Chapter 21
Hey guys. Just an author's short rant before you get to the chapter.
I was very passionate when I started this story. I have been reading all kinds of historical journals, research papers, and books to make this story blend with real history. But I don't know if it was my writing that wasn't interesting enough or what but this story just isn't getting enough engagement. It is demoralizing when you know that your story isn't being read by people.
But that is it for my depressing rant. Please enjoy the story. I appreciate that you took your precious time to read this story.
....
The entire Jagat Seth family was frantically preparing for the imminent Maratha invasion. The last time the Marathas came, they had looted almost 20 million rupees from their treasury. It was such a great amount that entire cities might not earn that amount in a year.
To avoid the past tragedy, security was being tightened in the main family. New safes were created to hide the family wealth and some of the wealth was even hidden inside the school where hidden safes had been built during the construction process.
The gold, silver, jewelry, and treasures were moved disguised as regular supplies for the school, and hidden inside the school. Vir had created large underground warehouses hidden from view inside the school campus.
Although Vir's idea was to store hidden weapons and ammunition that he would develop later as well as to create bunkers to wait out any invasion or wars, the family was using one of the warehouses to hide their wealth.
"It was a great fortune that Vir had planned for the hidden warehouses while constructing the school buildings. It would have been a great hassle if we had to move it to Dacca or even Delhi." Anand Chand sighed in relief but his complexion was still very dark.
His younger brother Maha Chand spoke with a frown, "What is the point of having hidden wealth if we don't survive? The Maratha bastards are so cruel. They will start hacking us apart if they don't get a large amount of money from us."
The Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa regions had become incredibly tense as February of 1744 rolled around. Entire villages were being emptied with people moving eastward to avoid the Bargi light cavalry of the Marathas. Fear was spreading with the news of the Maratha's arrival.
While his family and the rest of the region were gripped by fear, Vir was very calm. He knew that this situation would only last a month at most. In March, Alivardi and Mustafa would do something so shocking that the invasions would stop for an entire year.
…..
The Nawab of Bengal Alivardi Khan with his white hair and moustache was throwing the glasses next to him at his advisors out of anger.
"You said it would be fine as long as we paid the damn Peshwa! What is your use if your advice only causes me losses?" Alivardi swore and shouted at the advisors.
It wasn't entirely the fault of the advisors. They had been skeptical about joining hands with the Peshwa too but when they had tried to raise the point, the incredibly impatient Alivardi had joined hands with the Peshwa without listening to them.
The Nawab had been in a precarious situation where he would have lost his throne if he didn't join hands with the Peshwa. But now, the advisors had to silently take the blame for the decision made by the Nawab. If they talked back, Alivardi would just cut off their tongues or necks.
"Those two-faced bastards. Even though I am paying him so much money, he says he can't control just one of his warlords. What kind of a prime minister is he? Is his title of Peshwa just for show?" Alivardi continued his rants while cursing at the Peshwa Balaji Rao.
He was paying the Peshwa expecting to get a protector in the Maratha empire. But instead of a protector, all he got were two leeches who were sticking to him and trying to suck him dry.
The entire court of the Nawab was silent. Nobody wanted to become the target of the Nawab's anger by attracting his attention. All the heads were bowed with the lips shut tight.
"What should we do? Someone answer me! Our army is exhausted and depleted and we don't have enough money to wage a war against the Marathas either. Answer me! What do we do?"
Alivardi's angered shouts were like a shockwave that made his courtiers shiver with fear with each wave that passed through them. But nobody dared to speak at the moment. Except one person, Mustafa Khan, who saw an opportunity in the Nawab's crisis.
"Sire, I have some ideas but I think it would be best to discuss strategies in a private place with only the important personnel," Mustafa spoke with a calm voice even though his head was bowed.
Mustafa Khan was trying to create his own faction in Alivardi's court. This was a chance to exclude his political rivals from Alivardi's inner circle. The ambitious Mustafa Khan was solidifying his power every chance he got.
After calming down a little, Alivardi nodded and pointed out a few of his close associates and generals including his sons-in-law, cousins, and nephews. Mustafa pointed out the courtiers in his line as well. The rest were made to get out of the room with sullen expressions.
Although he was using Mustafa as his right-hand man, Alivardi was also aware of Mustafa and his ambitions. Alivardi was inching closer to 70 years of age so everyone close to him was eyeing his position of the Nawab.
"Go ahead. What ideas are you talking about?" Alivardi signaled Mustafa to speak.
"Sire, my plan is simple. We can just assassinate all of Raghoji's army generals. With that Raghoji won't be able to attack us for some years. We can easily strengthen our army during that period." Mustafa spoke of his plan with a sinister smile on his face.
The room fell silent at the outrageous idea proposed by Mustafa. It wasn't unusual to assassinate enemy generals but to assassinate all of them at once was an absurd idea.
"How will you even get all of them in one place? You don't expect them to come meet you for a friendly cup of tea, do you?" Zain ud-din, Alivardi's nephew sarcastically asked Mustafa.
Zain and Mustafa had been at loggerheads for some time now. Their rivalry was not a secret to anyone including Alivardi who had left their rivalry alone without trying to mediate.
"I will lure Bhaskar and the other generals by convincing them that we are prepared to pay annual taxes to stop the invasions. They might be skeptical but if I take an oath on my god and the Quran, they will believe me. When they are in our territory, we can ambush and kill all of them including their armies."
Completely ignoring Zain's sarcasm, Mustafa outlined his plan to Alivardi. This time, even Alivardi was shocked and gasped at the plan. It was not something minor to make a false oath of that magnitude. Mustafa was selling out his faith for his ambitions.
The Nawab was slightly scared by Mustafa's determination to achieve his ambitions. He might even become an obstacle or an enemy in the future to hinder his grandson Siraj's ascension to the throne. Alivardi decided to put some checks on Mustafa after this situation was handled.
"What do you want for such a sacrifice?" Alivardi asked solemnly.
Mustafa didn't hide his ambitions either, "I want you to make me the governor of the Bihar region."
"This bastard!" Zain ud-din who was the current governor of Bihar shouted out in rage.
"Silence!" Alivardi's voice rang out in the room. "You are in my court, maintain your dignity Zain. How can you lose your cool like that?"
Although he was reprimanding his nephew, Alivardi himself was trying hard to control his boiling anger. Mustafa was using his crisis to eat up the Bihar region. But Alivardi wasn't done yet. He continued talking.
"If you add a Hindu courtier who would take a similar oath like me, the plan will work for sure. You just have to prepare an ambush and take off their heads. I don't think I am asking for too much for sacrificing my faith."
Alivardi couldn't refute Mustafa's claims. The plan seemed like it could work well but it all hinged on Mustafa making that oath. And it seemed that Mustafa had even gotten the Hindu Diwan Janaki Ram on his side.
Alivardi could not think of any other method than to make the promise to Mustafa for now and somehow appease him after the Maratha threat is avoided. The Nawab hoped that he could later appease Mustafa with treasures or money.
"What does Raja Janaki Ram want for this?" Alivardi asked his Hindu courtier who was now in leagues with Mustafa Khan.
Janaki Ram was more tactful, "I am only doing it to serve you sire. So I will take whatever you wish to reward me with."
He placed the burden of deciding the reward on Alivardi. Alivardi couldn't choose anything worth less than what he would give to Mustafa anyway. So he didn't overtly ask for anything.
Alivardi frowned but quickly hid it. "I agree with this plan. Make sure that everything is done in utmost secrecy. We can't afford it if this plan fails. Even if some of you have your differences, for my sake and all of us, work with each other. We can't fight among ourselves right now."
While warning everyone not to leak the secrets and to work together, Alivardi gave the go-ahead for Mustafa Khan's plan. Even though many of Alivard's family members were dissatisfied with the decision, they could only nod and agree with whatever the Nawab decided.
Alivardi later called Zain and consoled him separately. "Your son Siraj is my successor. Do you think I will let anyone get in the way of his ascension? We have to swallow our anger and act according to Mustafa's wishes until we get out of this predicament."
Zain ud-din looked into the distance without hiding the resentment in his eyes. "We should hand him over to the Marathas after the assassination plan is completed. We can put all the blame on his head and divert the Marathas' anger from us to Mustafa."
Alivardi shook his head, "We can't do that. Almost all of the Afghan soldiers are under Mustafa's control. If we betray their leader, we might lose our strongest fighting force. Mustafa is playing with us because he knows we can't betray or kill him without angering the Afghans."
"So we are just going to accept his demands? He is already gathering the courtiers to his side. At this rate, if he is given the governorship of Bihar, it is only a matter of time before he turns his sword at Bengal." Zain expressed his frustrations.
Alivardi was getting annoyed by Zain's whining. He wasn't even proposing a viable plan. "What do you want me to do? For now, we can only gain some time while we plan how to deal with Mustafa without losing the army."
Zain felt his uncle becoming impatient so he stopped complaining and thought of measures they could take. "How about we bribe his generals? We can make one of them betray Mustafa. We can get rid of him while keeping the army."
"And what will you bribe the generals with? Mustafa would have promised them more if he became the governor of Bihar. The generals you bribe might even ask for governorship themselves. You will only be replacing one Mustafa Khan with someone similar."
The Afghan generals were not united, so getting them to turn against each other wasn't too complicated. But the problem was that they were all his own army. The infighting within his strongest army would only go on to harm the Nawab himself.
With no concrete plans to deal with Mustafa, Alivardi decided to continue getting the Afghan generals on his side by using gold and silver. Except for a few of the generals who were close to Mustafa, there was a chance that he could get the others on his side using money.
As long as he had enough Afghans, he could buy more time without fearing a retaliatory coup from the army led by an angry Mustafa Khan. The Nawab believed that he could come up with something by that time.
And so, Mustafa and Janaki Ram marched with their soldiers to the Maratha encampment to lure Bhaskar and his generals to the ambush. It was a descipable but brilliant plan that could cripple Raghoji Bhonsle's ambitions for a few years.
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