935 AH. SEP. 15th 1528 TO SEP. 5th 1529 AD. 669
but on Saturday {21st) summoned the begs for consultation and said, "As it has been reported that there are (no?) crossing-places (fords?) along the whole of the ground from Chatur-muk in Sikandarpur to Baralch and Aud,1 let us, while seated here, assign the large force to cross at the Haldl-passage by boat and from there to come down on the enemy ; let Ustad 'All-qull and Mustafa engage battle with gun {top), matchlock, culverin and firing!, and by this draw the enemy out before 'Askarl comes up.2 Let us after crossing the river (Ganges) and assigning reinforcement to Ustad 'All-qull, take our stand ready for whatever comes; if 'Askari's troops get near, let us fling attack from where we are, cross over and assault; let Muhammad-i-zaman Mirza and those appointed to act with him, engage battle from near Mustafa on the other side of Gang."
The matter having been left at this, the force for the north of the Gang was formed into four divisions to start under 'Askari's command for the Haldl-passage. One division was of 'Askarl and his retainers ; another was SI. Jalalu'd-dTn Sharqi; another was of the Auzbeg sultans Qasim-i-husain Sultan, Bl-khub Sultan and Tang-aTtmlsh Sultan, together with Mahmud Khan Nuhdni of GhazTpur, Baba Qashqa's Kuki, Tulmlsh Auzbeg, Qurban of Chlrkh, and the Darya-khanis led by Hasan Khan ; another was of Musa SI. {Farmuli) and SI. Junaid with what-not of the Junpur army, some 20,000 men. Officers were appointed to oversee the getting of the force to horse that very night, that is to say, the night of Sunday.3
{May 1st) The army began to cross Gang at the dawn of Sunday {S/ia'bdn 22nd); I went over by boat at the 1st watch (6a.m.). Zard-rul and his party came in at mid-day; the ford itself they had not found but they brought news of boats and of having met on the road the army gettingMear them.4
* The preceding sentence is imperfect and varies in the MSS. The 1st Pers. trs., the wording of which is often explanatory, says that there were no passages, which, as there were many ferries, will mean fords. The Haldl-guzr where 'Askari was to cross, will have been far below the lowest Babur mentions, viz. Chatur-muk (Chaupara).
2 This passage presuppo ses that guns in Kharid could hit the hostile camp in Saran. If the river narrowed here as it does further north, the Ghazi mortar, which seems to have been the only one Babur had with him, would have carried across, since it threw a stone 1,600 paces (qadam, f. 309). Cf. Reid's Report quoted above.
3 Anglice, Saturday after 6 p.m.
4 yaqin bulghan fauj, var. la'in bulghan fauj, the army appointed (to cross). The boats will be those collected at the Haldi-ferry, and the army 'Askari's.
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