Chương 4: Entering the first historical quest
The next day,
Aarv woke early in the morning. After doing routine work, He hurriedly opened the gaming cabin and entered the virtual reality world. As he closed the door of his gaming cabin, a sweet voice sounded in Aarv's ears.
[ Initializing Peace Online…]
[ Initialization complete… Entering the Peace online… ]
Aarv watched nervously as the scenery in front of him went from pitch black to rainbow coloured and before Aarv could understand, he was standing in front of an ancient-looking door. As he reached the ancient-looking door, Aarv got a message from the system.
[ Welcome player Aarv Bhosle to peace online… ]
[ Player, choose your prefered game mode…]
[ You can choose between Lord mode and normal mode…]
"Choose the Lord mode…"
Aarv replied without hesitation. The blood of Marathas (The proud Indian warrior tribe.) ran through his body. If he could become a lord in the game, his family would definitely become proud of him.
[ Confirm you have selected Lord mode. You can only select Lord mode once! ]
[ Confirm Yes/No. ]
"Confirm Yes."
Ding…
[ You have chosen the Lord mode. You will have to complete one Historical Quest to become an official lord in the game. ]
[ Choosing a random Historical Quest… ]
Ding…
[ Quest selection complete… Quest selected = Fort of Dharur.]
As soon as the Quest selection was complete, the door in front of Aarv opened. He tried to peek inside but could only see a screen of light inside the door. Helplessly, he took a deep breath and entered through the door.
When Aarv crossed the door, the scenery in front of him changed completely. He was standing inside an ancient-looking stone building. Aarv turned back to see where he came from but what he saw shocked him.
There was no ancient looking door behind him but just a normal bedroom in a messed upstate.
"What…?"
Aarv felt shocked at the realistic appearance of the game. While he was looking around the building, he heard a surprised voice,
"Ahh… killedar ( castellan ) you are out of your room…?"
An old man looked at Aarv with surprise and called him out. He threw whatever he was doing before and ran towards Aarv and bowed respectfully.
"Killedar, the Mughal forces have proceeded from Siu-gaon towards Bijapur (Now Vijapur) and Bhonsla (Now Basavanna)…"
Aarv could see deep worry within the old man's eyes. Aarv remained calm and told the old man,
"Let's talk inside…"
And walked towards his office. The old man bowed and followed closely behind. After reaching his office Aarv finally asked the old man,
"Tell me the enemy's every movement in detail… do not miss a single thing…"
The old man was first confused but still told everything about the enemy forces.
Aarv finally knew what was going on. He was transported to the war of 1630-31 to kill the rebel forces of Khan Jahan, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan sent his entire army towards the south of the empire. The imperial army of Mughals conquered area after area of, Maharashtra province (Deccan plateau) and Telangana province. They were finally able to kill Khan Jahan with his trusted friend Darya Khan in central parts of India in January of 1631.
It was one of the longest pursuits of rebel forces in Indian history lasting from October of 1629 to January 1631.
But, that was not what the rebel war of 1630-31 was known for. It was known for the massive drought of 1631-32 where for 2 years straight there was no rain. 3 crop seasons failed to produce anything bringing massive famine in the area of surat and the Deccan plateau.
One of the historians recorded the famine as the 'Deccan famine'. He describes,
"Life was offered for a loaf but none would buy; rank was to be sold for a cake, but none cared for it; the ever-bounteous hand was now stretched out to beg for food, and the feet which had always trodden the way of contentment walked about only in search of sustenance. For a long time dog's flesh was sold for goat's flesh, and the pounded bones of the dead were mixed with flour and sold." (source: Maharashtra State Gazetteer chapter 9, page 288 )
This explains the dire situation of common people perfectly. At that time, 7.4 million deaths were recorded (some say that the number was in the 10s of millions.) because of intense famine. But what did the army of both Mughals and the rebel armies do?
They plundered villages nearby, killing able-bodied men and raping women. All just to provide rations for their massive army. This plundering made the already dire state of the two provinces even worse. Despite the dire situation, the two forces did not stop their campaign. Even after the rebel forces had been subsidized, the Mughal army continued to attack provinces nearby and only stopped after Fateh khan, the prime minister of nizam shahi (also called the sultanate of Ahmednagar) offered his submission in 1633.
Aarv could only sigh at the historic events that happened during the era. He also knew the strategic importance of the fort of dharur. The dharur fort was located at the south of bir (Now Beed) which reigned over the whole Beed province. The dharur fort also gave access to the Deccan plateau in the south and the fort of Paranda (the old capital of Nizam Shahi) in the west. After the fall of the Dharur fort, it served as a major hub for army supplies for future campaigns of the Mughal army. The fall of Dharur made the local forces of nizam shahi (Sultanate of Ahmednagar) and Adil Shahi (Sultanate of Bijapur) crumble and fail one by one.
"We must defend Fort of Dharur at all costs."
Aarv made a resolute decision to defend the fort of Dharur at all costs. He also knew that at that time, the nizam shah had ordered Vithoji Raje Bhosle to protect this fort. Seeing that he was playing the same role as his ancestors, Aarv became really emotional.
Ding…
After piecing together all the information recorded in the history books, just as Aarv wanted to ask more about the present situation, a new system prompt appeared in front of Aarv's eyes.
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