The Rashīdī History 132.2

132.2

The winter was nearly over when they passed the River Amu, at the ford of Tukuz Taram. When Hamza Sultan heard of their approach, he rode out of Hisar and repaired to Yakhsh, while the Emperor advanced to the plain [dasht] of Kulak, which is one of the most noted localities in Khatlan. There he learnt that Hamza Sultan was in Yakhsh. That same night he set out by the higher road to surprise Sultan Hamza, and at sunrise reached his camp. Nobody was there. They searched on every side, and found a few peasants, who gave them the following information concerning Hamza Sultan: "Yesterday, at the hour of midday prayers, news came that the Emperor had pitched his camp in the plain of Kulak, whereupon [Hamza Sultan] immediately set out for that place, by the lower road." The Emperor at once started in pursuit, along the road which Hamza Sultan had taken, and at noontide prayers again found himself at his quarters of the night before. Hamza Sultan, for his part, had reached the camp at dawn, and found a precisely similar state of affairs; he, too, set out in the track of our army, and at midday prayer time re-entered his own camp. The Emperor and his men believed that Hamza Sultan would not be able to resist them; while Hamza Sultan, on the other hand, thought that [the Emperor] had only brought a few men with him from Kabul, and that the Moghul army, having only just arrived, would not yet have made sufficient preparations to be able to fight.