In the small town of Mirzani, in the central Transcaucasia.

The Ottoman negotiator Qandarle Halil watched the backs of the Persian delegation, lazily yawned, and turned to his deputy Semiz: "Come to dinner at my place tonight, my chef has finally arrived, so we don’t have to endure that disgusting burnt taste and rock-hard bread anymore."

Semiz first expressed his sincere gratitude and then looked at the negotiation notes on the table, cautiously saying: "Sir, according to the provisions of the Rustavi Treaty, the Persians have the right to enter Imereeti, while our Imperial Guard in the Kaspian..."

Qandarle waved his hand dismissively: "Don’t take it so seriously, young man. Oh, I need to warn Hussein, or that fool might bring two infidel women again tonight."

Semiz cautiously said: "But sir, the Grand Vizier instructed us to negotiate land exchange with the Persians. Now, after a month and a half of talks, there’s still no result. What if the Grand Vizier blames us..."

Qandarle laughed: "No, no, you are mistaken.

"Do you really think the Grand Vizier wants to exchange Terav and Tbilisi for Western Georgia?"

"Isn’t it... the case?"

"Ha, of course not." Qandarle motioned to his attendants to pack up the negotiation documents and left the hall with the deputy, "Our task is simply to delay."

He lowered his voice: "Let me tell you, right now, Ahmed Pasha is building defenses along the Alazani River Valley, and Mustafa Pasha will personally oversee the line from Erivan to Lazdan.

"The longer the negotiations here drag on, the stronger their defenses will become.

"If we can drag the Persians until the end of the year, the great Sultan will possess all of Georgia."

Yes, even though the Russians ceded Western Georgia to Persia - at the time the Ottomans had to agree to give their Persian allies a piece of the pie in order to first deal with the Russian army, their greatest enemy - Tbilisi held the key to Western Georgia, and once the Ottomans occupied it, they would naturally have other ambitions.

As long as the Empire’s army held Tbilisi and guarded against Persian attacks in central Armenia, the Persians would only ever nominally have Western Georgia.

According to the Ottoman Grand Vizier’s plan, at most, they would use the area between Tbilisi and Zanjan to placate the Persians, which would be more than generous.

Early the next morning.

In the Persian Army camp in Zanjan City, the Persian Prince Mirza handed a letter from the negotiator to the cavalry commander Reza Afshar:

"Those Turkic people are indeed shameless scoundrels."

The latter unfolded the secret letter, which stated that the Ottoman negotiator was clearly delaying, and the negotiations were unlikely to make substantial progress in the short term. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Reza also recalled the situation the cavalry had detected on the western front yesterday and frowned: "Your Highness, lately the Ottomans have frequently appeared near Sighnaghi and Kalaouri, I think they might not intend to honor the treaty."

Mirza didn’t respond to that and instead asked: "By the way, have you heard that the Turkic people are going to levy a trade tax on grain and timber in Tbilisi?"

The group of officers was at a loss until Mirza’s secretary said: "Your Highness, it seems there is also wine and salt. However, if it is an Ottoman merchant, they can be exempted from taxes."

Mirza nodded: "As soon as they entered the city, they demanded that all Georgian documents be written in Turkic, and they built four religious schools at once.

"Besides, they raised the annual tribute of Tbilisi by a quarter, and also levied an ’Imperial Guard tribute.’"

"Oh, now there are rumors all over Tbilisi that the Turcics will secretly abduct infidels at night and sell them to Anatolia as slaves."

Nearly all of Georgia is Eastern Orthodox, so the infidels he refers to include all citizens of Tbilisi.

Reza was somewhat uncertainly saying: "Your Highness, it seems that Turkic people only enslave the coastal tribes of western Caucasus as slaves..."

"No one can guarantee they won’t expand their scope." Mirza smiled, "Now, what do you think the people of Tbilisi most want to do?"

Reza blurted out: "Surely it’s to drive the Turkics out."

Mirza nodded: "Exactly.

"The foolish Ottomans have reminded the Eastern Georgian nobles of the Empire’s benevolent rule over them.

"Now that they don’t have the Russians to back them up, they can only rely on the Empire."

Throughout more than half of the eighteenth century, Eastern Georgia was a vassal state of Persia. In many cities, including Tbilisi, there are significant pro-Persian forces present.

Even within the Georgian Royal Family, there are Persian factions.

Saying this, Mirza walked toward the sand table in the center of the room, pointing to the west of Tbilisi: "In at most ten days, Zhulong will be able to gather a force of over 3,000 men in Chiatura.

"And Prince Parnaoz will lead the nobles loyal to him in initiating a rebellion in Tbilisi.

"Let the Ottomans pride themselves on their delaying tactics at the negotiating table, in reality, I need time more than they do."

Saying this, he used a stick to mark south of Tbilisi toward Armenia: "Before that, General Lutov will launch a feigned attack in Lazdan.

"When the Turkic army rushes to reinforce, our main force will launch a fierce attack on Tbilisi from the direction of Rustavta. Prince Parnaoz’s people within the city will assist us.

"Meanwhile, Zhulong will conduct a surprise attack from the west of Tbilisi.

"Even if the Ottomans can block our main force, they won’t anticipate enemies popping up from behind."

The mentioned Zhulong and Parnaoz both belong to the Bagrationi family, which is Georgia’s royal lineage.

Currently, Grand Duke of Georgia, George XII, has fled to Saint Petersburg for refuge, leaving these branches of the Royal Family as the most influential force in Tbilisi.

The group of Persian officers all looked excited, for it turned out that the Crown Prince had never trusted the Ottomans from the start and was prepared to militarily occupy Tbilisi.

Only Reza had a grave expression: "Your Highness, for Prince Parnaoz’s army to reach Tbilisi, if they don’t pass through Gori, it would take over a month of marching, making it difficult not to be discovered by the Turkic people."

According to the Rustavi Treaty, a large number of Russian forces are still stationed in Gori. They certainly wouldn’t tolerate a fully armed Georgian army approaching.

Mirza calmly said: "They will go through Gori."

"But what about the Russians..."

"The Russians will not only not stop them but will even provide logistical supplies." Mirza said, "We’ve already agreed."

On November 3, 1800.

While the Ottoman and Persian negotiators were still quarreling in Mirzani, nearly 30,000 Persian troops suddenly appeared in western Armenia.