The Sun and the Lion

The gate guards of Tabriz looked at the team in front of them curiously. The leading Armenians wore turbans, silk robes, and identification documents, but they were followed by a group of Christians they had never seen before.

At this time, Giovanni, the cannon maker, was wearing a black velvet coat and a black hat on his head also made of velvet. The settling-in fee paid to him by Abilard was enough for him to buy a new outfit for the whole family. He cut off all ties with the past. He sold all the property and furniture in Venice, and his wife and children came to this strange land with him.

The group of people walked along the main road to the palace. Along the way, the Italians looked at the Muslims who were looking at them with some fear, but nothing happened. No violence against pagans occurred.

In the palace of Tabriz, Ibrahim had learned from his servants the news of Abilad's return. According to his decree, all the weapons and soldiers were placed in the military camp outside the city, while he received the others in the hall of the palace.

"Your Majesty, the heretics you want to meet have arrived."

In the halls of the palace, the Italians, who had received urgent etiquette training in advance, did not look around like they did on the street. Abilad lowered his head, facing the empty main seat, holding the document that Ibrahim had given him. Standing next to the seat was the chief eunuch who looked at them with his head raised, and the other was the chief secretary.

"Shah Khan Shah has arrived!" Along with a burst of footsteps approaching from far away, an announcement reminded everyone of Ibrahim's arrival.

"Huda bless you! Long live your Majesty!" Under the cheers of the crowd, Ibrahim came to his own seat, but did not sit down immediately. He glanced at all the people in front of him who came to see him, and first looked at Abilard: "My loyal agent, you have completed your mission faithfully."

Abilad stepped forward, knelt down, and handed the authorization document back to Ibrahim, and a guard stepped forward to take it.

"Very good, I've prepared your reward." At Ibrahim's signal, Waqie led the eunuchs to carry boxes one after another, and then opened them in front of everyone.

These generous rewards successfully sent Abilard away, and also shocked the Italians present, "No king in Europe will have such amazing wealth. Marco Polo's travel notes are just legends, and what I saw is It's reality." - an Italian wrote in his diary.

Magnificent cities and castles, luxurious palace decorations, countless servants, boxes of cash and gold and silver products, and luxurious clothing. All this makes them think that coming here is the right decision.

"Your Majesty." Giovanni stepped forward and knelt down to Ibrahim. What surprised Ibrahim was that the Italian in front of him spoke Azerbaijani, although he was not very proficient in it. You know, the entire return journey takes less than two months. Such a rapid language learning progress can be called cheating.

During Giovanni's brief self-introduction, Ibrahim learned the identities of everyone present. In addition to him and another cannon-caster, there were also military engineers, shipbuilders, etc.

At the same time, the guards took out the contracts signed by various Italians, and Ibrahim compared them one by one and learned the names and skills of all of them.

"Giovanni stays, and the others can go back to rest and learn Azerbaijani and Persian. When you can communicate normally with my subjects, I will arrange work for you."

Giovanni communicated this order to his Italian compatriots, and then the Italians, who did not understand the language, went to the castle rooms prepared for their temporary residence, accompanied by interpreters and attendants.

"Your Majesty, this is my honor." Giovanni felt only grateful after learning that he could go to the military camp with Ibrahim to watch the firearms shooting.

In the military camp outside the city, the large school field, which was originally used by the cavalry to gallop their horses and practice cavalry tactics, was temporarily converted into a shooting range under the guidance of Italian gunners.

Various types of artillery were deployed and aimed at the distance. Various targets were erected in the open space in front of the muzzle, as well as temporary walls made of rammed earth and masonry.

The sound of military instruments announced the arrival of the King of Kings, and the officers present bowed and saluted. Ibrahim was riding on his mount, and Kamran and Giovanni were walking beside him.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to introduce these firearms before shooting." In the shooting range, Giovanni said to Ibrahim in less fluent Azerbaijani.

"Yes, these firearms and operators are under your command."

After receiving the authorization, Giovanni began to introduce these firearms of various shapes one by one. Even the Turkmen officers who believed that the key to victory lay in war horses, bows, arrows and lances looked curiously at these firearms that few people had seen before.

"Look, Your Majesty, this is a matchlock." Giovanni took the matchlock from the musketeer and showed it to Ibrahim: "This is the most commonly used hand-held firearm. All types of matchlocks have long There are short ones and different weights. They are mainly divided into two types: light and heavy. This matchlock gun needs a bracket to support the launch. It is a heavy matchlock gun. It is very powerful and can easily shoot through any armor at a distance of a hundred steps."

The matchlock was then handed back to the musketeers for shooting demonstrations. After skillfully loading the matchlock, the musketeer held the stand and aimed at the human-shaped target covered with chain armor about twenty meters away.

The smoldering match ignited the primer in the powder pool, and then the propellant was also ignited. The gunpowder gases generated by the combustion and explosion pushed the lead bullet out of the barrel. The loud noise and smoke frightened the horses present, and Ibrahim had to exert some effort to control his mount.

Gaolaberi was the first to step forward to check the target - the chain armor and the breastplate were mercilessly shot through by lead bullets, and were deeply embedded in the wooden human-shaped target.

Then Ibrahim also came forward to check. He had seen matchlock shooting in countless film and television works and games. This was the first time he had seen such a live demonstration.

But Ibrahim shook his head and ordered the guard to take out the Turkish matchlock gun: "What I need is not such a matchlock gun that is inconvenient to use due to its overweight. Please take a look at the matchlock guns made by the Turks."

Giovanni took the Turkish matchlock, not realizing that Ibrahim had been exposed to firearms before. But it quickly dawned on me – why hire a firearms expert from thousands of miles away if you’ve never seen a firearm?

"Your Majesty, please give me some time to study." Giovanni requested.

"Okay." Ibrahim nodded, "Go on. Find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com"

Giovanni then continued: "Your Majesty, please look at this. This is a breech-mounted swivel gun that can fire rapidly and is mainly used in naval battles."

The rear-mounted swivel cannon is more familiar to Taohuashi people as the Fran cannon. This small cannon is flexible and easy to use and has a fast rate of fire, so it is widely praised.

At Giovanni's signal, the gunner first demonstrated the artillery's shooting range without blind spots. In everyone's opinion, the gunner could rotate the gun body in one turn without any effort from the gunner. Then, after pointing the muzzle at a group of scarecrows not far away, the gunner loaded the child musket into the mother musket, then lit it and fired.

A small stone bullet rushed into the crowd with an irresistible impact. The scarecrow was directly hit and could not get up again.

Finally, Giovanni and the gunners demonstrated other types of artillery. The wall used to withstand the cannonballs was riddled with holes, and the human targets placed on it to represent the defenders were also in a mess. In the artillery position, after several rounds of firing with large charges, no artillery had any accidents, which is gratifying.

After the firearms shooting demonstration, the Turkmen officers present began to express their opinions.

"Your Majesty, I believe that these artillery pieces are the siege weapons given by Huda. With these, we can quickly break through the city walls and pour into the city and fortress. This will save us precious time." Gaolaberi was the first to express his opinion , and then Abdul followed suit.

Turkmen officers basically affirmed their value in sieges, but did not believe that these "precision machines", which were cumbersome and slow to load, could play a great role in field battles. "Just like a crossbow cannot be used on horseback."

Ibrahim roughly understood their views and did not comment. He just ordered the school grounds to be restored to their original state, and placed the firearms and Italians in the castle to wait for Ibrahim's next order.