By coincidence, at the same time that Wang Yuan was on his own expedition, the Mughal Emperor Humayun also returned.
In view of the speed of information dissemination in ancient times, Humayun must not have known that Sher Shah had been killed in battle. This guy went into exile in Persia, married the daughter of a scholar, and contacted the Persian king through his father-in-law.
After donating a large amount of treasure, the Persian king allowed him to recruit an army.
So Humayun used real money and silver to recruit a group of mercenaries in Persia. He did not immediately fight back to northern India, but went to Afghanistan to try to separate the remaining territories of the Mughal Empire from his two brothers.
Take it back.
At this moment, Humayun is still fighting with his brothers, and he doesn't know when he will be able to unify Afghanistan.
The situation is very interesting. The Mughal royal family rules the homeland of Afghanistan, and the Afghan nobles rule the Mughal homeland. It is not clear who invaded whom.
…
More than ten thousand cavalry galloped, looting along the way, only grabbing food, not gold and silver, let alone taking the initiative to kill people and set fire to them.
Along the way, a large number of civilians were without food. These civilians were forced to make a living, so they had no choice but to go to the provincial cities in groups to pray to the royal nobles for food.
"Your Majesty, a caravan has been spotted ahead!"
"Chase!"
Wang Yuan led more than 16,000 cavalry and surrounded the unlucky caravan, scaring the enemy to the point of peeing.
The leader of the caravan was captured and knelt down, shouting: "Great general, we are willing to offer our wealth and pray that you will let us live!"
Wang Yuan did not directly inquire about the military situation, but indirectly asked: "After Sher Shah's death, will you still be able to do business?"
The leader of the caravan cried sadly: "Business is difficult to do. When Sher Shah was alive, we only had to pay taxes twice, first and last. Now we have to pay taxes once every time we pass through a kingdom."
Wang Yuan asked again: "Where are you going to do business this time?"
The caravan leader said: "Gwalior."
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "Leave one-tenth of the goods and go to Gwalior immediately. You have to tell the people there that the great King of Tianzhu has come to kill. The King of Tianzhu has unified South India, and the two sultans of the six countries have
The 100,000-strong coalition army was easily defeated by the King of India with an army of 10,000. No one in North India except Sher Shah could withstand the King of India's army."
The caravan leader was in disbelief: "Can I really leave and only need to leave one tenth of my belongings?"
"Of course." Wang Yuan smiled.
The leader of the caravan shouted joyfully: "Great and kind King of Tianzhu, God will bless you!"
Wang Yuan's first target was Gwalior, but a direct attack was impossible because the castle there was too majestic and strong. He continued to plunder and plunder the outskirts, driving civilians and merchants to Gwalior, with no other purpose than to
Spread famine and fear.
Wang Yuan not only communicated with merchants, but also with some common people.
When Sher Shah was still alive, it was stipulated that the land tax should not exceed 25% of the harvest, and it was implemented very strictly, and many local nobles were killed one after another.
As soon as Sher Shah died, the law was immediately invalidated, and the highest land tax was as much as 50%. Considering India's agricultural output, it was simply asking farmers to die. Even if Wang Yuan did not come to grab food, ordinary civilians would no longer be able to live.
Not only that, the local nobles actually recovered taxes from previous years and reimbursed Sher Shah's tax exemptions all at once.
All unfinished official roads ordered by Sher Shah were suspended, and water conservancy facilities were also abandoned halfway.
In addition, Wang Yuan also received definite information that Sher Shah was not killed in battle, but was killed by the explosion of his own artillery while attacking a castle... A generation of heroes in North India died like this.
So useless.
Two days later, Wang Yuan brought someone outside the castle of a feudal state and sent someone to shout: "The King of Tianzhu who unified South India is here and is about to attack Gwalior. The nobles of this state will immediately lead troops to follow, otherwise the King of Tianzhu will definitely massacre.
Complete this city!"
After shouting more than ten times, there was finally a response in the castle: "Great King of Tianzhu, please retreat several miles away. We have prepared rich gifts for you."
Wang Yuan led his troops to retreat, transported more than ten carts of food from the city, and then sent Wang Yuan out of the country with gifts.
Fighting in India really does not require logistics...
After procrastinating for more than half a month, raiding and looting everywhere, Wang Yuan finally led his troops to the city of Khajuraho. Five hundred years ago, this city was the capital of the "Moon Dynasty", but now it is occupied by the princes of the Green Sect.
occupy.
In a few hundred years, this place will be known as the "Sex City" because there are a large number of various "men and women wrestling pictures" carved in the temples.
Thanks to Wang Yuan, this city has been surrounded by hungry people, and all the nearby civilians who have been robbed of food have gathered here.
The defenders in the city were trembling with fear. Outside the city were tens of thousands of hungry people, and there were more than 10,000 cavalry troops outside. If the enemy induced the hungry people to attack the city and consume the supplies and physical strength of the defenders, it would be really difficult to hold them back in the end.
.
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Suddenly, arrows rained down from the city wall, killing many hungry people outside the city.
Immediately afterwards, the city gate opened, and hundreds of cavalry rushed out. They did not charge towards Wang Yuan, but killed the hungry people outside the city, and then sent people over to contact Wang Yuan.
"Excuse me, are you the great King of Tianzhu?" The visitor had obviously received the news.
Wang Yuan said: "Exactly."
The visitor added: "We have killed all the officials stationed in this city by Sher Shah. We are willing to surrender to you, and we are also willing to give you a batch of grain and pay full taxes every year in the future, but you cannot lead troops into the city."
"
Sher Shah centralized power, established provinces and counties across the country, stationed officials in every city, and severely cracked down on local corruption. Anyone who dared to disobey orders would be suppressed.
Can the local princes and nobles tolerate it?
Well, bear with it.
Some who really couldn't hold it back had already gone to see Allah.
After Sher Shah's death, nobles from all over the country were already ready to take action. However, they were forced by the force of the Sur Dynasty and did not dare to kill officials and rebel for the time being.
Now that Wang Yuan's troops were approaching the city, he immediately made the nobles of the city make up their minds and no longer fear the revenge of the Sur Dynasty.
After these cavalry negotiated, they brought more than ten corpses, all of which were local officials stationed by Sher Shah.
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "I accept your submission, but you still need to send a thousand cavalry to follow me!"
The visitor said: "We only have a few hundred cavalry."
Wang Yuan said: "Then all come with me!"
In this way, this ancient city was nominally attached to the Kingdom of Tianzhu, and a tax was paid every year, but Wang Yuan's army could not enter the city.
Wang Yuan's army has several hundred more cavalry, but these cavalry must only fight with the wind. Once they encounter danger, they can run faster than anyone else.
As for the hungry people outside the city, Wang Yuan will not care about it, nor will the local nobles. How long they can survive depends on God's will. After so many evils, it seems that Wang Yuan is the big villain, and the dead Sher Shah can be regarded as a truly benevolent and wise king.
.
However, Wang Yuan's purpose in sending troops was to smash India to pieces, nominally unify India, and then settle down to farm and immigrate.
Ten days later, Wang Yuan came to Gwalior City. The city was already in turmoil.
As long as this city is captured, further north is Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located, but the Taj Mahal has not been built yet.
The city of Gwalior was not so easy to surrender, because Sher Shah had troops stationed here. The local princes and nobles had been killed and they were obedient, and the people in power were all Afghan military nobles.
After besieging the city for several days, the Gwalior defenders were very cautious and ignored the hungry people outside the city and Wang Yuan. They seemed to intend to hold on for a year and a half.
In desperation, Wang Yuan walked around the city and looted all the way to Agra.
Agra was also controlled by Afghan nobles, and the cavalry couldn't take it down, so they turned northwest and headed straight for Delhi.
Delhi is the capital of Sur dynasty!
The new Sultan Islam Shah had just experienced a bloody coup. Before he could take a breath, he heard that enemy troops were approaching the capital. Moreover, the Rajputs in the south, led by the King of Mewar,
, has also begun to wreak havoc on the border.
In order to gain support from the nobility, Islam Shah massacred a large number of Hindu officials left behind by his father, and almost nullified all of his father's reform policies.
Now all that is left are Afghan nobles who only know how to fight.
These nobles had not even read a few days of schooling. Most of them were from Green Sect commoners, and some were even slaves. They first fought with the founding emperor of the Mughal Empire and were promoted due to their military exploits. Then they followed the Sher Shah rebellion. How could they understand what it meant?
Governing the country?
Moreover, these nobles have been victorious all year round and have almost never suffered a defeat.
They did not admit that Sher Shah's death was a defeat because he was killed by his own artillery.
What are more than 16,000 cavalry?
Destroyed easily!
Instigated by the Afghan military nobles, Sultan Islam Shah planned a decisive battle. However, he did not immediately leave the city to meet the enemy. Instead, he sent orders to the kings of Gwalior, Agra, Mutla, Tanisa and other cities to gather together in a mighty manner.
Nearly 100,000 troops.
Moreover, they had old-fashioned muskets and artillery purchased from Persia, and knew the tactics of concentrated firearm volleys, which they learned from the founding emperor of the Mughal Empire.
They didn't know what a hollow formation was, nor did they know the Ming Dynasty's chariot defense techniques. But to deal with the cavalry, they knew how to dig deep trenches and use muskets and bows to wait for the cavalry to charge. These were also learned from the founding emperor of the Mughal Empire.