Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s14.12

v2.c27.s14.12

He next turned to Shujā, who was reputed to be the richest prince in Hindustan after the Jāt Rajah. Early in August he told the Nawāb, "You are a grandee, with two *krores'* worth of territory under you. I am hard pressed by the increasing arrears of my soldiers' pay. Make some arrangement for it." The request was a veiled threat of extortion, and Shujā in consequence had a rupture with Najib who had induced him to come within Abdālī's clutches, and the Nawāb in his inner council repented of having chosen the Afghan side. In addition to this want of money and foodstuffs, the monsoon months are unusually unhealthy in the Doāb. In the cantonments at Anupshahar ten thousand of his horses camels and mules had perished of disease by the midddle of September, and more were dying daily. [Raj. i. 247, 246.]