Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/197

 MISJUDGED PLANS OF CONQUEST 161 The fourth project which diminished his treasure and so brought distress upon the country, was his design of conquering Khorasan and Irak. In pursu- ance of this object, vast sums were lavished upon the officials and leading men of those countries. These great men came to him with insinuating proposals and deceitful representations, and as far as they knew how, or were able, they robbed the throne of its wealth. The coveted countries, however, were not acquired, and those which he already possessed were lost, while his treasure, which is the true source of political power, w r as spent. The fifth project was the raising of an immense army for the campaign against Khorasan. Three hun-

dred and seventy thousand horse were enrolled in the muster-master's office and were supported and paid for a whole year; but as they were not employed in war and conquest or enabled to maintain themselves on plunder, there was not sufficient in the treasury or in the feudal estates to support them when the next year came round. The army broke up; each man took his own course and engaged in his own occupations. But hundreds and thousands of rupees had been thus expended from the treasury. The sixth project, which inflicted a heavy loss upon the army, was the design which Mohammad Taghlak formed of capturing the mountain of Kara-jal. His plan was that, as he had undertaken the conquest of Khorasan, he would first bring under the dominion of Islam this mountain, which lies between the terri-