befriended another Frenchman, Marchand (a subordinate of Jacques Law), who later became captain of the French force under Yusuf Khan in Madurai. Whether Yusuf Khan was dismissed from this job or left on his own is unclear. He left Pondicherry, for Tanjore and joined the Tanjorean army as a sepoy (foot soldier). Education and early career Around this time, an English captain named Brunton educated Yusuf Khan, making him proficient in English. From Tanjore he moved to Nellore (in present-day Andhra Pradesh), to try his hand as a native physician under Mohammed Kamal, in addition to his career in the army. He moved up the ranks as Thandalgar (tax collector), Havildar and finally as a Subedar and that is how he is referred to in the English records ('Nellore Subedar' or 'Nellore'). He later enlisted under Chanda Sahib who was then the Nawab of Arcot. While staying in Arcot he fell in love with a 'Portuguese' Christian (a loose term for a person of mixed Indo-European descent or Luso-Indian) girl named Marcia or Marsha, and married her. Carnatic wars In 1751, there was an ongoing struggle for the throne of Arcot, between Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah, who was the son of the previous Nawab of Arcot Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan, and his relative Chanda Sahib. The former sought the help of British and the latter the French. Chanda Sahib initially succeeded, forcing Muhammad Ali to escape to the rock-fort in Tiruchirapalli which was put under siege. Ensign Robert Clive led a small English force of 300 soldiers on a diversionary attack on Arcot, and Chanda Sahib dispatched a 10,000-strong force under his son Raza Sahib, aided by the Nellore Army of which Yusuf Khan was a Subedar. At Arcot, and later at Kaveripakkam, Chanda Sahib's son was badly defeated by Clive, and Chanda Sahib withdrew and was killed. The East India Company quickly installed Muhammad Ali as the Nawab of Arcot and most of Chanda Sahib's native forces defected to the British. Under Major Stringer Lawrence, Yusuf Khan was trained in the European method of warfare and displayed a talent for military tactics and strategy. Over the next decade, as the British East India Company continued to fight the French East India Company in the Carnatic Wars, Yusuf Khan's guerrilla tactics, repeatedly cutting the French lines of supply, greatly hampered the French efforts. By 1760, Yusuf Khan had reached the zenith