Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c9.s1.25

v1.c9.s1.25

They wanted to know the terms of pay and service first, and were moreover not free from the suspicion that this invitation was a ruse of Alivardi to get them into his power and then crush them with ease. To settle the question more quickly and also to reassure their minds, Zainuddin asked them to come to Hājipur, opposite Patna and on their side of the Ganges. Leaving Dārbhangā on 10th December, 1747, they reached Hājipur on the 16th and remained encamped there for a fortnight, while negotiations were being constantly exchanged with the governor in Patna. Zainuddin, blinded by his eagerness to secure these valuable soldiers and make friends with their powerful leaders, visited them in their camp at Hājipur quite unattended, and when early in January 1748 they came over to Patna and halted in Jafar Khān’s garden, he ordered the guards to be removed from their path and also from his palace of *Chihil satun*, in order to leave no ground for suspicion in the minds of the Afghāns.