July 21st, 1656
Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Vijayanagara State, Capital city - Hampi
The Royal Palace:
In a room decorated with various lively colours that were very vibrant and gave a feeling of joy, a woman with a beautiful and breathtaking appearance sat on a chair as she wrote something.
Next to her was a crib in which a small child was sleeping. The child was dressed in luxurious and soft woollen clothes, and his blanket was embroidered with expensive golden threads.
*Phew!!*
The woman, who was none other than Her Majesty the Empress of the Bharatiya Empire, Kavya Deva Raya, wiped the sweat that had formed on her face after enduring a long working session.
Kavya, who looked at Agni, was relieved that he was still sleeping and had not woken up to cause trouble.
It had been two months since Agni was born, and his body, thankfully due to God’s blessing, had been very healthy. So healthy that even the doctors Kavya invited for regular checkups commented that the health and growth of the young prince were several times better than those of other babies his age.
Looking at him now, Kavya also noticed that the wrinkles Agni had when he was born had completely disappeared, and his face had become fuller and chubbier faster than any other baby she had come into contact with, including her own nephew who was born a few years ago.
Also, putting aside the unusual eye colour of Agni, he also seemed to be smarter and stronger than any other baby she had ever seen. He could already roll around in the crib at 2 months old when it was only supposed to happen at 4 months. Her son was undoubtedly unusual.
But thinking about the strength of Vijay that she had experienced and his knowledge, she quickly concluded that the bloodline of the Devaraya family had been blessed by the gods.
The people in the palace also readily accepted the worldview of Kavya and went with it.
Putting aside the care and worry for Agni, Kavya read through the manuscript that she had written from morning until now and was very satisfied with the results.
That’s right, Kavya had started to write a novel again. It had been nearly five months since her last novel, "Black Sparrow on the Tree of Ashes," had been published, and ever since then, due to her entering the sensitive period of pregnancy, she did not have the time or energy to start a new book.
That situation changed when she recovered from her pregnancy, and she felt like she wanted something to do. So, she initially took up her duties of managing the female medical students in various medical colleges that she had proposed. However, she was disappointed as the actual work she could do had become extremely limited.
All she had to do was review some documents and sign her name on them; the rest of the details had already been taken care of.
She was left unfulfilled by the work; hence, as an alternative, she wanted to work on her new designs. But, sadly, even the Shree and Shreemati Boutique clothing store, which she had started, had been handled by subordinates on her behalf, drastically reducing her workload.
Although she was disappointed and annoyed that her work had been drastically reduced, she could also understand, as she could already conclude that it was Vijay who had arranged this matter for her, so she couldn’t complain.
Initially, she wanted to take back her responsibilities that had been reduced due to her pregnancy, but seeing that she did not have much management talent in her genes, she gave up. Kavya reached this conclusion after looking at the report submitted to her by the subordinates.
In that report, she could see that the turnout of the Shree and Shreemati Boutique store was higher than when she was managing it. Even the female employed in the war program she started was doing much better under the hands of her subordinates than under her own, so she immediately decided not to meddle in things she was not good at.
Hence, finally, Kavya decided to do what she was good at, and that was art. Be it clothing design, authoring a book, singing, or even dancing, she felt like she could express herself through all these different mediums. With the determination to focus on what she was good at, she chose to write a new book.
She had been considering what to write as a novel over the past few days. She was clueless about what to write as she had many ideas but did not have a central core theme to bring all these ideas together.
However, this morning when she was feeding Agni, looking at his pure and innocent amber eyes, inspiration suddenly hit her, and it was unstoppable. Countless plots and themes rushed into her head, all centred around the idea she realized:
"Little boy with strength and courage fights bad people and continuously protects his friends and saves the kingdom."
She had sat down to write the novel right after Agni fell asleep and had not stopped ever since.
"Finally, the first volume is completed!"
She said to herself with a look of exhaustion and a hint of pride mixed with satisfaction on her face.
"Uhg Uu aa ug"
Kavya looked at Agni, who had woken up and was making unintelligible noises. She quickly took a look and noticed that there was urine all over the bed.
She quickly got up, picked up Agni, and left, intending to change his clothes. She ordered the maids to clean up the bed and arrange a new one.
In the meantime, the manuscript was left on the table.
If Vijay were to read this manuscript, he would be dumbfounded because the story Kavya had written was undoubtedly very similar to the popular TV series during his school days called "Chhota Bheem," where Bheem and his friends constantly fight bad guys and save the kingdom of Dholakpur.
However, what was even more surprising is that Kavya’s manuscript had made the world of Chhota Bheem, which Vijay remembered, larger and more expansive. It seemed that Kavya had taken a lot of inspiration from other works such as "Avatar: The Last Airbender," "Ben 10," "Steven Universe," "Adventure Time," "The Legend of Korra," and "Kim Possible."
The power system that Kavya utilized unknowingly was similar to the internal energy that Vijay could find in countless Chinese martial arts novels. The main protagonist was undoubtedly modelled after her son, with amber eyes as bright as the sun, noticeable no matter how you looked.
It is undoubtedly a good project that Kavya has embarked on, Vijay would have thought. But unfortunately, he does not know anything about the manuscript. On the contrary, he is back in Agra brewing up a scheme to bring down the city of Kanpur faster.
---
Agra and Delhi battlefield, Temporary foothold
Vijay, who had just read the battle report about the failure to breach the city of Kanpur, was deep in thought.
However, Narasimha Nayak had an expression of regret on his face. "Who would have thought that Syed Ahmed would be so resolute to fully abandon the coastal region of the city and completely box himself into the city along with the residents? It is too ruthless."
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Roshan, who was also present in the room, shook his head with a self-defeating smile and stated, "Well, even though it’s regretful, something like this was bound to happen, isn’t it?"
Narasimha Nayak surprisingly nodded his head and agreed.
"True, what Your Excellency said is also correct. Even though most of the military leaders of the Mughal Empire are clueless, inexperienced noble brats, there are some among them who will eventually figure out the reason for our constant victories. So it is not too surprising they figured out our trump card beforehand.
However, I feel a little unwilling, considering that we could have achieved victory by now if the operation of His Excellency Sarvesh was successful."
Hearing these words, Roshan remained silent as he, too, agreed with Narasimha.
However, Aditya, who was beside him, shook his head and denied it. "No, Your Excellency, I think we were lucky this time. We got to know about the Mughal general’s plans beforehand, or else His Excellency Sarvesh would be in great danger."
"Syed Ahmed did make an elaborate plan for an ambush, after all, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we encountered devastating losses."
Hearing these words, Narasimha and Roshan quickly put away their unwillingness in the failure of the operation and were, in turn, similarly thankful.
Vijay, who had been lost in thought for the longest time, suddenly woke up as he grasped an idea that could lead them to victory quicker.
"We have excess manpower who want to join the army, isn’t it?" Vijay suddenly asked, catching everyone off guard.
Aditya, who was relatively more familiar with the data among the three, respectfully answered, "Yes, Your Majesty. After the news of the destruction of Varanasi and the attempt to destroy Ayodhya by the Mughal Empire spread, the number of people signing up to join the military exploded. If I am not mistaken, nearly a million people have signed up, and more are waiting."
Vijay nodded his head in satisfaction. "That’s good. Immediately employ 400,000 people and send them to the Kanpur battlefield."
Everyone was shocked. How could they simply send civilians to the battlefield? Narasimha Nayak immediately questioned, "Your Majesty, but these are just civilians. They are untrained. It is not right for them to go into the battlefield."
Vijay didn’t mind the doubts of the people around him and stated, "I don’t want them to participate in the battle. I just need their presence."
Not only Narasimha Nayak but even Roshan and Aditya were confused as they could not understand what His Majesty meant.
However, Vijay did not give them a chance to express their doubts as he continued, "Ramayya Senapati currently has nearly 200,000 soldiers under his command, and the enemy has completely huddled into the city, fully focusing on defences. Hence, it will not be possible to breach the city in a short time.
So, what if the enemy finds out that suddenly 600,000 soldiers are standing at their doorstep, ready to shred them to pieces? Wouldn’t they be scared?"
"They would," Narasimha Nayak responded, his eyes brightening.
"So we will use this tactic to completely overwhelm the enemy and make him readily surrender."
Narasimha thought about it for a while and felt like it was feasible. Roshan was in the same boat, but Aditya was doubtful.
"However, Your Majesty, will the enemy believe that we can print out another 400,000 troops? If he does not, arranging the resources to recruit so many people would be a waste of money for the empire," Aditya questioned.
Vijay nodded his head, as he had already considered these details, so he further elaborated his plan.
"Do not worry. He would indeed believe in our strength as we were able to bring the mighty Mughal Empire to its knees in just a few years, which is already a miracle. So, the enemy would have no choice but to believe it."
"However, your doubts are also true. So, in order to make these people more believable, they will all be dressed in standard military attire and march in neat formations."
"These marching formations could be learned during the time of travel as it is not too hard to learn. And, in order to increase deterrence, proceed to equip these soldiers with artillery and weaponry the same as our main army."
Narasimha Nayak, who was supposed to be the most joyful person hearing the news, immediately sprang to his feet and started to act like the finance minister of the empire. "Your Majesty, but we do not have so much artillery and so many weapons. Even if we did, it would be a loss of resources to equip such advanced weapons to these newbies."
Vijay waved his hand and motioned for him to sit down.
"When did I say we have to equip these guys with real weapons? Can’t we just equip them with fake ones?"
Narasimha: "..."
Roshan: "..."
Aditya: "..."
"Think about it, for cannons, just use some wrought iron to make a barrel and make it look like a cannon. For guns, use some wood, carve it like a gun, and equip it with the soldiers. It should be enough."
"Also, we could regularly mix in veteran soldiers with real guns and weapons among these, making the tactics more unpredictable if, in case, the Mughal General Syed Ahmed refuses to admit defeat and continues to persist inside the city."
Vijay looked at the three people who were staring at him with surprised expressions,
"What are you staring at? Get to work," he said, waking them up from their stupor.
"Right away, Your Majesty."
P.S. Thank you Lucifer_6671, For The Pizza