"I'm glad to hear it. It means my Rajputs will be invincible tomorrow." Jadar flipped the katar in his hand and dropped it into is leather sheath. "By the way, I understand you failed to master the bow. But let's talk about something more important. Perhaps you can be of help after all. I'm sure you realize. Captain, that a commander must always understand two things. He must know his own strengths, and he must know the strengths of those who oppose him. But he can really only know one of these for sure. He can never know exactly what he will meet." Jadar paused. "Tell me, if you were Inayat Latif, how would you deploy the Imperial army tomorrow?"
"What do you mean?"
"How would you choose to attack? The position of infantry, cavalry, elephants is never exactly the same in any battle. For example, often the front line is held by rows of infantry. The first row will be men wearing plate armor— which is much heavier than the usual steel netting—forming a protective wall with special broad shields. They are always excellent archers. Behind these will be another row, wearing only helmets and breastplates, and armed with swords and pikes. The third row is infantry with swords, bows, and axes. The fourth carries lances and swords. The rows are segmented, so those behind can see ahead, and cavalry can get through."
"That deployment would mean a slow-moving attack, and a very bloody fight."
"Precisely. That's why many commanders prefer to use their cavalry as the vanguard. Horsemen can move faster, and they can more easily avoid defense barricades."
Hawksworth looked at Jadar, wishing he could see his eyes. "But cavalry can be cut to ribbons with small artillery. Is it wise to charge with your cavalry if your enemy has heavy gun emplacements?"
He heard Jadar laugh. "You may make a commander yet. You see, Inayat Latif will naturally assume our camp is
heavily defended. Now although it's considered questionable manners to attack a camp at night, your manners become excusable if you attack at early dawn, even though it's still dark. I've known of attacks occurring almost half a pahar before dawn. What's that in European measure? An hour, an hour and a half?"
"But if it's still dark, how can you see the enemy's lines?"
"You can see them if your enemy's camp has been negligent enough to leave a few fires burning." Jadar smiled as he paused to let the words sink. "But now let's examine the third possibility. Leading the attack with your elephants. Elephant armor is steel plate and it can withstand everything except heavy cannon. If you can entice your foe into firing his biggest artillery before you charge, then you can send a wave of war elephants and devastate his gunners before their cannon cool enough to reload. Since it can take at least half a pahar for a large cannon to cool, large guns are rarely fired more than once in a battle. And never after your cavalry has moved out. Leading the vanguard with war elephants always entails danger, since if they panic, they can turn around and trample your own infantry, but in this case it's probably worth the risk."