CHAPTER XLV.
 
Ambassadors are consecutively dispatched to India.— The envoy, Mohammed Khan, is detained in Shâh Jehân Abâd.— Conquest and destruction of the fort of Candahâr.— Nâdir Shâh arrives at Câbol.— Murder of the Ambassador at Jelâl Abâd.— Nâdir Shâh marches to Jelâl Abâd.— General massacre of the inhabitants of that town.— Ibrâhim Khân is killed in Shirâz.— Battle with Nâsir Khân, who is taken prisoner.— Arrival of Nâdir Shâh at Peshâver, and his passage of the river at Atak.

HOWEVER, immediately after the conquest of Isphâhân and the extirpation of the Afghâns, Shah Tahmâsb sent one of his Omarâs on an embassy to Hindôstân to inform Mohammed Shah of the recent occurrences. In his letter he gave him notice, that “whereas the rabble of the Afghâns, who have been traitors to this court and robbers of this country, have now met their due punishment, and the remnant of the sword are on their flight; and whereas from the terror of our victorious army there is no refuge for them but in India, you are requested not to give to to those perverse wretches either road or room, and not to permit that they enter your territory.” After some time Mohammed Shah wrote a reply couched in terms of no conclusion, and sent back the ambassador.

On the accession of the prince Abbâs Mirza to the place of his exalted father, one of the Omarâs was again deputed as ambassador to India, and a like message was inclosed in his despatches. A long time afterwards leave was given him to return, and by him were written precisely similar words, wherein was absolutely nothing of the soul of the business.

Nâdir Shâh, after a short interval, sent one of the most distinguished of his Kizil Bâsh to Borhân Ol Molk, who was the greatest of the Omarâs of India, and wrote a letter to Mohammed Shah and to him both. This ambassador, on his arrival at the frontier of the empire, was plundered by rob­bers; but after a thousand entreaties he recovered his despatches from them, and having reached his destination with the greatest difficulty, he exe­cuted the purpose of his mission. Unable, how­ever, to find the means of returning he is still in this country.

When Nâdir Shâh had marched to Candahâr and invested that fortress, he again sent on the same mission Mohammed Khân the Turkomân, who was one of the Safavean Omarâs, and repeat­ing the former message complained of the past conduct. As soon as the envoy arrived at Shâh Jehân Abâd, he delivered his letter and was told to wait; but they were silent as to any answer: and however much he solicited permission to depart, it was of no avail. Sometimes they were unable to agree in their own minds on the ques­tion of writing any answer at all; at other times they were confused and perplexed, in case they wrote, what titles and forms of address they should use to Nâdir Shah. The truth of the matter was this: thinking the detention of the ambassador Mohammed Khân a stroke of state policy, they waited to see, if perchance Hosein the Afghân with the troops besieged in Candahâr gained the victory over Nâdir Shâh, and destroyed him or put him to flight; on which event there would be no need of writing any answer to his letter. As, however, the siege of Candahâr was protracted and the return of Mohammed Khân delayed, Nâdir Shah wrote a Firmân to him, which he sent by some horsemen of great speed in travelling, and questioning him as to the true state of the affair, commanded him to use his best endeavours in obtaining an answer, and enjoined him to quicken his return: but as no answer was forthcoming, and the ambassador could not obtain leave for his departure, this step led to no result.

The siege of Candahâr had now lasted near twelve months, and the city of Nâdir Shâh was built up and completed by its side. Nâdir Shâh suddenly gave orders, that the army of the Kizil Bâsh should make an assault upon the fort, and scale the towers. The Afghâns were overthrown, and their strong ramparts were thrown open. Hosein was sent in fetters to Mâzenderân.

During the course of some years, and since the time that the Afghâns were routed at Shirâz, a multitude of that nation had been in continual wandering. Making their way into Hindôstân and settling in every place, most of them became attendant on the Sirkârs, and entered the Indian army. And, in truth, the obligation of repelling them which they imposed on Mohammed Shah was beyond the capacity of his power and govern­ment.

Nâdir Shâh, having issued an order for the destruction of the fortress of Candahâr, commanded that the market people and inhabitants of that place should be transferred to Nâdir Abâd, and set off on his march to Ghaznîn* and Kâbol. To the governor of the fort of Kâbol he sent a mes­sage to say, that he had nothing to do with the dominions of Mohammed Shah; but that as those confines were the source and mine of the Afghâns, and a number of the fugitives had arrived there, the object of his coming was the total extirpation of that race: that he should therefore give no way to apprehensions on his own account, but do his best endeavours to comply with the rights and demands of hospitality.

Nâdir Shâh himself pitched his camp in the neighbourhood of the city of Kâbol. The governor and people of the place prepared themselves for war and contest, and it was of no avail to send them messages or to advise them. A detachment, there­fore, of the Kizil Bâsh was ordered to attack them and destroy their fort; but at the first onset, and at the very beginning of the work of destruction, a portion of the inhabitants raised a cry of distress, and the besieged, having obtained pardon and clemency, evacuated the fort and performed the duties of submission. Wherever the Afghâns in those parts assembled in a body, the army of the Kizil Bâsh marched upon them and cut them to pieces.

Nâdir Shâh, being extremely annoyed at the detention of Mohammed Khân, gave some verbal messages to some of the principal men of Kâbol, and sent them to Shâh Jehân Abâd to carry them to the emperor and his ministers. For himself he remained stationary at Kâbol. The envoys came to Lahôr and thence proceeded to Shâh Jehân Abâd; but no one listened to a word from them, or if he listened did not understand. Again from Kâbol he despatched one of his troopers on the same mission, giving him ten horsemen to accom­pany him. When they arrived at Jelâl Abâd, they alighted at a house. A mob of miscreants of that place attacked the house round about, and first robbed them of their arms. Afterwards they killed ten of them, and the only one that escaped fled to Kâbol and represented the history of the occurrence.

The length of the stay of Nâdir Shâh in Kâbol was about seven months, and during that time he exercised vengeance and slaughter on the Afghans in those parts. Unable to rest after receiving the news of the murder committed on the ten persons of his messengers, he moved towards Jelâl Abâd, and having commanded a general massacre of the inhabitants of that city, he caused to perish an immense population. A singular circumstance was, that for the chief of the assassins of those ten persons a robe of honour had been destined to be sent from the court of Mohammed Shah, but was prevented by the massacre at Jelâl Abâd.

From the day that the news was reported in India of the arrival of Nâdir Shâh at Kâbol, Khân Dôrân, the Amîro 'L Omarâ or chief minister, and Nizâmo 'L Molk were appointed to carry on the war against him, and held their head quarters at Shâh Jehân Abâd. At the same time they spread the report of their being shortly about to march in the direction of Kâbol; and this also in their opinion was a stroke of state policy.

One of the remarkable events in Persia, which came to the ears of Nâdir Shâh in Jelâl Abâd, was the death of his brother Ibrâhîm Khân, whom he had made Amîro 'L Omarâ of Azerbâïjân, whose residence was at Tabrîz. As the expedi­tion to Candahâr and Kâbol drew to a great length, a body of the Lezgîs, having equipped themselves for war, led an army into the province of Shîrvân, which is in their neighbourhood; and Ibrâhîm Khân, having marched into the same province, gave battle to that nation, and was killed in the action. Nâdir Shâh, not giving much attention to this occurrence, dismissed one division of his army from further attendance on him and sent it into Shîrvân; and himself moved forward towards Peshâver.

Nâsir Khân, governor of the district of Kâbol, was at that time in Peshâver. With a detach­ment of troops which he had with him, and col­lecting also a body of the Afghans of that country, he took a position on the line of road, and in his own belief strongly fortified some high rugged banks and narrow vallies, and closed them to the passage of the enemy. Nâdir Shâh sent him a message, that on a certain day he (Nâdir Shâh) should come up, and that he (Nâsir Khân) had better move away from the road. This advice had no effect; and on the day appointed Nâdir Shâh arrived. An immense crowd of the Afghâns and of Nâsir Khân's troops were cut to pieces in the valley, and the Khân himself was taken alive. After a few days he was treated with great honour and respect, and Nâdir Shâh having marched down into the city of Peshâver, effected the passage of the river of Atak in boats.