The Sun and the Lion

In the afternoon of the next day, the Dwegasidi River turned blood red, with human and horse corpses floating on the river. The winner stepped on the bridge stained with human tissue and showed off his martial arts.

However, it was not Bayram and Heraclius who showed off their power on the bridge, but Ahmed.

Just an hour ago, he had just won this battle.

He successfully lured the enemy across the bridge deck and fought on open ground where he could exploit his numerical superiority. Moreover, the Georgians and Turkmen did not cooperate very well. The Georgian cavalry under Heraclius could only fight in close combat, and the task of engaging the enemy head-on mainly fell on this unit. Byram's tribal cavalry and infantry are mainly archers. Only the personal guards, nobles and their attendants are equipped with sophisticated armor and have strong hand-to-hand combat capabilities.

Although the two fought tenaciously, Ahmed's army suffered heavy losses. However, the cooperation was not very good. Ahmed still relied on his numerical advantage to make the Safavid army focus on one thing and the other, and even almost lost the bridge as a retreat. Finally, seeing that there was no hope of defeating the enemy, Chirac chose to stop his losses and retreat in time, leaving behind more than 2,000 Georgian corpses and retreating, and the Garamanlu tribe also shed a lot of blood.

In Ergani, the two men, who looked in a terrible state, gathered the remaining soldiers on the road and retreated, finally returning to the starting point.

Heraclius immediately counted the remaining defeated generals under his command and found that he only had three regiments left that were not full of men. He actually had four captains of thousands, but most of the soldiers in this regiment were gone.

Jaramanluhan was just counting his remaining wealth with distress.

Because of time constraints, Ahmed did not choose to pursue the enemy, but immediately went to rescue the defenders of Diyarbakır after winning the victory.

…

A few days later.

"Your Majesty." In the big tent of the camp, Ibrahim met his spy chief Turgut. "The nobles of Kurdistan want to be able to continue to hold the territories they currently hold and guarantee their autonomy and hereditary status."

In order to completely defeat Ahmed, Ibrahim not only agreed with the Garamanlu tribe to march to Diyarbakir together, but also instigated the rebellion of the Kurdish emirs who were forced to surrender to Ahmed.

To this end, he specifically asked Turgut to put down other work and asked him to open up a secret channel to communicate with the Kurdish emirs. Contact and negotiations with them went smoothly, and both parties fully expressed their hostility to Ahmed and their willingness to destroy his rule. In short, everything except actual actions has been done.

If this happens, Ibrahim will have three armies to attack Diyarbakir, and then Ahmed will never be able to make a comeback.

"I allow them to become my vassals. I recognize their ownership of the territory and the inheritance rights of their descendants, and provide them with protection and will not exploit them like slaves. But I ask them to convert and expel all Sunni Ulama , making the clerics of the order the masters of the mosque.”

"Yes, Your Majesty." After writing down Ibrahim's request, Turgut left the tent.

After the spymaster left, a herald followed.

"Your Majesty, this is an urgent report from the scouts."

Ibrahim took the report. The handwriting on it was very sloppy. It seemed that the situation was urgent and the scout wrote it in a hurry.

Ahmed's troops reappeared in the north of the city yesterday, but they were not large in scale. According to the estimates of the scouts, this vanguard should only have two to three thousand people. But this is not the point. Not long after this force arrived, the scouts who wanted to obtain more intelligence took advantage of the night to grab a few tongues. Although they were not high-ranking, the victory over the Dwegsidi River was not among the military either. What a secret.

"Dwegsidi River? Bring me the map." Ibrahim, who did not have much geographical knowledge, had never heard of this tributary of the Tigris River. The aides brought a map of the Kurdistan region, and a black line connected to the Tigris River marked Dwegsidi was pointed out.

"It seems that Ahmed will be able to lead troops back soon." It was still uncertain whether he would incite the Kurdish emirs to retaliate, and he lost all his troops.

Fortunately, Ahmed's army had just fought a hard battle, and then rushed to Diyarbakir without rest or supplies. In contrast, the situation of the red heads is much better.

All the red heads have arrived at the camp. Military supplies are continuously being transported along the road, and supplies are sufficient.

"We need to take the initiative and crush Ahmed and his slaves before they enter the city of Diyarbakir." Ibrahim made a decision quickly. He hated sieges, and the Safavid army did not have specialized siege artillery and tunnel engineer corps like the Ottomans to use the cutting-edge technology of this era to siege the city.

"Your Majesty, in this case, we must also consider the actions of the enemies in the city. If they suddenly appear on the battlefield and attack our army with Ahmed..."

When his staff mentioned the garrison in the city, Ibrahim just said disapprovingly: "The scouts around the city are enough to keep an eye on them."

"Your Majesty, I obey your wishes." the staff said helplessly.

"The Khans have come to see you, Your Majesty. They are already waiting at the door." At this time, the bow-wielding officer who was responsible for guarding the door came in and reported to Ibrahim.

"Well, let them come in." Ibrahim just responded calmly. The Khans did not take the initiative to ask for a meeting, but Ibrahim notified them in advance to come to the meeting.

Ustaji Khan, Afshar Khan, Qajar Khan and Qajar Emir Gaolaberi entered the big tent and looked for Shuyuan www.zhaoｓhuyuan.com together with the staff in the tent and Kurchibash. Attend meetings presided over by the King of Kings.

"Ahmed has defeated Garamanlu Khan and Gerkin Khan, and is already on his way back to Diyarbakir with his troops."

The dignitaries present all knew the information about Ahmed's return, but Ibrahim mentioned an unfamiliar title. They looked at each other. Gergistan was Georgia, so who else could Gerkin Khan be?

"Your Majesty, the war is not over yet, and Heraclius's achievements are not outstanding enough. His loyalty to you and the Order..." The person who spoke was Afshar Khan. He never expected that not long ago, he was just a man in the world. The Georgian prince under his own tribe will now be on an equal footing with him.

"The reward will naturally wait until after the war. Now I am just calling him by his title in advance." Ibrahim waved his hand first, and then asked Afshar Khan: "And, why do you want to Openly attacking a colleague? Heraclius's achievements and talents are obvious to all, and he was still attached to your tribe before. Without your recommendation, he would not have been able to rise. Did your attitude change too quickly? "

Then Ibrahim said to everyone present: "Regardless of nationality or belief, as long as you are willing to serve me and the religious order, I will open the door to welcome you. I don't want you to be at odds with each other because of your differences." Attacks are harmful to our cause."

This is just to say, the red-headed emirs will not be willing to let new groups come out to divide their interests. And Ibrahim wanted to support the new group of officers to compete with each other and prevent the army from being monopolized by a certain force. Consecrating Heraclius to Gerkin Khan was only the first step.

After quelling the objections of the red heads, the meeting got down to business.