Khan Ahmad's Reign : Part 3
The rebels were numerous but disorganised. They had laid siege to the city of Nura but clearly had little experience in such matters. Their siege concentrated on the main gates of the city with nothing more than a few sentries elsewhere.
Ahmad split his army into three. The battle would be simple. Two parts of the army would press the rebels from either side while Ahmad led a charge down through the middle to finish them off. Caught against the walls of the city they would face attack from three sides by Ahmad's armies and from the defenders of the city too.
The battle went entirely to plan. The rebels who were mostly on foot and armed only with shamshirs and the occasional rhomphaia faced no chance against the charge of the experienced Horde. But their inexperience was no cause for mercy, every last one of the rebels was slaughtered. It was forbidden to bury the bodies, they had to lie on the fields only to be eaten by the scavenging animals of the steppes.
Word of what had happened spread quickly across the land. So much so that rebels in Krementjug fled to the neighbouring Polish province of Ukraine rather than face the Horde.
Midway through 1476 Ahmad received excellent news at his court. The rebellious attitude of the populous was traced back to one group calling them themselves the Golden Brotherhood. The members and leaders of the Golden Brotherhood were tracked down one by one until their leader a man named Goldstahn was caught. His fate was to put it mildly, nasty and the finer details will be omitted.
Soon after his removal the rebellions stopped. Ahmad was needless to say overjoyed and congratulated himself by naming a colony after himself.
The residents too were ecstatic about no longer being Sayyidstanians but but Ahmadakandians
Ahmad continued to pursue economic growth over the next year but October 1477 saw discontent amongst nobles at the growth in wealth of the central state. They refused to pay their taxes and led several rebellions. Ahmad crushed them all without mercy but the reverberations would be felt for sometime as the nations stability suffered.
The next years income had to be spent on replenishing the army and it was just as well for in August 1478 Muscowy declared war for the second time. Apparently they had not learnt. Ahmad was eager for this war it was his chance to enter the same league as Ulugh the Great.
The war began with two quick offensives by Muscowy. One struck north and captured all the northern colonies of the Horde. The other moved south with two armies and laid siege to Tambow and Saratow
They invade at the start of winter! I think I give the Muscovites more credit than they deserve
Khan Ahmad prepared his army for the upcoming battle. But they needed little encouragement. They had beaten the Muscovites decisively before and saw no reason that things should be any different this time. The army rode north from Volgograd in high spirits.
The counter offensive was successful. Both armies besieging Horde land were decimated and another that arrived later met the same fate. Encouraged by the success Ahmad led his army on into Muscowy territory laying siege to Vorones.
Muscowy ignored the invasion and again invaded Tambow. Eventually an army of nearly 25,000 men laid siege to it. In the bravest act of the war an army of 11,000 men led by the young and inexperienced Kairwan, charged them. All 25,000 Muscovites were killed or deserted. Ahmad was so pleased with the vicory he promoted Kairwan to general.
Seeing the main force of Muscowy destroyed Sweden joined the war.
In May 1480 Muscowy attacked the force led by Khan Ahmad. The battle was a disaster for the Horde. Not only were they forced to flee but Khan Ahmad lost a leg and an eye in the fray of battle. Incapacitated he was forced to return to Volgograd to sit out the rest of the war. From the capital Ahmad directed his men to lay siege to Vorones again and also to invade the north recapturing the Horde territories before moving onto the northern Muscowy ones.
The whole war near the end of 1480. Due to military access my men were suffering no attrition
One quiet night in December 1480 a shadowy figure was seen creeping around the palace in Volgograd. Guards chased him but he was too quick he had disappeared. Just then a scream from the royal chamber alerted the guards to his location. They were too late all they found was Ahmad's mistress weeping over his lifeless body. Muscowy had struck back. The assassin threw himself out a high window and perished rather than fall into the hands of the Horde alive.
Ahmad was missed but not mourned. His reign had been good, the Horde had expanded but his reforms had not been popular and he would never get what he had wanted so dearly, to be known as Ahmad the Great.
