I was the Queen of Persia

Page 122

The invaders arrived at the city gates just as night fell.

The boundless flames illuminated the dark wilderness before the city, and the imposing footsteps of the Naij army relentlessly struck the hearts of the defending soldiers.

"May God protect us!"

The Zaide soldiers, prostrate at the forefront of the city wall, closed their eyes and murmured prayers to the Lord. When they saw Sahinnian's towering figure standing before them, their determination to fight was rekindled.

Splash splash splash splash—!

The sound of rushing water, accompanied by a foul odor, reached out to Sahinian. She turned her head and saw a young girl from the Zaid faction carrying stones and arrows. Her delicate face was deathly pale, her whole body trembling uncontrollably, and her bare feet were nervously pressed against the wet ground, rubbing them vigorously.

Sahimian patted her on the shoulder and said gently, "Little girl, what's your name?"

“Asma Najib, General Shahini.” The girl looked up and answered timidly.

"Where are your parents?"

“They’re… dead. Our village was slaughtered by the Blackblade Cult of Neji. I was the only one who escaped.” Asuma shook his head, his voice choked with emotion.

Sahimian sighed softly upon hearing this, then patted the girl's shoulder encouragingly, "You've already dodged death once, and you'll escape danger again this time. Stand up! Pick up your shield and follow me!"

Having said that, he picked up a piece of leather-covered wooden shield and threw it to Asma.

The girl took the shield and gripped it tightly, her hands trembling.

The siege has finally begun.

The archers of Naiji rushed forward and unleashed a dense barrage of arrows at the city walls. However, due to the large number of arrow shields that had been placed on the walls beforehand, the several waves of fire did not cause particularly heavy losses to the defenders.

Immediately afterwards, a tidal wave of internal strife conscripted cannon fodder, who rushed up the siege ladders in a chaotic rush.

Sahinnian initially waited patiently, but as the Nej soldiers approached the city walls, crowded together, and formed tight groups, he suddenly ordered his archers to fire a volley of arrows in return. In an instant, sharp arrows rained down, catching the Nej soldiers completely off guard.

With trenches blocking their path and arrows raining down from above, the soldiers were quickly overwhelmed and fell in disarray. Many were either killed by arrows or pushed into the trenches by the crowd, where they were then impaled by the sharp spikes of wooden stakes.

"Well done, soldiers!" Sahinien paced back and forth on the city wall, trying his best to stabilize morale. "Keep it up! The enemy can't break through the city's defenses!"

"Everyone, give it your all! The city walls desperately need arrows and stones, we need to hurry!"

Asma and many other women and children took on the task of delivering supplies. Barefoot, they ran back and forth through the streets and up the city walls. Large wet patches still clung to Asma's skirt, but this did not diminish the unwavering determination in her still-childish face. The rough sand cut their toes, but none of the young figures stopped.

The battle is becoming increasingly intense.

If the city had been defended by a well-organized Iranian Samanid army, the attacking Nejds would likely have collapsed quickly. However, the situation is different now. The main defenders are a small, poorly equipped Zaid militia, with at most a hundred or so Iranian soldiers as reinforcements. Under these circumstances, the battle naturally became a stalemate.

Chapter 286 The Defense of Sadar (2)

The flickering firelight continuously illuminated the night sky.

Time and again, their frantic attacks were repelled.

Zaid's archers unleashed a barrage of arrows to keep the Nejds at bay; tireless transport teams of women and children crisscrossed the area, replenishing the weapons of the frontline soldiers.

After a long and fierce battle, the corpses of the soldiers from the inner city had covered the area below the city.

But the Nejd were not willing to give up the siege. They made several probing attacks and found that the western half of the city wall—the area where Houthi was stationed—was relatively weak in defense, making it an excellent place to open a breach.

The Nej launched a relentless charge, disregarding casualties, and finally made some progress: on the western half of the wall, the Nej soldiers successfully scaled the wall using ladders and engaged in fierce combat with Hussein's men.

"Hussein above! Ali above! You bloodthirsty heretics, get out of our city! Warriors! Hold on! Kill!" Hussein brandished his sword and fought desperately against the invading enemy.

Inspired by him, the poorly equipped Zaid militia fought desperately against the Najd soldiers who had scaled the city walls, resulting in a fierce and bloody battle. Before long, the walls were awash in blood.

"Send several detachments to support Hussein!" Shahini ordered.

Istahri swiftly received orders and led her capable soldiers in a spirited charge towards the gap in the enemy's breakthrough. The addition of more than ten fully armored Iranian Sacred Torch Brigade soldiers slightly turned the tide of the battle.

With their superior equipment, the soldiers of the Sacred Flame Brigade relentlessly reaped the lives of the Nej people with maces and saddle axes. Relying on closer tactical coordination, the Sacred Flame Brigade drove the Nej people off the city walls.

At this point, several light catapults deployed outside the city began launching stones into the city. Due to a shortage of supplies, the Zaid faction, as the defending side, was extremely lacking in large defensive armaments, which posed a significant problem for their defense.

After several rounds of bombardment by the Nejd, several breaches were smashed into the city wall, and Zaid's troops also suffered some casualties. Seeing that the city wall had quieted down, the Nejd assumed that Zaid's faction had been almost completely wiped out, so they regrouped and noisily approached the city wall.

But that's it.

Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from the city, followed by countless dazzling "fire dragons" slicing through the night sky, crashing heavily into the unprepared Neizhi army formation like a raging meteor from God.

The explosions sent bursts of dazzling sparks flying, and the resounding shockwaves sent the Neizhi soldiers sprawling and screaming in agony. Under this devastating blow, the Neizhi army crumbled and disintegrated, the soldiers throwing down their weapons and scrambling back to their lines.

"The Qin people's gunpowder weapons have proven incredibly effective! Warriors! The time for a counterattack has come! Reorganize your ranks and pursue our victory!" Shahimian slammed his warhammer into the direction of the retreating enemy.

Following the directions, 100 Iranian Sacred Torch Brigade soldiers, leading more than 700 Zaid militiamen, launched a fierce counterattack against the disorganized Nejj people.

It turns out that the weapon that turned the tide of the battle was the "Divine Fire Wooden Kite" originating from China, which is what Queen Shahzani called a "suicide drone".

During this expedition to Yemen, the team also included several skilled Qin artisans and soldiers. For comprehensive defensive considerations, Shahinian made full use of the expertise of these craftsmen and ordered them to manufacture gunpowder weapons.

Sada City was short of timber, but thanks to trade, it had a small amount of military supplies such as saltpeter and sulfur. Given the scarcity and incompleteness of these supplies, coupled with the urgency of the situation, Sahinian naturally understood the principle of "using the best resources where they are most needed."

Therefore, gunpowder weapons were only manufactured in small batches and were only used as a "trump card" when the battle reached its climax, and they indeed proved to be very effective.

In short, thanks to the valiant command of the Iranian soldiers, the tenacious resistance of the Zaid militia, the united efforts of the entire city's military and civilians, and the formidable power of gunpowder weapons, the attacking Najd army finally retreated. The Iranian-Zaid Yemeni army then launched a counter-offensive, seizing a large amount of resources.

"God help us! God help us! We have won!"

"Praise be to the mighty General Shahinian! Praise be to the Iranian warriors for their generous help to us!"

The victory in the Battle of Saada greatly boosted the morale of the Zaid faction and further enhanced the prestige of Shahini and the Iranian military. When Shahini returned in triumph, the entire city's soldiers and civilians bowed in welcome.

"Thanks to the glorious protection of Rustam, the mission entrusted to us by Her Majesty the Empress has been initially completed," Ishtarhiri reported with a smile.

“Well then, let Her Majesty the Empress’s majesty illuminate this land and help it emerge from the shadow of the invaders,” Sahimian said with satisfaction.

……

A marching column of the Iranian Samanid Empire army in the western Golan Heights.

Shahzani has made a major westward advance and has now crossed the mountains in the central Golan Heights, capturing military strongholds, filling in wells, subjugating local people, and forcing the Fatima army and Druze forces to retreat westward.

It must be said that as the advance deepened, the Fatima forces encountered by the Iranian army became increasingly well-trained and tenacious in their resistance. They were also adept at using the terrain to build fortifications for defense, and even when they were outmatched, they fought and retreated while maintaining discipline.

This has resulted in a somewhat slow advance for the Iranian army in the Golan Heights. Shahzani has also had to admit that compared to the Mustafa regime's army and the Black Blade sect's army, which they had previously encountered, the Fatima army is a tenacious and formidable force.

Especially the elite of the Fatima army—the Hakimiyeh Guard. Although there has been no large-scale direct confrontation yet, in sporadic skirmishes, Shahzani has already clashed with a small number of this Fatima elite forces. This multi-purpose medium infantry unit, while not as fierce and powerful as the heavily armored cavalry of the Shahri Guard, is still well-trained and tenacious.

Overall, however, the Iranian army continues to advance cautiously under Shahzani's guidance.

"Report! Great King of Kings! A report from General Shahizani!" From behind, Nassak, carrying a messenger, rode a swift horse, galloping past the boundless, orderly ranks, and caught up with Shahzani, who was in the center of the army.

The letter naturally referred to the great victory in the defense of Saada and the news of gradually gaining a foothold in Yemen.

Moreover, in the letter, Shahini also advised that a large-scale reform movement should be launched in Yemen to sweep away these old Bedouin-Arab customs and spread the prestige of the Iranian Padishah to this land where the Sasanian ancestors had fought and conquered.

“Good, very good.” Shahzani praised the plan highly, but she also offered several suggestions to Shahinian—suggestions from the perspective of a time traveler and ruler.

Chapter 287 Zaide's Armed Reforms

The chaos in the Yemeni sky dissipated slightly.

Following the victory at the Battle of Saada, Shahini gathered his strength and pressed on, annihilating and disintegrating the Nej Blackblade faction, the Hejaz forces, and several Yemeni puppet troops affiliated with Fatima, and recapturing more than a hundred surrounding towns and villages.

Along the way, they captured over 1000 officers, soldiers, and extremist clerics of the Nej Blackblade cult. Interrogation revealed that many of them had a long list of crimes, enough to warrant a dozen or more hellfires.

For example, when the Nej soldiers seized the village of Habib outside the city of Saada, they stripped the men, women, and children they captured without asking any questions, and then used cruel torture to force them to convert to the Blackblade sect. Those who resisted conversion were driven directly to the edge of the village ditch and, like lambs being slaughtered, their throats were slit with blunt daggers, their blood staining the stream red.

For example, during the occupation of Sahelev village, the Nezh soldiers directly beheaded the villagers and nailed their heads to the roadside in rows of stakes. Those who resisted were nailed alive to cross-shaped cangues and brutally mutilated with daggers, their flesh ripped out, left to bleed to death in agony. The village chief suffered an even worse fate; he was tied to a date palm tree and stabbed to death, his heart ripped out and swallowed whole by an officer from the Black Blade Cult.

During this series of invasions, the captured women became the "spoils of war" of these "jihadists".

……

Faced with the heinous atrocities, Sahini, who advocated violence against violence, did not forgive these villains and directly ordered: all prisoners of war to be beheaded, and their heads to be piled up into a pyramid and stacked along the road leading to Nejd.

The ringleaders, whose crimes were particularly heinous, naturally received "special treatment" from the "Crimson Harvest Succubus"—Ishtarhiri: they were chopped into mincemeat while still alive and dumped at the pass on the border of Nej.

“I’m giving you one last chance, you foolish blasphemer. Abandon your evil faith that distorts the teachings of the Prophet and tear down your ‘holy hadiths.’” Sahinnian removed his armor and boots, stomping barefoot on the sand and pinning the head of a Blackblade extremist priest to the ground. His commanding tone was enough to send shivers down one’s spine.

"Pah! You damned Horami Persians! You devil's woman! May your thing between your legs rot and fester! Your people were conquered by us four hundred years ago, and under the guidance of the great Black Blade doctrine, you will sooner or later become our slaves again!" The other party spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and cursed loudly.

"Smack—!" A sharp sound rang out, and a deep red footprint appeared on his face.

“This scholar of jurisprudence is too shallow, Ishtarhiri, send him to Hellfire for ‘further study’.” Sahinian looked at the Blackblade priest on the ground with disgust and gave the order to her confidant.

The valiant female warrior, clad in armor, lowered her head slightly, then raised her axe and brought it down.

……

Thanks to his outstanding military achievements, Sahinnian became the most powerful leader of the Zaid faction, greatly boosting the previously low morale of the soldiers. At this time, the Zaid regime also regained some of its courage and determination to fight.

However, for the Zaide faction's military and civilians, the difficulties were not far off:

Yemen at present is fragmented by tribal and sectarian factions, with numerous armed groups, a loose political system, frequent wars, and the threat of powerful enemies on all sides. The religious and secular nobles residing in major cities such as Zabid, Sana'a, and Aden have long since submitted to the Fatima court and, under the protection of Fatima soldiers in their military camps, serve as the vanguard for the Meshrep's conquest of Yemen.

At this critical moment, the key to defeating the enemy lies in strengthening the cohesion within the Zaid faction's armed forces.

The edict of Queen Shahzani was delivered to Shahizani by messengers disguised as merchants and mendicants, via the caravan route through the Iraqi province, the Persian Gulf, and the heart of Najd.

"The Queen's decree has been issued. With the blessings of the sages of Iran, we will make a name for ourselves here!" Shahinien held the decree and solemnly looked at the soldiers. The letter contained, of course, the corresponding decree's strategies.

There's an old saying: "A general in the field may disobey the emperor's orders." Shahzani granted Shahini considerable autonomy in decision-making. However, the two maintained a degree of correspondence, allowing them to better implement measures based on collective wisdom.

Centered on the city of Saada, a sweeping transformation was taking place in the towns and villages controlled by the Zaid militia.

First, there was the issue of building up the armed forces. Although the Zayd soldiers had high religious fervor and were quite brave in battle, they had long been at a disadvantage in their struggles against hostile forces due to a lack of funds, small numbers of troops, outdated equipment, and loose organization. Ultimately, they were forced to eke out a living in the mountains of North Yemen.

Shahini drew on the experiences of the Iranian Samanid Empire army, Iraqi pro-Iranian militias, and the Sham Assassins, and combined these with the local situation in Yemen, to reorganize the Zayd militia, strengthen its organizational structure, and enhance its combat effectiveness.

Given the high degree of similarity between the Zaid militia and the Sham Assassins in terms of ethnicity, faith, and ideology, Sahinnian and her officers mainly drew on the experience of the Sham Assassins to train the Zaids into a flexible force composed primarily of light infantry, skilled in using small-unit assault tactics and capable of traversing mountains and valleys with ease.

Queen Shahzani understood the principle of "the people are the boat of the ruler," so she also asked Shahini to win the hearts and minds of the people in her decree.

Shahini easily understood the Queen's intentions, and thus implemented many popular measures in the Zaydi regions. For example, she distributed the land, livestock, wells, date palms, and other resources seized by the Najd religious nobles to the poor people of Yemen according to their military achievements; she organized land reclamation to expand the cultivated area; and she used her technological advantage to dig wells around Saada, helping the Yemenis obtain more convenient water sources.

The most important measures were the liberation of women and the abolition of outdated customs.

Upon taking control of the situation, Sahini ordered the abolition of the oppressive practice of "honor executions," just as Empress Shahzani had done in Transoxiana.

Admittedly, compared to Iran, Yemeni women have a much lower social status. Iranian women can at least hold government positions, join the military, and have their own careers; while Yemeni women are essentially appendages of men, confined to their harems, serving as slaves to their husbands and enduring various oppressive customs…

This is due to the lingering tribal customs of Bedouin society. This situation also means that the path to liberation for Yemeni women will be much longer.

Following the orders of Queen Shahzani, Shahini began by abolishing female genital mutilation.

Female circumcision is practiced for both men and women. Male circumcision is a tradition of religions such as Islam and Judaism, and its purpose is to maintain cleanliness and hygiene. Female circumcision, however, is quite different. This outdated custom, originating in ancient Northeast Africa, aims to maintain a woman's "fidelity" to her husband at the cost of mutilating her body. Yemen, which is geographically close to Africa, has also been deeply influenced by this practice.

Shahiniyan explicitly banned this practice and punished offenders with harsh laws. Before long, female genital mutilation disappeared from the Zayd-controlled Yemeni territory.

Women were grateful for the Iranian female general's generosity and eagerly volunteered to serve the regime.

Chapter 288 Advancing from Two Directions

By this point in the war, the battlefield between the Iranian Samanid Empire and the Egyptian Fatimid Caliphate had been clearly divided into two parts, north and south.

On the southern battlefield.

After leading the Zaid reforms, Shahiniyan immediately launched a counter-offensive against the Najd Army and Yemeni puppet forces entrenched in the surrounding towns and villages.

Having just experienced the baptism of change, the Zaid militia, full of fighting spirit, took the lead and, with the strong command of Iranian officers, quickly defeated the Yemeni puppet forces in Nej and Sana'a, recovering large swathes of lost territory.

The surrounding Yemeni farmers and herders, who were Zaidi Muslims, naturally supported their own sect's armed forces even more. So when the Zaidi army marched in, they eagerly joined the army, bringing food and drink with them.

The Zaydid doctrine has undergone more profound changes. For example, measures such as abolishing female genital mutilation, abolishing honor killings, reducing taxes and rents, and confiscating the property of invaders have won popular support.

Under the guidance of Empress Shahzani, Shahinian handled "religious tolerance" very appropriately.

The Iranian military did not forcibly promote Khorami doctrine, nor did it deliberately promote the Persian language and script. They respected the Shia faith of the Zaydi sect and the Yemeni-Arab tribal traditions after removing the dross, and subtly expanded their influence based on common interests.

Where there is support, there is also opposition. A small number of conservative clergy and elders, wealthy landowners and nobles with vested interests, and Yemenis who uphold the supremacy of husbands chose to pledge allegiance to the pro-Fatima regimes of Sana'a, Aden, and Zabid and joined the puppet army.

However, this motley crew was clearly no match for the more organized Zaid faction's armed forces.

On the night of February 7, 1013 AD (the 18th of the month of Bahman in the Persian calendar), Zaid forces bypassed the defenses and launched a surprise attack on the city of Sana'a.

The city was garrisoned by 4000 Yemeni puppet troops, 1000 Nejd Blackblade soldiers, and 200 Fatima soldiers. Scout reports also indicate that the Fatima main force was small in number, its defenses were lax, and it had almost no heavy defensive equipment such as ballistae.

Sahimian decisively ordered an attack on the city that night.

Hydia and Valera, trusted confidantes, each led small assault teams from the Zaid faction, successfully breaching the low points of the city walls, silently killing the guards and opening the city gates for the main force.

In an instant, battle cries erupted both inside and outside the city. Istahri, who was leading the frontal assault, was unstoppable in her heavy armor, cutting down many enemy soldiers and killing several enemy and puppet officers along the way.

Hussein bravely took the lead, personally leading the Zaid militia in a fierce attack on the barracks and stables throughout Sana'a.