Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Baldev shook his head, trying to calm his nerves down and focus on the situation at hand. He didn\'t expect the Mughals to have cannons in their arsenal. This was very bad for the Marathas, who were already outnumbered by the Mughal army.

If they added cannons to the mix, it was going to make a huge dent in their numbers.

The momentum shifted towards the Mughals.

"Fall back!! Get out of the range of the cannons!" He ordered.

The cannons were heavy and hard to move. They could buy some time by falling back.

Meanwhile, Askar laughed at the antics of the Marathas.

"HAHAHA! These pests didn\'t expect the cannons!! Move the cannons forward." He ordered seated on his horse.

The cannon crew began to push the crude cannons forward. They were heavy and hard to move. The cannon crew were also hard to train, even with help

Mughals had bought the cannons from the Portuguese thanks to the deal for the rights of the Surat port. They were crude old cannons that the Portuguese no longer used. They gladly sold it to the Mughals in exchange for the lucrative rights to the port.

Farrukh entrusted the cannons to Askar in order to take the heavily fortified city of the Karnavati.

Due to successive Mughal-Maratha wars. The city of Karnavati was built with immense fortifications. They had layers of protections and intricate pathways for the soldiers to move inside the fort itself.

It was hard to bring the fort down with conventional siege weaponry. So the Mughals put their bet on the crude cannons to do their job in the city of Karnavati.

Askar decided to use the cannons to end the fight with Baldev. Although the cannon crew was pretty inexperienced, they did their job.

He smirked with amusement as he knew they had no way to counter the cannons.

Baldev was fighting like a madman. He had killed over 100 soldiers and was covered in blood.

Despite the exhaustion catching up to him from leading and fighting at the same time. Although he was relatively uninjured even after all the fighting.

He was only human. His mind and body were working overtime trying to figure out a solution for the cannons.

\'I can\'t let the cannons reach Karnavati.\'

He had to take an important decision on the battlefield. It was clear that the Mughals were gaining momentum and the loss was imminent for the Marathas.

\'Shivaji can\'t handle Askar alone. I have to do something.\' He muttered inwardly.

A man came rushing towards him and said,.

"They are ready. We can use them right now, Commander."

Little did the Mughals know, just like they had a trump card. The Marathas also had a significant damage dealer.

The fuse grenades.

They were being prepared in the backline since the Marathas didn\'t know how to preserve the wick from being damp during long transits. They had to make it after spotting the Mughal army.

It was a simple process and didn\'t take much time, as the soldiers put it together in a relatively small amount of time.

The main issue here was the range of the catapults used to chuck them across the battlefield. Their range wasn\'t that great to reach the backline cannons of the Mughals.

They had to carve a way for the catapults to move forward to ensure that they hit the cannons.

Baldev looked at the grim scene and decided that it was his time to pave the way for the future.

He looked at his vice commander.

"I will make the way for the catapults. We will take their cannons down."

"But, Commander, that\'s very risky. You may lose your life." Discover more content at m,v l\'e-NovelBin.net

"I have already given my life for the motherland. I have to do this for the sake of the kingdom."

The vice commander stayed silent and nodded with a pitiful look as he was going to witness Baldev march to the death to pave the way for the Marathas.

Baldev turned to the captain of a backline army.

"If I die during this. Take the backline soldiers and go straight to defend the capital." He ordered.

"We can\'t let these scum touch the capital city till we are alive."

"Yes, Commander. " Said both of them in unison.

Baldev took a deep breath, reaffirming and calming himself down.

For the plan to work, he has to find an opening within the Mughal defensive line and rush in with his squad.

"Ready the squad for the charge."

He began to focus all his mind on reading the battlefield and finding the very tiny gap he could exploit. But to his dismay, he couldn\'t see any gap in the excellent formation tactics of Askar Khan.

If he couldn\'t find a gap, he had to make an opening by himself.

That is exactly what Baldev planned to do.

\'That bastard is looking down on me! I will make you regret, Askar Khan.\' He vowed.

Askar had a smug smile. The victory was just within his grasp.

He didn\'t even have to lift his finger to defeat the royal commander of the Marathas.

Meanwhile, on the frontlines, a Maratha soldier that was on the verge of dying threw his pike with all his might at a captain of the Mughal army.

It flew directly towards the captain and pierced right through the gap of his armor into his neck. He fell down, twitching in agony, and died that very instant.

Baldev saw this unfold and gears quickly shifted in his mind.

This was a miraculous opportunity created by the determination and bravery of that soldier.

"Squad!! Let\'s charge at the left flank." He roared as he raised his soldier in the direction.

His horse began to gallop as the world began to blur.

Askar noticed Baldev charging.

"What the hell is that bastard trying to do now?"