Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 285: The Rise of Yiprahin (Part 2)
On September 1, 1616, Ibrahim returned to Istanbul after three years.
Before entering the imperial capital, his guards were full of fantasies: We fought bloody battles in Mesopotamia and Transcaucasia for three years, killed at least 100,000 Persians, and recaptured a large area of imperial territory. With such achievements, the country should give us a grand entry ceremony, right?
Unfortunately, reality was cruel. They had spread the news that the Pasha was about to return to the capital, but when they arrived at the gate of Istanbul, no imperial official came to greet them, let alone discuss with them how to arrange the entry ceremony.
"Pasha! How could the Sultan treat us like this?"
"Yes, Pasha, even though the Sultan is still young, your father is the Grand Vizier! Why don't you give us, the brave warriors who fought so hard, the honor we deserve?"
"Asshole! How can you say that about Pasha's father? Pasha has achieved such great achievements, the Grand Vizier must be extremely proud and proud. But when it comes to holding the entry ceremony, the Grand Vizier must be cautious. What's hateful is that other officials of the empire are so indifferent to us?"
Taking a deep breath, Yiplashin said in a deep voice: "Don't say anything. I will go home and ask my father about this matter. If he can't give me a satisfactory answer, I will ask the Sultan."
…
"Yiprahim, you are the child that makes our whole family proud. Welcome home."
“Dad…I…”
"Um~hahaha, I know what you are thinking from your expression. My son, you must be blaming me for not arranging a grand entry ceremony for you so that you can give an explanation to your subordinates. Is that right?"
"Dad...yes, why is that?"
"The direct reason is, of course, that the Sultan is seriously ill, and the court is fighting for the next Sultan, so no one has time to care about an illusory ceremony. The deeper reason is, of course, that my son performed so well on the country's eastern front that those incompetent losers were jealous. In order to avoid them being outshined too much by you, everyone unanimously said that the entry ceremony would not be necessary."
What old Sokoli said was true.
The current Sultan Ahmed I of the Empire ascended the throne at the age of thirteen. Because his father died too early, he lacked education and corresponding training, and his ability was completely insignificant compared to the ten previous sultans of the Empire. In short, from the time he ascended the throne in 1603 to the present, in the past thirteen years, this Sultan has made almost no achievements in state affairs except for his devout faith and a large amount of donations to Mecca.
The foundation of the Ottoman Empire is the military fiefdom system. The most basic requirement of this system is expansion. If you don't expand, it means that the country will go downhill...
Over the years, Ahmed did not want to expand, but was unable to do so: if it were not for the time traveler Ibrahim, the empire would have been taken over by Abbas I in the east, including the entire Transcaucasus region and the Governorate of Baghdad. Even the eastern part of the core territory of the empire, the Anatolian Peninsula, was taken away by Iran.
Although the emergence of the time traveler saved the empire , in the west, during his reign, the empire was repeatedly defeated by the coalition forces of Austria, Hungary, and Poland, and was forced to give up the annual tribute from Austria.
At sea, the Empire's fleet participated in the war of Western European countries to siege Spain. But except for the initial attack on Barcelona when the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet was not at home, the rest of the time was beaten by the Spanish Navy strengthened by Rudolf...
Now, in 1616, the 26-year-old Sultan was once again seriously ill. The disease was so fierce that even the expensive penicillin could not reverse the deterioration of his condition.
"My son, Istanbul is in a whirlpool right now. The Haziz family wants to support the Sultan's eldest son Osman to succeed to the throne, while the Kösem family says that Osman is too young and wants to support Mustafa, who has been imprisoned for thirteen years, to succeed to the throne. In fact, they want Mustafa to be a transition, and then let Princess Kösem's biological son Murad succeed to the throne... In short, the empire is now facing internal and external troubles, so how can it have the mind to hold a city entry ceremony at this time?"
"Hu~~" He took a deep breath and managed to control his emotions: "Dad, which side should we stand on?"
"From a purely national perspective, the current Sultan's eldest son, His Royal Highness Osman, is fluent in multiple languages , physically fit, and good at riding and shooting. He is a rare candidate for the Sultan. The current Sultan's younger brother, Mustafa, is a moron with imperfect intelligence... But..."
"I understand dad, you must have reached an agreement with the Kosem family, right?"
"Uh, I'm sorry, son. Since you were a child, your father has taught you to be a brave, fearless, upright, and selfless person, but your father can't do it at all now. For the private interests of the family, your father gave up the public interests of the country."
"Hmm... Brave and fearless, Dad. The reason why we cooperate with a vicious family like Kosem is not only to protect our position as the Grand Vizier, but also because they control the Sultan's personal guards, right?"
"Uh... my son, what else don't you know?"
Of course I know, I am a time traveler. It can be said that the Sultan's personal guards laid the foundation for the military glory of the early Ottoman Empire, but also caused the rapid decline of the empire.
The source of soldiers for this army originally came from the Slavs in the Balkan Peninsula. Strong boys were selected and sent to the Sultan for professional military training from an early age. They learned the Turkic language and believed in the Star and Crescent religion. They were not allowed to marry during their service and were deployed wherever there was an emergency. They were the Sultan's slaves and personal guards, the most capable and powerful military force in the empire, and the source of many of the empire's senior officials.
However, if anything is not reformed along with the changes in the world, it will eventually have problems. The Sultan's personal guards gradually expanded with the successive sultans, from a few thousand to tens of thousands. With so many people, the overall quality naturally declined. Moreover, over the past two hundred years of the empire, there were too many officials who came from the personal guards - a new interest group was formed.
In the historical plane, Ahmed died in 1617 and Mustafa succeeded him. But it was inappropriate for this mentally handicapped man to sit on the throne of Sultan, so a few months later, Mustafa was deposed and Ahmed's eldest son Osman succeeded him.
The young sultan was determined to reform, but the corrupt sultan's personal guard group became a roadblock to the reform. They first deliberately defeated Osman in his first expedition on the battlefield and lost his prestige, then simply launched a coup, strangled the sultan, and re-supported Mustafa to be the sultan.
From a historical perspective, the irreversible decline of the Ottoman Empire actually occurred in these few years.
"Dad, I understand. I will bear this humiliation. I only have one request."
"You said, my son."
"After the audience with His Majesty, I don't want any reward. I just want to continue to serve as the Governor of Baghdad! Please fight for this for me no matter what."
"Well... my son, three years ago, the Baghdad Governorate was a place that everyone avoided. But now..."
"These shameless guys!" Ibrahim cursed and thought for a moment, "How about this, Dad? Tell the Kosem family that if they allow me to continue to rule Baghdad, I will pay 30,000 standard eks to the empire every year."
"Well... this condition is not very generous."
"No more. I have a lot to do in Baghdad. Tell them that if I don't go to Baghdad, others who go there will probably die quickly!"
"Well said, my son! Our Sokoli family is not so easy to mess with! Okay, it's settled. Dad will start contacting them tonight and make sure this matter is done before you see His Majesty! From now on, I will be in charge of civil affairs in the capital, and you will be in charge of part of the military in the local area. Our family can still prosper for at least another twenty years!"
Hey~~ With a long sigh in his heart, Yiprahin shook his head in frustration: Actually, in my heart, I wanted to stay in Egypt and actively participate in this war in Europe. But the cruel reality forced me to stay away from Europe and build my own base from the Near East to the Middle East. Although I have my own advantages in technology, the war of this era still needs the support of comprehensive national strength. I don’t know how far I can go when the twins of Spain unify Europe...
