The Sun and the Lion

The aide knocked on the door and entered the room after getting permission. He bowed to Ibrahim and handed the letter to his master.

At this time, two weeks had passed since the day Herat changed hands. The original owner Hussin Baihara finally died in the castle prison due to mental problems. The Sunni clergy who were unwilling to surrender were all expelled. They either died or escaped. . Ibrahim also reluctantly accepted the huge city redemption fee raised by the citizens and ordered a tax exemption for six months to calm their uneasiness.

The escaped Ibn Hussein could not make any big waves. No one knows whose palace he went to seek asylum. However, he has lost all his power and can no longer pose a threat to the city of Herat.

After hearing about the change of ownership in Herat, the leaders of various tribes in Afghanistan—especially those who had responded to the emir's call—came to Herat in person to express their obedience to Ibrahim and that they were willing to surrender to Safa. Wei provided troops to maintain his original position. Ibrahim didn't want to cause trouble, so he simply agreed to the request, and the two of them lived in peace.

All the local properties of the Gulegheni nobles were confiscated and put into Ibrahim's treasury.

At the same time, he also dismissed all the troops he had recruited. After several months of fighting, the troops were able to collect an astonishing amount of loot. The carts and beasts of burden in the baggage camp were full of property, and the personal belongings stored in the army were piled up. The merchants who accompanied the army did so. The trophy business was also lucrative.

The secular motivation that supported the Red Heads to follow the Safavid Order was to plunder loot. Their pockets had been temporarily satisfied, and the fighting season was about to end. Ibrahim temporarily put aside his plan to continue marching into Central Asia and simply let The Khan kings took the warriors from each tribe and sent them back to their hometowns to regroup in the spring of next year.

But once the army left, Herat's defense became a problem. Currently, the only people remaining within the outer walls were bow-wielders and the newly surrendered town militia. So Ibrahim planned to negotiate with other forces around Herat so that they could wait peacefully until the day when the King of Kings came with his army.

According to the intelligence collected by the staff, the forces surrounding Herat currently include Muhammad Mohsin, who is separatist in the city of Merv. He is one of the two Mirza who reinforced Astarabad. After being defeated, Berry saved his life and escaped back to the city of Merv under the escort of his own soldiers.

Then he received news of his father's defeat and the capture of Herat. With his military strength greatly damaged, he knew that he had lost the ability to protect himself. After Ibrahim's envoy arrived, he offered to surrender and pay tribute, hoping that Safavid could protect him.

In addition to Merv in the north, the forces in the east are Huslao who separatized Kunduz and Ulugh Beg II who controls Kabul. Among them, Huslao is said to have tens of thousands of troops, but according to reliable information, he has already Joining forces with Masud and Babur to besiege Samarkand, they will not be able to spare the strength to besiege Herat in a short time.

The envoy to Kunduz was in vain. He failed to inform Huslao of Ibrahim's requirements and attitude in time, and he knew nothing about Huslao's attitude. The general condition of the military leader Hus Lao was the only result of his mission.

As for the master of Kabul, he seemed to have made little big moves and had no sense of presence since he took the throne. Despite this, Ibrahim still sent an envoy. Ulugh Beg II expressed his unwillingness to get involved in the war between Ibrahim and Hussin Baihara, and also asked Ibrahim not to raise troops to invade his territory.

Sistan in the south was already meat on the dinner plate. After the capture of Herat, Ibrahim immediately wrote a letter ordering Abdul who was stationed in Kerman to immediately break camp and force Sistan to surrender. Stan's owner.

After spending two weeks to complete the aftermath, he will officially embark on his return journey, taking his personal guards to escort the jaw-dropping loot back to Tabriz.

At present, he already has a general idea of ​​how to deal with the money, and he plans to think about the specific details on his way back.

………………

Although the streets of Herat have returned to their usual busyness, the air is still filled with the smell of blood, and shadows still hang over the land.

When farmers and businessmen entering the city looked up, they could see corpses hanging on the city walls. The bodies of Badi Zaman and other high-ranking officers who died in the battle were specially collected by the Safavid army and hung on the top of the city together with Ibn Hussein's soldiers to show off their power.

In the slightly hot weather, these corpses quickly rotted and smelled, but no one took them down, allowing the decomposers to feast. The smell of corpses at the city gate and the unknown human tissue falling down are enough to disgust everyone.

The city gate guards tried hard to forget these bad scenes and continued to watch the people passing by the city gate without saying a word.

He clearly witnessed the changes in the city. Everyone walked with their heads down, and the noise on the streets was not as good as before. In the past, citizens passing by would chat with the guards, but now no one has such interest.

The cavalry patrolling the alleys were very terrifying. They whipped anyone who disobeyed in full view of the public. Many key officials were beaten in vain.

Moreover, it is said that these red hats are also lunatics. At the execution site of several priests, cannibals even appeared, using knives to cut off the flesh of the executed people and eat them alive. This behavior made all the onlookers gasp in horror. In the end, a few military policemen controlled the excited cannibal and finally dragged him out.

Fortunately, he is a peaceful man, even those domineering red hats can't find a reason to whip him, and Ibrahim's military judge also prohibits them from excessively bullying the docile people.

The countryside outside the city was no different from before the siege. The Safavid army did not ravage the countryside of Herat too much. Just within sight of the city gate guards, a new temporary camp was set up. Afghanistan After the leaders surrendered to the Safavids, Ibrahim immediately hired a group of warriors from their tribe to station outside the city of Herat to strengthen the city defense and protect the roads.

They were prohibited from entering the city. In order to take away their wages from these Afghan cavalry, traders came in and out every day with goods and coins. In just a few days, a fixed military market was formed outside the camp.

But at the next moment, his attention was no longer on the residents in the city or the Dali-speaking Pashtuns outside the city. The cavalrymen wearing red hats suddenly gathered together to disperse the pedestrians on the road and clear the way for the large team behind them.

Behind these riders who were responsible for clearing the way were Ibrahim and his soldiers. The citizens on both sides did not dare to look up at their new master, only a few bold city gate guards took a sneak peek.

You look so young. He secretly sighed in his heart. He was a town guard when he was this age, and he is still a town guard now.

Then came a large number of pack animals and carts, far larger than any caravan he had ever seen. Felts and hemp ropes wrapped the loaded belongings tightly, basically eliminating petty theft. Only the horse bandit led by the beast can become rich overnight.

In the end, the team, which was crawling on the road like a long snake, gradually faded out of his sight. Looking at this scene, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.