Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

The walls of the capital shook as the iron shells landed, leaving cracks all over. The smoke of the cannons rose high as more and more shells were loaded and fired right at the walls and gate.

Shivaji's mind was racing, preparing to inflict damage on the Mughals.

He noticed the palisades set up by the Mughals to snipe their archers slowly while taking cover. Askar had set it up using the terrain to his advantage. He used the jagged rocks and connected some palisades with them, giving them a much wider cover in some areas.

The cannon crew were protected by a palisade set up on a small slope. It allowed them to maneuver to cover quickly in case their cover breaks by an incoming projectile.

The relentless shelling on the walls was starting to make bigger cracks.

'This is bad'

The besieging party was always at a disadvantage in these situations, but right now there were no openings in Askar's formation to exploit.

His vast experience and talent were showing on the battlefield.

The vanguard was close to the gate, if they don't inflict damage before they reach the gate. The battering rams would be able to breach the first gate. He noticed sledgehammers and crowbars in the hands of the Mughal soldiers. It was likely to attack the hinges of the gate.

Shivaji looked in the distance and found that the catapults and trebuchets weren't deployed.

'Won't it be easier to breach the walls with trebuchets alongside the cannons?'

He thought.

The main threat now were the cannons and the approaching vanguard at the gate.

He had to use the cannons to counter this onslaught.

"Aim the cannons at their artillery." He ordered.

The Maratha artillery were just crude cannons a bit older than the ones Mughals were using on their end. The problem with these cannons was overheating; they couldn't be used for a long time.

Shivaji initially thought of saving it for later but if he lets the momentum continue, the walls will fall quickly. He had to take out the cannons.

Still, there was a problem; the cannons could be pulled back into the cover of the palisade. This was an issue as the cannon would take a couple of shots to break a single palisade.

"Commander." He called out the royal guard commander. "How many crossbowmen and archers do we have to spare?"

"We have a unit to spare. If you want to undertake an ambush attack." He looked concerned.

"Did Askar fight at Karnavati before?" Shivaji wanted answers.

"No, Askar never reached the capital,"

"That's great." Shivaji smiled.

The cannons on the walls roared to life. They hurled out the iron shells on the approaching flanking army and the cannons of the Mughals. A thick Blume of smoke came out of the cannon head as it fired.

Karnavati was an impregnable fortress. There were some reasons for this. The city had a triple-layered wall, which held out against siege engines very well. There were 3 gates in total for the city. The first two were wooden gates reinforced by iron and the last was a portcullis made out of their finest iron.

This city could be attacked only through the front gate. As the other sides had steep cliffs and slopes, it was not viable for armies to trek through it and face the Marathas.

And the last reason was the existence of the sally ports in the city. The sally ports were hidden doors situated in the fort to allow the exit and entry of soldiers to the outside with ease. They were hard to spot and know if one was fighting at Karnavati for the first time.

Marathas could prepare ambushes at any point through these sally ports. The enemy couldn't use the sally ports to breach into the fort either, as it was easy to counter them. The sally ports were narrow and small.

They could be easily blocked off in case of a breach from inside the fort, leaving the enemy outside. They would just become easy picking for the Marathas.

"Commander, split the unit into two and use the sally ports on both sides to ambush the cannon crew." Shivaji explained the plan to the Royal Guard commander

"Understood,"

The commander was about to leave.

Shivaji glanced back.

"Tell them to use fire arrows. Even if one hits their gunpowder supplies. It would be great."

"Yes, I will be sure to relay it to the captain of the unit."

Shivaji now had an ace up his sleeve to take out the cannons of the Mughals. He could take out at least the ones on the flanks. The ones in the middle near the gate were well protected, while the protection of the flank one was mostly depending on the palisade and few shielded troops.

The walls trembled again as another barrage of the cannon shells landed on the walls, making yet another crack in the fortifications.

He was about to step down from the Vantage point when a loud bang made the walls shake again. Shivaji felt the tremor under his feet. The Vantage point was close to the gate.

The loud bang came from the battering ram banging at the gate.

The Vanguard of the Mughals, led by Vice-Commander Usman, reached the gate. They suffered a fair bit of casualties on the path

The Royal Guard commander came running.

"I have relayed the orders to the unit. They are preparing for the ambush."

"Good," Shivaji said.

He glanced at the cannon crews in the fort and screamed out a command.

"Focus on the flanking army and cannons."

It wasn't a good time to be focusing on the cannons behind the vanguard. It wouldn't be doing anymore damage as the vanguard reached the gate. It would be likely shifted to the flanks to breach the walls.

'I hope the bombardment distracts them from their surroundings.'

He wanted them to be focused so much on the cannon shells. This would guarantee the success of the ambush.

The cannon crew quickly obeyed the orders and turned all the cannons towards the cannons and flanking armies.

The cannon crew leader roared.

"FIRE."