The Sun and the Lion

Throughout the event, Babur appeared as a bystander and as a trophy. When foreign envoys gathered, he had to appear together with Shaibani Khan's mummy and skull wine vessels. But Ibrahim gave him some freedom in other aspects and ensured his aristocratic treatment.

Babur couldn't help but blush when he thought about the servants assigned to him. He didn't know how Ibrahim knew about his sexual orientation, but he actually chose a male servant who was good in all aspects and said: "You can use it however you want." .”

He also thought about the boy he had been obsessed with when he was still in Fergana and Hezhong. He also wrote love poems and gave them to him. However, in such a mess, it was too common to cut off contact.

Babur quickly came to his senses. After all, Ibrahim had not completely relaxed his control over him. There would be several guards following him when he came out of the room. Now there were several big men with helmets and armor on the side, staring at him all the time. He still holds the scabbard in his left hand and can easily draw the sword whenever necessary.

Starting from Bukhara, he visited everything under Safavid rule along the way. He wrote down all his memories since he succeeded to the throne, and received "incredible" support from Ibrahim during the escort. All previous manuscripts were allowed to be brought with him, and the pen, ink, and paper he used to write the diary were also provided by the Shah.

Even though he was resentful of Ibrahim's design to ruin his reputation, he still commented in a plain tone: "The new conquerors temporarily brought order to the survivors." And briefly recorded Merv, Mashhad, Ga Basic information about Zvin and Tabriz, but it does not have the freedom that travelers have, and the content is not as detailed as the cities of Fergana.

After suffering such a major blow, Babur began to think of ways to adjust his mentality. At first, he wanted to numb himself with alcohol and sesame seeds, but he soon lost interest in the original way of relieving stress.

Then he made an amazing decision to give up alcohol and other narcotics, and instead devoted all his energy to literary creation and the study of religious beliefs.

Today, several palace guards still followed him to the Blue Mosque. Babur came to the mosque as he did a few days ago to discuss religious topics with the ulema or Dervish, and borrowed official Safavid publications. religious texts and works of scholars.

After concluding discussions with religious scholars that lasted for several hours, he returned to the room provided for him in the palace and continued reading and writing until dark.

The guard responsible for monitoring wrote down all the changes in Babur one by one in the report for Ibrahim to read. Shah felt a little strange when he saw such a change in his life without falling. He even sent a manservant as a gift, but he has not yet had anything to do with Babur.

But now, he has more important matters to deal with.

"Your Majesty, your Water Vizier requests an audience."

The eunuch's report prompted Ibrahim to put down the surveillance report on Babur. He placed the document on the table and ordered: "Call him in."

Kaihoslu walked into the room with the documents. After saluting, he reported to Ibrahim: "Your Majesty, there are recent matters related to the investigation of land property. The minister thinks it is necessary for you to know the recent results."

Ibrahim took the newly compiled tax book, flipped through it, and listened to the vizier's report.

After several years of hard work, the work of inventorying real estate has entered the final stage. Except for the newly conquered Hezhong, Khwarezm and Fergana regions, the real estate status, average grain prices and estimated income of other regions have been compiled into books. , divided into three parts, respectively submitted to the department for archiving, the fiscal vizier to adjust future tax policies, and the Shah to understand the real estate situation under his rule.

The more thorough property statistics and the trampling of "traditional privileges" made the landowners quite dissatisfied. However, in the face of the iron hoof of the conqueror, they could only temporarily put away their little thoughts of tax evasion. After all, in the hands of Ibrahim There really is a knife that can be put to their necks.

At the same time, the land tax will be determined by referring to the real estate situation and the average food price in the past ten years to determine the provincial tax rate, rather than a unified national tax rate.

He glanced at the provincial data and considered the next investment focus. Other regions do not require additional funding for the time being. Shah is now most concerned about Isfahan and the Zain Darud River Basin where it is located.

"Very good, this investigation must continue, and these files must be continuously updated." Ibrahim put the file down, just covering the report about Babur below.

"I obey, Your Majesty." Kaihoslu took over the data signed and confirmed by Ibrahim. If nothing goes wrong, the tax collectors under the Financial Vizier will start collecting taxes in local areas according to the new tax rolls starting this year.

Ibrahim discussed with Kayhoslu about updating the archive data, and finally determined that the usual frequency of updates was once every ten years. If there is a major accident, additional investigation work will be temporarily organized.

After the real estate investigation work, the topic was water conservancy construction in various places. This time Kaihoslu talked about water conservancy issues with Ibrahim, not only to report on past construction achievements to obtain recognition and commendation from the King of Kings, but also to We need to strive for more allocations, and with more funds, our political performance will naturally be better.

The local water conservancy supervisors are now subordinate to the vizier. These engineers have full control over the management of water conservancy facilities in a place. It is also their responsibility to build new water conservancy projects within their jurisdiction. After all, the development of agriculture also requires infrastructure support. Administrative officials have These constructions are also very supportive.

"Your Majesty, look. Find the bookstore www.zhaoshuyuan.com." Kaikhoslu first turned Ibrahim's attention to Khuzestan, Sistan and Khorasan, and then continued: "The previous focus of our department In the two river basins, the work there has been fruitful. I think we can focus on other provinces and use the new funds for areas in greater need. The department's engineers have selected several project plans that they think are feasible."

In Ibrahim's view, the most attractive thing is the large-scale construction project in Khuzestan Province. Compared with other provinces in the Iranian plateau, Khuzestan is definitely one of the areas with the greatest potential for agricultural development, and the water flow is large. The permanent river prevents the local planting industry from facing water shortages and is navigable. The interior of the province can participate in the Persian Gulf trade with cheaper transportation costs.

The vizier assured Ibrahim: "As long as Khuzestan's irrigation and navigation network can be built, the local products will be comparable to Arabian Iraq or Khorasan."

Ibrahim did not agree to cut the allocation to Arab Iraq, but agreed to use another amount of money from the coffers to implement the project. If we can revive Khuzestan's sugar cane plantations and sugar industry and reduce imports from India, that will be a huge gain.

Ibrahim, who asked the eunuch to send off the vizier, picked up a new document. The first was a regular report on the progress of the construction of Isfahan. During his expedition to the river, the Grand Palace had the highest priority. It has been completely completed, and he can now order the palace to be moved to Isfahan as soon as he wishes.

But no matter what, moving the palace would cost a lot of money, especially since there were no navigable rivers on the Iranian plateau. It was impossible for him to set up the capital in Khuzestan or the Mesopotamia to take advantage of water transportation.

Ibrahim finally decided to put it aside and wait until the city construction is more complete in the future.