Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c10.s4.5

v1.c10.s4.5

After murdering Nādir at midnight, the Qizilbāsh conspirators planned to keep the fact a secret from the rest of the army till next morning, in order to attack his favoured Afghān troops by surprise, crush them and plunder their camp, and then seize all the property of the late king without a sharer. But so great a secret could not be kept. Ahmad heard of it before morning, stood on his defence during the rest of the night, and early next morning marched in battle array towards Nādir’s tent. There he found the Qizilbāsh soldiers and camp-followers engaged in indiscriminate plunder. The Uzbak and Afghān contingents at once plunged into the game and ‘‘in four hours from the dawn no trace remained on the ground of the tents and property of Nādir Shāh. Everything had been dispersed and had disappeared’’. [Mujmil, 20-21; Jahānkushā 461.]