I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 342 The loser deserves a lavish burial (for the late autumn helmsman Jiuyue)

In the luxurious building in the east of Mysore, Salah stared at Sheikh Khan with wide eyes and lowered his voice:

“How did more than 300 people die?!”

"It's said to be poisoned." Sheikh Khan flipped his wrist nonchalantly. "It's not surprising that people died from the food in the prison."

Salah took a step forward, his voice trembling:

"Did you do it?"

"Well, maybe."

Salah angrily said: "I just asked you to kidnap them halfway, why did you kill them all?!"

"Oh, not all of them, Your Excellency the Consul." Sheikh Khan handed him an exquisite ivory pipe. "Want a few puffs? There are still a dozen people who didn't have dinner yesterday, so they are not dead."

Salah pushed away his pipe. Sheikh Khan did not take it as an offense and smiled:
“You have to know that to kidnap those hundreds of people, we need to mobilize at least 300 soldiers. If just one of them leaks the information, we will be in big trouble.

"To kill those people, we only need to bribe two cooks. Then send a killer to kill the two cooks. No one in the world will know that we have anything to do with this.

"Now everyone will think that Jahanzeb did this to curry favor with the British - his relationship with the British is known even to the beggars in the city."

"But..." Salah raised his head and sighed. At this point, he could only helplessly say, "I hope you can discuss it with me before making similar decisions in the future."

"Of course, we are the closest of friends."

Salah grabbed the pipe and turned to leave Sheikh Khan's villa. There were still many follow-up deployments waiting for him to operate.

He grew up in a Tunisian Western-style family influenced by Enlightenment thought. He could not understand why senior Indian officials under the caste system ignored the lives of people of middle and lower castes, especially the Hindu untouchables [Note 1].

In Sheikh Khan's eyes, those 370 people were no different from the chickens and sheep in his home. When it was necessary to bring down his political opponents, he would kill them without hesitation, even if there were 3 of them.

……

The "freed persons massacre" incident, fueled by Salah and others, fermented throughout Mysore in less than three days. Countless people cursed the brutal British and their lackeys, and mourned the more than 300 dead.

Jahanzeb's political opponents keenly sensed the opportunity and immediately sent a flood of complaints to Tipu Sultan. The content also expanded from the massacre to various corruption, taxation, and abuse of power, with a posture of everyone pushing down the wall when it fell.

Ambavila Palace.

"I remember that I asked you to release those people." Tipu Sultan stared at Jahanzeb coldly, "And what did you do?"

He had just put in a lot of effort, including mobilizing the imperial guards, to finally appease the crowd who had accused him of the massacre.

Until now, there are still nearly a thousand people gathered outside the palace, waiting for the Sultan to give justice to their dead relatives.

"Great Sultan," Jahanzeb said with difficulty, "I did order the release of those people. I don't know why they..."

He glanced at the Shah, the finance official of Sheikh Khan's faction, and felt his teeth itching with hatred. It was most likely the latter who did it, or at least participated in it, but he just couldn't accuse him.

“Hum.” Tipu Sultan interrupted his secretary with a simple hum.

Although he was smart enough to see that there was something wrong early on - even if Jahanzeb wanted to take action, he would not choose to do it the day before his release when there were the most people watching. However, political struggles are like this. If you fall into someone else's trap, it only means that you are not smart enough and not cautious enough. And if you can't think of a way to turn the tables, then you can only be buried with honor.

It's impossible for Sudan to stand up to the anger of the people across the country just to protect you.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Jahanzeb suddenly prostrated himself on the ground, hugged Tipu Sultan's feet, and said pitifully, "Besides, those people spread rumors wantonly. Even if they die, the most they will get is a slightly heavier punishment. I am willing to pay a large sum of money to compensate their families..."

The Shah immediately touched Tipu Sultan's chest and said:

"Your Majesty, those people are not spreading rumors at all. As far as I know, what they said about the British is basically true."

He looked at Jahanzeb coldly:

"The Sultan's secretary took advantage of the British and defended the British everywhere, even at the cost of persecuting the Mysore people!"

In fact, he had no idea about the PY transaction between the British and Jahanzeb, but the British must have benefited from it, so it would not be wrong to say so.

Jahanzeb immediately became anxious:

"Great Sultan, don't listen to his nonsense..."

Tipu Sultan narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded:

"Regarding those rumors, I recently sent someone to investigate them. They were indeed done by the British."

As a "European expert", he knew a little about the bad things in Britain. Of course, he didn't know the exact number of how many Indians the British killed and how many slaves they sold.

Jahanzeb was struck by lightning when he heard this. If even the "spreading rumors" clause was removed, his actions would completely lose their basis.

"Please, for the sake of the old Sultan, forgive me this time..."

Tipu Sultan glanced at the old minister who was crying and finally sighed after a while:
"Take out 1 pounds and distribute it to the family of the deceased. I know you have always wanted to go on a pilgrimage, but you have been busy with state affairs in recent years, so you have never been able to go. This time I will give you a few years' vacation, and you can go on the pilgrimage."

It was called a pilgrimage, but in reality it meant driving him away from the power center of Mysore. Given the current transportation level, it would take at least two years to go on a pilgrimage and return, and there was no place for him in the political center.

Jahanzeb froze all over, and after a long while he said faintly:
"Thank you for your consideration, great Sultan..."

……

"This stupid Indian native!" Griffith, a senior representative of the East India Company, kicked over the coat rack in anger after listening to his subordinates' report on the recent "massacre".

Not only did Jahanzeb fail to control the rumors slandering the British, he also completely eradicated the pro-British faction in Mysore. In Mysore now, anyone who dares to say that he is pro-British will be beaten to death when he goes out.

The intelligence officer who reported the situation to him added:
"Your Excellency, I have also received news that Tipu is preparing to declare war on both Travancore and the East India Company at the same time."

"What?" Griffith grabbed his arm. "Is the information reliable?"

【Note 1】At that time, although Islam was in power in the Kingdom of Mysore, the lower classes were still mainly Hindus, with a small number of Sikhs. Tipu Sultan implemented a tolerant religious policy, and generally speaking, the various religions in Mysore lived in harmony.

(End of this chapter)