The Sun and the Lion

The lord of Sheki heard some rumors about Gabala City and was so frightened that he could not sleep or eat. He quickly mobilized all the troops at hand, strengthened the walls and cleared the fields, defended the fortified city, and constantly sent scouts to explore the surrounding situation, and sent messengers to Telavi. , I hope my lord can give me some substantial help.

Finally, the rumored man-eating Turkmen army appeared. Ten thousand Qizilbashis in bright helmets and uniforms wearing red hats led the army slaves to march on the road. It was very spectacular, but for the lords of Sheki He said that the more spectacular it was, the more uneasy he felt.

Some of the scouts who tried to get closer to inquire about the military situation were mercilessly killed. Faced with the large number and superb combat skills of the red heads, these Georgian scouts had basically no chance of survival. After these death-seeking scouts went to heaven to meet the Lord, their heads were cut off and thrown at the city gate as a warning.

Originally, Ibrahim wanted to loot the area to replenish supplies, but the Sheki lords moved too quickly. The nearby villages were deserted, the wells were filled or livestock carcasses were thrown in, and even a grain of wheat in the granary was lost. No.

Anyway, the army's supplies are still sufficient, and Ibrahim does not intend to change the combat objectives because of this incident. So the next morning, the red heads left the vicinity of Sheki and headed straight for Tbilisi.

Originally, Ibrahim was still in a dilemma about choosing his next target, but a letter sent by an emissary solved Ibrahim's problem.

When Ibrahim received this letter, he looked at the Georgian emissary in front of him and felt that it was a small Georgian lord who wanted to contact the religious order. When the emissary said that his master was King Alexander of Imereti, the relatives present The soldiers and leaders were a little embarrassed, although they knew it was not very polite. Faced with these sarcastic and disdainful laughter, the emissary did not have a fit. He just glanced around and then looked at Ibrahim.

Ibrahim was more surprised. When he heard the slightly restrained laughter around him, he cleared his throat and stopped them. Then he took the letter handed over by the soldiers. The letter was divided into Georgian and Persian. Two copies of the language. Ibrahim took it and read it silently.

The content in my heart is probably: I, the King of Imereti, the orthodox member of the Bagrationi family, Alexander, not long ago officially replaced the waste Constantine, the King of Kartli. By the grace of the Lord, I am fortunate to become King of all Georgia. Now, I hope to negotiate peace with you. I recognize your interests in Kakheti. All areas except Telavi can be ceded to you. If it is not enough, you can also come to the Katli area to help me clean up the door and grab it. How much is yours. Of course, if you want to take away everything from me by force, then the Lord will not spare you, and you will definitely lose your life on the battlefield.

After reading the main text, Ibrahim looked at the signature. The signature and monogram of the two letters were the same. The signatures were both in Georgian, and the monogram was identified by the Georgians in the team as Alexander II of Imereti. of this world.

What is the plan of the king of Imereti?

After Ibrahim was surprised, he felt strange. He did not intend to act in accordance with Alexander's intentions. He decided to put aside the territories and other interests promised to him and led his army straight to Tbilisi to see what the new Georgian king was up to.

Tbilisi

Kvakvare II preceded Ibrahim and led the Samkhets army to the vicinity of Tbilisi. He came to Tbilisi to question Alexander of Imereti.

A few days ago, Alexander II arrived at the city gate of Tbilisi with his army and met with Constantine and Alexander I. After arranging the army, the three kings enjoyed a banquet in the palace hall of Tbilisi. During the banquet When Alexander II discussed the issue of leadership, the two were helpless. After struggling for a while, they recognized Alexander II as the leader of the alliance.

Then Alexander II used his identity as the leader of the alliance to mix sand into the city defense troops, and at the same time used spies to monitor the two men. Finally, he used the sand mixed into the city defense troops to secretly bring the two men from the military camp outside the city with a small number of elites and his own personal guards. Caught.

When Alexander I and Constantine were arrested, the two were still talking and plotting how to deal with Alexander II. As a result, the personal soldiers rushed in without warning.

When Alexander II mixed sand into the city defense troops, the two of them felt that he would eventually control them, and finally took off their titles and wore them themselves. But I didn't expect things to happen so quickly, so urgently, and so roughly.

This incident soon spread to the military camp outside the city, and also caused a commotion in the city. Alexander II ordered a city closure and a curfew, and asked his own Imereti army to control the other two armies. The other two armies were in chaos because the king was captured. How could a scattered army fight against an enemy that was already stronger than itself? As a result, the soldiers of the other two armies were either controlled, or fled to other forces or fell into disgrace.

Soon, Alexander controlled the situation, but this behavior also alarmed the remaining two families. The Duke of Abkhazia directly deployed troops on the border, while the Duke of Samhertz led his army north.

However, before Kwakvare went north, he first dealt with the threat on the side of the bed. After defeating Havaci Oglu, Kwakvare struck while the iron was hot and attacked Afshar's tribe with the power of victory, although it was not completely The Afshar tribe was wiped out, but it also dealt a heavy blow to Kehobad. It is estimated that it will take several years or even ten years for the Afshar tribe to recover.

Seeing that Alexander stayed in the city and refused to come out, Kvakvare set up a siege camp directly under the city of Tbilisi and wrote a letter of persuasion to surrender, to the effect that he should give up this crazy behavior and return his status as an elder. Press him: Where were you when the last Imereti lord and I destroyed Bagration's royal power?

Alexander was naturally furious when he saw the letter emphasizing the crushing of Bagration's royal power. Although the messenger who went in to deliver the letter was not killed, he was whipped dozens of times. The reply clearly stated: The ungrateful old man Things, you will bear ten times as much as him!”

After receiving the reply, Kvakvary dismissed the letter and continued to direct the siege in an orderly manner, and wrote a letter requesting Duke Solomon I of Abkhazia to intervene.

As time passed, there were more and more skirmishes between the siege and defenders, and the Duke of Samhertz's first storm was about to begin. However, an uninvited guest interrupted this process.