A Slave who became Emperor 63 'Retreat and live March forward and die'

Pinaka said, 'I apply strategies Zaffar because I value my mens' lives.. I am not selfish.. each man here is fighting to safeguard our mother land.. not to make me rich.. come let's fight.. today you will get a taste of our valour... 'Zaffar shouted, 'forward.. ' and they kept charging.. after going ten yards, there were sudden thunderous 'boom..boom..boom.'..followed by a huge fire..almost a hundred men along with their horses rose twenty feet into the air..and crashed down to the ground, the men had their skulls shattered..bones crushed..necks broken..some got burnt in fire..people felt choked looking at the scene.. Zaffar inhaled sharply and commanded, 'halt! ' no one understood what happened.. Pinaka too felt frozen.. he didn't expect that his plan would be this effective.. two months back, he came across a scroll mentioning how the rulers of Ming Dynasty designed an explosive called land mine.. he was not sure if it would work.. but the results were breath taking.. Almost fifty men were dead and thirty men were heavily injured.. this kind of explosive was not seen in middle East yet, Zaffar was stunned.. his men lost their minds looking at their dying mates...

One of the Shah's men looked at Zaffar and said, 'what is all this? elephants.. fire.. now this.. enough.. let's not lose more men.. we don't know what more that Prince has planned.. ' Zaffar didn't respond.. he shouted, 'Prince.. do you still have such tricks planned? or you are now willing to fight man to man?' Pinaka smiled, Zaffar was trying to provoke him.. he didn't lose his cool.. he said, 'Zaffar, I am in front of you.. my men are here... waiting.. '

Zaffar cried, ' you don't want your men to die.. you formed such a huge army... but still you don't let them fight...you kill my men using tricks... why did you make all these men to come so long.. if they wanted to live a long life.. they wouldn't wish to be soldiers.. ' Pinaka said, 'what do you expect? these men fight for honor.. they fight to safeguard our respect, our country, our women.. children.. they are not like your men.. who have not done one day of honest work.. why should I give importance to fight with weapons alone.. even in our ancient texts we had warfare techniques described.. war strategies described in detail.. do you think our country is a weak country? ready to bow down and kneel? I didn't want to do what I did today.. but what did you do? you influenced Devadatta first.. made him control the Gupta empire, you kept supporting him.. your Shah started making in roads into our country using trade as a reason..do you think that I don't know about your influence? you tried to befriend people of power in my country.. you made Suradutta burn the tent of elephants.. when you try to do all this behind my back.. it's only fitting that I respond to you in a fitting manner.. this is the justice to all that you did.. also there is a gift for you.. ' Samyukta shot an arrow that fell near Zaffar's feet.. it had a bloody bag tied to it.. one of Zaffar's generals removed the bag from the arrow.. untied it.. he opened it and gasped.. he threw the bag away.. three human heads rolled out.. Pinaka said, 'you sent twenty of your men clothed as my men into my barracks..to kill me and capture my wife..do you think we are fools.. you will find all their heads inside the bag.. '

Zaffar was breathing heavily.. everything was failing.. whatever he did backfired.. he came with sixty thousand men.. he lost thousands of men, yet he didn't want to give up.. the twenty men he sent were heavily trained in stealth techniques.. everyone was caught.. the only thing they achieved so far was to kill few hundred men of Pinaka's army.. this kid was so decisive.. killing all the twenty.. beheading them.. he felt scared after a long time.. fear creeped into his heart..

The leader of Shah's troops noticed a change in Zaffar's face.. he looked at Zaffar and said, 'my batallion is leaving.. my advise to you is to retreat and live.. march forward you die.. all your men lost their confidence too.. listen to me.. ' saying this he looked at Pinaka and said, 'Prince, me and my part of batallion retreat.. we will march back to our Shah.. promise us that you wouldn't harm us.. ' Pinaka said, 'You have my word.. but if I get to know that this is a lie, don't expect me to be merciful.. ' the leader nodded and commanded, 'men, let's leave.. ' and just like that a batallion retreated.. Zaffar's men were frozen, no one spoke in Zaffar's presence.. but atleast that leader gave importance to his mens' lives.. just like Pinaka.. now if Zaffar orders them forward.. they were sure to lose their lives.. now they didn't even have the numbers.. they were half the size of the unified army..

Zaffar said, 'I am not a coward.. neither are my men.. we will face you in war tomorrow..., men.. retreat.. '

Note:

Land mines that were set off by enemy movement were designed in ninth century and used by the Ming dynasty of China for the first time..A nine-foot length of bamboo was waterproofed by wrapping it in cowhide and covering it with oil. It was filled with compressed gunpowder and lead or iron pellets, sealed with wax and concealed in a trench.When the enemy stepped onto hidden boards, they dislodge a pin, causing a weight to fall. A cord attached to the weight was wrapped around a drum attached to two steel wheels; when the weight fell, the wheels struck sparks against flint, igniting a set of fuses to multiple mines.

Chapter end

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