The same night,
While the Mughal army was retreating from the fort, additional 50 soldiers disguised as Mughal soldiers entered their army ranks. As usual, after the Mughal soldiers returned to their respective army camps, they started fires to cook food and rest for the night.
The 50 soldiers who infiltrated the Mughal camp waited patiently for all the enemy soldiers to relax and let their guard down.
At midnight,
A commotion broke towards the east of the army camp which woke the whole army camp. Horns, as well as warning drums, started sounding as more and more soldiers took their weapons and started fighting among themselves. Soon commotion reached the west and south side of the army camp too.
Inside the commander's tent,
Slam…
Azam Khan slammed his hand on a wooden table after hearing the commotion in the middle of the night.
"Someone explain what is happening…"
He was furious because of the chaos inside the Mughal army camp.
All the Mughal officials trembled under Azam Khan's rage. Finally, One of the officers spoke,
"Enemy soldiers infiltrated in our ranks my Lord but worry not, we have killed all 40 of the enemy soldiers…"
After hearing the report Azam Khan's rage subsided a little. He then ordered,
"Calm the soldiers down… increase the security inside the camp. If anyone suspicious was found, kill without mercy. Also, calculate the casualties…"
As Azam Khan was giving orders, one soldier came running inside the tent.
"Urgent report…. Urgent report… the granary…. Huff… huff…"
"My lord… the granary… someone set the granary on fire…"
"What…!!"
All the officials including Azam Khan stood up after hearing the report. Azam Khan was fuming as he slapped the reporting soldier and ran out of his tent.
On the north side of the army camp where Mughal army granaries were located, one of the granaries was on fire.
Suddenly Azam Khan understood the whole plot.
"Bastard…!"
He cursed as he took his horse and marched in the direction of the granaries.
Spreading chaos among the Mughal soldiers was not the main objective of Aarv. His main objective was grains of the Mughal army. He knew that because of the famine, Mughal troops would find it difficult to obtain the grains deep inside the enemy territory. Once they ran out of the rations, It will be game over for the Mughal forces.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Azam Khan knew this situation too. He was madly rushing towards the granaries to save the rest of them.
But at last, one granary after another was set on fire. When Azam Khan reached the granaries, All he could see was fire and smoke.
Azam Khan felt his heart tighten at the sight of burning grain. He tried to collect soldiers to put out the fire but it was too late.
---
The next morning,
The disheartened soldiers heard the order of retreat from their commander's tent. The Mughal campaign on the Deccan plateau failed miserably. Just because of a single fort, Fort of Dharur!
Loud cheers broke as the soldiers standing on top of the fort wall watched the retreating Mughal army with tears in their eyes.
'They defeated the unstoppable Mughal forces…'
All the people felt proud of their achievements.
While retreating, Azam Khan looked towards the fort of Dharur with fuming rage.
'You all just wait… I will personally kill every single person inside the fort.'
While the defeat at Dharur was humiliating, Azam Khan was just a vanguard for the 500,000 strong Mughal forces stationed in Aurangabad. Once he regrouped with the main force, he can bring the whole army down south and get rid of the forces.
While he was thinking of regrouping, Azam Khan noticed loud noises coming their way from the east side. He turned his head sideways and felt shocked.
a 20,000 strong army along with horses and elephants was marching toward the Mughal forces.
"Oh no…"
Azam Khan felt his scalp tingling as he thought of a possibility.
'I need to hurry…'
Azam Khan ordered his soldiers to increase their pace as they marched towards the pass of Anjan Dudh. He knew that once he passed the pass of Anjan Dudh, he and his army would be safe.
But, the worst-case scenario was already set in place. That night, forces of Ahamadnagar attacked the pass of Anjan Dudh and took control over it.
This was the first time Azam Khan felt helpless in front of an enemy as he watched the flag of Ahmadnagar sultanate on top of the pass of Anjan Dudh.
---
Back inside the fort of Dharur, Aarv ordered his soldiers,
"Prepare for attack… we will join forces from paranda and annihilate the Mughal forces…"
"Yeah…!"
Loud cheers broke as the gate of Dharur fort opened and a 10,000 strong army marched out of the fort towards the forces of Paranda.
After both armies got in front of each other, they joined to form a coalition army. Inside the army formation, Aarv met the killedaar of Paranda. Both men looked at each other and nodded. The entire 30,000 strong army then marched towards the pass of Anjan Dudh.
---
As the army approached the Mughal forces, they could see their disheartened looks. Aarv already knew that the main officials of the Mughal army had already left via mountain road while leaving behind their army.
He sighed and shouted in a loud voice,
"Your commander left you all here to die…? What a surprise, Soldiers who gave their lives to achieve their commander's wishes were abandoned here to die… hahaha"
All the coalition troops started laughing at the Mughal army. But Aarv's face suddenly became serious as he said,
"Those that surrender will keep their lives."
The Mughal soldiers looked toward the coming army with fear. As the coalition army got closer and closer, one of the soldiers dropped the weapon in his hand and got on his knees. After the first soldier, more and more soldiers dropped their weapons. Those that resisted were killed by the joint army forces.
In a single afternoon, The Mughal campaign was destroyed by the forces on the Deccan plateau.
As Aarv was watching the army, he heard the sound of the system.
[ Ding…]
[ Historical Quest: Fort of Dharur completed.]
[ Evaluating a player's performance…]
[ Evaluation complete… Quest Completion Rank SSS]
[ Calculating Rewards…]
Aarv looked at the notifications with shock.
"I got SSS rank..?"
Although there were only 6 ranks mentioned in the system database (F, D, C, B, A, S), there was one additional rank. It was only given when a player exceeded the quest requirement.
Aarv became very happy after the system's announcement. He knew that there were special rewards for getting a SSS rank.
Finally, the system's voice sounded in Aarv's ears.
[ Calculation complete…]
[ Rewards: legendary village creation token, 10,000 gold coins, nobility title: Boron ]
Aarv was shocked when he saw the rewards. a legendary item! Aarv held the village creation token with his trembling hand. This token was the most important thing for lord class players. With the help of a village creation token, any lord class player was able to create their territory inside the game.
There were 5 classes of village creation tokens in the peace online game. Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and legendary. Among them, legendary tokens were most rare because there was only one legendary token allotted to a country. Once the legendary token was given out, no more legendary tokens would appear inside the respective country.
Aarv looked at the legendary token in his hand with sparkling eyes. The main advantage legendary tokens had over the other tokens was that they allowed special buildings. These special buildings were buildings in the city or the town that were used for special purposes only.
The second reward that caught Aarv's eyes was the nobility title. Peace online had nobility titles that granted them special privileges inside the NPC cities. These titles were Boron, Viscount, Count, Earl, Duch, Prince, King and Emperor. A player with a King title was given the ability to control 1 NPC city while a person with an Emperor title was given the ability to control all the NPC cities inside a kingdom. Getting the boron title meant that Aarv got a massive head start in the game. Aarv felt like shouting aloud and dancing with joy.
Aarv felt happy after the rewards he got from his first historical quest. He soon logged out of the game.
[ Logging off…]
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