Chapter 68: Volume 3 - CH 3.1

The news of Prince Gadhevi’s army moving out immediately reached the Parsian army. Twenty thousand of the 150,000 troops led by Gadhevi confronted the Parsian army at the fortress of Gujarat, while the remaining 130,000 started to battle with Rajendra’s army.

The Parsian army held a strategy meeting in the fortress’s great hall, and at the table, Narsus spoke.

“We know very well what Gadhevi is thinking. And he made the right decision. Because since we have an overwhelmingly large army, attacking the enemy from the front is the best way to utilize the army ……”

The one who deeply agreed was the general Bahman. He agreed with Narsus’ insight, and that he was worthy of serving as a military commander.

“However, Gadhevi does not know the real value of our Parsian army. Now let us teach this unfortunate man a little lesson! Perhaps he will no longer be alive to appreciate the lesson he is about to receive, but it is necessary for us to show Rajendra.”

Arslan, who nodded in agreement, immediately ordered the whole army to march.

The Parsian army had more than 10,000 men, most of which were Bahman’s troops. In addition to these were Prince Arslan and his six companions, as well as the five hundred cavalrymen led by Kishward. Gieve had always doubted whether Bahman was trustworthy, however, for that, Narsus was no longer worried. What he was worried about was what Farangis had said, was it possible that Bahman was tempted by death?

Bahman had extreme loyalty to the royal family. And was this loyalty enough to bear the load of the secret hidden in his heart? Perhaps he had privately decided to bury that terrible secret with him by dying.

Narsus decided not to let Bahman do that. But the trouble was that only in this case, Narsus was not sure that he had done the right thing.

The two Sindhuran princes, who were absolutely confident of their own actions, clashed head-on in the Jamnagar wilderness on February 5.

Gadhevi sat on the back of a white elephant, while Rajendra rode on a white horse. Both wore jeweled armor and had white silk turbans wrapped around their heads, and both had large jewels on their turbans. They were in a stubborn confrontation. Gadhevi’s jewel was a blue jade, while Rajendra’s was a red jade.

“This is a magnificent battle between a prince on a white horse and a prince on a white elephant!”

Seeing the appearance of the two princes, Gieve couldn’t help but laugh at this.

In accordance with Sindhura’s warfare traditions, when two armies fight head-to-head like this, the commanders of both sides have to loudly assert their message. The battles can be said to begin with a battle of words.

The two princes looked at each other from a distance of a hundred paces. The first to start the war of words was Gadhevi.

“Rajendra, you are just a bastard born from a slave, and you still want to covet the throne of the king. If you are willing to climb down from the back of that unfitting white horse and kneel to beg for mercy, perhaps I will still spare your life.”

Hearing these words of the other party, Rajendra curled his mouth and scoffed.

“If I am a dog, then you, who cannot even beat a dog, are worse than a dog. Why do you think our father delayed in formally installing the crown prince? Although you have the advantage in terms of your mother’s lineage, the reason why our father did not make you the crown prince is that you are far inferior to me in terms of personality!”

In terms of eloquence, Gadhevi had not even a tenth of Rajendra’s skill. After falling into silence for lack of an answer, Gadhevi decided to resort to force at once.

“Down with that dog Rajendra!”

Thus began the war between the half-brothers.

At first, the two sides appeared to be evenly matched.

Gadhevi had 130,000 troops and Rajendra had 50,000. If they were to fight seriously, Rajendra had no chance of winning. However, this time Rajendra chose the battlefield first. The Jamnagar wilderness was separated by several rivers, and in this thin basin, Gadhevi could not put all his armies into battle at once. However, because they could not expand horizontally, Gadhevi’s army formation was so thick that it was impossible to break through the center.

After a fierce battle between the cavalry, the infantry battle ensued. Smoke and dust filled the sky, swords and spears and shields flashed and rattled, and blood shot out from the severed flesh, staining the sand black and red.

Each instant produced a mass of death. Men on horses crossed swords, and even the horses hissed madly and bit each other.

Before noon, the wave of attacks launched by Gadhevi’s cavalry caused over a thousand casualties and ultimately failed. Rajendra seemed to have the advantage. However, at that moment, a part of Gadhevi’s army started to move like a small mountain. The sound of distant thunder pierced the atmosphere, and the ground underfoot began to shake unpleasantly. After noticing this, a nervous look swept over the faces of the generals and soldiers of Rajendra’s army.

“Your Highness Rajendra, the war elephant troops are moving out!”

“Already…..?”

Was Gadhevi really that anxious? For Rajendra, it was also a tight spot right now. His army was made up of cavalry, infantry, and warriors. And Sindhura’s strongest war elephant troops were in the hands of Gadhevi. Even the ever-confident Rajendra had to feel self-conscious of the disadvantage of this.

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“Archery team, advance! Aim at the elephants!”

The archery team that received the order to move out bravely put it into action. However, their mere arrows could not change the situation. 

The 500 war elephants that roared as they advanced were not at all affected by the arrows, and quickly closed in on Rajendra’s army, kicking aside the archery team and rushing forward unhindered. The elephants swung their heavy trunks, hitting the heads of the infantry heavily, while the tips of their tusks picked up the horses.

The power of the war elephant troops was truly amazing. Huge carcasses full of destruction and malice passed through Rajendra’s army, sand and blood and screams faded into the smoke.

The advance guard of Rajendra’s army panicked. They barely held their formation, retreating back a hundred, two hundred paces. The mere roar of the war elephants made them retreat in fear. The Rajendra army was already far inferior to the other side in numbers, and if they were also at a disadvantage in terms of momentum, there was no chance of winning.

“If we also had war elephant troops ……”

Rajendra could not help but gnash his teeth, but now no amount of remorse would help. Rajendra’s men let out a sad cry.

“It will be miserable if we continue like this, Your Highness!”

“I know!”

Rajendra growled. He was furious with his men who made such unhelpful reports, but he differed from Gadhevi in that he did not whip his men.

“If Pars’ cavalry was around, at least it would have spread the troops a bit …… Humph! I’m really confused too. Maybe they only had verbal bravado, after all.”

While Rajendra was self-deprecating, an orderly came running to his side.

“Pars’ cavalry troops are here!”

This was such an unexpected auspicious report that Rajendra thought he had heard wrong. However, it was an unmistakable fact. The battle situation immediately changed before his eyes.

Gadhevi’s army was flanked by cavalry without any defense and was instantly thrown into chaos. The Parsian army rushed into the enemy’s formation, causing the enemy’s array to disintegrate. Gadhevi’s troops, who had taken advantage of the situation to pursue the enemy, were forced back to the place where the battle started in a disorganized formation.

Rajendra could not help but be relieved. He hurriedly drove his white horse toward the Parsian army, looking for Prince Arslan’s figure, and called out loudly.

“Prince Arslan. How the hell did you get here?”

“We flew in a hurry. I had hoped that we would arrive a little earlier.”

Arslan smiled, and it looked bright under the reflection of his golden armor. Suddenly, he raised his right hand, and the famous Parsian cavalry raised their swords high as if to attack the sun of Sindhura, and with the command “Yashasuiin!”, they charged into the enemy’s line again.

The reason why the Parsian army moved so quickly was that the whole army was composed of cavalry. Narsus’ handling was extremely clever. He first spread rumors of the retreat of the Parsian army among Gadhevi’s army that was guarding the fortress of Gujarat, and he actually let a considerable number of troops leave the fortress. Gadhevi’s army stormed into the city in order to occupy the fortress, which had become empty. At that time, the Parsians who were still hiding in the fortress fired arrows like rain, causing Gadhevi’s troops to suffer great damage. Having suffered from this strategy of a strong attack, Gadhevi’s men then repositioned themselves to the south of the fortress and began a defensive battle. However, the Parsian army used a feint strategy, planting Parsian flags all over the fortress, but actually sneaked out through the northern gate, taking a more easterly detour and appearing on the battlefield in the southeast. In response to a possible attack by Pars, Gadhevi’s troops reinforced their western and northern formations, and the surprise attack by the Parsians was as easy as drawing a pattern on a blank sheet of paper.

The Parsian army was so strong that even Gadhevi himself saw this fact with his own eyes.

The 10,000 cavalrymen acted as a perfect team under Bahman’s experienced command.

Gadhevi’s army was completely exposed at this time. They were unable to organize a strong counterattack, and the rift was getting bigger and bigger under the sporadic resistance.

Since Bahman’s command was so reassuring, Arslan’s immediate subordinates were able to stay by the Crown Prince’s side and enjoy watching things from above for a while. Even Gieve, who was always prone to sneering, couldn’t help but admire.

“That old grandpa is surprisingly competent!”

Rajendra’s gain was equivalent to Gadhevi’s loss. Gadhevi, who received the news of the Parsian army’s sharp attack, loudly scolded the incompetence of his men who were unable to defend against the enemy’s attack, and he gave a desperate order.

“Let the war elephant troops trample the Parsian army!”

Gadhevi was convinced that if he used war elephant troops, the battle would definitely turn around, which was too optimistic of an idea, but it was not unreasonable for him to think so.

The unharmed and invincible war elephant troops stampeded with a booming footstep and rushed towards the Parsian army.

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