The Sun and the Lion

From the map, the dark green color belonging to Safavid is painted all over Yemen, marking every inch of land here. Every people has surrendered to the authority of the King of Kings, but the fact is not that simple.

The clues can be seen just from the fact that the governor-general's seat is located in the port of Aden instead of inland Taiz or even Sana'a further north. Today, the distribution of forces in Yemen can be described as intertwined. The Safavid Governor's authority is mainly based on the two ports of Aden and Mocha and spreads to the surrounding areas. No one can question the Governor's direct control over the coastal plain.

The settlements directly under the governor's rule on the southern coast all enjoyed the policy of religious terror. Sunni clergy were expelled and fled to the inland mountains or across the Red Sea. Shia clerics from the Gulf took over, and ulama from Bahrain promoted official ideology to panicked and confused Yemenis.

The Safavid system and ideology were forcefully instilled into the citizens by the governor. Now, after several years of hard work, the two cities of Aden and Mocha and the nearby rural areas have become Shia-dominated areas, and the settled residents are forced to comply. ,. Only itinerant nomads offered some resistance to the tyranny of forced conversion, but they had nothing to do with the prosperity of maritime trade.

But further inland, the Sunnis still dominate. In order to stabilize the situation in Yemen as soon as possible, the Safavids took over the original feudal order intact. The emirs still govern their respective jurisdictions, and the Sheikh continues to rule the tribes. population within. They had no interest in promoting the Shia faith and went their own way under the helpless eyes of the governor. They continued to govern the people, pay tribute, and ensure commercial ties between the port and various settlements in the interior.

The Zayd tribes further north completely ignored the authority of the King of Kings. After taking advantage of the chaos to recapture Sana'a for the Imam, they continued to conflict with the Sunnis. The surrendered Tahir Sultan Zafir was unable to safely For the rest of his life, his troops were completely wiped out by a Zaide faction ambush, and he was also killed in the battle. His head was cut off for public display, and his remaining inland territory was simply occupied.

After avenging the fall of Sana'a, the Zayd tribes did not rush to expand their territory. They only launched successive raids and attacks on the Sunni areas in the south to slowly tilt the balance of power. Nowadays, the Sunni regime has become fragmented due to the Safavid conquests, and the northern tribes are also unable to make a major attack due to previous heavy losses and lack of leadership core. The war situation has thus formed a delicate balance, and neither side can make a breakthrough. step.

Because the Sunni lords acted on their own, the governor of Yemen chose to sit back and watch the interior fall into melee. Even if the emir and sheikhs sent messengers to ask for help, they resolutely maintained strategic composure and used the hands of the Zaid faction to weaken these separatist forces as much as possible.

Just when everyone thought that Safavid would continue to remain "neutral" in the war in the interior, after a long period of preparation, the governor of Yemen personally led a large army composed of naval infantry, reinforcement cavalry and local tribal mercenaries, with the assistance of pro-Iraqi tribes They rushed down to attack Sana'a, catching everyone by surprise. Then he immediately sent a letter to all the major forces to come to Sana'a to participate in the peace talks with the power of victory, otherwise "the invincible Iranian army will steal all your property, send all the recalcitrants to hell, and rape your wives." Women, cover the fields with salt and fill the wells with soil so that your villages will never be able to support people in the future.”

Frightened by the strength of foreign forces and the depression caused by the war, which weakened everyone, the two rival imams of the Zayed sect and the Sunni emir, as well as the shaykhs of various ministries came to Sana'a in person or by sending representatives to listen to the governor's instructions. arrange. After such an operation, the mountainous area finally calmed down for the time being. In order to ensure that the authority could continue to play a role in the north, a force of less than 500 soldiers and horses was stationed in the castle of Sana'a. They were a dangerous lone army.

Only by clarifying the current situation can Hussein enter the situation appropriately. Saladin Castle once wanted to organize an expeditionary force to conquer Yemen, but sending troops directly is now the most inappropriate plan. Now the Zaid faction has also pinched its nose and accepted the order arranged by the Safavid Governor. If they rush in directly to break the status quo, it will be impossible. Different from the war between the two countries, when the news of his capture of Aden reaches Cairo, I am afraid that the Safavid army will cross the Euphrates River and attack Aleppo.

Fortunately, he is not completely helpless. On the one hand, he can get inside information through the pro-Egyptian Tihama tribe, and contact the Zayd faction through the caravans between Hijaz and Yemen. If he can convince them to accept assistance and continue fighting, then that will be Nothing better.

However, contact with the Zayd sect was troublesome, even if we did not talk about the disunified northern tribes - there was no "Ansar of Allah" now, and there were two imams in the Zayd sect. He didn't know which one to use. Who should I contact, and if I negotiate with one party, will it anger the other party?

It's better to have a glimpse of something than not to understand it at all. What's the risk of a little misunderstanding?

"Just do it this way. The Caliph and the respected Malik will support their struggle to get back Sana'a. It would be better if they are determined to go south to Aden." Hussein finalized the preliminary intervention plan and handed over reliable staff to act as messengers and pretend to be businessmen. Go south to negotiate. To be on the safe side, he sent two messengers at the same time to negotiate the same terms with the two imams.

Selman, a Turkic captain who was born in Lesvos and now serves in Cairo, will personally go to Mocha and Aden to investigate the enemy situation and find out how many warships and sailors Safavid has deployed in Yemen, the defenses of the two ports and What the terrain looks like to facilitate future military operations.

The tribes close to the Mamluks in the Tihama area cannot act rashly, at least not before the Zayedi tribe provokes rebellion. This is a huge waste of previous investment.

Tumanbey, who had just returned from Mecca, immediately reviewed Hussein's plan. He could find nothing wrong with it: "I think your strategy is the only one that is feasible at the moment. With God's blessing, I hope everything goes well."

The Sudanese representative found nothing from the Sharif of Mecca. Those who came to perform Hajj were indeed Iranian Muslims who came in their personal capacity. This was an overreaction of Saladin's Citadel.

"With your kind words, on behalf of the Sultan, you and Your Majesty will wait for me to deliver the good news to Cairo." Hussein once again boasted in front of Tuman Bey, trying to win the trust of the leaders as much as possible.

After seeing off the distinguished guests, the next step is the truly free space belonging to the Governor of Jeddah. There is no supervision and there is not much he can do, even if it is "collaborating with the enemy"...

At the same time, the envoys departing from Cairo have entered Safavid territory to demonstrate the friendship between the two countries with the King of Kings.