Eid al-Fitr is one of the main festivals of Tianfang religion. Together with Eid al-Adha, they are known as the two major Christian festivals. At this time, it was called Ruzi in Persia.
Before Eid al-Fitr, adult men and women are required to fast for a month in September of each year in the Christian calendar, which is Ramadan.
According to the Tianfang religious calendar, every odd month has thirty days and every odd month has twenty-nine days, making the whole year 354 days.
This year's ninth month in the Tianfang religious calendar falls from the end of March to the end of April in the lunar calendar.
During this month, all Tianfang Sect believers abstain from eating, drinking, sexual intercourse and all indecent behavior from before dawn to sunset every day in order to examine themselves and wash away their sins.
In other words, to put it simply, during Eid al-Fitr, you can’t eat anything from daybreak, you can only go hungry. You can’t eat or drink much at night, you can only eat some pancakes and drink some water.
Regarding this festival, Zhang Zhao was completely smiling. No matter what kind of warrior you are, no matter how well-trained you are, if you are hungry every day during the day and eat some pancakes at night, if you work like this for a month, I'm afraid you won't even have the strength to hold a knife. Already?
If such a warrior wants to fight wearing dozens of kilograms of iron armor, isn't he just dreaming!
. . . . .
In the early morning, when the sky was just getting slightly brighter, the city gate of Bukhara was suddenly opened.
The Alka Forbidden City Guards and the Ghulam Guards came out of the city with various banners painted with golden lions, wild boars, tigers, horses, white elephants, eagles and even date palm trees.
Most of the Gulam guards wear black and white armor, which looks particularly strong, but in fact, these armors are not made of iron, but made of braid and cowhide.
Although it looks majestic and looks like a god, it actually does not have much protective power. It is similar to the paper armor used as a ceremonial guard in Chinese history. It mainly relies on the painter to achieve the 'defensive effect'.
Different from the Guards of Ghulam, the Guards of Alka Forbidden City who belong to Nasr II wear blue and white robes with black square patterns, and robes with the main tone of bright yellow mixed with various petal-like patterns.
In this era, dyeing clothes is a very time-consuming process. The brighter the color, the more precious it is, let alone how many colors there are on one piece of clothing.
Such fabrics were extremely expensive. There were about two thousand guards out of the city at this time. These two thousand sets of exquisite robes were the best proof of the wealth of Saman Persia.
In addition to their robes, the guards of the Forbidden City of Alka also wore ancient Persian turbans known as the Triple Crown.
Unlike the Ghulam Guards, who wore turbans or felt hats that could be pulled down to cover their faces to block the wind and sand, their style was more Persian than Celestial.
The weapons are traditional wicker shields, short spears, swords or long daggers, bows and arrows, and they usually wear scale armor or chain mail under their outer robes.
The shining lances were also decorated with balls of silver or gold, the former for ordinary soldiers and the latter for officers.
This kind of equipment and style is very similar to that of the Persian Immortal Army. Hundreds of years after Tianfang's enlightenment, the Persians actually maintained a certain independent status in culture.
Among the various flags, the monarch's banner symbolizing the emir stood high. Surrounded by dozens of nobles wearing gorgeous silk robes, the 63-year-old Emir Nasr of Saman Persia The second son wore a golden crown on his head and held a scepter symbolizing royal power, but he seemed a little depressed.
Of course he will be depressed, because Nasr II is relatively pious towards Tianfang Sect, and he generally abides by the rules of Ramadan.
Of course, the bigger reason is that he has to comply, because since converting to Shiiteism, Nasr II has been opposed by a large number of regularists in the country.
Many religious imams and Ahong have long been watching every move of Nasr II. As long as Nasr II dares to disobey the rules of Ramadan, someone will jump out to confront him.
Don't think that these imams don't dare. With the blessing of fanatical religious beliefs, they are absolutely determined people who dare to challenge secular power.
In the Saman Persian and subsequent eras, the political struggles in Central Asia were actually fought between royal power and divine power.
Sometimes the royal power is dependent on the divine power, and sometimes the royal power suppresses the divine power.
Therefore, the kings of the Hezhong region have a different status from the kings of the Central Plains, and there is also a cloud of divine authority hanging over their heads.
Although it is not as perverted as the Europeans do, with divine authority overriding monarchy, the power of religion is not easy to underestimate.
After Nasr II's carriage passed, behind him was Prince Hamid.
Although the prince still tried his best to show his strength in numbers, all the Bukhara citizens on the road looked at Prince Hamid with pity.
Because during Eid al-Fitr before this year, the person closest to Nasr II and almost on par with him must have been Prince Hamid.
He is the crown prince, the second-in-command of Samampos, and he should be in a position where one person is inferior to tens of thousands of people.
Today, all the princes, including Prince Hamid's biggest rival, Prince Sadid, are surrounding Nasr II. Only Prince Hamid was dismissed on the grounds of arranging escorts.
hehe! Prince Hamid sneered and asked him to arrange the guards, but he was not allowed to mobilize the Ghulam guards in Bukhara on the grounds that Juer Khan was about to invade Wei.
Participating in the escort of the emir were Ghulam guards from Samarkand and Herat.
Nasr II adopted a compromise plan regarding Grand Wazir Balaami's proposal to change the defense of Bukhara and Samarkand Ghulam.
The Ghulam Guards of Bukhara did not switch defenses with the Ghulam Guards of Samarkand, but this year's Eid al-Fitr guards were assigned to the Ghulam Guards of Samarkand and Herat.
After crossing the moat, Prince Hamid looked back at the city of Bukhara.
His confidant Hussein will sneak back to Bukhara quietly after the start of Eid al-Fitr. Just waiting for his order, he will close the four gates of Bukhara and then bring 10,000 of the most elite people out of the city to Qingjun.
Of course, what Prince Hamid looked forward to most was that Juer Khan's army could arrive on time. For this reason, he also took two envoys sent by Juer Khan with him so that he could communicate with Juer Khan at any time.
"Father, if you want to deal with me, then you can't blame Hamid for being cruel!"
Prince Hamid muttered something in a low voice. He also clearly felt that his father Nasr II would most likely take advantage of this Eid al-Fitr to take him down directly, otherwise Prince Sadid would not be recalled. .
You know, Prince Sadid has been guarding the Delam people in Herat, and the Ghulam guards from Herat have actually been controlled by Prince Sadid.
As for Prince Hamid's side, the Ghulam Guards who were nominally commanded by him to be responsible for guarding were all Ghulam from Herat.
This is not to let him command the guards, but to let these Herat Gulam guards monitor him. When they want to get rid of him later, they will take action.
In this case, it was not Nasr II who killed his son, but Prince Sadid who assassinated his brother.
This set of operations perfectly fits the hypocritical and cruel character of Nasr II!
. . . . .
Tianfang Sect's festivals would be very boring if they strictly followed religious rules.
No drinking, no singing and dancing, just collective khutbah and praise to Allah, tedious kneeling and other etiquette.
Especially not drinking alcohol. Tender roasted whole beef, crispy roasted whole lamb, all kinds of fine white bread, sweets and fruits, but you are not allowed to drink. Roast beef and roasted lamb are not worthy of some wine. It always tastes like something is missing. .
However, there is something different about Eid al-Fitr. After everyone has been fasting and vegetarian for a month, even if there is no alcohol, people can't help but gorge themselves on meat and sweets.
At this moment, on the bank of the Wuhu River (Amu Darya River) about five miles away from the city of Bukhara, after the tedious praise was over, everyone started gobbling up the food.
One month of Ramadan has made everyone depressed, including Emir Nasr II and his nobles and religious figures.
Everyone held knives and kept cutting large chunks of meat from the roast beef, roast lamb, and roast camel in front of them. Everyone was busy eating without talking, and there was a sound of chewing.
Even the surrounding Alka Forbidden City Guards and Gulam Guards have implemented a shift system. Only one-third of them are standing guard, and the rest are eating and drinking.
However, one difference is that according to the unspoken rules of Saman Persia, the Guards of Ghulam are not strict about fasting during Ramadan.
Because we must consider, what if the enemy attacks after Ramadan?
Therefore, among the Gulam Guards, who are mainly slaves, they can still eat and drink normally during Ramadan, but they cannot eat and drink too much, and they should try to avoid people.
This was also the last reason why Nasr II wanted to kill Prince Hamid.
Juer Khan has arrived, and Nasr II has already felt the danger. He wants to serve as Grand Salar himself and take control of the military to ensure the stability of the country.
Everyone was immersed in the pleasure of eating. Only four people looked at eating, but their hearts were agitated.
Grand Wazir (Prime Minister) Balaami kept sipping honey tea and said he was the Grand Wazir, but he knew that he was a pawn used by Nasr II to check and balance Prince Hamid.
From a personal perspective, Balaami does not want to offend Prince Hamid, and participating in the transition of royal power has always been a particularly risky matter.
He is already the Great Basil and almost seventy years old. Why bother to make another enemy for himself who might become the Emir?
But he had to do it because this was what Nasr II asked for, so Balaami simply stepped on the accelerator.
Since you are offending, then offend him harshly and speed up Prince Hamid directly.
In this way, when the next crown prince appears, Nasr II will send him away.
Because the crown prince at this time does not need a strong prime minister to check and balance, Balaami can retire safely and spend his old age in peace.
Prince Sadid glanced at his brother Prince Hamid. As the sixth son of Nasr II, Prince Sadid was the most ambitious of all princes.
Of course, in his own opinion, he is also the most talented of all princes.
After guarding Herat for ten years, Prince Sadid suppressed the Delam people who were ready to move and ensured the security of the southwestern border.
Prince Sadid felt that he was more suitable to become the crown prince and future emir than his brother Prince Hamid, who had a good skin but was submissive.
As for Nasr II, he was sitting upright on the throne in the center of the north. He was wearing a gorgeous purple floral robe, smiling and accepting greetings from nobles and ministers one after another. He looked very happy.
However, when he glanced at Prince Sadid, his sixth son, a meaningful smile curled up at the corner of his mouth.
He would not appoint an older crown prince. The most suitable candidate in his mind was the eleventh son who was only nine years old.
Sadid was just a tool he used to eradicate Hamid. After all, it was not a glorious thing for a father to kill his son. It was also not glorious for brothers to kill each other, but it was better than doing it himself.
As for Sadid, if he was smart, he might be allowed to spend the rest of his life in the cold palace.
For the power in his hands, Nasr II did not care about losing one or two sons. Anyway, he had thirteen sons to choose from.
Prince Sadid felt his father's eyes, and suddenly felt a warm current rising from the bottom of his heart.
He quickly straightened his back and talked to the people around him with impeccable etiquette, trying to make a good impression on his father Nasr II.
As for Prince Hamid, he looked directly at Nasr II without flinching for the first time, and his eyes gradually became fiery.
He must sit in the position of Emir and vent the grievances he has suffered over the years.
Nasr II looked at Prince Hamid, but a feeling of disgust arose in his heart. He became less and less ignorant of the rules and dared to look directly at his father, his monarch!
Chapter 218 A loving father and a filial son (Part 1)
