Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

The security in the Qutb Royal Palace was heightened as the war with the Marathas loomed.

They were waiting for the Mughals to inform them to move towards the Marathas while preparing for the upcoming battle. Staff scrambled quickly to finish their preparations for the war supplies in the capital.

The crown prince, Aziz Shah of the Qutb sultanate, was pacing through the hallways of the palace on his way to the royal court to meet his father. He had a very ominous feeling from the start about this battle.

His hardheaded father didn't yield to his reason and put his greed above the Sultanate. The mughals weren't to be trusted. Their goal has been to take over the subcontinent for centuries; despite their many attempts, they have failed to gain proper ground in the subcontinent.

Zafar Shah, his father, was greedy to the core. He wanted the rich lands of the Marathas for himself. The promise from the Mughals of lands seemed lucrative to him, so he joined the expedition to take down the Marathas.

Aziz knew that the Marathas acted as a significant roadblock to the Mughal expansion. The small kingdoms, like the sultanates, didn't stand a chance against the Mughals.

The Portuguese also were on their throats. His father had allowed them to build a base in Daman, which made the Portuguese merchants very powerful in that place as they hoarded grains and essential items for a long period.

They sold the hoarded items when the Sultanate would experience a bad harvest or a financial problem at a high price to gain more influence in the Sultanate.

Aziz had advised his father many times not to trust the Portuguese, as they wanted the Sultanate to be their puppet and eventually establish their company in the subcontinent.

He barged into the royal court, where his father was discussing the war affairs with the Maulana Razik.

Maulana Razik was a religious scholar and also a minister his father trusted a lot. The influence of Razik on Zafar Shah was huge; the reason that Aziz's ideas were held back a lot was because of this man.

"The war preparations are done, Your Majesty. We can depart anytime. That Kafir king of Marathas will not stand a chance against our mighty army," laughed Maulana Razik while speaking to his father.

"We shall not lose this time, Inshallah," replied Zafar Shah.

The conversation was interrupted by the abrupt entrance of Aziz as they both turned to him.

"Hoo.. Son, what happened?"

Aziz turned to his father and said it in a serious tone.

"Father, we must not involve ourselves in this war for the sake of our Sultanate," declared Aziz.

Sultan sighed deeply.

"This again?" He began. "Don't worry, we will win against those Kafirs by the grace of Allah."

"Father, the Mughals are just using us. We will lose more than we gain by involving ourselves in this pointless endeavor."

Maulana Razik cleared his throat.

"Crown Prince, This is a great deal; you don't understand the intricacies of politics just yet."

"What do you mean, great deal? Once the Marathas are gone, who do you think will be the next target." Aziz raised his voice at the Maulana slightly in anger.

"We will become allies with the Emperor of Mughals; there is no need to worry." Maulana Razik replied calmly with a faint smile.

"Father, this is a mistake; please consider withdrawing from the war."

Zafar shook his head.
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"No, we can't do that at this stage."

"Father, we don't have money to wage a war with our finances; we can't take more loans from the Portuguese."

The financial situation in the Sultanate was poor due to the slow debt trap laid by the Portuguese to get the Sultanate under their control. His father's greed drove him to take loans from the Portuguese at high interest, and they didn't have any money to pay the loans back.

The Portuguese merchants roamed free, destroying the traditional markets and industries in the Sultanate. Most goods were traded at the exorbitant prices put by the Portuguese merchants.

His father didn't care about the citizens because he was getting his greed satisfied.

Maulana Razik smirked at his concern.

"We have a way to get the money, Your Highness."

Aziz shifted.

"What? How?"

The Maulana smiled with a sinister grin plastered on his face.

"We will increase the Jizya for the Kafirs."

Aziz froze. "What? Increase the tax?"

Anger boiled within him as the tax right now was horrible enough and this bastard Maulana wanted to increase it further, throwing families into danger of starving to death.

"What the hell are you saying, Maulana? If we increase taxes, it will cause a riot and split the sultanate."

The Sultan intervened.

"We can just suppress the kafirs; they don't have any strength anyway." He grinned.

"Father, they are our citizens; we can't do this to them. They will starve to death if we increase the tax," pleaded Aziz.

The Maulana clicked his tongue.

"Let them starve for not taking the grace and guidance of Allah!!"

"Yes, just beat them to death; there are so many kafirs. Even if some die, it won't make a difference." The sultan commented with a smile and turned to Aziz. "Son, you don't have to be compassionate to the kafirs of the land."

He looked disgusted by the words. They didn't have a speck of humanity for their own citizens who were dying due to their greed. Aziz didn't have the power to change this, as he was bound by the religion as well.

"Father, please reconsider. This approach will not end well."

Zafar stood up angrily.

"Get out, you imbecile." He yelled.

He was further disappointed as his father scolded him for looking after the citizens of the Sultanate.

Aziz barged out of the court.

'They are our citizens; religions doesn't matter. They are humans.'

Aziz was compassionate; he didn't mind if his citizens were kafirs or not. He tried his best for betterment. Every time he tried to do something good, the maulanas found out and barred him from continuing it.

'I shouldn't have been born as a muslim.'

'Wish I could change the fate of the Sultanate.'