Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 256 The Persians came to disrupt the situation (please subscribe for monthly tickets)

Although the Chinese army led by Li Yan besieged Li Zicheng's troops in Kabul, after successive battles, there are only more than 16000 Chinese soldiers left.

This small amount of troops was not enough to completely besiege Kabul, so Li Yan still adopted the traditional Chinese siege method of "encircling three towers and one tower".

The main force of the Chinese army is to the east of Kabul, and some troops are also deployed in the north and south directions.

To the west, no troops were sent at all, only some sentries were deployed.

This arrangement is not because Li Yan still cherishes his old friendship and wants to let Li Zicheng survive. It is because the terrain in Afghanistan is too complicated.

The Chinese army lacks heavy artillery to attack the city. If it launches a forceful attack, even if it finally captures Kabul, the Chinese army will definitely suffer heavy casualties.

China's military strength in the Western Region is not large to begin with. If tens of thousands of people are lost in a battle, the surrounding forces will be ready to take action.

Fortunately, after capturing India, the food problem was alleviated to a great extent.

As long as the road from Ili to Delhi is built, food in the Western Regions will no longer be a problem.

It is much more convenient to transport grain from Delhi than from Xi'an.

The straight-line distance from Xi'an to Yili is 6500 miles, and the actual distance traveled along the way is more than 7000 miles.

When transporting food along this road, less than one-tenth of the food is ultimately delivered, and the food consumed on the road is much higher than the amount delivered.

Even though the national power of the Chinese Empire has surpassed the most powerful Central Plains dynasty in history, the food that can ultimately be transported to Ili is still very limited.

This also greatly limited the number of Chinese immigrants to the Western Regions.

If there are more than one million Chinese immigrants in the Ili Valley, long-term rule here can be achieved.

For China, if it wants to control the vast Central Asia, it must first control three places.

The first one is naturally the Ili River Valley, which is not only rich in water and grass, but also has huge mineral resources.

With Lake Balkhash in the north and the Tianshan Mountains in the east, it is the gateway from Central Asia to the Western Regions.

That's why Li Xianzhong set the capital of the Western Region in Yili.

In his opinion, only by controlling the Ili River Valley can the security of the north and south roads of Tianshan Mountains be truly guaranteed.

The second one is Congling.

This plateau of only 100,000 square kilometers is the only way to enter the Tianshan South Road and India.

The average altitude exceeds 4500 meters, and the altitude of the main peaks in the territory exceeds 6000 meters.

In the eyes of the Persians, this place called "Pamir" is the real roof of the world.

After occupying this place, you can overlook the entire Central Asia and South Asian subcontinent.

The third place is Afghanistan.

This barren land full of mountains is actually easy to overlook.

But Li Xianzhong knew that the location of this place, known as the "Imperial Cemetery", was extremely important.

Geographically speaking, this stretch of mountains between the Pamir Plateau and the Persian Plateau separates Central Asia in the north, Persia in the west, and the Indian subcontinent in the east.

Whoever occupies this place will have the initiative to attack.

It is obvious that it is not only the Chinese Empire that is interested in Kabul.

The Persians to the west were also interested.

The Safavid dynasty that now rules Persia is the Fourth Persian Empire.

This dynasty established by the Persians was the fourth dynasty to completely unify eastern and western Persia after the Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sasanians.

In 1502, Ismail established the Safavid dynasty in Persia. Ismail established himself as the king of Persia and established Tabriz as its capital. In order to consolidate the new power, the Safavid dynasty declared Shia Islam as the state religion of Persia.

However, with the rise of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, the Safavid dynasty encountered unprecedented challenges.

The Safavid dynasty not only lost the Mesopotamia and the Transcaucasus in the war with the Turks.

In 1585, the Turks captured Tabriz, the capital of the Safavid dynasty, and occupied it for nearly 20 years.

It was not until Abbas I succeeded to the throne in 1587 that the situation improved.

He realized that his army was no longer adapted to the needs of the new era of warfare, by which time the Ottoman Empire had occupied Georgia and Armenia, and the Uzbeks had occupied Mashhad and Sistan in the east.

First, he reached a peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire in 1590 and ceded the northwest region to the Ottoman Empire.

With the help of the Englishman Robert Sherry and Minister Alaveldi Khan, the Persian army developed from an army with a tribal atmosphere to a new type of army equipped with muskets, bronze cannons and other equipment.

The establishment of a new salaried professional army is intended to check and balance the Kizelbashi fighters, overcome local centrifugal tendencies and strengthen centralization.

During the reign of Abbas I, the new army reached 3.7 people, while the Qizelbash fighters were reduced from 6 to 8 to 3. This enabled the Persian army to initially complete military "modernization".

These actions initiated the famous reforms of Abbas I.

After the situation gradually stabilized, Abbas I moved the capital to Isfahan in central Persia in 1597.

He first went to war against the Uzbeks, and in 1602 he recovered Herat and Mashhad, reoccupied Khorasan, and reached Barihe. He then began to fight back against the Ottoman Empire, going through three wars, and by 1622 occupied Baghdad, Mosul and Diyarbakır and the Caucasus provinces.

In 1602 he expelled the Portuguese from Bahrain.

During the reign of Abbas I, the development of handicrafts and commerce was encouraged. In 1616, the British East India Company signed a trade treaty with the Safavid dynasty on the condition of expelling the Portuguese fleet in the waters of Hormuz. The mainland port of Bandar Abbas became the trade center between Persia and the East India Company in the Persian Gulf.

With the help of the British navy, the Safavid dynasty reoccupied Hormuz in the Persian Gulf in 1622.

During Abbas's reign, he also sent embassies to various Western European countries. Spain, Portugal and the Holy Roman Empire all sent ambassadors to the Safavids to carry out trade or seek to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

During the long reign of Abbas I, the Safavid dynasty reached its peak, and its territory included modern-day Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

But the great Persian emperor died 8 years ago.

Today the emperor of the Safi dynasty is his grandson Safi.

The Mughal Empire captured Kandahar, another important city in Afghanistan, from the Safi Dynasty three years ago, causing the Persians to almost completely lose control of Afghanistan.

The current turmoil in the Mughal Empire allowed the Persian emperor to see the possibility of reoccupying Afghanistan and even annexing the Mughal Empire eastward.

On the other hand, the Safavid dynasty completed the re-emergence of its empire entirely with the support of the British East India Company.

It can be said that they are the spokespersons of the British in the Persian Gulf region.

It's just that the British themselves didn't expect that the rise of the Chinese Empire would cause them to lose the entire India.

As a result, the enemy of the Safavid Dynasty changed from Ottoman Türkiye to the Chinese Empire. Now that Li Zicheng, who was supported by the Europeans, was almost defeated by the Chinese, their master, the East India Company, naturally could not sit idly by.

Prompted by both territorial desire and the British masters, the Persian Emperor Safi decided to send Khorasan Governor Gemanig to lead 3 troops to Kabul.

Although the new army formed by the Safavid dynasty has completed the weaponization of the army, the number of the new army is only 5, and the old army of the entire empire is still as high as 15.

Now the Ottoman Empire is also preparing to move and has threatened Baghdad's security. Therefore, although Safi is interested in expanding eastward, he does not dare to invest too much troops.

Among the 3 people led by Manigault, 1 were new troops equipped with new muskets, and 2 were old-style troops.

Their sudden arrival disrupted the balance of the battlefield.

Although the Chinese army that has been equipped with "Qianxi 1635" is not afraid of these Persians.

But to be on the safe side, Li Yan decided not to start a war rashly yet.

After all, there are currently only 16000 Chinese troops around Kabul, so they do not have an advantage in terms of strength.

So he decided to temporarily lift the siege of Kabul.

While holding on to the camp east of Kabul, he sent people to report the latest situation to Li Shizu.

At this time, Li Shizu was leading a main force of 5 people heading north from Kandahar, which was only three or four days' journey from Kabul.

He sent Zheng Sen to Kabul in advance to inform him of the news.

Zheng Sen was also shocked when he learned that the Persians had arrived.

Li Yan said: "It seems that the Intelligence Department must establish its own intelligence network in the Persian Gulf as soon as possible, otherwise we will be very passive!"

As the eldest son of Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Sen knew that the Intelligence Department had already begun to bribe some Europeans to serve as his spies.

These people began to lay out China's intelligence network in the name of doing business.

However, their main target was the British and Dutch East India Company, and they did not target the Persians and Turks.

It is obvious that the Intelligence Department can no longer keep up with the pace of China's expansion.

At this time Zheng Sen said: "It will still take a few days for the second prince's main force to arrive here. We have to confuse the Persians."

Soon Zheng Sen came to the Persian camp as an envoy from China.

Since the "Talas War" between the Tang Empire and the Arab Empire in 751 AD, the Han cavalry has not crossed Congling for nearly 900 years.

The Persians' knowledge of the East only limited to the Ming Dynasty. Manig knew nothing about the fact that his neighbors, the Yarkand Khanate and the Mughal Empire, had been annexed by China.

It was clear that their British masters were not telling the truth.

Naturally, Manig had no idea how powerful an empire he was facing.

Especially after Li Yan took the initiative to withdraw from Kabul, he felt that the Chinese people did not dare to confront them head-on!

Facing Zheng Sen, he said loudly: "The great Persian Emperor Safi ordered me to come and regain Kabul. If you Chinese people don't want to shed blood into rivers, please withdraw from Afghanistan!"

After hearing Manig's words, Zheng Sen smiled secretly.

I thought that these Persians really had other agendas. It was absolutely impossible for them to just help Li Zicheng!
Zheng Sen said: "There is no problem in handing over Kabul to the Persian Empire. Governor Manig should know that Li Zicheng is a traitor to the Chinese Empire."

"China sent troops this time mainly to capture Li Zicheng and dedicate him to the emperor of China."

"As for Kabul, if Governor Manig can help us capture Li Zicheng, why not hand over Kabul to Persia?"

Looking at Manig in a daze, Zheng Sen continued: "Governor Manig can enter Kabul in the name of supporting Li Zicheng and take the opportunity to capture it."

"As long as you can capture the traitor Li Zicheng for us, you will not only gain Afghanistan, but also gain the friendship of the Chinese Empire."

Manig said: "After I hand over Li Zicheng, is China really willing to give up the entire Afghanistan region?"

Zheng Sen said: "I am the special envoy of the second prince of China, Li Shizu, and can sign letters of credence with Persia on behalf of the second prince. As long as you hand over Li Zi to the hands of China, we will not only withdraw from Kabul, but also Kandahar and the entire Afghanistan." The region was given to Persia.”

Manig's original plan was to join forces with Li Zicheng to defeat the Chinese and then take the opportunity to seize Kabul.

This plan must first defeat the Chinese, and then defeat Li Zicheng.

In the end, he will completely offend the Chinese Empire.

Even if he despises the Chinese Empire, he no longer dares to underestimate them after learning that China has controlled the Mughal Empire and the Yarkand Khanate.

The Mughal Empire alone was as large as the Safavid Empire.

Now he only needs to find a way to sneak into Kabul first, and then capture Li Zicheng to achieve this goal, which is obviously more attractive.

Even if the Chinese turn their backs and deny their credit, Kabul will be in their hands by then, and he will not suffer much loss.

So Manig agreed to the plan.

But Li Zicheng was not stupid, although he was very excited when the Persian reinforcements arrived.

But he did not agree with the main Persian force stationed in Kabul.

On the grounds that the city was small, he asked the Persian main force to station outside the city to form a dichotomy with him.

He said: "The main force of the Chinese has moved north from Kandahar in the south and will arrive in Kabul soon. We should destroy the Chinese army outside the city before the main force of the Chinese arrives."

Manig was very angry that the Persian army could not enter Kabul, and believed that Li Zicheng did not respect the Persian Empire at all.

So the two sides broke up unhappy.

At this time, no matter how stupid Li Zicheng was, he saw that the Persians would not send troops in vain.

He could only ask the British to come forward to make peace. Li Zicheng promised that once the Chinese were repelled, he would give up a large area of ​​​​the Indus River Valley in the south to the Persian Empire as a reward for their help this time.

With the help of his British master, Manig was once again shaken.

Compared with poor Afghanistan, the rich Indus River Basin is obviously more attractive.

The Persians finally agreed to send troops to defeat the Chinese.

This tripartite coalition composed of European mercenaries, Li Zicheng and the Persians finally launched an attack on the Chinese camp outside the city.

But what they didn't expect was that the Chinese actually built a complete fortification with cement in just two days.

Even in the face of the British 18-pound Hongyi cannon, these fortifications were safe and sound!
However, Li Zicheng's coalition forces numbered more than 5 at this time, and they naturally would not give up just yet.

Soon they made the decision to attack!
A fierce battle has begun!

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(End of this chapter)