Part 17 - The Fall of the City of Victory II
Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great
1550
In March another great feud between two noble families came to an end, and once again the Empire was forced into debt by Sadashiva's excessive spending.
1551
After much diplomatic effort, Gujarat and the rich trading city of Rajkot were now to be directly administered by the Empire. Devesh knew this was a great thing, but could not help wondering how Sadashiva would mess it up. The man was the most incompetent, corrupt emperor Devesh had come across, and there had been quite a few poor ones over the years. He knew that the Asuras would be delighting in the Empire's weakness, and would be plotting, especially as the time when the Battle of Kalikota was supposed to have happened was fast approaching.
1553
"My Lord Chandra, a letter from the Mughal ambassador has arrived. Do you wish for me to read it to you?"
Devesh rose and shook his head, taking the letter. He read it carefully, and as he did a smile flicked across his face. He went straight to the Emperor.
"This is...this is an outrage!" screamed Sadashiva, to which Devesh nodded. "I can't believe they would say this! The nerve, saying that an elephant would make a better Emperor than me!" It's true, thought Devesh, but instead agreed earnestly.
"Clearly they think they can get away with insulting your majesty, it seems. We should teach them a lesson."
"Yes. Ready the army immediately. You can lead the main force, and have someone else take command of the other army."
"Are you not coming, my Emperor?"
"Ha! Don't be silly."
Devesh forced a smile, and under a month later the Mughals received the news that Vijayanagar had declared war. They were already in a fairly inconclusive war with Persia, and the Hindus definitely fancied their chances against a weakened Mughal Empire, who had obviously not expected any kind of response to the brazen insult.
The invasion commences
In June the Persian Emperor came a took command of the siege of Indus much to Devesh's irritation, the province falling in December.
1554
In March Quetta fell to the Hindus, the army moving north to Kabul. The Persians were now making excellent progress, destroying the Mughals' main force in a pitched battle in August, and so in October the Mughals agreed to cede the province of Quetta to Vijayanagar. It was not a particularly useful province to gain, but it weakened the Mughals and that was the main thing. Over the next year or so Persia proceeded to occupy almost the entire Empire, leaving the Mughal Empire as little more than a buffer state between the Persians and the Hindus after agreeing to terms.
Akbar's "Empire"
1555
The loan was repayed, and in October a horrible plague broke out in the north of the country. This begun a series of events that would greatly damage the Empire. Devesh, greatly worried about the coming years, sought the guidance of Krishna, who had been fighting his own battles with his fellow Devas in the ether against the now ferocious Asuras.
"My Lord Krishna, how can I defeat the Asuras and keep this great Empire together?"
"You must stay strong, and not give up hope. Remember, they must rely on earthly agents to do their bidding down here, and so you must stay alert to the activities of your enemies. Right now, there are individuals in China and the Mughal Empire plotting your destructions, but the threat is not just external. There will be much turmoil within the Empire as well, rebellious individuals stirring up the peasants to revolt and to overthrow what is an admittedly horrifically incompetent Emperor, who they think actually rules the country. All I can tell you is that you should station troops in your most populous cities, so that you can crush the troublemakers immediately."
1559
It all started when a rabblerouser called Praudha Gatami begun to speak of a nation that had once existed in the past, a great, peaceful Kingdom of Mysore that had been crushed ruthlessly by the Vijayanagara Empire, and how ever since then the people of Mysore had been poorly treated, little more than slaves. He promised freedom and independence, talking at great length of the incompetence of the Emperor Sadashiva and of how Mysore was suffering as a consequence of being ruled by him. He very quickly gained a very large following as word of his charisma and eloquent rhetoric spread, and not long after the loca militia was routed, and Praudha Gatami proclaimed himself the de facto Emperor of Mysore. However, the city of Mysore itself held out, and so he remained uncrowned.
The revolt in Mysore also inspired similar revolts in Maharastra, but this was crushed immediately. His rebel army continued to besiege Mysore for many months, repelling repeated attacks until finally succumbing in November. Praudha Gatami escaped, and no one was able to find out what became of him. The revolt was crushed, but Devesh knew that worse was to come.
1561
In August a great fire broke out in the City of Victory, burning the fine arts academy to the ground. Devesh suspected arson, but was unable to prove it.
1563
"My lord Emperor, we have recieved some...strange news from distant Europe. Our hreald says that the French Catholics have, um, converted to Catholicism."
"Europe? Where's Europe? What's a Catholic? Why should I care about this at all??"
"Well, I thought it may be a coded message of some kind..."
"Oh go away, would you?"
Devesh sighed. "Yes, Emperor..."
1564
1565
It was a year Devesh had been preparing for for many years, and he knew that the Asuras would be throwing everything they had into destabilising and destroying the Empire. In an alternative reality, many trillions of years ago, he had been standing on a battlefield near Kalikota, fighting for his life, watching as the Emperor was killed by the Muslim armies. But this Vijayanagar was very different; it was a nation that spanned the entire subcontinent, not a struggling little Empire south of the Deccan. However, on January 26th news arrived from Malwa, Mysore, Hyderabad and Gujarat, news that chilled Devesh to his core, a series of seemingly co-ordinated peasants revolts. Krishna told him that a great war had erupted in the heavens between the Asuras and the Devas, the worst he had ever seen. The enemy was determined that the City of Victory would fall once again, so that the old history could be restored. Devesh could not let that happen. He swore, and vowed to protect the whole nation from attack. The time had come to defeat the Asuras once and for all.
