Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

The western parts of the Mughal empire were on paper under Emperor Farrukh but the majority of control was left to the noble alliance under the noble known as Sir Zaid. He was the strongest and wealthiest noble in the area. A man in his early 50s with a huge sense of ambition.

Zaid gained his infamy during the rebellion period in the Empire. He garnered the support of the nobles in the region and proposed a deal to quell the rebellion under his leadership in all of the western parts of the Empire.

This gave rise to a private army, a huge one at that. It was born to suppress the rebellion. Zaid was damn good at his job. He managed to take control of areas within a few weeks and in a few months, all the rebels were snuffed out from their caves and executed.

That was the rise of Zaid in the region. Since then he has held an important place in the political sphere of the Empire. Even the Emperor couldn't ignore his words. It would create a massive imbalance, resulting in a civil war, opening the Mughals for easy pickings.

Zaid was sitting in his study. A masked man entered with a smile.

"Sir Zaid….Have you been good?"

"Azar, For what have you come here?"

"You know, the leader has called in a meeting for the Golden Sword. I shall return." He replied. "Before that, there is something to inform you of."

Azar was a member of the Golden Swords, a strong member that excelled in assassination.

"Is it about the merchants from the Ottoman Empire?"

"Yes,"

"What happened now?"

"They demand some more tax deductions."

"Huh…." Zaid wanted to protest. "Anymore, the Emperor might find out. We are treading on thin ice right now."

"Hmm... I see." Azar said. "That's unfortunate."

"I shall make you an exception this time, Sir Zaid." He replied. "Don't expect the same next time."

Zaid stayed silent.

"That's good." Azar smiled. "You do know your place very well, Zaid."

"We, the Turks, will honor our agreement."

"I understand."

Azar smiled mockingly. "Do as you have been told. If you overstretch like last time."

"Alright… Alright… I understand." Zaid repeated.

"I will take my leave now." He smiled and left.

This weird situation was created due to his obsession with the accumulation of wealth in the past. His relationship with the Turk grew with trade and other deals. It reached its high during the rebellion period when the Turks offered him wealth to raise his army.

He accepted it until he realized too far in the rabbit hole that the Turks didn't do it out of their Muslim brotherhood pact. The Ottomans wanted a puppet to control at their commands in the border between the Safavids and Ottomans.

The Safavids and Ottomans were major rivals to each other. The Safavids were relatively unsuccessful in expanding westward due to the Turks. There was a religious thing to this war as well since Persia, the land that the Safavids controlled, was predominantly Shia compared to the Turkish Sunni population.

The Ottomans, to counter the Safavids, allied with the Mughals. Although it wasn't much of a successful endeavor since the Safavids would also leverage their wealth to curry some favor. This proved to end in a stalemate for either side.

It was the Turks that made their first breakthrough. They did it with trade and Zaid. They invested their resources right and even managed to make Azar, their confidant, a member of the Golden Swords.

They sponsored Zaid and allowed him to rack up influence for the Turk's plan. Zaid agreed and the situation was finally unfolding.

Turks were the masterminds behind Zaid and he was just a puppet to control the western part of the Mughal Empire. The Ottomans already took the port in the western parts with the help of their merchantile guilds.

They were going to use the border regions to create conflict with the Safavids to get reduce their aggressive expansion scheme under their new ruler. They had to shut them down.

Meanwhile, Azar was headed to the Golden Swords meeting. He was a close confidant of the Turk Sultan. A good fighter and a master assassination specialist. He expected the Mughals to have subpar armies, which they did compared to the armies back home. They weren't technically advanced.

But there were more competent people in the Mughal Empire than he had expected. Although largely underutilized. The Hindus and the main upper castes were quite an asset. Instead of using their abilities for their benefit. In fear, the Mughal nobles suppressed them.

The Golden Swords were very competent people, unlike the nobility in the Empire. Especially the leader; he was lazy on the outside but completed his job with incredible efficiency and was even stronger than Azar, which really surprised him.

"I should inform them..." He sighed.

Their plan in the Empire was already underway unbeknownst to Sir Zaid. Azar already laid the foundation for the plan under their noses a long time ago.

"Those Safavid rats have been infiltrating the borders for some time now." He mumbled.

Azar called for his informant. The one he uses to communicate with some of his close allies from the Ottoman in the Mughal land.

The informant arrived quickly.

"Yes, Lord Azar." He greeted.

"Where is Aydin right now?" he asked.

"He? Probably at the port, as you ordered him to be?"

"I see…"

"Did you close the borders with the Safavids yet? How are there still rats sneaking in and doing rebellions?"

"We have demolished their dens in the local regions so far. But they have ramped up their efforts and funding for destabilizing the Empire."

Azar clicked his tongue. The Safavids were really getting on his nerves but he had expected the backlash as soon as they found any Ottoman influence in the region.

"Inform Aydin to commence the plan."

"The takeover plan or the other one?"

"The other one, of course. The takeover can wait a while." Azar smiled. "Plus, I don't think it's a good choice to do that now with the Golden Swords in full motion."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"I see. I shall inform Aydin about this."