The cheers were deafening as the newly-crowned king of Bengal, Mahmud II, addressed his followers. He was not addressing them from the Despotic Palace in the Bengali capital of Howrah, but rather from within the walls of the battered fortress of Dhaka, from which the Peguans had administered the province of Vanga. Perhaps this was why the cheers were so loud.
"My people!" he shouted. "It was not more than five years ago that my father Mahmud I (Nasir ad-Din) was the King of Bengal. His rule was a hard one, with foreign invaders constantly invading our lands without respite and taking our territories piecemeal. First the Peguans to the east, then the Tibetans to the north, and then the deathblow that was struck by the Biharis to the west that ended the Kingdom. The Indians would like to pretend that this was not so, and that the Deva dynasty that now sits in Howrah is his legitimate successor, but we all know that they are but puppets to their Hindu masters!"
The crowd's cheering intensified with shouts of agreement.
"But now I can say that the Desposultanakingdom of Bengal has been restored to the house of Ilyas Shah! And though we may now only rule what was once a fraction of the Desposultanakingdom of Bengal, we shall rebuild, and one day regain our provinces to the east and north, and vanquish those pretenders in the west! And then Bengal will stand strong for all of time!"
By now the cheering had reached, literally, deafening levels. Ironically this allowed the cheering to get even louder, as those that would normally quiet down after realizing that they had grown too loud were now hard of hearing.
"But I have not forgotten our struggles! And furthermore- Yes, what is it!?"
His question was directed at an aide that had been tapping his shoulder for quite some time now.
"M-my liege... Th-the Tibetans, sir. They've declared war."
The cheering stopped, and the entire fortress grew silent as King Mahmud II digested this news. But he quickly regained his composure.
"Very well! I should have expected those honorless Tibetans to do such a dastardly act as this! But if they wish to fight, let them! I remember the four thousand proud men that rose up with me to defeat those Laotian Peguan lackeys that guarded their province for them! I will only need a dozen of them to defeat any of the Tibetans' army that they send at me! How many of them are left? Come forward!"
"Uh, my liege, there are none of them left."
"What!?"
"Don't you remember? After they reclaimed this province, they headed north to Koch."
"There they attempted to besiege a mountainside until they all died of starvation during the winter."
"By the way, the Tibetans are here."
King Mahmud II balked. "So there is nothing we can do?"
"Well, we can sit here and hold out for about five months until we eventually experience enough shortages of water and food so that we finally succumb."
Mahmud II sighed. "Very well." Bitterly, he remarked, "I hope the Tibetan ruler dies of dysentery during the siege."
"My people!" he shouted. "It was not more than five years ago that my father Mahmud I (Nasir ad-Din) was the King of Bengal. His rule was a hard one, with foreign invaders constantly invading our lands without respite and taking our territories piecemeal. First the Peguans to the east, then the Tibetans to the north, and then the deathblow that was struck by the Biharis to the west that ended the Kingdom. The Indians would like to pretend that this was not so, and that the Deva dynasty that now sits in Howrah is his legitimate successor, but we all know that they are but puppets to their Hindu masters!"
The crowd's cheering intensified with shouts of agreement.
"But now I can say that the Desposultanakingdom of Bengal has been restored to the house of Ilyas Shah! And though we may now only rule what was once a fraction of the Desposultanakingdom of Bengal, we shall rebuild, and one day regain our provinces to the east and north, and vanquish those pretenders in the west! And then Bengal will stand strong for all of time!"
By now the cheering had reached, literally, deafening levels. Ironically this allowed the cheering to get even louder, as those that would normally quiet down after realizing that they had grown too loud were now hard of hearing.
"But I have not forgotten our struggles! And furthermore- Yes, what is it!?"
His question was directed at an aide that had been tapping his shoulder for quite some time now.
"M-my liege... Th-the Tibetans, sir. They've declared war."
The cheering stopped, and the entire fortress grew silent as King Mahmud II digested this news. But he quickly regained his composure.
"Very well! I should have expected those honorless Tibetans to do such a dastardly act as this! But if they wish to fight, let them! I remember the four thousand proud men that rose up with me to defeat those Laotian Peguan lackeys that guarded their province for them! I will only need a dozen of them to defeat any of the Tibetans' army that they send at me! How many of them are left? Come forward!"
"Uh, my liege, there are none of them left."
"What!?"
"Don't you remember? After they reclaimed this province, they headed north to Koch."
"There they attempted to besiege a mountainside until they all died of starvation during the winter."
"By the way, the Tibetans are here."
King Mahmud II balked. "So there is nothing we can do?"
"Well, we can sit here and hold out for about five months until we eventually experience enough shortages of water and food so that we finally succumb."
Mahmud II sighed. "Very well." Bitterly, he remarked, "I hope the Tibetan ruler dies of dysentery during the siege."
