Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Chapter 177: Battle of Nadiad [1]

The soldiers were on high alert on the top of the walls of Fort Nadiad. They were waiting for the Qutb army to make their way to the region.

The Qutb army has to move through this region to reach the capital. Vasant Pawar stood atop the fortified walls and looked into the distance. He knew about the commander of the Qutb Sultanate and his personality.

The man was a coward but he had a duty to take Nadiad from the Marathas to show the Mughals that they had participated in the war.

This information came in handy for Vasant, as he used it to setup his defense properly at the Fort Nadiad.

Vasant was experienced in handling situations. The basic strategy the offensive army would use would be to starve the army out. This would seem like a great strategy on paper but it would be a waste of time if the defenders had enough supplies to last them months in the fort.

The offensive army would have to wait outside the fort. This meant they couldn't move to reinforce their allies or other locations.

Vasant already procured a few month's worth of grains and supplies in the fort.

The ground trembled and the dust rose in the distances over the horizon. He saw horses and soldiers emerging from the distance. They were in neat formations and had siege weapons to take down the fortifications.

He saw the army of Qutbs marching towards the fort in the distance and smiled.

"Soldiers, Prepare for battle." He yelled.

Vasant was unfazed seeing the siege weapons and crude old cannons that the Qutb sultanate had in their arsenal. He already had a plan in place to take care of the cannons.

The soldiers moved at his command. They prepared quickly for the oncoming onslaught by the Qutb army. Archers were on the wall, ready to take out any charging soldiers.

The battering ram and siege wall were brought by the Qutb. The crude cannons were moved forward to ensure that they got in range to shoot.

Omar yelled out a war cry,

"Charge, my soldiers."

At the order of Omar. The Qutb army put up a shield wall and began to charge to the gate of the fort.

The battering ram was heavily guarded by the shield wall as the arrows from the fort were fired like a rain of steel.

The gate was the crucial part of the fort. The fort would be a death sentence if the enemy managed to break the gate.

Vasant already anticipated the move and stationed soldiers at the gate of the fort.

If the fort gate breaks, they would have to get through the first line of defense to get inside the fort.

The soldiers near the entrances were equipped with lances to stab the enemy from a distance.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Iron shells from the cannons whistled through the area and landed on the walls of the fort. The crude cannons were right in range. The walls shuddered at the impact. Although crude cannons, they still have some impact on the walls.

The walls did suffer damage. The cannon quickly moved to load the next shot. The gunpowder smell permeated through the air and the smoke billowed from the iron shells.

Under the consecutive fire of the crude cannons. The fortification began to give way and crumble. The layer of walls was shaven off. Read latest chapters at m_v-l'e|-NovelBin.net

The soldiers moved their siege walls to the walls under the cover fire of the cannons.

The archers couldn't target the siege walls due to the continuous cannon bombardment on the walls. Some of the enemy soldiers also brought ladders to climb on the walls.

Vasant looked at the siege walls coming towards the fort walls.

He quickly ordered his junior commander.

"Throw oil into the siege wall and use fire arrows to burn it down."

"Soldiers on the wall throw boulders on the soldiers climbing the ladders." Yelled Vasant.

He already had plans to counter all of Omar's strategies. Their defense was holding up. The wall crumbled under the continuous bombardment but to the dismay of Omar.

Vasant did another fortification to make the wall thicker.

The cannons had to pierce through the second layer of protection as well to get into the fort.

The crude cannons didn't last long as they began to overheat.

Meanwhile, the soldiers threw pots of oil at the siege wall, coming close to the fort. The oil began to spread on the siege wall. The wood surface was quickly doused with oil

"Archers fire!!" screamed the unit leader of Archers.

The oil-doused flame arrows hit the siege wall. The siege wall began to burn, with the flame furiously spreading through the siege wall.

The soldiers inside the siege wall screamed in agony as the fire spread so quickly. The smell of roasted human flesh permeated the air as the soldiers inside the siege wall burnt to death.

Meanwhile, the soldiers on the walls threw the boulders on the soldiers trying to scale up the walls using a ladder.

Omar was shivering as he saw the Maratha commander dismantling his strategy with ease. Every measure he took was being countered. He placed his last hope on Zaid, who was leading a unit to infiltrate the fort and burn their supplies.

Vasant looked at the scene with a smirk on his face. He was obviously winning against the incompetent soldiers of the Qutbs. Most of the soldiers were not physically fit to fight. They were easy targets for the Maratha soldiers.

Although it did seem like he was winning.

He was still confused why a coward like Omar wanted to take such a disadvantageous fight.

'Something isn't right!. A man's personality doesn't change overnight.' He thought.

Vasant looked carefully at the enemies, analyzing. His instincts told him something was missing.

He scanned the battlefield.

Gears turned in his mind.

"This is a distraction." He muttered. "A flashy distraction!!"

'Their target must be the supplies that explain that coward's aggression.'

"Vice commander!! Take charge!" he yelled.

The vice commander nodded and assumed charge quickly.

"Special unit, follow me. We have some rats to hunt."