bharatiya Empire has, which can bridge the gap in strength that originated due to the Mughal Empire having the home court advantage.
Additionally, there are some tools and gadgets that were manufactured just before the war to catch the Mughal Empire off guard and to make them reveal some flaws in their defences.
8 hours later...
Maner Village
Maner Village is a small fishing village on the banks of the River Ganga. Coincidentally, this is also the place where the River Sone flows into the sacred River Ganga.
General Birbal Singh was walking along this river bank with two men dressed in camouflage blue and instructing them on something.
"So, General Gaurav and General Charan, have you been briefed on the mission by the think tank?"
Gaurav and Charan both looked at each other, their faces resolute and replied, "Yes, Your Excellency, we have been briefed and we understand what we should do."
Birbal nodded his head in approval, but still, he asked, "What are the chances of victory?"
Both Gaurav and Charan were taken aback by the question, as this was an unusual thing to ask.
However, considering the uncertainty of their mission, they understood the worry of General Birbal and answered, "Your Excellency, estimating the chances of victory is very difficult, but what we can inform you is that we are sure to cause chaos inside the city of Patna, which should allow you to take advantage of."
Looking at the certainty in the eyes of these Bharatiya Marines, Birbal was a little taken aback. "Are they so sure?" he muttered to himself. In goodwill, he warned, "Generals, I know you have your own plans and means, but please be careful because now that our army has entered the inland of Bihar, the home court of the Mughal empire, chances are our every move will be known by the Mughal Empire."
"Although they may not be able to defeat us head-on, it is not a big problem for them to send scouts to gather information. I suspect they already know about your arrival via the River Ganga."
Hearing the warning and caution in the tone of General Birbal, Gaurav and Charan did not look shocked or offended, as they knew that General Birbal’s heart was in the right place. Moreover, they were already aware of the situation and had come prepared.
"We are aware of this, Your Excellency. Thank you for your reminder. Please trust us, Marines; we will not let the empire down."
Seeing the confidence in the eyes of these Marines, Birbal did not caution them further and quickly left.
As for the Marines, Gaurav and Charan both changed their amiable expressions and put on grave faces as they ordered the soldiers to start the operations.
*Hup!*
The soldiers who were stationed not far away quickly acted. They unloaded small boats from the carriages and placed them into the river. These boats were not too large; each boat could be carried by a squad, and the seating capacity of each boat was also for a squad.
However, surprisingly, in each boat, only six people sat down, while the rest were occupied by various luggage and a mysterious box.
"Bharatiya Marines, Brigade 4, ready to set off, General."
"Bharatiya Marines, Brigade 3, ready to set off, General."
"Commence Operation!!"
The Marines quickly set off.
Birbal Singh, who received the confirmation, did not fall behind. His army in Ranchi was immediately mobilized and set off.
June 29th, 1656
The Palace of Patna
*Step* *Step*
"Your Excellency, the army is at our southern defensive line," a lieutenant informed.
Shahzad Khan, who was strictly inspecting the defences, was startled by the news. Although he had expected this day to come, when it finally arrived, he was still a little unprepared.
Fortunately, unlike at the beginning of the war, where he took things for granted while seeking further merits for his family and fame for himself, he has changed. He is currently taking the matter very seriously and fighting the enemy as if facing a life-and-death opponent.
However, One must ask: is this realization too late? Unfortunately, the answer to this will not be revealed anytime soon.
Calming down, Shahzad Khan asked, "What about that separate group that is travelling through the Ganga River?"
The lieutenant, thinking for a moment, replied, "They have arrived near Chapra, Your Excellency. They should reach the coast of Patna in a few hours."
Shahzad Khan was cautious and asked, "Are the fortifications on the banks arranged well, and are the warships stationed as I ordered?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, there is no problem. We have conducted the routine check-up."
"What about the civilians within the city? Are measures taken to stop them from rioting?"
"Yes, Your Excellency. We have fully controlled the information coming into the city. It is completely under our jurisdiction; not even a single dog can enter the fortress without our knowledge. Furthermore, we have packed gunpowder in major areas of the city, so if riots take place, we can detonate them immediately."
"Good," he praised, his face full of satisfaction.
"If the war is won, I will visit the holy place and thank Allah for His blessings." Shahzad Khan said to himself, and then quickly moved to the northern defensive line.
Birbal Singh, who had arrived in the vicinity of Patna, quickly figured out the nominal artillery positions and weak spots of the Mughal defensive line, thanks to the help of Bharatiya external Pragya and Bharatiya Sainik Pragya, they immediately started to act.
The artillery positions were dug, fortifications were arranged, and cannons were installed according to their range and type. During the installation process, the long-range culverins provided cover fire while the Bharatiya Rangers, equipped with Shikari C50s, operated from further distances, eliminating any independent enemy units acting as scouts and troublemakers.
Within two hours, the fortifications were built, and the artillery was installed.
The 15 kg+ calibre general cannons, the 20 kg+ calibre large cannon, and the 30 kg calibre giant cannon all started to fire continuously.
"Boom!!"
"Boom!!"
"Boom!!"
Their roars tore through the air and hit the city wall of Patna with great momentum. The long-distance culverins, equipped with piercing projectiles, flew out of the barrels at high speeds, spinning to maintain stability and accurately piercing the city wall.
The Indra Danasu Multiple Rocket Launcher launched multiple rockets into the air, creating great deterrence among the ranks of the Mughal Empire. The Mughal soldiers had the illusion that they were seeing a legendary dragon breathing flames into their ranks.
At the beginning of the battle, the morale of the Mughal Empire was fully suppressed. Fortunately, some among the Mughals recovered from this deterrence as they witnessed that although these flaming rockets looked very scary and intimidating, the actual damage they caused was minimal.
When these flaming rockets hit the city wall, although they exploded, their power was not as great as that of the general cannon of the Bharatiya Empire.
Furthermore, as they noticed their own cannons damaging the Bharatiya artillery, this sense of intimidation became more distant. Although they could see that their firepower was not as potent as that of the Bharatiya Empire, they had an advantage in defences, allowing them to maintain a balanced strength against the Bharatiya Empire.
Witnessing these changes, Shahzad Khan, who was startled at the beginning, finally started to regain his confidence.
"If this battle goes into a battle of attrition, we will win," he thought, as he knew that the logistics of the Bharatiya Empire would not be able to keep up for a long-drawn-out war.
In fact, what Shahzad Khan thought was indeed true. Even though the logistic capabilities of the Bharatiya Empire were first-class, this was mainly due to the developed infrastructure of the Bharatiya Empire, which almost prioritized road construction to increase war potential.
Unfortunately, the Mughal Empire did not have developed road networks to move logistics so far inland for the Bharatiya Empire.
Even now, putting aside the logistics that Birbal had taken with him, the rest of the logistics were requisitioned by the nearby towns and villages that were willing to fund the war efforts of the Bharatiya Empire.
Of course, those who were willing to fund were only a minority, as only a minority of rich people in the Mughal Empire today would benefit from the rule of the Bharatiya Empire, while the majority of the poor, although they benefited, did not have much disposable resources to donate to the Bharatiya Army.
Hence, truthfully, according to Shahzad Khan, if the war goes into a drawn-out battle of attrition, no matter how powerful the Bharatiya Empire is, it will have to retreat unless it wants to be destroyed.
Unfortunately, though, Shahzad Khan seems to have miscalculated the threat from the approaching naval vessels of the Bharatiya Empire.
"Your Excellency, it is not good. There is an emergency at the rear."
P.S. Thank you Yashwant_Reddy Garu for an Ice Cola