The Sun and the Lion

Lin Dengwan lost, lost again, and once again his troops were wiped out. This was the first time in his life that he had been defeated. He fled in embarrassment with only his own body.

"It's safe now." Lindenwan thought, he had now reached the border between Sylvan and Georgia. Then he looked around, and after making sure it was safe, he took out the last piece of meat from his pocket and put it in his mouth along with the bread crumbs, thinking about where to go next.

Just a few hours ago, Ibrahim led his troops to catch up with the peasant army that was crossing the river. While the peasant army was still in chaos, Ibrahim led the bowmen and cut into the peasant army's formation like a hot knife cutting through butter. At this time, Lin Dengwan and the backbone of the peasant army had just finished crossing the river. Unable to command the peasant army on the other side, the peasant army that lost its organization was naturally helpless to fight back.

But Lin Dengwan had no choice but to turn in with his subordinates who had already crossed the river, hoping that his comrades on the other side of the river could delay a little longer.

However, when the peasant army by the river realized that their general and comrades were about to abandon them, they lost their courage and simply threw their weapons on the ground or into the river before kneeling down and surrendering.

Ibrahim threw these surrendered troops to Gulam. After being taken care of by the Romulu and Afshar tribes, Ibrahim quickly crossed the ford with the bow holders and several other cavalry troops, and caught up with Lindenwan. .

Lin Dengwan was calm. Seeing that he could not escape, he calmly organized the remaining soldiers to face the enemy. But calmness could not change the situation of the battle. Not long after the battle, the rebels were squeezed back to the river, while the prisoners who had not yet been taken away watched their generals and colleagues’ movement space being compressed bit by bit, and finally squeezed Unable to even swing their swords, the rebels could only watch themselves being chopped down by the red head, who then went over the corpse and chopped down one person.

At the end of the battle, although the rebels had room to wield their weapons, their courage to resist had long been exhausted.

Seeing that the situation was over and there was no way to escape, Lindenwan jumped directly into the river and disappeared in front of everyone. Ibrahim ordered the red heads to search along the river, but they couldn't find it. Ibrahim had to give up, and then Order the soldiers to clean the battlefield and tally battle losses and spoils.

"These people who have betrayed the Lord will not only go to Hell after death, but also have to atone for their sins during their lifetime. They are destined to serve the Lord's shadow on the earth." Ibrahim demoted all these prisoners of war to slaves and distributed them to the battles as rewards. Brave new property owners.

After reward comes punishment.

Looking at the gallows in the camp playground and the dozens of red heads kneeling on the ground and being held by bow holders, tied with ropes, the faces of the tribal leaders darkened.

These red heads who were about to be pushed to the gallows and hanged came from various tribes. After their equipment was taken off, they wore different clothes and had different levels. However, they had one thing in common: they were deemed to have committed serious violations of orders.

These Qizilbash were examples of Ibrahim and Hussein's careful selection, and their execution would enhance their prestige without overly irritating the tribe.

"You pigs who ignore the authority of the Sheikh, bring shame to the Order, and bring trouble to the Sheikh." While cursing, the bow wielder whipped the red heads who were about to be pushed to the gallows. The red heads and begs who were separated by the bow holders and the gulams felt that these arrogant whippings of their compatriots were not only humiliating these people who were about to die, but also humiliating themselves.

Although some of the condemned prisoners wanted to say something, they could not utter a single syllable - all their teeth were knocked out and their tongues were cut off before being shown in public.

"Betraitors who do not submit to the authority of the Shaykh and do not obey the orders of the Shaykh will only die in disgrace during their lifetime, and will only go to Hell after death."

After saying this, the first batch of victims were pushed onto the gallows, the rope was tightly put around their necks, and then the plank was removed from under their feet.

There are two types of hangings. One is to use the force of the human body falling at high speed to break the person's spine. The other is to rely on the gravity of the human body and the rope to compress the person's respiratory tract, causing the victim to suffocate to death.

Ibrahim chose the second option. In order to strengthen the deterrent effect, Ibrahim did not intend to let these victims die too quickly.

After a while, several victims opened their mouths and tried to suck in air in a vain attempt to prolong their lives in this way, but it was in vain. When the victim opened his mouth, his bloody mouth was revealed to everyone. From this, we could clearly see the kind of torture he suffered before his death.

Some of those waiting for execution in the back had already begun to tremble. They wanted to beg Ibrahim for mercy, but their tongues had been cut out. They struggled desperately, but in exchange they were whipped by the bow wielder.

"They have already gone to Hell, the next group!" The executioners took off the bodies hanging on the ropes, threw them into the river, and then used whips to drive the next group of victims.

Ibrahim glanced at the crowd, nodded with satisfaction, and then continued to stare at the new batch of victims.

A Beg from a small tribe saw a member of his own tribe and couldn't help but want to say something. The Ustaji Beg next to him noticed his little movement and reminded him in a low voice: "The wisest thing to do now is to remain silent. Be silent."

Although he reminded others to be patient, Muhammad felt very sad when he looked at the red head hanging on the gallows. Although Beg of the big tribe would not recognize every member of the tribe, the military judge would read out loud the tribe and rank of the victim during the execution. He had already watched several red heads of his own and vassal tribes being hung up.

Mustafa, who was at the other end of the crowd, also saw several victims belonging to himself and the vassal tribes, but the emotion occupying his brain had turned from dissatisfaction to entanglement.

The Romulu tribe has the most special relationship with the Safavid family among all the major tribes under the sect. The ancestors of the Romulu tribe, four or five generations before, were prisoners of war captured by the cripple Timur Timur during his Western expedition to the Ottomans. When Timur returned to Samarkand and passed through Azerbaijan, he was killed by Sheikh Khwaja, the religious sect who helped collect taxes at that time. · Ali persuaded and gave some of the prisoners of war to the order, and Khwaja placed them in the sanctum sanctorum of Ganja and restored their freedom.

These freed and properly resettled prisoners of war pledged their loyalty to the Order without hesitation, and these prisoners of war who were resettled together regrouped into a tribe. Because of this relationship, the Sheikhs of the Safavid Order in this world attach great importance to strengthening their control over the Romuru tribe. Ibrahim inherited this legacy. Compared with other tribes, the Romuru tribe has The centripetal force is stronger. If Berg ordered his tribe to fight against the cult, the tribe would probably split on the spot, and the two factions would start a civil war. Then the scarred Romulu tribe will not only lose the ability to fight against the Order, but will also become the laughing stock of all Turkmen tribes and be divided and annexed by other large tribes.

Although other large tribes also have people who are firmly loyal to the Order, the proportion is not as exaggerated as that of the Romulu tribe.

Mustafa suddenly thought that he had an unmarried daughter who was younger than Ibrahim, so it might be a good gift.

"Long live His Majesty the Sultan!" The shouts of the bow holders not far away interrupted Mustafa's thinking.

"Sultan? Is Sheikh Ibrahim going to restore the title of Sheikh Junaid?" Looking at the bow-wielders who threw the last headless corpse into the river, the Beggs thought about Ibrahim in their hearts. Xin’s intention.

Since the reform of the Order by Ibrahim's grandfather Junaid, the titles of Sheikhs have been added with the title of authority (Sultan), which fully reveals the naked pursuit of secular kingship by the reformed Order. This move has also been criticized. The lords everywhere became suspicious and repelled.

Now Ibrahim has moved out of this title again, mainly to strengthen his prestige and then reiterate the ambition he inherited from his father and ancestors.

After the bow holders finished shouting, some onlookers also reacted and hurriedly shouted long live the Sultan. Seeing the people around him shouting long live, he knew what he should do no matter how slow his reaction was. After a while, the onlookers opened their mouths and shouted for Ibrahim.

Seeing the crowd below chanting his name in unison, Ibrahim felt a sense of satisfaction.

This is the power of the monarch. He is supported by everyone, surrounded by everyone, and the entire country is the property of the monarch.

Striking while the iron is hot, Ibrahim took advantage of the energy he had just finished executing to announce his next arrangements.

First of all, from now on, all military judges in the army will be held by bow holders, and Ghulam will assist in law enforcement. The Sudanese Guards will strictly rectify military discipline, enforce military law, and ignore the protection of the Begs.

Second, Ibrahim counted all the red heads who hold real estate in Shirwan. These red heads who hold real estate will not participate in the subsequent military operations against Georgia. They will stay to maintain the order of the religious order in the local area. .

For these remaining red heads, Ibrahim redistributed their real estate according to military merit. First, to ensure that the real estate they held was worthy of their beheading, and second, to ensure that property owners from the same tribe would not be geographically clustered.

The last step is to reorganize the army. Ibrahim no longer plans to deploy troops on a tribal basis. He plans to divide all tribal cavalry into several regiments composed of a thousand men. Although the personnel composition will still be affected. Tribe influence, but the number of red heads in the tribe cannot be exactly an integer. A group will have at least two tribe members.

After announcing the order, Ibrahim took the bow holders back to Baku. The tribal cavalry will also break camp tomorrow, leaving only dozens of wooden stakes with human heads stuck in them.

At the same time, Lin Dengwan also thought about his next move and set off to the west.