The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 255 Changes in the situation in Persia
Eight years ago, the Girzais of Afghanistan captured Isfahan and captured the Shah of the Empire. They quickly swept away Luristan, Arabistan (the above two places were occupied by the Ottomans) and southern Fars (this area was occupied by the Ottomans). The entire Persian region, except for the sphere of influence of Shah Abbas III, the successor of the empire supported by the country), almost perfectly staged a wonderful drama of foreigners taking over Persia, and almost achieved a change of dynasty.

That period was the darkest era of the Persian Safavid Empire. Countless people were hungry and faced dangers such as rape, robbery, massacre, and arson at all times. They lived completely under the despotic power of the Afghan master.

According to rough estimates, in the nearly three years since the Afghan rebels invaded the empire until they were finally driven out of the empire by the Qibo coalition forces, a large number of people died from war, famine and disease, and countless people fled their hometowns and became displaced. refugees, the total population of Persia was reduced by about one-sixth (in the same period of history, Afghan rule in Persia lasted until the end of 1729, resulting in the loss of nearly one-third of the population).

Trade activities in Persia have almost come to a standstill, the economic situation has declined sharply, all industries have withered, and industrial and agricultural production has shrunk to an extremely low level.

During the Afghan rule, many discriminatory racial classification decrees were also issued, and people of different classes were treated differently.

The first class of people are naturally the Afghans. No matter which tribe they belong to, they are superior to others and become the top ruling class.

Then came the Armenians, the Dagjins (Sunni True God believers living near Hamadan in western Persia who joined the Afghan forces), Ottoman traders, Zoroastrians, Jews, and finally the seventh class. The last class is the Persian natives, and the other six classes can enslave and humiliate them at will.

The brutal rule of the occupiers also aroused the resistance of the Persian people, which once triggered numerous uprisings across the country. Many leading figures claimed that they were the sons of the former Shah Sultan Hussein, or the early monarchs of the Safavid dynasty. descendants.

Due to a lack of cooperation and the selfish intentions of the senior leaders of the insurgents, most of these uprisings ended in failure, and the Afghans defeated them one by one with overwhelming military power.

However, amidst the surging resistance across Persia, several local forces managed to gain a firm foothold. After the Afghan forces collapsed under the attack of the Qi people, they gradually became stronger and became a powerful local "power". "Fan".

Therefore, the Shah of the Empire decided to use force to conquer Khorasan, led the army to attack Khorasan, killed Nadir, captured the pseudo-Shah Tahmasp II, and completed the de facto unification of the empire's territory.

What makes the Safavid dynasty even more taboo is that this Nadir actually took in the pseudo-Shah Tahmasp II, and in his name continued to recruit and accept surrounding local and tribal armed forces that "refused to accept the king's rule." and extended their tentacles to several surrounding provinces such as Semnan, Golestan, Mazandaran and Yazd.

Among them, the Nader military group entrenched in the Khorasan region is undoubtedly the most powerful and largest local separatist armed force.

However, the cunning Nadir ignored the central government of the empire. He neither explicitly refused the appointment nor came to Isfahan to meet the Shah. He continued to stay in Khorasan and continued to recruit troops to conquer the surrounding areas. Gather your own strength.

Perhaps in order to prevent the power of the Qi people from extending to the Khorasan region during this counter-insurgency war, Abbas III accepted the advice of the "insightful people" in the court and decided not to rely on the power of Qi's garrison. The ultimate goal of this military operation is achieved entirely with the new imperial army and armed forces recruited from various places.

Because he had superior weapons and equipment and outnumbered the opponent, what was even more surprising was that Nadir did not stay in Mashbad to wait for work, but instead led his army to attack on the initiative. This made the Persian army coach Gayedi full of confidence in victory.

A few years ago, the Safavid dynasty, which had regained its rule, was temporarily unable to deal with him. It wanted to use political means to conquer Nadir, appointed him governor of Mazandaran, and asked him to come to Isfa. It is rare to see Abbas III.

The general agreed to go to war in order to exchange his own sacrifices and losses for the chance of victory.

In the past few years, they have followed the Qi army to win one war after another. Now facing Nadir, they still believe that they will become victors on the battlefield again as before.

Small-scale battles broke out in the vanguard one after another. Both armies were testing each other's situation, trying to find a position and opportunity that was advantageous to their own side.

After the deployment is completed, the road to march and conquer Khorasan has appeared in front of Gayedi's eyes. The empire's highest glory and the Shah's rewards will also be realized one by one after his victory.

why?
The vast majority of them are young, lavishing their youth and blood, and perhaps fear of discipline and yearning for spoils - the general promised that once Nadir is defeated and Khorasan is captured, the soldiers will A period of "relaxation" for collecting loot.

If there is a disparity in strength between the two sides, the enemy will retreat and refuse to fight. Once the two sides get too close, retreating will be more dangerous than fighting.

But the most important thing is that they belong to a group and are surrounded by peers. Many of them are fellow tribesmen or relatives and have been close partners for many years. They want to appear outstanding in the eyes of others and are prepared to kill or be killed for the sake of their companions.

The soldiers also agreed to fight, even if it meant maiming or even killing them.

If he is allowed to continue to expand like this, he will definitely form an invincible trend, and eventually separate the Northeast, forming a distant confrontation with the empire.

In a few years, Nadir ignored the imperial edict and led troops to invade Afghanistan and the Bukhara Khanate, surrendering hundreds of thousands of tribesmen. This not only relieved him of worries, but also greatly expanded his military power, vaguely forming the A situation of confrontation with the central government of the empire.

He rejected the suggestion made by the Qi State staff accompanying him to hold on to the camp and use his own sharp firepower advantage to consume the enemy's strength.

On June 1731, 6, more than 15 Persian troops were divided into four groups and gradually gathered in a small town called Mayameh in the northeast of Semnan. They collided head-on with Nadir's main army of more than people.

He ordered two strong troops to surround the flanks of Nadir's army, and also prepared a cavalry reserve consisting of 4,000 people. When Nadir was defeated, he quickly attacked and captured Nadir and Tartar alive. Hermaspur II.

But in the moment before the killing begins, the soldiers will fantasize, fear, and even marvel and worship.

At this time, the Persian army no longer wore brightly colored equipment like the royal troops in the Battle of Gulnabad eight years ago, nor did they act independently like those generals back then. Instead, they were united and firm, and were confident of victory.

The confrontation between the two armies did not last long. More than an hour after the small-scale battle broke out at the front, an accident occurred.

Nadir's army did not hold on to its position, nor did it launch an attack. Before the main forces of both sides entered combat contact, they began to retreat to the left, which was the edge of the river valley and the bulge of the Taal Mountain.

Thousands of brave Nader cavalry reared up to cover the retreating troops.

Gayedi immediately ordered his troops to attack and pursue him. He believed that Nadir was afraid of the imperial army and was preparing to try to escape. The outcome of the battle had been decided. The only thing left was to keep chasing and chasing without giving Nadir any respite. Taking advantage of the opportunity, they fought all the way to the city of Mashhad, quelling the rebellion in the Khorasan area in one fell swoop.

Nadir's rear cavalry troops used bows and arrows and muskets to control the imperial army at a certain distance. In the flying dust, the two sides continued to circle and fight. Although the imperial army pressed forward step by step, Nadir's army was still slowly retreating. The entire military showed no signs of collapse.

Nadir used the cavalry's delaying tactics to buy himself time and deployed heavy artillery and light camel artillery (i.e. Wasp) in advance on the slopes of Taal Mountain, which was higher than the valley. Nadir personally led the main force to gather closely under the artillery, and strictly ordered to keep quiet and restrain the firepower until the imperial army entered the range of the artillery. They should keep their bodies as close to the ground as possible. No fire was allowed without his order.

The imperial army came over with great force, "the impulse on the battlefield made them think that victory was just around the corner." All the army officers obeyed the commander's orders and attacked the center and flanks at the same time, trying to surround and annihilate their enemies from all directions.

Seeing the imperial army approaching, the artillery of the Nadir army opened fire from the mountains. The artillery fire roared instantly, and countless artillery shells directly hit the center of the imperial army. As a result, "hundreds of soldiers were broken like cucumbers" in the compact formation of the imperial army. "Cut in two", the beginning and the end cannot look at each other.

Then, when the imperial cavalry troops on the flanks charged and approached, Nader's army actually arranged a strict musketeer formation. Two wooden horse barriers and countless horse traps blocked the cavalry charge in front, and all the musketeers fired in unison. A volley fired.

The first wave of shooting is always the most effective because everyone is ready to shoot, and the smoke rising after the shooting will blur the vision, making it easy to lose direction after reloading ammunition.

Hundreds of horses and knights fell down and struggled on the ground, while the cavalry behind them staggered into the battlefield filled with smoke and dust.

The forward troops of the Imperial Army failed completely and failed to storm the Nadir Army's position.

Cannons and muskets continued to fire projectiles, and the echoes overlapped in the valley. The huge noise was numbing, and the Nadir army was still firing at the imperial army again and again.

The generals of the Imperial Army tried to restore order, but the artillery units were left behind and were unable to provide artillery support to the chaotic troops in front. Whether it was the new army musketeers or the cavalry units on the flanks, they were clustered in the narrow valley and were constantly bearing the burden. The artillery bombardment of Nader's army on the hillside made the situation chaotic.

It must be admitted that Nadir chose an ideal battlefield and set up a perfect ambush. The imperial army had strength advantages and advanced weapons, but under the sudden bombardment of artillery fire and limited by the terrain, it was impossible to exert its due combat effectiveness.

At noon, the imperial army began to give up the fight and fled in all directions, leaving more than 8,000 dead and wounded.

Nadir's cavalry troops pursued for more than ten miles and captured and killed more than 4,000 people again. In order to prevent the imperial army from counterattacking, Nadir recalled the cavalry and slowly retreated to a small town called Farubad.

After resting here for a night, Nadir's army did not choose to pursue the victory. Instead, he led his troops back to Mashhad.

It is reported that the pseudo-Shah Tahmasp II, who supervised the battle in the battle, urged Nadir to pursue and kill the retreating imperial army, and hit Isfahan in one go, overthrowing the rule of Abbas III.

For this reason, he had a fierce quarrel with Nadir, and finally led his guards to leave the military camp angrily.

The cautious Nadir clearly rejected the Shah's suggestion and believed that the army should return to Mashhad first and spread this great victory to the entire Khorasan and Herat to show his prestige. And recruit more local tribal armed forces.

In this battle, although Nadir chose the correct strategy and a battlefield that was beneficial to his own side, infantry with muskets and heavy artillery were the key to victory for Nadir's army.

As early as the Qi army entered Persia, continuously defeated the Gilzai people with fierce artillery, and finally helped Abbas III regain Isfahan, Nadir was deeply aware that firearms would be the decisive factor in the war, and then Use it to the extreme and continuously defeat enemies one after another around you to create such a situation.

In Nadir's army, the infantry was the most "Persian" part of the entire army. His soldiers, despite their diverse origins, were not all mercenaries.

Most of the cavalry are tribal members, many of whom are non-Persian (even some are non-Shia believers) - Turkmens, Kurds, steppe Turkmens, Abdali of the Afshar and Qajar tribes People and others.

The infantry were mainly settled Persian farmers and young urban residents from the agricultural areas of Khorasan. They also achieved victory after victory under the command of Nadir, showing rare enterprising spirit and indomitable spirit.

In this battle of Mayameh, Nadir defeated the powerful imperial army and killed more than 13,000 imperial soldiers. It shocked the whole of Persia and spread in countries such as Ottoman, Afghanistan, Bukhara, Baluzhi, and even India. and the region triggered a series of chain reactions.

The central government of the Safavid dynasty does not seem to be as powerful as it appears, and the imperial army is not as powerful as the legend says. As long as a suitable battlefield is chosen and targeted tactics are deployed, the Nadir army can defeat them. of.

With the victory in this battle, Nadir gained great popularity in the Khorasan region.

Previously, the tribes from Afghanistan and Bukhara came to surrender because they were afraid of Nadir's military threat, so they had to choose to cooperate with him and dedicate their tribal warriors to him to drive.

So now, almost everyone thinks that Nadir may become the second Mahmud, who will lead them to follow the plot of the Gilzai people, overthrow the Safavid dynasty again, and then conquer this ancient empire.

Ten years ago, who would have thought that Mahmud, with only more than 10,000 tribal armed forces, could penetrate the entire empire, severely damage the imperial army in the battle of Gulnabad, and finally capture Isfahan and capture the imperial Shah. Ah. If the people of Qi had not intervened, the change of dynasty might have been completely completed and the Afghans' grand goal of ruling Persia could have been achieved.

Now, Nadir is more powerful than the Girzai people of the past. The size of the army exceeds 50,000. It not only has powerful cavalry, but also a large number of infantry equipped with firearms. It also occupies a vast and fertile territory. The Roshan region relies on it as the foundation.

With such a strong capital, Nadir naturally also has some ambitions.

Well, that's what the saying goes: "Princes, generals, ministers, and ministers have a certain kind of Ning".

However, behind the Safavid dynasty stood Qi, the overlord of the Indian Ocean region, and Nadir had no choice but to act cautiously.

However, in Nadir's view, the Qi people came to Persia only for the benefit of trade, and they would never fight to the death for the Safavid dynasty.

If they can replace them and promise Qi a lot of profits, they will definitely change their tune and support themselves just like they supported the Safavid dynasty.

Therefore, after winning the battle of Mayame, Nadir decided to have private contact with the people of Qi. Even if they cannot be allowed to change their stance and side with themselves, it is still necessary to ensure that the Qi people maintain the necessary neutrality in the future Persian civil war.

(End of this chapter)