Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c15.s2.22

v1.c15.s2.22

Next day, the Afghans marched away towards the Shālāmār gardens. Muin then crossed over to the Lahor side of the Ravi and formed an entrenchment outside the city. The war now entered on the stalemate stage. The Abdali could neither storm Lahor on account of his lack of artillery, nor drive Muin out of his trenches, and Muin too had not a sufficiently large mobile force to enable him to sally out and seek a decision with the Afghans in the open. The patrols on the two sides had frequent brushes. Ahmad every day sent out strong detachments which systematically ravaged the country for forty miles on each hand, so that "no lamp was lighted in any house for a distance of three marches and grain became exceedingly dear." (Miskin, 14.)