The Sun and the Lion

Diwan's transfer orders were passed down from level to level, and reinforcements and supplies were continuously transferred to Shah Port across the sea from Hormuz Island. From then on, they were sent by ship to the Port of Aden to reinforce the Governor of Yemen.

The leader of this supporting force was Kayhobard. He was the first to come to Yemen to understand the situation. Although the governor was from the navy, there were no difficult conflicts on land and sea.

The general arrived in Aden with his personal guards and a large amount of needed supplies. In addition to the transshipped grain and other military supplies, there were also a large number of boxes containing silver coins in the ship's cargo hold - Ibra Appreciate the additional funds allocated towards the Red Sea.

Money, food, troops and horses are gradually in place, and all threats in Yemen must be eradicated. The first to bear the brunt are the old forces sandwiched between the Safavids and the Zahids. The governor invited them on the grounds of jointly annihilating heretics in the north and allocating new territories. Arrive at the castle of Aden.

The emirs who had been notified to come to Aden for a meeting arrived one after another. Although the governor had previously had a negative attitude towards them, the reversal of his attitude proved that he still needed to rely on them to rule the interior.

The guards brought by the emirs were all left in the camp outside the city. Everyone complained about the governor's arrangement, but they still obeyed and entered the castle alone to attend the meeting.

However, when they gathered in the hall of the castle, a group of soldiers specially designed to deal with them suddenly broke in. Without waiting for them to react, they sealed all entrances and exits and controlled the emirs.

"I'm here to hold a meeting under orders, what are you going to do!" The emir, who was twisted by the soldiers and unable to move, struggled in panic and yelled in a Yemeni Arabic dialect that the Turkic soldiers could not understand. Fortunately, in Kehobad The soldiers were all extremely skilled, twisting their arms and escorting all the emirs present to the dungeon of the castle.

The prisoners who had never been able to see the governor of Yemen were all secretly executed without a chance to shout and pounce. Their soldiers and horses left outside the city were attacked at the same time, either dead or captured, and completely lost their ability to resist.

The leaders of the southern tribes who submitted to the Safavid rule immediately began to carve up the vacant official positions, and went north to take over various jurisdictions to re-establish the ruling order. The leaderless remnants of the swarms were unable to resist, and they surrendered and knelt to take over the new master. The die-hards might even escape into the mountains. , or hanged in the square.

To stabilize the situation at the rear, the governor immediately arranged to send troops to "rescue" Sana'a. He carefully selected hundreds of horsemen from the local tribal armed forces to go north to inquire about the situation. However, everyone had already preset the answer in their hearts - the defenders had been martyred. Become a martyr, may Allah have mercy.

In accordance with the agreement reached between the governor and Imam Hassan, the advance team was able to transit smoothly and received material support from the settlements under Hassan's rule.

However, while waiting for help in the port of Aden, the war burned more intensely and spread to a wider area. When Yahya's siege of Sanaa reached the ears of the Governor of Jeddah, he immediately decided to invest more chips.

The pro-Egyptian Yemeni tribes were immediately mobilized and besieged the Safavids' only stronghold in the Timaha region - the port of Mocha - with great fanfare in order to make the Iranians lose sight of one thing.

Compared with Aden's geographical location, the defensive conditions of Mocha Port are much worse. Not only is it faced by land on three sides, but the city's defenses are more primitive and fragile than those of major cities such as Aden, Taiz, and Sana'a. The Safavid garrison is in need of transformation. A lot of investment was made in city defenses.

In order to capture Mocha, Hussein spent a lot of money. He provided a lot of firearms and "Roma" volunteers to the Yemeni servant army in the hope of a quick victory.

A dozen artillery pieces were lined up under the city, and Yemeni gunners, under the guidance of Ottoman instructors, were loading the artillery pieces in preparation for bombarding the Mocha city wall.

"Sir, do we want to fire first? I see that the enemy's artillery is of different shapes and the artillery is not good at handling. Maybe after a few hits, they will flee and dare not fight back against our army." Upon seeing this, the officer of the fort made a suggestion. In addition to facing the sea, some of the newly built forts in Mocha were integrated with the city defense fortifications to strengthen the city's defense power.

Just when the commander was thinking about how to retreat from the enemy, the stone bullets roared over the city wall and hit the open space of the mosque in the city. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

During the intermission of the cannon fire under the city, tribal warriors armed with bows, arrows and firearms lined up and slowly approached the city wall, intending to work with the gunners to suppress and kill the defenders on the wall.

"How dare you show off in front of us with such a small skill? Send the order and fire back." The captain was very disdainful of the firearms level of the Yemeni tribes.

The trained Safavid gunners naturally shot more accurately than the improvised Yemenis. The iron bullets fell into the queue and quickly passed through the crowd. The Yemeni shooters were beaten and confused. Subsequently, the Yemeni artillery team also came under attack, and the gunners hurriedly evaded and had no intention of fighting back.

The Yemeni army's initial aggressive arrogance was hit, but the offensive did not stop. Arrows and lead bullets fired from the city still flew to the crenellated walls, and long ladders were still put up on the top of the city for the Yemenis to climb the wall to attack. The naval infantry held on tightly. hilt, ready for their first battle.

However, when the Yemeni climbed to the top, he looked up and saw the black muzzle of the revolving gun. The gunner immediately fired and fired, with shotgun shells and smoke spraying into his face. He fell down the long ladder before he even had time to scream. , the upper body was a bloody mess, making it impossible to identify him.

Powerful firepower is the capital of the naval infantry to defend the city. The numerous matchlock guns and breech-mounted revolving guns are more troublesome than the Yemenis expected. The low morale caused by the setback of the offensive inevitably affects everyone, even the most indifferent and stubborn. The Sheikh also had to agree to withdraw the troops to rest.

The situation is stuck here. A siege is impossible. Mocha is a port city, but the Yemeni tribes who have raised armies have no water power to block shipping. The fleet of the Governor of Jeddah cannot go down personally, otherwise the two countries will directly go to war.

The Ottoman instructors used this gap to guide the Yemenis in constructing artillery positions, and urgently trained their artillery skills, consuming ammunition to continue bombarding the city of Mocha.

The time before the sun sets is spent in artillery battles. Compared with the well-reserved Safa defenders, the Yemeni artillery fire frequency is much lower, and the actual damage caused to the city defenses is very limited.

The success during the day allowed the commander to dare to organize a death squad to attack the Yemeni artillery team in the front position at night. With nails and hammers, they entered the artillery position in the dark and hunted the gunners who had not yet reacted. In the weak moonlight, they began to block the fire door.

The warriors who successfully disabled the artillery did not want to fight, and immediately fled back under the fire cover of their comrades. In order to prevent the chasing enemy forces from seizing the city gates, they could only use hanging ropes to climb back to the city.

This incident greatly dampened the morale of the Yemenis. The Sheikhs believed that attacking a fortified city was a short attack, and they suggested lifting the siege. It would be best to lure the defenders out and ambush them. They were good at mobile warfare in familiar mountainous areas.

Thinking of this, most of the tribes in the coalition simply gave up attacking the city directly and instead marched inland, with only a few remaining standing at their posts.