The Sun and the Lion

Several arrows pierced the night sky, shooting several charging riders with red hats off their horses, but to this group of hundreds of red-headed riders, this was just a pebble thrown into the pond. Not to be outdone, the riders who were attacked accelerated their charge.

When the chasing cavalry saw that the enemy was approaching, they immediately put away their riding bows under the order of the officer, took out their swords and lances and rushed towards the riders who were charging towards them. Soon, the two groups of people collided with each other. The scene was extremely chaotic, and the red-headed riders seemed to have the upper hand.

After using his saber to cut off an unlucky red-headed rider from his horse, the cavalry officer briefly observed the battlefield and found that there were mostly enemies in front of him and on his left and right, and his face became a little ugly.

"Why haven't the reinforcements from the royal capital arrived yet? If our troops are annihilated, the Sultan's pursuit order will not be fulfilled!"

Just when the cavalry officer was complaining about his colleagues in his heart, the reinforcements he was longing for happened to arrive. However, the red-headed riders did not react and allowed them to support the friendly forces.

As time went by, more and more cavalry came from Tabriz. The quality was uneven, and the red-headed horsemen who lost their organization due to the chaos quickly fell into a disadvantage. However, none of them escaped and continued to fight with religious fanaticism. Finally, when the cavalry of the Aries Dynasty cut down the last rider, the sun had risen from the east, and the bodies of both sides covered this mountain road.

"The bandit leader has been found, sir." A soldier found the body of the red-headed rider leader.

After listening to the report of the soldiers under his command, the officer's nervous look relaxed a little. "With the head of the bandit leader Ali, we should be able to go back and report." The officer discussed with his colleagues next to him.

"You first take the head back to the royal capital and report to the Sultan. I will continue to lead the troops to Ardabil to search for the rebels." The commander of the reinforcements, a higher-ranking officer, ordered.

"yes."

Gilan, inside the palace of Lahijan

Ibrahim sat cross-legged on the beautifully crafted carpet, took a piece of baklava from the plate on the low table in front of him and put it into his mouth, then picked up the cup, drank a few sips of coffee, and started a new day's work.

As a feudalized order, although the Safavid Order has no territory, the Sheikh is like their monarch to the monks and secular members of the order. Some fanatical Qizilbash even Consider the Shaykh as God and Prophet. (Speaking of which, the Ottoman Yenicheris were also members of the Sufi order)

Over the years, Ibrahim used the advantage of being a time traveler to escape Rostam's pursuit, and under the guidance of his aide Hussein Beg Lale Shamru (Ismail's guardian and mentor, who died in Char With the help of the Battle of Dilan), he was promoted as Sheikh and continued to run the order in place of his elder brother in prison.

After these years of hard work, the work of the sect has been relatively smooth, and it has developed many more followers than in history.

Ibrahim picked up a letter on the table and opened it.

This letter was a report from Ardabil, which briefly described the prison robbery and escape, and also highlighted the feats of Ali Sheikh.

After learning about his eldest brother's death and confirming Ismail's safety, Ibrahim opened the second letter happily.

Ibrahim first looked at the signature, and then read the contents of the letter. After reading, Ibrahim looked a little solemn.

This letter came from Prince Ahmed, a secret ally of the Order. As Rostam's brother, Ahmed chose to support Rostam in the civil war and saw the capabilities of the Safavid Order.

After the civil war ended, Ahmed believed that as his biggest supporter, Rostam should share state power with him. But he did not make a request directly, but chose to wait and see how Rostam would deal with his allies.

Rostam believed that the Safavid Order was a great threat. After taking advantage of it, he arrested Sheikh Ali and his brother Ismail of the Safavid Order. Qizilba lost his commander. They were also defeated by Rostam's army.

After killing the chicken, Rostam began to appease his allies. However, Rostam did not want his own strength to be damaged, so he only gave some money to other princes. Most of the confiscated loser fiefs also fell to Rostam. Tam's fanny pack.

Although the princes were dissatisfied, Rostam's intimidation prevented them from openly rebelling for the time being, but there were still many small actions in secret.

The mobilization ability of the sect was noticed by the princes. In order to have a better chance of winning in the future battle for the throne, the ambitious princes began to secretly contact and fund sects in various places, such as the Safavid sect operating in Azerbaijan. regiment and the Musshasa sect that ruled Khuzestan and Basra.

The Safavid sect, which had a deep hatred for Rostam, became Ahmed's first choice. Because they had a common enemy and the distance was close, Ibrahim naturally readily agreed to this alliance request and relied on this A lot of information was obtained from the high-level alliance.

Now, Ahmed, who has been preparing for three years, believes that the time is ripe and plans to launch a rebellion at this time. He hopes that the Order can attract more attention, such as gathering an army on the coast of the Caspian Sea and promising the Order The military expenditures will be borne by oneself, and Tabaristan will be allocated to the order after the event is completed.

But the tone of the letter was stronger, and it seemed that Ahmed would act no matter what the Safavid sect did.

"Go and call Hussein and Ali Shah." Ibrahim ordered the guards.

"As you wish, my dear Sheikh."

After a while, the staff Hussein and the lord of Gilan Ali Mirza Kakia entered the room under the guidance of the attendants, and sat on the carpet facing Ibrahim across the low table.

"You should take a look at this letter first." Ibrahim handed the letter to the two of them.

After the two watched, Ali Mirza broke the silence first.

"Sheikh Ibrahim, I think it is not appropriate to start an army now." Ali objected expressionlessly, his tone also calm. "Although you have tens of thousands of Qizilbashi, it would take months to assemble them, and their upkeep is beyond the Order's ability to pay."

“What about Qizilbash, who only assembles Azerbaijan?”

"If only the Qizilbashi of Azerbaijan are gathered, then even if Ali Shah's army is included, there will only be more than 10,000 people." Hussein, who was sitting next to Ali, replied. "But these thousands of Qizilbash are of the best quality, both in terms of equipment and training."

"In this case, we can't even match Shirvan Shah in terms of numbers, let alone Rostam. Tabriz is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Rostam has time to unite with Shirvan Shah to annihilate the Qi. Zirbash will deal with Ahmed again." Ali Mirza continued to object.

"Ali Shah, if we don't send troops and watch our only ally be defeated by Rostam, the situation of the Order will only become more difficult." Ibrahim planned to end this topic. "Hussein, you can go write letters to various ministries and gather in Astara. Ali Shah, my brother Ismail will be arriving soon. I hope you can arrange a good teacher for him."

"As you wish, distinguished Sheikh." After receiving the order, Hussein stood up and left the room, but Ali Mirza did not say a word. After Hussein left, he slowly stood up and faced Ibrahim. Rahim nodded and left.

Half a month later, Tabriz, the royal palace

"Hiding in Lahijan? Ali Mirza Kakia, my most reliable ally in Tabaristan, is hiding the Safavid order?" Rostam stared at the officers and spymaster who came to report.

"Yes, Your Majesty, we interrogated everyone in the city of Ardabil, searched all the buildings, captured a few rebels who participated in the operation, and learned their general location." The officer explained first.

"After determining the general location, I sent a few people to enter Gilan disguised as ascetics. Now I can basically determine the crime of Gilan Shah." The spy chief continued to ask Ross after the officer's words. Tam reports.

"You guys, please retreat first."

The officer and the spymaster retreated.

Just when Rostam was about to send an envoy to negotiate with Ali Mirza, an embarrassed messenger, accompanied by guards, hurried over and shouted: "Your Majesty, there is a rebellion!"

"Huh?" Rostam expressed doubts, and then felt annoyed in his heart.

Can these talkers finish their sentences in one breath (annoyed).

"Your brother, Ahmed, has rebelled in his fiefdom!"

Rostam thought about the location of Ahmed's fiefdom, his expression changed, and then ordered: "Quick! Go and give an order to all the Azerbaijani troops to gather in Tabriz."

"You," Rostam said to the guard, "go inform the messenger and ask him to go to Shirvan and let Farouk Yasar send troops to defeat Gilan!"

"yes."

Only Ahmed is rebelling now, but if he cannot put down the rebellion as quickly as possible, others will also rebel.

Thinking of this, Rostam didn't want to use Tabriz's city fortifications to slowly wear out Ahmed. Now he just wanted to gather the army and defeat the rebels in the field as quickly as possible.

Thinking of the Safavids, Ahmed, and the growing rebellion everywhere, Rostam felt a rage growing in his heart.

"How the hell did the country become like this?"

-----Dividing line-----

This is my first time writing a book. The updates are unstable and the bosses are criticizing it. Just read it as an eu4 fan.