The History of Shēr Shāh (Tārīkh-i Shērshāhī) 4.4.5

4.4.5

and if any business of the king's should meanwhile occur, it behoves us to exert ourselves in its settlement more than all others." At length the opinion of these Afgháns was adopted by all, and they wrote an account of their state and sent it. Their vakíl had not yet arrived when Sher Shah's spies reported the circumstances of Shuja'at Khan's quarrel with the 2000 remonstrants to Sher Shah. On hearing the news, Sher Shah was enraged, and sending for Shuja'at Khan's vakil, said to him, "Write to Shuja'at, and say: — 'You were poor, and I ennobled you, and put under you Afghans better than yourself. Are you not satisfied with the revenue of your government, that you covet the rights of the soldiery? and are you without any shame before the people or any fear of God; and have you violated my regulations which I have enacted and promulgated for this very purpose, that the chief's rights and those of his soldiery might be distinct, and that the chiefs might respect the rights of the soldiers! If you were not a protégé of my own, I would strip off your skin; but I pardon you this first fault. Do you, before their vakil reaches me, appease your soldiery, and give them a satisfactory answer; if not, and their vakil comes and complains to me, I will resume your jágírs, and arrest and punish you severely. It does not behove nobles to disobey their master's orders, for this occasions the loss to him of his honour and authority.'"