Later Mughals v1.c7.s2.6

v1.c7.s2.6

In two or three days' time a large force of soldiers, some of long service but most of them greedy mercenaries, had been collected, and the artillery had been strengthened by the guns removed from the city walls. Three of the very largest guns were removed from the fort, each being dragged by two hundred and fifty oxen aided by five or six elephants, and it was ten days before the distance to camp was covered. One of these was sent to Rafi-ush-shan and one to Jahan Shah. When everything was ready, the three Princes left their old positions and encamped close to each other in a wide and open plain. Azim-ush-shan all this time never left the shelter of his earthen entrenchments, but contented himself with the daily discharge of a gun or two. On their side, the three Princes advanced daily at the rate of about one-eighth of a kos, or one-third of a mile, encamping each evening on the ground where they stood, and keeping an active look-out for fear of a night attack. In these nightly halts many of the new troops left the army, and it almost looked as if Jahandar Shah would be forced to retreat without fighting. But Zulfiqar Khan and Abdus-samad Khan exerted themselves to keep the men together. At length, early in the month of Safar (1st Safar 1124 H. = 9th March 1712), they pitched their camp not far from the entrenchment of Azim-ush-shan. For another two or three days, an artillery duel was maintained, and from time to time Azim-ush-shan's men made sallies and engaged the outposts of the attacking army. [Kamwar, 107 ; Nur. 28.]