Eight years ago, after the Afghan gilzais conquered Isfahan and captured the imperial Shah, they quickly swept through the entire Persian region except for Luristan, Arabistan (which were occupied by the Ottomans) and southern Fars (the area was the sphere of influence of the imperial successor Shah Abbas III supported by the Qi state).

At that time, it was the darkest era of the Safavid Empire in Persia, and countless people were hungry and faced with strong . Dangers, such as health, robbery, massacre, arson, etc., are completely under the obscenity of the Afghan lord.

According to rough estimates, in the nearly three years between the invasion of the empire by the Afghan rebels and the eventual expulsion from the empire by the Hipponian coalition, a large number of people died from war, famine and disease, and countless people fled their homes and became displaced refugees, and the total population of Persia was reduced by about one-sixth (during the same period of history, Afghan rule in Persia remained until the end of 1729, causing nearly one-third of the population loss).

Trade in Persia was also almost at a standstill, the economic situation was in a sharp decline, industries withered, and industrial and agricultural production shrank to a very low level.

During the Afghan rule, a number of discriminatory ethnography decrees were also issued, and different castes were treated differently.

The first class of people is naturally the Afghans, regardless of the tribe, they are superior to the others and become the top ruling class.

Then came the Armenians, the Dagjin (Sunni True God believers living near Hamadan in western Persia, who joined the Afghan army), Ottoman merchants, Zoroastrians, Jews, and finally the seventh and last Persian natives, who were free to enslave and humiliate at will.

The general agreed to go to war in order to exchange his own sacrifices and losses for a chance to win.

On June 15, 1731, more than 47,000 Persian troops gathered in four directions in a small town called Mayamé, northeast of Sem, and collided head-on with Nadir's main army of more than 35,000.

The forward forces of the Imperial army were completely defeated, they failed to storm the positions of the Nadir army.

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

Well, the so-called "prince and prince will have a kind of Xiangning" is also.

Cannons and muskets continued to fire projectiles, echoes overlapping in the valley, the loud noise was numbing, and the Nadir army was still firing at the Imperial army again and again.

Among them, the Nadir military group entrenched in the Khorasan region is undoubtedly the most powerful and largest local separatist army.

The Imperial army came in a big way, and "the impulse on the battlefield made them think that victory was at hand". All the commanders of the troops, following the orders of the commander-in-chief, charged simultaneously in the center and on the flanks, trying to encircle and annihilate their enemies from all directions.

However, the cunning Nadir insisted on prevaricating the central government of the empire, neither explicitly refusing the appointment, but also not coming to Isfahan to meet the Shah, and continued to entrench in Khorasan, and continued to recruit troops and attack the surrounding areas in order to accumulate his own strength.

The soldiers also agreed to go to war, even if it would be maimed or even killed.

Then, when the Imperial cavalry troops on the flanks charged closer, the Nadir army unexpectedly lined up in a tight musket formation, and the front was blocked by two wooden repulsion horses and numerous traps, and all the musketeers fired a volley in unison.

He rejected the suggestion of the staff officer of Qi State who accompanied the army to hold the fortification and use his own sharp firepower advantage to deplete the enemy's strength.

If he is allowed to continue to expand like this, he will definitely form a trend that will not be lost, and eventually divide the northeast, forming a situation of distant confrontation with the empire.

Thousands of brave Nadir cavalry were behind the palace, covering the retreating troops.

Therefore, the imperial Shah decided to use force to conquer Khorasan with a large army, kill Nadir, capture the puppet Shah Tahmasp II, and complete the de facto unification of the empire's territory.

As soon as the Qi army entered Persia, defeated the Gilzai with fierce artillery, and finally helped Abbas III recover Isfahan, Nadir was deeply aware of the decisive factor in the war, and then used it to the extreme, constantly defeating one enemy after another around him, thus creating such a situation.

In the Nadir army, the infantry was the most "Persianized" part of the entire army. His soldiers, despite their different origins, were not all mercenaries.

After resting here for the night, the Nadir army did not choose to take advantage of the victory to pursue, but led its troops back to Mashhad.

The infantry, consisting mainly of settled Persian peasants and young city dwellers from the agricultural regions of Khorasan, similarly achieved victory after victory under the command of Nadir, showing a rare enterprising spirit and indomitable spirit.

For this, he had a fierce quarrel with Nadir, and finally led the guards out of the barracks in a fit of rage.

Nadir's rearguard cavalry used bows and muskets to keep the Imperial army at a distance, and in the dust, the two sides continued to maneuver and fight, and although the Imperial army was pressing on, Nadir's army was still slowly retreating, and the whole army showed no signs of rout.

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

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

But most importantly, they belong to a collective, surrounded by companions, many of whom are fellow tribesmen or relatives, close associates for many years. They want to be good in the eyes of others, and they are ready to kill or be killed for the sake of their peers.

Skirmishes broke out one after another, with both armies testing each other's situation, trying to find a position and timing in their favor.

The brutality of the occupiers also provoked revolt among the Persian people, at one point triggering numerous uprisings across the country, with many leading figures claiming to be the sons of the former Shahsudan Hussein or descendants of the early Safavid monarchs.

Now, almost everyone thinks that Nadir could become a second Mahmoud who would lead them to the plot of the Gilza'i to overthrow the Safavids once again and conquer the ancient empire.

In the Battle of Mayam, Nadir defeated the powerful imperial army, killed, wounded and captured more than 13,000 imperial soldiers, shook the whole of Persia, and triggered a series of chain reactions in Ottoman, Afghanistan, Bukhara, Baluzhi, and even India and other countries and regions.

The cavalry was mostly tribal, and many were non-Persians (and even some were non-Shiites) – Turkmens of the Afshar and Qajar tribes, Kurds, steppe Turkmens, Abdali and others.

The first wave of shots is always the most effective, because everyone is ready to shoot, and the smoke rising after the shot can blur the vision, and it is easy to get disoriented after reloading.

Nadir used the delaying tactics of the cavalry to buy himself time by deploying heavy artillery and light camel artillery (i.e., the Little Hornet) on the slopes of Mount Taal above the valley.

Nadir personally led the main force to gather closely under the artillery, and was ordered to remain quiet and refrain from fire until the Imperial army was within range of the artillery, and its body was as close to the ground as possible, and no fire was allowed without his orders.

A few years earlier, the Safavid dynasty, which had regained its rule, had tried to subdue Nadir by political means, appointing him governor of Mazandaran and asking him to come to Isfahan to meet Abbas III.

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

It is reported that the puppet Shah Tahmasp II, who was supervising the battle in the battle, urged Nadir to pursue and kill the defeated imperial army, and hit Isfahan in one blow to overthrow the rule of Abbas III.

Seeing that the Imperial army was approaching, the artillery of the Nadir army opened fire from the mountains, and in an instant, the artillery roared, and countless shells smashed directly into the center of the imperial army, resulting in the compact formation of the imperial army, "hundreds of soldiers were broken in two like cucumbers", and they could not care for each other.

Probably in order to prevent the power of the Qi people from extending to the Khorasan region in this counterinsurgency war, Abbas III accepted the advice of the "people of insight" in the court and decided not to rely on the strength of the Qi garrison, but to rely entirely on the new imperial army and the armed forces conscripted from various places to achieve the ultimate goal of the military operation.

Once deployed, the road to march and conquer Khorasan was presented to Gayadi, and the highest glory of the empire, the Shah's reward, would be realized one by one after his victory.

Previously, the tribes from Afghanistan and Bukhara had come to Shun only because they were afraid of Nadir's military threat, so they had to choose to cooperate with him and dedicate their warriors to him for his drive.

However, in the midst of the surging tide of rebellion in various parts of Persia, several local forces still managed to gain a firm foothold, and as the Afghan forces collapsed under the blows of the Qi people, they gradually grew and became local "strong vassals" on the side of the earthquake.

What made the Safavid Dynasty even more taboo was that this Nadir actually took in the pseudo-Shah Tahmasp II, and in his name continued to recruit and accept the local armed forces and tribal forces that "disobeyed the king" in the surrounding areas, and extended their tentacles to several surrounding provinces such as Semnan, Golestan, Mazandaran and Yazd.

In this battle, although Nadir chose the right strategy and the battlefield in his favor, the infantry and heavy artillery with muskets were the key to the victory of Nadir's army.

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

Within a few years, Nadir also led troops into Afghanistan and the Bukhara Khanate in disregard of the imperial edict, and surrendered hundreds of thousands of tribes, which not only relieved his worries, but also greatly expanded his military strength, faintly forming a situation of separation and confrontation with the central government of the empire.

Why?

The vast majority of them were young, squandering their youth and blood, perhaps with a fear of discipline and a yearning for booty, which the general promised that once Nadir was defeated and Khorasan was captured, the soldiers would be given a moment to "relax" and collect the spoils.

The Nadir army did not hold its ground, nor did it attack, and before the main forces of the two sides entered combat contact, they began to retreat to the left, at the edge of the valley, where the Taal Hill was raised.

Gayadi immediately ordered his troops to attack and pursue, believing that Nadir was afraid of the imperial army and was ready to try to escape, and the battle was decided, and all that remained was to keep chasing and pursuing, without giving Nadir any respite, until he reached the city of Mashhad, and put down the rebellion in Khorasan in one fell swoop.

Now, Nadir is even more powerful than the Gilzai of yesteryear, with an army of more than 50,000 men, not only fierce cavalry, but also a large number of infantry armed with firearms, and a base on the vast and rich region of Khorasan.

The cautious Nadir categorically rejected the Shah's suggestion that the army should return to Mashhad first and spread this great victory to all of Khorasan and Herat, in order to assert its prestige and recruit more local tribal forces.

The confrontation between the two armies was short-lived, and more than an hour after the outbreak of skirmishes at the front, the unexpected happened.

At noon, the Imperial army began to abandon the battle and fled in all directions, killing and wounding more than 8,000 people.

Due to a lack of cooperation and the selfishness of the rebels' top leadership, most of these uprisings ended in failure, and were crushed by the Afghans with overwhelming military force.

Admittedly, Nadir chose an ideal battlefield and set up a perfect ambush. The Imperial Army had the advantage of strength and advanced weapons, but under the sudden bombardment of artillery fire and the constraints of the terrain, it was simply unable to exert its due combat effectiveness.

The generals of the Imperial army tried to salvage the situation, but the artillery units were left behind, unable to provide artillery support to the disorganized troops in front, whether the new army musketeers or the cavalry units on the flanks, clustered in a narrow valley, constantly under the bombardment of the Nadir artillery on the hillside, and the situation was in chaos.

Ten years ago, who would have thought that Mahmoud would be able to penetrate the entire empire with only more than 10,000 tribal forces, and in the battle of Gulnabad, he would inflict heavy losses on the imperial army, and finally capture Isfahan and capture the imperial Shah. If it weren't for the intervention of the Qi people, perhaps the change of dynasty would have been completely completed and the grand goal of the Afghans ruling Persia would have been realized.

Because of the superiority of weapons and equipment, the number of people also exceeded that of the other side, and what was even more surprising was that Nadir did not stay in Mashbad to wait for work, but led the army to take the initiative to attack, which made the Persian army commander Gayadi full of confidence in victory.

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

He ordered his strong flanks to outflank Nadir's army, and prepared a cavalry reserve of 4,000 men to quickly attack and capture Nadir and Tahmasp II alive in the event of Nadir's rout.

Nadir's cavalry pursued for more than ten miles, and captured more than 4,000 again, and then in order to prevent the imperial army from counterattacking, Nadir recalled the cavalry and led the troops to slowly retreat to a small town called Farubard.

At this time, the Persian army was no longer dressed in brightly colored equipment like the royal army at the Battle of Gulnabad eight years earlier, nor was it as fragmented as the generals of the past, but united and confident of victory.

In the past few years, they have won war after war with the Qi army, and now facing Nadir, they still believe that they will be the victors on the battlefield again, as they have done before.

However, behind the Safavid dynasty stood the hegemon of the Indian Ocean region, the Qi State, which could not be ignored by Nadir without caution.

The central government of the Safavid dynasty did not seem to be as strong as it seemed, and the imperial army was not as powerful as the legend suggested, as long as they chose a suitable battlefield and arranged targeted tactics, the Nadir army could defeat them.

If they can take their place and promise the great benefits of the Qi country, they will inevitably change their ways and turn around to support themselves as if they supported the Safavid Dynasty.

Therefore, after winning the battle of Mayame, Nadir decided to make private contact with the Qi people. Even if they can't change their stance and side with them, it is imperative that the Qi people maintain the necessary neutrality in the future Persian civil war.

(End of chapter)