“I heard the envoy was posted here three years ago?” Naser al-Din asked casually.
“Yes, and this is also my first extended stay in Persia,” Justin Sheil replied smoothly.
“I am completely captivated by the scenery here.” Naser al-Din knew that was pure diplomatic fluff.
Outside of Tehran, no city in Persia boasted a population over 100.000 residents.
Even Isfahan, the grand former capital of the Safavid dynasty, was down to barely 80.000 people, thanks in no small part to European trade policies.
The flood of cheap British industrial goods into Persia had gutted local craft guilds and triggered a massive population drain across urban centers.
After swapping a few more pleasantries, Naser al-Din cut straight to the chase.
“Mr.
Ambassador, I submitted a machinery purchase agreement to your office a few days ago.
I’m curious when we can expect full approval?” “Please rest assured, Your Excellency,” Sheil smiled, taking a sip of tea.
“Great Britain never turns away any nation striving for industrial progress, so your request will be granted shortly.
However…” Sheil paused, casually changing the subject.
“In my humble opinion, the Governor’s current order is still far too modest.” “Too modest?” Naser al-Din grew cautious; a British diplomat pushing to sell more heavy equipment was rarely a sign of pure benevolence.
“Governor, are you familiar with the sweeping reforms currently unfolding in the Ottoman Empire?” Sheil asked.
Naser al-Din nodded politely.
“A few years back, the Sublime Porte announced grand plans to overhaul their entire state apparatus from top to bottom.
Is the Ambassador suggesting I copy their playbook?” “Your Excellency, the world is moving fast, and no nation can stem the tide of modern progress,” Sheil urged, leaning forward.
“The Ottomans and the Egyptians are rapidly joining the ranks of civilized nations, while it saddens me to see Persia remaining in a state of medieval stagnation.” Hearing a British diplomat weep for Persian progress is a bit rich, Naser al-Din thought privately.
Honestly, I’d trust an American businessman over a British envoy any day.
“Your concern for our nation’s progress is flattering, Ambassador,” Naser al-Din replied coolly.
“But as you know, I’m currently just a provincial governor.
You should save that grand speech for the Shah in Tehran.” Sheil caught the subtle hint immediately: once the young prince eventually took the Sun Throne, all of Persia would fall under British commercial influence, bringing a steady stream of trade and a reliable buffer against Russian expansion.
Moving on, Sheil and Naser al-Din finalized the logistics for the study-abroad program.
A total of 175 Persian students would be sent overseas, with 125 heading to England for industrial technical training and fifty going to France to study modern military tactics.
The Governor’s Office agreed to foot the bill, paying roughly £220 per student to cover tuition and living expenses.
“I wonder if the Ambassador could introduce me to a few contacts in European education and manufacturing?” Naser al-Din added.
“I’m keen on adopting Western industrial methods and would love to hire a few consultants.” Sheil readily agreed, promising to send qualified candidates to the governor’s residence in due time while offering a polite toast to lasting friendship between Britain and Persia.
With the tribal purge concluded, the state treasury was sitting on a massive stockpile of funds.
Even after factoring in military expansion costs, the Governor’s Office still had over 200 million tumans left in cash and liquidated assets.
Naser al-Din planned to channel these funds directly into building a massive state-of-the-art industrial complex in Tabriz, drawing heavy inspiration from Japan’s famous Satsuma Domain industrialization project.
Meanwhile, foreign merchants in Tabriz were quick to notice the dramatic shift sweeping through Azerbaijan.
Local Persian traders were suddenly eager to invest in manufacturing, flooding consul offices with inquiries about British machinery prices and placing orders to jumpstart local production.
While foreign traders could technically set up their own factories, doing so in impoverished Persian, Ottoman, or Russian borderlands carried high political risks, so European firms still preferred sticking to raw commodity exports.
Still, local demand triggered a massive wave of machinery pre-orders, forcing foreign agents to rush shipments through contacts in Istanbul to meet the surge.
Opportunity was knocking, and no merchant was about to pass up a quick profit.
News of Naser al-Din’s bloody purge of the Azerbaijani warlords spread like wildfire across the frontier.
Panicked by the governor’s ruthless methods, several neighboring nomadic tribes packed up their encampments and fled the region entirely, desperate to avoid becoming his next target.
Other smaller clans chose immediate submission, though their meager possessions paled in comparison to the vast wealth of the old chieftains.
Left with no room to negotiate, these smaller tribes obeyed royal decrees and began transitioning from wandering nomads into settled agrarian villagers.
In the old days, they could easily bribe corrupt tax collectors to dodge their annual dues, but under the governor’s new tax regime, every family had to scrape together their exact assessment in cash.
In fertile valleys, newly settled tribes turned to farming high-value cash crops like cotton and tobacco to pay their taxes.
In poorer, arid territories, young tribesmen reluctantly enlisted in the new army to earn a steady government paycheck.
To tighten central control, Naser al-Din formally abolished the old tribal conscription system.
Instead, he carved Azerbaijan into defined military districts, establishing a permanent draft office in each sector to build a disciplined, modern standing army from the ground up.
Tehran, Capital of Persia.
Inside Golestan Palace, Mohammad Shah Qajar received a high-ranking diplomatic envoy from the Ottoman Empire.
Friction between the two empires dated back to the rise of the Safavid dynasty, triggering centuries of bloody, intermittent border wars.
Over time, the Ottomans had gained the upper hand, snatching control of Shia-majority Mesopotamia, including key historical centers like Baghdad and the holy city of Qom during earlier clashes.
For the Persian court, three glaring issues continued to stoke deep resentment: exorbitant taxes slapped on Persian Shia pilgrims, harsh state sanctions against Iranian religious scholars, and the outright seizure of estates belonging to deceased Persian subjects on Ottoman soil.
Back in 1746, the Treaty of Kerden was signed to resolve these issues, guaranteeing free passage for Persian pilgrims and capping border transit taxes.
Yet in practice, local Ottoman governors continued to harass Shia travelers, leaving diplomatic tensions high.
During his reign, Nader Shah launched a brutal counteroffensive against the Porte, crushing Ottoman forces at the Battle of Yeghevard and briefly recapturing Baghdad.
However, following Nader Shah’s assassination, Ottoman forces retook the city.
Under joint British and Russian diplomatic mediation, the two empires eventually signed the Treaty of Erzurum in 1823 to formally demarcate their disputed borders.
Even so, Ottoman merchants soon spotted a glaring tax loophole in the agreement.
Because the treaty allowed Persian traders to pay taxes centrally in Tehran rather than at border custom posts, Persian merchants used the advantage to aggressively expand across Syria and the Balkans.
In the port of Trabzon, Persian traders ended up controlling over half of the local import-export market.
Driven by these commercial losses and unresolved border claims, the Ottoman Sultan dispatched another special envoy to Tehran to renegotiate terms with the Shah.
“Your Imperial Majesty, the Ottoman Empire sincerely desires peaceful coexistence with your realm,” the envoy declared smoothly.
“Reaching a swift agreement between our two courts will greatly serve the cause of regional stability.” The envoy leading this mission was none other than Mustafa Reşid Pasha, a top Ottoman statesman and brilliant diplomat.
Deeply versed in European court politics and domestic administration, he was one of the chief architects behind the empire’s modernizing Tanzimat reforms.
The Porte sent a heavy hitter like him to Tehran specifically to squeeze commercial concessions out of Persia, figuring if the empire couldn’t expand its influence in Europe, it could at least secure gains on its eastern frontier.
“Persia desires peace as well,” Mohammad Shah replied coolly from his throne.
“However, my government will never sacrifice its rightful sovereign interests.
In particular, we will not cede an inch of land in Sulaymaniyah.” Mustafa Reşid Pasha offered a polite smile.
“His Imperial Majesty the Sultan understands how deeply Your Majesty values that territory.” “Yet the Ottoman state provides extensive security, lodging, and infrastructure for thousands of Persian pilgrims traveling to the holy sites every year.” “Therefore, we hope these matters can be settled through peaceful diplomatic negotiations.” “This is not merely the personal wish of the Sultan, but also the explicit desire of both Great Britain and Russia, who wish to see long-term peace restored between our two realms.” ————————————– If you enjoy this story consider support me on P Site/OrbisTranslate,