The Sun and the Lion

The governor, who was not yet aware that more Yemeni and Bedouin tribes had joined the war, continued to push forward with the implementation of the original plan. Kehobad was surrounded by shaykhs from various tribes in South Yemen and headed north to Sana'a.

The Safavid army took over Taiz, the former royal capital of Yemen, without any bloodshed. This place was also hit by the famine that swept the entire region and was depressed. The emir who originally ruled here was helpless and could only allow citizens and refugees to continue to launch "wheat riots" to protest the current situation of the rulers' inability to solve the food shortage.

When the emir received the news that the governor of Yemen was going to take over the mess, the relief brought by relief rose in his heart, but this relief was not that relief, and the Safavids did not act according to his imagination.

However, after he left the city and went to Aden, Taiz actually had a power vacuum. The lack of authority prompted the mullahs of each community to divide the space within the city walls and lead people to fight with each other for limited resources.

As a minority group, Yemeni Jews were the first to be eliminated. Many of them were lynched, and the survivors were driven out of the city. Fortunately, the rabbis really found a new way out for their compatriots-migrating south. The refugees encountered the Safavid army that was marching north.

Elijah was brought to Kehobad and said in a low voice: "Dear Sir, we are just a group of refugees now. We have lost all our property and family members. We have nothing but our lives."

"Where did you come from and how did you end up like this?" Kehobad asked the rabbi through a Yemeni interpreter.

"Going back to Master Jun, we are all poor Jews who have lived in Taiz for generations. Our ancestors can be traced back to before the birth of the Holy Prophet, and we were engaged in gold and silver crafts, currency exchange, wine making and other activities in the city..." Elijah Slightly organize the language to introduce the basic information and current situation of Taiz City to maximize their value to the conquerors: "Because of the food shortage, everyone went crazy, but the emir who ruled here cowardly abandoned his territory and ran away, and the situation became worse. Out of control, we were forced to abandon our property and flee our hometown. We heard that there was food and the situation was stable in Aden on the southern coast, so we wanted to flee south...Eh? Are you from Aden?"

Kehobard looked at the Jewish rabbi in front of him. He always felt that the other party had ulterior motives, but he still said indifferently: "The righteous master of the Shah of Iran wants to bring order back to the entire Yemen. If you meet me, you don't have to flee to Aden." Go. Take me to your city and help me conquer them."

Elijah was overjoyed when he got his wish. When he returned to the refugees, he immediately quoted the allusion of the Babylonian captivity to explain the situation to the confused people: "Heavenly Father Yahweh protects us! The descendants of the anointed Cyrus have come to liberate us again! "

For a while, the survivors knelt down to thank God for His blessing, and then they brought the Safavid army to Taiz in a hurry, and actively expressed their intention to fill the trenches for Qayhobad and attack the city.

However, no one organized to defend the city, and the citizens watched helplessly as outsiders took control of the place and allowed them to prey on them. In other words, when order is lacking, letting a powerful foreign force take over this mess seems to be a good choice. The only thing to worry about is whether the Iranians will listen to the slander and indulge the Jews who lead the way to attack other communities.

The Sheikh who was responsible for taking over the city immediately took over the local civil affairs and used the support provided by the Governor to begin stabilizing order, distributing relief, and resuming production. As the refugees were taken to the surrounding areas to repair water conservancy or clean and maintain infrastructure such as sewers, the hostility in the city dissipated along with the crowding, filth and shortage of necessities.

Tribal armed forces also replaced the original militia organizations. Sheikh first recruited local mercenaries, then forcibly disbanded the local militia and confiscated armor. The citizens watched with vigilance and horror as the "sheepherds" from the backcountry guarded the city gates, garrisoned the castle, and roamed the streets in groups to deal with emergencies and repeatedly declare the dominance of the new master.

As expected, there were some minor frictions between the outsiders and the locals. Compared with the Iranians who stayed and camped outside the city, the South Yemenis who entered the city did not have good military discipline. They acted like bandits and did not stop until they were full.

Regarding the South Yemeni soldiers' behavior of searching for trophies without the permission of their superiors, Kehobad frowned and suggested to the Sheikh in a "nosy" way: "I suggest you still have to restrain and train your troops well, so that It does no good for everyone to hate us."

As luck would have it, just when Kayhobard was about to raise his troops and continue heading north to Zamar, the scouts sent word that an unknown team had appeared to the west of Taiz and was camping in several mountain valleys. friendly forces.

"Report again." Kehobad had not heard that his superiors had sent other friendly forces to help coordinate his actions, while the pro-Iranian South Yemeni tribal armed forces would use various means such as flags to distinguish them. Before continuing to march, he needed to eliminate this hidden danger. If the troops loyal to the Imam had already attacked here, wouldn't going north take the initiative to give up the retreat to the enemy?

After a lot of effort, the scouts were able to return with military information. They successfully captured several Tongues for interrogation and roughly figured out their origins: "General, according to the heretics, they claimed to be from the coastal lowlands and did not respect the pseudo-Ima. Purpose Authority has tried to attack Mocha before, but failed."

As for how many people there were, the prisoners really couldn't tell. In fact, even the Sheikh who led the team only knew the approximate number of people, and they didn't have the time to count the specific numbers.

The scouts estimated by visually inspecting the number of campfires and tents that there were not many Yemenis attacking them. Lacking a unified command and a common goal, the Tihama Yemeni tribe was originally a straggler. After disbanding outside the city of Mocha, they were just headless flies. No matter what the Cairo gold master asked them to do, the only way to transform into locusts and plunder was at present. Target.

Kehobard, who was originally facing a formidable enemy, breathed a sigh of relief. The task of chasing down the horse bandits could just be handed over to the auxiliary troops to prevent them from continuing to harm the people in the city.

More than a thousand cavalry were selected from the center of the South Yemen Army, and equipped with a group of "Little Hornets" as fire support. They followed the leading scouts and galloped towards the enemy camp. The looters were unable to withstand the sudden attack and were forced to abandon their loot and retreat westward away from Taiz.

Kehobard was pleased to see that the Yemeni friendly forces were busy cutting off the heads of the horse bandits, instead of doing nothing to disturb the "herds" within the city walls and the surrounding countryside. Taking advantage of the troops' rest time, he sent the battle report back to Aden so that the governor who controlled the overall situation from behind could keep abreast of the latest situation.