December 1683 AD, Daulatabad Castle, Deccan Plateau, India.
This castle located in the upper reaches of the Godavari River on the Deccan Plateau is the most defensive fortress on the Deccan Plateau. It is built on the edge of the mountain and is about 200 meters high. Each iron door of the castle is covered with iron nails to protect against the impact of war elephants. On the walls of the castle, there are also many bronze cannons that are extremely beautifully cast and look like works of art. These cannons are covered with various patterns, and lifelike animal heads are welded to the tails of the cannons. At first glance, Knowing that they are very valuable, only the rich Mughal dynasty of India can cast such exquisite artillery in large quantities, right?
However, in great contrast to these exquisite works of art and artillery, the interior of Daulatabad Castle is extremely simple, almost like a rough house decoration style... If you just look at the interior decoration of the castle, It is really hard to believe that Aurangzeb, the richest Mughal Emir in the world and with the title of Alamgir (Conqueror of the World), has lived here for two full years!
This "conqueror of the world" came here with his ambition to unify India in the second year after his mortal enemy, the Maratha leader Jatparati Shivaji, died of illness—— Daulatabad Fort is located roughly in the center of this magical land of India. And he used this castle as a stronghold to start his conquest of South India.
In the past two years, the world conqueror's battle to unify India has been going relatively smoothly. The Marathas, who had been enemies of Shivaji during his lifetime, lost their outstanding leader and faced the army personally led by Aurangzeb. They were left with only the skills of guerrilla warfare and were defeated in head-on confrontations. , it’s about to end. The other two independent countries on the Deccan Plateau, Bijapur and Gokunda, were also unable to reach Aurangzeb's army. They were defeated in several battles, leaving only the ability to defend the capital... Although their capital was very fortified, Aurangzeb possessed a secret weapon that was enough to destroy the enemy's strong fortress - military sugar from the east!
Aurangzeb, the "world conqueror" who was about to win victory and unify India, found at the end of 1683 that he had somehow become the enemy of the whole world!
In the hall of the simple and unadorned Daulatabad Castle, he was tall and thin, wearing a white cotton robe, a turban on his head, and without any valuable items on his body. He looked like an ascetic. The ordinary Aurangzeb was sitting on a white armchair, with his hands on his knees, looking solemnly at a short and sturdy man standing below, listening to his narration about the Great Mongolia. .
"Your Majesty Alamgir...according to reliable information that reached Kabul before the heavy snow closed the mountains, Kangxi Khan of the Great Mongolia married a princess from the Northern Golden Horde in the autumn of this year, and held a conference in Tashkent At the Kuritai Conference, Khans from the four major khanates, including the Golden Horde, attended the conference. At this conference, Kangxi Khan announced that he would lead an army of one million to attack India next spring!"
The man who was reporting to Aurangzeb that the Mongolian army was about to invade was named Aamir Khan... the same name as the famous Indian Bollywood movie star in later generations, and he was also the ancestor of that famous Bollywood star! This Aamir Khan can't act. He is an important minister of Aurangzeb, and his official title is the Governor-General of Afghanistan!
The person who could help Aurangzeb settle Afghanistan, a plateau rich in Indian conquerors, was certainly very capable. He made an Indian version of the Tuan Order on the Afu Khan Plateau, stipulating that tribes had the right to ask the chief for land. This move caused each tribe to fight among themselves, and there was no time to create a rebellion against the Mughal Dynasty. ...But the Afghan tribes who were trapped in fighting among themselves had no spare power to help Amir Khan resist the Mongolian army of one million!
In addition, when Amir Khan was the governor-general of Afghanistan, in order to keep the mountain roads leading to the river area open, he always paid road money to the tribes along the way, so that it became a practice. If Kangxi Khan of Great Mongolia was willing to spend this money, his army might be able to quickly pass through the Afghan mountains and enter the Indus River Basin from the Khyber Pass.
"Your Majesty Alamgir, according to reliable information from Madras (the East India Company's colony in southeastern India), the British East India Company, the Dutch East India Company, the French East India Company, the Portuguese Governor-General of Goa, Arakan The kingdom has formed an alliance with Great Mongolia to jointly invade India! Currently, a large number of warships and armed merchant ships are coming from Europe and Malacca... A large-scale maritime invasion is imminent!"
After Aamir Khan, it was his comfortable Shasta Khan, the governor of Bengal who was already in his seventies, who reported the enemy situation to Aurangzeb. . This old general was Aurangzeb's uncle and had made numerous military exploits for Aurangzeb. Since 1666, he has been guarding Bengal for Aurangzeb. In the original history, this old general helped Aurangzeb repel the East India Company that attempted to invade, and finally forced the East India Company to pay compensation of 150,000 gold rupees.
However, this time facing the joint attack of Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and the coastal country Arakan, which is adjacent to Chittagong and sandwiched between India and Myanmar, the Governor of Bengal Shasta Khan also knew that he could not stop it, so he He hurried to Daulatabad Castle to meet Aurangzeb.
Aurangzeb frowned and seemed to be deep in thought. He really couldn't figure out what he had done wrong. Almost overnight, he changed from the conqueror of the world to the public enemy of the world - almost all the powerful countries in the world became his enemies!
Aurangzeb's most trusted son, his heir and the Governor of Punjab, **** Shah, knew that the empire's power was deeply entrenched in the Deccan Plateau and was completely powerless. At the same time, chicken legs came from enemies at sea and in the northwest.
So he suggested to his father: "Father, we don't have the ability to go to war with everyone... I suggest that we make peace with some of the enemies, and then concentrate our efforts on dealing with other enemies."
Aurangzeb looked at his son and asked expressionlessly: "****, who do you think we can make peace with?"
"Father, maybe we can make peace with the Great Mongolia." **** said thoughtfully, "We are Moguls, and that Kangxi Khan is also Mogul..."
He probably thinks that Mongolians don’t fight Mongolians, right?
This reason made Aurangzeb frown.
Seeing his father frown, cold sweat broke out on ****'s forehead. He was not Aurangzeb's only son.
"Father," **** quickly changed his words, "Maybe, maybe... we can also form an alliance with the enemies of Great Mongolia."
"Enemies of the Great Mongolia?" Aurangzeb asked, "Who are you referring to?"
"Da Ming." **** said, "I heard that the Ming Dynasty has risen rapidly and become powerful in the past few years... and their Nanyang Trading Company has always wanted to squeeze into the Indian Ocean.
Because of the obstruction of the Dutch and British, it could not succeed.
If we are willing to provide certain assistance, Ming Dynasty is likely to become our ally. "
"But how should we establish contact with the Ming Dynasty?" Aurangzeb asked, looking at his son.
**** said: "You can pass through the snowy plateau in the north."
