Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Chapter 78: Reactions of Neighbours

Qutb Sultanate, Royal Palace.

Zafar Shah, the middle-aged sultan of the Qutbs, was seated on the ornate throne; beside him was his first son and the Crown Prince of the Qutbs, Aziz Shah. Despite popular belief that the Sultan of the Qutbs made the sultanate stronger than the previous generation,.

The man behind the radical change in the Qutbs was the crown prince, Aziz Shah. The crown prince of the Qutbs was widely established as the perfect heir for the Qutbs. Aziz Shah was not just willing to adapt; he was an open-minded individual, which made him act in favor of the larger populace of his kingdom.

In the end, the crown prince was held back by his own kingdom and religion. The religious scholars didn't allow progressive change, leading to the stagnation of the sultanate. In the end, he was bound to his religion.

Aziz wanted to change many things in the sultanate, but even if he assumed the throne, most changes would be thrown out of the window by the rejection of Islamic scholars. If anything is done by force, the resulting havoc would be too hard for him to handle with limited influence.

The royal court was brimming with activity as news of the civil war in the Vijayanagara Empire reached the Qutb Sultanate.

The informant came forward with the news and spoke loudly, his voice echoing through the court for everyone to hear.

"Sultan, A civil war has broken out between the first prince Chandra and the second prince Bhairava in the Vijayanagara Empire."

The sultan stroked his long, graying beard thoughtfully.

"What is Krishnadeva Raya doing?"

"It seems something has happened. All of the spies who tried to dig up information died."

"All?" Aziz asked curiously.

"Yes, Your Highness. Something big must have happened."

Aziz's gaze shifted to his father, the sultan.

"Father, It's very likely that the Emperor is either unable to quell the civil war due to an injury or, in the worst case, he is dead."

"Why do you think so? Aziz?"

"Father, Krishnadeva Raya personally wouldn't let these types of things happen under his watch considering his personality."

"Maybe it's the best time for us to attack the Empire."

A minister spoke up hastily.

"Sultan, The Mughals have already called us to attack the Marathas. We cannot spare soldiers for the Empire's attack, and they have heightened the army's action on the borders."

"How did they do that? Most of the nobles are fighting, right?"

"The troops activity had heightened even before the war, as if anticipating incursions."

The sultan slammed his fist onto the armrest of his throne.

"Damn it! We can't even take the chances to get back at that kafir bastard."

Aziz looked at the situation and sighed deeply.

'Does he want to destroy the sultanate's existence? Supporting the Mughals is already a bad choice, and the Portuguese are destroying and exploiting our markets and debt-trapping most merchants. Now he wants to conduct incursions on Vijayanagara. This is just suicide,' he thought.

Yadava Kingdom.

A coup was underway led by Yogendra Ahir, and at the helm of this was the Princess of Yadavas, Gauri Seuna. The news of Prince Aniruddh being Gauri in disguise took the kingdom by storm. Many nobles tried to take back their support. But as they watched Gauri's exceptionally battlefield knowledge and martial prowess, they couldn't take back the support.

A supporting nobleman of Ravi Seuna, the uncle of Gauri, met the army of Gauri Seuna on the battlefield. The man was known as one of the most exceptional commanders in the kingdom; his army was mercilessly dismantled by Gauri and her army.

The brutality inflicted by Gauri on the nobleman made all the nobles shiver in her presence. They learned that day that betraying the princess would cost them their lives and brutal hours of torture.

Gauri sat on the host's chair, surrounded by some nobles from the kingdom. They looked at her eagerly for the next plan.

The old man, Yogendra Ahir, leaned forward.

"Your Highness, what is our next action?"

"We will take over the palace soon. Have any of you any information about any others that Ravi might put in our path?"

A noble raised his hand. He was a young man and the current head of the noble house of Holkar, Akhil Holkar.

"I think he will take control of the royal army."

Gauri raised her eyebrow in surprise.

"How?"

"Umm…" He stammers for a moment. "If in any case the King was decapitated,. The control would fall in the hands of the Prime Minister and Ravi Seuna."

An informant just came in at that moment with an urgent message, kneeling before Gauri.

"Your Highness, The king was found dead in his chambers, and the royal army commander's has taken charge by the order of Ravi Seuna to eliminate the imposter princess."

Gauri was branded as the imposter princess by Ravi, and the Royal Commander is personally leading the charge against her.

An amused smirk settled on Gauri's face.

"Prepare the army. I will take him head-on."

Meanwhile, at the Kasim Sultanate, the news of the civil war in the Empire had spread. The sultan was being briefed about the potential chance for them to take some land from under the nose of the Empire in this period of turmoil.

Sultan Umar al-Kasim, the current Sultan, looked over at the informant.

"So they have increased troop presence on the border?"

"Yes, due to which blind incursion on their land isn't really possible."

"Hoo, they did anticipate something."

Umar looked at the seated prime minister in the court.

"Prime Minister, what do you think we should do?"

"Your Majesty. We should focus on the Yadavas; fighting the empire at this point will not only attract flies like Gajapathis and Varna Kingdom to our land; it will affect our current low wealth even from the jizya imposed on Kafirs."

"Did Ravi Seuna ask for support?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. It seems that there is a coup going on. Should we proceed with the support?"

"Yes, for now, send in a unit of our men to Yadavas; if they manage to quell the coup, we can just strike them down and take over the kingdom. Since they have probably exhausted their troops and resources for it."