The Sun and the Lion

Turgut, Golaberi and Abdul left after receiving their respective tasks. Assad was left alone by Ibrahim to prepare for the next state meeting.

Not long after, the eunuch came to report: "Your Majesty, all your viziers have arrived and are waiting for your arrival in the meeting hall."

Ibrahim went to the council chamber with Kamran and the scribes, and the foreign vizier who was with the King of Kings.

After being greeted respectfully by all the ministers, he sat on the main seat of the meeting hall. Kamran and the clerks stood beside the main seat, preparing to record the contents of the meeting and draft documents and edicts on the spot.

Ibrahim glanced at the sitting ministers, and at his instruction, the eunuch hung the map on the wall for everyone to see. The map is large and marked in detail, so everyone can see it clearly. The big pile of Timur on the map attracted everyone's attention, and they also speculated whether they were going to use troops against Timur.

At this moment, he stood up and spoke: "My ministers, today I summon you to my chamber to announce the goals for the next few years. As you can see, Timur's descendants are like parasites Generally occupying a vast territory - Khorasan, Sistan, Makran, Baluchestan, as well as the vast Turan plain and the fertile river."

Every time Ibrahim mentioned a place name, he pointed out the area with his whip.

"My grandfather drove them all out of western Iran. After Busain was defeated by him, they once again got into a scuffle over the inheritance. So far, no Shaharul has appeared. This time, I inherited all the inheritance from my grandfather. , they must all be swept into hell!" Ibrahim became more and more excited as he spoke, and even added hand gestures when he said the last sentence. It's really a good experience to personally send each of the famous regimes in the history books to their graves.

Seeing that the King of Kings was so excited, the servants present knew that the war was a certainty, and that Safavid had no major problems now. The viziers also took advantage of the situation to support Ibrahim's decision.

But launching a war requires not only moral support, but also adequate material preparations.

Sitting down, Ibrahim first asked Tofmas: "How much money is left in the national treasury? How large an army can the next revenue support?"

The Financial Vizier stood up, saluted and replied: "Your Majesty, the current national treasury is not very sufficient. After the beginning of spring, many projects you have appointed have begun to break ground, and most of the project funds required have been paid. Agricultural taxes are collected annually. , it is not expected for the time being. The only thing that can provide stable military expenditure in the next few months is commercial taxes. The mining, salt and silk industries monopolized by the Imperial Property Department are the largest inputs, followed by trade taxes on other luxury goods and various necessities. If If you wish, you can expand the scope of the commodity monopoly, or simply devalue the currency.”

Ibrahim said: "No, devaluing the currency is a last resort." Then he summoned the eunuch and asked him to take the document just drafted by the secretary to inform Waqie, allowing the Imperial Property Department to contract some small and medium-sized mines to private.

Seeing the two men worrying about military expenditures, Muhammad Zakaria stood up and spoke: "Financial Vizier, and Your Majesty, please don't forget that there is another source of wealth here."

The King of Kings followed the instructions of the Grand Vizier and looked over, and the Strait of Hormuz became the focus of everyone.

This statement really reminded Ibrahim that Hormuz had not yet been included under the jurisdiction of Safavid, and the ruler had not paid tribute to him.

Hormuz is the axis of trade between the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean and a prosperous commercial city. She owns the most famous pearl producing area in the Persian Gulf. At the same time, thousands of Persian and Arabian horses are transported to Goa by sea every year and sold to Indian countries that are constantly fighting on the subcontinent. Exotic goods floating in the Indian Ocean are also imported into the hinterland of Iran from here. Taohuashi's treasure ship fleet once arrived here, and evaluated this large trading port as "the people are rich and customary", "the city is lined with shops, and everything is available".

"If you can pay taxes from one more Hormuz, then you don't need to worry about insufficient military spending." Tovmas first encouraged Ibrahim to include Hormuz in his bag. Financial officials will never be dissatisfied with the expense. few.

But Hussein was a little worried: "Your Majesty, you are invincible on the road, but we don't even have a plank at sea."

The problem of not having a navy was directly singled out.

Controlling Hormuz is equivalent to deeply participating in the Indian Ocean trading system, and having overseas interests requires a navy. Ibrahim planned to leave a few people alone to discuss naval matters after the meeting.

Thomas continued to encourage: "Does it take so much effort to deal with a city that stands on a barren reef and whose livelihood depends entirely on transshipment trade? There is no need for warships and sailors, just a trade embargo is enough to make them submit and lose trade. To you it is just a chip off the crust, to them it is a cut in the neck."

"Without warships, control and blockade of the islands are empty talk." Hussein retorted.

Ibrahim nodded in agreement. This approach would only have the same effect as the sea ban. Then he ended the topic: "I have other plans for this matter."

"Yes, Your Majesty." They both sat down at the same time. Find Shuyuan www.zhaｏshuyuan． com

He then asked the military vizier: "I asked you to investigate and give me the detailed statistics of the army. How did you do this task?"

"I am about to report this matter." Yezdkard handed the prepared materials to Ibrahim through the hands of the eunuch.

According to hasty statistics, the Safavids could mobilize up to 60,000 Qizilbash horsemen, as well as a small group of red-headed Caucasian Christian troops who owned military fiefs and did not belong to the tribe, and were mainly Georgian nobles. Without the Qizilbashi tribe (such as the Mosilu tribe) and mercenaries, if Ibrahim mobilized with all his strength, he might have been able to gather an army of 80,000, 90,000, or even nearly 100,000 people. However, it does not include local troops funded by local finances - road guards, town guards and rural militia. They are poorly equipped and of low quality, and can barely cope with the tasks of suppressing bandits and calming the people.

Of course, it would be over if this army lost.

In fact, Ibrahim was unable and unwilling to mobilize everyone to participate in the Eastern Expedition. First, the financial pressure would be great, and second, some military forces were restrained by other matters: a small group of Qizilbashi was assisting local forces in suppressing bandits. , and some of them are going to the western border to join the Georgians to resist the foreign forces that are hostile to the Safavids and will go alone-this is the Ottoman Prince Governor of Trabzon Selim.

The equipment of these soldiers who participated in the war at their own expense was also uneven. Ibrahim ordered the financial vizier to first allocate funds to the military vizier, so that he could integrate and manage the weapons craftsmen in various places to continue the production of ordnance and hoard military supplies for the next war. .

After discussing other topics related to war preparations, the meeting ended smoothly, and the foreign vizier, military vizier, financial vizier and grand emir were left alone to discuss Hormuz and naval issues.