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Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

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374 HISTORY OF PERSIA<br />

Meanwhile Karim Khan had reorganized his forces and<br />

prepared to attack, not Mohamed Husayn Khan as might<br />

be supposed, but Azad. The Afghan shut himself up in<br />

Kazvin and from this centre was able to drive <strong>of</strong>f the<br />

Zand chief.<br />

Again Karim Khan retired on Isfahan and<br />

again he advanced. On this occasion, in A. H. 1166 (1752),<br />

he was defeated and was pursued right across <strong>Persia</strong>, past<br />

Isfahan, to Shiraz. Even at his capital he was unable to<br />

find refuge ; but, fleeing towards Bushire, he induced<br />

Rustam Sultan, chief <strong>of</strong> Kisht, to come to his rescue.<br />

On one <strong>of</strong> the difficult " ladders " <strong>of</strong> the Bushire road,<br />

known as the Kotal-i-Kamarij, the Afghans pursued Karim<br />

Khan, who awaited them in the valley below. No sooner<br />

were they entangled in the almost perpendicular descent<br />

than Rustam Sultan attacked them. The Afghans, caught<br />

in a trap, fought bravely but their ; army was almost annihilated,<br />

some fugitives<br />

alone escaping, and Karim Khan,<br />

reinforced by the Arab chiefs, was soon back at Shiraz.<br />

The Final Campaign, A.H. 1171 (1757). The defeat<br />

<strong>of</strong> Azad was followed by a campaign in Azerbaijan,<br />

in the<br />

course <strong>of</strong> which the Kajar captured the chief centres <strong>of</strong><br />

the province. Azad disappeared from the list <strong>of</strong> pretenders,<br />

and after having been for some time a fugitive,<br />

surrendered to Karim Khan. The extraordinary confidence<br />

in the high character <strong>of</strong> his rival which this surrender<br />

showed was fully justified,<br />

for Azad was treated with the<br />

utmost kindness and generosity.<br />

In the following year Mohamed Husayn Khan marched<br />

south against the Zand chief with a strong army<br />

fresh from<br />

victories in Azerbaijan, and the prize seemed within his<br />

grasp. Karim Khan, unable to meet him in the field, held<br />

Shiraz, and harassed the foraging parties <strong>of</strong> the invaders.<br />

He had carefully provisioned the city,<br />

but had laid the<br />

neighbourhood waste. He then applied himself to<br />

corrupting the leaders <strong>of</strong> the Kajar army, and with such<br />

success that Mohamed Husayn Khan, deserted by contingent<br />

after contingent, was forced to retire without<br />

fighting a single engagement. The last blow in the<br />

campaign was struck by Shaykh Ali Khan, under whom<br />

served the picked troops <strong>of</strong> the Zand chief. Mohamed

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