Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/169

 CHAP. VII.] ARMY OF RECOVERY. 139

from Qandahar stating that the Shah had arrived and begun the siege exactly a month before. Orders were immediately sent to Aurang- zib and the prime minister Sadullah Khan, to hasten to Qandahar with 50,000 men. A bounty of Rs. 100 was paid for every trooper who joined the expedition, while the commanders and ahadis got three months' pay in advance.*

The troops moved in two divisions,-under Sadullah Khan from Lahore and under Aurangzib from Multan,

and met together at Bhera. Thence the Prince himself advanced by way of Bangash, Kohat, Jamrud and Jalalabad, arriving at Kabul on 25th March, while the progress of the army was delayed by the snow on the roads and the lack of fodder for the beasts of transport. Meantime Qandahar had fallen, and Aurangzib's new orders were to push on and besiege the fort before the Persians could consolidate their conquest. The Emperor himself proceeded to Kabul to support and direct the siege from the rear.

Leaving Kabul (on 5th April) after a halt of eleven days, Aurangzib reached Ghazni on the 18th, where the absolute want of grain and fodder


 * Waris, 23a and b, 27a.