The Moghul

the room, but his eyes betrayed no notice of the exceptional size of Jadar's guard. With an immense show of dignity he nodded a perfunctory bow, hands clasped at the sparkling jewel of his turban.
    "Salaam, Highness. May Allah lay His hand on both our swords and temper them once more with fire." He seated himself easily, as he might with an equal, and when no servant came forward, he poured himself a glass of wine from the decanter that waited on the carpet beside his bolster. Is there anything, he wondered, I despise more than these presumptuous young princes from Agra? "I rejoice your journey was swift. You've arrived in time to witness my army savage the Abyssinian unbeliever and his rabble."
    "How many troops are left?" Jadar seemed not to hear the boast.
    "Waiting are fifty thousand men, Highness, and twenty thousand horse, ready to tender their lives at my command." Ghulam Adl delicately shielded his beard as he drank off the glass of wine and—when again no servant appeared— poured himself another.
    Jadar remained expressionless.
    "My reports give you only five thousand men left, most chelas . Chelas, from the Hindu slang for "slave," was a reference to the mercenary troops, taken in childhood and raised in the camp, that commanders maintained as a kernel of their forces. Unlike soldiers from the villages, they were loyal even in misfortune, because they literally had no place to return to. "What troops do you have from the mansabdars , who've been granted stipends from their jagir estate revenue to maintain men and horse?"
    "Those were the ones I mean, Highness." Ghulam Adl's hand trembled slightly as he again lifted the wineglass. "The mansabdars have assured me we have only to sound the call, and their men will muster. In due time."
    "Then pay is not in arrears for their men and cavalry?"
    "Highness, it's well known pay must always be in arrears. How else are men's loyalties to be guaranteed? A commander foolish enough to pay his troops on time will lose them at the slightest setback, since they have no reason to remain with him in adversity." Ghulam Adl eased his wineglass on the carpet and bent forward. "I concede some of the mansabdars may have allowed matters of pay to slip longer than is wise. But they assure me that when the time is right their men will muster nonetheless."
    "Then why not call the muster? In another twenty days Ambar's troops will be encamped at our doorstep. He could well control all lands south of the Narbada River."
    And that, Ghulam Adl smiled to himself, is precisely the plan.
    He thought of the arrangement that had been worked out. Jadar was to be kept in Burhanpur for another three weeks, delayed by any means possible. By then Malik Ambar would have the city surrounded, all access cut off. The Imperial troops would be isolated and demoralized. No troops would be forthcoming from the mansabdars . Only promises of troops. Cut off from Agra and provisions, Jadar would have no choice but to sign a treaty. The paper had already been prepared. Malik Ambar would rule the Deccan from his new capital at Ahmadnagar, and Ghulam Adl would be appointed governor of all provinces north from Ahmadnagar to the Narbada River. With their combined troops holding the borders, no Moghul army could ever again challenge the Deccan. Ghulam Adl knew the mansabdars would support him, because he had offered to cut their taxes in half. He had neglected to specify for how long.
    "I respectfully submit the time for muster is premature, Highness. Crops are not yet in. The revenues of the mansabdars' jagir estates will suffer if men are called now." Ghulam Adl shifted uncomfortably.
    "They'll have no revenues at all if they don't muster immediately. I'll confiscate the jagir of any mansabdar who has not mustered his men and cavalry within seven days." Jadar watched Ghulam Adl's throat muscles tense, and he asked himself if a jagir granted by the Moghul could be legally confiscated. Probably not. But the threat would serve to reveal loyalties, and reveal them quickly.
    "But there's no possible way to pay the men now, Highness." Ghulam Adl easily retained his poise. Hold firm and this aspiring young upstart will waver and then agree. Give him numbers. First make it sound hopeless, then show him a way he can still win. "There's not enough silver in all the Deccan. Let me give you some idea of the problem. Assume it would require a year's back pay to muster the troops, not unreasonable since most of the