The Sun and the Lion

Ibrahim was very confused when he received the marriage request.

In the sixteen years since he traveled to this world, Ibrahim has not seriously considered his singleness. He didn't have the energy to think about this when he was hiding in Tibet, evading Rostam's pursuit and struggling to run the Order. Now that the Order has taken over Shirvan and Georgia, it can be considered a regional hegemon, and a monarch without a spouse or descendants is Very dangerous. However, compared with Basil II five hundred years ago, Ibrahim's younger brother was not a waste.

According to religious law, Ibrahim could marry four wives, but even if he could marry with four powers, if a family was willing to let their daughter enter Ibrahim's harem as a slave girl, he wouldn't mind.

The Afshar tribe, which was greatly weakened, and the Romulu tribe, which had the closest ties with the sect, came to send their daughter off first. Ibrahim thought about it for a while and wrote back asking Kehobad and Mustafa to find a girl. The painter painted a portrait of his daughter and sent it over.

After five days of marching, Ibrahim has returned to Baku. However, the only people who returned to Baku with Ibrahim were the red-headed men and the bow-wielders. By estimation, the baggage train loaded with loot escorted by Ghulam should be We have marched to Ganja in Sheki Province, and it will take half a month to return to Baku.

On the way home, Ibrahim saw many more farmers sweating in the fields of Shirwan, which was in sharp contrast to the depressing scene where there were only a few people when he set out.

After arriving in Baku, Ibrahim asked Hussein about the current situation of the two provinces. Hussein replied: "Your Majesty, although it has only been two months, we have used religious tolerance and vacant properties to allow many people who had fled The farmers who went into the mountains and forests returned to their fields, while the craftsmen were placed in the cities, and the craftsmen useful to the army were recruited. In the autumn, you can see the wheat and silver coins they paid."

"What about the brothers and sisters who have received rewards?" Ibrahim asked about the status of the military meritorious landowners.

"Your Majesty, because we are in urgent need of labor, we organized a robbery operation without asking you." Hussein said to Ibrahim with a slight apology.

"Huh?" Ibrahim motioned for Hussein to continue.

“With the support of me, the Grand Vizier, Muhammad Beg organized more than a thousand people to cross the Caucasus Mountains and go north to Circassia to plunder the population. He killed all the old people and some children in the Circassian villages. , brought back several times as many young male and female slaves as our own, and distributed them all to the warriors."

When Hussein said this, Ibrahim thought of what he had seen. Not only were free farmers cultivating the farmland on the roadside, but there were also some slaves in shackles with few intact pieces of cloth on them. When some red-headed landowners had nothing to do, they would ride their horses around the fields to supervise the work of slaves and tenants.

On the roadside, wherever there are fields, corpses of varying numbers will be hung at varying distances, or nailed to racks for public display. Most of these corpses belonged to slaves and farmers who had been tortured to death, trying to escape or resisting. These hanging corpses warned the farmers still in the fields not to think of resisting the rule of the cult.

"But most of the soldiers had no interest in operating farmland. They just rented their land to a few tenants. They only had to collect the rent every autumn, and they had to manage the slaves themselves. So these slaves became public Slaves were assigned to work in each house in turn."

However, not all landowners use their fields to grow food. In addition to planting, many red heads also choose animal husbandry.

"Teacher, what do you think, how much tax can we collect this autumn?" Ibrahim can't wait to expand his military strength. The situation in the south is developing a bit fast, and Ibrahim wants to take advantage of the situation when the water is still muddy. All the fish can be touched.

"Your Majesty, I can't give you a number now." Hussein simply replied. "The emergence of hidden populations and the consumption and import of slaves will not stop. Moreover, we have not yet counted the population and cleared the land."

"How long will it take to compile these data? How will we collect taxes before that?" Ibrahim frowned.

"Your Majesty, if we only count the five existing provinces, it will only take one year. As for tax collection, we have received the files left by Shirwan Shah and can allocate taxes according to the pre-war land area. As for taxpayers Whether there's actually more or less obligation, we don't know."

"I understand, you can go back." Ibrahim nodded, indicating that Hussein could go.

"Then I take leave, Your Majesty." Hussein saluted and then left the study.

Then Ibrahim was processing official documents in the room. Just when he was about to take a rest, the guard came in and reported to Ibrahim: "Your Majesty, Grand Vizier Hussein wants to see you."

After Ibrahim's permission, Hussein took the letter in his hand and explained to Ibrahim: "Your Majesty, I didn't mean to disturb your rest, but just now, Ahmed sent an envoy A letter has arrived and I think we should treat it with caution." Hussein then handed the letter to Ibrahim.

Ibrahim opened the letter and read it carefully.

"This is Ahmed's threat." After reading it, Ibrahim just threw the letter on the table.

In the letter, Ahmed once again asked Ibrahim to send troops south to find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan． com asked him to lead a specified number of cavalry to Tehran to assemble. He also said that although you have a large territory, it is not worth mentioning in front of the Aries Dynasty. If you still cannot fulfill your obligations as an alliance this time, you will not have to fulfill your obligations in the future.

Ahmed's funding is a major contributor to the Order's finances. Previously, Ibrahim ignored Ahmed, which had already caused him to cut funding to the Order. And based on what he said in the letter, Ahmed would not only cut off financial aid, but even send troops to attack.

"You put the messenger in place first, let me think about this matter." Ibrahim felt a little headache and rubbed his temples.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Tabriz

An army of tens of thousands gathered on the outskirts of the city, and the galloping horses raised up as much dust as a sandstorm. The carriages coming out of the city, loaded with military supplies, left straight ruts on the dirt road.

After all the baggage left the city, the Sultan, surrounded by guards, left the city along the city's main road and then arrived at the camp.

In the camp, most of them were cavalry. Ahmed gathered all the Turkmen tribes under his rule. The total number of levies and standing troops was about 40,000. It took a full month for these cavalry from different tribes to arrive. Tabriz. When they arrived at the military camp, frictions broke out between different tribes. In the end, it was Ahmed who led the troops to suppress the conflict before it subsided.

After several months of petty fighting, most of the small and medium-sized separatist forces surrendered to the three sultans. Ahmed, who owned the northern part of the Iranian plateau, could only use the other two sultans if he wanted to continue to expand. This time, the target he wanted to send troops to attack was Murad, who controlled Mesopotamia.

After arranging all matters, the army marched along the road toward the plains in the southwest.