The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 9 How bumpy the journey is ([-])
Malik Mahayad looked at the corpses of more than a dozen dead tribal soldiers in front of him. He couldn't help frowning and pursed his mouth tightly. He didn't say a word. He held the reins with both hands and controlled the horse to keep on the spot. spinning in circles.Immediately, he raised his eyes to look at the caravan in the distance, and saw that the two groups of armed guards who came out of the caravan were alternately covering it, and they had already retreated into the square formation surrounded by horse-drawn carriages, relying on the vehicles to be on full alert.

There is no doubt that this is a large-scale caravan. A rough count shows that there are no less than fifty vehicles, and the carriages are tightly wrapped in linoleum.In the car array, there were dozens of camels kneeling down, presumably carrying a lot of goods.

However, what is a little tricky is that this caravan actually has two to three hundred armed guards, and it also has a large number of muskets.Now, the opponent has even retreated into the car formation. They can rely on the cover of the carriages to shoot calmly and force back the charge of their cavalry.

Malik Mahayad is the leader of the largest tribal alliance in the nearby mountains. He controls a population of 7000 people and can mobilize [-] to [-] warriors at any time.More than ten years ago, they were still an inconspicuous small tribe, subject to the restraint and control of the local governor, and accepted military recruitment from the empire, participating in suppressing riots in various parts of the country, or following the imperial army to conquer frequent armed attacks in various places. Rebellion.

However, the series of defeats in the eastern region had a very bad impact on the morale of the entire imperial army, and also dealt a fatal blow to the empire's reputation.

A few years ago, Malik Mahayad first refused a military call-up from the Shah of the Empire to participate in a military campaign against the Afghans in the east.Then, he openly resisted and refused to pay the order of the Governor of Fars to offer cattle, sheep and grain.

As a result, neither the Shah nor the local governor seemed able to substantively punish him for his disobedience, let alone send troops to directly attack his tribe.

As a result, Malik Mahayad even more despised the authority of the empire and ignored any decree issued by Isfahan.Although he did not know whether the empire would collapse and the dynasty collapse, he was keenly aware that the whole of Persia might be in chaos.

Although Malik Mahayad is only an insignificant tribal leader compared to those governors and generals who own a province or a region, he is deeply aware that in order to preserve and survive in such troubled times, To grow the tribe, he must develop and make money, and make a lot of money, so that he can recruit more small tribes and accumulate more strength.Only in this way can you survive in the world with your own people.

Or, if you have the opportunity, you can learn from the methods of the Turkmen tribal leaders more than 200 years ago. Just like they supported the Safavid dynasty, they also supported the creation of a new dynasty, thereby having endless wealth.

However, as a poor tribe in the mountains, they had nothing but cattle, sheep and horses.In fact, they cannot even achieve basic self-sufficiency in food.

But it doesn’t matter, we have knives in our hands, horses on our crotches, and bows on our backs. We can grab money, food, women, and whatever we need!

Starting three years ago, Malik Mahayad led more than [-] tribal cavalry and began to plunder and recruit some weak nearby tribes. Anyone who dared to resist was brutally retaliated by him, and the leader of the tribe was beheaded. heads, and their families were punished as slaves.As for those young and strong men, they were incorporated into tribal warriors and then moved on to the next target of conquest.

As he conquered and controlled more and more tribes, the armed forces he controlled became more and more powerful. As of now, he has more than 1000 powerful warriors and has become one of the most powerful warlords in the entire region. Even the Governor of Fars paid him a three-point salute.

However, as the population increased and the size of the army expanded, the corresponding costs and expenses also skyrocketed.Therefore, in order to raise funds, Malik Mahayad set his sights on the caravans traveling between trade.The mountainous area he controls is located on the only road from Bushehr Port to Isfahan. Businessmen from Arabia, India, Europe, and Qi will hire packhorses and convoys after landing from the sea, loaded with various goods. All kinds of goods meander to the capital of the empire.Of course, there are also businessmen who have made a lot of money, pulling boxes of cute and attractive gold and silver coins from Isfahan back to the seaside port, and setting sail back to their own country.

Intercepting and killing caravans and travelers is the most serious crime in imperial law. Of course, it is also a sacrilegious act in the teachings of the true God and will be punished by God.But today's Safavid dynasty has already "collapsed rituals and music", so there is no need to taboo any imperial laws!Furthermore, there is the term "holy war" in the teachings of True God. For the sake of Allah and to save the believers, we must carry knives and horses to kill all the heretics and those who have been deceived by money. Merchants, plunder their wealth to support our tribal warriors.

Over the past year, Malik Mahayad led the tribal cavalry to repeatedly intercept and kill passing caravans and travelers, and indeed plundered a lot of frivolous wealth, thus greatly improving the lives of the tribal people and the equipment of the warriors.

Of course, out of awe of the empire deep in their hearts, they generally do not appear near towns such as Shiraz and Kazerun, let alone directly attack the wealthy port of Bushehr.

When a caravan set out from Bushehr Port and passed through the town of Borazjan, Malik Mahayad received the news and immediately began to gather tribal soldiers to intercept it.

Two days ago, after resting for a day in Kazerun, the caravan continued on its way and entered the southern foothills of the Zagros Mountains.It is said that many local merchants and travelers have joined this caravan and are preparing to follow them to Isfahan, which will undoubtedly further expand the size of this caravan.In order to ensure that he could capture this caravan, Malik Mahayad mobilized almost all the combatable soldiers in the tribe and gathered more than [-], including [-] cavalry that he relied on for support.

In this must-pass valley, they intercepted the caravan as they wished. The endless carriages, numerous pack horses and camels all proved that their harvest would be very rich.

However, what they didn't expect was that this caravan would be so alert and formed a square formation in such a short time. Moreover, their guards also reacted quickly and lined up like an army with muskets. The queue covers the entire caravan.

"Hamza, go and tell them that they only need to hand over half of the goods or 200 million Abbasi silver coins (the currency of the Safavid dynasty, an Abbasi silver coin weighs 4.61 grams, contains [-]% silver, almost eight Abbasi silver coins (can be exchanged for one tael of silver), we will let them leave here. If not, we will chop off each of their heads!" Malik Mahayad turned to his nephew and ordered.

"Yes, my master!" Hamza Zalini immediately rode towards the car formation, stopped three to forty meters away, and loudly conveyed Malik's order.Perhaps in order to increase the intimidation effect, he shouted loudly, waved the scimitar in his hand, and rode in circles in front of the car formation.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

As several crisp musket sounds came from the car formation, Hamza Zalini, who was showing off his power, swayed on his horse, fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and then became motionless.

"Roar! Roar!..."

Seeing this situation, the tribal warriors gathered in the distance suddenly became excited. They waved their scimitars and spears and were about to attack the caravan.

Malik Mahayad immediately turned his head and glanced at the noisy subordinates with a gloomy gaze. The noisy noise suddenly stopped, and then he showed a look of fanaticism and bloodthirsty, waiting for his order.

This caravan was so arrogant that they directly shot their envoy without any communication.

Rush over and kill them all, then chop off their heads, stick them on sticks, and stand them on the roadside as a warning to those who come after you!
"Ebadipur, you lead a hundred cavalry to attack the north of the car formation."

"Sharifat, you lead a hundred cavalry to attack the east side of the car formation."

"Holt, you will also lead a hundred cavalry to attack the west side of the car formation."

"Remember, you only need to run back and forth around the perimeter and shoot the enemies with bows and arrows. You must not attack the car formation!"

"Hmph... I want to see how long this caravan can stay here!"

(End of this chapter)