Chahar gulzar-i Shujaʿi 7.5

7.5

The next day the Nawab could not drive the English from it. In these same days, the wet season commenced, and rain began to fall. The place where the tents of the Emperor and Shuja'u-d daula were pitched being low, and water having collected there, it was considered unfit for the camp, and His Majesty and the Nawab retreated to Baksar, which is thirty kos east of Benares. When the rains were over, in consequence of the war having been prolonged for several months, and the collection of the revenues from the provinces which belonged to Shuja'u-d daula having been delayed on account of the expedition, and as the army which was newly enlisted by the Emperor and the Nawab for this war with the English, as well as the veteran troops, began to demand their pay, the Emperor and the Nawab asked Kasim 'Ali Khan for the money which he had promised for the expenses of the army. But he evaded payment by frivolous excuses. As the demand for arrears created a mutinous spirit in the army, and as Kasim 'Ali Khan, notwithstanding that he was importuned and entreated to pay the money, would not come to a right understanding, but resorted to unfair and dishonest expedients, the Emperor and the Nawab took harsh measures against him, and having called him from his tent, put him under the custody of a guard. Whatever property of his they could lay their hands on, such as elephants and horses, they sold, and paid the army from the proceeds.