Chapter Eight: For the Horde!
16 January 1491
Proudly Nitin accepted his commendation from Nasir. He had been hard at work recently, sent into Delhi after the rebellion he had been tasked with placating the citizenry there and he had excelled in his work.
He had establised numerous schools throughout the province and subjected the children of Delhi to the torture of suffering through hours of lessons every day. Their frightened parents had quickly forced any thought of any further rebellion from their minds, they had no wish to suffer a fate as horrible as that which their children were now forced to endure.
---------------------
17 August 1491
Rushing into the palace Hemant headed towards Guest Room A; Maroon With White Spots Version, carefully making sure he was not being followed and hoping to avoid Miran on his way there. Entering the room quickly, he hurried over to Nasir.
"Were you followed?" Nasir instantly demanded of him, worry etched upon his face.
"No, sire, no, I am quite sure no one noticed me."
"Good." Nasir relaxed slightly, "And?"
"Excellent news, sire! As you thought their appears to be some kind of familial tie between yourself and Temur!"
"Good, good but hardly a surprise. Just look at the vast realm he rules over, we Faruqi always do well, distant relatives or not."
"Yes, sire, a vast realm currently in the grip of rebellion due to the inept Burji family. I can now see why you identify strong comparisons between the Golden Horde and ourselves what with the rebellions and the...uh, similarly skilled rulers."
Nasir glowered at Hemant.
"By similarly skilled I mean both brilliant of course, sire!"
"Quite." Replied the still suspicious Nasir. "Well, he is family, however distant a relation. What is our family tie anyway?"
"You are related due to Temur's wise decision to marry into the Timurid and Khorasan royal families, both Faruqi families as you'll remember, sire."
"Ah, very clever indeed. He did not have any Faruqi blood himself but soon sought some out."
"Indeed, sire. Strangely enough it was shortly after marrying in to the Timurid and Khorasan royal families that his realm was engulfed in rebellion having previously experienced decades of peace. Much as happened when a Faruqi took the Timurid throne and that nation went from peace to anarchy within weeks."
"Very strange as you say, especially as we Faruqi usually prove excellent rulers. More importantly though, does he need our...'aid'?"
"Oh yes, sire. It would be quite remiss of us to fail to give 'aid' to a fellow family member, however distant, when he so clearly needs it."
"Wonderful! Well, arrange matters. I've been stuck in the palace for too long. I need some exercise. Of course I wish I could stay with the family but my country nee-"
Nasir was suddenly cut off by the sound of something whirring through the air, swiftly followed by several thumps and some yells of pain, this noise coming from the direction of Miran's bedroom. Miran had recently taken to experimenting with a variety of different weapons and he was proving impressively proficient in the use of each of them.
Nasir and Hemant shared a worried glance.
"Ah, I assume the young prince must be up now." Hemant said slowly, desperately glancing around the room for possible cover.
"Yes, yes he must be." Nasir replied quietly. "Which is why you must sort out this war-that is, this mission of aid, with all haste. Get to it! I need take my leave"
"Well, sire, the war-uh, the 'mission of aid' is already under way. I knew you would be loathe to leave your family but thought it prudent to get things started as quickly as possible."
"Good man, good man! Wait, is this report right? The Golden Horde have 65,000 men under arms?"
"Yes, sire. They are called the 'Horde' for a reason."
"Hah, yes, well, uhm...since they have such a large army do you really think they need our 'aid'?"
"Sire?"
"In truth I have been bonding well with Miran recently, I am not too sure I can actually leave for the frontlines. Not that I am scared to face the Golden Horde and her massive armies, I hasten to add, but, uh...yes, I would really rather stay with my family." Nasir stated the last bit through clenched teeth.
"But, sire, the men need you!" Hemant stated whilst truly reflecting the men needed Nasir like a hole in the head. He needed Nasir out of the way though, he had plotting to do whilst Nasir was away.
"Yes, well, I am sorry but my family must come first in this instance." Nasir stated with little conviction. "And that truly is final."
Both men suddenly froze as they heard people running frantically past the room. All was quiet for a few moments before a single person could be heard slowly walking down the corridor outside. Suddenly the footsteps stopped outside the doorway. There was a knocking at the door.
"Dad? Are you there? I've just found out about some weapon called nunchucks and I was wanting to show you this nifty move I've been practicing, it seemed to impress everyone else."
"And by final, I mean I will certainly travel to the frontlines with all haste, and that is final." Nasir whispered to Hemant before opening a window and slowly lowering himself out of it. Hemant quickly followed Nasir.
"Dad? Dad?!"
---------------------
6 January 1492
Nasir had to admit he had probably worried too much about the large force the Golden Horde had at her command. Reports quickly showed that the Horde, whilst having many brigades in theory, was rather short on manpower.
This nonetheless puzzled Nasir, that Temur, a member of the Faruqi family, could struggle militarily. He may not have been named Miran, with all of the martial glory said name carried, but Faruqi's usually had no trouble when commanding men.
Noting that Temur was struggling against the rebels in Kalmykia, Nasir quickly gave the order for his own army to rush forward to Temur's 'aid', desperate as he was to crush the rebellion and thus aid his fellow family member.
It was such a pity then that both Khandeshi and Horde forces got rather mixed up. The Horde somehow thinking Khandesh was attacking them instead of the rebels. A most regrettable occurrence.
Sadly an occurence which was to happen again mere months later when the Horde spurned Khandeshi help against the rebels of Sarai.
The Khandeshi army waiting patiently in Sarai for the end of the battle so as to have a chance to attack the weakened Horde. That is to say, the Khandeshi army waiting patiently in Sarai for a chance to aid the Horde in defeating the rebels.
Despite this offer of aid the Horde surprisingly turned upon the Khandeshi army once again, after having vanquished the rebel foe.
Nasir could not understand Temur's reaction to Khandesh's kind offer of aid. He had invaded, uh, moved into Golden Horde territory intent upon only crushing the rebellion so as to help a fellow family member. Perhaps crushing the Horde army too if possible, this only to aid Temur as clearly his army was too large for his nation to support. He did not expect any recompense for this noble and selfless action. Perhaps a province or five, simply to make things easier for Temur, giving him less people needed to rule. He could not understand why Temur did not understand this and trust him.
Undaunted, and keen to continue providing Temur with aid, Nasir continued to follow the main Horde army, happy to provide 'support' to it.
This despite Temur showering Nasir with curses, rather than thanks as should clearly be the case, as they met time and again on the battlefield.
Temur was ungrateful for Khandesh's aid but Nasir was not overly concerned as soon his conquest would be complete. Uh, the conquest of the Golden Horde rebels would soon be complete that is. He was intent on holding out for just a few more months until he could grab all of the land he wanted. Nothing would dissuade him from this goal, he would aid Temur whether Temur liked it or not.
Then again providing aid to one so ungateful as Temur was clearly a waste of time. Nasir quickly sent Vikas forward to thrash out peace terms, suddenly acutely aware of Temur's anger at his offer of 'aid'.
An acceptable peace deal having been secured, Nasir hurriedly retreated to the palace, for once glad to return there. It was not that he had become afraid of Temur and the Golden Horde's large armies after the defeat at Voronezh, it was rather that the rebels had been crushed. Khandesh had completed her mission and cleared the Golden Horde of rebels, hence her quick exit. That the Golden Horde's lands were still filled with rebels was but a small and highly unimportant consideration.
An excerpt from
Khandesh: The Nation Always Happy to Help
The war against the Golden Horde proved a relatively short affair, Khandesh seemingly launching this opportunistic attack due to the Golden Horde's weakened position caused by her rebel problems. Khandesh's forces were left bruised after her war against the Golden Horde but this would not stop her from fighting many other nations in the years ahead.