The Sun and the Lion

The senior officials in the conference hall took the battle reports sent a few days ago. After several months of military operations, Dada and Abdul had completely eliminated all the opponents of Fars, and all the local tribes surrendered. The powerful men also decided to be loyal to the new master.

The door of the conference hall was opened, and the senior officials who were chatting on the sofa quickly turned their heads away when they heard the sound. I saw a white eunuch wearing a silk robe walking in with his entourage.

My noble lords, the respected King of Kings has arrived!

After the notification was completed, the white eunuch Waqie moved out of the way, and the senior officials also stood up from the sofa, preparing to welcome the King of Kings.

Ibrahim passed through the gate and entered the meeting hall. All the officials and servants present bowed respectfully to him.

After getting permission from the King of Kings, everyone stood up and returned to the sofa, and he also sat in his C seat to start today's meeting.

Hussein started by saying: I congratulate Your Majesty for completing the goal that the Order has striven for throughout its history. You have completely inherited the legacy of your ancestors, father and grandfather, from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf, from Kurdistan When I come to Fars, I will regard you as the great King of Kings, tremble under your banner, and obey your orders.

Ibrahim accepted the flattery of everyone for a while, from the shaikh of a religious order in need of the protection of local powers to the current master of the Shahr of Iran. It only took him three years to swallow the Aries Dynasty, although he still needed enough time to digest it.

Then, the first content of today's meeting is to reward Dada and Abdul. Ibrahim received the document handed over by Kamran and briefly reviewed the draft of the Grand Emir.

From late summer until October, Dada and Abdul were busy fighting in the Fars region, and the capture of Shiraz was just the beginning. They attacked everywhere, conquered east and west, eliminated each separatist force, severely suppressed the local religious organizations, and allowed the Fars region to be relatively smoothly integrated into the state apparatus of the Shah of Iran.

The newly formed province of Fars was crowned, and Abdul was appointed as the local emir in charge of local military affairs. His tribe was also allowed to leave Talish and move to Fars, and part of the local tribes would be annexed by his tribe.

As for Dada, he was transferred back to Tabriz to wait for the next appointment. As a reward, he could also annex some defeated tribes, and he was also rewarded with a mansion in Tabriz.

Well, that's it. Ibrahim signed the document, and Kamran took it away.

Everyone, the war is over. I have decided to dismiss all the mobilized red-headed warriors. Those who have violated military discipline and are on the list of military judges, regardless of their status, must leave the tribe and be exiled to Anatolia. I Orders have been given to the caliphs of Anatolia to respond to them. Ibrahim first issued the first order, which aroused whispers among the senior officers present.

What? Are you dissatisfied with this decision? It's not because you regard rebellion and disobedience as a virtue. Ibrahim's words stopped their discussion.

My lord, I have no objection. Anyone who violates the order of the King of Kings will be punished accordingly. Hussein agreed and received the punishment list through Kamran. There were about 7,000 people recorded in it.

In addition to rewards and punishments, Ibrahim also studied with Hussein how local garrisons should be established and maintained. In addition to the red-headed militias recruited from tribes, Ibrahim also hoped that rural militias and garrisons in cities and fortresses would serve as standing forces responsible for maintaining local order.

Fiscal Vizier Tovmas jumped out and suggested: Your Majesty, if you do this, I suggest using local taxes to support local troops. We can use this to levy new tax items, so that the financial burden will not be huge. .

Yes, it's feasible. Great Emir, you can study the specific details carefully after you go back. Ibrahim ended the topic.

yes.

Next is the topic that the respected Fiscal Vizier is most concerned about. Ibrahim smiled: I decided to reorganize the tax department to collect taxes more efficiently.

Everyone is listening attentively and wants to know the next reform plan.

For a long time, the power of assessment and taxation has been included in the administrative power, and local officials levied it themselves and sent it to the national treasury. This can reduce administrative costs, but it also has disadvantages. Ibrahim paused and observed After looking at the reactions of the people around him, he continued: In order to reduce waste and corruption and reduce the burden on the people, I have decided to take back the relevant powers of all local officials and transfer them to the newly formed tax bureau, managed by the fiscal vizier. You don't have to worry about the local government. Regarding the government's financial issues, taxes collected from local governments are divided into 40% and 60%, 40% is reserved for local use, and 60% is sent to the national treasury. If the local area is not enough, you can apply to me, but private tax collection and misappropriation of taxes are not allowed. Finally, all taxes The transportation costs of the money will be borne by the tax bureau itself, and no more taxes will be levied in the name of losses.

Thomas was overjoyed, and the King of Kings immediately gave himself the power to collect taxes: I will live up to your majesty's high expectations.

The supervisory bureaucrats representing the royal power will keep an eye on you. Ibrahim said easily.

After discussing tax assessment and tax collection, the next step is to discuss what taxes to collect. There are no changes in agricultural taxes. Farmers mainly pay in kind according to the tax rate. In addition, they also have to pay for the annual construction and maintenance of water conservancy projects.

In terms of commercial taxes, Ibrahim decided to monopolize silk, wine, salt, and mining, which fell under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Property Department. It also significantly increased taxes on luxury goods and reduced inland tariff rates, mainly taxes on bazaars and caravanserai and tariffs on international trade.

The next topic is administration and justice. There is nothing to say about the government structure. The central government is composed of the Grand Vizier who leads the administrative department, the Grand Emir who is responsible for the national military affairs, Sadr who manages the national religious affairs and justice, and the royal representative who supervises other departments. This is also how powers are decentralized at the local level, including administration, judiciary, supervision, and military. Local administrative divisions are divided into four levels: province, county, township and village. In addition to the village, the other three levels have permanent government officials. The village chiefs are determined by the local landowners. These village chiefs are the direct bridge between the rural powerful and the local government.

The first thing Ibrahim wants to change is the law, and the second is the official selection and assessment system.

However, this was not his temporary intention. As early as he became the Lord of Azerbaijan, he asked the royal representatives and the Grand Vizier to formulate new official assessment standards and selection systems in accordance with his wishes.

In terms of selection, Ibrahim introduced the imperial examination system to broaden the channels for selecting officials, which was open to the whole society, about once every three years, and the number of places was variable each time. Mainly assessed are Chinese (writing official documents), mathematics (four arithmetic operations), law and policy theory. Of course, because there are still powerful aristocratic forces in the country, the specific operation situation can be referred to the Tang Dynasty of Peach Blossom Stone. Find Shuyuan www.zhaoｓhuyuａ.com

There is nothing much to say about the evaluation of officials. They are evaluated based on their performance in their jobs. Administrative officials look at population and economy, and emirs take care of local security... They are evaluated roughly every five years, and the results are promotion, demotion, and dismissal. , arrests and level transfers.

Next came legislation. The Safavid legal system was a patchwork of customary law and Sharia. The King of Kings therefore decided to form a legislative assembly to formulate a secular code that could be applied throughout the country, based on the principles of Sharia and in accordance with customary law and His will. This will also earn the King of Kings the reputation of “the lawgiver.”

Apart from these major changes, the rest of the time was spent discussing details such as new uniforms, the relationship between justice and religion, the use of Azerbaijani or Persian as the official court language, and the missionary work of the priests. The focus is to shift from inciting jihad to emphasizing patience and obedience, serving as a spiritual pillar for the cattle and horses to enhance their ability to withstand stress.

Through this full-day meeting, Ibrahim transformed the state machinery he had snatched according to his own wishes, and re-established various systems that required a lot of time to implement and adjust. As for whether it can consolidate his rule? Only Huda in heaven knows.

However, the news that Ibrahim had eliminated the last separatist forces in Fars and fully inherited his grandfather's legacy soon spread to all corners of the known world. Ibrahim constantly emphasized his title of King of Kings, and also used Shahr of Iran as the official country title in official diplomatic documents. Moreover, his forged genealogy also established a blood relationship with the Twelve Imams and the Sasanian royal family, advocating pan-Iranianism, which led many people to believe that Safavid was the rebirth of the Shah of Iran after the Sassanid Dynasty.

But this is only the first step.