Ismail and the Princes (1)
What was Ismail to Yusuf?
‘If I exaggerated slightly, he was the Giving Tree.’
It was the kind of remark that would have left Ismail clutching the back of his neck in exasperation had he heard it, but Ismail was an existence who absolutely could not be left out of Yusuf’s life plan.
To the extent that if Ismail had not existed from the beginning, Yusuf would have packed his bags and fled to another country immediately after becoming a prince, he was a figure who exerted enormous influence upon this succession war.
‘Because he played the role of diminishing the Sultan’s authority.’
Though far lacking compared to its golden age in terms of territory, its military strength was at a level similar to its peak.
The Sultan could assemble over 100,000 troops within half a year with a single order, and the massive army composed of cavalry and infantry armed with gunpowder was at a level where it would not lose even in all-out war against any country.
The military, proud of its military might, harbored dissatisfaction when Bayezid showed a passive response to Safavid provocations.
‘And no wonder. A foe they could wipe out if they only set their minds to it was getting on their nerves, yet the ruler showed an indecisive side.’
In the end, the central army, which had been the axe he trusted, stomped on Bayezid’s foot at the very end of the succession.
They pressured Bayezid, who had wanted to give the Sultan’s seat to Ahmed, with military force and made him hand over the position to Selim.
The rebellion of Shahkulu had played a major role in this process.
“Shahkulu.”
When Yusuf looked with interest at a letter saying that Shahkulu and Şehinşah, Bayezid’s fifth son, had met, Shamsi spoke as if he could not understand.
“Why do you show interest in such a man?”
“Do you still think sending men to him is a waste of manpower?”
“Yes. Even if he is a follower of Ismail, I do not think he is someone worthy of Your Highness’s interest.”
Ismail was both a king and the successor of the Safaviyya order, which the Qizilbash believed in.
Shahkulu was a man who followed this Safaviyya, and the son of Hasan, who had been a subordinate of Haydar, Ismail’s father.
Currently, Shahkulu was a famous religious leader proselytizing Shia Islam to the Turkomans, but he was not someone worth attaching limited resources like informants to.
“We shall see about that.”
Yusuf smiled meaningfully, and Shamsi let out a light sigh.
Though Yusuf sometimes gave orders without context, they often turned out to be the right decisions in the end.
For now, it was something they could watch and wait on.
“Right now, the problem is the Turkomans siding with Şehinşah rather than Shahkulu. Isn’t it?”
“Yes. Their strength is not at a level that can be ignored.”
The Turkomans, many of whom were nomads, were people who could transform into cavalry at any time.
Of course, they were fewer than the troops the Crimean Khanate could support Selim with, but they were a force that could cause some unpredictable variable.
“What do you think is the reason the Turkomans have taken Şehinşah’s hand, Pasha?”
“Surely it is because of the recent appearance the Padishah has shown? He is oppressing them.”
Originally, the Sunni Ottoman had shown tolerance to the Turkomans and the Shia Qizilbash.
But this was before the Safavid came into being.
Now they officially labeled the Qizilbash as heretical rebels suspected of illegal relations with the Safavids, and because the assassin who had tried to kill Yusuf during the last procession to the capital had committed suicide praising Ismail, they were receiving even greater oppression.
“You could call it Father’s mistake.”
Not all Turkomans followed Ismail, yet they were lumped together and branded as a rebel army in waiting.
Thanks to that, grievances were boiling over, and it would be no surprise if they became a real rebel army at any moment.
Still, Shamsi defended the Sultan.
“But were they not worthy of suspicion?”
“There were indeed many who sympathized with and praised Ismail.”
It was partly because Ismail had mixed Turkoman blood, and partly because he had lived a stormy life from a young age.
His father, who was defeated in war, was beheaded, and his severed head hung in Tabriz for two days before being thrown to the dogs.
His older brother Ali, who succeeded their father, was betrayed while intervening in the Aq Koyunlu civil war, and barely escaped with his younger brother Ismail while being escorted to his execution.
But pursuers soon caught up, and Ali entrusted the aftermath to Ismail, who was only seven years old, and bought time before being executed.
After that, Ismail, who had hidden for five years, gathered an army, took revenge on the Aq Koyunlu, and established a nation called Safavid.
‘He really has a movie-like life. The genre is almost fantasy-level.’
Anyway, the story of a child who lost his entire family taking revenge for his family like his brother’s dying wish and becoming a boy king was enough to stir many people’s emotions.
Especially the Turkomans, who thought of him as the same bloodline, showed deep affection for Ismail’s story.
It was not for no reason that the Ottomans worried about Ismail’s popularity, and his followers rose in rebellion.
“The methods were rough, that is true. Of course, the current flow isn’t bad for me. If I am to rise to the Padishah’s seat, the Empire must become more chaotic. Do you think this is wrong?”
Yusuf directly expressed to Shamsi the thoughts he had usually kept inside.
Shamsi smiled small at the sight of Yusuf, who had become more forthright, and said,
“It is wrong. It is not a sight that Allah would be pleased with.”
“Since He probably does not like brothers killing each other either, it cannot be helped.”
“Be sure to atone for it later.”
“Yes, let me atone on the day I bury all my brothers’ heads in the ground.”
After exchanging words like jokes with Shamsi, Yusuf changed the subject.
“Anyway, if the Turkomans choose to support one of the princes, Şehinşah is indeed the most suitable.”
Yusuf, who had defeated Ismail’s army and was rising as the mortal enemy of the Shia, was completely out of the question, and Ahmed, who wanted to receive the Sultan’s choice and inherit the throne, could not join hands with the Turkomans either.
Mahmud, the youngest aside from Yusuf, had too weak a support base, and what remained were Selim and Şehinşah.
‘Selim already has a deep relationship with the Crimean Khanate, so even if they help him, it would be hard for them to get their proper share.’
Korkut? After entering under Ahmed, he was not even being treated properly as a succession candidate.
Even looking only at the current situation, it was not strange that Şehinşah and the Turkomans had joined hands, but—
“Still, I think there is a high possibility Ismail intervened.”
“Why is that?”
“If Şehinşah were a man capable enough to draw the Turkomans in, he would not have been so lacking in presence as he is now.”
One might think Yusuf was looking down on him without knowing him well, but even in the original history, he was a prince who locked himself alone in his territory while other princes floundered to survive, and died under suspicious circumstances.
One could roughly know his worth from his course of actions in the original history.
“Besides, not long ago a doctor who followed Şehinşah was executed too. Some of Ahmed’s spies also disappeared.”
“Such information did come in, but the detailed reasons were unknown.”
Shamsi did not seem to consider it very important information, but Yusuf roughly had a guess.
“There is a high possibility that Ahmed bribed Şehinşah’s doctor and prescribed an excessive amount of opium.”
“Opium, you say?”
At this conjecture, Shamsi stroked his beard as if intrigued.
Before the 19th century when chloroform was first used, there were no anesthetics except opium and alcohol, and throughout the world opium was treated as medicine.
The perception that opium was a dangerous drug spread after the Opium Wars of the mid-19th century.
It was still a time when it was considered medicine, but it was not as if they did not know its dangers.
“Is there a reason you think so?”
“For now, let us say it is intuition.”
Because to explain this, he would have to say that Şehinşah’s cause of death in the original history was listed as opium addiction.
If Ismail was someone who would one day try to conquer the Ottomans, he would want to place an opium addict on the Sultan’s throne.
“I shall let that pass. It is not an important part. Besides, it is not strange for a foreign country to interfere in a succession.”
It was not unusual for foreign countries to throw in their lot every time a succession occurred.
During the time of his great-grandfather Murad II, the brother of Murad II’s father, who had been said to have died in the Eastern Roman Empire, was brought back and set up as a rival Sultan, and enraged by this, Murad II annulled his alliance with the Eastern Roman Empire and pushed Constantinople to the brink of conquest.
Even his father Bayezid II had suffered greatly because the Papacy took custody of his younger brother, Cem Sultan.
Such interference in internal affairs was never a good thing, but it was nothing special either.
“Shall we not ask them later for the crime of intervening in the succession so audaciously?”
Yusuf burst into a brief laugh at Shamsi’s remark.
“If it is simple revenge, it will not take long. Because I shall move soon.”
∗ ∗ ∗
Since ancient times, Persia had considered spring the beginning of the new year, and when the Persian solar New Year arrived, they celebrated a holiday called Nowruz, combining nu (now), meaning new, and ruz (ruz), meaning day.
It was so ancient as to have existed before Islam entered Persia, and one of the few holidays that survived Islamization.
Ismail welcomed the new year in Khoy, about ten days’ walk from the capital, Tabriz.
-Kuaaack!
The screams of Kurds suffering terrible executions like torture could be heard from far away, yet Ismail raised his glass with a joyful face as if listening to a beautiful song.
“It is a pity I let that scoundrel Salim get away.”
Last winter, Salim, who led a gang of Kurdish bandits, had raised a rebellion, and Ismail had suppressed the rebellion during winter.
Fortunately for him, Salim had fled, but his subordinates who followed him were captured and were being executed so cruelly that they were begging to be killed.
The banquet hall was far enough that the screams could barely be heard, yet the stench of blood could be felt.
“He is a sinner who rebelled against the Shah. He is one who will be caught someday.”
Ismail nodded at the words of Mohammad Khan Ustajlu, who led the Ustajlu, one of the main tribes forming the Qizilbash.
Mohammad, who had played a major role in the previous conquest war, was the commander of the army.
Ismail roughly set down his wine glass as Nevajar, to whom he had previously entrusted the army, suddenly came to mind, and Mohammad, who had already experienced this situation several times, cautiously asked.
“Have you thought of that vermin again?”
“Yes, I am still angry.”
“Please vent your anger. There is no one here gathered who is inferior to him. If the opportunity comes next time, I shall certainly bring victory.”
Words agreeing with Mohammad’s statement poured out, and Ismail rebuked them strongly.
“Yusuf—do not underestimate that one!”
Ismail, who had learned of Nevajar’s final fate through spies, evaluated Yusuf highly.
Because even if he himself had been in that position, he could not have guaranteed victory.
But that did not mean he was crushed.
‘I will definitely kill that one and prove that Allah’s will is with me.’
When Ismail made this resolve, one of his subordinates cautiously approached him.
“Your Majesty, there is news you must hear.”
“Speak.”
“They say the Bey of Dulkadir is supporting Sultan Murad.”
Sultan Murad was one of the remaining forces of the Aq Koyunlu, and Ismail beamed at this news and tossed the remaining alcohol from his glass into his mouth.
A justification to prod the Ottomans and Mamluks had been established.
Ismail rose from his seat and cried out.
“Everyone, enjoy the festival! For a new war shall begin!”
∗ ∗ ∗
In May 1507, Ismail appeared in Erzincan leading 20,000 Qizilbash.
<To be continued in Volume 3 of ‘I Became a Sultan of the Ottoman’>