The Deoyakhand Campaign(2)

Year 1564, January, County Deoyakhand, Near the border of Mughal Empire

Flashback, Two days ago

The Mughal army consisting of cannons, infantry, cavalry, archers and few Toradar (matchlock musket of mughals) equipped men disguised as mercenary crossed into the Khurda kingdom and setup camp for the night Soon the scouts send by General Harish returned with the news that the mughals has entered the kingdom borders and has decided to rest for the night. The general decided that it was a perfect opportunity to strike at the Mughals when they are not ready. So as the night darkened he exited the forest with his army and started advancing towards the Mughals camp. On the other hand the Mughal never thought that they could be attacked within the Deoyakhand county as they have treaty of alliance with Count Shamsher and their scouts has also reported that there was no army in the vicinity.

As general Harish came within range of his Vajrastra and Varshastra weapon they started setting them up and the Varshastra was fired first as the rockets swore to the sky with the shrill whistling and then started dropping on the camp the scene that presented itself was heart wrenching. Many rockets just burst before landing and the fire from it spread everywhere which resulted in tents being set ablaze while others would rise again on striking the ground and bound along in a serpentine motion until their force was spent. As the fire spread it somehow came in contact of gunpowder magazine which is used for the toradar and field cannons, the ensuing explosion was devastating. Added to this destruction were continuous hail of Vajrastra arrows and rockets which resulted in many soldiers dying or dead. Unfortunately within this fire inferno the commander of the Mughal army also died while he was in his command tent whose burning embers fell on him. The Mughals where completely in disarray and they started exiting the camp and was running in every direction. Many Mughals saw the banner of the Count Shamsher army and started running towards them for help but they where immediately shot down by the same army. This confused them at first but finally it dawned on them that the count has betrayed them and this resulted in them fleeing with terror towards the Mughal borders while given chase by General Harish army. The killing of the fleeing Mughals continued until they crossed the borders and fleed into Mughal territory. 

Present day, Subapur Barony

Two hours after the battle with baron Himchandra forces ended the prince army was once again moving to engage with Count Shamsher forces who seems to be only 3-4 hours march away. The dead and injured soldiers and the few prisoners taken where left behind along with a platoon of 100 men to guard them so as to not slow down the marching speed. 

As the prince army took a defensive positon, they placed caltrop to prevent direct cavalry or elephant attack on its vanguard. General Virendra has decided to hid some of the 6-pounder cannons on the left flank in the large grove with a company of musketeers and a company of cavalrymen. Once again line infantry musketeers battalions took the centre with cannons within the gap of their ranks to fire canister shot. The rest of the cavalry is divided and hold in the rear to protect both the flanks from enemy cavalry charge. A battalion of elite musketeers infantry are also held in reserves along with close to 400 of elite royal guard of prince Viraja. Finally is the missile troops and rest of the cannons place in the rear to bombard on enemy position. On the count's side infantry was taking the vanguard once again with archer in close support, cavalry on both flanks and finally war elephant and cannons in the rear. As the prince surveyed his forces and that of his enemy his mind went to the discussion he had an hour ago regarding dispatching a brigade including a battalion of elite musketeers and close to 500 men of elite royal guards and one company of cavalry to circle around to attack the count's position from the rear, their target is to capture the count alive.

Count Shansher seeing his forces outnumbered the prince army by almost 7000-8000 men was quite exhilarated, though he still hadn't received any news from baron Himchandra still he was not worried as he simply thought that they will show up sooner or later. As the bombardment started on both sides soon the smile on the count face changed into a frown. Even though his cannon bombardment was causing some casualty on prince side what made him frown is the bombardment and especially the missiles from prince side which is causing real dent in his ranks and worse part is his archers is not even in range yet. What surprised him even more is the rockets that is being fired on his army is what he has seen Mughals use in battle sometimes and as far as he knows they never shared it with anyone. As the soldiers on the count side started dying and got grievously injured their morale stared to plummet. Seeing this the count ordered his infantry for all out attack on enemy vanguard supported by archers but what came next was even more of a surprise the front row of the prince vanguard fired a volley in unison which has a devastating effect on his infantry. But it didn't end there the prince infantry was four rows deep so each time one row emptied their musket the row behind comes forward and the row in the front moves to the back and starts loading their musket and this continues in a cyclic manner. 

The death toll on counts side due to this volley firing and canister shot of the cannons was significant by the time his infantry even manage to engaged in melee combat. Seeing this the count ordered his 20 War elephant to break the prince vanguard while ordered his cavalry to attack the flanks hoping to deliver a significant blow to the prince army by this maneuver. Unfortunately due to caltrops it impeded the war elephants and this advantage was used by the vanguard musketeer to use musket fire and canister shot to bring down the war elephants and as for the cavalry it was countered by prince cavalry. With the count's entire forces committed it is at this moment count Shamsher got two surprise at the same time. One in the left flank cannons appeared and started firing on his position and a company of cavalry and musketeers also attacked the rear of his already engaged infantry and the second is the attack from the count rear a company of prince cavalry along with elite royal guard has cutoff his escape route and is now surrounding him and killing his guards and a battalion of elite musketeers attacked his archers from the rear. Soon count Shamsher was surrounded and captured and this event along with heavy death toll routed the count's forces.

Few days later, Deoyakhand County

The count was currently tied up and kneeling infront of prince Viraja with rage and defiance in his eyes, as the prince sat in his place in the main hall of Deoyakhand castle within the fort. It turns out that seeing their lord captured and tied up by the prince the small number of sentries left behind to man the Deoyakhand fort immediately surrendered the entire castle. The prince looked at the count and said "Well the schemer has still fight left in him no matter let me take it out of you. This are my terms" and looked at General Virendra to start reading it out to the count. 

As the general continued he said "You will be a count in name only and all the administration will be run by the public administration office which is a new reforms applied by the crown and a governor who will be appointed by royal family with a brigade of royal army who will be permanently stationed in your county for security purpose. You will be placed under house arrest and will sign what we say you to sign and when the time comes you will renounce you position as a count when we say you should. You will also write a letter to Vijayanagar Empire telling them how the Mughals has coerced you into letting their army enter the kingdom and a letter to Mughals telling them that you have aligned with Vijayanagar empire as they are indu just like you and will use army of Vijayanagar empire to impede the Mughals if they try anything against your county or the kingdom".

Hearing this the count just looked at the prince and spit at the prince feet this got him a smack on his shoulder by the butt of a musket. All the prince could do is smile and said "You seems to think that somebody is coming to save you. Well you see all your loyalist has been exterminate and their land ceased by me including the slamic followers who entered your county and did atrocities on the indu people in the name of their religion. As for the Mughals well they already think you have betrayed them since I used your banner to route their invading army. So once again I will ask you do you accept the terms". Still seeing the defiance within the count the prince took a sigh and said "I guess you leave me no choice" and snapped his finger.

Soon the big door of the center hall opened and in came the counts family with the royal guard in tow.As the count saw his family the expression on his face changed from defiance to that of fear and he looked at the prince and said "You can't do this you are a royal".The prince with an angry expression on his face and said "I can and I will do everything and go to any lengths to protect the common indu people in my kingdom do you understand and now will you accept my terms or should I exterminate your bloodline just like what I did to your loyalists".The soldier who were lining the halls walls along with general Virendra when they heard the prince words all they could think that finally they have a Kshatriya prince who cares for the common indu people. Left with no choice the count agreed to the terms of the prince and became just a figurehead of the county who will be used by the prince to achieve his purpose.

A week or so later, Mughal court

As the emperor read the letter of the Khafir count he has a furious expression on his face but the worse part is that he can't do anything right now as the indu empire called Vijayanagar has gotten wind of his plans and stepped in and if he goes after the count or the kingdom it will result in full fledged war with another empire which he cannot afford yet as his empire is already fighting wars on multiple fronts so he just ordered his wazir(prime minister) to keep the plans of dealing with the treasonous count on hold for now.