The Rashīdī History 108.4

108.4

Now Shahi Beg's purpose in coming [to Hisar] was not to seize Khusrau Shah, but just to try whether Khusrau Shah had power to withstand him or not. In that inroad he did not commit much violence. Whatever plunder did fall into his hands, he seized upon. He then returned, with the conviction that when he came a second time he would frighten away [Khusrau Shah] as a fly from a dish, with a mere wave of his hand. That winter he also wished to test the people of Khorasan. Using the same means, he marched on Balkh, where the governor at that time was Sultan Kulunjak, acting under Badi-uz-Zaman Mirza, son of Sultan Husain Mirza. He commanded his men to invest the town, and spent the whole of that winter in besieging it. The Khorasani were, in spite of their numerous attacks on the enemy, unable to relieve Balkh. Thus, during that winter, he weighed Khusrau Shah and the Khorasani in the scales of experiment, and found that neither of them equalled himself in weight. But while Shahi Beg Khan was engaged in besieging Balkh, Khusrau Shah was left free from molestation, and his men again assembled. In short, his affairs began to prosper, and he sent messengers without intermission to Shahi Beg Khan, with suitable expressions of friendship, which Shahi Beg Khan returned in kind. That winter, when Khusrau Shah was recovering his peace of mind, news arrived from Karatigin that there had been a great fall of snow, so that no one was able to get away.