Fate saw the Jewel in me and pawed [the] heart apart to have it
It was one of his favorite poems once he saw the joy all throughout it the hope with the struggle
But over time he'd forgotten it all all but that one line it was
1533 Ibrahim Led his Forces one more time this time they headed south the safavids had acted to anger him on more than one occasion
Now he would do away with the shia Kingdom to the south
But as ibrahim marched his army south he found that sun and mountains were their principal opponents territory was captured
But no battle was ever had they wintered than they captured to breeze the capital of the safavids without a fight now
[it] was so [laymen's] turned to join them to accept homage and to remind his provinces of his might
There was only one problem with this conquest the leader of the safavids was nowhere to be found
He wasn't in their capital when ibrahim marched in and neither was his army so they pushed deeper into south of a territory and yet
nothing
No, army no
shah
They took the ancient city of Baghdad and yet during the whole March their force wasn't even harassed
Not a trace was found of this phantom desert, Army or their king
The only way they knew this army was even real was the fact that everywhere they went all the grain was missing
markets were stripped bare fields were burnt [wells] smashed try as they might his majestic imperial army of
200,000 simply couldn't catch up to the force of light horse of the Seventh [king] no matter how far they chased him he would always
Dance back burning all in his wake eventually he was forced to call off the pursuit his grand army of 200,000 had lost
30,000 men without ever firing a shot supplies were just too difficult to attain and his line of communication with his capital was stretched
too thin
even [as] he marched back to
Istanbul showered and praise and glory he wondered how long they could even hold on to such remote and inhospitable territory
But something even worse troubled his mind a black rage filled him for months.
Roxelana had been whispering to him of how his vizier,
Ibrahim, was starting to forget who was Sultan that his friend had been returning friendship with ingratitude
That he [could] centered himself master and sulaiman slave he had put these words from his thoughts
He could not doubt ibrahim
But on the campaign Abraham had said that he would take the title of sir [oskar], Sultan
Now in Safavid persia the [Governor's] were known as Sultan
But in the ottoman empire there was only one
Sultan it burnt like a coal in his chest it nod at his heart and wouldn't let him go each step on the road to
Istanbul it consumed his mind every minor irritation every little problem every small sign of Arrogance from iBrahim
Rekindled the thought with renewed vigor at the start of January they arrived back in
Istanbul and the thought still would not leave him on the 15th of March Ibrahim body was found strangled in his room
There would be only one Sultan in the ottoman empire the [next] years passed and a renewed rivalry with that hated Spanish Prince Charles
Charles's Forces had seized tunis out from under him while he'd been busy in Safavieh
Which led Suleiman to finally truly?
Ally with the French he joined them in their war in italy against the hapsburgs and broke with the ancient policy of Ibrahim to go
to war with [venice] the war in italy was poorly managed all around with the french showing their true colors and
Often seeming more embarrassed to have a muslim ally than they were eager to crush their foe so at last Suleiman recalled his great admiral
Barbarossa and had him removed the venetians from the islands [that] had long occupied off the ottoman coasts he suleiman also pushed the Empire East
Fighting with the portuguese for control [of] the Indian [Ocean] and the lucrative trade had promised he also
[Warden] Hungary with Charles and Ferdinand when John ZáPolya died in
1540 Ferdinand had seen it as an opportunity to attack and laid siege to buda
Suleiman again Marched his forces North and repulsed the Viennese prince
But this time there would be no puppet state no
Intermediaries he annexed hungry
Finally bringing it under complete ottoman control and with the capitulation of the [hapsburgs] and the peace he forced upon them
He could finally again turn his eyes south to the wellspring of Tragedy, Safavid Persia
The question of succession still plagued his mind he had made with Stafa his official heir even in Europe
They wrote of him one had said may [God] never allow a barbary of such strength to come near us of his second son selim
Even he knew they called him the [sot] behind his back
Bayezid his third son was perhaps not a bad man, but he wasn't a great one either and his fourth son
Jahangir was Perhaps Brilliant
His mind worked in ways that some days outpaced his own
But he was humpbacked and sickly no one would ever accept him as Sultan
but of all of his sons only his first Mustafa was not of his beloved Rocks [Alana] and
So as he sent his chief vizier Rustam to lead his army South his mind was not at ease
Then he received a letter from [Rustam] saying that the soldiers were beginning to whisper that
Suleiman was weak and succumbing to old age because he was not out there leading them that perhaps it was time for a younger prince
That they had even sent word to Mustafa along these lines and that Mustafa had not entirely rejected them. He was furious
Crushing the letter in his hand he bellowed God protect us from Mustafa daring to take such infamy upon himself during my lifetime
He immediately ordered the army recalled the invasion would be canceled the next year
He would lead them himself and when summer came he did and then he sat and pinned a letter to Mustafa
He would ask his son to join him to clear his name [if] he came he was innocent
If he stayed away in Fear, it would be an admission of guilt
Days passed then outside of Cairo Mania a small band appeared on the Horizon
men on Horseback
growing by the Moment coming towards the Sprawling Camp of the imperial Force it was Mustafa come to prove his innocence as
The sun set Mustafa was summoned to his father's tent he lifted the heavy flap and entered [alone]
Immediately he was set upon from all sides while from behind a curtain his father watched in Silence
But Mustafa fought with a strength of ten men and threw off all of those who piled upon him
They raced forward to seize him again, but he froze them all with a look the men wavered perhaps
They were about to join this young warrior so proud and alive
But then Suleiman stood and peered over the curtain with a glare [of] such fear and rage that the men all threw themselves upon
Mustafa again this time he could not shake them off once he was pinned one of the men seized a nearby bowstring and
Strangled him to death they then threw the body in front of the tent for all to see
But even [as] they did so the black rage passed
And he suleiman sank back down into his chair and wept he would pay many times for this decision
So would his empire so would the entire ottoman world for one decision
sometimes decides a thousand other choices
Now he had no option but to kill [Mustafa's] son his own grandson
And so he sent men [to] Bursa to deliver the order when they arrived and read the order to Murad Mustafa son
He simply said I am willing to die in obedience not to the emperor's orders
But to [gods] then Suleiman ordered Mustafa not disposed of like a traitor
But given the funeral he deserved for [a] week he lay in state in the highest [afiyah]
but it did nothing to assuage his guilt and
Then word came that she hunger sick and weak beloved jahangir favorite of all his sons
succumbed to grief for he had loved Mustafa and looked up to him and now at last followed him into death and
He was left with but two sons, but even as he campaigned in persia his decision caused other ripples
Mustafa's Death
Led the two remaining sons to quarrel more he could see them both beginning to compete for power
His campaign in persia proceeded like the last one with the safavids retreating and burning the land
This allowed him time to think he would separate his sons move them both farther from the capital
He would never be able to achieve a complete victory against the safavids
They kept him occupied for a few years before he could finally force on them if not the peace he desired at least a piece
He could accept at last with that out of the way he could return and put his house in order then [rocks], Alanna died
another little piece of him fell away
He ordered his sons apart away from him away [from] the capital away from anywhere they might think of seizing the throne
selim moved right away
[bayazid] has it ated his mind raced
what was hesitation other than
disobedience
And what was disobedience to the Sultan except treason his fury boiled over he would not abide treason in his empire
He threw his support behind selim against baz eid and crushed his army in [the] field
But busied fled with his family to [the] hated court of the Safavid King
Again and again he demanded of the safavids that they kill that filthy traitor that they wiped him and his family from the world
But they refused again and again they refused then
he made sure they wouldn't refuse he even sent his own executioner to take their heads he had but one son and
There he was a lonely old man walking through his garden