The Sun and the Lion

After summoning Giovanni and the Tabriz architectural director to the study for several effective communications, the design drawings of the firearms workshop finally appeared on Ibrahim's desk. Ground can be broken after the beginning of spring. After several months of intense construction, the workshop can continue to produce the most cutting-edge weapons of this era to arm the Safavid army.

But that’s a story for another day, and the architects responsible for the project are just now walking out the door with drawings in hand.

Ibrahim left Giovanni alone and asked about the Italians' language learning: "Giovanni, can your compatriots communicate normally with my subjects before the completion of the project?"

"Your Majesty, I'm just a cannon maker. I can't answer this question. I think language learning varies from person to person, but there seems to be some people in the group who know Arabic." Giovanni was a little embarrassed. He was not responsible for teaching Azerbaijan. Linguistic, but he could only choose his words and answer bravely.

It is too difficult for humans to master a language in less than a year without a teacher.

"Do you think you can carry out your work without an interpreter?" Ibrahim was a little worried. If he could not communicate directly with the apprentices, it would greatly affect their teaching. But there is no good solution. It seems that the first batch of apprentices can only communicate with these Italian teachers through translators, unless they are willing to wait for these Italians to learn the language for free.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I think you can give it a try." Giovanni replied.

"Then, I will give you the metal processing workshop in the castle area, with sufficient supply of raw materials and fuel. I want you to bring a group of apprentices and turn them into craftsmen who can make granular gunpowder and breech-loading swivel cannons, okay? Ibrahim asked.

The breech-loading swivel gun is different from other artillery. The bronze front-loading gun needs to make a clay mold, bury it in the ground, and then pour bronze into it and wait for it to cool. The breech-mounted swivel gun seems to be able to be made in an ordinary metal processing workshop.

Moreover, the breech-mounted swivel gun is relatively light and can be carried on the back of a camel. Such a breech-mounted swivel gun has enough maneuverability to follow the advancing infantry and cavalry, provide support, and use hail-like pellets to deliver a devastating blow to the enemy. .

"Your Majesty, I will not let you down." Giovanni bowed and saluted, and at the same time added in his heart: "And the salary offered."

Ibrahim immediately issued a decree requiring that a section of the metal processing workshop in the castle area be set aside for Giovanni's use, and an adjacent room be set aside for the processing of granular gunpowder. The relevant apprentices and blacksmiths are all managed by Giovanni. He also needs to go to the poorhouse to select some orphans as apprentices to learn how to process gunpowder.

He planned to provoke a new war in the next few years. He wanted to form a gunpowder force as soon as possible to let himself and the Turkmen officers see how effective the Safavid artillery force could be on the battlefield.

Among the artillery brought back by Abilad were several breech-mounted swivel guns. Ibrahim could use these artillery to let the Italian gunners train a group of Iranian gunners who were skilled in operating artillery.

Kamran then drafted several more edicts. One was to Heraclius, the governor of Georgia, asking him to recruit a thousand Georgians to come to Tabriz after spring. At the same time, he also recruited Persian farmers, herdsmen and miners in various provinces. Ibrahim planned to form a model army relying on Caucasian Christians, settled residents, and non-red-headed herders.

Of course, in this case, several new military camps will be built outside the city.

"Your Majesty, do you really have such high expectations for these gunpowder weapons?" Kamran asked after Giovanni took the order and left. Since he served Abraham, he had never seen the King of Kings excited several times. Although he had not danced with joy yet, the look on his face could not be concealed.

Ibrahim just nodded. He could not explain clearly that in the Chaldiran Valley in 1514, the Safavid army was bleeding into rivers because of their firearms and numerical inferiority. This was the beginning of the rise of the Safavid dynasty. Interrupted, the Ottomans suppressed Iran for a long time. Moreover, establishing a standing army equipped with firearms could strengthen the royal power, suppress those tribal khans, and give the country a stable centralized government.

"What's the date today?" He suddenly remembered something and asked the servant in the room.

"My master, today is the 1st of March, and it will be the New Year in about two weeks." The calendar was hung on the wall, and the eunuch waiting in the room quickly reported back to Ibrahim.

Speaking of calendars, after establishing his capital in Tabriz, Ibrahim had a complete central government and a complete court. Find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan. com includes some astronomers. Ibrahim organized these astronomers and added some entourages to form his "Qin Tian Jian", an institution that served the monarch.

The purpose of such an institution is to formulate calendars and help monarchs monopolize the power to interpret natural phenomena to consolidate their rule.

The first task after the establishment of this organization was to formulate a unified calendar. Originally, the higher-ups of the sect wanted to directly apply the Tianfang religious calendar, but this was a lunar calendar, and human production activities relied on the sun. Ibrahim later asked astronomers to formulate a solar calendar for use throughout the country, with the Spring Equinox marking the New Year every year. The calendar still uses AD 622, the year when the prophet faceless men migrated from Mecca to Medina, as the first year.

What Ibrahim would not have known was that this new calendar, known as the Iranian calendar, was not that different from the Gregorian calendar that would prevail hundreds of years later.

At the same time, the work of unifying weights and measures was also ongoing. Unified weights and measures made in Tabriz were distributed to market supervisors in various places to regulate merchants and craftsmen in Bazaar. Tax collectors were also required to be familiar with the new weights and measures.

Of course, for the convenience of readers and authors, the calendars and weights and measures used in the book are the Gregorian calendar and the metric system.

"New Year's Day is in two weeks?" Ibrahim said to himself. The first thing he thought of was not the routine New Year's banquet, but the beginning of the new year's fighting season. He is considering who to send to Kerman and the border with the Timur rulers in Persian Iraq to prepare for this year's raids and to prepare for the liberation of Khorasan, Makran, Sistan and Hezhong in a few years.

"Well, let Waqie prepare for the New Year's banquet." Ibrahim, who remembered that he was going to hold a celebration, casually ordered.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The eunuch resigned and went to inform his superior, the eunuch chief.