In March of the following year both Allard and Ventura commanded the Maharaja's troops in the Battle of Nowshera, where they defeated the Afghan army and captured Peshawar. Following a rebellion in Afghanistan, Ventura commanded several difficult campaigns and greatly expanded the boundaries of the kingdom of Punjab. Along with Jean-Francois Allard, Paolo Avitabile, and Claude Auguste Court, Ventura formed a group of European officers responsible for modernizing the Sikh army and training and commanding the Fauj-i-Khas, the European-model brigade of which Ventura was the commander. Ventura was highly esteemed by the Maharaja, and in addition to the rank of General he was appointed kazi (i.e., Supreme Judge), and Governor of Lahore. He quickly rose through the ranks of the court and became the de facto Commander in Chief of the Darbar forces. Ventura married in Ludhiana Anna Moses, a lady of Armenian origin by whom he had a daughter Victorine, but he always wanted to return to his country of origin. In 1838 he went on a diplomatic mission to Paris and London, but was called back to Lahore before he had time to visit his family in Italy. An educated and eclectic man, he devoted himself to archeology, and in 1830 he was the first ever to explore a stupa, that of Manikyala, where he recovered numerous coins and relics, some of which are now on display at the British Museum in the King Edward the 7th Gallery. He spent his spare time in Peshawar exhuming Bactrian Greek and Kushan coins from Hindu temples and Buddhist stupas in the Khyber Pass, making numerous excavations then sending the findings on to the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. He served faithfully under Ranjit Singh and his successors Kharak Singh, Nau Nihal Singh, and Sher Singh. Upon Maharaja Sher Siṅgh's assassination in September 1843, he left the Punjab. Later life In France, he presented King Louis Philippe with a set of ancient Greek coins which he had unearthed. These coins were taken as evidence of Alexander the Great's march through Afghanistan and the Sindh-Punjab region of ancient India. In his later years he lost a part of his large fortune in unsuccessful commercial enterprises. According to Flaminio Servi, Ventura was baptized toward the end of his life. He died on 3 April 1858 in Lardenne, near Toulouse, France. Awards He received the French Legion of Honour from the king Louis