The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 408: The Ambition of Bajirao I
February 1738, 2 was the traditional Eastern New Year's Eve. On this day, more than 13 soldiers of the Qi-Indian Army stationed in Nanhu Fort (now the town of Lonavala, more than kilometers southeast of Mumbai) received a rich supply. Their superiors also generously distributed large amounts of wine, tea and sugar to them, which made the soldiers cheer.

Although these native soldiers still don't understand the meaning of New Year's Eve and New Year, it does not prevent them from happily enjoying this most grand festival in the East.

Those Qi officers could certainly drop all the work at hand and sneak back to Pingshan Fort (now the town of Khopoli, southeast of Mumbai), and gather in groups of three or five to drink and have fun. Although they, the native soldiers, still needed to be on duty and stand guard, and stick to their posts seriously, during this festival, they would get more food and additional military supplies subsidies than usual.

To be honest, serving as a soldier under the Qi people and getting food is definitely the best option for ordinary Indians. Not to mention that the military pay and treatment are far better than those of the neighboring Marathas, even after the service period, they can find a slightly decent job whether in the city or returning to their hometown.

Because, during their several years of service in the Indian Army, the indigenous soldiers were able to master some basic Chinese, were able to carry out simple daily communication, and had certain military qualities. They were quite popular with businessmen in the city and would be hired as guards, or pass assessments to enter the local colonial government and serve as the most basic clerks, such as police, postmen, telegraph patrolmen, urban cleaning supervisors, etc.

If they returned to their hometown, they would be recruited by the Chaimindars (tax farmers) to become their tax collectors. Relying on their military skills, they would help the masters "squeeze" taxes or rents from the villagers.

No matter what, as long as he can join the Qi-Indian Army, it means that his identity has undergone a great change, and his fate has been reversed. He will no longer be like a rootless duckweed that will be easily blown away by a gust of wind.

Anirudh Thapa stood on a high watchtower, holding a telescope and observing towards the southeast with due diligence, while occasionally looking down, eagerly hoping that his companion on duty would come and replace him soon.

Even though he was on a watchtower more than ten meters high, he seemed to still be able to smell the aroma of meat and the rich smell of wine emanating from the barracks, and could vaguely hear the cheerful laughter and voices of his companions.

Although he was anxious and worried that his greedy companions would eat up the sumptuous lunch, Anirudh Thapa did not dare to leave the watchtower without permission.

Although Commander Qi was not in the camp, the two sergeants were ordered to stay at their posts. If they were found leaving their observation posts, they would be whipped and might even be punished by being locked up in a small dark room.

What bad luck I have! I have to be on duty on such a nice day, and it happens to be lunch time. I am so upset!
After leaning against the pillar for a while, he raised the telescope hanging around his neck to his eyes and looked outside casually.

Ok?
what is that?
A white wave kept surging towards this side, wave after wave, and there were countless flags in the waves. The flagpoles leaned forward, like clear signposts, leading the waves behind to rush forward.

"…Marathas?"

Anirudh Thapa stood up immediately, his heart beating violently and his hands shaking uncontrollably, but he subconsciously raised the telescope again and observed carefully.

"The Marathas are attacking..." he murmured.

"Enemy attack!...Enemy attack!" Aniruddha Tapa dropped the telescope, held the railing, and shouted loudly towards the camp!

"The Marathas are attacking!"

"Beep beep..."

The shrill sound of the military bugle stirred up the entire fort. Soldiers who were eating and drinking in the barracks ran out one after another. They first looked up at the direction of the watchtower in confusion, and then quickly ran towards the armory amid the kicking and scolding of the two sergeants.

Nanhu Fort theoretically belonged to the border territory of the Maratha Empire. However, five years ago, after the Qi State built a railway from Siping (now Thane, India) to Pingshan, in order to prevent possible sneak attacks by the Marathas and threaten the safety of the railway, it sent a troop to occupy this village adjacent to the small lake and built a forward outpost here to guard the rear.

After hearing the news, the Marathas also sent people to negotiate with the Qi people and ordered them to withdraw from the Maratha territory.

However, the people of Qi produced the Treaty of Pune signed with the Maratha Empire and the latest geographical survey data, saying that the village should be located on the ridge of the Western Ghats on the border between the two sides and should belong to the territory of Qi.

The Marathas who came to negotiate were immediately stunned when they saw the measurement data and treaty text handed over by Qi.

How can they understand these numbers!
However, since you people of Qi say that this village belongs to the jurisdiction of your Guangwei Governorate, why didn't you include this area under your jurisdiction when you signed the treaty twenty years ago?

Why do we have to remeasure the border line at this very moment and occupy this territory without even saying hello?
After some entanglement, facing the powerful Qi people, the Maratha Empire chose to give in and compromise.

It's just a small village, you people from Qi can occupy it if you want.

However, don’t treat us Marathas as fools. We clearly want to establish a forward outpost here to provide combat warning for the Pingshan Railway Station in the rear to prevent sudden attacks.

Yes, the people of Qi occupied a long strip of land along the coast, spanning four or five hundred kilometers from north to south, but only tens of kilometers deep from east to west. At the speed of a cavalry charge, it could be penetrated in one day.

In this regard, the people of Qi could not help but feel a little worried. They could only set up as many guard posts as possible in the front, so that when war broke out suddenly, they could provide early warnings to the rear and make defensive preparations.

Haha, the people of Qi are also guilty!

"Your Majesty, the battle in front has ended. Twelve enemies were killed and nine were captured. Our army successfully occupied the Qi fortress." Mushema Scindia, commander of the Ujjain Cavalry Corps of the Maratha Empire, ran to the emperor Bajirao I and reported with a proud look on his face.

"What a pity!" Bajirao I nodded slightly, then looked at the billowing smoke rising from the Qi fortress, his face full of disappointment.

This huge firework must be clearly seen by Pingshan Fort more than ten miles away, so the people of Qi will definitely be prepared, and the next battle will no longer be so easy.

What is more worrying is that the Qi people will continuously transport troops from the rear by train, and then rely on the strong city defenses to block the advance of our Maratha army.

Now, the only thing the Maratha Empire can rely on is the superiority in military strength and the suddenness of the attack. Taking advantage of the great opportunity when the Qi people's defense is empty, we launched a large-scale attack on the Qi people from several directions, throwing them into chaos. As early as three months ago, the Maratha Empire began to plan this surprise attack, and even staged a big fight with the Kingdom of Hyderabad in the southeast, just to cover up their strategic intentions and make the Qi people think that they would not launch an attack.

To be honest, launching a war against the Qi people was opposed by many big families and tribes, who believed that although this move would catch the Qi people off guard and give them a big advantage, they would definitely launch a retaliatory counterattack after the Qi people reacted.

The Qi Kingdom would continuously dispatch troops from their homeland of Hanzhou and many overseas territories. They would also blockade the entire west coast of India with their powerful naval fleet. They would even instigate or bribe the enemies of the Maratha to launch a siege on the empire together.

However, Bajirao I still ignored the opposition and insisted on launching an attack on Qi. He took advantage of the troubles they were currently in to strike first and seize all the Guangwei Governorate adjacent to the empire.

Because he felt that if he continued to wait in this futile manner, he would undoubtedly hand over the initiative to the people of Qi.

Although time is fair to everyone, during the waiting process, the Marathas can accumulate more strength, train more soldiers, collect more taxes, and their strength will gradually increase.

However, during the long wait, the people of Qi will also become increasingly powerful and control more and more territories, and the number of local princes and nobles who will surrender to them due to their threats or instigation will also increase day by day.

Those incompetent and selfish local princes believed the "Armistice Treaty" proposed by the people of Qi, gave up part of their interests in exchange for the protection of the people of Qi, and sold out a lot of their own rights to bring in the power of the people of Qi.

As early as more than 30 years ago, the Qi people's sphere of influence in India was limited to a few independent strongholds and ports in the coastal areas. But now, the Qi people's colonial territories have been connected in large areas, almost surrounding the entire Indian subcontinent.

This is like an invisible noose that has been put around the necks of the Indians. As the Qi people gradually begin to tighten the rope, India will become more and more suffocated, and will eventually be completely "hanged" by them, becoming a "corpse" without any resistance, at their mercy.

What was even more annoying was that the people of Qi also colluded with many large family and tribal forces in the empire, intending to subvert and split the Maratha from within, which made Bajirao I shocked and angry, and he became increasingly wary and resentful of Qi.

Many years ago, Bajirao I ordered his confidants to assassinate the fourth Chhatrapati (king) Shahu, and then ascended the throne himself to become the real ruler of the Maratha Empire. Before he could do so, Asaf Jah, the founder of the Kingdom of Hyderabad, presented him with a diamond-studded crown that he had stolen from the Delhi Palace in order to get rid of the rule and constraints of the Mughal Empire. He then put it on his head without hesitation and declared himself the emperor of the Maratha Empire, officially competing with the Mughal Empire.

Although, the transformation of the Maratha from a kingdom to an empire did not bring more changes to the Marathas except strengthening their own authority to a certain extent.

Although the Maratha Empire had the name of an empire, it had no real empire and could even be considered a Maratha alliance.

Because the entire empire was usually centered around the Peshwa regime in the old capital of Pune, with the Holkar family in Indore/Maheshwar, the Scindia family in Ujjain/Gwalior, the Gaikwad family in Baroda, and the Poonsra family in Berar/Nagpur on the periphery.

Besides these members of the solid Maratha alliance, there were some powerful families like Ali Bahadur of Bundelkhand, Patvardhan of Sangli, Poonsla of Tanjore, Sadara and Kolapur, and the Rastas or Pawars.

These big families and tribal forces were like the large and small vassal kingdoms within the empire. They united together to live together and respected Bajirao I as their common leader.

The people of Qi once jokingly called the Maratha Empire the Great Zhou Dynasty based on the Indian model.

The most fatal weakness of the Maratha regime was that its core power group was replaced almost every generation, sometimes even as frequently as every ten years.

Whether to join or leave the core group of the empire depends on the stability of the ruling family's regime and the strength of its power. More importantly, those who leave the core group will not always be a minority opposition party, they will rejoin the core group as current events change.

Unless, certain families were often completely suppressed and eliminated for opposing the core rule of the empire.

Under such circumstances, the Maratha Empire was actually very fragile and could not suffer too much of a blow, otherwise it would easily fall apart.

More than 20 years ago, despite the stern warnings from Qi, Bajirao I's father, Balaji Viswanath, insisted on leading his army to the north in an effort to destroy the Mughal Empire and unify the whole of India. However, he was severely defeated by the Qi-Mughal coalition on the banks of the Kharmanvati River, and Viswanath was so ashamed and angry that he died in depression.

The death of his father caused the entire Maratha League to split. Not only did it lose northern territories such as Marwar and Gujarat, but the local princes and governors who had originally surrendered to the Marathas rebelled and established themselves in an instant.

If it were not for the fact that Bajirao I gained the loyal support of his father's direct subordinates, including Chimaji Appa, Mahalrao Holkar, Ranoj Shinde, and the three Pawar brothers, and promptly surrendered to the State of Qi in exchange for the other party's support at the cost of ceding large tracts of territory and major economic interests, he would have gradually quelled the internal rebellion and stitched the fragmented Maratha Alliance together again.

During his more than ten years of rule, Bajirao I clearly realized that in order to bring the Maratha to a new height or build a powerful empire, it was necessary to centralize power, just like the early Mughal Empire, with an efficient and unified central government and an army that was completely obedient to the emperor.

However, if one wants to "cut down the feudal lords" and centralize power, one must possess great prestige and strong power.

By waging war against the Qi people, defeating them, occupying their colonial territories, and seizing their endless accumulated wealth and massive amounts of military equipment and supplies, one would naturally be able to achieve great military exploits and gain high prestige.

Then, Bajirao I could take advantage of the situation to promote internal political reforms, strengthen centralization, reorganize and unify the imperial army, and before Qi State launched a large-scale retaliation, unite the Maratha Empire into a force and prepare for war with all its strength.

Are the people of Qi scary?

The Maratha Empire's army of more than one hundred thousand is coming at us with overwhelming force. Who can stop us?

"Order the troops to continue advancing without any rest." Bajirao I knocked his legs against the horse's belly and urged the horse to run forward. "We must launch the most fierce attack on the Qi people with the most resolute attitude, and we will not stop until the sea water on the shore wets our boots!"

(End of this chapter)