CHAPTER XXXIX.
 
Commandership of Tôpâl Pasha, and arrival of the Turkish Army in Irâk Arab.— Battle between the Great Khân and Tôpâl Pasha the Turkish Commander.— Victory of Tôpâl Pasha, and his halt in Kerkôyah.— Arrival of some Turkish troops on the confines of Kordistân.— Engagement of the Great Khan with the Turkish troops, and his triumph over them.— Battle with Tôpâl Pasha, who is slain.— The body of Tôpâl Pasha is sent to the Mosque of Abo Hanifa.— Bagdad is besieged a second time.

I WAS in Kermân, when the news was spread abroad of the defeat of the Great Khan by the Turkish army, the main particulars of which are these.

The siege of Bagdad had been carried on for near a term of twelve months, and however much Ahmed Pasha desired to induce the Great Khan to an accommodation, his endeavours were unsuccessful. The grandees of the Othman empire sought a remedy, and considered how they should repair this untoward circumstance. Among their principal Omarâs was one named Tôpâl Pasha, who for years had commanded their troops on their European frontier, and in the battles which he had fought with the Franks had gained a high reputation for bravery and skilfulness. Him they appointed commander in the Arabian Irâk, and dispatched him with a numerous army to make war on the Great Khan. As soon as advice arrived of his near approach to Bagdad, the Great Khan, leaving a body of his troops to guard the environs of the castle of Bagdad, marched himself with the army of the Kizil Bâsh to his encounter, and in his haste to meet the Turks checked not his reins for the dis­tance of thirty farsangs. The Turkish general had divided his army into two parts, and marched in the rear. His van, having halted on the banks of a rivulet, fortified in proper order their park of artillery, and being aware of the near approach of the Kizil Bâsh prepared themselves for battle. The Great Khan came up with them in the early part of the morning and instantly began the action. About an hour afterwards, the Turkish general arrived with the remainder of the army and his train in perfect order, marshalled into lines with the artillery drawn close around; and the engagement was enforced with the utmost violence. In that sandy desert no water was near except the stream which the Turks had taken possession of. In short, till noon-day the fire of slaughter flamed, and the scene of action was crowded. Afterwards, from the heat of the sun and the prevalence of thirst, the infantry and artillery-men of the army of the Kizil Bâsh were unable to move. The Great Khan ordered wells to be dug. But at that season it was necessary to penetrate a great depth to find water. The condition of the soldier was overcome with weak­ness, and the Turks making a powerful charge, overturned numbers of the riders and horses of the Kizil Bâsh to roll in the dust; and among them the horse of the Great Khan was one. At length, the troops having no longer any strength to stand their ground, turned their backs and fled on the road to Persian Irâk. To the detachment who had remained at Bagdad to maintain the siege of that place they sent a messenger to call them away; and these also retiring in the night departed for Persian Irâk.

Ahmed Pasha, now relieved from the blockade, began to employ himself in carrying supplies into the fort and storing his magazines. The general marched on to the environs of Bagdad; but unable to find a sufficiency of provisions in those parts for the support of his immense army, he turned aside in the direction of Kerkôyah and there halted. From this place he sent a detachment of his troops with some of the most respectable pashas by the road of Kordistân into Persian Irâk, to inform themselves of the state of things and to act as should be advisable at that juncture.

The Great Khan, checking the dispersion of his routed army, came to Hamadân. This was in the middle of the year one thousand one hundred and forty-six (A. D. 1733). In that city he had a treasure and stores previously collected; and applying himself to the distribution of largesses and favours among his troops and to the task of repairing their condition, at the same time that he brought up a body of men whom he constantly maintained in those parts, in the space of a month he had a fresh army completely accoutred, and being informed of the situation of the Turkish de tachment just mentioned, he hastened from Hama­dan to assault it. Falling like a sudden calamity on that troop of Turks he vigorously attacked them. The Turkish lines were soon broken by the onsets of the army of the Kizil Bâsh, and the com­manders having been slain with a great number of their men, the rest left their artillery and bag­gage on the spot and betook themselves to flight.

The Great Khan drove forward towards Ker­kôyah, and Tôpâl Pasha the Turkish commander marched out from that city with an innumerable army in order of battle. After much fighting the Great Khan gained a complete victory, and a vast crowd of the Turkish armament fell slaughtered on the ground. One of the pioneers of the Kizil Bâsh cut off the head of Tôpâl Pasha and brought it to the Khan, by whose order the body also was found, and both being sewed together were sent with one of the captive Efendis to Bagdad, where they were buried in the ceme­tery of Abo Hanîfa.* The Turks who escaped the sword, fled away in the most wretched plight; and the Great Khan having exercised all the severities of war in those countries, returned to Bagdad and again laid siege to that city.