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134 and assassination—the calm before the storm. The Khalsa prepared for the war with enthusiasm. They would take Delhi, sack it to pay off old scores, plunder the other rich cities of India, march to Calcutta and even to London! They were as well armed as the British, and could bring on the ground a preponderating force of men and guns; an initial victory would certainly be theirs, and then they would be joined by the Sikh states across the Sutlej. Such were their boasts. The glamour was soon dispelled. Only the iron hand of a Ranjit Singh could then have saved them from rushing to their ruin, but there was no one of such a calibre among them now. The chief sardars had gained affluence and lost moral force; the army was venal; and the arrogant ignorant punches, the military councils, ruled the Khalsa, which, deprived of the guidance of the European officers whom they had discarded, dashed itself against the British ranks in fierce but unavailing efforts to overcome them.