Shah Walad Jalayirid (1518-1552) - part 4.
After almost a decade of civil war, the Jalayirid nation finally had time to recover from its losses. The civil war had confirmed that the Persian provinces of Gurgan, Laristan and Dash-i-Lut were part of Jalayirid patrimony.
Efforts were undertaken to improve the infrastructure of the nation. In June 1528, a religious mission to Murgan had ended in success, which convinced the regime to commence several similar missions to Oman.
Soon after the civil war, another war that the Jalayrids had been (in name only) embroiled in ended: the war between the Ottomans and a European coalition headed by Burgundy ended with the Ottomans signing a humiliating peace treaty that forced them to release the nation of Mentese.
The government was gaining popularity, a fact illustrated by an enormous sum of money gifted to the state by patriotic tribal leaders in October 1528.
After having built up the infrastructure of Hormuz, Shah Walad decided to also try to convert the Hindus there to Sunni Islam. This attempt proved successful in April 1531.
When statesman Yasir Hussain (a namesake of the famed general) died, he was replaced by the talented Harun Mahmud.
Efforts to integrate the vassal state of Baluchistan were so successful that the nation was altogether absorbed in December 1529.
One of the Arabian missions brought success; the inhabitants of Nizwa were considered converted in January 1530.
In 1530 also, the Ottomans invaded the Jalayirid ally of Trebizond.
The Jalayirids chose to side with the Ottomans in this conflict, as they judged one strong ally would be more useful than two weak ones.
Alas, peace was not to last. As the years went by, calls for conquest were getting stronger. It was believed by many that Yasir Hussain, the Savior of the Nation, would be able to defeat any foe, and that the neighboring nations were just ripe for the picking; they wondered what the malik was waiting for. Yasir Hussain himself was eager to prove his skill and did little to discourage people from thinking he was invincible. Shah Walid, on the other hand, was a little more conservative than the hawks, and had for years argued that the nation first had to recover from the civil war. But this argument grew flimsier each day as the nation was clearly doing very well. Furthermore, as he grew older, the malik began to have the personal desire for glory – he too, like his ancestors, should achieve great things! And had it not been the Indian nations that had shamelessly attacked the Jalayirids when it was fighting for its very existence? Yes, and Vijayanagar had canceled its treaty of military access to Rajputana in 1528, and could thus be expected to have difficulty sending reinforcements to their Persian possessions.
It was in this spirit that in March 1531, war was declared against Vijayanagar.
The overconfident Jalayirid armies first engaged Vijayanagara armies in April near Kandahar. Here it was proven that Yasir Hussain was not, after all, invincible, as is army was sourly routed by a cavalry army under the Vijayanagara commander Tirumala Malini, forcing the Jalayirids to retreat back to Sistan.
In the time lost this way, the Vijayanagara armies managed to capture the province of Khurasan.
Yasir, in the meantime, moved south to engage a large Vijayanagara army that had invaded the province of Makran. Here, he once again proved his excellence through a crushing victory, followed by a ruthless pursuit ending in the destruction of the entire 16000 strong enemy army.
In the absence of Yasir, Vijayanagar forces drove the Jalayirids out of Baluchistan and then Makran but, fortunately for the Jalayirids, failed to follow up these victories, instead retreating back into Vijayanagara territory.
It was clear to all, though, that this war was not going to be an easy one at all, and that a troublesome time loomed ahead.