Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 286: The Rise of Yiprahin (Part 3)
"Greetings to His Majesty the Sultan."
"Um……"
On September 3, Ibrahim was allowed to enter the Topkapi Palace to meet the Sultan.
At this time, the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I was 26 years old. Apart from his devout faith, he had almost nothing to recommend him. The worst thing was his health: he was allergic to penicillin!
After he fell ill this time, the Ottoman court physicians thought of using penicillin to treat him. However, the redness and itchiness around the injection site after the skin test made everyone give up the idea: penicillin has been available for many years, and the doctors of the empire have already conducted many experiments on living people - if the skin test shows an allergic reaction and the patient is injected forcefully, it will really kill the patient!
Let's just wait and see when will summon the Sultan to serve him.
So what Yiprahin saw was a young man who was barely breathing, listless, and lying sickly on a soft chair.
"My Sultan, your Governor of Baghdad reports to you that over the past three years, after more than forty battles with the Persians, your warriors have... In short, we have recovered all the empire's territories that were occupied by the Persians in the past fifteen years. The eastern front of the empire has finally come to peace!"
"Iprahin Pasha!"
Before the sickly Sultan made any statement, the minister of the Hazizi family jumped out and said, "Ibrahim Pasha! How dare you boast about your achievements on the Eastern Front? Those Persians have occupied the empire's land for so long, and you just let them go so easily?"
"That's right! You signed a contract with the other king without consulting the Sultan. You have to understand that you are just a Pasha! Not a Sultan!"
"Yes, just sign the contract. What right do you have to promise the other party to protect the Shiites in our country? Shouldn't it be the Sultan's right to decide how to deal with these people?"
"In short, Ibrahim Pasha, your actions fully prove your evil ambitions! Sultan, I beg you to arrest this traitor immediately!"
"Enough!" Just as Ibrahim was besieged by the ministers of the Haziz faction for a while, the old vizier Sokoly and the ministers of the temporary ally Kosem family were preparing to go down and quarrel with each other. Who knew that the young Ibrahim exploded himself.
"What do you, a bunch of parasites sitting in Istanbul living a life of drunkenness and debauchery, know? The Persians now have a territory that is no less than that of the Empire, a population of no less than ten million, a wise and powerful king who personally goes to the battlefield for every battle, brave and skilled generals, and fearless soldiers. It is so difficult to defeat such an enemy! Of the five hundred Sipasis I brought over three years ago, only thirty-two are still alive! In the past three years, the number of warriors who have sacrificed their lives for the Empire must be no less than fifty thousand! We have paid such a huge price, but what has the Empire given us? Not even a decent entry ceremony! And today I am standing here, and I haven't heard a word of thanks! If you treat the warriors who fight for the country like this, who will be willing to stand up when the country is in trouble in the future ?!"
Ibrahim was speaking righteously, and old Sokoli next to him was about to collapse: Hey! My silly son, didn't I tell you the night before last? Be patient! These words are all right, but they shouldn't come from the mouths of us father and son.
In fact, this is a personal problem of the time travelers. For example, Zhu Youdong, Philip and others had been working in the workplace for a long time before they traveled through time. They knew that life is not satisfactory in most cases, and they were able to control their emotions to a good extent. Although this also made their personalities lack characteristics and become similar, it was how adults should be.
As for Yi Praxin, the time traveler, he was a student before traveling through time, and he became the eldest son of the prime minister's family after traveling through time. He still suffered less setbacks and hardships.
Generally speaking, young people who can't control their emotions will pay a price. But for time travelers...
"Ahem..." Just when Ibrahim had completely detonated this topic, forcing the ministers of the Sokoli family to defend him and the whole court was in chaos, the sick Sultan Ahmed finally took action.
He raised his finger, pointed at Yiplahim, and then made a hook.
"Sudan!"
"My warrior... huh... I can see your contribution to the country."
“Thank you, Sultan!”
“But you did a lot of things wrong…”
Waving his hand to stop Ibrahim from making his judgment, Ahmed took a deep breath and said, "Don't be the Governor of Baghdad anymore. Go to the Caucasus. Go north and get the land of the Slavs for me."
"Yes, my Sultan."
The people present could clearly hear that Yiprahin's voice was trembling when he answered. Everyone agreed that it was because of the forced endurance after suffering a huge injustice that caused the voice to tremble. But if other travelers were here, they would definitely be able to hear that it was a happy tremor caused by excitement, surprise and other positive emotions.
Ibrahim initially intended to take the Baghdad Governorate: this is later Iraq, Kuwait and part of Syria. This area had a population of about 3 million at that time. Thanks to the irrigation of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, agriculture and animal husbandry in the plains of the two rivers were very developed. In the eyes of the Ottomans in the 17th century, this was the fertile land of the empire second only to the capital area and the granary of Egypt.
But in the eyes of the time traveler, this place is indeed very good, but using this place as a base to launch the First Industrial Revolution has a fatal flaw: lack of minerals!
Any time traveler knows that there is a lot of oil under the desert in this place. Although the raw materials for steam engines are very simple - boiling water. It can be burned with coal or oil! But the Industrial Revolution also needs other things such as iron, copper, and various metals. And these are in short supply in this place.
Ibrahim's original idea was: I had fought in the Baghdad Governorate for three years and was very familiar with this place. The people here were of a single ethnicity and a single faith, and they all recognized me very much. Therefore, as long as I could continue to be the governor here, I could just do business with Iran and the Mughals. I would sell finished guns and bullets to them, and they would give me the corresponding minerals. I could still develop.
But this is the Mesopotamian Plain! In the past, it was ravaged by the Persians, and the great families of the empire were unwilling to come here. Now that the contract has been signed, who among you doesn't want to come?
Therefore, Ibrahim was not given the desired entry ceremony and was attacked upon entering the palace. This was the root cause.
Then his impulsive roar in the hall completely made him lose the possibility of returning to Baghdad.
However, he was a man who had made great contributions to the country. In Ahmed's opinion, such a capable yet simple young man was actually worth winning over. So he arranged for him to go to the Caucasus.
The so-called Caucasus region refers to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in the 21st century .
These three countries are bordered by the Lesser Caucasus Mountains to the south, the Greater Caucasus Mountains to the north, the Black Sea to the west, and the Caspian Sea to the east - a relatively closed geographical unit.
Compared with the Baghdad Governorate, the advantages of this area are: rich mineral resources, including oil, coal, iron ore, copper, limestone and even various metal minerals.
Although the agriculture and animal husbandry are not as good as Baghdad, they are not far behind. And thanks to the geographical environment here, although there is no big city like Baghdad, the overall business is much better than that of the Baghdad Governorate.
As for the shortcomings, there are indeed many: compared with the Baghdad Governorate, which is a single ethnic group and a single religion, this area now has a population of nearly 2 million, Georgians believe in Orthodox Christianity, Armenians believe in Catholicism, and Azerbaijanis believe in the Star and Crescent Church - this is very annoying.
In addition, the special geographical location of this place determines that whoever controls it will have a strategic high ground - from here, the southwest is the core territory of the Ottoman Empire, the Anatolian Peninsula, and the southeast is the current capital of Safavid, Tabriz. To the north, across the Caucasus Mountains, is the vast East European Plain.
So, to use the Chinese saying, this place is a battleground for military strategists!
In short, for the natives of this era, the output here is average and there are too many troubles. Once the Ottoman Eastern Front has problems, this place will be the first to bear the brunt. Therefore, no one is very willing to go there.
However, such a place is very good for the time travelers: who can beat the time travelers in economics? The same is true for technology. With these two things, the place of strategic importance is a thoroughfare for attacking from all sides! As for religious issues, even a native like Abbas the Great can use Christians to revitalize a Star-Moon Empire, so there is no reason for the time travelers not to do better.
What a pleasantly surprising arrangement!
"Finally, after sixteen years, I finally got a base that can be truly developed! The Son of God of Spain, the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, and several other time travelers, you just wait for me! Although I started the latest, I will definitely develop the fastest! The industrial revolution will first start in the Caucasus!"
