A few days after, Ūzūn Hassan and Sultan Ahmed Tambol, having taken Jehāngīr Mirza along with them, and collected all the soldiers and Moghuls that they had, and taken from Andejān and Akhsi every man able to bear arms, advanced with the intention of laying siege to Marghinān, and halted at a village named Sapān, which lies about a kos to the eastward of that town. After two or three days, having arrayed and accoutred their host, they came up to the suburbs of Marghinān. Although I had detached Kāsim Beg, Ibrahīm Sāru, Weis Lāghari, and other officers, on service to two different quarters, and only a very few troops remained with me, yet having armed and put in array such as I had, we marched out, and would not permit them to advance beyond the skirts of the suburbs. This day, Khalīl Chihreh Dastār-pech* distinguished himself greatly, and fought with singular valour. The enemy could effect nothing. Two succeeding attempts were equally frustrated, and they were unable to reach the fortress.
Kāsim BegKāsim Beg, who had proceeded to the hill country to the south of Andejān, completely brought over the Ashparis, the Tūrūkshārs, the Jagrags, and all the people of that country, both the peasants settled in the hills and plains, and the Aimāks.* The enemy’s soldiers, too, began to desert by ones and twos, and came and joined me.
IbrahīmIbrahīm Sāru, Weis Lāghari, and the other chiefs who had passed the river towards Akhsi, possessed themselves of the fort of Pāp, and of one or two other forts. Ūzūn Hassan and Tambol were tyrannical and debauched, and the peasants and men of the country were disgusted with their proceedings. Hassan Degchi, one of the chief men of Akhsi, with his own followers and a body of the mob and rabble of the place, having armed themselves with sticks and clubs, attacked and drove the garrison of Akhsi out of the place* and forced them to take refuge in the citadel. They then invited Ibrahīm Sāru, Weis Lāghari, Sayyidī Kāra, and the chiefs who were along with them,* and gave them admittance into the fortified town of Akhsi.
Sultan Mahmūd Khan had dispatched to my assistance Bandeh Ali, Haider, his own foster-brother,* with Hāji Ghāzi Monghit,* who had fled about this time from Sheibāni Khan, and come over to the Khan, together with the Begs of the Tumān of Bārīn. They arrived at this very crisis, and joined the detachment.
Ūzūn Hassan was alarmed on receiving this intelligence.
Ūzūn Has-
san sends a
detachment
to the relief
of the cita-
del of
Akhsi;
He dispatched a party of his most trusty adherents, and of
his bravest partisans, to the relief of the citadel of Akhsi.
They reached the bank of the river about morning twilight.
When notice of this was communicated to my army and
to that of the Moghuls, a party was directed to strip their
horses of all their furniture, and to be ready to enter the
river. The party which was going to relieve the citadel,
having, in their confusion and alarm, neglected to pull the
boat sufficiently up the stream, dropped down below the
place from which they had embarked, and were unable to
make the fort, so that the vessel was carried lower down.
My troops and the Moghuls, who had stripped their horses,
plunged on all sides into the river. The men in the boat,
being panic-struck, were unable to defend themselves.
which is cut
to pieces.
Karlughāch Bakhshi*
having invited one of the sons of
Moghul Beg to come to him, laid hold of his hand, and slew
him with his sword. What purpose did such an act of
treachery serve? Things were now all over; and this cruel
deed was the occasion of the death of the greater part of
those who were in the boat; for our people, who had rode
into the water, dragged them on shore, and put them almost
all to death. Of the confidential servants of Ūzūn Hassan,
Karlughāch Bakhshi, Khalīl Dīwāneh, and Kazi Gholām
were on board. Of these, Kazi Gholām escaped, by pretending
to be a slave. Another man of note who escaped
was Syed Ali, who is now with me, and high in office.
Another was Haider Kuli Kilkeh Kāshghari.*
Of seventy
or eighty experienced and chosen warriors, not more than
five or six escaped.
On receiving information of these occurrences, the enemy,
being unable to maintain themselves in the vicinity of
Marghinān, moved off in great disorder towards Andejān.
They had left in Andejān Nāsir Beg, who had married
Ūzūn Hassan’s sister, and who, if not next to Ūzūn Hassan
in consequence, was, beyond contradiction, in possession
of the third place. He was a man of sense and experience,
and possessed of courage. Having learned the recent
occurrences, and knowing on what an unstable basis the
cabal rested, he brought over the garrison of Andejān to my
Andejān
declares for
Bābur.
interest,*
and sent a person to invite me to the city. When
the cabal reached Andejān, and found that it had declared
for me, and was held on my account, being unable to agree
among themselves, and in the greatest confusion, Ūzūn
Hassan retired towards the citadel of Akhsi to his family;
Sultan Ahmed Tambol drew off to Ush to his own government,
while Jehāngīr Mirza was seized by a party of his
adherents and followers, who carried him off from Ūzūn
Hassan and fled with him to Tambol. They overtook
Tambol before he had reached Ush, and accompanied him
in his retreat.
As soon as I received advice that the garrison of Andejān
had declared for me, I made no delay, but setting out at
sunrise from Marghinān, reached Andejān when the day was
Who again
enters his
capital.
on the decline. I saw and conversed with Nāsir Beg and
his sons, Dost Beg and Mīram Beg, treated them with every
mark of kindness, and gave them reason to expect everything
from my favour. And thus, by the grace of the Most
June 1499.
High, in the month of Zilkaadeh, and year nine hundred and
four, I recovered my paternal kingdom, of which I had been
deprived nearly two years.
Sultan Ahmed Tambol, who had proceeded towards Ush,
accompanied by Jehāngīr Mirza, no sooner arrived there,
than the rabble and common people, arming themselves
with sticks and clubs, made a furious attack upon him,
drove them fairly out of the town, and sent persons to give
Retires to
Uzkend.
me notice that they held the place on my account. Jehāngīr
Mirza and Tambol, with a few partisans who still adhered
to them, retired in great dismay to Uzkend.
Ūzūn Hassan, on seeing himself shut out of Andejān,
retreated to Akhsi, and information reached me that he had
entered the citadel. As he was the very head and ringleader
of the rebellion, without staying more than four or five days
in Andejān, I marched against Akhsi. No sooner had
I arrived there, than, as he had nothing else left for it, he
but surren-
ders to
Bābur,
offered to capitulate, asked quarter, and surrendered the
fort. After a few days’ stay at Akhsi, which I employed in
putting the affairs and government of that city and of
Kāsān*
into a proper state of order and arrangement,
I dismissed the Moghul Begs who had come to my assistance
on this enterprise, and returned to Andejān, carrying with
me Ūzūn Hassan, his family and dependants. Kāsim Ajab,
who was of the inferior class of Begs,*
being raised to a
higher rank, was left in the temporary charge of Akhsi.
As I had agreed that Ūzūn Hassan should suffer no injury
either in life or property, I allowed him to depart by way*
of Karatigīn on his road to Hissār. He proceeded towards
Hissār with a small retinue, while all the rest of his followers
separated from him and remained behind. These were the
very men who, during the late disturbances, had pillaged
and plundered my adherents and Khwājeh Kazi’s men.
Several of my Begs united in their representations, telling
me,*
‘This is the very band which has been the cause
of all these confusions, and the origin of all the devastations
that have afflicted us; these are the men who
His
adherents
plundered.
have plundered so many of the faithful and true believers
who adhered to us. What fidelity have they
shown to their own chiefs that they should now be faithful
to us? What harm would there be if they were seized, or
an order given for plundering them? Especially as they
are riding our own horses, wearing our garments, and killing
and eating our own sheep before our eyes. What patience
can possibly endure all this? If from compassion you do
not plunder them, or give orders for a general pillage, at
least let us, who have adhered to you in all your dangers
and difficulties, be permitted to resume whatever part of
our property we find in the possession of these men. If they
get off on these terms, they ought to be very thankful.’ In
fine, I agreed to the plan, and an order was issued that such
as had accompanied me in my campaigns, might resume
possession of whatever part of their property they recognized.
Although the order seemed reasonable and just in itself, yet
it had been issued with too much precipitation; and, when
there was a rival like Jehāngīr Mirza at my elbow, it was
a senseless thing to exasperate so many men who had arms
in their hands. In war and in affairs of state, though there
are many things that appear just and reasonable at first
sight, yet no matter ought to be finally fixed without being
well weighed, and considered in a hundred different lights.
From my issuing this single order without sufficient foresight,
what commotions and mutinies arose! This inconsiderate
order of mine was in reality the ultimate cause of
my being a second time expelled from Andejān.