Chapter 207: Askar's Problems

A large army of Mughals marched towards the capital of Karnavati. They were well-equipped and ready to fight.Smoke could be seen in the distance from where the army had been marching. They had plundered and looted all the villages in their path, raped the women, and killed the men. It was a chaotic scene.

They burned down the villages to the ground. It was a grim situation for the Maratha citizens to see the Mughals invading into the borders and killing them. Some civilians tried to fight back and died in the process.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of lives were lost by the hands of the Mughals soldiers.

Askar Khan was dissatisfied. He rode his horse in the frontline of the marching army. His thoughts were lingering on the previous battle with the royal commander of the Marathas, Baldev.

He didn't think of Baldev highly, but he did a lot of damage to the army. Their cannons were made worthless by him.

Askar was pissed due to the situation. He couldn't believe an untalented kafir scum like Baldev managed to hurt his army.

Half of their cannons were destroyed in the little stunt by Baldev and their cannon crew was heavily injured. He had to train some new members into the crew on the fly. It was definitely significant damage to his army.

The Maratha soldiers routed as soon as they saw their commander fall to the ground.

Askar killed plenty of the Maratha soldiers. He didn't even spare a single one and didn't take any war prisoners due to his fury against Baldev.

'Damn that pest. He almost destroyed everything. The Emperor would have taken my head if all the cannons were destroyed before they reached the Capital.'

He knew that the capital was heavily fortified.

Askar also saw at the end of the battle. The front-line soldiers defended for a while before the whole army began to rout. The backline soldiers ran away in an organized manner into the forest.

It wasn't just couple of soldiers. It was hundreds or maybe thousands of soldiers retreating into the forest.

'Are they going to reinforce the Capital?'

Askar smirked. "The king should be occupied with the twins. There should be no one as strong as Baldev remaining in the Maratha army right now." He mumbled to himself.

But he was skeptical. Baldev sent a unit to go back to the capital before the man started. The Scouts saw this. He was curious who he had chosen to lead that unit.

He wouldn't be taking any chances like he did with Baldev. He decided to go full in on the capital.

It doesn't matter who was sent to the capital. Askar decided to give his all to take down the capital.

'I will not repeat the same mistake I made with that bastard again.'

The vice commander of the army, Usman, came running to him. He had some urgent news that the spies uncovered about their campaigns.

"What is it, Usman?"

"Commander, We have some news.

We found the person that was sent to the capital by the royal commander."

He turned his head quickly with a curious glint in his eyes.

"Who is it?"

"It is a young commander by the name of Shivaji Bhonsle. He has little to no experience in battle but surprising every report mentions him as a talented person." S~eaʀᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Askar thought for a while. "He is a kid but we can't afford to make any more mistakes. We will be taking it seriously."

"Understood, Commander."

"Any other news?"

"Yes.. There are not so pleasant."

Askar sighed if it was not pleasant. It meant that they had lost ground in different battles. The other commanders weren't as good as him. The twins were decent at most. He didn't like most of the high-ranking commanders, as they mostly came to the position with their connections.

"We have lost most of the border skrimishes with the Marathas. There are exceptions, but it was just the difference in numbers."

Askar cursed. "Those old fools can't even do anything straight."

"The Qutbs royal commander also lost in Nadiad against Vasant Pawar. It was a complete wipeout." Read new adventures at M V L

He had no more words of the incompetency he was witnessing. Vasant wasn't even a huge presence in the Maratha kingdom. The Qutbs couldn't even take him down with their best commander. It was truly a shame to call them our allies in war.

He clicked his tongue in pure disgust.

"Haaa.. If we take the capital. It should be all good."

"Send a message to Karim. Tell him to prepare the Shamsheer-e-Zar (Golden Swords) to take the remaining spots in the army."

"Wouldn't that upset the nobles?"

"Yes but we have no choice. We have to filter out the trash in the army command chain." He began. "And don't really worry about it. Karim does his job very well. The golden swords are also strong."

Usman nodded and went off to prepare the message to send to Karim.

There were people that were competent in the Mughal Empire but they weren't at the forefront of the battle against the Marathas. They were usually used in the defensive part.

The Golden Swords, or Shamsheer-e-Zar, were one such group in the Empire. There were 5 golden swords. Each one with their own unique personality and strengths.

Askar had met all of them and they were very strong.

He had to acknowledge the strongest golden sword was even stronger than Karim and him. That man was a monster that moved only in dire situations.

'The war would have been easier. If he was involved.'

He sighed.

'Well, even the Emperor stated that. He would only move if he was interested in something.'

That means that the Emperor also had little control over the man.

Askar could guess why the Emperor never used the golden swords. The Empire was huge and this came with problems. There was a rebel problem due to the improper integration of the people into the Empire.

So the Emperor usually had the golden swords deployed in the Empire to keep the rebels in check during the Maratha wars.

'Only 2 of them would be useful to lead an army anyway. It wouldn't really give major advantages in the war.'

He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Askar had a single goal in his mind.

"I will bring down Karnavati."

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