The Sun and the Lion

Herat, the important town of Khorasan, was once praised by the poet Rumi: "If someone asks you which city is the most pleasant, Herat is the best answer you can think of. If the world is the sea, Khorasan is the pearl oyster , Herat is the pearl.”

The political center of Herat is the Herat Castle, which can be traced back to Alexander the Great. This castle has been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the past nearly two thousand years, and successive rulers have also expanded and renovated the castle many times. , the descendants of the Lord of the Star Club are also included.

The owner of the pearl, Hussin Baihara, received visiting bureaucrats, nobles and scholars as usual.

Suffering from paralysis, in order to save energy, he mostly sat paralyzed and talked with his ministers, but at this time, he used up some strength to push himself up and sit up straight. The nobles he met did not dare to say anything, and time passed little by little in Emir's thinking.

Not long ago, a messenger from Astarabad brought bad news to Herat from the border. The crisis at the border shocked the top brass of Timur's Herat court, including Hussin Baihara, who urgently summoned senior military officers in Herat.

"Tell me what you think."

Hussin Baihara finally opened his mouth and looked up at the state officers and sons present.

"Your Majesty, I think we should mobilize our troops and attack these invaders head-on. At the same time, we should arrest all the Safavid merchants in Herat and confiscate their property and goods."

As soon as this statement came out, it won the approval of most people.

"That's inappropriate. Your Majesty, the palace's military power is limited, and the surrounding neighbors are not easy to deal with. Moreover, this is just a border conflict, and the other party's true intentions have not yet been exposed. Considering your Majesty's reputation, I believe that no monarch is willing to do so. I have rashly started a war with you. Therefore, I propose to send a team of envoys to gather information and negotiate with the other party on this border incident." A defeatist counselor stood up on time and refuted this suggestion.

"What do you mean?" A grumpy Bey took a big step forward and approached the defeatist strategist, almost face to face with him. He used his height and size advantages as well as his fierce eyes that could breathe out fire to give the defeatist counselors a sense of oppression, and then he refuted: "Okay, if one of my border cities is captured and the emir doesn't make any reaction, Do you know what this means? When the emir’s majesty is shattered, it will not only be the Safawi family that will be violated.”

"Then have you considered the surrounding situation?" The refuted defeatist counselor took a step back and asked: "If you don't talk about anything else, there is Hus Lao in the north, with 30,000 cavalry and 6,000 companions. We are in an unknown situation. The soldiers and horses were sent out under the circumstances, but his thirty thousand horses cannot go to Samarkand and come to Herat, what should I do!"

The so-called bandang, also known as nak'er, originally referred to the personal soldiers of the Mongolian nobles. Later, due to the expansion of Mongolia, the regimes influenced by Mongolia and involved with Mongolia also used this term to refer to the personal soldiers of the monarch and nobles.

Bey laughed out loud when he heard the defeatist counselor's rhetorical question: "You mean that Kipchak prostitute? Who are those 30,000 horsemen? They are just some Kipchak horse thieves. The so-called Na Ke'er, inside How many horsemen can afford to wear iron armor? He doesn't even collect taxes, and when he has no money, he will personally lead his troops to rob. If he leaves Kunduz, the castle will be captured by the mob the next day."

"Oh, how do you know Huslao so well?" The defeatist strategist was angry, and then continued: "Even if it is like what you said, we can't ignore Huslao. He can't take down the walls and castle of Herat. , but it is still easy to ravage the surrounding countryside and destroy the foundation that the emir has been running for decades, is it worth it?"

"Enough." Hussin Baihara stopped the argument.

"Your Majesty." The two saluted the emir and then retreated into the crowd.

Hussin Baihara ordered to the ministers: "Gather the army. The troops of the governors of Mashhad and Merv do not need to come to Herat to assemble. They can prepare for war on the spot and support the garrison of Astalabad."

………………

A group of soldiers broke into Herat's bazaar and handed the emir's order to the local market supervisor.

"Arrest all Safavid traders, travelers and all other persons and confiscate all their property?" The market supervisor repeated the order in the document doubtfully, and finally saw the monogram of Hussin Baihara.

"Yes, if the arrest and search are not effective, the emir will have no choice but to seal the city to avoid leaks." the leading officer replied.

"Then there's nothing we can do."

Under the guidance of market surveillance officers, soldiers arbitrarily arrested merchants and travelers in bazaars and caravanserai and confiscated their property. While the manhunt was going on, the soldiers, with the indulgence of their officers, extorted ordinary businessmen.

"Fuck, did the imperial court take action so quickly?" A man dressed as an attaché looked through the second-floor window at the soldiers coming and going on the street, looking for Shuyuanwｗw.zhaoshuyuaｎ.com All merchants and travelers from the west were People considered suspicious were escorted to the square. Beside the crowd were confiscated property.

"Why are you confiscating our property...ah!" A businessman who questioned was whipped several times, and two soldiers dragged him out like a dead dog.

The leading officer cleared his throat and said loudly to the prisoners and the surrounding melon-eaters: "The emir has ordered that because Safavid Shah Ibrahim abandoned peace and spit, his troops attacked the border and massacred us. People, therefore starting from today, we will close the city, arrest people from the enemy country, and confiscate the enemy’s property.”

After that, in everyone's silence, the prisoners were escorted to the dungeon, and the confiscated property was counted by the financial officials and then loaded onto carts and sent to the castle treasury.

"It seems that you are in a very unfavorable situation, Mr. Envoy."

The voice of the owner of the mansion came from behind. The spy closed the window, turned around, and said to him: "Honorable Mirza, you are joking. Since you have gone to great lengths to protect us, you will not take the initiative to hand us over. , this will only arouse old Emil’s suspicion, won’t it?”

The Mirza who was talking to the spy was Badi Zaman, the former governor of Astarabad and the eldest son of Hussin Baihara. His relationship with his father was not good. He once launched a rebellion because he was removed from the post of governor of Astarabad, but he was defeated by Hussin Baihara, and his son who stayed in Herat was also executed.

He reconciled with his father after the rebellion, but the relationship remains tense and his current official position is not what it once was.

"That's true, but I just want to put aside the relationship and just let my cronies kill you secretly. Just kidding."

Buddy drank all the wine in his glass, and the spy sat down opposite him across the table. The two were about to talk about something serious.