‘You got it,’ said Kartik. ‘Also, it will have credibility in Surapadman’s eyes, for that’s what he would expect a smart enemy to do. I do not see him underestimating us.’

‘But what would stop him from just turning around and sailing back to Magadh?’

‘Turning a large fleet of ships around in a river is easier said than done, especially if one is short of time. But even if Surapadman manages to do so, and speeds down the river to reach Magadh before us, he would know that our army could simply stop marching and not appear at the gates of his city. His own Magadhans may then believe that Surapadman ran away from the battle at Ayodhya using the false pretext of Magadh itself being in danger. A crown prince cannot afford to be perceived as a coward. So he would have no choice but to attack us here itself. What do you think?’

‘I like the plan,’ said Bhagirath. ‘It should work with a good general like Surapadman, for he will have scouts riding along the river banks to keep him informed of what’s going on. We have to be sure to attack those scouts but allow some of them to escape with information about the size of our army. Also, our camp in the forest stretches up to two kilometres. When their ships pass our position, we should have soldiers disturb the birds on top of the trees at the beginning of our camp. Also, we could have some fires left “carelessly” aflame towards the end of our camp. Judging the vast distance between these two signals, Surapadman would assume that there is a massive enemy army marching south along the river bank. He would be forced to attack.’

‘Right.’

‘Let’s have some devil boats on the western bank as well.’

‘But the battle will be fought here on the west bank,’ said Kartik, frowning. ‘Their men would engage in battle here and our fire coracles would be clearly visible. Devil boats can set fire to ships only when they have an element of surprise. If they are visible then they can be easily sunk. That’s why I have set up the devil boats on the eastern banks.’

‘The fighting would happen on our side,’ said Bhagirath. ‘But Surapadman would be forced to land his men on the sands of the Bal-Atibal Kund, and nowhere else on the western side. It’s almost impossible to land men in large numbers in the dense forest which runs along the river farther north. So if we keep our coracles up north, they would remain hidden from enemy eyes. As soon as his ships anchor to investigate our position, we’ll attack them at the north end of his convoy.’

‘Good point. I’ll issue those orders.’