The Sun and the Lion

Soon, Ibrahim led the bowmen to the city. Under his instruction, a sharpshooter shot the letter of surrender into the city. Then the bow holders showed off their military might in front of the city wall's defense forces, constantly provoking and intimidating them.

Sunni pigs, the great Huda (Allah) has blessed our cause, and He has granted us mercy and tolerance, so we allow you to save your lives and property, and only need to dedicate this city to our people. King of kings. If you refuse, then Huda has also given us a sharp blade, and no one’s neck can escape its fate.”

There was no response from within the city walls, neither surrender nor any form of counterattack. The officer in charge of city defense chose to withhold the letter of persuasion to surrender and asked his sergeants to exercise restraint and not to waste arrows. Then he arranged for a rider to secretly go out from the north gate to report the incident to Ahmed.

As time goes by, the sun moves from the east side of the sky to the west side, and the dim sunlight shines down, telling everyone that the day is about to pass.

Your Majesty, it's getting dark for us. If we don't set up camp, it will be too late. Hashayar on the side reminded Ibrahim who had emptied his mind due to the long wait and was trapped in his own spiritual world. Hashayal said it twice before he came back to his senses.

Now Ibrahim and the bow-wielders acting as the vanguard are in the south of the city of Diyarbakır. The west of the city is blocked by the Tigris River, and there is a significant gap between the city and the river bank, which makes attacking the city wall from the west side the most laborious. And Ibrahim used the mobility of his cavalry to cross the river from the downstream village and go around to the south of the city.

I know, my Kurchibash. Ibrahim also didn't expect to be able to defeat Diyarbakir with his own few soldiers. My troops are all here.

Your Majesty, they have not sent a new batch of messengers to report the situation to you. Hashayar answered respectfully.

Then let's talk about the follow-up troops when we go back. You and the commander will pick a few experienced ambushes to serve as scouts around the city and report to me the enemy's movements in a timely manner. Then, the whole army will head south, and we will spend the night in a village to the south. To the south of the city wall is an open land, and further to the south is a stretch of hills, with several villages scattered in the valleys between the hills.

Returning to the valley through which they came, the camps of the troops who had arrived at the predetermined position appeared in front of everyone.

After confirming the identities of both parties through military flags and red hats, Ibrahim led the troops into the camp, and then, accompanied by his guards, went to each camp to inspect the status of the troops.

The efficiency of the troops is really surprisingly high. Ibrahim was surprised to find that the follow-up troops arrived at the destination with part of the baggage and auxiliary personnel in just one day, and built a simple camp. Your Majesty, I beg you to authorize me to requisition all livestock in the army, including war horses, to facilitate the rapid transportation of personnel and baggage still stranded in Batman and beyond. While inspecting the military camp, the accompanying quartermaster suddenly asked Ib Rushing made his request.

War horses cannot be requisitioned. Without horses, the soldiers will only have the fate of being killed. Ibrahim rejected the proposal. After all, the city defenders still had to guard against surprise attacks. Just follow the original planned speed. You just need to do your job well. I won't be harsh on you.

After completing the inspection work, the King of Kings went to the camp prepared by his subordinates to rest, waiting for the meeting to be held tomorrow morning.

During the day of the same day, Ahmed led his main force out and faced off across the river at the Dwegsidi River, a tributary of the Tigris River northwest of Diyarbakır. There is a stone arch bridge with seven arches on the small river, spanning the river. More than ten kilometers east from here is the intersection of the two rivers.

The tight and narrow bridge deck prevented Ahmed's numerical advantage from being fully utilized, which also restricted the mobility of the cavalry troops. Bayram was unwilling to take the initiative to launch an attack when the numbers and terrain were unfavorable. The two sides were in a stalemate, just shooting arrows at each other. No one wanted to come to the bridge to fight.

While the two sides were shooting at each other, he thought of the firearms in his tribe. However, the situation of the firearms troops was not good. There was no reliable source of gunpowder, there were few firearms craftsmen in the tribe, and production also suffered from insufficient supply of raw materials. This left Bayram with a small artillery piece captured from the Ottoman army, but no shells. The musketeers were also troubled by insufficient ammunition and were unable to exert their combat power.

However, under Bairam's insistence, all the firearms of the Garamanlu tribe appeared on the river bank, and the free fire of the musketeers caused some minor losses to Ahmed's troops. , but the huge gunfire and the smoke produced by the burning frightened the war horses on both sides of the river bank. The scene was so chaotic that it was as if these musketeers were the Ottoman army at the Battle of Otlukbeli, and the lead pellets were rushing towards the Turkmen like sand and dust blown by strong winds. The fire dragon spitting out of the barrel and the sound of gunpowder exploding made the recruits present who had never seen firearms and whose psychological quality was not strong see the world and shocked their hearts.

What a prickly hedgehog. Ahmed looked worriedly at the musketeers on the river bank, but what made him even more upset was the artillery being pushed up by the gunners. Where did they get these things? Are the Ottomans just rubbish?

Seeing that the defense line in front of him could not be broken through for the time being, Ahmed suddenly had the intention to retreat, Give me the order to retreat and camp! Then he arranged for a group of scouts to go downstream along the river under the cover of night. Look for a ford where the cavalry can cross the river.

Because the order on both sides was disrupted, Bayram did not take the risk of pursuing the enemy, but allowed the Ahmed army to retreat undisciplined.

Your Majesty, urgent report from Diyarbakır!

Ahmed had just set up camp at the bivouac and before he had time to enjoy the narcotics, he received bad news.

He was silent for a while and gave orders to his guards, but this time he did not go to summon the officers to discuss countermeasures, but called an astrologer who accompanied the army. When he felt that his destiny was becoming increasingly bleak, he decided to place his hope in mysterious divination, as if God would send down divine power.

No one knew the results of the divination except the astrologer and Ahmed.

The first day of the battle passed in a stalemate and confrontation.