After the battle of Gulnabad, the Afghans rested for three full days before continuing their march towards Isfahan. Mahmoud himself could not believe the outcome of this battle, and he led his army around Gulnabad several times, fearing an ambush. Nothing turned out, and all the defeated Persians fled back to Isfahan, but Mahmud still did not dare to pursue the defeated Persian army.

After careful reconnaissance, on 11 March, the Afghans reached the area south of the Chayand River, occupied the palace complex of Farahabat and the district of Julifa, and then plundered the wealth of the Armenian magnates and plundered a large number of young women.

At this time, the stupid and meaningless quarrels in the Safavid court did not stop. Despite the efforts of many ministers to persuade the Shah to evacuate Isfahan and temporarily hide from the Afghan forces. However, the cowardly Shah was unwilling to risk leaving Isfahan and made the worst decision to stay in the city and wait for help.

On March 12, Prince Safi Mirza, the crown prince, took the initiative to ask the Shah for his life, wanting to lead people to break through the siege and go to the northwest to regroup his army and fight again. However, this move was suspicious of the Shah, who suspected him of ulterior motives and intended to stand on his own, and then deposed him as crown prince.

On March 13, the Grand Vidzi of the Empire, Muhammad Khulihan al-Shamru, suggested to the Shah that in order to hold Isfahan for a long time and wait for the help of the governors of the various provinces of the Empire, it was imperative to evacuate the refugees and some of the original residents of the city, so as to reduce the consumption of supplies in the city.

However, the Shah rejected this rather constructive proposal. He believes that the accumulation of more civilians in the city can provide sufficient civilian strength and strength for the defending troops, which is of positive significance for resisting the attack of the Afghans.

As time went on, the imperial government barely made any active and effective military responses, except for constantly sending messengers to the surrounding provinces and local tribes to recruit the soldiers and horses of King Qin. When they saw the sporadic Afghan rangers in the vicinity outside the city, the defenders sealed all the gates of Isfahan and began a long and bloody siege.

Inayatollah Havarazami raised a languid refugee high with a spear, and then threw it forward to the cheers of the soldiers.

Hundreds of tribal warriors straddled their majestic horses and brandished sharp scimitars, galloping back and forth in the ranks of fleeing refugees, trampling on them and reaping one fresh life after another.

"What's that fortress ahead?" Inayatollah Havarazami put away his spear and looked up at a fortress-like building in the distance, his eyes burning a little.

"Whatever it is, just go and overturn it!" A stout tribal warrior raised his scimitar and said nonchalantly, "Perhaps, that building is an annex of some Persian nobleman." Let's go and break it, kill the men inside, and rob them of their treasures and women! ”

"Yes, kill it and snatch everything inside!"

“……”

More and more Afghan tribal warriors noticed the building that looked like a fortress in front of them, and they immediately became furious, with endless greed in their eyes, and they didn't care about chasing and slashing the fleeing refugees, and turned their horses' heads and headed straight in the direction where it was.

Even the Shah's favorite Farahabat Palace has been captured by us, and it is located where the Chinese army camp is located, so what castle estate outside Isfahan can stop our attack?!

"Damn, it's finally here!" On a hastily built watchtower, the battalion commander Yan Shaowu held the binoculars in both hands, looked at the hundreds of Afghan cavalry surging in the distance, and muttered in his mouth.

After more than ten days of continuous reinforcement, the entire Qi State Commercial Station has become a small military fortress. A new wooden fence was built on the perimeter of the originally thin parapet wall, which was filled with a large amount of rammed earth to improve its protection and fire resistance. Outside the wooden fence, a trench was dug to prevent enemy troops from quickly advancing to the parapet.

Kilometers of trees around the Merchant Post were cut down, leaving low stumps all over the ground, and the enemy was denied any timber for the construction of siege equipment. Even, in order to make it difficult for the enemy to set up camp, the Qi people also burned down the houses in several nearby villages, and completely filled and destroyed all the wells and water sources.

The only thing to worry about now is that there is not much gunpowder accumulated in the trading station to support a few major battles. If the enemy unleashed a sustained onslaught, regardless of casualties, he would probably soon run out of gunpowder. At that time, with only more than 200 officers and men of the army, less than 300 men and men of trading companies, and hired workers, all armed with cold weapons, I am afraid that we will not be able to face the enemy forces swarming from all directions.

In addition, because the merchant post was located on the outskirts of Isfahan, due to the military ban of the Safavid Dynasty, it was not allowed to have heavy weapons such as artillery at all, so that the officers and soldiers trapped in the merchant post also lost the heavy fire support they relied on, which would be a great test for their defense.

However, the officers and men and the personnel of the trading company were still very optimistic about holding the trading station. Although the Afghans defeated and inflicted heavy losses on the Persian army, they may not be able to capture Isfahan, a city with a population of hundreds of thousands. In their opinion, once the Afghans suffered losses in the attack on Isfahan and lost a certain number of troops, they would inevitably withdraw from the siege with the looted property. Otherwise, when the soldiers and horses of King Qin from all over the empire arrive, they may be joined by the Persians and annihilate them under the city.

When more than 300 Afghan cavalry rushed to the front of the merchant station, they were surprised to see that this complex with a radius of only a few hundred meters resembled a well-defended fortress. Most of those who stood on guard at the parapet had an oriental face, very different from the traditional Persians. They didn't show any panic when they saw hundreds of fierce Afghan cavalry killed, they just looked at them coldly, as if full of disdain and contempt.

"They are from the Qi country!" A well-informed tribal warrior shouted, "...... This must be a trading station for the people of Qi! ”

"Huh? …… Qi people! "Following the leader of the Gilzai people, Mahmud, to fight in the south and north for several years, especially to enter the hinterland of Persia several times and raid places, Inayatullah Havarazami naturally knew the people of Qi. Kerman, Yazd, Shiraz, Isfahan, as well as the ports of Bandar Abbas and Bushehr, were all active in their merchants. Even, even their base camp of Kandahar had a few cunning Qi merchants and a larger number of Qi agents.

Their southwestern neighbor, the Kharat Khanate, relied on the support of the Qi people to expand to the north and west, trying to bring the entire Balo region under their rule, so as to establish a unified and complete Balo kingdom. If it weren't for the fact that the territory of the Girzai people is separated from the Balu people by a large area of desert Gobi, perhaps a fierce armed conflict would have broken out with them a long time ago.

In addition, from various sources, the Qi people should have taken a position of supporting the Persians, and in order to obtain more trade benefits in the empire, they continued to import various advanced firearms for the Persians. Three years earlier, in 1719, they had captured Kerman almost bloodlessly and sacked the city. But last August, when they recaptured Kerman, they met with fierce resistance from the local defenders. Because the Qi people provided the city with five or six powerful artillery, they suffered a great loss when besieging the city, and lost a lot of elite cavalry.

And the just-concluded Battle of Gulnabad, although they Afghans achieved an unprecedented victory, annihilating more than 15,000 Persian troops. But in this battle, all the generals, including their leader of the Girzai people, Mahmoud, were all lucky. When they ignored the Arab cavalry's raiding of the rear camp and attacked the Persian front army with all their troops, they were bombarded by their artillery. Several rounds of shelling in a row almost destroyed the courage of the cavalry to charge.

Had it not been for the fact that the former commander of the army, Amanullah Khan, had discovered that the entire artillery position was not supported by the Persian army and launched a determined assault, perhaps the entire army would have turned and fled under the continuous artillery bombardment, thus losing the opportunity to defeat the Persians.

After the cavalry swarmed into the artillery position, the Afghans were shocked to find that their commander turned out to be a Qi national. While all the Persian artillerymen fled in a hurry, he kept the honor of an officer, remained in the artillery position, held a command knife, and fought the slaughtered cavalry until the last moment.

Unexpectedly, these rangers, who were ordered to sweep the place outside the city of Isfahan and cut off the connection between the inside and outside of the city, actually discovered the trading station of the Qi people in the southeastern suburbs of Isfahan.

"Shouting to the people of Qi and asking them to open the gate of the merchant station, lay down their weapons, and take the initiative to come out and surrender." Inayatollah Havarazami took a deep breath and said with the pride of a victor in his tone, "Otherwise, when we go in, there will be no chickens and dogs!" ”