Page:Historyofpersiaf00watsrich.djvu/174

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
154
A HISTORY OF PERSIA.

on the Araxes, his Highness was met by the soldiers of the son of Ibraheem, whose downcast eyes and mournful bearing announced that a chief of the people had fallen. Ibraheem Khan had, it appeared, quitted the fortress with two thousand followers, and proceeded to a camp four miles distant from it, with the intention of awaiting the arrival of his son. Amongst those to whom he had communicated the plot which had been concerted, was his grandson; and this youth, who hated his uncle, betrayed the whole scheme to the Major in command of the Russian garrison. That officer was equal to the critical situation in which he now found himself placed. Taking with him the grandson of the Khan, he proceeded in the dead of night with three hundred men to the camp of Ibraheem, and in the confused affray which followed, that chief and thirty-one of his family or servants were put to death. The Russian commander then appointed one of the sons of the deceased Khan to be governor of Karabagh, and shut himself up in Sheeshah in expectation of receiving reinforcements from Tiflis. These were promptly sent into Karabagh, and they were encountered by the forces of the crown-prince at a spot called Khansheen, where, after an obstinate struggle, success attended the arms of Persia; the Russian soldiers being obliged to retreat in confusion. The Persian irregular troops were then spread over different parts of the country of Georgia, for the purpose of laying it waste, and the Persian commander returned towards the Araxes. A force had been despatched to bring the tribes of Karabagh over to Persia, and as one of these was averse to the movement, it sent to ask Russian aid to enable it to withstand the Persian troops. A regiment was accord-