Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

The fierce battle on the Marwa Plateau continued. Under the command of Alatanchan, the Guards launched several attacks, all of which were repelled by the Mughal army under Shaysta Khan. However, time was not on Shaysta Khan's side. The continuous stream of news terrified the white-haired old general, who had no choice but to urgently request an audience with the young Emperor Bakhsh. "The situation is urgent! Your Majesty, please withdraw to Kandashsubba immediately!"

"Regent, what happened? Our army clearly held the position, why are we retreating?" The ten-year-old emperor was completely unaware of the danger of the situation.

“A garrison from the west has captured Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat, and your third brother, Azam Shah, has fled to Surat; a garrison from the east has broken through the Odisha defenses, and Ibrahim Khan is retreating towards Deccan. This means that garrisons have appeared on both our east and west flanks. If we remain in Marwa, we will only be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy,” Shaishta Khan said with deep sorrow.

The young Emperor Bakhsh was unfamiliar with military affairs, but he chose to unconditionally trust his great-uncle and immediately agreed to the retreat plan upon hearing the news. However, a complete retreat under the watchful eyes of the Mughal army was no easy task. The battle-hardened Shaysta Khan first deliberately launched several feint attacks from the mountains, leading Alatanchan to believe that the Mughal army on the mountain wanted to fight him in a final battle. Then, he quietly crossed the Narmada River and retreated to Nagpur, a key military town in the central part of the empire.

"Damn it! We've fallen for the Mughals' trap!" Alatan Cang was extremely frustrated when he heard that the enemy had actually retreated right under his nose.

"I am willing to lead my elite cavalry to pursue the enemy!" Prince Sukhbaatar of Chen volunteered. His troops had not been in India for long, and their casualties in terms of personnel and horses were relatively small. They maintained a force of one man and two horses, making them faster than other cavalry units.

Alatan Cang understood that the young prince wanted to make a contribution. At present, the enemy was already frightened, and the danger of pursuing them was not great. He couldn't refuse to do a favor, so he said with a smile, "In that case, I will trouble Your Highness."

Upon receiving the order, Sukhbal immediately led his troops across the Narmada River in pursuit. The Mongol warriors, riding swiftly and changing horses in shifts, moved with incredible speed, finally catching up with the Mughal rear guard a hundred li south of Nagpur. The Mughal army, desperate to escape, could not mount any effective resistance. They ran relentlessly, hoping to escape the guards' hooves. But how could men outrun warhorses? The guards, with only about two hundred casualties, killed over six thousand Mughal soldiers and captured over seven thousand.

Upon hearing that his rear army had been completely annihilated by the Guards, Shaysta Khan dared not remain in Kandashsubba. He abandoned the cities of Burhanpur and Jalgan, crossed the Godavari River, and headed to Deccan to join Ibrahim Khan's defeated army. Just after crossing the river, he received more bad news: Shaysta Khan's trusted general, Mir, had not followed orders to retreat but had instead surrendered to the Guards with his three thousand troops.

"I have treated him well, how dare he do this!" Shaysta Khan was furious upon hearing the report, but reason told him that this was not the time to be angry. Helpless, he could only escort the young emperor to the Deccan. When they reached the important military town of Ahmednagar, their troops numbered less than 20,000. Fortunately, Ibrahim Khan soon led more than 20,000 of his remaining troops to the same place. After the two armies joined forces, they still had 40,000 men.

"Your Majesty, Regent," Ibrahim Khan said, "our army is no match for the Imperial Guard at present, and a direct confrontation offers no chance of victory. Fortunately, the Deccan region is full of mountains. We should retreat to the mountains, occupy strategic locations, and wage guerrilla warfare. The Marathas used this method to make it difficult for the late Emperor's army to wipe them out." The resourceful Ibrahim Khan proposed a feasible tactic. Shaishta Khan readily agreed, knowing that Ibrahim Khan was right. Years ago, when he led a large army to attack Shivaji, the Maratha leader who occupied the Deccan, Shivaji had used this guerrilla tactic to harass his army, causing the war to drag on and draining the empire's resources, thus giving the Imperial Guard an opportunity to take advantage.

At the same time as the Mughal armies joined forces, two garrison armies led by General Alatan Cang and his deputy, Batu Mengke, also successfully joined forces on the north bank of the Godawali River. After the joining, the total strength of the garrison army exceeded 80,000, in addition to a vassal army composed of more than 10,000 surrendered Mughal soldiers and prisoners. However, the encirclement and suppression of the remaining Mughal troops did not go smoothly. They hid in the mountains, avoiding the main garrison army when they encountered them, and frequently harassed small groups of isolated garrison troops and supply convoys. Their elusive nature caused Alatan Cang a great deal of trouble.

"I thought the Mughals were already at their wits' end and would soon return victorious, but I never expected them to be so difficult to deal with!" On this day, the commander gazed at the distant mountains and said this with emotion.

The Yunnan governor, Fang Yuxuan, suddenly chuckled, “General, you only need to take the remaining coastal cities of the Mughals, such as Basei and Pune. Why do you need to personally handle such a time-consuming and laborious task as encircling and suppressing them in the mountains?”

Alatan Cang seemed to understand something, "What does Governor Fang mean by this?"

Fang Yuxuan slowly began, “The mountainous region is indeed treacherous, but resources are scarce. We only need to cut off their sea supply lines, and tens of thousands of enemies, without food or water in the mountains, will naturally disperse. The Deccan region was originally the Maratha's stronghold, but it was seized by the Mughals. The Marathas want the lives of Emperor Bakhsh and Shahishta Khan even more than we do. You only need to entrust the task of encircling and annihilating the Mughals to the Marathas, who are familiar with the terrain, and send small units to assist them. Furthermore, we should use force to subdue the two small kingdoms of Bijapur and Golkunda in southern India, leaving the Mughals completely isolated. Before long, someone will bring the heads of Bakhsh and Shahishta Khan.”

After pondering for a moment, Alatan Cang burst into laughter, “Governor Fang is right! Such a time-consuming and laborious matter is indeed unnecessary for me to handle. Hahaha~” He then acted according to the plan, sending First-Class Jianchang Earl Batu Mengke to capture coastal cities such as Basain and Pune, cutting off the Mughal army’s sea supply lines. He then wrote a letter to King Shivaji of the Marathas, ordering him to lead his army to besiege the Mughal army that had fled into the mountains, promising to cede Ahmed Nagar Castle to the Marathas Kingdom after the mission was accomplished. He also sent envoys to intimidate the two sultans of Bijapur and Golkunda, ordering them to submit to David and sever all ties with the Mughals. To ensure everything went smoothly, he ordered the Sichuan Admiral Jiancun Jiangqu and the surrendered general Mir to lead 5,000 guards and 10,000 surrendered troops into the mountains to supervise the Marathas’ siege.

Good news kept coming. First, Zheng Guoyin, the governor of Guangxi, reported that the Wei army had captured Surat, killed the Mughal general Rajajaswant, and that Emperor Azam Shah, in a panic, boarded an English merchant ship with a few followers and fled by sea, only to be bound and sold to the Wei army for a good price by the profit-driven English merchants. Then, under the great military threat, Sultan Sikandar Adil Shah of Bijapur and Sultan Abu Hassan Qutb Shah of Golkunda both submitted to David as vassals and promised to sever all ties with the Mughal Empire. Although both countries shared Islam with the Mughal Empire, this was nothing in the face of national subjugation. Finally, due to food and water shortages in the mountains, the tens of thousands of troops could not receive adequate supplies, and more and more Mughals surrendered. Kenmura Jiangqu accepted the advice of the surrendered general Mir and treated the surrendered Mughals well, which led to a surge in desertions, and in just a few months, more than 15,000 soldiers surrendered. Guided by the surrendered soldiers, the Marat army found Ibrahim Khan's camp and launched an attack. The renowned general died in despair, falling off a mountain. On February 18, 1678, the Mughal general Akim launched a rebellion, killing the regent Shahishta Khan and capturing Emperor Bakhsh alive, handing him over to the guards.

Thus, the three Mughal emperors of the post-Aurangzeb era faded away as quickly as fleeting flowers. (End of Chapter)