The Sun and the Lion

The communication with the Venetian mainland was unacceptably long and tested Ibrahim's patience. However, while the messenger was traveling between the two places, he had other matters that needed to be dealt with.

The first is about the results of public education. Ibrahim initially invested in this field to fill the gap in the output of Iran's native Shia Ulama. However, during the operation, he had some new ideas.

Ibrahim summoned Sadr and other bureaucrats and priests responsible for education for several small meetings at that time. The King of Kings believed that unified standards and unified teaching materials could be provided for all schools funded by palace funds. Such a proposal sparked heated discussions, and finally a system that seemed to be able to be implemented nationwide was finalized.

According to the proposed edict, schools in Safavid territory are not allowed to be privately owned today - "In the name of Huda, the Most Benevolent and Benevolent, education must not be used as a profitable business for businessmen such as mining and textiles. All schools are owned by the community. and subject to government supervision and control.”

At the same time, the levels and classifications of schools were also determined. In addition to religious schools under the responsibility of mosques, there were also apprentice schools that various trade guilds were ordered to try to open, as well as institutions of higher learning directly managed by Sadr.

In actual practice, the mullahs of each mosque will also conduct tests before admission, and allocate admission places to schools in their own communities based on the test results. Admission qualifications for higher education institutions are arranged by themselves.

Now several years have passed, and with the investment increasing year by year, Ibrahim has finally seen the results - the public education and examination system led by the religious order and the palace have taken shape, and society has basically accepted and adapted to these changes. .

In just a few years, with the consolidation of these institutions, coupled with the promotion of the printing industry, Ibrahim would be able to continuously harvest bureaucrats, clerical reserves, and strengthen the identification of the literate population with the court.

In addition to these various schools rooted in the people, Ibrahim also did not forget to pay attention to the palace military school and the navigation school. After all, a political power cannot only rely on civilian officials to operate. Violence is the lowest logic.

For the new officers who graduated from the palace military academy, he absorbed some of them into the palace guard team, while others were sent to serve in the local armies of various provinces, or were responsible for supervising the recruitment of tribes.

In order to ensure the normal operation of the army, when Ibrahim opened the military academy, he authorized the supervisory department led by the royal representative to expand the scope of surveillance and assessment mechanism to the army, so that these "Eyes of the Shah" would torture those who were unable to do their job. An active military officer in the relevant position.

Recruiting warriors from the various tribes within the territory that have surrendered to the King of Kings is not a simple task. Before this, the Great Emir used the religious network to have the red-headed tribes carry out relevant military obligations. This can be done as Ibra If they want to expand the scope to groups outside the religious base, such as Kurdish tribes, Afghan tribes, and Baloch tribes, they can only let local officials and emirs negotiate with these tribal leaders temporarily.

Now, Ibrahim has asked the emir in charge of military affairs in each province to supervise and ensure that these tribes can come up with quality and quantity of troops to fulfill their obligations when the call-up order is sent. For levies, the Grand Emir helped set standards, which included different levels of horses and equipment, with a minimum of fabric armor, helmets, shields and iron weapons.

However, the King of Kings has no illusions that he can prostitute his soldiers for nothing. These tribal leaders living in the frontier lands can receive subsidies from the palace. In addition to the guaranteed loyalty allowance, they can also receive additional financial subsidies for providing additional soldiers who meet the standards. .

Through these measures, the source of Safavid's tribal army has been expanded. On paper alone, the number of conscripts has reached nearly 100,000, of which 80,000 are Qizilbash, and the rest are mainly Kurds. and Afghans.

In fact, for various reasons, it is almost impossible to gather all these troops in one place, and Ibrahim knows this well.

In addition to land, the sea was equally important to him, and the naval infantry camp and navigation school in Gomburen - now renamed Shah Port - are also productive today.

If the military education of the army, especially the cavalry, is influenced by traditional concepts or mainly controlled by feudal aristocrats based on real estate, then the situation in the navy is completely different.

The sailing school established in Shah Port enrolls students from a rather complex background, with students from all walks of life and professions. The biggest thing in common is that they all come from coastal areas.

All the navigation resources that Ibrahim could collect were integrated here, looking for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com in the hope of systematically cultivating naval officers and promoting navigation technology. His inspiration and precedents he referred to undoubtedly came from the navigation school established in Sagres by the Portuguese "navigator" Prince Enrique. However, the actual situation of Sagres is quite controversial in later historical circles.

In addition to shipyards, navigation schools and observatories, the Naval Infantry Barracks involves a new force belonging to the Navy - the Naval Infantry, which can also be called the Marine Corps.

Ibrahim's purpose in setting up this force is simple. In the future, Safavid will control overseas trade ports through coastal fortresses. It is not convenient for soldiers stationed in these important places to be under the control of the army. Moreover, the fighting method of gang jumping will not be eliminated for the time being. It is undoubtedly very appropriate to let these professionally trained and appropriately armed soldiers be responsible for killing enemy crews or raiding ports.

These naval infantry are generally equipped with various types of firearms and conventional swords. The armor they equip tends to be lightweight due to the combat environment and economic reasons. In addition to the fabric armor, at most they only have iron breastplates for enhanced protection.

Their current scale is still very small, with less than a thousand people, and the expansion plan is in progress in an orderly manner - Ehsan counted and estimated the soldiers currently needed for the ships as a naval combat force. In order to save manpower, he Ma Run, who proposed to fill the existing battleships, did not need to recruit new soldiers. He could just let the old pirates who were used to fighting on ships adapt to the new style of play.

As for the newly recruited soldiers, they are responsible for the defense of fortresses. The port defense of Basra, Hormuz, Manama, Shah Port and Muscat alone requires thousands of people. Recently, at least one new soldier has been added. Ah, the demand for garrison troops is only increasing.

Seeing this, Ibrahim felt that there was nothing to change, so he just continued to carry out various tasks according to the plan.