The Sun and the Lion

The Zaindarud River originates from the Zagros Mountains and flows eastwards for 400 kilometers before emptying into a salt marsh. This narrow river valley has been occupied by humans since ancient times, and the city of Isfahan in the middle of the river also has a long history.

Ibrahim looked at the Zain Darud River and the city of Isfahan marked on the map, thinking about the future planning of the new capital city and the Gyeonggi region.

Your Majesty, the person you summoned has arrived.

Ibrahim looked up, and the chief eunuch, Waqie, stood not far away and reported to him.

Let them in.

Two men in official robes appeared in front of Ibrahim. According to the eunuchs' instructions in advance, they first knelt down and worshiped Ibrahim, Salute to you, the great King of kings, the great king of all kings. Khan of Khans, Sultan of Sultans.”

Get up.

After receiving permission, the two stood up.

The two people standing in front of Ibrahim were one of the water conservancy supervisors of Isfahan Province and an engineer. He was responsible for the construction and maintenance of the water conservancy facilities in the Zain Darud River Basin. The other is the architect who is the incoming architectural director of Isfahan City, responsible for urban planning and the construction and maintenance of various public facilities.

Are you the water conservancy supervisor and construction director of Isfahan? Ibrahim asked the two.

Yes, Your Majesty. The two of them still didn't know why the King of Kings summoned them specifically. There are more than a dozen provinces in Iran's Shahr, but only officials from Isfahan Province were summoned by Ibrahim alone. .

I have decided to allocate funds from the national treasury to invest in the local economy, and Isfahan Province is the first. Water Conservancy Supervisor, a large part of this money plus allocations from senior officials are at your disposal, and I want you to guarantee The water needs of the city of Isfahan and the settlements along the coast. Ibrahim first gave the order to the water conservancy supervisor.

Irrigation canals, drainage systems and canal networks will be built along the entire Zaindarud River Basin. The water diverted from the rivers will irrigate the vast cultivated land. The food, fruits, vegetables, and aquatic products produced in the villages along the coast and the products provided by the livestock industry in the pastures of the province are only responsible for fully supporting the city of Isfahan, which will be called half of the world in the future, and the government can also obtain huge income from it.

Yes, Your Majesty. The water conservancy supervisor felt the pressure, but he thought that this was a project that the King of Kings was personally involved in, and if he did it well, it would be of great benefit to his career.

Construction Director, come forward.

The two men immediately retreated and then advanced, and the construction director stepped forward to accept the task.

Isfahan, located in the center of the Iranian plateau, has a long history. Its history can be traced back to the Stone Age. It was an important town in the Achaemenid, Parthian, Sasanian, Caliphate, and until the reign of the Seljuk Sultans. But after the fall of Seljuq, the city also declined immediately. The famous traveler Ibn Battuta gave the following words after visiting the city: Isfahan was once one of the largest and most beautiful cities, but Most of them are now in ruins.

But even so, tens of thousands of residents lived in the city until Timur arrived. He first imposed huge taxes on the city residents. After encountering resistance, Timur's cavalry massacred the local residents and built more than 28 temples composed of about 1,500 heads. This is also the biggest hit this settlement has suffered recently, and it is still very dilapidated and desolate until now.

This is also a problem faced by officials in Isfahan Province. The capitals of other provinces are prosperous big cities - Qazvin in Persian Iraq, Tabriz in Azerbaijan, and Shiraz in Fars. , Ahvaz in Khuzestan, etc. The officials of Isfahan have to work in a pile of ruins, dealing with administrative affairs related to the few people here.

Therefore, whether they are water conservancy supervisors or construction directors, they all need craftsmen recruited by the central government from other provinces and local labor resources that are not abundant to carry out projects.

However, whether it is building water conservancy projects, clearing ruins, or building cities, these projects require a large amount of work and require a large amount of labor.

However, there are still a large number of tribes in the local area. In addition to the Persians, there are also the Bakhtiari tribe, as well as the black households hiding in the mountains to avoid the war, plus Ibrahim's immigrants from other areas. In the long run, the problem of insufficient local manpower will be gradually solved, and Ibrahim is not in a hurry. In his plan, the new city of Isfahan will take several years or even ten years to be slowly built. - Both the construction of Constantinople and the construction of St. Petersburg took a very long time.

After the two men withdrew, Ibrahim issued several decrees, requiring the mobilization of craftsmen from various provinces. All those related to the construction industry - stonemasons, carpenters, plasterers, plasterers, masons, etc., according to the construction of Isfahan The amount requested by the superintendent was apportioned among the provinces, and they were asked to assemble at Isfahan, and the coaching inns and caravanserais along the way would provide for their food and drink.

In addition to craftsmen, the required tools and raw materials were also transported from various places to the banks of the Zain Darud River through a trade network composed of camels and carts. Government officials and royal merchants traveled across the country to purchase and then organized transportation. All these expenditures are borne by the central government.

After this series of orders were sent to various government departments, the news that the King of Kings wanted to invest and restore Isfahan quickly spread, and the powerful were all aware of it. Some people are also speculating whether Ibrahim wants to move the capital, but the architects have not arrived yet, and the specific building plans have not yet been released. Only Ibrahim and the architects who accepted the order know the true purpose. Find bookstore www.zhaoshuyuan.com

But this did not prevent powerful people from coming to flatter them. Only a week later, Ibrahim received a large number of letters of willingness. Some powerful people - including large local families in Isfahan and senior bureaucrats serving in the central government. and a wealthy businessman with a background in the Royal Property Department - expressed in the letter that they are willing to donate and invest in the construction of Isfahan Province.

Although no one dares to blatantly ask for rewards from the King of Kings in the letter, laying out the plan in advance in the possible future capital area is to take advantage of the opportunity - for example, these powerful people can use the tacit approval and encouragement of the King of Kings. If they participate in the construction of water conservancy projects and recruit labor to develop and reclaim farmland, of course, these properties will also belong to them; donating money to build mosques in villages and cities is a religious obligation, and doing so can gain good reputation and the friendship of the clergy; a building with hundreds of thousands of Obviously, a political and economic center with a population cannot have only a few storefronts. The surrounding roads with a large number of caravans also need caravan hotels...

Compared with secular dignitaries, the performance of the church seems very lackluster. After all, Ibrahim used the name of fighting heresy during the war to take away frivolous wealth and religious real estate as a source of finance, and has not yet returned it. Having lost their financial resources, it would be great if local churches that only rely on grants can maintain the normal operation of mosques and other facilities. Donations from believers are not stable enough. In addition, the society has not been stable for a long time, so it is impossible for churches to accumulate a lot of wealth.

Since the end of the war, Ibrahim has also received petitions from clergy, requesting Ibrahim to lift the ban on donations to mosques and the prohibition on clergy from receiving any property with economic output - including farmland, mines, shops, etc. — ban. He also quoted scriptures as saying that doing so was against the wishes of Huda and the Prophet.

Looking at the petitions submitted by these priests, the King of Kings also had to deal with other matters.