WAR UPDATE.
(Present to hear: Cāṇakya, Candragupta, Pāṇini, Apratimaujas, Daṇḍaśarman, Śrībhānu, the walls of the University of Takṣaśilā)
In the Eastern theatre, in Magadha—
As you know, Pabbata has by now lived among the people for seven years, gaining popularity among them and influencing their sentiment to be sympathetic to me and to the Vedic culture. Now with the assassination of his father, and conspiracy theories blaming Augraseniya or Sakadala as the culprit – or even that they are both in cahoots and only pretending to war, Pabbata has started to campaign in the countryside, and has already captured numerous forts.
I have been informed by one of my spies that some of the Magadhas, associating all three parties to the Civil War with the Brāhmaṇas whom they still despise, have taken to a fourth leader: an army general named Kalmasanghri of Rajagriha, who claims all the events underway to be the conspiracy of the Brāhmaṇas. I have reason to believe, however, that there is no cause to fear him.
Between Sakadala and Augraseniya, the treasury and most of the bureaucracy are favourable to Sakadala, while the palace-keepers and judiciary are favourable to Augraseniya; parts of the military are favourable to either side, while the majority wishes to unite against Pabbata as a common enemy.
Augraseniya correctly sees the treasury’s support for Sakadala as a threat, and will surely have most of the treasury-keepers executed – but he will do so in secret, so that it does not become known that the treasury is unguarded. Expecting this, I have made a plan that I will describe to you in brief: apparently operating on behalf of Sakadala, one spy in the army will launch an attack on the palace, apparently threatening the treasury but in reality focusing to sabotage the dams, sluices, all other machines controlling the flow of water, and the bridges; frightened, Augraseniya will attempt to have the treasury’s wealth relocated quickly to Rajagriha, where support for him is more secure; but in doing so, they will have to cross the river; spies in the army will pursue them, causing them to be hasty to leave the city; they will then be ambushed by Pabbata at the river, who will seize from them what wealth he can and cast the rest into the water. We may expect a great amount of labour to be spent into salvaging this wealth from the river – but it will take a long time for any significant amount of wealth to be retrieved, by when we will have won the war.
In the Central theatre, in the Central Country—
As you know, there are three events of significance that have given us almost a free hand in operating our spying activities in the occupied Central Country.
One, the extensive troubles in Magadha, and my extraction of the majority of the vassal state armies into the West to fight the Greeks, have left the Central Country almost unguarded in a sense. Not so unguarded that Magadha would allow a military invasion of the country, but it will overlook, or lacks the capacity to identify and stop, destabilizing activities. The problem with the Magadhis’ tyrannical approach to ruling is that simply executing the ruling noble families does not replace the underlying state infrastructure, which remains at least subconsciously sympathetic to the cause of overthrowing Magadhi rule. Thus we have, by inducing popular gossip, ignited new topics of discussion among the people: reminiscing about the past, instilling self-pride, tales of being saved by a messiah or hero, and need for unity against invaders such as the Greeks and other barbarians. I have, through such debates, pushed our people to be respected in society. This, along with the fact that much of their armies are currently under Candragupta’s command, will surely aid in inciting the states of the Central Country to betray Magadha at the time we will need them to.
Two, my provocation of Magadha into starting a trade war with the Ayudhajivi states has effectively closed Magadha off not only to trade, but also to information. Already due to their troubles, they are neglecting the importance of conveying as much information as is necessary to even maintain an empire; with the natural movement of traders stopped, we are able to keep track of who traverses the Northern Highway, and what information Magadha receives about the war in the Western theatre. This will also be of crucial importance to us later when we attack Magadha – for it will enable us to send falsified information about the war to each vassal, telling them that the remaining vassals have surrendered, or that Magadha has fallen, and so on.
Three, acquiring the Seal of the Peacock has given me magical powers. Or so at least I am able to convince many into believing. I am running a large financial scam – or rather, what would be a financial scam if we do not win this war, and end up unable to pay back these loans – where I simply promise each investor double his investment, and pay him off with the next investor’s money. Some believe this is possible for me because the Seal of the Peacock has granted me a great knowledge of alchemy, for Mathura has always been a centre for the study of alchemy; other believe it because I have successfully paid back some of the first investors; and a few see that it is a scam but think they can profit off it anyway, or correctly expect us to win the war and pay them back with tax money.
In the Western theatre, in Punjab—
Having sent away the armies of the Mallas and Kāśī, which are much more loyal to the Magadhi leadership, to the Greeks as part of the exchange agreement, the armies of the remaining vassals can almost be said to be ours. They are aware of the Civil War in Magadha and wish to play no part of it, instead choosing to place their faith in Candragupta’s leadership. They will stay under our command, as long as we can find a suitable excuse to keep them.
Possessing command of such a mighty army and having been the ones to retake their territory from the Greeks, our rule over Punjab, Sindh and the mountainous regions are uncontested by the local rulers. To make sure that they stay loyal, do not attempt to collaborate with our enemies, and do not interfere with our plans, I am instituting spies and other instruments to project our imperial sovereignty in these countries. There is no doubt that any of them could send messages to Magadha about our deceit – but due to our control over the Northern Highway, we can also send conflicting messages, and because Magadha is currently polarized in a Civil War, the choice of which messages to believe will start to organize themselves randomly by party lines, with or without our spies there actively fanning the flame.
Make no mistake of it: if I wished to destroy the Magadhi empire today, I could do it – that is how unstable it is. But doing so would not grant me the power I seek – and it is not desirable to let others gain power, for it is completely unpredictable what they may do with it. Thus all our endeavours from this point forward are in the interest of ensuring the stability of our future empire.
