The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 28 Closing
"The Afghans won't go back on their word and then launch a surprise attack on us halfway after we leave the trading station?" Yan Shaowu, commander of the [-]rd Mixed Battalion, looked at Yu Wanping arriving from Bushehr Port and asked dubiously.

"Probably not." Yu Wanping said firmly: "At this time, the most important target in the eyes of the Afghans is Isfahan, the Shah of the empire, and the countless wealth accumulated in the city. When the Persians are about to collapse, Mahmoud should not cause trouble and attack us rashly. Your 106th Regiment, Commander Luo, has led two companies of dragoons and three battalions of Mozhou servants to stationed in Bushehr Port. If the situation changes, you can come to rescue quickly. .”

The situation has changed, can help come quickly?
This was said lightly. If the Afghans had evil thoughts and suddenly launched a surprise attack after our officers and soldiers evacuated the trading station, it would be difficult to deal with them.After Chief Luo hears the news, he will lead his troops to come to the rescue. I am afraid that the bones will have rotted.

"Won't Minister Zhang and other diplomats in Isfahan evacuate with us?"

"Minister Zhang has an imperial diplomatic mission. How can he leave at will without being called back home?" Yu Wanping shook his head and said: "Including more than a dozen black hooded personnel in the city, they all stayed in Isfahan with the delegation to wait for Safa. The eventual evolution of the situation in the Uyghur dynasty. ... They may informally contact the Afghans on our behalf to see if they are worth dealing with."

After hearing this, Yan Shaowu sighed slightly, said nothing more, and immediately ordered all the personnel at the trading station to pack their bags, organize supplies, and prepare to evacuate.

In view of this, the horses and camels used as transportation vehicles in the trading station were used as food during the siege and were eaten by the people.The Qi people then purchased more than 260 draft horses and camels from the Afghans at high prices, as well as necessary grain, fodder and other supplies.

On September 9, the gate of the trading station, which had been closed for nearly seven months, was slowly opened. More than a hundred carriages filed out and immediately lined up in two rows, bringing in more than two hundred fully armed army officers and soldiers and nearly 29 people. The business station staff and their family members gathered in the middle and headed south cautiously.

More than a thousand Afghan tribal cavalry hung far behind, staring eagerly at the evacuating Qi people.

On October 10, the convoy arrived in the town of Mubarak and met with the Persian trading company escorts and tribal mercenaries who came to meet them.

After resting in the town for a day, a large group of people protected the convoy and headed south to Bushehr Port.

"Nasheed, my dear child." In a large and comfortable carriage, Prince Abbas Mirza sat against the wall of the carriage, looking at his daughter who looked lonely and sad, and sighed softly: "You know Well, sending you to Qi is a very painful thing for my father. From your birth to now, I have regarded you as a bright treasure and poured all my efforts and love into you. But , it is very unfortunate that we are all facing a huge catastrophe for the empire, and the entire royal family will also encounter the greatest crisis in hundreds of years."

"Because of the Shah's incompetence and cowardice, the beautiful and wealthy city of Isfahan will eventually fall into the hands of the Afghans. With their brutality and greed, the royal family, including the Shah, will be ruthlessly humiliated. Dozens of Thousands of people will also be bloody massacres, and the governors of local provinces will also use this to have ulterior motives, seek self-reliance, and no longer be loyal to our Safavid dynasty."

"In this situation, as members of the royal family, we need to stand up bravely to save the Safavid dynasty, save this declining empire, and save millions of poor and helpless people. My dear child, you Are you willing to take on this responsibility?"

"Father..." Princess Nasheed Mirza burst into tears and bit her lip tightly. She looked at her father with an expectant expression and felt panic in her heart. "Father, I will go to Qi State according to your wishes... and marry... Their royalty.”

"Nasheed, my dear child." Prince Abbas felt a pain in his heart when he looked at his daughter. He couldn't help but hold her in his arms and kissed her forehead gently, "Qi is a very wealthy country As for powerful countries, their royal families are naturally very civilized and open-minded, and they will definitely choose a handsome and gentle prince to marry you. I believe that your future life will...will be very happy and fulfilling. .The true God will always bless you, my dear child!”

Just after the Qi people evacuated Isfahan, the atmosphere of despair in the city reached its extreme.During the long and brutal siege, countless people died tragically due to hunger and disease.Waves of rescue troops were forced back one by one by the Afghans, and Prince Tahmasp, who had high hopes, has yet to be heard from.

When Malik Mahmoud Sistani, the Governor of Thun and Tabas Province, led thousands of cavalry under the city of Isfahan, facing the ardent expectations of countless citizens, he gave up the rescue and went straight to Khorasan. After leaving, everyone, including the Shah of the Empire, Sultan Hussein, immediately fell into unprecedented despair.

The selfish Qi people, after picking up all the people and materials stranded in the trading station, abandoned the poor and helpless Persians and returned to Bushehr Port without looking back.

In this situation, Shah Sultan Hussein finally decided to surrender to Mahmud and prepared to surrender to the Afghans.

According to Persian tradition, when a Shah was about to end his last day of rule, he would wear black clothes and walk through the streets in front of the entire city to mourn his unfortunate fate. On October 10, Shah Sultan Hussein rode a horse borrowed from the Afghans and surrendered in person. He rode all the way to the river. The streets were filled with dead bodies. The surviving people just looked at them indifferently. Watching their king, coming out of the city to be humiliated by the Afghans.

It is said that when the Shah arrived at Farahabad Palace, his once favorite palace, he was told that Mahmud was taking a siesta and ordered him to wait outside the palace.

After this humiliation, the Shah met Mahmoud, and both parties exchanged polite greetings.

Mahmud lay lazily on a fine, soft Persian rug and watched as the Shah bowed to him in surrender.

Sultan Hussein sadly took off the feathers symbolizing royal power from his turban, presented it to Mahmud, and put it on the turban for him with his own hands, as a sign of passing on the position of Shah of the Empire to him.

Subsequently, Mahmoud's close associate and former army commander Amanullah Khan led [-] Afghan cavalry into Isfahan, blocked the palace, and replaced all Persian guards with Afghans.The people in the city, driven by Afghan soldiers, began to clean up and move the corpses in the city in preparation for Mahmoud's glorious entry into the capital.

During the eight-month siege, Isfahan, which once had a population of 55, ended up with only over [-] people left. Except for a few lucky people who escaped from the city, most of them died tragically. .This splendid city has suffered the most serious damage and blow in hundreds of years, and will never regain its former glory.

On November 11, less than ten days after the imperial Shah Sultan Hussein announced his abdication and passed the title of Shah to Mahmoud, Prince Tahmasp in Qazvin announced that he would become the The new Shah of the empire asked the governors of various places to swear allegiance to him and jointly fight against the Afghans.

On November 11, Prince Abbas Mirza, who had been missing in Isfahan for a long time, suddenly appeared in Bushehr Port. He angrily denounced the incompetence of his brother, the Shah of the Empire, Sultan Hussein, which led to The empire is in its deepest crisis.Subsequently, he declared himself the new Shah and vowed to save the endangered Safavid dynasty and restore the glory of the empire.

The governor of Fars Province, where Bushehr Port is located, swore allegiance to Prince Abbas and actively responded to his call to recruit troops to prepare for the march to Isfahan.

The other provinces in Persia, after hearing about the fall of Isfahan and the Shah's abdication, proclaimed themselves kings and established their own rule, waiting to see further changes in the situation in the empire.

In mid-December, after Mahmud stabilized the situation in Isfahan, he immediately sent two teams of troops to attack Qazwin and Shiraz separately.

The weak Tahmasp was soon expelled from Qazvin and fled to Azerbaijan because he did not receive effective support from the powerful surrounding factions. Before he could gain a foothold, he encountered the invasion of the Ottoman Empire and had to flee to Azerbaijan. Mazandaran on the southern coast of the sea sought protection from the local Qajar tribe.

Faced with the powerful Afghan attack, the Governor of Fars Province was unable to fight and was forced to abandon Shiraz and move towards Bushehr Port in order to obtain asylum from the Qi people.

Towards the end of 1722, the entire Safavid Empire was in name only.The Afghans occupied almost [-]% of the empire's territory (including the previously de facto independent Kandahar Province) and controlled Isfahan, the center of the empire.

Most of the territory in the north and west of the empire was occupied by the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia, and almost all of Georgia, Armenia, Shirvan, and Azerbaijan fell.

The Baghdad Pasha of the Ottoman Empire is also conducting military mobilization and is about to threaten the provinces of Iraq-Ajam, Kurdistan, Luristan, and Arabistan in the west of the empire.

Abbas III, who had just been declared the Shah of the empire, formally requested Qi to borrow troops to save the empire from crisis.

(End of this chapter)