The Sun and the Lion

In addition to communicating with family members, the King of Kings also has some business to deal with. Mamluk envoys had arrived in Tabriz, bringing with them the goodwill of Saladin's castle to congratulate the King of Kings on his victory.

Before receiving the envoy from Egypt, Ibrahim specifically asked the foreign vizier to get the reports sent back to the country by the Aleppo consul during his personal expedition, so as to have a general understanding of the political situation within the Mamluks.

In the world of heaven, this regime with rich territory from Egypt to Syria can indeed be called a giant. It wiped out the remnants of the Crusaders in the Levant, resisted the Mongol invasion, hijacked the Abbasid Caliphate, and guarded the Three Holy Lands to protect the pilgrimage route. She has accumulated supreme prestige. With these political assets and the Red Sea trade routes she controls, no one doubts her international status to this day.

But this power is not like a typical feudal regime. Although Malik has the same powerful power as other monarchs, he is different in terms of inheritance. No family can own Saladin Castle for a long time.

Serious factional struggles within the Mamluks influenced the selection of rulers. Any foreign slave who disembarked from the ship and joined the Mamluk group was likely to be pushed to the throne by his or her faction.

It just so happens that for Ibrahim and Bayezid, there has not been a Mamluk monarch recently who can hold power for decades as firmly as Qatebe, let alone another one who can bring a little bit of Mamluk to the world. The Baibars and his like were shocked.

This time the Mamluk envoy did not condemn Ibrahim for persecuting his Sunni compatriots. He only celebrated his victory in the East in a formulaic manner, mentioning the historical hatred between Timur and the Mamluks in his words.

The rise of the Ottomans and the reality of serious internal strife forced the Mamluks to be unable to carry out large-scale expansion. Trying to maintain existing interests became their only feasible option at the moment.

Moreover, the Mamluks were gradually falling into a shortage of soldiers at this time.

As we all know, the Mamluks were a group of military slaves. Egypt's military power did not come from Egypt's local Fela or Jewish mercenaries in the classical era, but relied on strong white slaves imported from trade. It was the army of soldiers and resources brought in by Italian traders that ultimately drove the Crusaders out of the Levant.

With the rise of the Ottomans, the number of white slaves imported into Egypt from the maritime trade has gradually decreased, and the number of new Mamluks has decreased every year. However, the current Saladin Castle does not seem to be aware of the new crisis.

However, these did not prevent Ibrahim from wanting to profit from it. He planned to first ask the Aleppo consul to consult the local governor to test the waters. Iran happened to own the Transcaucasus and was the leader in the Caspian Sea trade. It could serve as the basis for Mamoru Supplementary to Kebainu channel.

After sending away the Mamluk envoys, he met with the Venetian ambassador to the palace. Only then could Francesco meet the master of the palace. Before that, he had mainly dealt with the Grand Vizier and the Foreign Vizier.

"Dear conqueror of the East, Shah of Iran, in the eyes of foreign ministers, your achievements will definitely surpass that of your grandfather Uzun Hassan, and the friendship between your country and our country will be deeper than then." As soon as we met, The Venetians were very flattering and regarded Ibrahim as the successor of their former ally in their words, hoping to renew their relationship.

Ibrahim did not intend to form an offensive and defensive alliance with Venice at this time, especially when the Ottomans were still at war with it, and he did not want to deteriorate relations between the two parties so quickly.

So it would be better to maintain an ambiguous relationship with Venice.

"I have heard the news that your country is at war with Sultan Bayezid, but your country's performance on the battlefield is not satisfactory. If I lead an army to attack, will your army be able to respond effectively?" Ibrahim said first posed a powerful rhetorical question to Francesco. This question directly stopped him. With no hope of victory in sight, no matter how much benefit he promised, it was just a blank check that could not be cashed.

Ibrahim changed his mind and said: "But I think the two countries can develop close and friendly relations outside the battlefield. The cooperation between your country's businessmen and ours in Aleppo is a gem, and the circulation of silk and saffron is proof of friendship." "

Francesco nodded repeatedly: "These are all thanks to your enlightenment."

After a long time of useless talk, Ibrahim and Francesco finally reached a consensus on expanding trade and hiring technical talents, and at the same time informed the King of Kings of the rumors of Portuguese adventures in India.

This made Ibrahim suddenly alert: "Please let your envoy inform the country that for the sake of our friendship and the future of Venice, I want to hire more outstanding shipbuilders through your country. Silver coins are not a problem, I believe You already feel the richness of Iran through Tabriz.”

"The foreign minister will do his best." The Venetian ended the interview with some disappointment.

He was a little tired of meeting two envoys one after another, not to mention the Ottoman envoy who had not yet arrived. He could no longer resist going back to his study to stay with the clerk and a few viziers.

Returning to the private space that only belonged to him, when he was thinking about how to govern next, a letter of accusation was delivered to his desk. After taking it apart, one can see that the target is pointed directly at the Grand Vizier.

The main charge is to secretly accept bribes from foreign envoys, and there is a suspicion of liaison with foreign countries. When listing the charges, the number of bribes and property of the "Franks" were listed in detail, and finally his behavior was pointed out: "For his own selfish interests, he abandoned the military and the country. Big plan.”

This accusation reminded Ibrahim of the Battle of the Prut River. The Ottoman Grand Vizier was suspected of accepting Peter's bribe to sign a very loose treaty with Russia.

It's just that the content of the report has not been confirmed, and the current Grand Vizier has not advocated that Ibrahim should take this opportunity to poke the Ottomans in the butt. Oh, he hasn't met the Grand Vizier yet.

In order to investigate the matter, he decided to call in the spymaster and representatives of the royal power to investigate the accusation of accepting bribes, especially from foreign envoys, which really stung Ibrahim.

As a result, the representative of the royal power brought reports from other people from the supervisory department, and unlike what Ibrahim had seen, they were all public and signed impeachments. They mainly criticized the grand vizier for excluding dissidents, and also fabricated other charges, including Blasphemy of faith, serious corruption, etc.

In short, the Grand Vizier, who had been presiding over administrative affairs, was under siege, and some had various motives to take advantage of the King of Kings' recent return to try to bring him down through prosecution, or to make him lose the trust of the monarch.

Speaking of which, Muhammad Zakaria and even all the previous demotions were for transition. Now that the internal and external environment has stabilized, Ibrahim has vague ideas of replacing the Grand Vizier and Financial Vizier. Among the viziers, only two were demoted from previous dynasties rather than coming from new noble families. The current trend is to exclude these tainted ministers.

"You should investigate this matter first, the sooner the better."