The Sun and the Lion

Coast of the Caspian Sea, Astara

During this period of more than half a month, red-headed warriors from Ustagi, Shamru, Romulu, Takaru, Zulkadar, Afshar, Qajar, Wasak and other tribes They all gather here.

Ibrahim originally thought that he could only assemble a force of only six to seven thousand men within half a month, but some non-Turkmen Shia believers who came here due to their fame swelled this number to ten thousand. But just looking at the number alone is still not comparable to the surrounding forces.

A soldier's strength lies in his strength, not his numbers. Ibrahim had no choice but to comfort himself in this way.

The Qizilbashi cavalry whom Ibrahim saw were skilled with bows and horses, and had religious fanaticism that was fearless of death.

When he inspected the military camp, some fanatical believers were so excited to see him that they even shouted not the Sheikh but the Prophet.

Well, military morale is available.

"Dear Sheikh, based on reports from our scouts and spies, Rostam urgently gathered all the troops that could reach Tabriz quickly," Hussein said. "Furthermore, a group of our cavalry captured Rostam's messenger when they were gathering here. According to the content of the letter, Rostam wanted Farouk Yasar to deal with the cult. "

"Faruk Yasar, it's not surprising that he participated in the encirclement and suppression." Ibrahim answered indifferently.

Shirvan Shah Farouk Yasar, a sworn enemy of the Safavid order, whose father Khalilullah set up an ambush and killed Ibrahim's grandfather Junaid during his jihad against the Circassians. Got him.

Later, after several years of negotiations, Ibrahim's father Haidar reached an agreement with Faruk, obtained military communications, and then continued the jihad against Circassian.

Then Farouk tore up the agreement and united with Sultan Yelqubai of the Aries Dynasty to attack the Safavid Order again. Haidar was killed by an arrow and the army was defeated.

These two attacks left an indelible memory for the entire Order. Publicly and privately, the Order's first target would only be Farouk Yasar.

Now that the messenger has been stopped, it will take Farouk a long time to figure out what happened in the south and respond, long enough for Ibrahim to take action.

But Ibrahim had to lead his army to take back Ardabil, where most of the Safavids' assets were located. There was also a large following within the city, which should have prevented a difficult siege.

After discussing the plan with the leaders of various ministries and determining the status of the troops, this large cavalry force broke camp and marched westward. Thanks to the excellent mobility of the purely cavalry force, the march from Astara to the camp near Ardabil took less than a day.

Although Ardabil is the base of the Safavid Order, after the Order fell out with the Aries Dynasty, it became the territory of others, and the Order was forced to keep a low profile.

Six years have passed, and while the Aries Dynasty is once again in chaos, the Order is about to get its property back.

Of course, the Lord of Ardabil was neither blind nor stupid. He still reacted when more than 10,000 people suddenly appeared outside the city.

In the camp, Ibrahim received the messengers from the city.

After learning the other party's intention, Ibrahim thought for a moment, and then put on a very friendly look and tone.

"Please tell the respected city lord that we are just a team to punish heretics. All our members are gathered for this purpose and will never attack brothers of the same clan. If the city lord is worried, he can send troops to monitor us. And. Our only request is that we can enter the bazaar in the city to purchase supplies, and then we will leave."

After getting Ibrahim's answer, the city lord indeed sent out soldiers to monitor the situation. There were a lot of people, and a temporary bazaar was set up outside the city, and Ibrahim's request to enter the city was rejected.

However, through the bazaar outside the city, Ibrahim successfully established a line with the agent in the city. After learning about the specific status of the religious organization in the city, we received a guarantee from the agent. After returning to the city, the agent immediately organized members in the city, assigned tasks, and prepared for the next action.

Next, we will perform a wave of central flowering.

night falls

"You..." In the Turkish bath, the officer looked at the familiar waiter in front of him in surprise. And why does this familiar waiter look strange now?

But at this time, there was a dagger stuck in his chest, bright red blood flowed from the wound, and the drink in his hand fell to the ground. He wanted to say something more, but he no longer had the energy to say it.

"That's it." Coming out of the room for customers to rest, the waiter said to his companions waiting outside the door.

I didn't expect to be able to kill an officer when the target was defenseless and alone. It was an unexpected bonus.

At the same time, on the street, the assembled followers were attacking the defenders in the city. Those patrolling the streets and those standing guard at the city gate were stunned by this sudden attack.

By chance, the officer in charge of the North Gate went to the bathhouse, leaving the soldiers without command. Outnumbered, the North Gate soon fell into the hands of the cult.

However, the garrison outside the city was not a fool and reacted immediately after seeing what happened at the city gate. However, their number was too small and they were outside the city. They could not rely on the geographical advantage to stop the enemy. They did not dare to fight Qizilbashi head-on, so they had to quickly return to the city gate to help.

"Want to run?"

As the vanguard, Gaolabeli Kaijia led the cavalry and successfully surrounded them before they escaped, and then waited for several rounds of arrows.

The surrounded garrison basically became infantry under these rounds of attacks. Facing an enemy that was far more numerous than themselves, they lost their fighting spirit.

"I don't have time to capture you." Gaolaberi left a sentence contemptuously, and then rushed to the city gate with the Qizilbas. Disarm them and leave them to the troops behind to take them to the camp.

palace in city

"How did you guard the city gate? How did you let the group of begging mendicants take away the city gate?" After learning that the city gate was lost, the city lord was shocked and angry. He slammed the table hard and loudly reported to the people who came forward. the officer asked.

The officer dared not answer.

"You are talking! Haven't you done anything?"

"We..." the officer spoke with difficulty, looking for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan. com "Those gangsters not only attacked the city gate, but also attacked the patrol team and blocked the streets so that reinforcements could not reach the city gate. We tried to reorganize our teams to attack the city gate, and then the team was blocked by people coming in from outside the city. The cavalry dispersed."

…

Deathly silence.

The city lord's face was pale and he could no longer care about anger. There was only fear in his heart.

As the lord of only one city, he did not have much standing army. His only reliance on defending the city was city fortifications and organizing the residents in the city to join the defense.

But now, these two reliances are gone.

But Qizilbash would not wait for the city lord to come up with an idea before taking action. Under the leadership of Gaolaberry's followers in the city, the Qizilbash quickly swept away the remaining soldiers in the city and soon entered the center of the city. .

Seeing this, the city lord had no choice but to make his last resistance.

In front of the steps of the palace, a Qizilbash put the blade into the guard's chest and took him away. Another Qizilbash quickly slit the guard's throat.

With one chop, another guard was chopped down. With one chop, a head was separated from the body and fell to the ground, rolling with blood stains. The column of blood spurting out from the break looked several meters high.

Soon, the Qizilbashes finished taking care of the pitiful guards in front of them, while the city lord was covered in several wounds and still fought against the Qizilbash with just one breath.

Finally, after sustaining several more injuries to his legs, torso and head, his political and biological life came to an end.

About half an hour later, Ibrahim walked into the somewhat dilapidated palace.

Ardabil, once the center of Azerbaijan, fell under his control.