The Sun and the Lion

"Dear Sheikh, as an ally, you really let my master down." After learning of Ibrahim's attitude, Ahmed's envoy said coldly.

And Ibrahim was not annoyed, and just responded: "So when can your monarch come to Baku? I am ready to welcome the guests."

When the messenger heard this answer, his face was gloomy. He just saluted Ibrahim, and then said goodbye to Ibrahim: "If the Sheikh has nothing else to do, then please allow us to report back to my king."

"Actually, there is one more thing." Just as the envoy and his attendants were exiting the meeting hall, Ibrahim suddenly said.

"What's the matter?" The messenger was startled for a moment, and then asked Ibrahim.

"Save your lives." Ibrahim looked a little ferocious.

"You..." The messenger wanted to say something, but before he could finish, the blade of the knife penetrated his abdomen. His clothes were dyed red with blood at a speed visible to the naked eye. Then the clothes were filled with blood, and the blood began to flow to the ground. .

The fate of the other attendants was mostly the same, but Ibrahim just looked at everything that happened in front of him with a cold face on the throne. The massacre only lasted less than three minutes. The mission, which originally numbered dozens of people, was reduced to one person by the bow-wielders.

"Cut off their heads." After receiving the order, the bowmen cut off the heads of the deceased one by one, treated them with prepared lime, and then put them into containers.

"You." Ibrahim stood up and walked towards the survivor. The sound of Ibrahim's heavy footsteps was like the sound of a death knell to the entourage. The man in front of him who kept approaching him was tall and somewhat fat. He was wearing a red turban, a red beard, and was dressed like a beggar. The man in the monk-like dark woolen sweater is like a demon in hell, or that is what the demons in hell should look like.

The attendant trembled. Facing Ibrahim who was getting closer and closer, he wanted to retreat, but he turned his head and looked behind him. Two bow holders were already standing behind him. He did not dare to retreat. The look on his face He looked like he was about to cry.

"I'll leave you a carriage. You can send your companions back to Tabriz, and then help me bring a message to your Sultan." Ibrahim cleared his throat and continued to explain: "If you don't give it to me, I will take it myself. I will only take more, including your life."

The attendant, whose legs were trembling and whose attention was highly concentrated due to nervousness, nodded quickly to show that he remembered.

"Very good." Ibrahim nodded with satisfaction, "You can go." As soon as he finished speaking, the attendant turned his head and looked at the two bow holders. The two bow holders were receiving Ibrahim's hand. After Xin's order, he made a way out of the way, and the attendant immediately stepped on his weak legs and left the palace at a speed that was almost running.

"You!" After the entourage left, the attendants were called in by Ibrahim. "Take care of the blood and corpses on the ground, and then load these boxes into Mr. Messenger's carriage."

The eunuchs and maids were a little frightened when they saw the blood on the ground, the headless corpses scattered everywhere, and the blood-stained bow holders, but out of the instinct of obedience, they quickly started working.

"Your Majesty." In the study, Mustafa, who accompanied Ibrahim in the meeting hall to meet the envoy, felt that Ibrahim's approach was inappropriate: "Killing the envoy would mean that we and Ahmed are completely torn apart. So shameless..."

"My Beg, can't you see it? If Ahmed had the strength to resist the attacks of two or more forces at the same time, then he would not call his allies. There is a price to pay for asking allies to cooperate. , who would share the spoils he worked so hard to win with others?" Ibrahim just replied disapprovingly.

"But, Your Majesty, you are not unclear about the situation of the army. We have fought several battles in succession. Although we have captured Shirvan and Georgia one after another, the red heads have suffered heavy losses, and every month The supplements that can be obtained are all unstable. I think it is better to be like Ahmed and be cowardly. If you can buy more time, try to buy more." Mustafa was a little anxious.

Of course, Mustafa is just pretending to be stupid. In addition to red heads, Ibrahim can also recruit farmers, miners, city dwellers and ordinary herdsmen to form an army, but doing so will weaken the status of red heads in the army, so begs usually do not Will mention this method.

"You don't need to worry about this." Ibrahim saw through Mustafa's little thoughts at a glance. "According to the report handed over by Turgut, Ahmed has long led his invincible army to march toward the southwest. I guess I have arrived in Mosul and started the siege." Ibrahim held Turgut's letter and waved it in front of Mustafa, which was also stamped with a seal he could not recognize. "And." Ibrahim put down Turgut's letter and picked up another letter, "This is a letter from a certain vizier under Ahmed, in which he revealed the truth about Tabor. There is also other information about Shicheng’s reality.”

Mustafa did not expect Ahmed's vizier to betray his monarch so quickly. If he successfully rebelled, he could be called a three-surname domestic slave.

However, Muhammad Zakaria did not submit his name to Ibrahim alone. He also wrote a letter to Alvand, who was approaching Tehran from the north, revealing the reality of the city of Tehran and the condition of the road leading to Azerbaijan. The same was true It was unsigned, only stamped. In order to prevent the letters from being intercepted by other forces, he used different seals for his letters to different forces.

Ibrahim had already thought about what to do next, but something interrupted him.

"Your Majesty, your brother Ismail has been brought back from Lahijan."