Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/401

CHAP. XIV.] his army was swollen to 30,000 picked troopers, besides Mir Jumla's excellent train of cannon served by English and French gunners.

Aurangzib was even stronger in officers than in men and material. During his rule of the Deccan he had gathered round himself a band of very able servants, all attached to him by gratitude and some by personal affection. They did him signal service during the contest for the throne, often giving up their lives in stemming the enemy's onset in the hard fights of the War of Succession. Those who survived naturally rose to the highest offices, and were at once the pillars of his throne and ornaments of his Court during the early years of his reign. Such were Murshid Quli Khan the diwan, Shaikh Mir the warrior and confidential adviser, Aqil Khan Razi the equery and personal attendant, Qabil Khan the facile and trusty secretary, Khan-i-Zaman the energetic Inspector of Ordnance, Muhammad Tahir, a veteran captain raised to the peerage as Wazir Khan, the faithful envoy Isa Beg (created Mukhlis Khan), the highborn and experienced Shamsuddin Mukhtar Khan,