The Sun and the Lion

Negotiations with the Tatars are still going on, and the Gray family's willingness to continue negotiations has visibly decreased. Not only do they have to bargain, their envoys no longer come to Isfahan, but only send news to Astor. Safawi Trading Post in Lahan and wait for a reply.

"The attitude of the Moguls has been so repetitive. Did Selim's victory over the Christians give them confidence?" Ibrahim was very dissatisfied with this. Now the value of Prince Sadet has been greatly reduced. If Bach is to be forced Chisale bowed his head and had to use other means to put pressure on the old Khan.

According to the information sent back by the trading station and the consul, a raging war has recently been ignited in the lower reaches of the Volga River. Due to the Kazakh Khan's efforts to expand westward, the nomadic Nogai tribe in the oases and pastures of the Outer Caspian Sea clashed with it. This round of conquest forced considerable Many Nogai people were forced to flee westward.

The migration of the Nogai people impacted the lower reaches of the Volga River. They attacked the grasslands along the coast in an attempt to drive away the herdsmen. The war between the looters once reached the city walls. Astrakhan Khan was tired of dealing with it. Not only did the Khan send orders to the Iranian trading station He purchased weapons and hoped to hire a group of elite mercenaries to suppress the Nogai people for him.

The civil war among the nomads affected trade. Due to the interruption of imports, even in the largest slave market in the Volga River Basin, it became difficult to acquire slaves. Slave traders were increasing the prices of their goods every day. If the conflict prolongs, it will be difficult for Iran to import Russian slaves, and only Circassian slaves will be available for purchase.

Not only the slave trade, but also the import of amber, fur, resin, wood and other goods was blocked. The consumption of luxury goods was reduced, and the export of silk was probably also reduced.

Although it is not conducive to trade, chaos is a good opportunity to expand influence in the Kipchak grassland. The King of Kings is very happy to provide assistance to the Tatar friends. He immediately ordered: "Let Tabaristan Province prepare a batch of armor weapons first. , and recruit warriors from Turan’s tribe to take a boat to Astrakhan for reinforcements, first ensuring that the city is safe.”

At this time, the ruler of the south bank of the Caspian Sea was no longer Shahbanu's father Ali - the Gilan court had suffered a sudden coup six years ago, and his brother Hassan successfully replaced him, hoping to be recognized by the King of Kings. Brahim's brother-in-law also hopes that his brother-in-law can provide fair arbitration.

Ibrahim successfully silenced both parties. He directly declared that the inheritance rights of the territory should belong to Mira, and then directly controlled Tabaristan in the name of his wife. In fact, he abolished the local vassal and no longer needed to share the profits of the silk trade with it. . This shocking operation caught everyone off guard. How could there be such a annexation of vassals? However, the officials of Gilan had already lined up in advance and expressed that the inheritance rights of the territory should indeed belong to the daughter of the hereditary governor. The usurper Hassan could only be driven out of Lahijan in despair, returned to the castle for a final resistance, and was eventually killed. Kaijia sent troops to suppress it.

He could offer a preferential price for the weapons and mercenaries floating across the Caspian Sea, but this came with good conditions - he followed the Italians and asked the Khan to set aside the river port of Astrakhan as a concession and grant it to Iranian merchants If you agree to the privilege, not only will you pay rent every year, but if you need money in the future, you can also borrow it directly from Iranian businessmen.

As arrears and aid increased, the Safavids were naturally able to push their limits, not only to control trade but also to interfere in politics, until the heirs of the Golden Family completely succumbed.

Thinking of this, he had the idea that after the Nogai people who poured into the Volga River were tamed, he could hire these raiders to attack the pastures under the rule of Kerim Khan westward, so that the authority of the Grai family could not cross the Don River.

However, before using force, he also wanted to coax the Crimean Tatars and deliberately compromise: "We only need to compensate slaves and goods worth 25,000 ducats to achieve peace. As long as all the goods are delivered, we will Khanzad will be sent to Astrakhan to restore his freedom."

The foreign vizier wrote down the instructions one by one, nodded in agreement: "As you wish, Your Majesty. But what if the Tatars are not even willing to accept such loose conditions?"

"If he has the courage, he might as well try to see if my knife can chop off all the Tatar heads." Ibrahim rejected the last important minister summoned today.

Freed from political affairs, his energy was devoted to other chores.

Scholars who were funded by him recently presented some "toys". The manuscripts and objects were mostly strange mechanical devices, such as a device that could automatically pour wine. Looking at the manuscript, Ibrahim wanted to ask him how he planned to use this. Does it rely on magic to make a humanoid machine?

There was also a scholar who worked at the observatory but was obsessed with steam power and gave him a replica of a steam ball, hoping to attract the attention of the King of Kings, saying that steam power could keep pace with wind power and even water power. The confused Ibrahim thought See how he implements his ideas.

But the matter went nowhere. The polymath was still unable to create a machine that could be put into production. He wanted to rely on jets of steam to power the machine. It was suspected that it was too advanced to develop a steam turbine in the 16th century.

There are also practical results. A scholar from Shiraz invented a machine that can clean the barrels of multiple artillery pieces at the same time. Moreover, this is not a fixed facility. After being disassembled, it can be loaded and moved in a cart, and it can accompany the army. At least it looks like it works.

However, he designed several types of artillery, all of which were organ cannons. Some had several barrels juxtaposed horizontally, and others surrounded the barrels into a large cylinder. No matter how they were arranged, they had multiple barrels. Ibrahim had already blocked all the organ cannons. Naturally, such a design would not be approved by the King of Kings.

In addition to academic achievements, he also sent a eulogy to praise the King of Kings' emphasis on academics - especially the introduction of printing press technology that greatly increased book production, allowing libraries, schools and academic institutions everywhere to have "unprecedented" collections of books. ” and recommended that religious schools offer science courses.

Scholars produced not only strange inventions but also other aspects, but Ibrahim himself lacked knowledge of natural sciences and could not express his opinions on works on alchemy, astronomy, mathematics and other subjects.

Fortunately, Ibrahim is not a person who is eager for quick success. If he keeps throwing money away, someone will always be able to come up with improvements or even new technologies that even he can see the use of.

The watchmaker invited from Europe is still on the way, but he has another project - he once said to scholars who study optics: "Since one lens can magnify objects, can we see further by adding more lenses?" s things?"

The busy scholars and lens craftsmen seem to have produced results.