First Historical Quest -IV
Seeing the retreating Mughal army, cheers broke into the fort of Dharur. This was the first time soldiers experienced a one-sided fight with the Mughal forces.
Aarv looked at the cheering army from the Shah Buruj (The tallest tower on Dharur fort)and felt very accomplished.
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While the forces inside the Dharur fort cheered, the same could not be said for the Mughal forces. In only a single exchange they lost over 1,500 men and not a single one fell from the enemy forces.
Azam Khan was fuming when he heard the report. The report contained a strange spike-like object enemy used to counter the Mughal cavalry. Azam Khan held the four-pronged object in his hand with a curious expression. He could see the usefulness of the caltrops in the battles.
'What a sharp mind…'
Azam Khan looked towards the fort of Dharur with a sceptical expression. He then turned his attention towards his vanguard commander and ordered,
"Give him 20 lashes…"
The soldiers bowed before taking the vanguard commander to receive his punishment.
The same night, heated discussions were happening inside the Mughal army camp on how to counter the caltrops. Every commander came with his own ideas while Azam Khan listened carefully. After the whole night passed, they finally came to a solution on how to counter these Caltrops.
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The next day, All the soldiers inside Dharur fort energetically stood on the fort walls ready to confront enemy soldiers. But when the enemy army arrived, the whole army stood outside the range of caltrops.
Noon passed, still, the enemy army remained motionless making the soldiers waiting on the walls uneasy.
At night, the Mughal army retreated as per instructions.
The same thing happened on the second day, then on the third, fourth and fifth.
On the sixth day, As usual, the enemy army surrounded the Dharur fort while staying out of cannon range. But this time some people came forward into the cannon range and started picking the caltrops by hand.
When the soldiers on the fort looked closely, They were able to tell that these people were civilians from neighbouring districts. They send an emergency report towards the Shah tower while asking for instructions.
On the Shah tower, Aarv looked at the civilians picking up the caltrops by hand with a sigh. In the battle between the two forces, civilians were the ones suffering the most pain. Be it plundering their resources, killing able-bodied men, raping women and forcefully making them change their religion, the common people of India suffered most during the medieval times in the history of India.
Sagarrao looked toward Aarv ready to receive the next order, but Aarv's next order made Sagar Rao really shocked. He ordered,
"Let them pick the caltrops, they are only placed to delay the enemy forces. Instead, Bring the common people inside the fort here and let them personally watch how the Mughal army is torturing common people…"
Sagarrao took his orders and left the shah tower. An hour later, A lot of common people gathered at the base of Shah tower. Aarv let them inside the Shah tower and let them watch the state of common people under the Mughal army.
All the common people who watched from the shah tower felt really angry toward the Mughal army.
That night Aarv ordered Sagar Rao to make a second announcement to recruit soldiers. This time he allowed both men and women to join the army. This time, people volunteered to join the fort army and the recruiting numbers reached as high as 10,000.
Sagarrao was amazed by the passionate look on the people's faces. Especially the women, who passionately joined the nursing house to treat the soldiers.
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Time flowed quickly and soon three months passed. Every day, civilians captured by the Mughal army worked hard for 3 months and finally cleared all the caltrops laid out by the Dharur fort.
On the next day, the Mughal army finally laid siege on the fort walls using ladders. During the siege, the Dharur army under Aarv fought bravely. They used boiling oil, kerosene bombs, rocks as well as wooden logs to destroy ladders and force enemy soldiers down.
Cannons under the Mughal army constantly roared as they bombarded cannonball after cannonballs towards fortress walls but the fort walls stood strong. The exterior of the fort wall was covered with iron casting which acted like armour to the walls.
Even after bombarding the fort with cannon shells the entire day, there was no visible damage to the fort wall.
At night, A meeting was held inside the Mughal camp. In the meeting, one of the commander in charge of Cannons and motors reported to Azam khan,
"The fort walls are too sturdy, we do not have the firepower to destroy the fort walls. We need to think of other ways to scale the fort."
Azam Khan just nodded at him. Although it was a problem, there was a much bigger problem he had to solve.
The problem of military rations!
Because the army plundered a lot of resources and food from the nearby regions, there was no reason for them to conserve the rations. But because of the drought, these rations were depleting rapidly. Azam khan knew that in the present situation, there was only a month of rations left for the Mughal army. If they fail to take the fort of Dharur within a month, everything will be lost.
This was the first time Azam Khan became desperate. He ordered his officials,
"Let's intensify our siege efforts. We need to take the fort of Dharur down within a month."
All the officials then talked about the strategy and left late at night.
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The next day,
The Mughal army intensified their siege efforts. Their ferocity was soon noticed by Aarv and the officials inside the fort.
'Finally, it is starting…'
Aarv smiled as he looked towards the Mughal camp. He then asked his scribe to write a letter to both Ahamadnagar and Bijapur sultanate. There was only one sentence written on both of the letters
"Start the operation"
In the afternoon he ordered Sagar Rao to bring the 50 men selected earlier for a mission. In 15 minutes these men stood in front of Aarv.
"Killedar…"
They bowed in unison.
Aarv nodded at them and started recounting his plans of action.
"... This might be the most dangerous mission of your life. You can choose not to participate in the mission."
After finishing his last sentence, Aarv waited for the soldiers' answers.
"This…"
At first, the soldiers were surprised by Their commander's last sentence. It was the first time someone had given them a choice. Normally, all they could get was cold orders from their superiors. They looked toward Aarv with more respect and answered,
"Even if we have to lay down our bodies, we will complete this mission."
After hearing their affirmation, Aarv nodded with happiness as he ordered Sagar Rao.
"Good… Sagarrao carved these brave soldiers' names on a shilalekh (rock tablet used to convey information to future generations). They all will be known throughout history as Brave soldiers who accepted the mission."
After hearing Aarv's reply, the soldiers who were listening were shocked. Being mentioned in the historical records was the most honourable thing for normal soldiers.
"Thank you, my lord…"
All the 50 soldiers bowed in unison as they thanked Aarv.