The Sun and the Lion

Time kept flowing, and Ibrahim, who was waiting for the opportunity, suddenly received a report from the guard, claiming that an unidentified messenger requested an audience with the King of Kings.

"First ask who his master is." Ibrahim planned to tidy up his appearance, but then he thought that he was just a messenger, not a formal diplomatic envoy.

The guard who went to ask questions returned: "Your Majesty, he said that his master is Babur, the emir of Gureganni."

"Babur?" Ibrahim suppressed his inner question first: "Bring the letter."

Opening the letter, Ibrahim browsed it carefully. The text of the letter is very short and simple, without any rhetoric. The summary of the content is - the city of Samarkand is being besieged by Shaibani Khan, and I am in urgent need of reinforcements to fight against him.

Ibrahim, who had been paying close attention to the situation in the river, certainly knew what was happening at this time.

Since Babur sent troops, the situation in the river has been like a pot of hummus. When his troops were marching towards Samarkand, some Beks who had defected from Ali went to Babur and said they were willing to dedicate the city. However, soon after accepting them, some people from Babur's team defected back to Samarkand. Markhan told Ali the plan to dedicate the city.

Seeing that the original plan failed due to Ali's warning, Babur also learned that Shaibani Khan set out from Bukhara to attack Samarkand, so he turned to Keshi City, where some of the Bek families in Samarkand lived. ——Stand and observe the situation. There he learned about the conquest of Samarkand by Shabani Khan.

Shaibani Khan did not seize the city through violence, but purely in exchange for credit. Ali's mother saw that the Uzbeks were powerful and believed that the power in Samarkand was not enough to fight them, so she secretly sent an envoy to negotiate with Shabani Khan.

She offered Shaibani Khan the conditions for dedicating the city - to give Ali a fief and marry her as his wife. The envoy who received a positive reply let Shabbani Khan into the city, but he did not intend to fulfill the agreement and killed Ali and Hezhuo who openly opposed Shaibani Khan, causing the city of Samarkand to boil.

Samarkand, which was originally regarded as a treasure by Babur, was cut off by the Uzbeks, and Shabani Khan also cut off Babur's original route back to Fergana.

Babur boldly returned to Samarkand and learned through reconnaissance that Shaibani Khan divided the garrison into three parts. There were only five or six hundred people left in the city to maintain order, a main force of about thousands of cavalry and another partial division of unknown size. They were stationed outside Samarkand.

So he launched a night attack with a small army of less than a thousand people under his command. The Uzbeks within the city walls were killed and the entire army was wiped out. Only the officers fled to the Khan's tent outside the city to report.

After learning the news, Shabani Khan tried to attack Samarkand, but Babur, who had the support of the citizens, easily dealt with it. He had to withdraw his troops to Bukhara first. It's just that the Uzbeks couldn't give up. After being prepared for a long-term siege, Shaibani Khan officially sent troops to Samarkand.

Babur, who had received reinforcements from Fergana and Tashkent, drifted away. With an army of five thousand in hand, he took the initiative to fight with him in the field. Then he was taught a lesson by Shabani Khan, and less than a hundred people fled back to Samarkand with him. .

In desperation, Babur had no choice but to mobilize the people in the city to help defend the city and deploy the remaining troops to the city fortifications. At the same time, he sent letters of request for help to other surrounding lords.

Ibrahim, who was as far away as Merv, could receive his call for help. It was true that he was seriously ill and had to seek medical treatment.

Seeing this, Ibrahim knew that the opportunity he had been waiting for had come. He first summoned the quartermaster to ask about the status of the army: "How is the army's recruitment and supply work done now?"

The skilled quartermaster then explained various indicators that Ibrahim was most concerned about. At this time, there were about 42,000 Safavid troops stationed in Merv, the main force of which was still red-headed. After excluding the previous battle losses and the troops left to the governor, there were 24 regiments with a rated strength of 24 regiments after replenishment. Twenty-four thousand.

The standing army has been expanded, and the instructors Ibrahim left in Tabriz have been executing his orders to expand the army and recruited many new soldiers for training. And during his expedition, Safavid's firearms manufacturing capabilities were further developed. A new batch of European firearms craftsmen arrived in Iran and trained more Iranian craftsmen. With the continued support of the palace, Safavid's firearms manufacturing capabilities were further developed. The firearms manufacturing industry has snowballed.

The new standing army arrived at Merv with more arquebuses on horses and mules to be reorganized by Ibrahim. At this time, the Model Army and Ghulam each had 5 infantry regiments and 2 cavalry regiments. The artillery originally commanded by Salman was also reorganized into 2 artillery regiments.

An artillery regiment had 25 artillery pieces and a total of 500 gunners and auxiliary personnel. Ibrahim did not intend to mix field guns and mortars. He believed that there was no need to use mortars in this battle, so he temporarily sealed them in May. Wolf's warehouse. Salman was promoted to the main camp and appointed to a new position with uncertain powers - director of artillery, while two of his deputies were promoted to commanders in charge of artillery regiments. Find bookstore www.zhaoshuyuan.com

In this way, the standing army has a total of 15,000 soldiers and 50 snake cannons.

The composition of these Safavid troops is very pure. This time they did not hire irregular troops. Apart from the red-headed and standing troops, they were bow-wielders.

The quartermaster also reported on the status of military supplies. The Safavid army has always had a shortage of pack animals for transportation, and the required military supplies can also rely on the handicraft industries of various cities in Khorasan.

Grain and grass were raised by plundering grain merchants and storing grain in various places. This caused the price of grain to rise in various places in Khorasan, but what is this damage compared to the ambition of the King of Kings?

After making sure that all the preparations were done, Ibrahim summoned senior military officers to discuss sending troops for the last time.

"Your Majesty." They saluted Ibrahim and waited for him to preside over the meeting.

"Not long ago, a messenger from Samarkand came to Merv..." Ibrahim showed Babur's letter asking for help to everyone and asked the clerk present to read it in public. Then continued: "I think this is undoubtedly a great opportunity for intervention that Huda has given me, and there is no reason for us to waste it."

Since they knew that the King of Kings was paying close attention to the situation in the river, the senior military officers were also very enthusiastic about the matter. They were also aware of the conflict between Shaibani Khan and Babur. Therefore, Ibrahim did not need any additional explanation for them to understand.

"Your Majesty, do you mean to help Babur expel the Uzbeks? In that case, it is not too harsh to let you possess Bukhara and Khwarezm in return."

Ibrahim nodded. This time he was heading north to fight the Uzbeks anyway. He would not get much meat by forming an alliance with Shabani Khan, but the weak Babur could be ravaged by him.