Chapter 1207: Revival of the Timurid Empire! (Please Subscribe)

In the spring of 1665 by the Western calendar, Samarkand.

This ancient city, built on a fertile and rich oasis in the heart of Central Asia, has a history of more than two thousand years, founded in the fifth century BC. When Alexander the Great of the Macedonian Empire occupied this place in the fourth century BC, he marveled at its magnificence and grandeur. In the seventeen hundred years that followed, Samarkand was the most prosperous and wealthiest city in Central Asia, until the arrival of Genghis Khan's great army, when the city met with utter catastrophe!

More than a hundred years after the Mongol Empire destroyed Samarkand, the great Timur, who claimed descent from the Mongol Kiyad tribe and shared ancestry with Genghis Khan, expended countless wealth and resources to rebuild the city of Samarkand, and left within it countless exquisite buildings worthy of posterity, restoring the city to full vitality.

Unfortunately, the empire left behind by the great Timur did not, like the rebuilt Samarkand, stand long upon the soil of Central Asia. After the great emperor's death, his empire began to decline through ceaseless internal strife, and by the time it passed to his grandson Abu Sa'id (this grandson did not succeed peacefully either, but seized the throne by prevailing in a series of civil wars among Timur's descendants), it was utterly defeated by the Turkmen Aq Qoyunlu, and the empire disintegrated. Then in 1500, the newly risen Uzbek Khanate sounded the death knell for the lingering Timurid Empire, successively occupying Bukhara and Samarkand. In 1501, Timurid rule in Transoxiana came to an end, and six years later, the remnants of the Timurid Empire in Khorasan were also wiped out by the Uzbek Khanate.

The Timurid dynasty, however, was not utterly extinguished by the Uzbek onslaught. Abu Sa'id's grandson Babur, after losing his homeland, went south to Afghanistan and Hindustan to build a new enterprise, and actually carved out an Indian Timurid dynasty — the so-called Mughal Empire.

And the rulers of this Indian Timurid dynasty did not forget their northern homeland because of India's wealth and warmth. At least in the hearts of every emperor (amir) before the decline of the Indian Timurid dynasty, there dwelt a dream of retaking the old capital and reviving the Timurid Empire.

That dream has now, at last, come true in the hands of Aurangzeb!

And what helped him realize this dream was the Zunghar Kingdom, fostered by the great emperor of the eastern Celestial Dynasty to serve as a western shield!

Aurangzeb, who was fond of overestimating himself, had suffered a great defeat at the hands of nomadic cavalry in his early years, so when he attacked the Khanate of Bukhara, he retained sufficient clear-headed humility.

A full ten million silver rupee coins were carried by thousands of camels to the camp of the Zunghar Sengge Khan's army. The mountain of silver won Sengge Khan's favor and his promise. Tens of thousands of the Zunghar Kingdom's iron cavalry swept in like a furious storm from the Great Jüz steppe!

These were no traditional steppe cavalry, but a mighty army armed with matchlock muskets and 6-jin cannons produced by the Great Ming!

Moreover, this new Zunghar army was not only skilled at charging and galloping on horseback, but could also dismount and fight in formation, and was even adept at using trenches and artillery to assault cities — Sengge Khan had under his command two lamas accomplished in both civil and military affairs, named Mingzhu Lama and Sanbao Lama, who were not only skilled at governing the state but also thoroughly versed in military strategy, especially adept at using artillery and trench-digging to take cities. Under their command, the strong cities of the Khanate of Bukhara all collapsed at a single blow.

Besides winning over the Zunghar Sengge Khan, Aurangzeb also sent five million silver rupee coins to Abu al-Ghazi Khan of the Khanate of Khiva, buying cavalry from the Khwarezm oasis.

In addition, Aurangzeb scattered coins lavishly across the Afghan highlands, using rupees squeezed from the Indian natives to buy off many Afghan tribal chiefs, temporarily bringing that ever-rebellious land to heel beneath the war banners of the Timurid Empire.

Finally, Aurangzeb organized an elite expeditionary force of about thirty thousand fighting men, with Hindu Rajput cavalry and heavily recruited Qizilbash musketeers (composed of warriors from Persia and Central Asia) as its main strength, and set out on the campaign.

This enormously costly war met with considerable opposition within India, because Aurangzeb's father Shah Jahan had once fought such a war — with Aurangzeb himself serving as front-line commander — and had ultimately returned with broken wings.

Aurangzeb, however, overrode all objections and insisted on launching the war.

For in his view, although Central Asia was a poor and remote region, poor and remote regions produce crack troops! Elite soldiers from Central Asia and Afghanistan had always been the military backbone of India's Islamic dynasties.

If the Indian Timurid dynasty were to lose its source of soldiers from Central Asia and Afghanistan for a long period, its decline would be only a matter of time.

In the original course of history, Aurangzeb also recognized this problem, but he had no way to win over sufficiently powerful allies, so he could only strengthen the dynasty's fighting power by intensifying Islamic religious strictures. Unfortunately, his efforts not only failed to succeed, but backfired, accelerating the collapse of the Mughal dynasty.

This time, however, he could count himself fortunate!

Thanks to the support of the Zunghar Kingdom and the Khiva Kingdom, Aurangzeb's conquest of Bukhara proceeded with great smoothness. In less than a year after the army set out, he had, as he wished, seized the Tajik region and the Samarkand region.

The old capital of the Timurid Empire had been recovered!

So from this moment on, Aurangzeb was no longer the so-called Mughal Emperor or Emperor of Hindustan, but the genuine, true Emperor of the Timurid Empire!

This great emperor of the Timurid Empire now knelt quietly in the magnificent mosque before the mausoleum of his ancestor, the great Timur, silent, as if recalling his ancestor's glorious achievements, and as if pondering where the revived Timurid Empire should go from here.

Though the empire had been revived, it no longer possessed the world-conquering deterrent power it had held during the great emperor's lifetime. On every side, the empire was surrounded by enemies coveting the vast and wealthy lands it occupied.

What worried Aurangzeb most at present was still the situation in Transoxiana. Although the Khanate of Bukhara had been destroyed, the Khanate of Khiva, which had occupied the city of Bukhara, showed clear signs of seeking to take its place — compared with the Timurid Empire, which had been absent from Transoxiana for more than 160 years, the Khanate of Khiva could more easily win the allegiance of the Uzbeks of the former Khanate of Bukhara.

Moreover, the Khanate of Khiva had also received aid from Persia. Clearly, Abbas II of the Persian Safavid Empire, who lay gravely ill and at death's door, was deeply worried that a revived Timurid Empire would come to reclaim lost territory (Persia had also once been ruled by Timur).

And what troubled Aurangzeb even more was the Zunghar Kingdom to the north of Samarkand — they had contributed the most in the war that destroyed the Khanate of Bukhara, and had received the most and best land! They had taken the rich Fergana Basin and the Syr Darya–Chirchiq River region beyond the Fergana Basin, which was one of the few fertile plains in Transoxiana suited to both farming and herding!

Unlike what Aurangzeb had originally imagined, the Zunghars were not Mongols who knew only how to herd livestock. They were very good at managing cities and skilled at ruling agricultural regions.

Therefore, after seizing the rich Fergana and Syr Darya–Chirchiq River regions, they did not simply loot and leave, but began occupying cities one by one, and also began enclosing land outside the cities to establish farming colonies, and began imposing taxes on villages throughout the region.

Most hateful of all, these Mongols were not Muslims but Buddhists. After occupying the Fergana and Syr Darya–Chirchiq River regions, they began building lama temples and Confucian temples in the cities, and also began levying a head tax on Muslims!

Many nobles and commoners unwilling to be enslaved by the Zunghars poured into Samarkand like a tide during this period, making this once somewhat desolate famous city crowded and congested again.

And the strength of Aurangzeb, the lord who had revived the Timurid Empire, also increased greatly because of the addition of large numbers of brave men from the Fergana and Syr Darya–Chirchiq River regions.

The great Emperor Aurangzeb, thinking within the mosque, reflected: It is time to correct the errors committed by those ignorant Mongols!

(End of Chapter)