Later Mughals v2.c17.s7.8

v2.c17.s7.8

The governor of Kabul had sent repeated applications to the Emperor for money to pay his troops; but nobody paid any heed to them, as the faction opposed to him was now in power at Court and the Emperor never exercised his own judgment nor personally looked into any business. The soldiers posted in the province starved as their salary for five years was in arrears. Ill-fed, ill-equipped, ill-armed through poverty, they pressed the subahdar to pay them at least one year's dues out of the five, so that they might satisfy their creditors to some extent and have a little left over for the expenses of marching. Nasir Khan used to reassure them by saying "Friends! why this anxiety? I have written to the Emperor and also to my agent at Court, and the money is sure to come to-morrow if not to-day." When his agent presented the application to Khan Dauran the Amir-ul-umara, and in fear and trembling described the alarming situation in Afghanistan, that noble replied in derision, "Do you think that I am a petty simpleton that I shall be impressed by such a tale as yours? Our houses are built on the plain; we do not fear anything except what we can see with our own eyes. Your houses stand on lofty hills, and therefore you have probably sighted Mongol and Qizilbash armies from the roofs of your houses! Reply to your master that we are writing for money to the governor of Bengal; and when the Bengal revenue arrives after the rainy season, the money due will be quickly sent to Kabul."* [Anandram, 11-12.]