If we look at the maps of later generations, most of Khorasan is located in the northeastern part of Iran, with part of it in the Herat area of Afghanistan and the Mary area of Turkmenistan.
Further east of Khorasan, across the Amu Darya River is the Transoxiana region, which is now the territory of the Qin Dynasty. Su Jin's army was stationed in Transoxiana.
A bloody war broke out between the Safavid Empire and the Kurds from 1609 to 1610 AD.
The cause of the war was a castle in the area near Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran.
Local Kurdish chieftains attempted to maintain their independence between the Ottoman and Safavid empires.
After a long and bloody siege by the Safavids, the castle fell. Abbas I ordered a bloodbath throughout the province and the removal of many Kurdish tribes to Khorasan.
Forty years later, the number of Kurds in Khorasan had reached nearly 300,000. Because of their different beliefs, these Kurds were subjected to harsh enslavement, burdened with heavy taxes and corvée labor, and subjected to extortion by officials.
The Kurds, unable to bear the enslavement, continued to resist and were repeatedly brutally suppressed by the Safavid army.
On this day, a small caravan of more than ten camels came to the Kurdish settlement west of Mashhad, bringing exquisite silk produced in Daqin, as well as tea, etc. The Kurds looked at these goods with envy, but they lived in poverty and could not afford them.
Seeing that no one was patronizing the business, the merchant had no choice but to find the Kurdish chieftain directly and sell his goods to him.
The patriarch Mudra received these merchants. Most of the people in this small caravan were Kazakhs, but there were also Turkmen, Uzbeks, and even two Orientals wearing turbans who looked a bit like Dzungar Mongols.
After Rock, the leader of the caravan, presented some gifts to Mudra, the communication between the two sides began to become lively.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Rock suddenly said, "Seeing that your people are living such a hard life, I feel deeply sorry for them. I wonder if the chief wants to free your people from their current life of slavery? If you have this wish, I can show you a way."
The smile on Mudra's face disappeared and he looked at Rock seriously.
Rock smiled and said, "Don't worry, Patriarch. We came from the East and are definitely not Persian spies. I believe it will not be difficult for you to figure this out."
Mudra still looked at him expressionlessly, without saying a word.
The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East, after the Arabs, Turks and Persians. They have established their own countries several times, but were destroyed by the invasions of the Turks and Mongols, and later were ruled by the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire.
They had been trying to maintain their independence between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire and seek to establish a country, but were brutally suppressed. It was for this reason that Mudra and his people were moved to Khorasan and lived a life of slavery.
Rock knew that he would never gain Mudra's trust unless he showed something practical.
So he took out a document from his pocket and handed it to Mudra.
The document was written in both Chinese and Persian. After reading it, Mudra's fingers could not help but tremble slightly.
***
Samarkand is one of the oldest cities in the Transoxiana region and an important hub city on the Silk Road, connecting the three major empires of Persia, India and China.
In the past, this place was inhabited by the Sogdians, who were good at business and built Samarkand into a magnificent capital.
The historical records say: Samarkand was the land of Kapisa in the Han Dynasty, Cao State in the Sui Dynasty, and Kapisa again in the Tang Dynasty. They were all connected to China. Yuan Taizu conquered the Western Regions and made all the kings and princes-in-law the rulers, changing the name of the country from the previous dynasty to Mongolian. That’s when the name Samarkand came into being. It is 9,600 miles away from Jiayuguan. The king at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was the prince-in-law Timur.
Now that the Transoxiana region had been pacified by Su Jin, Samarkand had been the headquarters of Su Jin. The mosques in the city had long been demolished, and there was no trace of Islam in the city. Books were burned, and even the words on the walls were chiseled off. Ordinary people were also ordered to wear Chinese clothes instead.
The pacification of Hezhong not only attracted a large number of Qin merchant caravans, but also attracted Buddhists and Taoists who came here to recruit believers and raise funds to build Buddhist temples and Taoist temples.
Su Jin gave great support to this and used some captives as laborers. In just one year, two temples and Taoist temples had been built in the city, with more than 200 monks and Taoists each.
They are working hard to promote Buddhism and have made good progress; they have already attracted thousands of believers. Merchants from Daqin also come to temples and Taoist temples to offer incense money, and the incense is gradually becoming more popular.
In the military mansion in the north of the city, Su Jin had lost a lot of weight due to a serious illness he had suffered a while ago. Fortunately, after treatment by a military doctor, he is now fine.
Lieutenant Generals Chen Runan, Li Sheng, Yang Zaicheng, guerrilla Wu Tian, and staff officers Qian Da and Wang Yu were gathered in front of the map and talking to each other.
Chanda said: "The Safavids have assembled nearly 100,000 troops in the Khorasan region, as well as a large number of artillery. At this time, I'm afraid the Kurds will not dare to act rashly."
Su Jin said: "We can't expect them to act immediately. If the Safavids dare to attack us, they can start a rebellion in the rear, which will have a great restraining effect.
In addition, His Majesty means that our Great Qin will use the Amu Darya River as a boundary. To the west of the Amu Darya River, we will support a small country close to our Great Qin as a buffer. Such a thing is definitely not easy to accomplish overnight, so we must be patient and slowly plan. "
Lieutenant General Yang Zaicheng said: "Yang Jier is very obedient now. In my opinion, it would be more convenient to support Yang Jier to establish a country west of the Amu Darya River. We have never had contact with the Kurds, so who knows what they think."
Su Jin said: "Yang Jier is not good enough. Even though he is so obedient now, if he is really allowed to rebuild his country west of the Amu Darya River, it is hard to say what will happen in the future. Moreover, it is impossible to drive all the Kazakhs in the Kipchak Empire to the west of the Amu Darya River. In the future, their fellow tribesmen will inevitably collude with each other, which will be detrimental to the stability of the Central Asian region. Supporting the Kurds will not have these hidden dangers. They have been enslaved and oppressed. It is a blessing for them to get help from the Qin Dynasty. No matter from which perspective, the Kurds have no reason to refuse."
Staff officer Chanda said: “General, if we do not join the war, even if we provide weapons to the Kurds, it will be difficult for them to resist the halberds of the Safa army, let alone establish a country west of the Amu Darya River.
Therefore, I think that in addition to instigating the Turks west of the Caspian Sea to rebel, we should also support another force in the Khorasan area to form a linkage with the Kurds, so that we can withstand the fierce attack of the Safavid army.
The Uzbeks have always been the mortal enemy of the Safavids. Although they were defeated during the reign of Abbas I, they still have many ethnic groups west of the Amu Darya River. As long as we give them some support, it will not be difficult to get them to form a left-right coordination with the Kurds, making the Safavids lose sight of one while focusing on the other. "
Su Jin thought about it and felt that this move was necessary. Although the Red Heads in the Caspian Sea were powerful, they were too far away and could only sow discord but not control them. Moreover, there was not much difference between supporting one force and supporting two forces. Daqin had a lot of obsolete weapons, which could be sold on credit to them. Even if they were given away for free, it would not be a big problem.
After some discussion, Su Jin and others quickly decided to send people to contact the Uzbeks. In this way, the Red Heads, Kurds, and Uzbeks would be equivalent to supporting three forces in the Middle East at the same time.
Soldiers don't like to drag their feet when doing things. When they conquered the three countries of Kazakhstan, Brut and Brat, they seized a large number of weapons. These nomadic tribes might not be able to use firearms well if you gave them. Sabers and bows and arrows were more practical.
The envoys sent to contact the Uzbeks had only been there for three days when the caravan sent to contact the Kurds returned.
As expected, the Kurds were overjoyed at Daqin's support and naturally agreed to Daqin's conditions.
However, how to transport a large number of weapons over is a difficult problem. The Safavid Empire currently has nearly 100,000 troops stationed on the border, and the defense is extremely tight. It is not a problem for a small caravan of a dozen people to get through, but it is not easy to transport a large number of weapons over.
Just when Su Jin and his colleagues were racking their brains to think of a solution, an unexpected news came: the Safavid Empire began to withdraw its troops from the border.
Su Jin and his men did not know that Abbas II suddenly changed his attitude and decided not to attack Transoxiana and was committed to establishing diplomatic relations with the Qin Dynasty. The Safavid withdrawal left many gaps on the border, and Su Jin immediately organized several camel caravans to transport weapons to the Kurds in batches.
Immediately afterwards, the Uzbek leader Saibei Khan brought thousands of troops and followed the envoys sent by Su Jin to Samarkand to meet Su Jin in person. The two sides hit it off immediately, and Saibei Khan immediately submitted a petition to the Emperor of Qin to request a title.
After Su Jin had a few drinks with him, he directly gave him a large number of sabers and bows and arrows to take back. Of course, everything went so smoothly because of a combination of interests. The Uzbeks got the advantage first, so of course they were happy.
Su Jin was not afraid that they would go back on their word. After all, following Da Qin would only benefit them and not cause them any harm. Only a fool would go back on his word if they could not even beg for it.
As for what will happen in the future, we can only wait and see. As long as we continue to strengthen our control over the Kurds and Uzbeks, and they want to grab territory from the Safavid Empire, the division has already been made. If they don't listen to Daqin, they will be caught between two superpowers and will be courting death.
In general, as long as the Qin's control over the Hezhong region does not weaken, they will definitely not be able to cause too much trouble. (To be continued...)
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